Learnin' The Ropes (27 page)

The next day, Ty awoke with a sore throat and pounding headache. Too late, he realized he probably shouldn’t have gotten quite so cozy with Lexi while she had a cold. He rarely got sick and didn’t think much of it until later in the day when his head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Barely able to swallow, he felt feverish.

Swede ambled into the shop to ask him a question, taking in his glazed eyes and flushed skin with a shake of his head.

“Son, ya done got what the boss had, don’t ya?” Swede pulled off his glove and placed a rough hand to Ty’s forehead. “Whooee! Ya could fry an egg on yer head, dude.”

“I’m fine,” Ty tried to say around his thick tongue and sore throat.

“Sure ya are, and I’m a monkey’s uncle. Let’s git ya to bed, pard.” Swede settled a hand on Ty’s shoulder and gave him a gentle nudge off the stool where he sat.

“I don’t think…” Ty fought the dizziness that made the shop spin.

“Dude! Don’t ya go passin’ out on me. Yer too big fer me to wrangle. Lean on me and I’ll have ya in the bunkhouse in no-time.”

Ty closed his eyes and shuffled his feet, following where Swede led. Sunlight touched his face as they made it out the door, but the world picked up the pace as it spun around.

“Jimmy!” Swede bellowed in the direction of the barn.

Jimmy stuck his head out the door of the tack room and saw Swede trying to keep Ty upright. Sprinting to them, Jimmy got there just in time to keep Ty from falling to the ground.

Between the two of them, they dragged Ty across the ranch yard, up the bunkhouse steps, and to his room. Quickly unlacing his boots and pulling off his coveralls, they let him flop back on the bed.

“Jes leave him be for a while. I’ll go tell the boss he’s sick. She’ll want to know,” Swede said as Jimmy backed out of the room, not wanting to get whatever Ty had. “Thanks for coming to help. Thought he was gonna eat dirt for a minute.”

“We could have teased him about that for weeks.” Jimmy grinned then returned to the tack room.

Upon learning of Ty’s illness, Lexi insisted Swede help move him to the house so she could care for him. Swede told her it wouldn’t be proper, so she marched to the bunkhouse and into his room. Ty was right where Swede had left him, fully clothed on his bed, heat radiating from his fevered skin.

“Get him undressed while I get a cool washcloth,” Lexi ordered Swede, sweeping out of the room.

Dressed in his usual T-shirt and baggy jeans, Swede managed to strip Ty down to his underwear and pull a sheet over him before Lexi returned with a couple of washcloths and a bowl of tepid water.

Lexi sat on the edge of the bed and placed a cloth on Ty’s head then began sponging down his arms and chest. Swede brought a glass of cold juice and helped Lexi coax Ty into drinking some before he drifted off to sleep.

The rest of the ranch hands were surprised to find Ty sick and Lexi taking care of him when they came in for dinner. Swede shooed Lexi out before bedtime, assuring her he could take care of Ty.

Before midnight Ty’s fever broke, so Swede went back to his house to rest.

They were all supposed to leave the next morning to attend a two-day branding for one of the neighbors. Ty stumbled out to the table and slumped in his chair, trying to gather the energy to take a drink from the mug of coffee Gus sat in front of him.

“Ya ain’t gonna go nowhere today, son,” Swede said as he walked inside. “Jes haul yer tough ol’ hide right back to bed.”

“I promised Mr. Anders I’d help,” Ty rasped around his sore throat.

“I know thet, but ya couldn’t wrestle a sleepy kitten today let alone a half-grown calf. I’m tellin’ ya, yer stayin’ home. Rest up and ya can go with us to the next one. Ya don’t want to miss it.” Swede pointed down the hall toward Ty’s room.

“Fine.” Ty didn’t move from the table. Standing would require more effort than he could muster.

“Cal, Keith, git him up,” Swede said, instructing the twins to help Ty. They flanked him while Ty draped his arms over their shoulders.

“Thanks, guys,” Ty said, embarrassed by his inability to move without assistance.

“No problem, dude. Maybe next time the boss is sick, you’ll keep a little distance,” Cal teased.

“Yeah. How come Swede didn’t get sick?” Keith asked, winking at his brother.

 “Maybe ‘cause he and the boss aren’t on as friendly terms as she is with this one,” Cal commented as they dumped Ty on his bed.

“I don’t see her wanting to cozy up to Swede the way she does ol’ dude.” Keith offered Ty a cocky grin as he moved to the door. “It boggles my mind why she’d pick an ugly little ol’ thing like you when she has all us handsome cowboys to choose from.”

If he could have thought of a snappy comeback or stirred up enough strength to punch one of the twins, Ty would have.

“Thet’s enough, both of ya,” Swede said, from the hallway. Cal and Keith left snickering, but not before Cal made several kissy-face motions Ty’s direction.

Ty closed his eyes and went back to sleep. He’d have plenty of time to plot some payback for the twins later.

Hours later, Ty awoke to a quiet house, feeling much better than he had at breakfast. He wandered to the kitchen, made himself two pieces of toast and drank a cup of hot water, since he couldn’t find any tea bags. A note on the table from Swede said they’d be back after dark and not to worry about anything.

Ty went back to bed and slept for a while. When he awakened, he called Beth and caught up on news from Portland before going in search of something to interrupt his boredom.

He tried watching one of the talk shows on television but found it ridiculous, so he picked up a book to read and made it through the first chapter before he fell asleep on the couch. The crew returned to find him still sleeping there.

Lexi’s scent, mingled with that of horses and cattle, drifted around him and her cool hand brushed across his forehead. Swiftly concluding feigning sleep would be to his advantage, he kept his eyes closed.

“His fever’s gone,” Lexi commented as she touched his cheeks and pulled the blanket from the back of the couch over him. “I feel bad he got sick taking care of me.”

“Don’t worry about it too much, boss,” Swede said. “I don’t think ya could’ve made him stay away from ya if ya wanted to. He does a right smart job of nursing, too. Where ya ‘spose he learned how?”

“His mom,” Lexi whispered, not wanting to share anything personal in front of the rest of the hands. If Ty wanted them to know, he’d tell them himself. “I think he took care of his mother when she was sick.”

“I knew he was a good egg,” Swede said, walking into the kitchen. The hands threw together leftovers for a slap-dash meal.

“I’ll run up to the house and make him some soup,” Lexi said, studying Swede for a long moment. “You feel okay?”

“Fit as a fiddle.” Swede shot her a knowing smile. “I think dude got a little more exposure to your germs than I did.”

Lexi blushed and hurried out the door. That was the last time she’d kiss anyone when she was sick. Technically, Ty instigated the kissing, but she fully participated once it started. As she walked to her house, she mentally lectured herself about not losing control again.

The branding wasn’t as much fun without him there that day. Several single women acted extremely disappointed to find out he wouldn’t be coming. Their interest in him made Lexi unreasonably annoyed and a little jealous.

Maybe she should give a little more thought to what Aunt Bertie said about putting her brand on him.

Lesson Thirteen

The Desert Blooms as Paradise

“Sometimes ya gotta throw on the brakes

and take a minute to enjoy creation.”

“Sure you feel up to going?” Lexi asked Ty for the third time that morning.

Instead of reassuring her again that he was fine after two days of bed rest and another day of recuperating, he rolled his eyes.

Everyone, with the exception of Gus, planned to drive to her uncle’s spread in Fields for a branding. His ranch was about a two-hour drive south of Burns on Highway 205, also known as the High Desert Discovery Scenic Byway.

Swede, Jimmy, Keith, and Cal would take the big dually truck and pull the six-horse trailer. Ty and Lexi would drive the ranch pickup with the overnight bags and gear in the back.

Once the dually truck pulled down the driveway, Lexi and Ty helped Gus finish the morning chores. Someone needed to stay behind and keep an eye on the ranch and Gus volunteered for the job. Ty was glad he felt well enough to go. He didn’t mind taking responsibility of the ranch while everyone was gone for a few days, but if one of the animals needed assistance and the vet couldn’t come, he had no idea what to do. Gus could handle any emergency, if any arose.

Finally ready to leave, Ty gave Baby a loving pat on the head and told her to mind her manners with Gus. The dog barked and whined as he got in the pickup.

“You spoil her,” Lexi commented. Every bit as guilty of babying Baby as Ty, she wouldn’t admit to anything.

“Maybe,” Ty said, giving Lexi a sideways glance and a warm smile. “She’s not the only female I’d like to spoil.”

She feigned a scowl. “She’s not? Are you planning on making a brat out of Delilah next?”

Ty shook his head. “Nope. I have a girl with two very long, lovely legs in mind, not four.”

Lexi grinned. “When have you had time to find a girlfriend out here in the sticks?”

“I haven’t had time to find one, she found me.” His hand slid across the seat and captured Lexi’s fingers. He pressed a hot kiss to her palm before she jerked her hand away.

His touch made it hard for her to think and his kiss threatened to alter her ability to breathe normally. When she spoke, her voice sounded breathless. “Ty, we need to maintain a level of professionalism the next few days. I can’t guarantee I’ll get you there and back again in one piece if you don’t go along with me on this. And if you keep kissing my hand like that, I’ll run off the road before we ever get to Burns.”

Ty laughed, patted her leg, and retreated to his side of the pickup.

“I’ll behave, for now.” He flashed a smile filled with even white teeth. “Unless you want to pull over and let me do more than kiss your hand?”

“I’m warning you, buckaroo, to back down.,” Although she spoke sternly, the sparkle in her eyes gave away her pleasure at his teasing.

He sighed and relaxed in his seat. “It’s gonna be a long drive if I can’t touch you at all. You better think up some good stories to keep me entertained.”

Lexi smiled and started talking about past brandings, her uncle’s ranch, and things she remembered about her dad. Ty asked more questions about her father’s cancer, and what he was like before he got sick.

“That must have been hard to come back to, Lexi,” Ty said. Sympathy filled him at her giving up her life in Portland and returning to the ranch only to find a tangled mess in the fallout of her father’s disease.

“I’ve finally got the accounts straightened out and most everything back to rights except for the missing money,” Lexi said.

“Have you found any more clues?”

Lexi shrugged. “No. I still haven’t figured out the last one. ‘Best Bucket.’ What does that mean?”

“We’ll figure it out.” Ty took her hand in his again.

She shot him a grateful glance. “I appreciate your help. It was hard not to have anyone to talk to about it. It’s not every day someone hides half a million dollars on the ranch.”

“What?” His face registered surprise. He assumed when Lexi said her dad hid some money, they were talking about a few thousand dollars. It wasn’t his place to ask her specifics. All he knew was that money was missing and she needed to find it.

“My dad withdrew five hundred thousand dollars from invested funds I didn’t even know he had and that’s what I’m searching for.”

“You mean he didn’t let you handle his money? But that’s what you did for a living.” Ty tried to process this information.

“I did invest money for him. I thought what I managed was all the money he invested, but I found several other accounts he opened. He withdrew odd amounts from each of them not too long before he got really sick. The withdrawals totaled half a million.”

 “That’s interesting.” Ty struggled to imagine how Lexi would ever find the money. There were thousands of acres with more than a dozen buildings on the ranch. It could be anywhere: hidden in a wall, buried under a tree, beneath a clump of sagebrush. “Have you told anyone else about it?”

“No. Not even Swede.” She hoped Ty understood he was the only person she felt comfortable confiding in.

“Lexi, I… thank you for sharing this with me.” Humbled by her trust, he’d do everything he could to help her find the money. It meant the world to him to know she put enough faith in him to keep the secret, especially since he was unemployed, homeless, and desperate just a few months ago.

“I know I can trust you.” She squeezed his hand. “Besides, if I find you rifling through the house looking for treasure, I’ll fill that fine caboose of yours full of buckshot.”

“You think I’ve got a fine caboose?” Ty gave her a heated look. When she blushed, he let her off the hook. “I’ve got no doubt that you would. We just need to figure out the next clue.”

“I know but I’ve got absolutely no idea…”

Ty glanced out the window and tensed. “Stop, Lexi! Stop the truck!” he yelled. Lexi slammed on the brakes.

Across the open expanse of sagebrush, Ty could see a herd of magnificent wild horses grazing.

Lexi unbuckled her seat belt and leaned across the seat so she could see out his window. “Those are the Kigers.”

 “Kigers?”

“Kiger Mustangs. They run wild here. The Bureau of Land Management manages the herd and does occasional adoptions, but they’ve been here forever. Aren’t they beautiful?”

“They’re awesome.” Ty rolled down his window and snapped several photos with his phone. He had to send some to Beth. The landscape around them was amazing, like something he’d see on the Discovery Channel. “They have unique coloring.”

“The majority of them are duns. A lot of them have the striping you see on that one right there.” Lexi leaned across him and pointed to a nearby horse. Ty slid his arm around her and pulled her closer so they both could look out the window. “The ancestry of the herd goes back to Spanish horses brought to the Americas in the seventeenth century.”