Texas Bossa Nova (Texas Montgomery Mavericks Book 5) (3 page)

Her mind, and her heart, stumbled at her words. She probably wouldn’t be around for those years. And even if she were in the area, she doubted she’d be around for the heart breaking. After all, her dad was their foreman. She’d been their housekeeper, which—let’s be honest—was a fancy word for maid. She and Olivia would never be real friends. She wasn’t exactly in the Montgomery social standing. Lord, now that she thought about it, she was probably only invited tonight because they’d felt sorry for her.

Her gut rolled in a nauseated dip. She shouldn’t have come. Maybe she could quietly thank Olivia and head out the back door.

An arm snaked around her shoulders. “You look like you just ate a bug. What’s wrong?” Jackie Montgomery, Olivia’s mother, hugged her shoulder.

Magda shook her head. “Nothing. Just thinking.”

“No, no, no,” Jackie said with a smile. “There’re no sad thoughts at Christmas. Grab a plate and join me and Adam in the sunroom. He’s holding a seat for you.”

That made Magda smile. “Thanks.”

After dinner, the entire group crammed into the living room, finding seats wherever they could. Magda stood by the door, not taking one of the prime seats that someone in the family should take.

“The whole gang together can be a little overwhelming, can’t they?”

Magda turned toward the speaker. Nadine Montgomery, Reno and Darren’s mother smiled at her.

“I remember the first time I met Clint’s family. Why, I almost ran out of the house and didn’t look back.” Nadine laughed.

“They are something,” Magda agreed.

“I wonder if I might have a word with you.”

Magda frowned in puzzlement. “Okay.”

They stepped out of the living room and walked into the now deserted dining room.

“Have a seat,” Nadine said as she pulled out a chair and sat.

Magda sat. “What can I do for you, Mrs. Montgomery?”

“First, you can call me Nadine. There are way too many Mrs. Montgomerys around here.”

Magda nodded. “Okay, Nadine.” The name stuck a little in Magda’s throat. This was Reno’s mother. Calling her anything other than Mrs. Montgomery felt too forward. Still… “What’s up?”

“I need a favor and I admit it’s a big one.”

Magda shrugged. “Sure. If I can help, I will.”

“Olivia sings praises of your work. Said you’d whipped Mitch into line by the time she married him.”

Magda laughed. “Mitch was a sweetie. It was only his horrible ex-wife that was the problem. He probably felt so guilty about inflicting her on me that he was willing to do anything I asked to make up for her.”

Nadine snorted. “I heard all about her.” She shook her head. “A total nutcase, in my opinion.”

“Oh, she was. Now what can I do for you?”

“I want to hire you.”

Magda drew back. “Hire me? I’m sorry, but I can’t go to Florida right now. I promised Zeb I’d stay in the area until he was back on his feet. Thank you, but I can’t.”

Nadine chuckled and touched Magda’s arm. “Sorry. I didn’t make myself clear. I want to hire you to work on the D&R ranch. Do for my sons what you did for Mitch. Keep house. Cook. Make them park their nasty boots outside instead of tromping mud, blood and God knows what else through the house.”

“You want to hire me…to keep house for your sons?” See Reno every day? She fought the panic wanting to grab her by the throat. She’d faced worse and survived. If her past was any indication, she could handle anything thrown at her. That wasn’t the question. The question was did she want to spend a lot of time with Reno? And if she
did
want more time with him, what did that mean?

“Exactly. Look, I know they are slobs, but I love my boys so much.” A maternal smile lit up her face. “They are working so hard to get their ranch up and going with almost no help from us. Clint and I were over there tonight, and good Lord, the dust. I know they want to do everything themselves and not rely on us, but sometimes everybody needs a little help.”

“I see. Well. You’ve caught me off-guard. I wasn’t expecting this.” The memory of Reno’s kisses sent a battalion of goose bumps down her arms.

“Of course, Clint and I would pay your salary. Sort of a surprise Christmas present for the boys. Olivia told me she wasn’t sure how long you’d be in the area, but I’d really appreciate it if you could help me out while you’re here.”

Magda hesitated. “I don’t know, Nadine. It doesn’t seem like a good idea. I mean, we’re all so close in age.” She stood and walked a couple of feet away. “Give me a minute to think.”

Magda had to work while she was here. She knew that. She had no savings and really nowhere to live since the option of staying with Zeb was out the window.

Now that she’d met Blanche and realized Zeb and Blanche were seeing each other, she had no intention of being the third wheel by staying at her dad’s house. And no intention of trying to push Blanche out of her job.

Really, she was actually quite happy for Zeb and Blanche. She’d never known Zeb to have a steady girlfriend. Besides, if he had Blanche to take care of him, that would free Magda up to hit the road again earlier. However, the job offer pretty much confirmed her earlier ruminations that she wasn’t in the Montgomery social circle and that the family saw her as hired help. Excellent hired help, but help just the same.

But to live with Reno? See him every day? Her heart grabbed her ribs and rattled them as though insisting, “You can’t go there again,” while her gut released a bucket of butterflies at the idea.

Reno Montgomery was the sexiest man she’d ever known. The best lover she’d ever had. The man she’d tried—and failed—to forget.

“Please say you’ll do it,” Nadine said, interrupting Magda’s thoughts. “Olivia told me what Mitch was paying you and, given that I’m asking you to do twice the workload that you had with Mitch, of course we’ll pay you double your salary.”

Well, crap. Double the salary. Heaven knew, she needed the money. The last repairs on her bike had taken her last penny. But could she do it? Could she keep herself out of Reno’s bed?

Hell, yeah. She’d faced tougher situations, deadlier for sure. She’d walked away once. She’d walk away again when the time came. Strong women could control their emotions, and if she was anything, she was a strong woman. Her challenge was to make sure Reno understood she was an employee, someone to keep his house and cook his meals. She wasn’t there to warm his bed. If he could live with that, she’d take the job, at least for a few months.

“Congratulations, Nadine. You’ve got yourself a housekeeper.”

Chapter Four

“I don’t know about you, but Mom sure shocked the shit out of me tonight.”

Reno looked over at his brother. “Yeah. Me too. Who’d have thought of hiring us a housekeeper but Mom?” As he spoke, he worked at keeping his voice steady. His heart sure wasn’t. It pounded against his chest wall like a sledge hammer.

Yay for his parents hiring a housekeeper for them, but damn on their choice. Why Magda Hobbs?

When their parents had sprung their surprise, Reno’s mouth had gaped. Of course he, and everyone else, had passed it off as shock. In a way, it was. The news had stunned his heart worse than a Taser. When she’d roared out of town on her Harley, her path had been straight through his gut. It’d hurt, damn it. And now she was back. And going to be working in his house.

A small part of him wanted to tell her to just fuck off. Get out. Never darken his door again.

But then there was the sane side, the side who reminded him how happy she’d made him, how she’d made him laugh and how she could transform the worst day into the best day with a single touch. He’d missed her a lot more than he was willing to admit, even to himself.

Seeing as no one had been aware of their relationship, he’d been required to keep his frustrations bottled up. In the months since Magda had left, Darren had dragged him to Leo’s Bar for a drink now and then, but there hadn’t been a woman there who’d held a candle to Magda.

And now she was back. Would be living in his house. Sleeping under the same roof. He wasn’t sure if he’d been dropped into hell or elevated to heaven.

“True,” Darren said, jerking Reno back to the conversation. “Did Mom say when Magda would be starting? And wow.” He took his hand off the truck’s steering wheel long enough to slap the dash. “Magda Hobbs on top of that. What a hottie. I wonder if I’ll have to actually get out of my bed when she changes my sheets. Or maybe she’ll be in my sheets making them need to be changed.”

A rocket of revulsion blasted inside Reno. “That’s disgusting, even for you. Keep your hands to yourself. Magda isn’t being hired to be your plaything.”

“Well, la-de-da. Who died and made you king of the house?”

“Look, don’t be an ass. Magda is a nice girl. She’s had a hard life. The last thing she needs is an ape like you being your usual jerk-off self. We need a housekeeper. We’ve got one. Don’t run her off.”

“And what if she makes the first move?” Darren looked at his brother and pumped his eyebrows. “I mean, what if I find her in my bed? I’m just supposed to kick her out?”

Reno gritted his teeth so hard he was surprised he didn’t crack a tooth. His right hand curled into a fist and it was all he could do to keep from punching Darren’s nose. “First, you won’t find her in your bed. And second, well, there is no second. She just won’t be there.”

His brother scoffed. “Since when are you an expert on Magda Hobbs?”

There was no way Reno would tell Darren about how well he actually knew Magda, and he
did
know her well.

He knew about the Celtic tattoo for strength she had high on her inner right thigh. That the rose tattoo on her left wrist was for her mother and the bull on her right wrist was for Zeb. He loved the angel wings tattoo that covered her entire back and knew it represented her belief in a guardian angel.

He knew that Magda loved to have her breasts sucked.

He knew that running his tongue around the rim of Magda’s ear made goose bumps jump up on her arms.

And he knew about her fear of rejection. She would always be the first one to leave, be it a relationship or a party. If she was the one to walk away then she couldn’t be rejected, right?

“I know her better than you do,” Reno said. “We got to know each other this summer. As friends,” he added. “Nothing more, so leave her the hell alone when she’s in our house.”

“Touchy, touchy. Fine. I’d rather have a housekeeper than a bed partner anyway. A good housekeeper is so much harder to find.”

Reno shook his head. One of these days, some woman was going to come along and clip his brother’s wings, bring him to his knees. And Reno couldn’t wait to see Darren fall.

Magda was scheduled to move in and start to work on December twenty-seventh. She’d wanted to stay with her father through Christmas since he’d been released from the hospital.

Reno made Darren help him clean the house so she wouldn’t go running back out and leave. Reno spent a little extra time in the small bedroom with its attached bath downstairs that they’d designated for her. He wasn’t picky when it came to his own comfort, but the last thing he wanted was for her bathroom to be moldy or nasty.

He didn’t have any expectations that Magda would be interested in taking up where they’d left off this summer. If she was, she wouldn’t have stomped on his heart with her Doc Martens and left.

And, yes, there was a small sliver of resentment about how she’d walked away without a goodbye, an it’s been fun or anything. But he swore he wouldn’t let her know that she’d hurt him and he wouldn’t do anything to get back at her. He just hoped he could keep that promise.

There was more than a little nervousness about her taking up residence in his life twenty-four-seven. But once his mother, with all good intentions, had hired Magda, what could he say? “No, thanks. We don’t need a housekeeper.” He knew, and his mother knew, that was bullshit.

He collapsed into a living room chair at close to ten p.m. on the evening before Magda was to arrive. Darren sat on the sofa, his legs stretched out on the coffee table.

“Damn, I’m beat,” Reno said.

“I’m not surprised. If you’d cleaned the house like this before now, we wouldn’t need a housekeeper.”

“Don’t even think that I might be interested in doing this on a fulltime basis.”

Darren laughed. “I know exactly what you mean. But it will be nice to have clean clothes again, won’t it?”

“And dinner that doesn’t come from a can.”

Both men sighed and settled back to watch a little late-night television.

By six the next morning, Reno and Darren were out of the house and in the field repairing a fence that’d taken on a huge tree limb during the ice storm last week and lost. There’d been no cattle in the pasture, so they’d been in no hurry to fix it. However, Reno had pushed Darren into getting on it today, mostly so Reno didn’t have to face Magda just yet.

They’d left a note on the front door for Magda and the door unlocked. No one in their right mind would come all the way to their house to rob it. It was too far out and there was absolutely nothing of value in there.

About ten o’clock, as he was pulling the wire tight on the fence, a Harley-Davidson Fat Boy motorcycle roared past them and up their drive.

“Think that’s her?” Darren asked.

“Yep. That’s her bike.”

“Sweet. I’d love to take her for a ride.”

Reno glared at him.

“I mean the bike, not the lady,” Darren clarified. “Man, you’re touchy.”

While Reno privately agreed with his brother, no way was he saying that aloud. “Ah, well, I hear she’s pretty particular about who she lets ride her Fat Boy.”

“So many jokes I could make, but seeing as you’ve got a stick up your butt about our new housekeeper, I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

“Probably for the best.”

At about noon, Reno’s cell phone trilled and he pulled it out of his pocket. “Hello?”

“Reno? This is Magda. Magda Hobbs.”

The sound of her voice made his heart leap, pushing all the air from his lungs. As though there could be more than one Magda. As if he didn’t hear her voice every night in his dreams.

He drew in some air to calm his racing heart. It didn’t work. “Hi. I guess you got in the house without a problem.” Man, he hated how breathless and excited he sounded. He was a much better poker player than this.

“I did. I wondered if you guys were coming back to the house for lunch today.”

Reno looked at Darren. “You want to head back for lunch?”

Darren nodded.

“Yeah, that’d be great.” He wondered how he would ever swallow around the boulder that had lodged in his throat the minute he’d heard her say his name.

“Okay,” she said with a slight hesitation in her voice. “I’ll see what I can find, but your cabinets are a little bare.”

Reno forced a chuckle, a little embarrassed that she’d found their cabinets basically empty. “Noticed that, did you? Honestly, we just haven’t had time to get to the store. You may have noticed on your way over that we kind of live in the middle of nowhere.”

“I noticed. I’ll have lunch ready in about thirty minutes.”

Reno slipped his phone back in his pocket. “Thirty minutes.” Great. That gave him a whole half an hour to get his shit together.

Thirty minutes later, Reno parked the work truck at the back door and Darren hopped out. From the truck, Reno watched as Darren opened the door, took one step inside and stopped. He backed out, toed off his boots and reentered.

Not wanting to make the same mistake, Reno left his boots on the back porch and walked in. He was greeted by the aroma of grilled ham and…he sniffed again…toast?

“Hello, Reno,” Magda said. “I have grilled cheese and ham sandwiches and tomato soup. Best I could do with what you guys had in the cabinets.”

“Sounds wonderful. Thanks.”

“Water? Coke? Tea?” Magda asked.

“I’ll get it,” he replied, heading for the refrigerator to grab a cold water.

Darren was already at the table, his sandwich half-gone. He took another bite and moaned. “So good.”

Reno sat and Magda set a bowl of soup and a sandwich in front of him. “Thanks.”

She joined the guys at the table. “I want us to get off to the right start,” she said, leaning forward and placing her arms on the table. “I wouldn’t have sought out this job. We are all really too close in age for me to feel one-hundred percent comfortable in the situation. However, I needed a job and your parents made me a very generous offer that I’d have been a fool to turn down. But…” She paused and waited until she could meet both their gazes before she continued. “But I want this to work out, which means there will be no kissing or touching or trapping me in the corner. No inappropriate comments. No sexual suggestions. I cook, clean and do laundry for you, but that’s it. I’m not here to share a bed or catch a husband. Have I made myself clear?”

Reno swallowed the bite of sandwich he’d been chewing. “Clear. And I completely agree. Darren?” He looked over at his brother.

“Got it. Damn, Magda, you’re one straight-shooting talker.”

She leaned back in the chair. “Yep, I am. Another thing is that I expect you two not to make my job even more difficult by being total slobs. That means leave your mud, manure and blood-coated boots outside. If I find them in the house, you’ll find them outside in a tree where they’ll land when I toss them out the door. Understood?”

Both men nodded, and Reno suppressed a smile. Darren had no idea that Magda was serious, nor how their lives were going to change.

That evening, Magda had dinner ready when they got home. She also had a list of supplies and food stock that she needed to get for the house. As at lunch, Magda joined them at the kitchen table to talk about her list and how they wanted to cover expenses. Reno noticed that while she would sit with them at the table, she’d yet to eat with them.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Reno asked around a bite of roast.

“I’ve eaten,” Magda said. “Thank you. Now about this list…”

Reno pulled his wallet from his back pocket, pulled out a credit card and pushed it across the table toward her. “Charge them.”

She eyed the card as though he were handing her a lit stick of dynamite. “Um, don’t you think the merchants might figure out that I’m not Reno Montgomery?”

Darren chuckled. “Damn straight. He’s ugly as a rock. You, on the other hand, are as beautiful as—”

He didn’t get to finish his statement. Magda slapped the back of his head.

“Ouch. What’d you do that for?” Darren rubbed his head.

“I told you today. No inappropriate comments.”

Reno jerked his glass of iced tea to his mouth to keep from laughing.

“That wasn’t inappropriate. I was just going to say—” He ducked his head to the side as Magda lifted her hand. “Never mind. I wasn’t going to say anything.”

She smiled and placed her hand in her lap. “Now, as I was saying, we need a way for me to pay for necessary supplies while I’m here.”

Reno swallowed more tea and then said, “I’ll call the bank tonight. They have a twenty-four-hour helpline. I’ll just add you to my card. If there is any problem, we can get together cash until we can get a card for you to use. I’d rather use credit so we can track the expenses, not that I’m saying you would take the cash and run, I mean, I’m not and… Why are you laughing?”

Magda’s laughter filled the room. To him, the sound was rain falling in a parched field. Refreshing. Revitalizing. But mostly, life affirming. He hadn’t realized how much hearing her laughter would hug his heart.

“You,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “You backpedaling from saying I might steal all one hundred of your dollars.”

“You ought to slap him on the head,” Darren suggested.

“You stay out of this,” Reno growled. “I didn’t say that I think you’d steal cash.”

She smiled. “We’ll get me a credit card. That’ll take care of the issue.” She stood. “I’ll let you guys finish dinner. I’m going to walk outside and call Zeb to check on him.”

The screen door snapped shut behind Magda as she left.

“Well,” Darren said, setting his fork down. “She’s a little intense, isn’t she? Or is it just me?”

Reno smiled. “Intense lady. Really, she’s quite nice once you can get through the hard outer shell.”

“Like an M&M?”

Reno laughed. “Yeah, but don’t let her hear you call her an M&M, not if you value the back of your head.”

“I don’t get it. How come you know her and I don’t?”

“I’ve spent more time at Kicking Bull Ranch than you. Remember before we bought this place I came out for a couple of weeks to do some research before you arrived?”

“Yeah. I remember.”

“I’d planned to stay with KC, but I spent so much time going back and forth between the Landry ranch and Travis’s ranch talking to the guys that Olivia told me it would make more sense for me to stay out there than drive back into town every day to stay with KC. So that’s what I did. Magda worked for Mitch and Olivia then, so I got to know her.” He produced what he hoped looked like a careless shrug. “End of story. But I do know that she did a fabulous job for them, and we’re lucky as hell to have her, so don’t screw it up.”