Sweet and Wild (10 page)

“Nothing about going out there?”

Quinn swung around to face him. “Oh my
God, Robby, why would she do that?” Of course she didn’t want to mention the
strange, brief conversation over breakfast the day before.

Robby took hold of Quinn’s arm. “Come
on, Quinn. The way she was talking, well you’d think she’d discovered herself a
starlet in you.”

Quinn didn’t know whether to be relieved
or outraged. Robby’s interested in her extended only as far as the possibility
that some Hollywood type would be interested in her.

“Why would she think that? I’m not one
bit interested in acting and I sure don’t have the talent for it. She should
have been talking to you.”

Robby scowled but didn’t reply. She felt
kind of bad for him. His dream had been a leading role in a big Hollywood
movie. She really shouldn’t joke around about it.

“Damn.” Robby scuffed the toe of his
boot against the dirt and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Thought she could
be my ticket back.”

 Quinn paused and glared at him. “That’s
it? I can’t believe you’re pretending to be interested in me to get information
on her.”

Robby threw up his hands in defense.
“Whoa, you think that’s what’s going on here? The two have nothing to do with
each other. Q, that’s the truth.”

Quinn groaned. She didn’t want to leave
him with the impression she’d been hurt, or hoping he was interested in her for
more than a ticket back to Hollywood. Damn. She didn’t feel like explaining it
to him.

“I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”

“You can count on it. Quinn, really,
it’s not about Charlene talking to you.”

Quinn strode across the ranch yard and
to her room. No one bothered stopping her, not that she would’ve stopped
anyway.

***

As planned, Quinn pulled up to the Shady
H at ten o’ clock the next morning. In consideration for her feelings, Craig
stayed in the barn, out of sight while Marisol greeted her. He listened as
Quinn began the lesson with the most basic of rituals, grooming the horse. She
was thorough and Craig was confident Marisol would receive the training she
needed under Quinn’s tutelage.

He really wanted to watch her at work
but instead he left the two in peace. He refused to let time go by with his
plans for Emerald Ranch. He intended to show Ted he meant business. Ever since
his visit to Emerald, he couldn’t get the image of that dustbowl out of his
brain. It remained there, twisting like a knife. Growing up, he had such pride
in his family’s spread and seeing what Ted did with it devastated him. He’d
never be able to live with himself if he didn’t do something about it.

His own career had been very lucrative
over the years he and Elise spent traveling. His freelance travel articles had
landed in every major newspaper and magazine around the world. His series of
travel books,
Jewels in the Rough,
were best sellers. He had a talent
for showcasing the most exotic, remote areas, bringing out the beauty of even
the roughest location. He didn’t write about typical vacation spots. He wrote
about travel destinations for the adventurous. There’d even been talk about a
television show, but that was before Elise had been diagnosed with cancer.
Someone had to be with Marisol and he had been the one take over the majority
of the parenting while Elise was on assignment.

Even without the addition of Elise’s own
wealth, which was safely put away for Marisol, he was more than comfortable.
What good was money if he couldn’t put it toward something that took up such a
huge part of his life? With Ted’s phone number in hand, he called the ranch.

Dina Penney answered the phone. She
sounded hesitant when he asked to speak to her husband. “I’ll go find him,” she
said and he heard her put the phone down.

In the background, he heard the door
open and slap shut again. After what seemed like ten minutes, she returned.

“Sorry to keep you. He was at the barn,
getting Scotty going on some project, but he’ll be right up.”

She’d no more than got the sentence out
when Craig heard the door burst open again.

“Gimme that thing,” Ted muttered and
Craig pictured the man yanking the phone from his wife’s hand. “I thought we
was finished with this business,” Ted said coldly.

Craig shook his head. Well, he hadn’t
expected pleasantries. “I don’t know why you thought that. I made it pretty
plain I’d be in touch.”

 “And I don’t know why you think I’d
sell this ranch to you. Just because you’re some famous writer and was married
to a famous TV lady?”

“Because Emerald was my home and it
makes me sick to see what you’ve done with it. And because you have no business
breeding horses.” Craig refused to apologize for or dilute his words. Sugar
coated offers weren’t going to work on this guy. Just the cold, hard truth.

“We do fine here.”

“With half-starved cattle? What do you
think they’ll bring you at auction? Not enough to see you through the winter.
And I’ve heard around town that no one would come near those horses unless they
just wanted to rescue them from their miserable life. Come on, Ted, be honest
with yourself, and with your wife. How long can you hang on before the bank
comes looking for its mortgage payment?”

He gave Ted a price, a good and fair
price, if not a little low, considering the condition of the place and the
stock, including the broodmares and the foals.

“No, that’s barely enough to cover…and
besides, what the hell would I do? I’m a rancher, more than you been.”

Craig didn’t bother to contradict him,
though there was nothing similar about the two of them. If Ted put a good two
hours a day out on the land Craig would be shocked. From what Craig had heard,
Ted’s son, Scott, pulled his and his father’s weight and that would never be
enough.

“Get a place in town. Everyone says
you’re good with engines. Open a garage. There’s enough farm equipment in these
parts to give you a steady flow of customers.” He repeated his offer.

“Not enough.”

Craig upped his offer by another ten
thousand, knowing it would be worth it.

“It’s my final offer. You know the bank
won’t be quite so fair. You’ll be left with nothing but a lot of trouble and no
home. Is that what you want for Dina and Scott? Think about it.”

Without waiting for a reply, Craig hung
the phone up.

Craig looked out the window at his
daughter and Quinn. The sight calmed him. He wondered how long before Ted gave
in. A day, maybe two? In the end though, Craig was confident he’d call and
accept the offer.

If not, if the man’s pride proved more
stubborn than he thought, Craig could always buy the place at auction.

He hoped Ted would choose the most
sensible path.

“Dad, some guy named Mr. Penney called.
He said go ahead and start the paperwork. What’s that mean?” Marisol glanced up
from the tomato she was slicing for their salad.

Craig grinned. Penney had given in a lot
faster than he’d expected. “It means I’m buying back Grandpa and Grandma’s
ranch, Emerald Ranch. It’s actually right on the other side of us.”

Marisol paused and stared at him, her
brow furrowed. “Another ranch? How are you going to run two ranches?”

“Not sure yet. I could fix it up and
lease it out. Or maybe hire someone to manage it. Right now there are horses
there. Could keep it as a horse farm, since we have cattle here. But I haven’t
worked out the details yet.”

“You should hire Quinn to run it.”

Great.
He’d managed to keep Quinn at
bay for the better part of the day. Now she’d been pulled front and center once
more.

“Why’s that?”

“Because she wants her own ranch so she
can raise and train horses. She's doing that at Long Knife Creek and working
for her brother. She told me how expensive it would be to build a house and a
barn. Maybe if she had one already built it would be easier for her. She could
take care of your horses and hers too”

He’d never considered Quinn, but maybe.

How in the world would that work? With
her next door while he was dealing with these new and rather potent feelings
for her? The idea made his blood rush in a rather uncomfortable way. He cleared
his throat, hoping Marisol didn’t notice his sudden mood change.

“I’ll think about it. But first a
shower, then burgers on the grill.”

He didn’t rush out the next day to make
the offer to Quinn. In fact, he barely spoke with her the next several times
she worked with Marisol. He wanted to get Emerald in his possession and take
stock of what Ted left behind before he’d approach her.

He also needed to find a housekeeper.
Though Marisol was capable of handling the dishes and helping with laundry, she
wanted to spend more time outdoors, helping where she could with the horses.
Her interest in the ranch had grown by leaps and bounds and he wasn’t going to
hold her back.

At least there was no shortage of
suggestions pouring in from the citizens of Falstad.

“Well, there’s Mrs. Strockmeyer,” Arnie
Potts, the owner of Potts Grocery, offered.

Craig had brought Marisol out to
breakfast at his mother’s diner in town. They ran into a number of familiar
faces, residents who’d been around for as long as he could remember. The diner
had historically been the local hangout for generations, long before Colleen
Lynch took it over. As a kid, he used to sit at the counter, sucking down
chocolate milkshakes and eating cheeseburgers. Not much had changed. The smell
of coffee and bacon permeated the air in a familiar and comforting way and
nearly every stool at the counter was filled.

Mrs. Strockmeyer, the lunch lady back
when Craig had been a school kid. Apple cheeked and always smiling, she treated
all the students as if they were her grandchildren. He was surprised she was
still around.

“She’s got as much energy as ever,”
Arnie continued. “Sharp as a tack. She retired about five years ago but worked
over at Jake Red Crow’s place helping take care of the kids until the youngest
left home.”

Craig thanked Arnie for the lead and dug
into his breakfast.

After they ate, they headed the street
to Billingsworth Feed.

“Hey, there’s Quinn.”

The rush that had become all too
familiar at the sight of Quinn, hit Craig like a sack of bricks. Keeping his
libido in control was getting damned near impossible, but all he needed to cool
his ardor was recall the wide-eyed shock on her face after he kissed her.

Marisol pulled away from his side and
dashed to the young woman.

Quinn gave her a big, genuine smile and
put her arm around Marisol’s shoulder.

Craig hung back, not wanting to intrude.
It gave him the chance to study Quinn as he hadn’t allowed himself to for the
last several days. Problem was, he didn’t know where to look first, so he
started at the top.

 She wore her dark chestnut hair pulled
away from her face, secured in a neat braid. Though tan, she had a healthy,
fresh look, not weathered, as one would expect from someone who lived under the
sun. A dash of freckles fell across her nose, a nose that wasn’t perfect by far.
Broken and never fixed, it didn’t take away from her beauty. In fact, it added
character to what would have been an otherwise perfect face. High, arched
brows, slightly darker than her hair, blue eyes exotic, almond shaped and
large.

Then there was her mouth.

Damn.
He wanted to kiss her again,
feel her smooth, pliant lips under his one more time. A million more times.

Frustrated, he shoved the desire away,
but that didn’t mean it would stay away. He had a feeling the battle had only
begun.

She wore a pale pink blouse, unbuttoned
to display a teal tank top underneath, accentuating full and firm breasts.

Damn, why don’t you just drool over her?

He didn’t want his gaze to wander lower,
didn’t think his nerves could handle it.

God, she hovered so close to youthfulness,
but the woman in her glowed. Despite the sudden rush of guilt at the urge to
sweep his best friend’s kid sister into his arms and kiss her in a way she
couldn’t so easily brush off, she was no kid. He had no reason to feel guilty.
She was an adult now.

Gawking at her like a hormonal teenager
wouldn’t get him anywhere. Jacob would most likely beat him to a pulp just for
thinking these thoughts.

At that point, he realized both Quinn
and Marisol watched him.

“I told Quinn about the ranch,” Marisol blurted.
She held on tight to Quinn’s hand. “I mean the part about her renting it or
running it for you. I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it.”

Craig chuckled. “It’s okay.” He glanced
from his daughter’s worried face to Quinn. Her expression gave none of her thoughts
away.

“So? Is it something you’d consider?
Managing it, I mean?”

Her brows rose, making her eyes even
wider. “This is unexpected. I don’t know what to say.”