The Rancher's Mistletoe Bride. Jill Kemerer

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      Could she trust him? Did he trust himself?

      She continued. “The next question might seem forward, but I have to know. Do you drink?”

      “No.”

      She narrowed her eyes, her lips pursing, clearly unconvinced.

      “I’ve seen what it does to people and have no desire to try it.” He held her gaze. “I like to be in complete control of my faculties. At all times. I’ll take a drug test if you’d like.”

      “I’ll take your word for it.” She massaged the back of her neck. She looked tired. More than tired. Exhausted. “You’re not the first person to be considered for this position. I hired a man last week who had a problem with the hard stuff. What a disaster he turned out to be. Daddy’s right-hand man, Jerry Cornell—you’ll meet him in a little while—found him at noon on Saturday still lit out of his mind, sitting in the river in his drawers when he should have been working. When I called him into the office, he had the nerve to tell me not to worry my ‘purdy’ little head about it. Needless to say, I had to let him go.” She got to her feet and started pacing. “He’s fortunate he didn’t get hypothermia.”

      Clint strangled the hat between his hands. He’d worked with plenty of cowboys who drank too much. The fact one of them would disrespect her made him want to rope the jerk up.

      She spun to face him, chin high. “This is my home. The only thing left of my childhood and my parents. I have ranch hands and their families depending on me for their income. If keeping this operation profitable and in tip-top shape isn’t your number-one priority, you will not work here. It’s that simple. And, in case I didn’t make it clear, I have the final say in all ranch decisions.”

      “Yes, ma’am.” He could keep a ranch in tip-top shape. But profitable? He’d made a bad financial choice years ago. What if he made one again?

      She sighed then, her body sagging as if someone had let the air out of her. “I’ll take you out to meet Jerry. He’ll show you around and feed you lunch. When you’re done, come back up here and we’ll talk.”

      Good. She was a take-charge woman unafraid to be his boss. The firmer the line between employee and employer, the better. As long as he made wise decisions concerning the cattle, he could spend his days doing what he loved best—living the cowboy life.

      Working for the prettiest girl he’d ever laid eyes on.

      Living the single cowboy life.

      Pretty or not, no woman would want a man who’d been stupid enough to get swindled out of the one thing he’d ever wanted—a ranch of his own.

      * * *

      “Well, Jerry, what do you think?” Lexi sat on a stool in the ranch manager’s office adjoining the stables. The room smelled of dirt, large animals and burned coffee. Everywhere she looked, she found clutter of the male kind. Ropes, broken bridles, spray cans full of who knew what, stained papers and tools. Her office in Denver was painted the pale pink of a rose petal and smelled of magnolias. She missed it.

      Which brought her back to the three-week-old question...why was she still here? After the funeral, she’d packed her suitcase with every intention of driving back to her life in Denver. She hadn’t made it off the property before turning around, filled with the sensation she was deserting the place, the same way she’d deserted her father to focus on expanding her company.

      Where did she belong? Here with her memories or back in the city with Weddings by Alexandra?

      “Clint’s a good ’un, Miss Lexi.” The wire-thin man scratched his chin and scanned Clint’s résumé. “His former bosses paint him as a fine man.”

      She thought as much, too, but it was reassuring to hear it from Jerry. She tapped a pen against her chin. “Any reason you can think of why I shouldn’t hire him?”

      “Nope.” He rolled the paper and smacked it on the plywood counter.

      Taking it from Jerry, she uncurled it. Perused it once more. “What about the gap between jobs? It was four years ago, but...”

      Jerry shook his head. “A lot of cowboys have periods they can’t account for.”

      “Really? Why?”

      “Ah...well...these are lonely parts up here in this blessed country. You know those wild horses that run wild through the north property now and again?”

      “Yes.”

      “Some cowboys are like those horses. They don’t like to be fenced in. Something snaps, and they leave. Could be due to a lady. Could be a sense they need to move on.”

      Clint was the wild horse in this scenario, but he seemed quiet, steady. She bit her tongue. She’d been listening to Jerry’s parables her entire life, and they tended to meander.

      “Now some of the boys take their savings and go off and live awhile. Figure things out. Get close to the land and their maker...”

      It made sense. Everyone needed time to figure life out now and then. Wasn’t that what she herself was doing?

      “...but the restlessness clears up, and they settle down right fine.”

      She hopped off the stool. “Okay, Jerry, I’ll take your word for it. Send him up to the house when Logan brings him back.”

      “Will do.” He gave her a nod. “Oh, and Miss Lexi?”

      “Yes?”

      “The Florida fella called again. Wants to know if he can count on us for hay next winter.”

      Lexi tucked her hair behind her ear. One of her father’s pet projects had been to start growing high-quality hay to sell to horse farms and other large-animal breeders across the nation. He’d built the new storage barn in the spring and begun negotiations with various buyers. But the drought conditions coupled with low calf prices last year prevented him from purchasing the necessary equipment to produce the square bales. Putting up high-quality hay had been postponed until next summer.

      “I don’t know the answer. It will depend on the price we get for this year’s calves.”

      “I’ll call him and tell him we’ll know more in a few months.”

      “Thanks, Jerry.” She left the office, savoring the fresh air as she headed back to her house. Between the ranch and her business, there seemed to be an endless list of problems. For weeks, Lexi’s assistant, Jolene Day, had been texting her every three minutes with an urgent crisis. Two clients had called earlier with major changes to their weddings, and the invitations Lexi had ordered two months ago were still on back order.

      And then there was the ranch. Daddy had been the spine of this operation, and without him? If she didn’t find a take-charge manager, she would have to sell Rock Step Ranch. She couldn’t manage both, and she’d rather have someone else own it than let Daddy’s legacy fade to ruins.

      Just thinking about selling made her nauseous. This was her home. Her memories.

      As she reached the path СКАЧАТЬ