A Ranch Between Them
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Jeannie Watt
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Chapter One
BRADY O’NEIL GRITTED his teeth, mustered his strength and tried to pull his foot free from the boot trapped beneath the four-wheeler. No luck. His lower leg was going numb beneath the weight of the heavy machine that pinned his foot to the ground, and if something didn’t change soon, he’d be spending the night in a cold, damp ditch at the edge of the river pasture. Hello, hypothermia.
Cursing under his breath, Brady rested his forehead on the wet ground, and debated his options.
It didn’t take long to conclude he had no options other than to try to get his foot free. He was hidden by grass and no one had any reason to look for him. He could be there for a long, long time. A meadowlark trilled nearby, its melodic notes reminding Brady of better times. Times when he wasn’t about to die in a field due to his own inattentiveness.
He sucked in a breath, squeezed his eyes shut with grim concentration and once again tried to wiggle his foot free of his boot, his leg muscles burning with the effort. His foot moved ever so slightly and then...nothing. Brady relaxed his muscles, allowed himself a couple of deep breaths as he did his best to fight a growing sense of panic. This wasn’t happening. Not on top of everything else. He let out a choked laugh, startling the meadowlark into silence.
Until six months ago, he’d have been the first to admit that he lived a charmed life. He’d had some serious issues with his parents, but he’d had the Callahans to fill the void left by a mother more interested keeping her husband—Brady’s stepfather—happy than in paying attention to her son. Brady had accepted his reality early on, and built his own life. Amused himself by taking risks, just as his real father had done when he’d been alive. Enjoyed himself immensely, in fact. Narrow escapes had been his stock and trade for almost thirty years, and his ability to live recklessly and somehow dodge trouble had served him well during his years as a champion saddle bronc rider...and then it had all caught up with him. Today’s mishap was the proverbial frosting on the cake.
Brady reached for his phone, which he’d dug out of his pocket after the four-wheeler had hit the rock that started its slow-motion sideways slide into the ditch before it rolled onto his foot, firmly trapping him. Maybe if he stared at the phone long enough, he could will it into showing some bars. The phone’s reception icon remained stubbornly blank. He dialed 911, anyway.
The low rumble in the distance brought his head up.
Holy...
The deep throb of a diesel engine vibrated through the ground as the vehicle turned onto the gravel road that passed twenty yards from where Brady lay pinned by the ATV. Ed Cordell, maybe?
Ed had managed the Callahan Ranch until Rosalie Callahan moved to town a little over a month ago. Believing his job was in jeopardy, Ed had found employment elsewhere, leaving Rosalie high and dry, which was why she’d sought out Brady and offered him a three-month contract to manage the ranch until her grandson, Nick, moved back to Montana. Everything had worked out well—until today, anyway.
Brady had wanted solitude, but the downside of living like a hermit had been driven home today. Ranching alone could be dangerous. If he didn’t flag down this vehicle, he was going to be in a world of hurt. Make that a bigger world of hurt.
Brady grimaced as he twisted his body and grabbed the ball cap that had fallen off his head when the four-wheeler had lurched over, bringing him with it, even though he’d tried to jump free. His stiff leg had made the move impossible. Brady, who’d made a career of dismounting bucking horses, hadn’t been able to get himself free of the four-wheeler in time to save himself.
He got hold of the hat and stretched his arm skyward, hoping the cap showed above the grass as he waved it wildly, yelling for good measure.
The truck didn’t slow.
He kept waving; then, as it appeared that his potential rescuer was going to drive by him, oblivious to his predicament, he tossed the cap in the air. It came back down close to his head and he tossed it again. This time a gust of wind caught it, lofting it high in the air before dropping it back to earth well out of reach.
But the truck had slowed. He started yelling and shaking the grass next to him. It was unlikely the driver could hear him over the sound of the engine, even if the window was down—and why would it be down on a cold late-October day—but maybe the moving grass would attract attention. He flailed his arm, making as much of a ruckus as possible, then let out another yell as the truck rolled to a stop. The door opened, and he heard the sound of feet hitting gravel.
He swallowed dryly as his body went limp with relief, his voice sounding all croaky as he called, “Over here.”
The grass rustled and the earth made small hollow thudding sounds as whoever had stopped made their way toward him.
Rescue. Thank you, thank you, whoever you are.
He looked over his shoulder as the grass parted behind him and then swallowed a groan. Of all the people in the universe that might have found him like this, the Fates had sent Katie Callahan. Nick’s little sister. Who had always driven him crazy in a way he’d have never confessed to his friend for fear of getting a fist in the face. Not that he wasn’t glad to see her. He was beyond glad. He was ecstatic.
“I thought you weren’t coming home anytime soon,” he muttered. Rosalie had told him how well her granddaughter was doing in San Francisco and how it was doubtful Katie would make it home for Thanksgiving, which was a month away.
“Change of plans. Been here long?” She walked around him and knelt close to the ATV, sizing up the situation. She shook her head, her long dark hair shifting over her shoulder. Even now, trapped beneath a ton of machinery, he noticed her hair, the way the late-autumn sunlight glinted off the dark strands. Bad sign.
“About half an hour.” The pain in his lower leg was getting worse, and of course it was his good leg trapped beneath the heavy hunk of machinery, rather than the one that had been annihilated last May by a rogue bronc named Pinky. “Maybe you should go for help?” he asked from between his teeth. The McGuire Ranch was only three miles away. Surely Travis or his dad, Will, would be there, much as he hated to ask them for help. After all, Will had implied that if Brady didn’t go to college he’d end up in a ditch somewhere, and here he was.
“First I’m going to try to get you out from under this thing.”
“Yeah? How you going to do that?” Katie was small, but judging from the way her expression shifted, she wasn’t going to let her size slow her down.
She got to her feet and dusted off her palms. “Wait here.” She started back through the grass.
“Not funny,” Brady called. Once again his forehead met dirt and he swallowed, and then started working his foot again. An eternity later, Katie returned with a short thick-handled shovel, the kind one used to put out a campfire.
“You aren’t going to pry with that.”
“Yeah? I’ve been working out.” She turned the shovel over and worked the cupped metal end under the ATV next to his boot, getting a fairly decent purchase on the rock the caved-in running board rested on.
“Katie... I’m hurting. Maybe you should just go for help.”
She pressed her lips together, then bent her knees and pressed down, using the rock as a fulcrum. To his amazement, the machine moved, and Brady managed to move his foot a fraction of an inch before it came back down.
“Again,” Katie said.
This time he didn’t argue or try to tell her what was and was not possible. He braced his palms in the dirt, waited until the pressure eased, then pulled as hard as he could. This time when the machine came back down, his foot was far enough out of the boot that he was able to wiggle it, then pull it the rest of the way free.
“Never underestimate the power of a lever,” Katie said as she got to her feet.
Or a smallish, determined woman. Brady was amazed that she’d gotten him out from under the thing.
Katie braced her hands on her thighs and let out a breath. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Better now.”
She gave a low laugh, the husky throaty laugh that was at such odds with her delicate appearance. The laugh that had always made him think that she knew something he didn’t, which had both intrigued and alarmed him. She’d never been put off by the distance he’d tried to keep between them and a couple of times he’d teetered dangerously toward closing that distance. And then he’d remember why he couldn’t do that, and it wasn’t entirely because of her brother’s fists. Brady had the same wild streak his father had had, and he would not make Katie as miserable as Colton O’Neil had made his mother. Maybe if he’d had a more conventional father, then his mom would have been a more conventional mother...and maybe he’d have found other excuses to stay away from Katie. But regardless, he wasn’t going to hurt Katie.
“How’s your foot?” Katie stared at his sock-clad extremity. “Shouldn’t we take a look?”
“I’d rather get to the ranch first.” A shudder went through him, partly due to reaction, partly due to hugging the cold ground for so long.
“I guess so.” She got to her feet and held out a hand. Brady ignored it, putting his weight on his right palm and awkwardly pivoting his body to get his feet under him. It was the way he had to do things now. No more jumping to his feet. Or jumping period. He was at the point in his life where he had to let the four-wheeler roll onto him.
Katie ran her hands down the sides of her jeans, looking a touch self-conscious at having her offer of help rebuffed. He couldn’t help that, but he could explain.
“I have to move in certain ways now.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Yeah?” she asked softly.
He shrugged, not wanting to get into it. “Can you give me a ride to the ranch?”
“No offense, Brady, but that’s kind of a dumb question. What’s my other option? Leaving you here to walk with only one boot?”
“Point taken.” He took a cautious step forward and pain shot through the foot he’d pulled free. Great. He gritted his teeth, took another limping step; this time his limp was due to his bad leg, which was now slightly shorter than his newly injured leg. Katie made a move as if to put a hand under his elbow, but his expression must have made her think twice, because she took an instant step back. He fixed his gaze on the truck, which was way too far away, and continued through the grass, one painful step at a time. Behind him, he heard scraping noises as Katie pulled her shovel free—or attempted to. Finally, she ran through the tall grass to catch up with him.
“Shovel’s stuck good.”
“I know the feeling,” he said grimly. He could smell the fresh scent of her shampoo or body wash or something. Here in the middle of a grassy meadow, with a dozen other scents fighting for dominance, he smelled her.
“You know, you don’t have to be super tough all the time.”
He stopped in his tracks, thankful to have a reason to stop moving. “What does that mean?”
She made a face, then surprised him by plopping his rescued ball cap onto his head, pulling the brim too low. He tilted it up again, scowling at her.
“It means you can relax the attitude.” She pushed past him without adding more to the explanation, her denim-clad hips swaying as she walked through the tall grass. Brady dropped his gaze, concentrated on making it to the truck. Katie was waiting for him when he got there, one hand on the edge of the truck bed, her long dark hair now captured in the elastic he’d noticed on her wrist when she’d been prying him free. Without a word, she got into the driver’s seat and waited for him to make his way around the truck and awkwardly climb inside.
Once his seat belt was fastened, she started the truck, then swung it into a U.
“What are you doing?” The ranch was in the opposite direction.
“Taking you to the clinic to make sure you don’t have a broken foot.”
His hand shot out to cover hers on the steering wheel and she instantly hit the brakes, bringing the truck to a stop.
“No.” The word came out on a deadly note as he met her gaze. Her mouth opened, but before she could speak, he shook his head. “You have no say in this, Katie. If you don’t want to take me to the ranch, then just let me out here.”
“And you’ll walk.” Her delicate dark eyebrows arched. “Or die trying.”
“I can’t afford the clinic.”
“Are you drowning in medical bills after—” Katie’s voiced faltered before she finished her question “—what happened?”
“What happened” was why he was in the predicament he was currently in—working as a temporary ranch manager while sorting through his life, waiting for his body to heal to the point that he’d be able to get a more permanent job. The only thing he had left from his rodeo glory years was the lump sum of cash that his agent/accountant was sitting on, earmarked as a down payment on a parcel of land that would be his new beginning. He was just waiting for the legalities to be settled. The last thing he needed was to incur debt while he waited. The owner of the parcel, Abe Larson Jr., had agreed to carry the loan, and he was known to be a stickler for prompt payment. Abe Jr. would foreclose in a heartbeat, so Brady was going to make those payments come hell or high water. He didn’t need a stack of medical bills gumming up his finances.
“That’s not really any of your business, Katie.”
He’d hoped to squelch her rescuing tendencies with the blunt statement, but failed.
She gave him a concerned look. “I can—”
He gave her a warning look. No. She would not help him out in that regard.
“I’ll ice it. Tomorrow I’ll evaluate. I know what a broken foot feels like.” As well as a broken shoulder, broken ribs and a severely fractured leg. Shattered, in fact. “If it’s really broken, I’ll go to the clinic.”
“How will you get there?”
“Katie, believe it or not, I can do lots of things with broken bones. It’s kind of what I do.” Or rather, what he had done. His career was over, but in his glory days he’d ridden many a rank bronc while healing from injuries.
After a nice long stare-down, her lips tightened ominously, but she didn’t say a word as she eased her foot off the brake, drove the truck out into the field for another bumpy U-turn, then headed in the direction of the ranch.
STUBBORN, STUBBORN, STUBBORN.
Repeating the mantra made Katie feel less like smacking her passenger, who sat silently staring out at the gravel road ahead of them. She chanced a sideways glance. He pretended not to notice, but his mouth tightened, telling her that he knew she was looking at him and he was purposely not looking back. Not making any kind of a connection at all.
Fine, Brady. Have it your way.
It shouldn’t bother her. They’d never been all that close, even though she wanted to be, but he had helped her out a time or two. Laughed with her a time or two...left her wanting more a time or two. She hadn’t gotten that more. He’d mostly held her at arm’s length and she’d never figured out why he could be so friendly with Nick and her older sister, Cassie, but shut her out. It had stung—when she’d allowed it to. It had also irritated her, so she’d made it a point to never let his standoffishness affect how she treated him. If anything, it made her talk to him more.
“Thank you for the rescue.”
Katie jumped at the unexpected sound of his voice. “Not a problem.”
“I guess I’m lucky that you were on your way to the ranch.”
“Looks like it.”
“Why are you on your way to the ranch?”
She shot him a curious look. “Grandma didn’t say anything?”
He shook his head, but she read the intensity in his expression before pulling her gaze back to the road. He wasn’t going to like her answer. She gave a mental shrug and answered, anyway. “I’m on my way to the ranch because I’m staying there.” With no plans to leave in the near future. Or the distant future for that matter.
She felt him go still beside her as she slowed for a corner, the last one before the wooden bridge over the Ambrose River, which separated the Callahan Ranch from the pastureland they leased, the pasture Brady had probably been checking when he’d had his accident.
“I’m staying there,” he said, as if there was a mix-up.
“Yes.” Katie’s peripheral vision was good, honed from her daily walk to work through the city and a near-miss mugging, and she could see that he was frowning fiercely as he studied her profile. “We’ll be fine. The ranch is big.”
“Why... What happened to your job? Rosalie told me you were doing well.”
“Big layoff. I was one of the casualties,” she said in a light voice, even though she wasn’t feeling particularly light about it. She’d discovered that her dream job wasn’t as perfect as she would have liked, but she’d rolled with it, planning to put in five years—the magic number that would give her the experience necessary to move up the food chain at another firm. She’d never dreamed that the job would quit her before she quit it. In the land of sky-high rents, she’d yet to accrue much of a cushion. Frankly, she hadn’t thought she’d need a cushion, but she did, and what she’d managed to save wasn’t enough to support her while she looked for another job in San Francisco, so back to the ranch she’d run. And the closer she’d gotten to home, the more right it felt to have cut and run.
That was something she hadn’t expected.
Running home was supposed to feel like failure, but instead, as she put miles between herself and the Bay Area, she’d experienced a sense of relief, as if she were escaping something she hadn’t realized was trapping her. What-ifs and should-haves and important next steps faded into the background, and as she approached the Montana border she’d come to the startling realization that her old life didn’t have to be her forever life.
But you worked so hard for that life. Made so many sacrifices...
Maybe that was part of the problem.
She’d conditioned herself to believe that she had to make sacrifices in order to succeed, and if she wasn’t making sacrifices, then she was doing something wrong.
She’d wanted to be a gardener when she was younger. Wanted to have her hands deep into the soil whenever possible. Wanted to feel that sense of peace that filled her whenever she was tending plants. But watching her older siblings charge into first college and then careers in engineering and education convinced her that responsible adults built responsible careers, and following a passion instead of an official profession with a 401K and health insurance seemed irresponsible. And when Nick had left engineering to develop his contracting firm, she hadn’t really considered the fact that he’d left something he didn’t like so well to do something he liked better.
Now she was wondering. Was it possible that he’d been more in tune with his needs than she’d been with hers?
She hadn’t even indulged in hobbies during her career-building years. There’d always been a fire to put out, either in her professional or private life. Life was all about fires, and she knew that, but there were times when she felt like she was encroaching on inferno territory. Even yoga classes hadn’t helped—but that might have been because she rarely had time to attend. The instructor must have loved her—more than once she’d paid for six weeks of classes, only to show up once or twice.
She was tired of being on edge full-time. Tired of drama—a sentiment Brady could probably identify with, given the drama he’d recently been involved with. And the consequences of said drama. It had killed her to watch him limp across the pasture to the truck, and to slow her pace to match his when she could so clearly remember scrambling to keep up with his long-legged stride the few times she’d accompanied him and Nick as they worked around the ranch. And she had questions—or rather, one big question.
Had he really been sneaking around with the girlfriend of the bull rider who’d punched him out just prior to his last ride? It didn’t seem like something Brady would do, but she hadn’t been around the guy in a long time.
After the fight, Brady had insisted on making his ride, because there was an additional purse for the cowboy who could ride the unrideable widow-maker he’d drawn. She didn’t know how much being punched had affected him, but the horse had reared over backward four seconds into the ride and crushed Brady beneath him. So, fight or no fight, Brady’s career was over.
“So, you’re heading to the ranch to...” Brady’s voice trailed, inviting her to fill in the blanks.
“Stay. There are two houses. One for you and one for me.” She glanced over at him. “Are you living in the main house?”
“Hardly.”
“The foreman’s house is nice.” It was about half the size of the main house, but still had two bedrooms and a bath and a half. A big kitchen that Katie had painted and wallpapered when she was a teen, while Ed, the cranky ranch manager, had been on vacation. He’d asked for the kitchen to be painted, but he hadn’t expected cherry wallpaper and bright red cabinets.
“It suits me.”
Brady fell into silence, and after a couple of quiet miles, Katie poked the bear. “Do you have a problem sharing the ranch with me?”
“No.”
“Right.” He’d made it pretty clear that he did have a problem sharing and she figured it stemmed from all the stuff he’d been through over the past several months. Stuff she wanted to know more about, but didn’t dare ask.
“It’s not personal.” Brady straightened in his seat, grimacing at the small shift in body position. Katie wished he would have allowed her to take him to the clinic to be checked out. If the foot was broken, something would need to be done, whether he had good insurance or not. “I thought I’d have the place to myself.”
The tires clattered as she drove onto the single lane bridge. The lifeline to the ranch. It was just big enough for a cattle truck or hay wagon, but it was always a nail-biter driving over it in a big rig.
“Good thing you don’t, or you would have probably died of hypothermia lying under that four-wheeler all night. Who would have come looking for you?”
“Touché.” The word came out flatly. “I owe you.”
“No. You don’t.” She meant it. She didn’t want anyone, least of all Brady, feeling beholden to her.
Katie drove under the tall archway that marked the entrance to the ranch and her heart swelled. It felt so good to be home. Away from the stuff that had seemed so normal at the time she hadn’t noticed it was chipping away at her soul. Maybe that was why, upon receiving her pink slip, the third emotion she’d felt after shock and fear was a brief and quickly squelched twinge of relief.
After parking the truck next to the main house, she half expected Brady to bolt—or to come as close to bolting as he could with his injuries, both old and new—but instead he turned toward her and regarded her for a long moment from under the brim of his ball cap, giving her a moment to study him back.
He’d been good-looking in high school, but now he bordered on spectacular with his dark hair and green eyes. The planes of his face had become more pronounced with age, as had the laugh lines around his eyes. She doubted that Brady had laughed a lot lately, but the lines made her realize how much time had passed since they’d seen one another. They’d both aged, changed. They weren’t the people they’d once been.
“I’m hurting, Katie.”
The candid admission startled her. Brady O’Neil admitting weakness. Brady, who’d refused to go to the clinic. Brady, who’d never let on that his parents were not the loving parents they appeared to be. Nick had clued her in on that small fact.
“Hurting inside or out?” She half expected him to pull into himself after she asked the question, refuse to answer or deflect the question. He didn’t.
“Out.” His jaw shifted sideways, and he sucked in a breath before saying, “Both. Which is why I need my space. Maybe, before I go, I can explain everything. But for now...” He made a frustrated gesture. “Like I said, I need my space.”
“Do you think I’m going to try to mother you, or smother you or something to that effect? Because that isn’t the case. I’m here to sort my life out, too.”
There was color in his cheeks. This wasn’t easy for him, but now that he knew she was going to be sharing his domain, he was establishing boundaries. Like she would encroach where she wasn’t wanted. Although perhaps he had cause to think that. She hadn’t exactly taken the hint when he’d tried to shut her out when they were teens.
“What makes you think I’m going to insinuate myself into your life?” she added.
He ignored the remark. “You’re a helper, Katie, and I don’t want help. I want to find out what I’m capable of alone.”
“Well, we now know your capabilities in the wrecked four-wheeler department.” Katie instantly held up her hand. “Low blow. Sorry. But what makes you think I’m going to pay any attention to you at all?”
“Katie,” he said softly, “you rescue things. Puppies, kittens, leppie calves.”
Okay. So, she’d rescued a few orphan calves. Some abandoned puppies. A few kittens. Big deal. She propped a hand on her hip. “And that’s your big fear? That I’m going to try to rescue you?” She lifted her eyebrows in a speaking expression. “Like I did today?”
Brady didn’t bite.
Katie let out a frustrated huff of breath. “Fine. We’ll make a no-rescue pact. I won’t rescue you, again, and you won’t rescue me.” She lifted her chin. “Not that I would need to be rescued.”
He cocked an eyebrow and the color rose in her cheeks as she got his point. “I can now change a tire by myself, and if I get stranded after midnight, I have a cell phone.” And a lot more street smarts than she’d had back in the day.
“How about instead of a pact, you treat me like Ed Cordell? An employee of the ranch.”
Ed, the former ranch manager, had kept to himself, did his job and did it well. He’d been all business, and Katie had never been able to warm up to the man. But he’d kept the ranch running smoothly, she’d give him that.
“If you’re asking me to treat you like Ed, you’re serious about this leave-you-alone thing.”
“It’s not personal, Katie,” he repeated. “It’s what I need right now.”
Katie lifted her chin. “If you need to be left alone, I’ll respect your wishes. Believe it or not, I no longer need to tag along where I’m not wanted. I’ve changed over the past decade.”
“I noticed.”
She frowned at the unexpected remark, but before she could come up with a comeback or a question, Brady held out a hand. Katie stared at it for a second, feeling as if she was teetering on the brink of something dangerous, which was crazy because how dangerous could it be shaking hands with a guy who didn’t want her—or anyone for that matter—around? She resolutely put her hand in his, her nerves jumping as his warm, work-roughened palm made contact with hers and his fingers closed.
“Deal?”
Katie nodded briskly before pulling her fingers free. “Deal.” She felt as if she’d just gotten a slow-motion electrical shock. That was the only way she could describe the tingle that gripped her body when they made contact, ultimately making her stomach tumble.
The vestiges of a crush from the distant past. That was all it was.
She reached for her door handle, her heart beating harder than before, and still feeling the warmth of his fingers on hers. She pushed her hands into her back pockets and met Brady’s gaze. “This is where we go our separate ways, living our parallel lives on the Callahan Ranch?”
He gave his head a slow shake, those mossy green eyes full of an emotion she couldn’t quite read as he said, “I doubt we’ll be able to do that, but when we do meet—”
“You’re Ed to me.”
