High Country Hideout. Elle James

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СКАЧАТЬ said you have a son?” he queried.

      “I do. But that’s not one of his toys.”

      Angus’s lips tightened. “Is there anyone on the ranch who likes playing cruel practical jokes?”

      She shook her head. “No. It’s just CW, Jo, Tad and me. Sometimes my brother stays out here, but he’d never pull something like that.”

      “It’s not a joke when someone almost got killed.”

      She frowned. “I wouldn’t go that far. I was fine. I wouldn’t have been killed.”

      “CW tells me there have been some unfortunate events around here lately.”

      Reggie shrugged. “CW is an old hen. He worries too much.”

      Angus tilted his head. “Could it be you worry too little?”

      “What? So now you’re an expert on what’s going on at the Last Chance Ranch?” She glanced at her watch. “You’ve been here all of a couple hours and you’re lecturing me.” Reggie shook her head. “Unbelievable.”

      He stared at her for a long moment and then smiled. “You’re absolutely right. Please accept my apologies.” He set the bag with the snake aside, along with the previous conversation. “What do you feed the horse?”

      Reggie accepted his retreat at face value and responded. “Sweet feed. It’s in that container in the corner. Two coffee cans full.”

      Jake danced around the post she’d tied him to, his eyes wide, his ears pinned back. Reggie smoothed her hand down his nose in an attempt to calm the big animal.

      When he settled, she led him to his stall, removed his bridle and hung it on a hook beside the stall door.

      “Excuse me.” Angus squeezed past her, accidentally brushing his body up against hers in the process. A bolt of electricity shot through her, leaving her fingers, toes and other odd places tingling.

      At least, it appeared to be that the contact was an accident of the confined space. Surely the cowboy wasn’t trying to get close to her on purpose. After she’d pretty much told him off, what man would flirt with her? And for that matter would she know if a man was flirting with her? She hadn’t been on a date since high school, when she’d had what she’d thought was her last first kiss with her high school sweetheart, Ted. They’d been together all those years.

      Angus dumped the feed cans into the trough and exited the stall, brushing against her again.

      The sudden electrical surge powered through her body again and she hurried out of the way. Her husband had only been dead for a year. Surely that wasn’t enough time to forget. Ted had been her world up until the day he’d slipped at the edge of a crevasse and fallen more than three hundred feet to his death. A year ago she’d been living the dream, working with her husband at her side, her son growing up in the most beautiful place in the world. One careless misstep and Ted was gone.

      The past year had been an eye-opener. Sure, she’d helped a considerable amount while he was alive, but she’d also taken the time to be a mother to her young son. Tad had been four years old when his father died. He barely remembered the man, which grieved Reggie.

      Her husband, Theodore Alan Davis Sr., had been a good man, and she’d loved him with all her heart. From high school in the small town of Fool’s Fortune, they’d attended the same college in Denver and returned to help out on his father’s ranch. When Ted’s dad died, his mother followed soon after. They’d barely met their grandson, and Tad had never really gotten to know his grandparents.

      The pain had faded, but the loss still left a hole in her life. Until she moved on, it would remain.

      Seeing the new ranch hand move around the barn as though he knew what he was doing didn’t help. This was Ted’s barn, Ted’s ranch, and Ted had been the love of her life. Why then, was she attracted to a man who’d knocked her on her face in the mud? Angry at herself, she turned away from the man who’d stirred in her something she wasn’t ready to acknowledge. And all because of an accidental bumping of bodies.

      “I’m going to the house for a shower,” she said and left the barn. Better to step away than to continue to stare at the man. She’d have a word with CW. Maybe they could find an older or uglier guy to work the ranch. With that plan in mind, she headed for the house.

      * * *

      ANGUS’S LEG ACHED like crazy, but no matter how much it pained him, he’d die before showing even a shred of weakness in front of the owner of the Last Chance Ranch. Had he known the owner was female...what? Would he have refused the only job offer he’d had since being discharged from the army?

      No. He couldn’t. Who else would hire him?

      His muscles clenched, his gut knotted and his heart rate kicked up.

      Ranger nudged his fingers, reminding him to remain calm and to scratch his ears. The dog sensed when anger or anxiety threatened to overwhelm Angus. When it did, Ranger stepped in and nudged his hand or laid his nose in his owner’s lap. The contact and resulting calm helped Angus regain his focus within seconds.

      He had no problem working for females. He’d reported to female commanders. They were every bit as competent as the men, some more so. Then why did it bother him that Reggie Davis was female?

      Because when he’d turned her over on the ground and stared down into those startling blue eyes, he’d taken a hit straight to his gut. The woman was everything he’d resigned himself to forget. She was strong, yet feminine and sexy as hell in blue jeans and a cowboy hat.

      What woman would want a broken man like him? What did he have to offer? Crippled and plagued with PTSD flashbacks, he’d be more effort than he was worth. He wouldn’t wish himself on anyone. Especially not a lone female trying to run a ranch all by herself. She didn’t need the added burden.

      The soft touch of her skin lingered with him, reminding him that he hadn’t been with a woman since before he’d left for his last deployment to Afghanistan. Oh, there’d been doctors, nurses and physical therapists hovering around him for months, but that was different. They’d only touched him because it was their job, and he hadn’t been in the least interested in them. How could he be? Up until he’d left rehab, and even now, he still experienced blinding residual and phantom pain from his injury.

      His leg throbbed. He really needed to get off it and put it up for a while. He hadn’t had to stand for hours in a long time. Working a ranch would prove difficult at best. But it beat sitting around feeling sorry for himself.

      He found leather oil in the tack room and spent time oiling the leather on the girth straps and rubbing it into the saddle. The longer he waited, the less time he’d have to spend in the company of others.

      Fifteen minutes after Reggie had left him in the barn, a door opened and closed. He sat quietly, hoping whoever it was would leave him alone.

      From his position inside the tack room, Angus heard the shuffle of footsteps but couldn’t tell who was there until a small boy appeared in the doorway.

      He had longish dark brown hair, brown eyes and a pale little face. He must be the son Reggie had referred to, though he didn’t look much like her.

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