* * * * *
The next two weeks were much of the same, Colt calling her in the wee hours of the morning. He always started the day with her pitching hay for the horses. Various jobs always needed tending to. Checking on the livestock, moving them to other land to graze, administering medicine and vitamins to the animals, etc. After the fourth day, Elise once again found her way into Nan’s kitchen.
“What can I get you, Elise?” Nan called out in her booming voice.
“How about some time to get work done in the office?” Elise quipped as she pulled open the fridge and poured herself a glass of lemonade.
“Colt’s running you ragged, hmmm. Are you hiding out?” Nan teased.
Elise looked up from her glass and gave a conspiratorial smile. “Shh, don’t tell anyone.”
Nan winked at her. “Well, truth be told, I’ve had more ranch hands in here in the early morning time than usual myself.”
“Oh, really?” Elise raised an eyebrow.
“Sure, since you’re doing their work, they’ve decided to stop in for coffee these past couple of weeks.”
Elise slowly lowered her glass. “
I’m
doing
their
work?” she spoke slowly so as not to scream in frustration.
Nan looked back down and began peeling potatoes once more. “That’s what I said.”
Outrage filled her as Elise picked up her glass and walked outside. She wasn’t angry at having to do the work, heck it was the best way to learn. No, she was angry at the underhanded way Colt had approached it. Taking a deep, calming breath, she eyed one of the rocking chairs on the porch.
Ever since her first day on the Lonestar, when she’d spied the rocking chairs moving in the wind on the front porch of the main ranch house, she’d wanted to sit and relax for a bit. Finally she did what she’d been wanting to do. She pulled over a rocking chair close to the railing, propped her boots up on it and leaned back to sip her glass of lemonade.
Her anger diminished as she let her gaze scan the ranch. It was such a welcoming sight. The office was painted white and set off to the right of the main house. The stables were their natural brown color and the barn, painted a deep burgundy with a hunter green roof, stood off next to the stables. But the main ranch house was the most inviting. Painted white with hunter green shutters, the main house had a long front porch with several rocking chairs, a hammock on one far corner and a porch swing on the other. She’d really come to like the Lonestar, well, minus her lowdown, underhanded, slave-driver partner, she mused as her thoughts returned to Colt.
Relaxing low in the chair, she made sure to pull her hat down over her face so it looked like she was sleeping. Just let Colt say “boo” to her! Grrrr! After a half an hour of sitting and brooding, boredom took over. She started to get up and go back to the office when she heard someone walking with purposeful steps across the porch toward her.
Before she could prepare herself, her feet were swept off the porch railing to land with a loud thump on the wooden floor. She pulled her hat off her head and glared up at Colt.
“What’re you doing lazin’, Elise?” Colt demanded. “There are plenty of things to do around here. If you don’t have enough to do, I’ll be glad to find you something.”
She looked up at him, letting the rebellion she felt reflect in her gaze. “I’m taking a much-needed break.”
Colt gave her a hard look. “A break?”
She sat back in her chair and put her hat back on her head, staring pointedly at him. “Yes, seeing as how I was doing the work of several of the ranch hands while they leisured over breakfast, I felt I deserved an hour to myself.”
Silence greeted her. Colt’s jaw started ticcing again. Good. Let him be mad. The rat!
“You need to know what ranch life is like.” His stubborn expression told her he wasn’t about to apologize for his subterfuge. He picked up her hand and turned it over. The blisters on the palms of her hands had started to heal. He ran his thumb across the small scar that had formed on her wrist from the barbed wire. His brief touch sent shock waves radiating through her arm. Her stomach fluttered when he pressed his thumb against her pulse and met her gaze. “Ranching is a way of life, Elise. It’s not a nine-to-five job.”
Elise jerked her hand away from his heated touch. She was annoyed with him. She didn’t want to feel anything else at the moment but anger, certainly not desire.
“I know that. And as mad as I am at you right now, I appreciate the lesson.”
Realization at his motives dawned. “And that is what it was, right? A way to try to get me to leave?” Colt didn’t bother to answer. His silence spoke volumes.
Elise looked out over the plains. She knew her eyes held a stubborn glint. “Well, I’m not going anywhere, Colt. What I have learned will come in handy.” She turned and locked eyes with his. “When I’m needed to pitch in, I’ll be right there with the best of them.”
* * * * *
Colt walked away from Elise, noting the obstinate tilt of her chin, the determination in her eyes. The woman was serious. She had no intention of going anywhere.
Now
what was he going to do with her? He knew what he wanted to do with her, but it involved getting up close and personal and that’s the last thing he needed. He rubbed the back of his neck in pent-up frustration at the fireball sitting on his porch.
Chapter Three
Elise arrived at work early the next morning. She awoke at the same time she had the prior two weeks and couldn’t go back to sleep. So she got up, showered and headed for the ranch. As she pulled into the parking lot, Colt was leaning against his truck with a horse trailer hooked to the back of it.
She hopped out of her car, said a merry, “Good morning” to him and walked past him toward the office.
Colt put a hand on her arm. “Where are you going?” He raised an eyebrow.
Elise cocked her own eyebrow at the hand on her arm. “I’m going to work on the website.”
“No, you’re coming with me.”
She sighed. She didn’t mind learning with the best of them, but not when it seemed to be more about a battle of wills than learning for learning’s sake. “No more lessons, Colt. I’m all tapped out right now.”
Colt dropped his hand from her arm and as she turned to go, he continued, “Suit yourself. I thought you might like to go to a horse auction with me.”
Elise stopped dead in her tracks. A horse auction? She turned back to face him. “Now
that
I wouldn’t mind doing.” She noted his satisfied grin and chose to ignore it as she rounded to the passenger side of his truck.
Climbing in, she snapped the seatbelt around her. He was in the process of getting in the truck when she said in an impatient tone, “Let’s go, Colt.”
Colt laughed at her exuberance.
He started the truck and headed down the long drive. Once he turned out of the drive, he leaned over and picked up his cup of coffee from the coffee holder, taking a sip.
The smell of the fresh roasted coffee beans permeated her senses. Elise inhaled, enjoying the aroma. “Man, that smells good. I planned to have a cup at the office.”
A grin rode up his face and he handed her his cup. “Here, knock yourself out.”
Elise gave him a grateful smile as she took the cup from him, her fingers brushing his. Her heart sped up to a rapid pace as he held fast until she had a firm hold of it. Elise put the cup to her nose and inhaled before she took a long sip. She looked over at Colt. His eyes held an intense look as he glanced over while she drank from his cup. She knew he thought the same thing she did. How could drinking after someone seem so innocent yet so intimate?
She handed the cup back to him with a small smile on her lips. He took a sip and handed it back to her, giving her a heated look before he fixed his gaze back on the road. Just like the coffee warming her mouth and throat, her insides started to melt at the look he just gave her. Her breasts tingled and her stomach tensed when his gaze had briefly dropped to her lips, then her chest before returning to the road once more. The silence in the vehicle became way too intimate. As Elise lifted the cup to her lips, she asked, “So, how often do you go to the horse auction?”
He kept his gaze on the road and answered, “Four times a year.”
“I thought you bred your broncs.”
“Sometimes we do. Most of the time, it’s easier to buy to fill in the gaps where our stock is weakest.”
Elise nodded in understanding.
“What did you do before you came to Texas?” Colt asked her out of the blue.
Surprise he asked, she answered, “I worked for a start-up dot com company.” She gave a wry smile. “One that’s still doing very well.”
“Why’d you leave? Why come all the way to Texas?”
Elise shrugged. “I have no ties to Virginia, other than my parents. When this opportunity came along, I jumped on it.”
Colt flicked his gaze her way, curiosity reflected in his steel blue gaze. “Why?”
“I don’t know. I guess I wanted a chance to be a part of something. To be involved with something that doesn’t have anything to do with my dad’s money or his influence.” She smiled. “Plus, I get to spend as much time outdoors and with horses as I want.”
Colt laughed at her thumb-her-nose attitude. “I take it your parents didn’t approve of your love of horses?”
Elise looked at the road ahead of them. “They were fine with it when I was young.” She didn’t elaborate any further and was thankful Colt didn’t ask because they had arrived at their destination.
Once he turned the truck into the driveway of the horse auction, she hopped out and followed him over to the makeshift pens that held horses up for auction.
“Are pleasure horses sold here as well?” she asked. She had to walk at a brisk pace to keep up with his long strides.
“Yes, they’re sold here,” Colt replied absently.
When they arrived at the pens, Elise listened as Colt asked to see some of the latest stock and their bucking action. After he picked out a couple of horses, the man saddled one of them. As Colt moved toward the chute and pulled on a glove he had in his back pocket, Elise grabbed his arm, her heart racing. “You aren’t going to ride him, are you?”
He flashed her a devilish smile. “How else am I going to find out if he’s rank enough to be in my rodeo?”
Elise sighed and let go of his arm, though apprehension still gripped her. Colt knew what he was doing. This was his way of life, she reminded herself, trying to breathe through the tightness in her chest. She watched him move around to the chute to settle himself on the horse. Once he was seated and had the rope securely gripped, he nodded to the men and the gate opened.
Elise’s heart stopped in her chest as the horse shot out of the chute and did its best to buck Colt off. Watching him on the back of that horse was like a symphony in motion. His body was so in tune as if he knew just which way the horse planned to buck. It was over in a matter of seconds when Colt loosened the rope and jumped off the bucking horse to land on his feet.
Elise gave a sigh of relief that he survived, but her heart sped back up when he pointed to the other horse he had picked out, entered the chute once more and climbed on the new horse.
This time as the gate opened, she noted an immediate difference in the bucking action of this bronc. He snorted, moved in a more haphazard, unpredictable manner, and was basically as mean and ornery as he could be. Colt stayed on, but it was a battle. He didn’t jump off easily this time. He landed on his side and rolled away from the bucking horse’s hooves. When he jumped up grinning, Elise wanted to shake him at how very close he came to getting hurt.
When Colt moved out of the fence to stand beside her, he said with a grin, “That’s the one I want.”
She couldn’t help but ask, “Let me guess, the more ‘rank’ the better?”
He tapped her upturned nose with the tip of his finger. “You’re catching on, Princess. As the owner, it’s my job to provide the most challenging stock for the rodeo.”
“Just don’t expect me to ever do that,” she mumbled. Colt laughed outright at her expression. While he attended the auction, Elise walked around for a while until she saw a beautiful horse that drew her gaze—an all black mare.
Elise approached slowly and reached up to rub the horse’s nose. The animal had a jagged white streak between her eyes. It was the only patch of color on her otherwise all black flesh. As she spoke to the horse, she looked up to see a tall man approach, his blond hair peeking out from underneath his black cowboy hat.
“You make a perfect match.” His sexy smile showed perfect white teeth.
Elise laughed. “I wasn’t planning on buying today.”
The man cocked his head to the side and put his hand out. “Name’s Josh Kelly. You’re not from around here, are you?”
She shook his hand and smiled. “Let me guess, my accent gave me away.”
He winked at her and grinned, tipping his hat with his fingers. “Yep.”
“I’m new in town, yes,” Elise answered his question as she shook his hand. “My name’s Elise Hamilton. I’m part owner of the Lonestar.”
“Ah, so that’s the way the wind is blowing.” His teal green gaze amused as he released her hand. “We’re neighbors. My family’s ranch, The Double K, borders the Lonestar land.”
“Uncle Josh, Uncle Josh. Did you see Colt riding that bronc?” A blond-headed boy, about ten years old, came running up.
Josh looked down at his nephew with a smile on his face. “No, Ben, but I’m sure it was a sight to see.”
“Ready to go, Elise?” Colt walked up. When he stood a little closer to her than usual, she gave him a curious look.
“Colt! “ Ben said, his voice all excited, “That was sooome great ridin’.”
“Thanks, Ben,” Colt grinned down at the boy as he ruffled his hair. “We should have some stock coming back from the rodeo later this week. Stop by for a visit.”
Ben turned hopeful eyes to Josh. Josh chuckled. “You have to ask your momma and daddy, Ben.”
The boy turned and ran off calling his parents’ names. Josh turned to Colt. “You shouldn’t encourage him, Colt. His parents don’t want him to rodeo.”
Colt shrugged. “He’s a kid. Kids like to be entertained.”
Even though they spoke in a friendly manner, Elise could sense some undercurrents of tension between the two men.
Josh addressed Colt once more, “I heard you gave Earl one of your bulls. We could’ve used another bull.”
Colt raised his eyebrow. “I traded a bull for an exceptional bronc with the option to buy first offspring of that bull at a cheap price, Josh. It was a business transaction.”
Josh eyed Colt, his look assessing before he turned his attention back to Elise. “Since you’re new in town, Elise, I’d like to invite you to the Fireman’s Local Charity Dance tomorrow night.”
“Really? That sounds like fun,” Elise said.
“What time can I pick you up?” Josh asked.
“I’ll bring Elise,” Colt answered for her.
Elise noticed the sharp look Josh gave Colt. She didn’t want to cause trouble. Turning to Colt she said, “How about I follow you there?”
Colt fixed his penetrating gaze on her, an annoyed look on his face. When she glanced up at Josh, the man was grinning from ear to ear.
“Great! I’ll see you there,” Josh said. Then he patted the black horse’s neck and winked at her. “I’ll hold onto her for you in case you change your mind.”
Once they loaded up Colt’s newest bronc in the trailer, Elise and Colt climbed into the truck and headed back to the ranch.
After they’d been on the road for a few quiet minutes, Colt glanced at her. “What was that all about?”
“What was ‘what’ all about?”
“I brought you to the auction to learn about buying horses, not to make dates.” He sounded angry, disgruntled.
She looked at him, surprised by his comment. “Not that it matters, but I’m driving myself, Colt. I didn’t make a date with Josh.”
Colt shifted his gaze back to the road, his expression shuttered. “I think Josh might think otherwise.”