Page 10 of The Rancher's Fake Fiancée

“Another conquest?” This time Cole had turned his steady gaze upon her. For a moment Jessie had to gather her thoughts when the subject of his unwavering silver depths. She gave a mental shake and snapped back to the present.

“Now you know that a good fiancée only has eyes for her betrothed.”

“For a moment you reminded me of someone I met once. A lady who gave me a dollar bill and suggested what I should do with it. Careful, I might get confused on which woman I’m engaged to.”

“You don’t have to worry. I have a feeling that your blonde friend wouldn’t give you the time of day.”

“Ouch. You don’t pull any punches. You could do serious damage to a guy’s ego.” He gathered the reins back in his hand and sat up straighter in the saddle.

“I seriously doubt anything could even dent yours but that’s the past and not for discussion here. Where are we headed right now?”

“You do that quite well. Must be your years of training.”

She tossed him a sideways look as he drew his mount closer to hers. “Do well?”

“Deflect, sidestep…whatever you choose to not answer or comment upon.”

“It comes in handy in my profession.”

“Do you ever get confused between what’s real and what’s make believe?”

Jessie tossed a length of hair back over her shoulder and took a few moments to respond.

Then the smile she flashed at him clearly caught him off guard.

“Don’t worry. I always remember what’s make believe and you don’t need to worry that I will fall for any charms you might have.” She nodded at a point over his shoulder. “Hi Emmie. I can’t wait to see some of the favorite sites on this ranch. You lead the way. I’ll follow and your dad can hope to keep up with the both of us.”

Emmie drew her horse into the lead and Jessie joined her laughter with the girl’s.

Cole brought up the rear, letting the females’ easy chatting set itself to the winding trail.Any charms you might have…why did her words have a way of lingering in the back of his mind? She was definitely different from any of the females of his recent acquaintance. Not that there were all that many. He knew he was considered a ‘catch’ as he overheard one evening in a restaurant between females at another table. But he was more concerned with being a dad to his daughter and doing that in conjunction with running one of the largest ranches in that portion of the state. Not much time to contemplate being anyone’s ‘catch.’ It hadn’t been lost on him though that as the years progressed, he might need to think about marriage again…particularly with respect to a daughter who would need a mother’s hand in the mix. And having a fiancée…a pretend fiancée…might just give Emmie the wrong idea sooner than he planned.

And if Emmie got attached to Jessie? That was one of those bridges he had learned to maneuver early on…being a single parent to a daughter who seemed to have more maturity than most of her peers. She noticed a lot more sometimes than he wanted her to. But seeing the way she took to Jessie with little hesitation, he had a new worry to add to an already growing list. How would she take it when Jessie’s job was done, and she would leave without a backward glance, intent on her next assignment? After all, that was what they were to her. Just another assignment to check off and move on to the next.

“Hey, Mr. Grump Face,” the familiar voice of her daughter called out to him and brought him back to the moment. He glanced up from the space between his horse’s ears that he had set his mind between as the thoughts ran through his mind.

“Who are you calling Grump Face?” he challenged.

“You, of course. You look like you are mad about something.” There was that eagle eye of Emmie’s. He allowed a slow smile to replace the frown.

“Bored maybe, but not mad. I’m thinking you two chattering females are wasting some good horseflesh. I’ll take the lead now.” And before she could retort, he urged his horse forward and soon his back was disappearing across the broad pasture ahead of them. The gauntlet was thrown down.

“No fair, Dad!” Emmie laughed and looked at Jessie.

“Let’s do it.” Jessie grinned in return, and they urged their mounts to join in the race.

“The first to the top of Peachtree Point…that hill straight ahead of us…wins,” Emmie’s explanation flew on the wind across to Jessie.

She nodded in understanding at the young girl. Now that she knew the rules so to speak, she urged her horse, Cinco, forward. He was as light on his feet and made to run like the wind as she thought he would be when she first set eyes upon him. The exhilaration of the rushing wind through her hair and feeling of unfettered freedom heightened the excitement and thrill of competition.

The ground began to slope upwards at the edge of the pasture and Jessie and Emmie were right behind Cole. The rising path widened around a corner and Jessie moved her horse beside his. That opened a space for Emmie and her mount to gain the lead. By the time they all reached the top, Emmie had slowed and flew out of her saddle and laughing with glee ran the last few yards and her hand touched the tallest and fullest tree.

“I won! I won!” she announced as the other two dismounted a few feet away. “What happened Dad?”

“If I didn’t know better, I would say that you might have had a bit of help along the way up here,” he said, shaking his head, his gaze looking from one girl to the woman feigning a look of innocence.

“Teamwork makes the dreamwork, right?” Jessie grinned at Emmie who lifted her palm in the air and met Jessie’s in triumph.

“Right on!” Emmie beamed.

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