Bachelor Cowboy

Her startled gaze flew to meet his. His eyes met hers with a cynical expression. “Certainly not,” she sputtered. “I’m not even married!”

That brought a rusty laugh from him. It sounded as if he hadn’t used it in a while. “Miss Kelleher, I think we both know marriage isn’t required to produce a baby.”

“I’m not pregnant,” she said quietly but firmly. “I’ve been sick with an ear infection. It’s better, but...”

“But you should have stayed home in bed until you were well. Why didn’t you?”

She was stunned that he seemed to be angry with her. After all, no one had forced him to help her. He could have left her crumpled on the ground to recover on her own. “I had to get back to work. My boss...” She realized that her boss had wanted her to come to work today in order to deal with the man in front of her. Good old Wiley, she thought. His philosophy was, Why deal with a problem if you can get someone else do it?

She wasn’t going to tell Luke that. She’d already blown her professional image. No point in telling him of her problems with Wiley—no matter how numerous they were.

“Your boss insisted you come to work? Why didn’t you stand up to him?” Luke asked, irritation simmering in his voice. “You don’t have any trouble standing up to me.”

“You’re not in charge of my biannual performance review,” she answered ruefully. “Or my salary raises.”

“Maybe you should talk to the person in charge of his,” Luke suggested.

“I might if his boss wasn’t also his mother’s brother.”

“Ah.” Luke tilted his head back. “Nepotism lives.”

“I’m afraid so,” Shannon agreed weakly. She wished she hadn’t said that, but she couldn’t call it back. She seemed to be making one stumbling, bumbling mistake after another today. Luke was right. She should have stayed home until she was well. She was here now, so she was determined to struggle through.

“Mr. Farraday,” she said, trying to sound briskly competent in spite of the weakness in her voice. “Thank you for helping me.” She sat up shakily and swung her feet to the floor. To her intense relief, the world remained firm and didn’t do one of those nauseating spins she’d been experiencing all day. She was pleased that she felt only a slight tremor in her hand when she smoothed her hair from her face. She took a steadying breath and glanced at him. “Now, why don’t we return to our discussion about your rangeland?”

“Because the discussion is closed,” he answered, standing and returning the chair to its place. He stood with his hands resting on his hips while his eyes narrowly assessed the color in her cheeks. “If you’re feeling better, let’s get you back to your truck. It’s time for you to go.”

Shannon gaped at him. “Really, Mr. Farraday, you can’t just refuse our help—”

“Of course I can. Haven’t you heard? It’s a free country. This is my place, and I’m my own boss.” In spite of his dismissive words, he hovered over her as she stood shakily, then took her arm and helped her to the door, gathering his canteen and handkerchief along the way.

She wanted to argue, but she didn’t have the strength. He led her to the gelding he’d ridden to the stream. “We’ll ride double on Dusty,” he said. “I don’t want you falling off of Jezebel.”

Shannon laughed. “That gentle animal’s name is Jezebel?”

He shrugged, and again she saw that spark of humor. “How was I to know when she was a filly that she’d turn out to be such a lady?”

Shannon grabbed the pommel and placed her left foot in the stirrup as she looked over her shoulder at him. “You sound surprised.”

He stood behind her and placed his hands at her waist. “Not surprised. Wary.” With what seemed like the smallest flexing of his muscles, he boosted her into the saddle. “I’ve learned that wariness pays when dealing with the female of any species,” he said, turning to snag Jezebel’s reins and scooping Shannon’s hat from the ground.

Dazed, Shannon replaced her hat while she settled into the saddle. She kept her feet out of the stirrups so that Luke could mount. She wasn’t prepared for her reaction when he did. Awareness moved along her nerves like an incoming tide, first along the backs of her legs where they touched his, then her back, and finally up her spine, across her shoulders and down her arms as he reached forward, tied Jezebel’s reins to the pommel, then gathered those of his own horse. He clucked to Dusty and turned toward the ranch buildings.

Shannon, accustomed to handling her own mount, didn’t know quite what to do with her hands as they rode along. She refused to hold on to the pommel like a tenderfoot, so she tightened her knees against the mare’s sides to hold herself steady and settled her hands on her thighs. Glancing down, she saw that if she moved her hands back a few inches, she could touch Luke. Unexpectedly, her palms grew warm at the thought, and it made her even more light-headed than she’d been when she fainted.

She didn’t know what was wrong with her. These strange reactions couldn’t be attributed to her illness. Something about Luke Farraday was affecting her in the oddest way. Was it because he was a stranger? Most of the ranchers and farmers she dealt with were people she’d known all her life. Maybe it was because he seemed so distant and unyielding. Whatever the reason, she needed to get her mind on business.

Grimly, she straightened away from Luke. “This is a wonderful ranch you’ve bought here,” she ventured.

“Even if the grass won’t support five hundred head of cattle?” he asked in a dry tone.

His deep voice vibrated through her, distracting her from her purpose. Strangely, she felt as if the timbre and vibration of his voice set off an answering chord in her. She leaned forward to escape that sensation. “With some work and proper management, we could have it in shape in no time.”

“I’ll do it myself.”

“So you said.” Shannon twisted to look at him. Their eyes met, and she was temporarily distracted when she noticed that his eyes had flecks of gold in them, which only added to their unique appearance. She forced her mind on track. “I’m sure you’ll try to do what you can here, but you need an expert. You need me.”

He set his jaw, and his eyes raked over her. “I have to wonder why this is so important to you.”

“It’s my job.”

“Is that all? Or could it be because it’ll enhance your reputation if you can do what that guy who called last week couldn’t do?”

Stung partly because it was true, she turned. “Of course not.”

He gave another one of those dry laughs. “Can it, Miss Kelleher. I’ve already said no.”

Shannon’s mouth tightened. “I heard you.”

“But you don’t listen very well.”

She ignored that “Do you know the history of this ranch?”

“As much as I need to know.”

His tone discouraged discussion, but she forged ahead anyway. She could be stubborn, too. “The Crescent Ranch is one of the last intact spreads in this area. It was homesteaded at the turn of the century by the Crescent family. The last member, Millard, built the fancy rock ranch house but should have put some of that money back into range management and improvement. He didn’t, though, and lost the place during the Depression. It’s had half a dozen different owners since then, until Gus Blackhawk bought it about thirty years ago. Some people say he bought it for his son, Garrett, but Garrett didn’t want it, so it’s been leased since then. I guess old Gus thought his son would change his mind someday and come back to live here.”

“Thanks for the update on local gossip,” Luke said.

“Sorry,” she answered, miffed. “I just thought you’d be interested in the past so you’d know what to avoid in the future.”

“I already know what to avoid. Interference.”

“So you said.”

“Just keep in mind how impossibly stubborn I am.”

She winced at having her words thrown back at her. “I shouldn’t have said that. I apologize.”

“Why apologize?” he asked with a shrug. “It’s the truth.”

Shannon gave up and made no further attempts at conversation as they rode across the range. Looking around, she felt sad at the knowledge that this ranch would never be returned to the lush vegetation it had once known.

When they reached the barn, Luke dismounted and helped her down. “Are you all right to drive back to town?”

“Yes.” She was worn-out, but she couldn’t admit it. Maybe her time with him had made her as stubborn as he was.

As if he didn’t believe her, Luke grasped her chin. Tilting her head, he looked into her eyes as if checking her pupils. Shannon’s gaze flew to meet his. “I’m fine,” she said.