Page 7 of His First Baby Rodeo

She folded up all her clothes — it took a shockingly short amount of time — and packed them up in her suitcase. Then she closed it up, set it on the floor next to her bedroom door, and set an alarm for early the next morning. Now that she knew what she was going to do, she was eager to be on her way. The next chapter of her life was about to start, and for the first time in a long time, it felt as if she was actually moving toward something.

She had no idea what it was going to look like, but she was excited to find out.

CHAPTER4

EL

El’s confidence persisted through most of the drive down to Boldsprings, Texas, a town she had never visited before. But by the time she was rolling through Boldsprings on her way to the ranch that she knew awaited her on the southern side, anxiety was plucking at her heart. And as she steered her car along the dirt path that would take her up to the front door of the house, her hands were trembling slightly. She definitely hadn’t expected to be this nervous about the whole business.

And then she saw Mac Palmer.

She had looked him up online last night after agreeing to take this job, and the sight of his picture had sent her heart into her stomach. If anything, he was even more handsome than she had remembered. He had grown his sandy hair out to chin length, and in the picture she’d found, it was blowing in the wind. The same thing was true now, and she thought the wind must really love him; that photo had been part of a photo shoot, and El imagined that the “wind” in question had probably been created by some kind of fan — but this wind was the genuine article, and he looked just as picturesque standing in it.

El took a silent moment to be thankful for the braid she’d wound her own dark hair into before setting out that morning. A windy day wouldn’t be nearly as kind to her — she knew that from experience.

Then again, if the two of them were going to get into a battle of who was the more gorgeous… it really wasn’t going to be any competition. El knew where she stood in that fight. Men liked her — she was under no illusions about that — but also, Mac Palmer was a rodeo star, and he was bound to see her as nothing more than Jeff Moyle’s little sister. There was no chance he would ever look at her the way she was looking at him right now.

She had to get this out of her system, for both of their sakes.

She took one last lingering look at him, drinking in his appeal, and then forced the idea out of her mind and got out of the car. She moved around to the trunk to get her suitcase.

He was by her side in a moment. “Eleanor?” he said. “I’m Mac. Mac Palmer.”

“I know,” she said, and immediately felt foolish — of course she knew who he was, but she hadn’t meant to start things out by calling attention to his celebrity. “Sorry. I mean — I remember you from when I was younger.” Well, that was no good either. Now he would be thinking of her as a little kid.

He regarded her for a moment, but didn’t say anything about her awkward beginning. “Can I take your suitcase?”

“I can get it. Your arm.”

He looked a little annoyed. “I’m still capable of lifting a suitcase,” he said. “I’m not completely helpless just because my arm is in a sling.”

That was fair enough, but… “I’m not helpless either,” she said. “I can manage this. Why don’t you just lead the way?”

“Okay, fine.”

El followed him into the house, feeling embarrassed and vaguely distressed. She wasn’t used to feeling so back on her heels around men — even hot ones. She usually brought a lot more confidence to the table. She was going to have to shake off this rough start.

Things aren’t the way they were when we were younger,she reminded herself.I’m not just his friend’s little sister now. I’m twenty-five years old. I’m an adult in my own right, whether he sees it or not. And he might be famous, but I don’t care about that. I knew him when he was just one of Jeff’s friends.

Feeling a bit more together, she followed Mac along the hallway. He paused in front of a door.

She got a funny feeling. “Jeff said you had staff quarters.”

“I converted the staff house into a barn a few years back,” he said. “I don’t have any staff, so it was going to waste. But you can stay in the spare bedroom.”

So she’d be in the main house with him. That wasn’t what she’d expected, but it wasn’t really that big a deal. “Okay,” she agreed.

He opened the door and revealed a small but charming bedroom. “You can use the dresser and the closet,” he said, pointing them out. “That door leads to your bathroom. There are towels in the hall closet right outside the bedroom door. I’m sure you’ll find everything you need with no trouble, but if you do have any questions, feel free to speak to me about it.”

“Is it all right for me to go to town and get some food to keep in the kitchen?” She sure hoped it was. She’d been anticipating having a whole house of her own to work with, and if it wasn’t going to be that way, that was fine, but she needed to be able to live.

“Yeah, that’s okay,” he said. “I’ll clear a shelf in the fridge for you.”

“Great. Thank you.”

“Do you want to take the evening to settle in?” he asked. “I know you’ve had a long journey.”

“Actually, what I’d really love is a tour of the place,” she said. “If I’m going to get started working tomorrow, I need to get the lay of the land.”

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