Hidden Treasure (7 page)

Conversation. They needed to have a conversation.

“Where did you grow up?”

Brielle was quiet for so long that he thought she was just going to ignore him. When he’d given up, she finally spoke. “In Maine. It was a small seaside town, but I loved it as a kid.”

“And did that change?” he asked when she paused a while.

“Everything changes,” she said with such a sigh that he felt it run through him. What was her real story? When she was silent for a while longer, he decided to speak about himself.

“I grew up right here in Sterling. Loved it then, love it now. This community, while very small, has the greatest people you will ever want to know. I could go anywhere, but I choose to stay here.”

“Have you ever left?”

In the moment, Colt didn’t even think about the fact that he was supposed to be a ranch hand. “Yeah, I’ve done some traveling. I got my MBA at Harvard. Met some of my best friends there. To this day we’re still as close as brothers.”

“Harvard? You went to Harvard and you’re a ranch hand?”

Crap!
There was the thing about lying again. He was silent for a minute while he tried how to answer as honestly as he could.

“I had amazing parents, the best in the world. They died five years ago while on vacation in Oregon. Black ice. I was devastated. But I worked hard in school, got excellent grades, and played basketball.” That was honest, at least.

“Wow. That’s impressive, Colt. But why ranch if you have an MBA from Harvard? You could go anywhere with that, make so much money.”

“I grew up here, and I love it here. I knew when I went to college that I would come back home.” That was also true. She just didn’t know he was extremely wealthy. She didn’t need to know that right now. Maybe never. Well, that wasn’t true. She would have to know when he bought her land.

“I went to Brown,” she admitted shyly.

“You’re pretty impressive yourself, Brielle.” Colt didn’t add that he was surprised to hear it.

“I don’t tell too many people, because I didn’t finish. I had one year left, English major. I once thought I would write for the
New York Times
, or
USA Today
, and then I thought maybe
Time
magazine. Then, that dwindled to a fashion magazine; then it all just sort of fell away.” Her voice trailed off in embarrassment.

“Why? Why would you quit if that’s your passion?”

“Probably similar reasons to yours, though not as noble. I had a bad experience at the end of my junior year of college and I wanted to go home. I hadn’t planned on returning home, but after that, I tucked in my tail and ran, and home is where I landed. My relationship with my father and brothers was already shot by that point, but I still knew I could come back; I still knew it was a safe zone.”

“Was it a guy?”

“No, nothing that typical,” she said with a laugh that he was glad to hear. “I had a professor I didn’t get along with, and a roommate who betrayed me. Really, I think back, and I know it was stupid to leave. I know I should have just moved out of that apartment, and transferred out of the professor’s class, but I was spoiled and frustrated, and…” She trailed off as she thought about past decisions.

“I think all of us make choices in life that we wish we could take back. Those choices don’t define us, though, Brielle. If we learn from them, we grow.”

She was silent for a while after his words, either processing them or rejecting them. Colt wished he could see her face, read her expression.

“Well, I landed here. I don’t know how wisely my choices have been to let that happen.” She added a laugh as if it were a joke, but he could hear the pain in her voice. She really thought very little of herself. It didn’t help that he had judged her quickly and harshly.

But what had he been supposed to think? First impressions mattered, and their first encounter hadn’t gone well. Colt was now more confused than ever before because he was beginning to find out more about this woman, and it wasn’t all bad — some was pretty damn good.

She was intelligent, but she seemed to hide behind a mask of vanity. One thing he knew for sure about Brielle Storm was that he had no idea what tomorrow would bring.

They got lost in their own heads for the last twenty minutes of their ride to the ranch, and just as he’d suspected, the sun was almost all the way down by the time they reached her horse barn.

He was beginning to get on edge as he tried to figure out his jumbled thoughts about this complicated woman, so when the next words from her mouth were a complaint, he didn’t react well.

“How does anyone ride horses day and night?”

“You get used to it.”

“I can get down myself,” she snapped when he held out a hand to assist her from the horse.

“I know you can. I was just trying to be helpful.”

Colt had to admit he was surprised when she gripped the harness and hoisted herself off the horse, her legs shaking but somehow still managing to hold her up. Well, the day wasn’t quite over yet, as she was about to find out.

“How is your hip feeling?” She was limping slightly, but not too badly. She’d live.

“I’m fine,” she told him with enough heat that he knew she was indeed fine.
So fine.

“Good. We need to brush down the horses, then.”

Brielle looked at him as if he were sprouting horns. “No. I’m going inside now.”

Colt lost his smile. “They’ve worked hard for us. We need to give them a brushing.” His voice was firm, but she’d asked to be taught and this was a valuable lesson. Even if they were exhausted, their horses still needed to be taken care of.

“Well, have at it,” she told him as she turned to leave.

“I won’t take you out again if you don’t take care of your animal,” he said.

“You work for me, Colt. Don’t forget that.” She then turned again.

“Don’t get too overconfident, Brielle. It makes you look like a spoiled little snot, and that happens way too often.” He wasn’t even attempting to be pleasant now. Though there’d been a nice stretch in the middle, the day had gone rather badly and was aiming to end even worse.

She turned to glare while still walking away, and that’s when her foot sank into in a big pile of fresh horse dung.

“That’s it!” she yelled, causing several heads to turn in her direction. “Look all you want! I’ve had it with this stinky, smelly place.”

The men in there were trying desperately to quiet their laughter, but after she was gone and the echo of her front door being slammed could be heard all the way down in the horse barn, the men let go and laughed aloud.

“That’s enough,” Colt warned them, and they stopped at once. “She may be having a difficult time here, but she does own the place. You might want to remember that.”

“Aw, Colt. You’ll own it soon enough,” one of the hands said.

“I don’t know, Brandon. She may be a pain in the ass, but I think a lot of it’s an act. That woman has more backbone than I would have given her credit for on the first day I met her,” Colt told the young man.

None of the men knew how to respond to that, so they shut up. They were so sure the city girl would run off into the night that they hadn’t even considered the possibility that she might actually stick around.

Colt decided it was a good time to head home. He handed Brielle’s horse over to Brandon to take care of, then climbed on board his stallion, and rode off.

One thing was certain. He had a lot to think about.

Chapter Eleven

F
or two days
Brielle refused to leave her house. It was probably the only place in the entire county where the door was locked and the lights were off. She didn’t want to see anyone, and didn’t want to climb from her bed. She was embarrassed that she’d opened up to Colt, and more embarrassed about her snotty attitude afterward.

But that’s what Brielle did. When she was afraid, when she began to let someone in, she had to fix it quickly, keep that person away. Because if she let them in to her heart, they had power to break it.

That had happened once when she was thirteen, a naïve idiot full of absurd hopes. It wouldn’t happen again. Shaking her head, she shut down her memories of that horrible day so long ago. She’d told herself she wouldn’t think about it, and she wasn’t going to. No way.

She’d made her way downstairs a few times and fetched food to carry back to her room and eat in bed, but other than that, she stayed upstairs and popped Advil like candy to relieve her miserable muscles and the ache in her hip where the deep scratch burned.

A few hot baths, a lot of movies, and about sixty hours were just what she needed, though. Because on the third day, she woke up to find she wasn’t hurting nearly as badly.

She could run this ranch without looking like a spoiled brat. The key was to not open up to anyone, to keep it all about business. If she did that, she’d be tough, ready for anything. Brielle knew she was smart, even if most people didn’t see that. She chose for them not to. Just one more effective barrier against the world.

Falling from the horse, then stepping in the horse manure, aching so badly she thought she was going to die, and hearing the men laugh at her had all added up to her finding herself at the breaking point. But she wasn’t going to prove all of them right and be the pampered princess they were making her out to be.

If she wanted to work, she could. That was for sure. So what was she going to do about it? That was the real question. As she took a nice long hot shower, the wheels in her brain were turning. What had she done in the past when things hadn’t gone her way?

She found a solution, that’s what she did. So how did she get the young ranch hands to listen to her? There was nothing she could do if they weren’t willing to follow her lead. Of course, that was sort of like the blind leading the blind, but, dammit, she was the leader whether they liked it or not.

She didn’t want to take advantage of them; she just wanted them to help her make this place a success so her father wouldn’t think she was a failure. Somewhere in the past couple of weeks, his opinion had begun to matter to her. Not that she would ever tell him.

Somewhere along the way she had switched her thinking. Maybe it was her conversation with Colt, though she wished that hadn’t happened. And maybe it was just that she’d had so much time on her own. Maybe it was even the ranching books she’d been flipping through, and all the Web pages. But, whatever the reason, she had made a decision to do this, and so she would. But she knew she couldn’t do it without serious help.

Yes, she still wanted to get away from Montana, but before now, she’d wanted to get away at any cost. Now, it was more important for her to walk away with her head held high.

If she made the place a success and then sold it, her father would be proud, and she’d show her brothers that she wasn’t some stupid little girl — that she was just as capable as, or even more capable than, any of them. It’s not as if any of those boys had been prizes in the past.

So she needed to figure out how to get the men to listen to her. Once she had their attention, she could work on the respect part. A smile split her face when she figured it out. They were
men
, after all!

Got it! First get them to see her, and then she could make them listen!

* * *

Colt had no idea why he was working like a flipping ranch hand on Brielle’s property when he had his own land to deal with, but here he was speaking with Tony after helping the men mend fences for the last two hours. It was insane. For her to think he worked for her was one thing, but now he found himself
actually
working for her, and for nothing.

What in the world was wrong with him? His eyes wandered toward the house for the hundredth time in the past ten minutes. He hadn’t seen her since she’d stomped off after their ride, and for the first day afterward he was glad of it — or he’d told himself he was.

She’d acted like an overprivileged twit, but that was just the thing — it was an
act
. He knew that. She had been feeling vulnerable, she’d been tired, sore, and hurting. So instead of admitting this, she’d stormed off, making them think the worst of her. What he wanted to know was why?

Still, with her obvious dislike for the land and her obvious incompetence, he’d sworn to himself that first day after their ride that he was going to try to convince her that ranching wasn’t the life for her. That shouldn’t be too hard. She hated Montana and hated everything to do with the land she now owned. If he could just find the right buttons to push, he’d be all set at getting her to run far, far away.

And yet the thought of her leaving didn’t make him ecstatic; instead, it brought him an ache he couldn’t quite explain. There was no chance he was falling for this woman. Impossible. Not after a few encounters, a couple of hot kisses, and one “meaningful” conversation.

But he had a sinking feeling about this whole mess — he was certainly falling in lust with the little princess. And that was almost as bad in his book. She was beginning to fill his dreams, and then she was the first thought on his mind when he awoke. He had to get her out of his mind, and he’d already established the only way to do it — have sex with her.

He
had
to do it! For the sake of his sanity. Who could get hurt when it all — or the two of them — came down to it?

A few minutes later, his eyes were rooted to her house when the front door opened. Without realizing it, he was holding his breath. Two and a half days had been too long. That should have stopped him cold, but when she emerged, all thoughts and feelings he had went straight to his lower regions, and he knew he was in deep manure.

The men on lunch break instantly became tongue-tied. Not that he noticed. All his attention was focused on Brielle and what she was wearing — or, more accurately, what she wasn’t wearing.

Standing there on the porch and holding a pitcher that looked to be full of lemonade, she had on cutoff jeans — those Wranglers she’d killed on the trail? — that were so damn tiny that the pockets were sticking out of the front. He couldn’t imagine what would be showing in the back. And the only thing covering her breasts was about the tiniest bikini top he’d ever seen. What in the hell was she trying to do to him? As he looked around, he revised his question. What was she trying to do to all of them?

“What’s going on here?” This came from Tony, who was at his side, and who seemed just as entranced by the show as the rest of the men.

“I don’t know, but I’m about to find out,” Colt growled.

“Hold on. I want to see what’s on her mind,” Tony said with a scowl wrinkling his forehead.

“Why? She should know better than to dress like that in front of all these young pups,” Colt snapped.

“They’ve seen less in the way of clothing,” Tony said with a chuckle. It was amazing. Even though what sounded like a laugh escaped his mouth, his lips still didn’t turn up. Colt would someday have to ask him how he managed that.

Against his better judgment, Colt listened to Tony and decided to see how this was going to play out. When she stepped off the porch and walked to the back of her truck, setting a tray down that held lemonade, what appeared to be cookies, and a lot of paper cups, he began to figure it out.

When she turned, she didn’t even look his way, just grabbed the attention of a few of the guys who weren’t far away. “Are you boys thirsty?” she asked, her voice dripping honey.

The responses weren’t anywhere close to coherent as the men raced toward her and all but salivated at her feet as she poured a cup for each of them. Within the next ten minutes, more than twenty of her employees showed up. Text messages must have been flying. And she was soon surrounded as she sat on the back of the truck, her legs swinging, and her rapt audience hanging on every word she said.

“I’ve had just about enough of this,” Colt said.

“Yeah, but I want to know the point of all this. Come on, humor an old man and give it just a few more minutes,” Tony told him.

Colt felt like punching something, but instead, as the two men spoke, he leaned against the side of a tractor, letting the big piece of equipment shade him. He kept his hat pulled low over his eyes as his gaze bored into Brielle.

“Do you know where the hose is? I want to wash my truck.” The sound of her sweet voice easily drifted over to him, and his eyes narrowed. He’d bet every dollar he had — and he had plenty — that Brielle had never in her life washed her own vehicle.

So why was she so keen on taking care of a truck that he hadn’t seen her drive once since she’d pulled up on her first day at the ranch? When one of the boys fetched her the hose, while another got her a bucket and soap, he waited, now just as curious as Tony.

When the water started and she sprayed the hose high in the air so it cascaded down on her and all the men surrounding her, the sound of her laugher floating happily through the air, he had his answer.

The boys were now looking at her as if she were their golden idol, and he had no doubt in his mind that this was preplanned. She’d figured out how to get the men on her side, and she’d done it with both guns blazing.

He almost wanted to clap his hands and congratulate her. She wasn’t as defeated as he’d thought she was. When she lifted the sudsy sponge from the bucket and began washing the side of the truck, her hips swaying, drawing every pair of eyes to her rich assets, he was finished. She could play all the games she wanted to play, but what she was about to learn was that if she wanted to play with fire, she was damn well going to get burned.

No longer aware of Tony’s presence, Colt pushed off from the side of the tractor and approached Brielle and her posse of men. He was only a few feet away when she turned and noticed him, the hose in her hand forgotten, the spout pointing directly at him.

The cool shot of water to his chest didn’t faze him. It was refreshing, actually, since he was hot as hell. Without a word, but with the water still spraying him and soaking his jeans, Colt began unbuttoning his shirt.

“Oh…sorry,” she said, as if just realizing what was happening.

He didn’t care. She set down the hose and acted as if she were going to turn away, but his eyes held hers, and he wasn’t giving her permission to break the connection.

He peeled his shirt from his wet shoulders, and felt immense pleasure when her eyes widened and she took her time looking at his rock-hard upper body. Yeah, she’d seen it before, but he couldn’t help but feel good that she was obviously mesmerized. That wouldn’t hurt for what was coming next.

“Leave.” Though his gaze never left hers, the young men around her had no doubt that he was speaking to them. They scattered faster than a group of horses with a pit of snakes thrown into their corral.

With a look of triumph, Colt began moving toward his prey. He didn’t know when or how, but somewhere, somehow, Brielle had become his, and it was now time he proved it to her.