Rebel Heart (4 page)

Yanking back, she turned, her determination rising. She refused to become emotionally caught up with some no-account cowboy who wanted freedom from responsibilities of building a future.

“Call me Shannon.” She cleared her throat, trying for a stronger tone. “I’m not your darling, nor honey, nor a half pint.”

He laughed and headed for the door.

“You know better than that, darlin’. Hurry out and we’ll ride the range.”

“You can’t. The doctor said no riding till your ribs healed.”

“He meant bronc riding.” Jase filled the doorway, his cocky stance brash and fresh. Except for the cast and the slight discoloration on his cheek, he looked fit and trim and raring to go.

“He meant until you got well,” she gritted from between clenched teeth. “I didn’t bring you here to damage your well-being further.”

“Right. We both know you want my expertise to help you come up to speed in running this place.”

She nodded, hesitated a moment. “You can, can’t you? Teach me what I need to know?”

He shook his head, amazement and amusement warring for supremacy. “You’re asking that now? Maybe you should have asked that before you invited me to your bed and board.”

“Not my bed,” she protested. Her heart raced at the image that flashed, both of them together in the big bed she’d bought a year ago. She slammed her fist against the table. She would not daydream about Jase Hart!

“An expression only.” His grin threatened to split his face.

“Bobby said you were the best all-around cowboy he knew, and a man could learn a lot from you,” she said slowly, getting her emotions under control. Running her hands down her jeans, she tried to soothe her jangled nerves. She felt as if she were on a roller coaster ride, thrilled, scared, anticipating the next dip or crest.

“Yeah, well I can ride and rope. And just to set your mind at rest, I grew up on a ranch in the eastern part of the state. I ran it after my folks died, made enough to get my younger brother and sister through college. So I think I can handle this place for a few weeks. But I meant what I said, Shannon. I’m the boss while I’m here. I’ll teach you everything I can, but you take my orders around the place like everyone else. When I leave, you’re on your own.”

She wanted to protest, to wipe that smug look off his face. But she merely nodded once, clenching her fists tightly. She didn’t know enough to kick him out. But as soon as she did, he’d be gone so fast his head would spin.

“Concerning the ranch, you’re the boss, while you’re here,” she agreed.

“So meet me in the barn in half an hour.”

“But concerning everything else, I’m the boss,” she said with steely determination. “And that means watching out for the health and welfare of everyone on the ranch. We’re not riding today!”

“Damnation! You are the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met.” He glared at her.

“Well you haven’t seen anything yet!”

They were in a standoff, both highly charged and ready to do battle. Suddenly Shannon relaxed. She stepped back and gathered the dishes. “There’s a ton of paperwork. Rod left things in a total mess. I would appreciate your help in reconciling the accounts, showing me exactly where I stand and what I can do to get through this time. I don’t have any money, less than two hundred dollars in the bank. I had to let most of the hands go and I know Gary and Dink would leave if they thought they could get work elsewhere.”

He paused. “I didn’t realize the full extent of the situation. Okay, let me check on Shadow then I’ll be back to go over the paperwork with you. You can show me the ranch tomorrow.”

She nodded, hiding her elation he’d been so easily sidetracked.

“But don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing,” he said smoothly.

Giving him a cheeky grin, she tossed her head. “So what, if it works?”

“I don’t need a mother hen. I’ve been taking care of myself for years,” Jase said slowly, his eyes burning into hers.

“I’m not a mother hen, but even I know if you do too much before you’re ready you’ll have a relapse and then who would have to nurse you? I don’t have time for that.”

“I’ll meet you in the office in thirty minutes.”

Jase walked quickly to the barn. He didn't know whether to swear about the woman he'd just left, or admire the way she stood up to him. Glancing around, he noted the barn seemed to be in good shape. The area around the house looked well kept. The house itself was sturdy. Large for a single person, but of course she and Bobby had the place together. Maybe they'd planned on a big family.

She didn't know how lucky she was not to have children in the mix. What if Bobby had died and she'd had a bunch of kids to take care of.

Shadow greeted him with a soft nicker when he reached the stall. Someone had already fed the horse, Jase could tell by the remnants of hay in the trough.

“Hey, boy, you settling in okay?” He rubbed between his eyes and noted the stall had also been cleaned. He had to meet those cowboys who could do the chores without prompting. Shannon might have lost money with the theft of the ranch manger, but she obviously had some good men working for her.

He walked around the barn, noting the fresh hay in the loft, the cleaned empty stalls. Through one of the open doors, he saw several horses milling around in a corral behind the barn. He wandered outside and around to the back to study the horses. There were six. Two came right up to the fence and stared at him. He patted them and softly called to the others. Slowly they ambled over. They looked like good, sturdy stock.

Returning to the house, he noted the bunkhouse a few hundred yards from the barn. That's where he should be staying. Maybe he'd move in later today.

Not that staying with that feisty woman gave her any ideas of settling him down. He smiled in remembrance. She could barely tolerate him. Man, she argued about everything.

Yet, he provoked her. He knew it. Why, just to see her eyes flash and the color rise in her cheeks?

It was a mistake.
Shannon knew that ten minutes into the session. She couldn’t concentrate on the ranch’s books and records, she was too intensively conscious of Jase sitting only inches away. She could see his every gesture from the corner of her eye. While she was supposed to be tallying the latest count of cattle from the different sections of range, all Shannon could do was watch his fingers dance across the calculator as he figured the feed usage for the last year.

She threw down her pencil and stood up, anxious to put some distance between them.

“Now what?” he asked, glancing up.

“I need the calculator. I can’t add all these numbers.” She’d always been great at math, but now she found it impossible to add two plus two in such close proximity.

“I’ll be finished with it in a minute.” He looked back down to the feed receipts and continued his analysis. “I can't believe you don't have a computer to handle all this. I didn't know anyone still kept paper records.”

“Well, now you do,” she snapped. She had suggested one to Bobby when they'd first been married. She used computer equipment all the time at the bank. But he'd said no. This way no one could hack into their records.

She had wondered if he had any knowledge about computers, but hadn't argued.

Now that things had turned out the way they had, she could see why Rod didn't want one either.

Maybe now would be the time to get one.

“Do you know how to set up accounts?” she asked.

Jase nodded, concentrating on the calculations.

Shannon wandered over to the window and gazed out across her ranch. A fierce pride surged through her as she looked at the grass all golden brown in the late summer sun, the endless acres that comprised her home and livelihood. She had to keep it. It represented all she had in the world, all that defined her now. She was a rancher. She never wanted to return to working for someone else. She wanted to make this small cattle ranch the best one in West Texas, maybe even the whole state.

And to do so she needed to rely on herself alone. She refused to let herself return to the position Rod had found her in: alone, bewildered, scared. She'd learn everything there was to know about ranching and make sure she did everything right.

Turning swiftly, she walked back to the desk and sat down. Attraction or not, she had to settle down to business. Clamping down on her awareness, she leaned over Jase’s arm and studied the figures he jotted down.

“Explain to me what you’re doing and why. You’re supposed to be teaching me things, not doing them for me.”

He sat back in his chair and looked at her. Almost absently he reached out his hand and ran it along the single braid down her back, his fingers tracing the plaits, toying with the soft ends that hung free below the elastic band.

“You can graze your beef from late spring through the early fall. But for the cattle you keep over the winter months, you have to bring in feed. I’m seeing how much you used the last few years. We can get an average and know how much to expect for the coming winter. You’ll need to see if you can grow your own hay in some of the fields to supplement what you buy. It’s cheaper.”

She listened to the words, enjoying the richness of his voice as it poured through her. He could probably read the cattleman’s journal to her and she’d find it entrancing. But the feel of his hand in her hair had her mesmerized. Every quivering nerve in her body focused on his hand. Over and over he trailed his hand over her hair as he talked. Yet he looked at her, not at his fingers. How could he know what he was saying when he was driving her crazy?

She jumped, her eyes moving to his. She’d missed the last thing he’d said.

“What?”

His hand stilled in her hair as he watched her with an intensity that shook her.

“I asked you what Bobby’s plans had been.” His eyes narrowed as he watched her, considering.

“He didn’t have any plans. He only bought this place that year he made so much money. He wanted it as somewhere to come back to. His real love was the rodeo, only I didn’t know that at the time.” The hint of bitterness escaped, despite her best efforts to hide it.

“So he left you behind.”

“Yes.” She tried a smile, but it was shaky at best. “I was an encumbrance.”

“So why did he marry you?”

She swallowed, wanting to look away, unable to do so. “I often suspected because he couldn’t get me any other way.”

Jase remained silent for a long time as he thought about what she’d revealed. Then he spoke carefully, as if cautiously testing the words.

“A lot of women who hang around rodeos are only too willing to offer anything a man wants.”

She nodded. “I know. But I wasn’t one of them. I didn't meet him at the rodeo, but at the bank. He found me different I guess, from the women he was used to.”

“Shy, quiet, in awe of the brash cowboys?” Jase guessed, his own eyes dropping to her lips.

She shivered as if he’d touched her. Nodding, she longed to end this discussion. It would cause nothing but heartache. She didn’t want to remember, she only wanted to make a future for herself.

“I can understand the appeal. You appear almost virginal even now. I suspect Bobby’s the only man you’ve slept with.”

Shannon froze. She didn’t want to discuss this, she wanted to learn about her ranch. When his hand slipped beneath her hair and cupped the nape of her neck, she leaned back, shying away from contact.

“Easy, honey, I’m not the bad guy here. I should have suspected something like that yesterday when you didn’t want to hold my hand.”

“I didn’t, you grabbed my hand.”

He smiled and nodded. “See my point?”

Shannon tried to relax. She wanted to appear at ease around him, not wired up so much she thought she’d explode. But it was impossible. He was too sexy and appealing. And she suspected he knew it, too.

“We need to clear the air, darlin’. I’ve thought all along you’re not the type for a one-night stand. Although if you invite me to your bed, I’ll give you all I have for as long as I stay here. But, honey, I’m only here for a few weeks. I had enough commitment when I was a kid. I’m taking these next few years for myself and nobody else. I’m not staying. If we make love, you need to know up front that there’s no happy ever after.”

She blinked, tried to draw in a shaky breath. Her heart raced at the thought of making love with Jase. She shocked herself with a flare of desire. She’d known all along Jase would stay only until he recovered. She was lucky he agreed to help her out. She wouldn’t be fool enough to set herself up for heartache.

“I can’t have a one-night stand, or even a short affair,” she whispered. “I’m not that kind of person.” She wouldn’t relax lifetime standards for a craving she’d never before experienced. He’d committed to stay for only a few weeks. She could control any wanton urges that long, surely.

He nodded, his fingers slowly drawing her closer. “I know you’re not. What you deserve is a man who would run your ranch for you and offer you undying love. A man who would give you a dozen kids and come home every night, not some fool rodeo cowboy who wants to see as much of the world as he can from between the ears of a horse. But, darlin’, if you ever ease up on those scruples and want a quick fling, you hunt me up, promise?”

His mouth covered hers.

His lips were warm and compelling. They moved against hers slowly, expertly and seductively, bringing her achingly aware of every fiber of her being. She longed to get closer. As if he read her mind, he pulled her into his lap, the hard cast bumping her for a moment, as he put it awkwardly around her.

Shannon didn’t even notice, she was too inflamed with the sensations coursing through her, rippling through every nerve ending. Heat built, starting low and spreading to her fingertips and toes. Her breathing became erratic, but the delight that fed her from his kiss overrode every discomfort, every other sensation.

Endlessly his kiss went on and on. Shannon returned pressure for pressure, stroke for stroke, taste for taste. And reveled in it. Slowly his words resurfaced and she eased back in his arms. He released her mouth, hugging her close before setting her on his knees. She could feel the strength in his thighs, feel the leased energy that banked down the desire that rode high in him. Touched at his restraint, against her better judgment she longed for more, but took him at his word. He could not give her what she wanted most.