Romancing the Rancher

The realization had him slowly lowering his guard. Truth was, he admired the work Nick did. Their love of animals gave them a common ground and was enough for Jarrett to think he might be able to call the other man friend. And friends did do favors for each other.

But not this. Pretty much anything but what Nick had asked.

“I know Theresa seems like she’s doing okay.”

Jarrett sighed. “That’s what she wants you to think. Truth is she’s far from okay.”

He’d seen the pain in her expression when she thought he wasn’t watching. Seen how hard she’d pushed herself just to make the easy walk to the cabin. Pride kept her from showing how weak she truly was, but he recognized the signs. Hell, he’d seen them more often than not whenever he looked in the mirror. If that was all that was going on with Theresa, then maybe he’d think about what Nick was asking of him.

He’d still say no. But he’d at least think about it first.

“Which is why I need your help,” Nick pressed.

“But she’s also a grown woman,” Jarrett added, refusing to let his mind go where it wanted to go after those words. He didn’t need to be thinking how womanly Theresa was while talking to her overprotective cousin. “And she needs to prove she can take care of herself while she works things out. Which is why she’s staying out here. Which is why the answer is still no.”

No, he was not going to look in on Nick’s cousin. No, he was not going to go out of his way to make sure she was eating right and taking care of herself. No, he was not going to make another offer to take her riding or to show her around the property.

He planned on making that as clear to Nick as Theresa had made her disinterest in Jarrett’s offer clear to him.

Okay, so for a second, he thought he’d felt an answering spark of attraction when he’d caught her in his arms on the porch. Maybe he had; maybe he hadn’t. Either way, it didn’t matter when the woman came straight out and said she wasn’t interested.

Fine by him.

The last time she’d come to town, for Nick’s wedding, she’d brought her boyfriend along. A surgeon from the hospital where she worked in St. Louis. Theresa had a type—blond-haired, blue-eyed, educated and wealthy.

And it didn’t matter, he told himself again, that Theresa hadn’t brought him along with her on this trip. He didn’t want to know if she’d given the good doctor the same I-need-my-space speech or if the other man’s absence had something to do with the sorrow Jarrett had seen in her eyes.

Theresa was not there for him to rescue.

Stopping in front of one of the stalls, he reached out and ran a hand down Silverbelle’s forelock. The small mare stood passively beneath his touch, her soft brown eyes watching him with a hint of caution. Not long ago, the once abused and neglected animal wouldn’t have let him come within ten feet of her. Her first few weeks in the rescue, he’d left her loose in one of the corrals, not wanting to traumatize her further by trying to force her into a stall. It had taken time and patience, not to mention decent food and fresh water, to help bring the horse around.

Jarrett was always amazed by an animal’s ability to forgive, to move beyond the cruel treatment by humans in the past, and by their willingness to trust again.

Silver tossed her head and dislodged his hand from her warm and smooth hide, letting him know she’d had enough. She’d come so far, but that didn’t mean he didn’t still have work to do. She was still a little wary, a little standoffish—

Another pair of haunted eyes came to mind. A gorgeous blue instead of soulful brown.

And that was the real reason he wanted to stay away from Theresa. Her injuries went deeper than the physical damage done by the car accident. He could see the lingering shadows in her wounded gaze. Sadness, guilt, loss—he wasn’t sure what swirled in the blue depths. All he knew was that he’d felt the pull sucking him in like a whirlpool when it’d be best for both of them for him to stay away.

Healing a horse’s broken spirit—that he could do. Healing a woman—no. Not in his skill set. “Look, Nick, I’d like to help—”

“Great,” the vet interrupted, showing off that I’m-older-and-therefore-know-better judgment he was known for. “I knew I could count on you.”

But Jarrett had faced down one-ton bulls. He didn’t let anyone run roughshod over him. “Like to,” he stressed, “but I can’t. I’m not the guy for the job. Trust me on this, okay?”

“I’m not asking you to date her. Just check in on her once in a while.”

Jarrett clenched his back teeth. Not asking him to date her. Why? Did Nick think Jarrett wasn’t good enough for his cousin? Just because he wasn’t some fancy doctor or— He swore beneath his breath. What the hell did he care what Nick thought? He didn’t even want to date Theresa!

He stopped outside Duke’s stall, and the black horse shook his huge head with a short whinny—almost as if reading his thoughts and having a good old laugh. The gelding had technically been Jarrett’s first rescue, but he knew better. The one-time cutting horse had been his salvation.

“Fine.” He turned to face Nick. “I’ll look in on her, but that’s all. And if she tells me—again—to leave her alone, I’ll be sure to let her know it was your idea.”

“Now, wait a second.” Catching sight of the look Jarrett shot him, Nick raised his hands. “All right, all right. It’s a deal. We’re just...worried about her, you know?”

Suddenly, the past few years disappeared in a blink, and Jarrett flashed back to the hospital room where he’d landed after a wicked toss from a bull. A lonely hospital room. What would it be like, he wondered, to have family surround you when you needed them most?

The thought reminded him of the message his half sister had left on his cell phone the other day, but he shoved it aside. Too bad he couldn’t delete the memory as easily as he’d deleted the message. Summer wanted to come to California to help him with the rental cabins. He gave a silent snort of laughter. In his family, any offer of help always came with strings attached, and he was glad he’d cut all ties years ago—even if his half sister refused to accept that.

Theresa was lucky to have people around who cared about her for no other reason than the love they felt.

“I know. But your sister was here to bring Theresa groceries right after she arrived,” Jarrett pointed out. “And then Drew and Debbie stopped by yesterday.”

He couldn’t complain too much about their arrival when Debbie, the local baker, had brought along a dozen to-die-for chocolate cupcakes and assured him Theresa wouldn’t mind sharing. Which only meant Debbie gave him one of the miniature cakes. It did not mean Theresa would feed him with her slender fingers or that he’d get a chance to taste the rich, decadent chocolate straight from her lips—two images that had sprung to mind at the innocent comment.

“So?” Nick asked defensively enough for Jarrett to know he was well aware of where this was heading.

“So, if your cousin came here to have some time by herself, maybe you should give it to her and quit...hovering. You know as well as I do that the worst thing you can do with a skittish animal is hem her in.”

The other man’s scowl deepened into a glower. “My cousin is not a skittish animal.”

Yeah, Theresa probably wouldn’t think much of the comparison, either, Jarrett thought wryly. “All the more reason why I shouldn’t be the one looking out for her.”

* * *

Self-discovery, Theresa decided as she gazed at her reflection in the foggy medicine cabinet mirror hanging above the bathroom sink, sucked.

For all her talk about alone time and needing the opportunity to focus on what she wanted for the future, so far she’d come to only two conclusions. One, she didn’t really like being by herself. And two, all she wanted for her future was the life she’d had in the past.

She hadn’t expected staying alone at the cabin to be such a big deal. After all, she lived by herself. After a rough shift at the ER dealing with doctors, other nurses and patients, surrounded by a cacophony of sound—phones, pagers, voices over the intercoms, the beep of various monitors—by the end of the day, all she wanted was to go home and wrap herself in the peace and quiet of her cozy apartment. To enjoy the sweet relief from the stress and fast pace of the outside world.

Here, there was no outside world. At least, not a world Theresa was familiar with. She glanced at the window above the tub. Blue skies peeked through the softly swaying pines. Outside, the peace and quiet of the cabin was nothing but...more peace and quiet. So much of both that she was ready to scream. Just to give herself a break from it all.

And the sorriest part, she thought as she hit her wet, shoulder-length hair with the warmth of the blow-dryer, was that in the three days since she’d arrived, some member or another of her extended family had dropped by to visit, the most recent being her aunt and uncle.

They had shown up with the explanation that they wanted Theresa to have a vehicle while she was staying in the cabin. She was grateful even if she didn’t have anywhere to go, and the need to escape only increased the longer her aunt and uncle stayed.

Her uncle Vince was a younger, slightly mellower version of her father. Both men were dedicated to their families, friends and neighbors. But just like whenever her father looked at her, Theresa could sense the concern behind her uncle’s dark gaze. At least the older men in her family were the type to worry in silence. Not so much with her mother—or her aunt.

Vanessa had hovered over Theresa during the entire visit. How was she feeling? Was she sleeping all right? Did she have enough to eat? Was she keeping up with her exercises every day? Was she pushing herself too hard?

All that was bad enough. Worse were the questions she couldn’t answer.

“What are your plans for when you go back to work? Your mother says you have an opportunity to go back to school for a career in hospital administration. Do you think you’ll start classes soon?”

Following the accident, Theresa had been put on medical leave. That time would be up soon, and although she would be able to get an extension, she wondered what would be the point. Would a few more weeks make a big enough difference for her to be back to normal?

She shut off the blow-dryer and ran a brush through her hair. She caught the thick mass to one side and automatically reached up to start a simple braid, but the dark strands slid through the stiff fingers of her left hand. Sucking in a deep breath, she tried again. And again, and again.