Sleigh Ride with the Rancher
Autor
Stella Bagwell
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13
HarlequinChapter One
“Whoa! Look at this! One of Santa’s helpers is making an early visit to the barn this morning!”
Halting in his tracks, Colt Crawford peered toward the opposite end of the horse barn, where a young woman with dark hair and fuzzy red earmuffs was handing out food from a cardboard box.
From a few feet behind him, Colt’s older brother, Luke, commented, “Last time I looked Sophia Vandale worked in the ranch house kitchen. Not for Santa at the North Pole.”
Since Colt had taken over the job of barn manager for the Hollister family on Three Rivers Ranch, he’d visited the big ranch house a few times. But he didn’t remember seeing this woman during any of those visits, or recall hearing the name Sophia. But the ranch was massive, and even after three months of working here, Colt was still trying to remember the names of all the hands.
“Jazelle is the only woman I’ve seen bring food to the barn,” Colt commented as he continued to gaze at the female visitor. “Is this someone new?”
Luke faked a cough. “I thought you’d gone on a fasting diet. No women. No dates. Remember?”
Glancing over his shoulder, Colt frowned at his brother. “It doesn’t hurt for a man to look, does it?”
“Sophia is Reeva’s granddaughter,” Luke said as he proceeded to unsaddle the horse he’d been exercising. “She’s working in the kitchen with her.”
“You mean the house cook? This is her granddaughter?”
“Yep.”
Colt glanced back to where the woman was still surrounded by barn workers. Even though he could only glimpse parts of her, he could see enough to spark his interest. “Come on,” he told Luke. “Let’s go get some of what she’s passing out.”
“You go on,” Luke told him. “Pru fixed breakfast tacos before she left for school. I’m still full.”
At times it was still hard for Colt to remember his brother was now a happily married man with a baby son. The two men had been bachelors together until Luke had moved here to Three Rivers and found his soul mate. Colt was happy for his brother, but he had no desire to follow in his footsteps. No, Colt was content to be footloose, and he had every intention of remaining that way.
Colt led the horse he’d been riding up to a wooden hitching rail and tied off the lead rope. “Well, my breakfast was a piece of toast washed down with a cup of coffee,” he told Luke. “I’m hungry.”
The December morning was cold, especially for this part of Arizona. In spite of the infrared heaters hanging over certain areas of the massive barn, the air was still chilly enough to turn his breath into a vapor cloud as he strode down the wide alleyway. Obviously, the woman called Sophia had anticipated the barn being cold. Now that Colt was almost upon the group, he could see she was wearing a puffy red nylon jacket that matched the earmuffs.
As Colt worked his way through the circle of men, an older groom by the name of Riggs spotted him and waved. “Hey, Colt, try the cookies. They’re great. And the fudge, too.”
Colt gave the older man a thumbs-up for the advice, then inched his way forward to where the woman had balanced the weight of the loaded box on top of a hitching rail.
She looked around just as he came to a halt near her left side, and as their gazes met, Colt felt a wave of heat wash over him. The sensation almost had him glancing up to the rafters to see if a new heater had been installed on this end of the building. But since he was the barn manager, he knew everything that came and went through the doors. Besides, it was much easier to keep his attention on her, he thought, while the warmth that had generated somewhere inside him made a mad dash to his face.
“I hope the men left something for me,” he said to her.
She smiled, and Colt instantly decided she had to be a Christmas fairy. Why else would her brown eyes be twinkling and her whole face radiating a special glow?
“You’ve missed the doughnuts,” she told him. “But there are plenty of cookies, fudge and toffee left.”
Gauging her age to be a few years younger than Colt’s thirty, he noted she had coal-black hair that waved gently against an oval-shaped face. Her olive complexion was as smooth as the petal of a rose, while the warm brown eyes gazing back at him were set beneath a pair of delicate black brows and fringed with long black lashes. Her plush lips were the color of pink that lit the sky right before sundown, and to his delight, they were curved into a charming smile directed straight at him.
Colt wanted to tell her she looked as scrumptious as a Christmas cookie, but he clamped down on the flirtatious thought. Since they’d never met before, he hardly wanted to give her the idea that he was a sleazy creep.
“Get one of everything,” Jim, the head wrangler who worked closely with Luke, told him. “It’s the holiday season. We’re supposed to eat too much of all the good things.”
Colt chuckled at the man’s suggestion. “I’ll go along with that.”
Sophia handed him a napkin and a paper plate. “Go ahead,” she urged Colt. “Pick out whatever you’d like.”
“Thanks.” Colt promptly began to pile cookies and candy on the plate, while trying to keep his eyes on the sweet treats rather than her. “Did you make these things?”
“I baked the cookies. My grandmother made the candy. It takes a little more finesse than I’ve acquired—so far.”
She had a rich voice that matched the vivid colors of her hair and face. Colt found he was drawn to the sound as much as he was to her smile.
Finished with filling his plate, he covered the goodies with the napkin she’d given him and eased back from the rail.
“This all looks delicious,” he told her. “I know the guys appreciate your thoughtfulness of treating us with this home cooking. So do I.”
He didn’t know when or how it had happened, but in the last minute or two, the cowboys who’d been standing around munching cookies and candy had seemed to vanish to other areas of the barn.
As he glanced around in surprise, she said, “They must’ve all decided it was time to go back to work. I guess I should apologize for interrupting your day. But Maureen sent me down here. I think she likes spoiling you guys,” she added with another smile. “Uh, by the way, my name is Sophia Vandale. Reeva is my grandmother.”
He extended his hand to her. “I’m Colt Crawford. Nice to meet you, Sophia.”
She pulled her hand from her coat pocket and placed it in his. Luke was surprised by the warmth of her skin and the firmness of her grip.
“Are you related to Luke?” she asked.
“I’m his younger brother. Do you know him?”
“I only met him a few days ago,” she said. “He and his wife and baby came by the ranch house the other evening to chat with Blake and Kat.”
He grinned at her. “I see. Well, Luke is just as nice as me.”
She grinned back at him, and Colt felt the ridiculous urge to do a happy jig.
“Or vice versa?”
“Right.” He darted a swift glance over his shoulder to see Luke and the horse he’d been unsaddling had disappeared. However, several hands were already back to mucking stalls and filling hay mangers. On sudden impulse he said, “Uh, before you leave, why don’t we walk down to Holt’s office and enjoy these cookies together?”
Surprise and doubt swirled together and swept across her face. “Oh, I probably shouldn’t. Gran will be needing me.”
He didn’t know why he’d suddenly been struck with the urge to talk to this woman. Sure, she was pretty, and she wasn’t wearing any type of ring, but he’d been steering clear of women for a good reason. His life was stress-free without them. But what the heck? A few minutes with Sophia was hardly going to cause the roof to crash in on him.
He said, “Surely, Reeva can manage on her own long enough for you to eat a cookie, and Jazelle brought a thermos of coffee to the office earlier. It should still be hot.”
She hesitated for a moment longer before she nodded in concession. “Okay. But I can’t dally long.”
“Now you’re talking. Just follow me. But watch your step. The men try to keep most of the manure out of the alleyway, but there’s always a few piles around.”
She lifted the box of sweets and stepped to his side. Colt had already noticed that beneath the puffy jacket and black skinny jeans she had a slender build. But now that she was standing next to him, he realized she’d probably have to stand on her tiptoes for the top of her head to even reach the middle of his chest. Not that she’d ever be that close to him, he thought.
“No worries,” she told him. “I’m wearing boots, and they can be cleaned easily enough.”
Suddenly remembering his manners, he said, “Here, I’ll trade you. You carry my plate, and I’ll carry your box.”
“It’s not very heavy. I can manage. Unless you just insist.”
“I do.”
They made the switch, then started walking in the direction of Holt’s office. Along the way, stalled horses whinnied and stomped, while the pungent smell of alfalfa hay mixed with the scents of manure and pine shavings. Blocks of sunshine streaming through the skylights in the roof illuminated particles of dust and bits of hay flying through the air. Somewhere in the distance, the sound of a radio competed with a pair of dogs barking just outside the barn door.
The sights and sounds were as familiar to Colt as the back of his hand. His first memories were those of horses and barns and tagging behind his father and brother. This was his world, and though he sometimes visited other places, he never ventured far from his domain.
“Won’t we be interrupting Holt?” Sophia asked as they neared the door to the office. “I understand he manages the horse division and is a very busy man.”
“You’re right. He’s extremely busy. But he won’t be here until later today. This morning he’s helping his wife, Isabelle, with some of the mares on Blue Stallion Ranch. That’s her horse ranch—well, it’s the ranch she bought and built on her own,” he felt compelled to explain. “Now she and Holt run the ranch together. But you’ve probably already learned about the Hollisters.”
“My grandmother might’ve explained to me about Blue Stallion. I can’t remember. Since I moved here, I’ve had so much information thrown at me about the Hollister family. Sometimes I struggle to keep it all straight.”
“You’re not alone,” he told her. “I’m still learning who’s who around here and the names of their wives and kids.”
He opened a door made of heavy boards and motioned for Sophia to precede him into a large space with the same open ceiling as the working area of the barn. Both the walls and the floor were made of rough two-by-eight boards that had turned to a muted gray color over the years. On one side, the room was furnished with a wooden desk, a leather executive chair and a row of metal filing cabinets. Three straight-backed wooden chairs were situated in front of the desk, while a green leather couch and a small table with a coffee brewer lined the opposite wall. A strip of fluorescent lighting hung from the rafters and illuminated the desk area.
“Sit wherever you’d like,” Colt told her as he carried the box of sweets over to the refreshment table. “I’ll get us a cup of coffee. Do you take cream or sugar?”
“Both, thanks.”
She sat down in one of the chairs and positioned her feet toward the electric space heater blowing in the direction of the desk area. Colt poured the coffee and after adding the cream and sugar to hers, carried them over to where she was sitting.
“I put your plate on the desk,” she said, as she accepted the coffee from him.
He took the chair closest to hers and reached for the plate of cookies. “You came at just the right time,” he said. “I was needing a break. I’ve been here at the barn since five this morning and hadn’t stopped for coffee until now.”
He extended the plate toward her, but she shook her head. “Thanks, but I’ve already had a cookie when I took them out of the oven.”
“Then take a piece of candy,” he urged. “You need something to go with your coffee.”
She shot him an amused look. “What are you around here, anyway? A salesman?”
He chuckled. “Heck no. Why would you ask such a question?”
“Because you’re doing your best to convince me that I need to eat something. And doing a fairly good job of it,” she added, as she lifted a piece of divinity candy from the plate.
“Well, I believe everything tastes better when you have someone eating with you,” he reasoned. “As for a salesman, Holt is the man who does all the buying and selling around here. And he’s an expert at it.”
She bit into the divinity and followed it with a sip of coffee. Colt was so busy watching her, he almost forgot he was supposed to be eating, too.
“So what do you do around here?” she asked. “You help take care of the horses?”
“In a way. I’m the barn manager—for the horse barn, that is. I make sure everything is running smoothly and that the horses are well and have all their needs met.”
“I have a feeling you do more than that,” she said.
Her remark surprised him. “Actually, on most days I do a multitude of things. I even help Holt and Luke with the training. That’s what I mainly did before I moved here to Three Rivers—I trained horses for riding, roping, ranch work—that sort of thing.”
“Oh. So when did you come here to Three Rivers?”
He bit into one of the cookies and discovered it was delicious. “The first week of September. I worked on a ranch near Clovis, New Mexico, before.”
“I’m from California. I’ve only been here a couple of weeks, so you’ve been here nearly three months longer than I have.”
“Hmm. That means we have something in common. We’re both new to Three Rivers Ranch.”
She nodded. “How do you like it here?”
“Couldn’t be better. The Hollisters are great folks. The ranch is unbelievably beautiful, and my job is everything I love. What about you?”
Colt found himself staring at the curved corners of her lips and wondering if they might taste sweeter than the cookie he was eating.
What’s the matter with you, Colt? You met this woman not more than ten minutes ago, and already you’re daydreaming about kissing her? Better slap yourself awake, cowboy. That kind of thinking will lead you straight to trouble.
“I was expecting it to be great. But it’s even better than I anticipated. Working with my grandmother is the best,” she said, then followed her words with a light laugh. “People who know Reeva would probably roll their eyes at the idea she’d be easy to work with. She can be cranky and stern, but on the inside she’s a real cream puff. And she’d never ask me to do more than what she can do.”
“So I’m going to assume you like to cook. Is that what you did back in California?”
His question caused her to laugh outright and he looked at her with puzzled amusement.
“Was my question that funny?” he asked.
“It was hilarious. But you’d have to be me to understand. I used to be an interior designer for a contractor in the Los Angeles area. And I was drowning in work, I might add.”
He shook his head in disbelief. Now here she sat in a room that used to store riding tack. The floor rarely saw a broom, and dusty cobwebs hung from the rafters. At one time there used to be a window to one side of the door, but after a horse kicked off a shoe and the piece of iron flew through the glass, Holt had it covered with a piece of plywood. Colt could only wonder what she thought about her surroundings.
“An interior designer, huh? You mean you pointed out where a painting should be hung on the wall or a table should be placed in a room?”
She laughed again, and Colt was glad that, at least, he wasn’t offending her.
“Not exactly,” she said with a smile.
“To be honest, the only thing I know about an interior designer is what I’ve seen in the movies. I guess you’re probably thinking Holt’s office could use quite a bit of help.”
Smiling, she looked curiously around her. “Not really. Obviously the Hollisters are wealthy enough to have all kinds of lavish offices, but it’s clear that Holt feels comfortable here in the barn and close to his horses. And over the years I’ve learned that the most important thing is for a person to feel comfortable and at home in their surroundings.”
“Shows you how much I know about interior design. I thought it was all about making things look good.”
“Well, looking good can go along with being comfortable.” She leveled her gaze on his face. “So have you always been a horseman?”
He nodded as he swallowed a piece of the rich fudge. “My father carried us two boys around on a horse before we could walk. And both of us grew up loving the animals. In the beginning none of us made much money at training. It’s a trade you have to build. But I’ve always been a believer of working at something you love and it won’t ever feel like work.” He shrugged and chuckled. “Whether you ever make a good living at it is another matter.”
She continued to study him thoughtfully, and Colt wondered if she was as curious about him as he was about her. No. He couldn’t imagine that. Because right at this moment, he could ask her dozens of questions. He could sit here for hours just listening to her voice and watching the subtle changes in her expressions as she spoke. Her eyes said as much as her words, and he found himself watching the brown orbs even more than the movement of her lips.
“So does your father work here on the ranch, too?” she asked.
“No. He’s back in Texas and trains for a big ranch in Deaf Smith County. It’d be nice if he was here. But he’d never leave Texas. That’s where his roots are, and you know how older people are. They get set in their ways.”
Her brows arched slightly. “Your father is an older gentleman?”
He laughed at her description. “He’d kick my rear if he heard me call him old. Let’s see, I think he turned fifty-seven about a month ago.”
“My grandmother, Reeva, would call him a young rooster. She’s in her early seventies and considers herself still young.” She gave him an impish smile, then asked, “What about your mom? Is she into horses, too?”
Colt took a long sip of coffee before he answered. “No. She never was much of an outdoor person.”
“Was?”
He did his best not to grimace. “She was killed in a highway accident when Luke and I were teenagers. Dad never remarried. What about your parents? Do they live around here?”
With a slight shake of her head, she looked away from him. “My parents split when I was only two. Dad lives close to Sacramento. And Mom lives in LA. She and my grandmother are...estranged. But that’s a whole other matter. If you ever have a few spare hours,” she joked, “I’ll tell you about it. But it’s December, Christmas is coming. This is a time to be cheerful.”
“Maureen has sent word to us that she’s getting all the decorations ready to be sent down to the barns,” Colt said. “From what I understand, even the cattle barns get decked out in evergreen and red bows.”
She laughed softly. “I wonder if the livestock appreciate the decorations?”
He chuckled. “Since this is my first Christmas on Three Rivers I couldn’t say. Luke tells me everything is draped and hung so that the horses or the cattle can’t get their mouths on anything. And no mistletoe is allowed in the barns. It’s poisonous to animals.”
“It’s kind of dangerous to humans, too,” she suggested. “In more ways than one.”
The sudden need to clear his throat had him swigging down a gulp of coffee. “Uh...yeah. A person needs to be careful around a sprig of mistletoe.”
Was that faint curve to her lips a suggestive smile, or was she simply amused? With a line puckering the skin between her brows, it was impossible to tell. How could a woman smile and frown at the same time? And why did he find everything about her so enchanting?
The questions were rolling through his thoughts when she suddenly rose to her feet and dropped the foam cup into a trash can at the side of the desk.
“It’s been nice chatting with you, Colt. But it’s time for me to get back to the house.”
The disappointment that coursed through him made him feel like an idiot. He didn’t have time to sit around flirting—or he should probably think of it as attempting to flirt—with a pretty woman. He had work to do.
Leaving the chair, he walked over and retrieved the box of candy and cookies. “Let me carry this out of the barn for you,” he offered. “Or better yet, I can drive you back to the ranch house.”
“Thanks, but I drove one of the ranch trucks down here to the barn. I’ll drive it back to the house. And the box of goodies stays here,” she told him. “Once Holt takes what he wants, you might pass the leftovers to the rest of the guys. The food is a Christmas gift, and after you give a gift you shouldn’t take part of it back.”
He returned the box to the table and turned a smile on her. “I’ll try to remember that little lesson. And I’ll say thanks for all the men.”
“I’ll be sure and give Maureen and Gran your appreciation.”
She walked over to the door, and Colt quickly joined her.
“I’ll walk you out,” he told her. “And you can look at the horses along the way. Do you like horses?”
“Love them. But the only time I’ve ever been around them is when I’ve visited the ranch,” she confessed. “So my knowledge about them is very limited.”
They stepped out of the office, and after he fastened the door, the two of them began to walk side by side toward the west end of the building.
“Have you ever ridden a horse?” Colt asked.
She chuckled. “My last visit here I let Hannah—that’s Vivian’s teenage daughter in case you don’t know—talk me into climbing on a horse.”
“Yes, I’ve met Hannah. She’s quite a little horsewoman. I’m sure she gave you plenty of good instructions.”
“Instructions? Are you kidding? I was so terrified I could hardly focus on what she was telling me. Anyway, she led the animal around, and all I had to do was hang on. Fortunately I didn’t fall off. Because, let me tell you, from where I was sitting, the ground looked like it was a mile away.”
“You overestimated,” he teased. “Depending on the size of the horse, the ground probably wasn’t more than three-quarters of a mile away.”
Another laugh passed her lips, and Colt decided he could get used to the sound. It wasn’t an annoying giggle like the girls he’d dated back in New Mexico. It was a natural, throaty expression that he found totally sexy.
“A mile or three-quarters. Either one would break a bone. With my luck it would probably be my neck,” she joked, then halted her steps as she pointed to a palomino stallion hanging his head over the stall gate. “That’s a gorgeous horse. Do you ride him?”
Colt paused at her side. “He’s ridden only occasionally for exercise. His job is to, uh, produce yellow foals.”
She glanced curiously up at him. “Forgive my ignorance, but is there a reason you want that certain color?”
“Sure. People like them.”
She made a face at his simple answer. “Okay. Do his babies turn out to be palominos?”
“It’s still too early to predict the percentage of yellow babies he’ll have. Holt only purchased the stallion last fall, and at that time Luke hauled him all the way home from Reno, Nevada. His first crop of foals is just now beginning to drop, and so far two out of three have been yellow. That’s a good sign.”
She gazed thoughtfully at the stallion who was bobbing his head at the two of them. “Oh my, how long do mares gestate? Must be a long time.”
“Somewhere around eleven months and twenty days,” Colt answered. “Sometimes less. Sometimes more. There are a few mares who go past a year.”
“Hmm. A long time to wait and watch—and hope.”
The wistful note in her voice brought Colt’s gaze to her face, and he got the impression that she was thinking about something far different than mares and foals. But that was her business, he told himself. Not his.
“Well, you know the old saying about good things coming to those who wait,” he said.
She looked up at him and smiled. “And right now Gran is probably waiting on me. I’d better hurry on.”
Colt wanted to reach for her hand and keep her there beside him a few more moments. But he didn’t have that right. And she’d probably think he was forward. Frankly, he was beginning to wonder if his brain had gone haywire in the past few minutes. He wasn’t feeling like his normal self.
“Maybe we’ll run into each other again,” he suggested.
“Maybe we will.” She gave him a little wave, then took off in a hurried stride. As Colt watched her exit the building, Luke walked up behind him.
“For a man who’s supposedly bored with women, you seemed to be enjoying Sophia’s company.”
Turning on his heel, Colt shot his brother a droll frown. “Why shouldn’t I enjoy her? She’s nice and very pretty.”
“And from what Pru tells me, the woman is single,” Luke added slyly. “But I doubt that little fact interests you.”
Colt rolled his eyes. “You know, brother, I’m beginning to wonder why I ever thought I wanted to move out here to Arizona to work with you. You’re nothing but a pain in the rear.”
Laughing, Luke gave Colt’s shoulder an affectionate slap. “I just had to pull your leg a bit. Actually, I’m glad you had a visit with Sophia. She hasn’t been here very long, and I figure it will help her feel more at home to make new friends.”
“Well, you know me, I’ll do my best to spread a bit of Christmas cheer around the ranch.”
Luke laughed again. “How about spreading a little work around? Jim has Daisy Mae, the little dun filly, saddled up in the round pen, and she’s just waiting for her first ride. I thought you might be the man for the task.”
Colt tugged the brim of his black cowboy hat lower onto his forehead. “Me? The temperature hasn’t even reached forty yet, and you want me to climb on a filly that’s never been ridden? I didn’t expect you to be in such a hurry to get rid of your baby brother.”
“Oh, come on, now,” Luke urged with a taunting grin. “You know you like a challenge.”
The challenge of persuading Sophia to go on a date with him was more to Colt’s liking than getting his butt busted on the cold, hard ground. However, that twinkle he’d spotted in Sophia’s warm brown eyes told him she’d likely be more of a danger to him than the unbroken filly.
Buttoning his denim jacket up to his throat, Colt motioned for Luke to follow him to the training pen.
“You’re right, Luke. I’m just the man for the task.”
But as for asking Sophia for a date, he wasn’t so sure. For the past several months, he’d purposely avoided women and dates, and the messy entanglements that went along with them. And he’d been a happier guy for sticking to that decision.
Still, Sophia might just be the woman who could change his mind about dating again. And that was all the more reason he’d be wise to steer clear of her and the temptation.
