Silver River Romeo (Western Cowboy Romance) (Rancher Romance Series #1) (6 page)

              “Do you want to stay and have some supper with us?” Marshall offered. “We’d be happy to have you.”

              “No, thanks,” she answered, feeling a little flustered at the invitation. “I’ve got something cooking at home, I just...I just...”

              “Maybe next time,” Cole offered.

              When his dark eyes met hers, Emma felt a jolt in her stomach. It was so strong that it propelled her out of the kitchen chair.

              “Maybe,” she said, trying not to stutter. “Maybe I will. I’ve got to go now though, so goodbye.”

              She hurried toward the front door and then turned around. Leaning her head back into the kitchen she said, “And thanks again.” She didn’t give them time to answer before she practically ran out the front door again.

              “You interested in her?” Cole demanded once the door slammed behind her.

              “What?” Marshall asked in surprise as he opened a few cans of beef stew and dumped them into a pot on the stove top. “Am I interested in Emma?”

             
“Yeah,” Cole said testily. “It’s not a hard question, Marshall.”

              “I guess it isn’t.” Marshall stirred the soup, frowned at the pot, and increased the heat. When he turned away to get the salt, Cole turned the heat back down. His brother was too impatient and Cole had had one too many bowls of burnt stew.

              “Well?” he demanded as Marshall sprinkled in salt and pepper with a liberal hand.

              “Well, what?”

              “Are you interested in her?” Cole asked, raising his voice slightly.

              “Now, why would I come between my little brother and true love?” Marshall asked with a wide grin.

              “Why do you think I’m in love with Emma?” Cole asked, dumbfounded.

“I’ve never seen you be such an idiot around a woman before, so you’ve got to feeling something for her,” his brother answered simply. “Have you seen Darrell? Do you think he’s eating here tonight?”

“I haven’t seen him,” Cole answered absently. “It doesn’t mean anything anyway. About Emma. She just catches me at a bad time, all the time. It can happen.”

“I guess it can,” Marshall agreed. “Because it sure does happen to you a lot.”

“Do you think you’re funny?” Cole asked as he reached into the cabinet for some soup bowls. “Because I can tell you right now that you’re not.”

Marshall only shrugged. “I guess that’s a matter of opinion. It’s too bad Trish did what she did that day in the diner. All this would be a thing of the past.”

Cole nodded. That much, he knew for sure.

              Cole and Marshall got up extra early the next day to get the chores taken care of so they could get to Emma’s before noon. It was a good thing they did because there was already a yard full of horse trailers and a very frazzled-looking blonde woman in the middle.

              “Oh, thank God!” she called when Cole pulled into the front yard. “You got here early! I was going to have a little lunch or something ready for you but then they just started showing up and I don’t know exactly what to do...” she trailed off. “I mean, I know they need to go either to the pasture or to the barn. But that’s really all I know.”

              The brothers exchanged a look. It had been a few years since Raven Branch had been a functioning ranch. Hank had pretty much just been dealing in hay for the past few years.

              “Lets just take a look in the barn first,” Cole said. “It might not be fit for horses right now.”

              “I walked through it yesterday,” Emma said hotly, but she followed them into the structure in question. “It looked fine to me.”

              “This door is loose,” Darrell said in an undertone as he looked at the first stall on the right.

              “Hole in the feedbox,” Marshall pointed out from the third stall on the left.

              “Loose beam,” Cole muttered as he looked into another stall on the right.

              Emma wanted to cover her face with her hands as the brothers picked out problem after problem with stalls that had looked fine to her yesterday.

              “Now, don’t look so upset,” Marshall said when they were done. “There are some good stalls here too. How many horses are coming?”

              “That’s all,” Emma said, gesturing to the horse trailers outside. “I thought it would be best to start small!” she defended herself when they looked shocked.

              “Yeah, small is good,” Cole said. “But I think you could have gotten more than eight horses! Your ranch isn’t going to turn any kind of a profit this year if you aren’t going to take some risks.”

              “I thought I could sell the hay,” she said. “Isn’t that what you said?”

              “Yes, you can,” Marshall put in. “But that’s not generally where the bulk of a ranchers money comes from. Especially a horse rancher. You’ve got to breed, train, and sell. And, eight horses probably isn’t enough to get you on your feet.”

              Emma rubbed her forehead tiredly. “Do I at least have eight good stalls?”

              “Got twelve,” Darrell volunteered. “Want help fixing the other stalls?”

              “You can do that?” she asked in relief.

              “Yeah. I built my house.”

              “You did?” Emma eyed Darrell with an amount of respect that got under Cole’s skin.

              “By built, he means renovated,” Cole eagerly pointed out.

              “Massive renovation,” Darrell said. “Anyway, I can go to town and get some lumber if somebody wants to let me borrow a truck.”

              Before Cole could offer, Emma tossed Darrell her keys. “Just bring it back in one piece, cowboy.”

              “Sure thing ma’am,” Darrell drawled.

              “Hey, listen,” one of the drivers said. “I’m not trying to rush the lady, but we do have a pretty busy day.”

              “All right,” Cole said. “Let’s get these horses settled.”

              He and Marshall began leading them into the stalls that were structurally sound. Emma grabbed the reigns of one huge white horse and tugged gently. The horse moved along obediently. At least, it did for a few steps. Then it stopped. She tugged again and got another few steps from the animal but once it stopped that time, it stopped completely. She tugged the lead rope and it snorted. She jumped all over, barely holding back a surprised shriek. She hadn’t thought that horses were anything to be afraid of but now, to be in front of one and realize how huge it was and how totally clueless about it she was...it was a little scary to say the least.

              “You have to tug the rope,” Cole said helpfully.

              “I know that!” Emma snapped. “What do you do when you tug the rope and the horse doesn’t move, smart guy?”

              “Tug again,” he answered. “You have to let them know who’s boss.”

              With that, he took the rope and tugged a bit more firmly than Emma had. The horse trotted obediently after him. Emma gritted her teeth and went and grabbed some of the supply of food she’d ordered. At least she could do that right.

              Emma’s head was spinning with information by the time they left that evening. Most of it had been thrown at her by Cole.

             
“Not that stall,” he’d barked when she’d finally gotten a horse all the way into the barn. “You don’t see that beam?”

              “That’s too much food,” he’d said when she had filled a feed box to the top. “Horses won’t stop eating just because they’re full. You don’t want to come out to a barn full of dead horses, do you?”

              She had been forced to acknowledge that, no, she actually wanted her horses to live. She’d allowed him to take the bag of food and show her the proper amount.

              “That’s upside down ,” he’d informed her when she tried to remount the stall door Darrell had repaired. “See how the hinges don’t line up?” When she’d flipped it over with a half muttered swear word, he’d gone on to point out, “Now it’s backwards.”

              “Careful where you throw that tack.,” he’d cautioned when she heaved a saddle out of Darrell’s way so he could work on yet another stall. “You really need to get out here and oil it or you’ll be replacing every last piece. That leather will crack if you don’t take care of it.”

             
It had confirmed one thing at least
, Emma thought as she plunked herself down on her front porch swing with a much deserved glass of wine.
I do not like Cole McKenna.
Even when he wasn’t insulting her to her face, he was treating her like she didn’t know anything. Of course, she admitted to herself with a sigh and a long sip of her pinot grigio, she really didn’t know what she was doing so he had a slight edge there. There had to be better ways to tell her what she needed to do, though. It was almost like he waited for her to make a mistake just so he could correct it. That was infuriating. Maybe he’d stay home tomorrow and take care of things at Silver River.

              She might have understood him a little better if she’d heard his conversation with his brother as they did their own work after helping her with hers.

“You’re kind of hard on Emma,” Darrell said as they rustled the confused cattle into the barn. It was much too late for them to be headed in and they knew it. They were sluggish and recalcitrant, even for cows and it was working on Cole’s nerves.

              “How?” Cole asked in confusion. “She said she wants to learn. I’m teaching her. What’s the problem?”

              “You wait for her to screw up before you tell her what’s wrong. I don’t think most women appreciate stuff like that,” Darrell slammed the barn door with a sigh as he flexed his shoulders.

              “Are you planning to ride any this week?” Cole asked, momentarily distracted.

              “Was,” Darrell answered as he headed for his own barn. “Think I’m gonna sit it out until Emma gets settled in, though.”

              “Hey,” Cole called after his brother. “Darrell--”

              “No,” Darrell called back flatly. “I’m not interested in her. I’m just being nice.”

              “Oh,” Cole was momentarily relieved and then he became indignant. “How did you--”

              “I’ve been your brother for twenty two years now,” Darrell said, and even though he was too far away for Cole to see him, he could hear the grin in his kid brother’s voice. “Just because I don’t talk doesn’t mean I don’t listen.”

              Cole walked to the back porch in deep thought. Maybe Darrell was right, but what was he supposed to do? It wouldn’t be any better to correct her mistakes before she made them, would it? She’d probably just jump down his throat for him
assuming
she was going to screw up. It seemed that he might not be able to win with Emma Carson.

             
The next week was no better for either of them. She seemed to bristle and take offense to everything he said and every way he tried to help. It wouldn’t have bothered him so much if she’d done the same with Marshall and Darrell, but she didn’t. She listened to them and watched their work intently, following their movements exactly. The only times he caught her watching him, she was frowning. It was getting to him because in spite of all that, he liked her. He liked her drive to learn. He loved her desire to work just as hard as they did. She had gone to work mending the fences in the pasture with determination, even though she didn’t know a damn thing about it.