To Court A Cowgirl. Jeannie Watt

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      Allie abruptly stopped the thought. The way her luck was going, the big barn would blow down. Best to focus on getting what was left of the small barn out of there and not wish for trouble in the form of salvageable boards.

      * * *

      EVEN THOUGH JASON had come home to be near his father, and even though he was immensely grateful that his dad was still alive, they’d already begun to slip into their old roles. Jason managed to keep his mouth shut in situations that would have triggered him in his teens, but he felt his patience beginning to wear thin. He and Max made a daily walk around the neighborhood, with his dad’s two monster Dobermans leading the way. On every walk Max directed the conversation to Jason’s future and the possibility of him working for Jim, no matter how many times he tried to steer it away. Finally, on a blustery Wednesday morning jaunt, Jason stopped walking, turned to his dad and bluntly asked him what the deal was. Why was he so hell-bent on Jason going to work for family?

      “Because business is flagging and you could help. And I don’t think it would kill you to do that.”

      For a moment Jason stared at Max. “I thought you were concerned about my future.”

      “I am. And my brother’s, too.”

      Jason propped his hands on his hips and stared up at the sky. Then he looked back at his dad. “You want me to do a job I don’t want to do in order to draw in business?”

      Max gave him an openhanded duh gesture. “For the family.”

      Jason just shook his head and started walking. “I need to think on this.”

      Max started after him and Jason slowed his steps until his dad caught up, so that he wouldn’t tax his father’s heart.

      “JD.” Jason turned and stopped, hoping his dad was going to say something sane. Instead he said, “Jimmy’s already got an ad campaign planned.”

      “Without asking me?”

      Max shrugged a shoulder. “You do the pizza ads, so we figured he could tie into that.”

      “How?”

      “We have this Jaromek look-alike—” Jason rolled his eyes at his former quarterback’s name “—and he’s going to throw car keys and—”

      “I’m going to catch them?” As if that wasn’t a lawsuit waiting to happen. Maybe if someone else parodied the commercials, they’d get away with it, but he’d starred in the damned things. “No, Dad.”

      “Look. You might have been the big man on campus for a lot of years, but you’re home now and you need to start looking out for your own.”

      Again Jason stared at his father, unable to find words. Finally he said, “Let’s talk about this later.” Because if he didn’t wait until his rising temper cooled, he’d say something he regretted. “Let’s head home.”

      The Dobermans understood the word home and immediately reversed course. Max didn’t say a word on the way back, and Jason didn’t try to make conversation. It was a tense half-mile walk and once they arrived, Jason went upstairs to take a shower. When he finished, his dad was watching television, the big dogs curled up on either side of his chair.

      “Hey,” Max said as he walked down the hall.

      “Yeah?” Jason asked, fully expecting phase two of the battle.

      “Kate forgot to buy dog food. Could you pick some up while you’re out? Wildland brand.”

      “Will do,” Jason said, glad to have a chance to make an escape. He still needed some time to work through this owing-the-family stuff. Jimmy was well able to take care of himself and if the business was flagging, it was because of him. People were still buying cars, but his uncle, quite frankly, was a manipulator. He scattered pennies in the parking lot so that people shopping for cars would think it was their lucky day. He wasn’t above pretending there were bogus problems with the cars people brought to trade in. In short, his uncle was shady in his business practices and he was not going to help the guy out. It was bad enough he was related to him. And honestly? He was pissed that his father expected him to do just that, in the name of family.

      With his jaw muscles aching, he got into his truck and drove to the grocery store, only to discover that they didn’t carry Wildland food. He had to go to Culver Ranch and Feed. Fine. He started back to his truck, stopping abruptly to let a car pass in front of him. He recognized the driver in an instant, even raised a hand, but Allie Brody looked through him as if he didn’t exist.

      And for some reason, that pissed him off even further.

      He marched to his truck and took off for the feed store, wondering if he could fit in another run that day to take off some of the stress. At the light, he caught up with Allie’s car. He saw her glance up at him in her rearview mirror before fixing her gaze forward again. She turned the corner, drove another mile, then turned into Culver Ranch and Feed.

      Good. He had a word or two for Allie.

      The lot was almost empty, but he purposely parked right beside her. She got out of the car and walked into the store. He followed, stopping just inside the door to get his bearings.

      “Can I help you?” the lady behind the counter called as he caught sight of Allie to his left, tacking something to the bulletin board.

      “No thanks,” he said. Allie’s head came up at the sound of his voice, but she didn’t move away from the board. He closed the distance between them, stopping a few feet in front of her. “Have I done something to offend you?”

      Allie met his gaze dead-on, her expression cool as she said, “Why do you ask?”

      “I don’t know...maybe the way you practically ran over my feet at the Food Mart parking lot and the way you’re looking at me now.”

      “I didn’t practically run over your feet and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the way I’m looking at you.”

      “Right,” he said flatly.

      She gave an impatient snort. “Maybe you need to understand that not everyone is a fan.”

      “Hey,” he said, taking a step closer and feeling a touch of satisfaction when her blue eyes widened an iota—not as if she were threatened, but instead as if she were suddenly aware that he was going to continue the conversation instead of accepting the brush-off. “I don’t deserve that. I never asked you to be a fan. I asked if I’d offended you.”

      She folded her arms and seemed to consider his question for a moment. “Let me put it this way. You’re the second rich guy who’s tried to buy my ranch. I resent people traipsing to my front door, offering cash and assuming we’re going to fall all over ourselves to sell our family heritage.”

      “Who was the other guy?”

      Allie’s gaze shifted and then she said, “None of your business.”

      “Is this because of Ray Largent? Because for the record, I had no idea that Ray was your ex-father-in-law. I came because I heard the ranch had once been for sale. End of story.”

      “It СКАЧАТЬ