Rancher's Refuge

By sheer force of will, she focused on the poodle and closed the mental door on James.

“Lazy,” she murmured, gently touching the dog’s paw with her toe. Tootsie rewarded her with a doggy smile and bright button eyes. “Nothing like your master.”

Each morning after a shared breakfast, Austin made himself scarce. She wondered if he always worked without stopping, or if he was avoiding contact with her. She felt guilty to think she might be keeping him from his usual routine. This was, after all, his home, his solitude, which he apparently preferred to her company.

Who could blame him for that? She was the interloper. No doubt, Austin Blackwell considered her a pathetic excuse for a woman and couldn’t wait to get her out of his house. She’d talked to him about James which was probably a mistake. She still didn’t know why she’d opened up, considering she’d never told anyone.

“Desperate measures,” she murmured and earned a cocked ear from the comical dog. She’d needed the Blackwells. She needed them still, but the fact remained, Austin had given her three days.

To repay their kindness, she’d cleaned and cooked and done laundry. None of that was enough, of course. She had to move on. Even though Austin hadn’t mentioned the three-day limit again, self-preservation dictated finding a job before he showed her the door.

Rubbing at the itchy juncture of cast and upper arm, she wondered who would hire a one-armed employee with no references or identification?

If she wasn’t such a coward she’d call James and demand he send her belongings.

Not that he’d ever responded to any of her demands. The more she wanted something, the more stubbornly James held back.

She wondered where he was now and what he was doing. Would he look for her? What would he say to their friends and colleagues when she didn’t return? She’d put him in a difficult situation and she knew very well he wouldn’t take her betrayal lightly. That’s the way James thought. This was her fault. Sometimes she wondered if he was right.

With a soul-heavy sigh, she looked out at the quiet acreage flowing away from Blackwell Ranch in shades of green and gold. Black cows dotted green fields. A pair of calves bucked and played, tails twitching over their backs. Miles of fence disappeared into the woods that led to Whisper Falls, the falls where she’d hidden from James and prayed.

She thought about that prayer, had thought about it a lot. Just as she pondered the man who claimed to love her and the cowboy who’d rescued her that day.

Tootsie suddenly yipped and spun to face the tree-covered mountain, floppy ears lifting out to each side. Annalisa reached behind her to the door handle, ready to escape inside. She’d heard nothing from James, but she was not brave enough to believe he would let her go without retribution.

The two big dogs, Hoss and Jet, broke through the distant woods and raced across the pasture pink tongues flapping, toward the quivering, prancing Tootsie.

Some of her tension drained away.

When Austin and his horse appeared directly behind the dogs, Annalisa’s scalp prickled. Her grip tightened on the door knob. Too much thinking about James had made her unduly jittery. She had no reason to fear the cowboy. He might be abrupt but he’d also been kind. So far.

Loose and easy in the saddle, Austin rode the horse directly to the edge of the porch, bringing with him the smells of deep woods and heated horseflesh. Annalisa propped the broom in the crook of her cast to stroke Cisco’s velvety nose.