Learnin' The Ropes (42 page)

“Well, I reckon its fine.” A slow grin spread across his face. Although one side of his shirt was ice cold and clinging to his chest, and it would look like he couldn’t hold water if he stood, he was incapable of wiping the smile from his lips. “I’ll dry out by the time I’m finished eating. Don’t worry about it. I…”

Viv hustled out of the back to see what caused all the commotion. She hurried over to their booth, rested a hand on the woman’s shoulder, and gave it a squeeze.

“If it isn’t the Thompson boys, come to grace my fine establishment. I haven’t seen you two in so long I thought maybe your hired hands revolted and left you tarred and feathered on the back forty.” Viv teased. “What happened? You get tired of your own cooking?”

Trent laughed. “Yes, ma’am, we did.”

“That’s just what I thought.” Viv smiled at the two men. “Did you meet my niece? She’s helping me out for a while.”

Trent and Trey shot each other a look, but neither one said anything.

Trey nodded his head in the woman’s direction and continued to smile.

“Nice to meet you Mrs…”

“It’s Miss Greer,” Viv said, looking between Trey and Cadence. “But you can call her Cadence. No need to be formal out here, is there?”

“No, ma’am,” Trent agreed. “No need at all.”

Trent stood and stuck out his hand. “I’m Trent Thompson and this is my brother Trey.”

Cadence looked up and then looked up some more as Trent towered above her five foot, six inch frame. She managed to work up a small smile and take his hand without dropping the tray again. She turned her head and offered her hand to his brother. When he rose to his feet, she was glad to see he wasn’t quite so tall.

As she dared to dart a glance at his face, his eyes captivated her. Their color was the exact same brilliant shade as the Sea of Cortez, or at least how the water looked in the photo her parents had emailed her the previous day.

Laugh lines crinkled at the corners of his eyes and his lips parted to show even, white teeth. She felt her own lips curl into a smile as she studied the cowboy named Trey. To say he was handsome would be a gross underestimation of the truth. He was steal-your-breath-away gorgeous.

When he took her hand in his warm callused one, she felt hot tremors shoot up her arm again and forced herself not to yank her hand back.

Angry for feeling attracted to any man, Cadence slammed the brakes on her emotions and put her cool demeanor back in place.

“It was very nice to meet you both,” she said politely before returning to the kitchen.

Trey and Trent both watched her hurry away, gawking at how well she filled out her jeans. Viv pushed Trey back into the booth and handed him a napkin.

“What’s that for?” he asked as she shoved the paper square into his hand.

“To wipe the drool off your chin.” Although her tone was serious, she gave him a playful wink. “Don’t you two go getting any bright ideas about my girl. She came here to get away from one of the most despicable examples of manhood you’d ever hope to meet. I don’t need either one of you breaking her heart in any more pieces.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Trent raised an eyebrow as he glanced at Trey, wondering what type of man would let a beautiful woman like Viv’s niece get away.

Viv motioned for Trey to scoot over and slid in beside him, fanning herself with her apron.

“As much as I love that girl, she is going to be the death of my diner,” Viv whispered to the two boys she had watched grow up into fine men. “She can’t wait tables to save her life. She’s broken more glasses in the last week than I have in a lifetime. Just today, Cadence spilled hot soup on Ermil Wright and dumped a platter of Buffalo wings on Fred Noder. I don’t know what I’m going to do with her.”

“Can she cook and clean?” Trey asked, surprised when he heard himself blurt out the question.

Viv slowly turned her head to look at him and took a moment before answering. “Can she cook and clean? That girl is fanatical about cleaning. She keeps running around with bleach wipes and a mop, scrubbing anything that doesn’t run away from her. Have you ever seen the front windows so spanking clean?”

Trey and Trent looked at the windows. They were so clean they actually held a bit of sparkle from the fading evening light.

“What about cooking?” Trent noticed the direction of Trey’s thoughts and honed in on the potential of finding a replacement for Lois.

“She can cook, but it’s fancy pants food.” Viv shook her head, looking somewhat offended. “She says the grease I use to fry food is going to kill you all graveyard dead. Despite that, the one thing the girl can do fine is bake. You’ve never had a pie like she can make. My Joe said her berry pie was the best thing he’d ever eaten. Old coot!”

Trey smothered a laugh and patted Viv’s hand. “You know we’ve been left high and dry since Lois moved to Boise.” He hoped to play off Viv’s sympathy. “What do you think of Cadence coming to work for us?”

“As your cook and housekeeper?” Viv considered the possibility. “I don’t know.”

“What’s not to know, Viv?” Trey liked the idea the more he considered it. The girl might be a terrible waitress, but she wasn’t hard to look at, that was for sure. “We’d give her room and board and a wage on top of it. She’d be out of the café but still close enough you can see her anytime you want and keep an eye on her. We wouldn’t let anything happen to her, would we Trent?”

“No, ma’am.” Trent quickly warmed to his brother’s plan. He could almost smell bread baking in their oven. “We’d treat her just like we would our own sister.”

“See, right there is the problem.” Viv shot Trent a wary glance. “You don’t have a sister. You three hooligans are too much for even your own sweet mama to handle. I just don’t know if it would be proper for her to be living out there with all you bachelors. None of your hands are married are they?”

“No, Viv, they aren’t.” Trey started to feel edgy under her continued resistance to his plan. “This isn’t the Stone Age and we aren’t a bunch of cavedwellers. She could have the whole north wing of the house to herself and we’d be clear over in the south wing. Come on. What do you say?”

Viv was about to say no, but turned just in time to watch Cadence upend a breadbasket in old Mrs. Henkle’s lap. She rose from the table with a resigned look on her face. “If she agrees, you boys can hire her. But no funny business or you’ll answer to me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Trey hurried to agree.

The two ranchers watched Cadence spill, drop, and fumble her way through the dinner service. Viv personally hand-delivered a brimming plate of chicken fried steak to each of them. They’d just finished mopping up the last bit of gravy off their plates with a warm dinner roll when Cadence approached with two pieces of pie smothered by a crown of melting vanilla ice cream.

Although he had eaten his fill, Trey’s mouth began to water as she carefully slid a plate in front of him then set one down in front of Trent. Keeping her aloof façade in place, she said, “enjoy,” then walked back to the kitchen.

Unable to talk while they were devouring the best piece of apple pie to ever cross their lips, Trey and Trent communicated by raising eyebrows, grunting, and nodding their heads.

When the pie was gone, they didn’t care how much “fancy pants” food they had to eat, they’d do anything to be able to enjoy dessert like that on a regular basis.

When the café was nearly empty, Viv came out to their table and motioned for Cadence to join them.

“Cadence, these two gentlemen have a business proposal for you,” Viv said as she gave Cadence’s shoulders a reassuring squeeze. Tall and lean with a head full of short gray curls and pale blue eyes, the woman was a near replica of Cadence’s own mother.

Cadence leaned into her hug and tried to keep her heart from pounding. She knew she had to be the world’s worst waitress and wondered how long it would be before Aunt Viv sent her packing.

“Miss Greer.” Trey smiled as he addressed the hapless waitress. “We’re in need of a housekeeper and cook. Your aunt thought you might be interested in the position. You duties would include preparing breakfast and dinner for us and our hired men, and keeping up the ranch house. The hired hands take care of the bunkhouse and do their own laundry. We’d pay you a thousand per month in addition to your room and board.”

Surprised by the offer, Cadence thought the wages more than fair considering they were in the middle of nowhere. The inclusion of room and board was a bonus she had not expected at all. She would be close to Aunt Viv and Uncle Joe, yet would no longer have to be mortified every time she spilled something on a paying customer.

Nevertheless, she wasn’t sure the idea of living close to two bachelors, especially two extremely good-looking cowboy bachelors, was a good idea.

“How many men would I have to cook for?” She looked at Trent as she asked the question.

Glancing at Trey scrambled her thoughts and she had to fight to keep from being sucked into those ocean-blue eyes of his.

“Generally, there are eight of us, although right now there are only seven. Our youngest brother is finishing up his tour of duty in Iraq,” Trent answered.

“I see.” From Trent’s tone, it was easy to surmise how much their younger brother must be missed. “I hope your brother is safe.”

“I don’t know how safe he is, but when he called earlier today, he sounded just fine.” Trey gave Cadence a crooked grin.

“You mean you two sat here this whole time and didn’t even think to mention that Travis called?” Viv took them both to task then pumped them for details about their brother.

While Viv and the two brothers discussed Travis, it gave Cadence a chance to study the two men seated before her. She decided they didn’t look cruel or unkind, just dangerously attractive. Her aunt seemed to like them. Surely Viv wouldn’t agree to send her anywhere that wasn’t reputable.

Still unconvinced moving to a ranch with unmarried men was a wise decision, she realized she didn’t have many options. Cadence wasn’t nearly as worried about being around Trent as she was Trey. Just standing close to him, she could feel a shimmer of something magnetic and mysterious pass between them.

“Well, Miss Greer, what do you say?” Trey finally asked. “Will you put us out of our misery and come be our cook and housekeeper?”

“I’d like to give your proposal due consideration and offer you a response tomorrow. Would that be acceptable?” Cadence wanted to check with Neil before she made any decisions. She’d contacted him a couple of times for his opinion and he had given her solid advice. She could shoot him a quick email and see what he thought.

“Sure, we’ll check with you after breakfast.” Trey took out his wallet and paid for their meal, leaving a generous tip on the table.

As he and Trent sauntered toward the door, Trey turned back for one more look at Cadence and offered her a warm smile.

He didn’t know what had happened between them and was pretty sure he didn’t want to find out. A smart man would forget about asking her to work for him and ignore the jolt that shot through his hand when he touched her. That is exactly what a smart man would do.

But every man had a weakness and it looked like Trey’s was, quite possibly, delicious pie.

The Cowboy’s Christmas Plan

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The Women of Tenacity Series

Tenacious, sassy women tangle with the wild, rugged men who love them in this contemporary western romance series.

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Easy-going cowboy Clay Matthews is a respected college professor. He's the man family and friends turn to for help, or when they need a good laugh, since he's a huge tease and practical joker. Life would be almost perfect, except for his relationship with his wife... (
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