Page 6 of Stranded with a Bossy Rancher

Maddie comes over to stand in front of me. The way she’s looking at me, it’s obvious she’s trying to read between the lines, and I’m not ready for that. She blows out a breath. “Okay,so I know you would never jeopardize the ranch. The ranch is everything to you.”

I shrug. At one time, I would have agreed with her on that, but now I’m not so sure. Now that I’ve raised my sister and she has her own family, I’ve come to realize that maybe it’s time I found something of my own. Before I can say anything, Maddie continues. “And I appreciate you hiring someone, but I’m starting to think you did this more for you than for me.”

She levels me with her gaze, and I’ve never lied to her, so I just shrug my shoulders and then nod.

I’m not sure who’s more surprised at my confession, but Maddie takes it well. She walks over to the entry table and grabs her bag. “All right, well, let’s go. I can’t wait to meet this woman that has completely won you over, big brother.”

I could deny it, but there’s no reason to, and it’s already obvious that Camille has some kind of hold on me. I can’t really explain it, or I haven’t tried to understand it, but I feel a connection to her that I’ve never felt before. I open the front door. “Come on, I’ll give you a lift over to the house.”

Her eyebrows raise even higher, and I ignore her as I walk out to my truck and hold the door open for her.

The short drive to the ranch next door is not enough time to go over everything I want to go over. As soon as I pull into my usual parking spot in front of my house, Maddie is jumping out of the front seat. I meet her at the front of the truck and stop her before she goes in. “Sis, promise me you’ll give her a chance.”

She covers my hand with hers. “Wow!” She gets an excited look on her face. “This girl has you under a spell, Elliott Barnett, and I’m here for it. You know I’m nice to everyone—well, mostlyeveryone—but no worries. I’m going to train her on everything, and it’s going to be fine. No worries.”

I let her go and then follow behind her into the house. When we walk in, I see Camille sitting at my desk. I had expected her to be in her room, unpacking, but I should have known better because she said she wanted to get straight to work.

Just seeing her in my space does something to me, and I feel out of breath as I introduce her to my sister. “Camille, this is my sister, Maddie. Maddie, this is Camille.”

I finally let out a sigh of relief when my sister walks straight up to Camille and draws her into a big hug. “Camille, we are about to be best friends. I am so happy that you took this job.”

Camille’s eyes are huge on her face, and even though she keeps a guarded look, she smiles back. “Well, I’m excited to be here.”

Maddie starts talking about the day-to-day stuff, and when she spots me still standing, leaning against the wall, she laughs. “Shoo, big brother. Geez, it’s going to be okay. I know you have a thousand and one things to do. Go do them. Since you insisted on driving me over here, you’re going to have to take me back home. I’ll be ready to go around four.”

“But…” I start and don’t even get the whole sentence out.

“But what? I promise it’s going to be okay. I’ll see you later.”

I’m still unsure about leaving. I love my sister, and she really is a great person, so I’m not sure why I’m so uneasy about leaving. Well, I do, but I feel weird putting it out there. I search Camille’s face. “Uh, you okay here?”

She nods with surprise on her face. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

I nod but can’t seem to make myself move. “Uh, and you’ll be here when I get back?”

Fuck, I sound so pathetic. My sister is smiling ear to ear and practically vibrating with excitement. It’s true that she’s never seen me hung up on a woman before, so I don’t blame her for being so surprised by it all, but I keep watching Camille. Finally, she nods her head with a soft smile on her lips. “Yeah, I’ll still be here.”

CHAPTER 4

CAMILLE

A few hours later,after Maddie has shown me all the daily reports, how to get the sales to the packaging plant and where to find all the information, she insists we break for a snack. She’s going to be leaving soon, and I’d rather be working when Elliott comes in, but I don’t feel right denying Maddie after she’s been so nice to me already.

As we sit around the kitchen table with a bowl of cut-up fruit and crackers and cheese between us, I try not to make a pig out of myself.

Her phone dings for what seems like the hundredth time today, and she rolls her eyes. I’ve learned that response is because her brother has texted her again. The other times, she’s smiled at her phone because her husband Rhett has texted her or sent her a picture of their son. “Him again?” I don’t have to say his name because she knows I’m talking about Elliott.

“Yep, it’s my brother… again. Wow.” She sets her phone down on the top of the table.

Anytime Maddie has brought up her brother today, I’ve made it a point to avoid asking about him even though I’m dying to do just that. I can’t seem to stop myself now. “So, uh, is he always like that?”

Maddie tilts her head to look at me. “No, he’s not. I’ve never known my brother to be like that. Funny story, he made me promise to be nice to you.” She holds her hands up. “Which is crazy in itself, because I’m almost always a nice person.” She pauses and looks at me. “He must really like you.”

I can feel my face heat. “Well, uh, he’s just a nice guy, that’s all. He was sort of there when everything went down at the Feed Haven. I’m sure he felt like he had to help me.”

Maddie laughs. “Uh, one thing you’ll learn about my brother is that he never does anything because he feels like he has to. He only does things he wants to do.”

I swallow hard because I had wondered that about him and have asked myself a hundred times why he’s helping me like he is. But there’s a part of me that doesn’t believe what Maddie is saying. “Okay, well, he feels sorry for me. He, uh, well, I’m pregnant.”

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