The Rancher's Housekeeper

Colt took her elbow and ushered her out the doors. On the sidewalk he paused. “I’ve advanced you your first month’s pay. You need a wardrobe and all the extras that go with it. You ought to be able to find what you want in the stores along here, so I’ll leave you to get your shopping done. Bradford’s is on the corner over there. I’ll meet you out in front in say, two hours. If you need more time, we’ll take it.”

“I won’t need two hours. You’re too generous, Colt.”

“When you’ve been with us a month, you’ll realize you earned every penny of it and will be asking for a raise.”

Some people had difficulty accepting gratitude. He seemed to fit in that category. “What am I supposed to wear during my work day?”

His eyes swept over her, but she couldn’t read their expression. “Not a uniform. That’s for sure.”

“Thank you for that,” she half laughed, putting a hand to her throat. His lips twitched in reaction. When he did that, her heart jumped.

“Put on whatever is comfortable.”

She knew she looked pathetic in the hand-me-down clothes provided at the prison. Day before yesterday she’d been ecstatic to exchange the prison uniform for them. But today the knowledge that she could walk into a shop and pick out some new outfits made her so thrilled, she was close to being sick with excitement.

“I’ve never had the experience of buying a whole new wardrobe at once. You may regret you gave me this get-out-of-jail-free card. I might go hog wild.”

He shoved his hat back on his dark head. “Frankly, ma’am, I hope you do.”

With that remark, she knew she looked awful and didn’t feel half as guilty while she spent the next couple of hours choosing clothes to wear, starting from the skin out. She went a little crazy on cosmetics and makeup. In the last store she tried on designer jeans and a white, form fitting Western shirt with pearl snaps and extended tails.

She loved the spread collar, not to mention the brown embroidery on the sleeves and yoke. The guy waiting on her brought out cowboy boots and a white cowboy hat to match. She’d never worn Western clothes like this in her life.

Geena put everything on and stood in front of the full-length mirror. Though she needed to gain ten pounds, the gleam in the clerk’s eyes when he told her she looked fantastic made her feel better about herself and settled one matter for her. She would wear the whole outfit back home.

Yesterday she’d learned that the head of the Floral Valley Ranch was held in the highest regard in this part of Wyoming. If she was going to work for him, she needed to present herself in the best light.

Before she left the fitting room, she tossed her old clothes in the wastebasket. They’d been used by enough other women that she didn’t feel guilty about discarding them. No doubt her new boss would be happy to know she’d gotten rid of them. To her relief the clerk, who’d been chatting her up, offered to help her out of the store with her all her bags.

She’d bought a lot of things, yet she knew he didn’t normally offer to carry a client’s purchases to the car for them. It had been a long time since she’d been around men. The attention from this nice-looking guy was fun and flattering. “Thanks for your help, Steve.” It said Steve Wright on his name tag. “I really like my new clothes.”

“On you, so do I. If you’re going to be in town later, we could have dinner after I close up. How about it?”

“Afraid not” sounded a voice behind them with an underlying hint of steel. “She’ll be at work.”

Geena swung around to look at Colt. In the background she could see his truck double-parked. The piercing yellow-green of his eyes sent a tiny shiver down her spine. Was the transformation too much? She turned to the clerk. “Steve? This is my employer, Mr. Brannigan.”

“Nice to meet you, sir.”

While Colt nodded, Geena smiled at the clerk. “The next time I’m in town, I’ll come by.”

“Good. I’ll be watching for you.”

“Let me relieve you.” Colt took care of all the bags before putting them in the back of the truck.

When the clerk went inside the store, Colt walked to the passenger side of the truck and opened the door for her. The boots made her a little taller, putting her on a better footing with him. Before she climbed in, she eyed him beneath the brim of her hat.

“You’re probably upset about the purchase of this outfit. Tell me now if I’ve done something wrong. The only reason I decided to buy it was because you said I needed to learn how to horseback-ride. I want to look the part and fit in.”

“What you buy is your business,” he muttered.

“But there is a problem.”

“There could be” came his cryptic answer. His gaze roved over her features visible beneath her cowboy hat. “It’s not your fault,” he added, as if it cost him to admit it.

Oh. Now she got it.

“You mean that I’m a woman?” It was absurd for Colt to think she was a femme fatale. She climbed in the truck so he could close the door. When he came around and got behind the wheel she turned to him. “He was just being a guy.”

“I noticed.”

“Look, Colt. I realize you employ a small army of men on your ranch. Sometimes a woman can cause trouble without meaning to. Todd told me stories about the problems with a few women who came out to see the men while they were laying pipe.” That’s where he’d met Janice. “But you have my promise that while I work for you, I’ll keep everything professional. If there’s a problem with any of them, I’ll come to you immediately.”

“I can’t ask for more than that.” There were invisible layers to this issue, but he wasn’t willing to explain. They could be professional or personal. Maybe both. When she got to know him better, she’d find out.

He turned on the engine and joined the mainstream of traffic. “Before we head out of town, I’ll take you over to the supermarket where we do our grocery shopping and introduce you to Bart, the manager. You’ll be cooking for those of us in the ranch house. But he’s worked with Mary and knows how to fill the lists for the food prepared by the cooks feeding the stockmen out on the range. The cooks come to the house to pick up from you once a week.”