Page 10 of Mister Cowboy
Raising his eyebrows, he looked from the paper to her. After what felt like an eternity, he took the paper, folded it, and slipped it into his pocket without so much as a glance at it.
The house was quiet as she and Michael followed Brecken through the large French doors. The foyer, which was nearly as large as the apartment she shared with Michael, opened to a beautifully crafted wooden staircase on the left and a sitting room with an inviting brick fireplace on the right.
“This is the main house,” Brecken said with a dismissive glance around the foyer. “There’s an office upstairs. I’ll have it set up for you to use.”
He strode through the foyer, leaving her little time to take it all in. She couldn’t help the smile or feeling of happiness as she followed him through a maze of rooms. This house represented everything she’d wanted as a child. A big, traditional home filled with knick-knacks and rooms that you could get lost in. It was nothing like the apartments she’d lived in, and she wanted to uncover all the happy memories held within these walls room by room.
They stopped inside a large dining room. A tall woman with blonde hair, which was pulled tightly back from her face and fastened neatly in a bun, stepped forward and extended a hand as they entered.
“This is Tina. She’ll get you set up and be available to answer any questions.”
“You must be January. Welcome to Blackstone Ranch.”
January smiled back as she shook Tina’s hand. She had no idea how this woman could possibly fit into the world of ranching. Then again, if the last few days had taught her anything, it was that appearances could be deceiving. “Yes, I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“This is January’s friend, Michael. He’s accompanied January today. Tina, why don’t you show him to the living room.” He turned to Michael. “I’m afraid we don’t have cable out here, but there’s a television with Netflix and an Xbox.”
Tina walked to the door, the click of her heels echoing on the hard wood floor, and looked back to Michael, who hadn’t moved. “Actually, it looks like January is good here. I think I’m gonna take off.”
She shot him a pleading look, which he ignored, saying, “Call me when you need a ride home.”
“Tina can arrange for transportation back to the city,” Brecken said without a glance to the woman he’d offered up as a driver.
Michael kissed her on the cheek and then extended a hand to Brecken. “Good to see you again.”
Brecken met the handshake with a nod, and Michael hurried out the way they’d come without a glance back. An awkward silence filled the room as she locked eyes with Brecken. Her breathing became shallow as she tried to reconcile the man before her with the man from the bar. Less than seventy-two hours ago, he’d been dressed in Armani and speaking in honest, flirty outbursts that were a contradiction to everything she’d expected. Today he was standing inside a John Wayne film acting the part of a domineering and demanding CEO. He was a puzzle.
His eyes lingered, assessing her from top to bottom before meeting her gaze.
“Tina can answer any questions you have. If you’ll excuse me I have to get back to the office.” He looked away and then back, shifting as if he were trying to figure out what to say or do next. He didn’t strike her as someone who often hesitated, so she took some pleasure in his struggle. “You have my card with my number should you need it.”
She nodded and forced her spine a little straighter. Under the surface, she was as unsure as he looked, but she could hide it better. Masking her uneasiness came as natural as breathing.
* * *
“So, that’s it,” Tina said after she’d gone through the list of rooms that needed to be packed and organized. “I know it seems like a lot, but Brecken has allotted the project to run for up to eight weeks. I doubt it will take you more than four, but that’s at your discretion.”
Tina scrunched her nose and clicked refresh on the wide-screen monitor sitting on the table in front of them.
“Voila! We have a schedule. Hopefully your work shouldn’t impact the activity on the ranch. Most of the guys stay outside, but they do come in for meals, and it isn’t uncommon for them to hole up downstairs in the den when they’re working odd hours or what have you. I’ve emailed you the project schedule, and you can submit your time and progress directly into the spreadsheet as you go. Here’s my card, you can call me with any questions.”
January took the heavy cardstock Tina handed her. Right then seemed like a bad time to admit that she wasn’t exactly tech savvy. A schedule? It wasn’t that she was unorganized, but she preferred a rough schedule written in her planner and a more fluid day-to-day to-do list.
“There are boxes in my car. Brecken has requested for anything that can be donated to be taken to The Salvation Army. Everything else is to be trashed.”
Everything in his family’s home was to be donated or trashed? She looked around the office, her eyes falling to a crocheted shawl strewn across the back of an armchair. An old black-and-white picture of a man standing in front of the iron gate she’d passed through earlier sat on the desk. Surely, some of these items had sentimental value?
“Do you have any prior knowledge or experience in ranching?”
She shook her head and opened her mouth to speak, ready to assure Tina that knowledge of the trade wasn’t really necessary for the job she was going to be doing, when a knock at the door saved her.
“I heard you were here.”
The drawl and slow, smooth way he said it while flashing Tina a sexy smile was the last thing January expected. So was Tina’s reaction to the man. January expected the ultra-business-like woman to put this cowboy in his place or dodge his advances by ignoring him altogether, but instead her face went a faint shade of pink as she struggled to speak.
“Ah, Mr. Drado.” Tina cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose. “For once your timing is impeccable. I’d like you to meet January Lyle. She’ll be working with us for some time packing up the estate. Perhaps you could show her around tomorrow and introduce her to the others.”
“Really selling the place, huh?”
