Texas-Sized Secrets

“You’re doing good.” The woman squatted beside the cow and smoothed a hand over her head. “Hang in there.”

Another contraction rolled over the cow’s belly and her legs stretched straight out, her stomach muscles convulsing.

Reaching down to the calf’s shoulders, Reed tugged as hard as he could and the calf slid out the rest of the way.

For several long moments, the cow and Reed gathered their strength. Then the cow rolled to a sitting position and nudged the dead calf.

“Sorry, girl, this baby didn’t make it.” The woman patted the cow’s neck.

While the cow licked at the calf’s face, Reed stood and wiped his hands on his jeans.

The woman straightened, the top of her head only coming up to Reed’s shoulders. “You here about the job?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She walked around the cow to stand beside the dead boar. “Was I mistaken or did you drop that boar with one shot?”

“You were not mistaken, ma’am.”

She dusted her hands on her jeans and reached out. “I’m Mona Grainger. You’re hired.”

Chapter Two

The man with the sandy-blond hair, moss-green eyes and a square jawline stood with his cowboy hat in hand, staring at her. “You’re M. Grainger? The owner of the Rancho Linda?”

She had to give this guy a little credit. He asked without the usual shocked look. “That would be me.” She’d gotten the shocked response from all the applicants thus far. They expected a wiry, grizzled hulk of a man like her father. Not a petite young woman who barely topped five feet three inches.

Her father had died less than a year ago in a riding accident, leaving her as the sole surviving heir to the ranch. She couldn’t change her sex or size. What you saw was what you got. “Do you have a problem answering to a female boss?”

“Not at all.” He grinned. “I just didn’t expect M. Grainger to be so…pretty.” He stuck out his hand. “Reed Bryson.” He glanced at his dirty hand. “Never mind.”

When he started to drop his hand, she grabbed it and shook it with as firm a grip as she could muster. She may be small, but she didn’t want him to think she wasn’t tough. “A little dirt never hurt me.”

Now that she had time to really study him, she wasn’t as pleased as she’d been at first to hire him. Although not exactly what she’d hoped for, Mr. Bryson had proven he could ride and shoot, and he hadn’t balked at helping a cow with a stillborn calf. The roping part could be taught. It was the rest of the package that bothered her.

Mona’s gaze ran the long length of the cowboy who stood at least six feet two in his faded denim jeans and blue chambray shirt. A twinge of apprehension gnawed at her now-empty gut. She didn’t like men who were too good to look at. She’d fallen into that trap before and she sure as hell wasn’t going there again. Some mistakes were harder to live with than others.

Reed dropped her hand and squatted next to the boar. “Should be good eating. Want me to fieldstrip him?”

The stench of the hog wrapped around her olfactory nerves and her stomach rebelled. For the second time in the past ten minutes, she ran a couple steps and then hurled the last of the contents of her belly.

“On second thought, why don’t we get you back to the house. I can come back here later and take care of him and check on the cow.”

Fernando raced around the corner, brought his horse to a skidding halt and dropped to the ground. “Miss Mona, are you all right?” He hurried across the floor of the canyon and wrapped an arm around the woman as if she would break.

With a grimace, she pushed him away. “I’m all right. Nothing’s broken.”

He snatched her hat from the ground and pounded it against his leg before he handed it to her. A deep frown marred his dark forehead. “You should have waited for me to come help you with the cow. It’s not something a—”

“I’m fine.” She shot a glance at Reed. Fernando worried too much about her and her condition. Let the new hand get adjusted to working for a woman before he learned more about her.

Her foreman followed her glance and nodded. “This kind of work takes more than one to accomplish. Especially when you’re in the canyons. Wild boars aren’t the only animals you have to worry about.”

She knew all too well the risks. But she refused to lose any more livestock to man or beast. Mona turned to the new hand. “When can you start?”

“It seems I’ve already started.” He glanced down at his dirty jeans and the cow, just lumbering to her feet. “Is today all right with you?”

“Perfect. How are you for working nights?”

“I spent twelve years on the force in Chicago and the past few months as a deputy for Briscoe County. I know how to pull night duty, but tell me—” Reed frowned “—what kind of cattle ranching are you doing at night?”

Her rosy lips twisted. “Call it ranch security.” She turned to Fernando. “I don’t suppose Sassy stopped at the edge of the canyon, did she?”

“No. She’s probably back at the barn by now.” He removed his toe from the left stirrup. “You take the saddle. I’ll ride behind.”

With her bottom bruised from the fall, Mona didn’t argue. She stretched high to reach the saddle horn. Before she knew it, hands grasped her waist and lifted her into the saddle. Hands bigger and stronger than Fernando’s.

Heat filled her cheeks as she fitted her boots into the stirrups. She hadn’t had someone lift her so effortlessly into a saddle since she was a little girl. And damned if she didn’t like it a little too much. A frown settled between her brows. “I can manage on my own.”

“Yes, ma’am. I reckon you can, but my mamma taught me to help a lady. It’s kind of a habit.” As he stared up at her, a smile tipped the corners of his lips.

Her insides warmed, the heat spreading up her neck. Then a gray haze filtered her vision, blackness creeping around the edges. Oh no. Not again.

The blackness claimed her.

“ARE YOU SURE you’re up to this tonight?” Reed sat behind the wheel of the ranch pickup truck, bumping along the dirt road that ran parallel to the inside of the fence.

“Look, I didn’t hire you to give me advice. I needed a ranch hand, period.” He was learning fast, Mona Grainger didn’t mince words.

“Normally I wouldn’t worry about another human being except you happened to get knocked on your butt by an angry hog today and then you passed out. And you haven’t even had a doctor check you out for concussion.” He’d carried her all the way back to the ranch house on his horse before she’d woken up. Despite their brief acquaintance, he’d been scared half to death for her. With her limp body leaning against his the entire way, he’d had too much time to think up reasons for her to pass out and none of them were good.

“I was hungry and tired. That’s all. Besides, we’re not riding horses. What we need to do tonight can be accomplished in a truck. I didn’t ask to drive, so drop the worried-employee act. If I pass out, you won’t be required to carry me anywhere.”

“I didn’t mind carrying you.” Hell, his hands still tingled from lifting her into the saddle and holding her snuggly against his chest. Her hips were narrow, she had a cute bit of a belly, but she didn’t weigh much more than a bale of hay. How could someone so small be so tough…and so sexy? Her long black hair had hung to her waist in wavy disarray. He could tell by the crease at her nape that she must have had it secured earlier in a ponytail. Though he liked it loose.

The long strands had brushed against his face when he’d lifted her into the saddle. Silky smooth and smelling of prairie grass. A man could lose himself in her scent. Reed shifted in his seat, disturbed by the direction of his thoughts.

Focusing on his surroundings, he committed to memory the few landmarks he could see in the fading light. Once away from the ranch house and its lone stand of trees planted as a windbreak, the terrain looked pretty much the same. Gently rolling plains stretched for miles with not another tree in sight. With the window down to let in the cool night air, the smell of dry grass and sagebrush filled the interior of the truck. The scent brought back recollections of growing up on his father’s ranch just a county over from Briscoe.

He had to admit they weren’t all bad memories. He’d had free run of thousands of acres, and a horse he could escape on whenever he got the chance. For that reason he missed his father’s ranch. Too bad his father didn’t own it anymore.

Mona’s hand reached out and touched his sleeve. “Slow down.” She pointed to a slight rise in the prairie. “Park the truck behind that hill and turn off the lights.”

He pressed the brake, slowing the truck to a halt at the same time as he flicked the lights off. For several moments, they sat in the dark, until their eyes adjusted.

When Mona opened the door, Reed’s hand shot out. “I know you told me ranch security, but what exactly do you mean by that?”

She stared at his hand until he released her arm. “We’ve had several instances of cattle rustling in the past month. With over six thousand acres of land to manage, I can’t do it all on my own. There are too many places to be at once.” She grabbed her rifle from the gun rack behind her head and slid off the truck seat, dropping to the ground.