Silver River Romeo (Western Cowboy Romance) (Rancher Romance Series #1) (5 page)

              “I guess you have to do a lot of training too,” she went on.

              Darrell nodded again.

              “So you really don’t talk much, do you?”

              Darrell shrugged and Emma smiled at him.

              “At least you’ve got that going for you,” she said, turning back to Cole and giving him a different sort of smile. It was almost shy and one look at it sent his bad day to the back of his mind as nothing more than a memory.

              “Oh, you’d be surprised at the things I’ve got going for me,” Cole said without thinking about it as he stretched his arm out along the back of the booth behind Emma’s slim shoulders.

              “Would I?” she asked in a softer, almost flirtatious tone. A flush moved along her cheekbones and he gave her a smile.

              “Oh, yeah,. I--”  However, that was as far as he got.

              “Hi,” a saccharine sweet voice from behind them said.

              Cole cursed in his head at the distinctive voice. Darrell’s eyebrows went up. Emma turned around with a polite smile. Cole had a ridiculous urge to physically shield her from what was probably about to happen. As that wasn’t an option, he started talking.

              “Hey there, Trish. This is--”

              “I thought you told me that you weren’t seeing anybody,” Trish cut in with another wide, fake smile at Emma. “Well, Cole, she’s a pretty little thing, even if she is a townie. There was no need to be ashamed.”

             
Oh, she’s still got it
, Cole acknowledged to himself. That complimentary tone with just enough ice underneath to make a person feel a chill without being exactly sure why. Three allegations in a row so he didn’t know which one to answer first. Townie, that fake way Trish had said pretty, or the fact that he was ashamed of her.

              “I--” he started, but Emma broke in and spoke over his stumbling words.

              “I believe you’re mistaken,” she said firmly.

              “Oh, am I?” Trish asked in false confusion. “Then why don’t you enlighten me, honey?”

              “Where should I start?” Emma mused as she stirred her coffee. “I guess I’ll begin with thanking you for the compliment. You’re not unattractive yourself, you know. I think you’d be even prettier with a different shade of lipstick and lighter makeup but that’s just one girl’s opinion, isn’t it?” Emma gave her a wide grin. Cole and Darrell were frozen in their seats as Emma continued her assessment.

“For another thing,” Emma went on when Trish tried to interrupt, her face flushing a dark, angry red. “I’m not exactly a townie, although you should probably get used to seeing me around. I’m the new owner of Raven Branch. And, last but certainly not least, I only met Cole McKenna this morning so we are most definitely not seeing one another. As a matter of fact,” she stood up swiftly and gestured toward Cole. “I think you two might just be absolutely perfect for each other.”

              “Emma, wait,” Cole began, but she was already headed toward the door. He watched her nicely-filled out jeans as they disappeared through the door.

              “What did I miss just now?” Marshall asked in confusion as he came back from the bathroom, scanning the individuals left at the table.

              “Every damn thing in the world,” Cole said as he turned to Trish. “Good to see you. I think I’m going to sit here and eat now.”

              “Cole--” she began, almost apologetically.

              “Goodbye, Trish,” he said, making his voice as flat and as cold as possible, while looking down at the menu.

              Her face went pale and then flushed. Cole got ready to duck just in case things started flying his direction.

              “Justin Cole McKenna,” she began hotly.

              “Excuse me,” Margie said briskly. “But I’ve got orders to take here and I don’t need you starting trouble in this restaurant. Order another breakfast or move along, Trish.”

              Trish met Cole’s eyes for a second and he made damn good and sure she saw a definite answer in them. She turned abruptly and stomped away as Margie put her hand on his shoulder briefly.

              “I’ll be back to get your orders in a second, boys,” she said with a soft smile.

              “What the hell did you do now?” Marshall demanded as he took a sip of his coffee. “Do you know how hard I’ve been trying to convince Emma you’re not a jerk? And then you let this happen?”

              “I don’t know,” Cole muttered, dropping his face into his hands. “I don’t even know how any of that happened. It was just...” suddenly the full impact of Marshall’s words, or rather his accusations, sank in. “Hold on just a second! How is this my fault? You think I would have come in here if I’d thought Trish might show up? You think I would have subjected Emma to that? Is everything going to be my fault today?”

Before Marshall could answer Cole got to his feet. “I’m going to the bathroom. Order me some eggs.”

              He was so busy stomping away that he missed Marshall handing Darrell a crisp twenty dollar bill.

Darrell folded the bill and tucked it neatly into his battered brown leather wallet as he said, “Told you they were really done.”

              After that day, Cole didn’t hear anything from Emma. Actually, none of them did. A week dragged by and he had never been in a worse mood. In addition to Marshall and Darrell avoiding him, his own horse seemed not to want to have too much to do with him. It was probably that his level of tension made the big animal uneasy.

              The tension only got worse as the week went on. He couldn’t seem to do anything right lately. The cattle were unruly, the cattle dog, Pete, didn’t listen to a damn thing he said, he cut his hand on one of the scythe blades he’d managed to sharpen to a decent edge in preparation for haying, and he couldn’t even relieve his frustration with a nice long ride down to Raven Branch because Raven Branch was a big part of the problem.

              He wanted to know what was going on. Was she buying stock? Had she hired any hands? How was she going to get that hay cut and baled? Hell, did she even know that she needed to do it? Maybe she just thought it was tall grass.

              Cole also couldn’t stop wondering if Marshall was thinking about her, too. He hadn’t mentioned her, but that didn’t mean anything. Marshall didn’t talk much about his women. At least, the women Cole assumed he had. There had been plenty of girls for his brother in the past, but now he seemed set on finding a certain kind of woman. An experienced woman to help him run the ranch. A woman steady enough to live on the limited income a ranch provided.

              Cole shook the thought out of his head. That wouldn’t be Emma. She had a ranch of her own. Unless Marshall was planning to ask her to sell her ranch and move in with him. Cole chewed his lip. Maybe she’d give him a discount. He snorted in annoyance at his own train of thought. This was pointless. There was no sense in continuing to let her prey on his mind. She probably had everything under control.

              He walked back to the house for supper, squinting into the huge, red ball of fire that was the setting sun. That was probably why he didn’t see her. Emma squealed when Cole walked right into her on the gravel path leading up to his house.

              “Oh, God,” he muttered as he caught her arms, easily holding her upright. “I’m sorry. The sun was right in my eyes and I just didn’t see you standing there.”

              “I thought that was what the hat was for,” Emma snapped, trying not to sound rattled, even though he was holding it close against a very rough denim shirt and the very warm, firm chest underneath that shirt. “To keep the sun out of your eyes.”

              “It does. Mostly,” he said defensively when she narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you doing out here anyway?”

“I’m here to see Marshall,” she informed him as she pulled away.

“Oh.” Cole answered trying not to sound disappointed. “ Well, I guess he’s in the house.”

“That was where I was headed before you tried to knock me down,”

Emma said tartly.

              “I wasn’t trying to knock you down,” Cole snapped back as he followed her up to the house, reaching over and flicking the small lock on the gate open for her before she could reach it. “See? I’m a nice guy, Emma, I swear it.”

              Her gaze flickered over him briefly, but she didn’t say anything else. Instead, she just walked ahead of him up the path. Cole sighed and followed her.

              At least today she was dressed like a rancher. Or at least like a tourist in rancher country. Her clothes were clearly new. Her dark jeans were crisp and fresh, without so much as a hint of wear and tear. He looked down at his own nearly ragged jeans. They were as faded as hers were dark and he had a worn spot that was about to give out on his left leg.

Her tight jeans were tucked into a pair of brown cowgirl boots that were flat out too pretty to be wearing for what she should be doing. They had pretty pink roses embroidered up the sides and they’d been freshly shined up. Just to continue the comparison, he looked at his own boots. The dark brown leather was scuffed and gouged in places, worn smooth in others. There was also a paw print on the right boot from where he’d been playing with the cattle dog earlier. Her shirt was white, for God’s sake! There was red piping across the shoulders that drew his eyes to her perky, perfect breasts and he had to force his mind away from that and onto the fact that her pretty shirt was going to be sweat stained and filthy if she wore it to do any real work in.

              While he mused, Marshall had ushered Emma into the farmhouse and given Cole a quizzical look.

              “I’m coming,” Cole said quickly, stepping into the house just as Marshall moved to let go of the door.

              “How are you, Emma?” Marshall asked.

              “Overwhelmed,” Emma admitted after a brief inner struggle. “I’ve figured some things out this week, but...” she took a deep breath and sat down in the chair Cole pulled out for her. “I’ve got some stock coming in tomorrow and I could really use some help figuring out the routine. I’m not sure what the best way is to do things.”

              “We’d be happy to come out and show you,” Marshall said. “When do you think it’ll arrive?”

              “They said around noon,” Emma said. “Really? You don’t mind helping?”

              “Not at all,” Marshall assured her. “We’ll get there a little bit before noon then. We could also help you with hay, if you need us to.”

              “Hay?” Emma asked blankly.

             
Cole couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. He wasn’t laughing at her. It was just so close to what he’d been wondering about that it surprised him into smiling. Emma clearly didn’t find it so amusing.

              “I’m sorry,” she said icily. “I’m afraid I’m not quite as brilliant a rancher as you are.”

              “Take it easy,” Marshall said, placating her. “I know Cole wasn’t trying to make you feel bad.”

              Cole sighed. Now his big brother was trying to smooth things over for him. It was nice, but it wasn’t exactly going to help his image.

              “Anyway,” Marshall said, trying to keep his tone calm and civil and his face perfectly straight so she wouldn’t think he was mocking her. “You need to get that hay cut and baled so you have food for the animals in the winter. You can sell it, too. You probably won’t need much because you don’t have a lot of stock.”

              Emma nodded slowly; her cheeks red with embarrassment that she hadn’t thought about the hay. The truth was, she hadn't even been over every acre of the land she now owned. She’d only been in for a week and there was so much settling into the house to be done! She wasn’t about to tell Cole McKenna that though. He probably already thought that the woman’s place was the home. She took a quick breath and made her voice steady as she said, “So, it’s settled then. I’ll see you all tomorrow around lunchtime.”