Heartbreak Ranch (2 page)

Her eyes widened when he took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, shook one out and lit it.
In the house.
“Oh, man, you are going straight to hell. Annie will see to it personally.”

“It's your bedroom,” he reasoned. “Who do you think she's going to blame?”

“Jerk. Put that out before she tracks you down like the dog you are.”

He shook his head and crossed the room, sitting down on the bed beside her. He picked up a pretty little painted
clay bowl she'd made when she was about nine. Sensing his intent, she leaned over to make a grab for it. “Oh, no, you don't. You're not turning that into an ashtray.”

With a rare flash of teeth, Jed grinned and held the bowl out of her reach.

Julianne stretched farther. “You're still a bully. I see some things haven't changed.”

“And you've still got a temper like quicksilver. That hasn't changed, either.”

She sent him an annoyed look, and their proximity finally registered. Their struggle had had her reaching across him, and for an instant she let herself inhale the aroma of tobacco, horses and the raw, elemental male scent of Jed. His firm mouth was still curved in amusement, at her expense, and was too close to hers for comfort. Belatedly, questioning the wisdom of their little tug-of-war, she dropped her hand and straightened. Prudence would have had her moving off the bed and putting some needed distance between them. Pride wouldn't allow it.

“Don't say I didn't warn you. I just hope I'm there to see Annie take the big wooden spoon to your ornery hide.”

Utterly relaxed, he brought the cigarette to his lips and inhaled. “As I recall, you were much better acquainted with the big bad spoon than I was.”

“Only because you started perfecting your sneaky streak at a shockingly young age.”

“Stealthy,” he corrected her, blowing a smoke ring and admiring it as it hung in the air. “And your problem was you were all flash and impulse. Always tried to grab what you wanted without putting any forethought into it.” His voice sobered and he added, “Which pretty well describes how you got mixed up in that crazy marriage of yours, doesn't it?”

Pride be damned, there was no way she was going to sit inches away from Jed Sullivan while having this particular conversation. Rising, she crossed to her luggage, picked up a bag and carried it to the dresser. Setting it on top of the surface, she unzipped it and began to empty its contents into drawers.

With a casualness she was far from feeling, she said, “Oh, I won't bore you with the tedious details of my marriage.”

“No need. The tabloids were full of them. Not to mention the segments on ‘Who's News' and ‘First Copy.' The media has always had an uncommon interest in millionaire orphan, Andrew Richfield.” Derision laced his voice. “He never seemed to mind the attention until recently.”

She winced. She'd deliberately stopped watching TV and reading the newspapers. As usual, the rumors and speculation had been even worse than the facts. Whenever she'd called the ranch, she'd been deliberately vague about the mess, hoping that Montana was far enough removed from the playground of the rich in the Florida Keys to keep most of the story from filtering this far. Apparently she'd been overly optimistic.

One suitcase emptied, she zipped it up and put it aside, moving to another. “How bad was it?”

He took his time answering. “Actually, after the first couple of stories your name wasn't mentioned much. Just Richfield's. There was plenty about his appetite for women, drugs and gambling. Quite a prince you had there.”

There was no mistaking the contempt in his tone. Julianne wondered miserably if it was all directed at Andrew, or if some of it was pointed at her. She didn't dare ask. Right now she wasn't sure she could deal with his answer.

“Well.” She was relieved to note that her voice
sounded steady. “Sounds like you got all the highlights. You'll understand why I felt the need for a change of scenery.” And then, because she couldn't help herself, she asked, “Was Annie very worried?”

She hadn't realized he'd moved until she heard him behind her, felt his knuckle brush her jaw. Swinging around, she found herself caught between the surface of the dresser and Jed's hard body. He crooked a finger beneath her chin, tilted it up.

“We both were.”

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, regret washing up in waves. “I would have given anything to avoid that. I hoped the whole mess would blow over. I didn't want anyone here to be touched by it.”

For a moment, his thumb grazed the soft skin below her jawline. “Anything that affects you touches us, too, Jules. You should know that.”

His unexpected gentleness was almost her undoing. It would be so easy to lean on him, to let his solid strength take her weight, to let him absorb some of the hurt and desperation that had ridden her for so long. It was tempting to just let go, to allow someone else to take care of her for a change. The strength of that temptation frightened her.

She strove for lightness. “God, Jed, you're not going to be sweet, are you? I can handle anything but that.”

His hand dropped away, and, blessedly, he took a step back. “Just tell me that you're okay now.”

That, at least, she could answer honestly. “I am, now that I'm home. You don't know how much I needed to see the ranch again.”

His brooding gaze held hers for a long, steady minute. “Makes it hard to figure, then, why you took your own sweet time coming home.”

The moment of danger had passed. She turned back to her unpacking. “Well, I had things to do. Dodging the media was top of my list.”

“Not to mention the police.”

“They were tenacious, too,” she replied carelessly.

“But they listened to reason soon enough.”

“Pretty understanding, were they?” The sarcasm in his voice was thinly veiled.

“Once they had the facts. I wasn't even on the ship the night it was raided.”

“I understand that some said otherwise.”

Her mouth twisted bitterly. “Times like these you find out who your friends are, don't you?”

“Yeah, you do. But if it took you this long to figure out that your best friends are right here, you're a bigger fool than I ever thought.”

She whirled to see him stalking away, and he didn't bother to stop the door from slamming behind him. Weakly, she propped her weight against the dresser, a rueful smile curving her lips. That abrupt, blunt statement was so like Jed. Apparently there were some fences to be mended before she could settle in to life at the ranch again. She didn't mind. Although she and Jed had had their share of spats, they'd always gotten along fairly well. She'd obviously ruffled his male pride by not asking for his help at the first sign of trouble in Florida.

She took a deep breath and strove to calm the fluttering in her stomach. It must surely be due to some quirk in her nature that she preferred his temper to that uncustomary gentleness. Facing Jed in a temper was like riding into a storm: exhilarating, bracing and a little scary.

But tenderness from him…

That was nothing short of terrifying.

“H
ope you've got time for an old friend before this slave driver starts cracking the whip.”

Jed watched impassively as Julianne launched herself into Gabe Hathaway's open arms. The older man was their senior hand. Harley had inherited him with the ranch. But he'd been much more than that to Julianne, and to Jed, too. He'd taught them both how to ride, shoot and rope. He'd been full of wisdom and encouragement when they'd needed it, and hadn't been above a bit of butt-chewing when they'd needed that. If Annie was general of the house, Gabe was admiral of the ranch.

Right now the man's seamed, weathered face was split in a wide grin. “About time we had you home again. You're looking good, Julianne. Real good.”

Silently, Jed agreed. Her curling swing of hair was the color of polished gold, impossibly shiny and bright. Although the color hadn't changed since she'd lived at the ranch, the style had. Instead of a brilliant spill down her
back, it was cut to curve below her jaw, framing that fancy face. With her elegant cheekbones and short, straight nose, she would have looked haughty if not for those wide, expressive brown eyes. At an early age she'd learned that it took only one soulful look from those big eyes to turn an unsuspecting man's brain to mush. She'd used the skill shamelessly. Though her bones were small, nothing about her suggested fragility. Her personality was too damn strong for her to ever be considered weak.

Maybe that's what was bothering him now, he thought, turning away from the reunion before him. He was too used to Julianne flaring up or steaming full ahead when trouble brewed. That hint of vulnerability he'd observed yesterday in her room had had an unexpected knot of tension coiling in his gut. He wished he hadn't recognized it; wished instead he could believe the nonchalant air she'd worn at dinner. Despite her efforts to convince them otherwise, it was plain that Julianne had taken some hard knocks in the last few years.

And she'd never once let on to him about any of them.

The thought had his hands clenching at his sides. Maybe that's what had made him fire up at her so quickly yesterday. God knows, he'd like to shake the little fool for not telling him or Annie about the depth of trouble she'd found herself in. When that idiot she'd married had seemed intent on descending into a pit of self-destruction, he'd almost managed to pull Julianne down with him.

Consciously, Jed uncurled his fingers. That was over now. She was free of Andrew Richfield and back at the ranch. Gabe and Annie wouldn't be the only ones welcoming her home. She'd been a favorite with the neighbors; most of them, at least. He seemed to recall some of her pranks in high school earning her a couple of enemies. An
unwilling smile tugged at his lips. She'd always been a handful, but life around her stayed interesting.

“Ain't that right, Jed?”

He turned to face Gabe, who was beaming at him.

“What's that?”

“I was telling Julie girl that there's been big changes at the ranch since she was here last.”

“Since she's barely been home for the last seven years, I imagine it's going to seem that way to her.”

“Well, it certainly wasn't the prospect of your charming personality that drew me home, big guy,” Julianne drawled. He slanted a glance her way. The light amusement on her face was a kick in the ego. Sarcasm was wasted on her; she skated right by it. It was one of her more annoying traits.

“Are you planning on showing her around, Jed?” Gabe asked.

Before he could open his mouth, Julianne answered quickly, “I'm just going to wander around by myself, see what's new.”

“She can tag along with me today,” Jed replied. He felt a flicker of satisfaction at the visible start she gave at his words.

Gabe nodded, as if it had been all decided. “Well, I gotta get to work and earn my paycheck.” He winked at Julianne. “See ya later, won't I?”

She smiled at the older man, that punch-in-the-gut smile of hers, the one she rarely wasted on Jed. “You know you will. Can I get in on a game of poker some night?”

Guffawing, Gabe nodded. “You betcha. Got plenty of new hands since you've been here last. They'll be easy pigeons.”

The sunlight slanted and bounced over her hair when
she tossed her head back and laughed. “That's what I like to hear.”

Jed got a mental image of Julianne in the bunkhouse playing cards with the hands, and for some reason it didn't set well. She'd done so in the past, he remembered, when she'd still been in high school. Before the men had figured out that those batting eyes and sunny smile disguised the soul of a cardsharp, they'd been cleaned out several times. Cards were the one thing Harley had taken the time to teach his daughter, and she was ruthless. Not to mention being a consummate bluffer. But she wasn't a kid anymore, and some of these hands weren't men she'd grown up with.

“C'mon,” Jed said abruptly, turning on his heel. “I'll show you our new foaling barn, then we'll take the truck. I need to check on the herd in the north pasture. You can ride along.”

“No, you go ahead. I'm just going to poke around on my own.”

He stopped and turned back to her. She slipped her fingertips into the back pockets of her jeans and smiled winningly. With the back of his hand, he pushed up his hat and surveyed her. “It's not like you to pass up an opportunity to tag along and pester me with a thousand questions.”

She gave a shrug, and her smile never faltered. Only someone who knew her well would have seen the hint of nerves in her eyes, and wondered at it.

His gaze narrowed. He figured he knew Julianne better than most. At least he once had. “Like Gabe said, we made some improvements around here. If you want to know what they are, come with me. Otherwise, get yourself back to the house and stay out of the way.”

Her gold hair swirled as she angled her chin, and her
eyes spit sparks. “You don't give me orders, Jed. You never did.”

The corner of his mouth tilted. Despite any other changes Julianne might have undergone, her temper had remained the same. She flared up as easily as dry twigs in a campfire. “The way I remember it, I gave plenty of orders. You just didn't follow them.”

“And what makes you think anything is different now?”

“Everything's different,” he said, suddenly serious.

“Isn't that why you came back?”

Emotion flashed across her face so quickly he couldn't be sure he'd seen it at all. For a moment, he thought she'd turn away without a word. Then that slow, mocking smile, the one she seemed to reserve especially for him, curved those full lips, and she sauntered toward him.

“You win. Lead on, O Mighty One.”

His eyes slit. He didn't know why it should continually surprise him that inside that luscious-looking mouth lurked the tongue of a baby viper. He strode toward the foaling barn, leaving her to catch up to him. Not that she tried, of course. She strolled along behind him at a hip-swinging pace set by some senseless god and entered the barn a good five minutes after him.

By that time he was already deep in a discussion with Les, the hand in charge of the foals and yearlings, leaving Julianne to roam the place on her own.

When he joined her again, she was holding a colt's muzzle in her hands, petting the velvety softness and cooing to it in a lilting voice. “Oh, you're a precious one, aren't you? You're a sweet thing, yes, you are. Who's your daddy, hmm? I'll bet it's one of those mean old stallions who breed champions and get the better of Jed occasionally. Is that what you're going to do, pretty boy? Are you
going to get big and love the ladies and whip up on mean, old Jed?”

“Don't give him any ideas,” he said dryly. “His sire has the worst temper on the ranch. I'm hoping this one's got his dam's temperament.”

She aimed an innocent look at him. “Isn't it a coincidence that the males have the orneriest dispositions, in both the animal and human worlds?”

He ignored the gibe and reached out to smooth a hand down the colt's smooth brown neck. “This one's not going to get a chance for much of a love life, I'm afraid. In another few months he'll be a gelding.”

“Shh!” She covered the colt's ears with her hands and fixed Jed with a reproachful look. “Don't talk like that in front of the baby.”

Her teasing tone lightened something inside him. He reached out and tugged at a strand of her bright gold hair. “A soft heart doesn't go far on a working ranch, Jules. You know that.”

She wrinkled her nose at him, much as she had when she was a kid. For a moment he was transported back to the time he'd first come to the ranch. Five years his junior, she'd been a precocious one. She'd had the run of the place and had been miserably spoiled by most of the adults on it. That is, with the exception of the one whose attention she'd most craved—her father's.

That had been another bond between them, one he'd never put into words. He hadn't known his real father, and his adoptive one, Luther Templeton III, had never had much interest in a family. As a stepfather, Harley had treated Jed just as he did his own daughter, alternating between sporadic, careless indulgence and long periods of inattentiveness. The ranch had been the first solid thing in Jed's life that he could hold on to, and at one time it had
represented the same for Julianne. He wondered how much it still did.

“Annie said you'd talked to Harley.”

She nodded, giggling when the colt nuzzled her shirt pocket, unashamedly begging for treats. “It wasn't much of a conversation. I reached his service, then he called me back from Las Vegas. Sounded like he'd run into some good luck. He had to rush out to continue his streak.”

Jed reached down to a bag of oats propped next to the stall door and distracted the colt from Julianne's chest with a handful. “He was in Reno when I spoke to him a couple weeks ago. He said he was going to speak to you.” Had been promising to for weeks, as a matter of fact. He should be used to broken promises from Harley, but he didn't remember a time when one had bothered him as much as this one did.

She lifted a shoulder. “You know Harley. I only had him on the phone two minutes before he had to run to the next card game.”

“Yeah,” Jed said grimly. “I know Harley.” Any other father would have been concerned about the situation his daughter had found herself in. Most would insist on flying to her side, to try to shelter her from the worst of the fallout from that mess in Florida. But not Julianne's father.

“How come this guy's in the foaling barn?” she asked.

Jed fed the colt one last handful of oats, then shook his head at the horse. The beast would eat all day if allowed.

“He snagged a back fetlock on the barbed wire. Got a nasty gash. The vet came and took care of him, but we need to keep it clean for a few days. Then he can go back to the fields with his mama.”

They walked through the nearly empty barn. Although it was usually full in spring, most of the foals were pastured with their mothers when they were a few weeks old.

When they exited, Jed led her to a gleaming red, half-ton pickup. “Hop in. I want to take you to the new cattle barn we're building, and it's a ways from here.” He could see the slight stiffening in her shoulders before she shook her head.

“I don't mind walking.”

He stopped in his tracks and looked hard at her. He wasn't used to seeing her this edgy, and a sudden thought bloomed and twisted through him viciously. He strode over to her and took her elbow, forced her to face him.

“What's going on, Julianne?”

Her eyes met his, startled, wary. “What do you mean?”

“You've been nothing but nerves every time I'm within two feet of you. Is it me? Or any man?” His voice went lethal as he voiced the questions, and his fingers tightened unconsciously. “Was it Richfield? Did he hurt you?”

Her gaze widened as she caught his meaning, and she shook her head vehemently. “No, Jed, nothing like that. Andrew had more than his share of vices, but hitting women wasn't one of them.”

He dropped his hand as relief coursed through him. “Then what?”

She lifted a shoulder. “I guess you're right. I've been a little nerved-up lately. But it doesn't have anything to do with you.”

Unconvinced, he continued to watch her, but her eyes were cool and dark, revealing nothing. Out of patience, he turned away. If there was something riding Julianne, he wouldn't find out about it until she was good and ready to tell him. The last several months had proved that.

“Get in the truck, then,” he said brusquely. “I'll show you the barn we've got going up. It was supposed to be done last week, but they ran into some supply problems and missed the deadline.” He opened the door and swung
into the truck. After the briefest of hesitations, she complied. He drove the quarter of a mile to the structure.

The building was little more than a massive skeleton. As they walked up to the framed building, she said disbelievingly, “Good Lord, it's going to be huge. What in heaven's name is it for?”

“We've added to the herd, and we'll be expanding more.” He pointed to a far corner that had been framed off. “I have plans to leave space there for a veterinary office. When there's a problem, we'll have some basic equipment right here.”

“That will be convenient. Is Mike Lytrell still the vet around here?”

Jed nodded. “He's got an assistant now. He wanted to take it a little easier. Haven't noticed that he's slowed down much, though. We'll still be using the old barn, too. We're going to need them both.”

“This is wonderful,” she said, turning a shining gaze on him. The sincerity in her voice uncurled a ribbon of pride deep inside him. Then she continued, and just as quickly the feeling withered. “I can't believe that Harley is finally taking an interest in the ranch again. All these changes…” She indicated the structure with one hand.