Dancing With Danger: Book 8: Dancing Moon Ranch Series (25 page)

"No, he trained himself," Billy said. "It's the best way I know to exercise the stock. Some breeders hook their bulls up to walkers, but since I can't afford one, I just turn the bulls out into the pasture so they can graze and buck and play, and after a while, I tell Diesel to bring them in and that gets the job of exercising the bulls done without a whole lot of hassle. The bulls learned what the game was all about from watching the cows."

Jeremy eyed Diesel, who was crouched on his belly, chewing the last of the pig's ear, and said, "Did you find his dog tag? There's no record on file of a Rottweiler. If he strays off and starts running with livestock he could get himself shot."

"He never leaves here, and I'll find his tag," Billy said.

She picked up a board and handed it to Jeremy, who slipped the hammer from his belt, took the board from her, and crouched to continue. "So," he said, as he nailed the board to the chute frame, "how did you come to find this place? Matt Kincaid, the owner of the ranch where I live, said the property was abandoned a few years back. Word going around at the time was that it was a write-off for a mobster, and when the Feds caught up with him the IRS took the property for back taxes. A neighboring rancher wanted to buy the place but the property was tied up in court and he thought the family of the mobster might still own it and didn't want to get involved."

Billy felt another shot of adrenaline, but for a very different reason, as she primed herself for answering a barrage of questions about a background that didn't exist. She'd done it before, and it was getting easier now, but she still found herself stumbling some, like trying to explain how she came into possession of a ranch that could be exactly as Jeremy described. But Mario Moretti's tentacles spread out far and wide. He knew everybody and anybody who was in the mob. He knew their habits, and where they were, and what they did, and even how they thought, so if the place had been owned by a mobster, Moretti would have known.

Focusing on her practiced answer to the question, she said, "A friend who knew I was looking for a place where I could raise bucking bulls saw it on Craigslist and gave me the phone number. I was a little concerned about buying property that way, so I had a lawyer check over the papers to make sure it was legitimate, and it was." Handing Jeremy another board, she added, "Once the house is painted inside and out it will be a decent place to live."

Jeremy wasn't wearing his hat and it was the first time she'd noticed that he had nice hair, the kind of hair women would like to have, dark, and shiny, and just curly enough to hold a wave, the kind of hair that might feel nice running through fingers. Which was a reminder that a slew of buckle bunnies had probably done just that.

"You look pissed," Jeremy said. "Did I say something wrong?"

Billy realized she was frowning, but she found the thought of women running their fingers through Jeremy's hair disturbing, even though she had no intention of becoming involved with him. "I was thinking about what all it will take to get the house ready for painting."

Jeremy stood and looked toward the house. "It won't do any good to paint it if the roof leaks and rain runs down the inside walls. That roof is so old, it needs to be stripped to the rafters and sheathed with new plywood before reroofing."

Billy looked toward the house. "If I win the lottery I'll put it at the top of my list. Well, maybe below the foundation work needed on the barn, and buying more livestock panels so I can separate the bulls for feeding, and jacking up the front porch on the house so I can close it in for a mud room, and putting a new roof on that." She signed, just thinking of all that work.

Jeremy braced his hands on his hips, and continuing to stare at the house, he said, "I suppose I could strip off the worst of the old shingles on the main roof and patch it with new ones to get you through the winter, but next summer you'd better start thinking about a replacement. The barn's solid enough and would go another hundred years with some foundation work and a new roof, but if I owned the place I'd bulldoze the house and start over."

Billy looked at Jeremy with misgiving. Repairing the chutes, and replacing the wiring and adding a circuit box, and offering to strip off the old roof shingles and replace them with new… He seemed determined to stick around, and she wondered why. Paying the ten-dollar fee each, to ride a few bulls, was a lot cheaper than spending hours of his time making repairs to a place that wasn't even his, unless he thought it would get him a ride on Wild Card. "Once I sell a couple of young bulls I'll have the money to get a few things done around here," she said, "but if you want to climb up on the roof and patch it some, that's okay, as long as you understand that—"

"Wild Card is off limits," Jeremy added, with a droll grin.

Billy couldn't help taking note of the grin. It was kinda cute. Jeremy didn't have frown lines on his forehead or around his eyes, or scowl brackets around his mouth. His was the face of a happy man, a man who smiled a lot.

Taking another board off the pile, she handed it to him, while saying, "That's fine if you want to work with the bulls, but for liability reasons I'll need a bullfighter here when you do."

"Don't worry," Jeremy said, while taking the board, "My brother, Josh, looks for reasons to bullfight. He'll come anytime." As he was nailing on the board, which only took about three swings of the hammer per nail, his eyes were on his hammering, but Billy could tell that his thoughts were elsewhere, which he affirmed when he said, "So, you found this place on Craigslist. Where did you live before?"

Billy was tempted to change the subject, but decided to just be done with all the usual getting-to-know-you questions, and she was well prepared for this one. She'd rehearsed it many times, along with the questions that were sure to follow. "Aberdeen, South Dakota. Have you ever been there?" she asked, before continuing with the rest of the fabrication.

Jeremy shook his head. "I competed in the Black Hills Stock Show in Rapid City a couple of times, but that's about it for South Dakota."

"It's nice there," Billy said. "I was born and raised on a small cattle ranch near Aberdeen."

"And your parents are still there?" Jeremy asked.

"No, my mom died when I was a teen, and my father died a few months ago."

"I'm sorry about that," Jeremy said. "How did you get into raising bulls?"

Billy shrugged. "When I was growing up we went to rodeos and I was always fascinated by the bulls and decided I'd raise bucking bulls someday." At least that was true, but in another very different section of the country.

After hammering in another board, Jeremy said, "Since yours was a ranch family, you must have a slew of brothers and sisters. I'm guessing a couple of sisters and three brothers."

"No siblings," Billy replied. "I'm an only child." She felt a surge of anger, followed by a longing to go back to a time when things were as they were, not as she held them out to be…

"I have six siblings," Jeremy said. "A lot of times I used to wish I was an only child, but now I'm glad my wish didn't come true. It's good having a big family." Planting another board against the framework and holding it in place with the heel of his hand, while also holding the nail, he said, while hammering, "So, why did you decide to leave all your friends and family and move a thousand miles away from home?"

Billy knew it was an innocent question on Jeremy's part, but it made her choke up some. She looked over to find him watching, like he wanted more than just a quick answer. Like he wanted the truth. Which, of course, was her imagination. Often she'd find herself reading ulterior motives into people's reactions.

Reaching for another board, mainly to have a reason to look away from his probing gaze, she said, "I left because of the cold snowy winters. Here, it's drier, so I won't have to worry about animals being up to their bellies in muck."

Jeremy set the hammer aside and walked over to where she was standing, and placing his hand on her shoulder, he said, "You know what I think? I think you moved away from home and you miss your friends and family, and that old man you're taking care of is replacing what you left behind. You and Bill need to come to the Kincaid Ranch and meet Matt and Ruth and their daughter, Annie, who's married to my brother, Ryan. They have a son, Cody, and Josh is there with his wife, Genie, so there's a lot of family."

For some unaccountable reason, tears filled Billy's eyes. Disconcerted, she batted her eyelids while saying, "I need to let the young bulls out to exercise." But when she turned to go, she spotted a black SUV coming up the drive. It pulled to a halt in front of the office, and a tall, dark-haired man in his mid-forties stepped out. He raised his sunglasses slightly and looked around, and catching sight of her with Jeremy, made no move toward them. He was wearing his usual jeans and a black leather jacket that never laid flat because of the shoulder holster and semiautomatic pistol beneath it, and in his hand was a folder, so she knew Mario Moretti had arrived with the fabricated transportation certificates.

TO BE CONTINUED
… Here's the link to Amazon:
Bucking the Odds

DANCING MOON RANCH SERIES

Prequel: Justified Deception

LIVING WITH LIES TRILOGY

Book 1: Righteous Lies

Book 2: Pandora's Box

Book 4: Uncertain Loyalties

Book 5: Becoming Jesse's Father

Book 7: Cross Purposes

Book 8: Dancing With Danger

Book 12: Sheer Combustion (early 2015)

Sequel: Finding Justice (mid 2015)

HISTORICAL ROMANCES

Colby's Child

Perilous Pleasures

Miss Phipps and the Cattle Baron

Her Master's Touch

Come Be My Love

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCES

In Hot Pursuit

Broken Promises

Adversaries and Lovers

Never Too Late

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, Patricia Watters gave up city life and now writes from a log cabin nestled in the evergreen forests of Oregon. An author with Harlequin and Avon-Harper Collins in the past, Patricia specializes in romance, and she invites you to visit her website and drop her a line. She responds to all notes.
http://www.patriciawatters.com/