The Lonely Heart (3 page)

Isaiah sighed, thinking of the million and two things he still had to do today. When he jerked himself back to the present, it was to find Josh looking up at him expectantly. Isaiah laughed, able to read his brother’s thoughts as easily as if he had spoken them.

“I haven’t forgotten. I’ll talk to Grady tonight about getting you up on a horse. Don’t worry, we’ll keep you plenty busy.”

Fresh air and lots of outdoor activities. It would be good for Josh. His brother was a little on the pale and scrawny side. Not unhealthy, just…a city kid. But that was okay. If www.total-e-bound.com

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Isaiah knew anything about his guys, they’d make a proper little cowboy out of Josh within two weeks. Probably less.

Isaiah stood up, grabbing Josh under the arms and swinging him around. Josh giggled as Isaiah set him on his feet.

“How about a quick tour?” Isaiah asked. “I can check up on the guys and you can get a proper introduction to all the horses.”

Isaiah had to move quickly to keep up with the kid. He sighed again, wondering how the hell he was going to come up with enough energy to ride herd on the rascal. Isaiah may not have spent much time around kids, but it seemed like Josh had enough energy for three people his size.

Isaiah caught up with Josh at the barn, grabbing Josh’s waist and swinging him up into the air again.

“Hold on, kiddo,” he scolded mildly. “We’ve got some rules to lay down. First off, stay out of the stalls. Second, horses spook easily. So move slowly and keep the noise to a minimum.”

At that last bit, Josh gave Isaiah a disgusted look. Isaiah cracked up at the expression, laughing so hard he had to hold his sides.

“Right,” he said when he could breathe again. “No problem there. On to rule number three, then. Don’t go wandering too far without someone around. It’s easy to get lost out here. Rule four—”

“Keep talking and the kid’s not gonna remember a word you said.”

Isaiah rolled his eyes. “Don’t you have a fence to mend somewhere, Tommy?”

Tommy clucked his tongue. “Touchy today, aren’t we?”

Isaiah glared, but there wasn’t much force behind it. “Josh, this is Tommy. Tommy—my little brother.”

Tommy bent over and shook Josh’s hand. “Nice to meet you,” he said with a serious face. Josh returned the look. Then they both burst into giggles. Isaiah thought to himself that a man of Tommy’s size really shouldn’t giggle. It was kind of disturbing.

Tommy Henderson was their newest hand, an ex-bull rider Grady had picked up about a year ago. Isaiah had nearly swallowed his tongue in shock when Grady had shown up with Tommy in tow after a buying trip. Seemed Tommy had taken a bad spill and had decided www.total-e-bound.com

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that perhaps riding crazy twisters of death—complete with horns—wasn’t the best career option. Grady had offered him a job on the spot, for reasons only the boss understood.

Tommy had arrived, six-foot-six of bruised and tattered muscle. Heck, they’d had to go out and buy him a horse as none of their current stock could carry the man’s bulk. They’d ended up with a gelding that looked like it had more than a little Clydesdale in it and was butt-ugly, to boot. The oh-so-famous Bunny Rabbit, whose massive hooves had left bruises on everyone on the ranch. Tommy loved the stupid thing, though, and couldn’t have doted on it more if it was his child.

Since then, Isaiah had learnt that Tommy had a skewed sense of humour and a sharp tongue. But he was one heck of a roper and a hard worker, so Isaiah put up with it. And, on the rare occasion, enjoyed the hell out of it.

Tommy straightened. “Thought Joey was going to start doing handstands when he heard you were back. He hates being in charge.”

“I know. Where is he?”

“Back thirty,” Tommy said, pointing over his shoulder. “You might want to go rescue Micah. Joey has him re-stringing the gulch.”

Isaiah groaned and pinched his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “I’m gonna smack that boy. All right. Josh, you want to hang out with Tommy a while? I have to go rescue Micah.”

Joseph—Joey only to Tommy, who thought their names should match for some unknown reason—was a good man and a top-notch hand. He just got a little enthusiastic sometimes. Isaiah left him in charge because he trusted Joseph to fetch Grady if things got out of hand, rather than sweeping it aside until Isaiah could return. But neither of them really liked the situation. Joseph wasn’t cut out to be a leader and he was honest enough to admit it.

Tommy grinned and clapped Josh on the shoulder. He had to bend a bit to do it, with the huge height difference. “We’ll get along just fine, FL. Come on, buddy, let me introduce you to Bunny.”

Tommy led an eager Josh off to meet the elephant masquerading as a horse in their barn. Isaiah shook his head in exasperation, though the emotion was tinged with fondness.

Tommy was unique, for sure. He’d started calling Isaiah ‘FL’ his first day on the job—it stood for Fearless Leader, from Tommy’s favourite cartoon.

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* * * *

Isaiah fetched his horse, Tobias, from a nearby corral and saddled up the dusty brown gelding. He took off to the west at a slow lope, eager to get back to work.

It took him ten minutes to cut across the pasture. He heard his employees long before he saw them.

“Hold it tighter, would you?”

“I’m trying. Stop pushing me, dammit.”

“Would you stop being such a wuss?”

“So help me God, Joseph, I’m gonna smack you with this fence post if you don’t shut up!”

Isaiah reined to a stop and sat for a minute, leaning his hands on the saddle horn and watching his bickering cowhands. Micah gripped one end of the barbed wire, feet braced against the base of a thick piece of wood, while Joseph guided the wire. They were trying to wrap and secure the beginning of this section, preparing to stretch the fencing across the narrow strip of bare ground between the nearest pasture and the gulch—more of a gully, really—that ran alongside said pasture. Cattle had a tendency to fall into the wide trench, so they’d fence it, then a hard rain would come and erosion would wash away the fence. Then they’d string it again.

The current attempt wasn’t going well. Micah and Joseph were cussing up a storm and kept tripping over each other’s feet.

“I leave ya’ll alone for a couple of days and the whole place goes to shit,” Isaiah drawled.

“Boss!”

Joseph looked over in relief and dropped his hammer. Right on Micah’s foot. Micah dropped the rolled section of wire, howling. Isaiah rolled his eyes. With the shit-kickers Micah was wearing, the damn idiot would have hardly felt a thing.

Clearly thinking the same thing, Joseph yanked off his hat and smacked Micah in the shoulder with it. Damn, his crew was turning into a regular comedy troop. Isaiah blamed Tommy—he was obviously rubbing off on the others.

“Glad you’re back, boss.” Joseph cleared his throat and donned his hat again, trying to regain some composure.

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“Agreed,” Micah seconded wholeheartedly.

Isaiah grinned at the abashed pair, looking like nothing so much as a pair of boys caught trying to sneak out of their bedroom after midnight.

“Listen, boss—”

He held his hand up, not really wanting to hear any convoluted explanations. Joseph clamped his mouth shut.

Joseph had been at the Branch nearly as long as Isaiah. He’d been hired as a stable hand at seventeen, mucking out stalls and exercising horses. He’d been the first one to start calling Isaiah ‘boss’. Said it just didn’t feel right calling the ranch foreman by his name. For some reason, though, he had no problem calling Grady by his name. So Isaiah called Grady ‘boss,’

the hands called Isaiah ‘boss’ and Grady ‘Grady’ and, despite seeming confusing as hell at first glance, it all worked out.

He swung down out of the saddle and dropped the reins to the ground. Tobias immediately started grazing.

Isaiah settled his hat more firmly on his head. “All right, boys. Let’s get to work.”

He yanked on his gloves and waded in.

God, he loved this place.

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Isaiah hesitated at the front door, a little uncertain of protocol. Aw, hell. Since when did he—

Josh barrelled right past him. The screen door banged shut in Isaiah’s surprised face before he could catch the little pipsqueak.

He yelled Josh’s name but really, what could he do? He followed the kid into the warm, welcoming interior of Grady’s house. Seeing no sign of Josh, Isaiah shook his head philosophically. Grady would have to get used to Josh sooner or later.
Might do the man some
good to get his neat little world shaken up a bit.

Isaiah shrugged off his coat, hanging both it and his hat on the pegs near the door.

Shoving his hands into his front pockets, he wandered through the living room, around the corner and down the short hall into Grady’s spacious kitchen.

Josh was already there, perched on a chair, feet swinging above the floor.

Grady stood at the counter, busy chopping a tomato. He greeted Isaiah without turning.

“I see the munchkin found you,” Isaiah said.

“That he did. Take a seat, I’m just about ready.”

“It smells good.” Isaiah sat next to Josh, feeling strangely awkward. And why that would be, he had no idea. He’d known Grady for going on eight years. They spent more time together in a normal day than most married couples.

This felt different, though.

Isaiah sat in slightly uncomfortable silence, tapping his fingers on the table until Josh glared at him.

“Want to get the salad out of the fridge for me, Josh?” Grady asked.

Josh hurried across the room, coming back with a bowl nearly as big as he was. Isaiah reached out to rescue it before the whole thing tilted to the floor.

Grady already had a covered pan on the table and he joined them a minute later with a plate of bread and another of sliced vegetables. He shrugged at Isaiah’s questioning look.

“Figured the kid might not like some of this junk on his salad.”

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Isaiah shook his head and proceeded to follow Grady’s lead, dishing himself generous portions and dumping all kinds of ‘junk’ on his own pile of lettuce, the smell almost making Isaiah drool in anticipation.

For a tiny thing, Josh could put away an astonishing amount of food. Isaiah paused to watch in amazement when his little brother dished up his fourth helping of spaghetti. Grady cocked his head and looked across the table.

“Guess we’ll need more food next time,” he said.

“No kidding. When you said I could bring Josh here, I’m sure you didn’t expect him to eat you into bankruptcy.”

Josh looked up from his meal with a scowl. He stuck his tongue out and went right back to munching on the crisp edges of his sixth piece of garlic bread.

Grady chuckled, a low and rich sound that was rare enough it made Isaiah’s own lips curl up into a half-smile. It also made his pants a little tight, but he had become used to the sensation enough to ignore it.

“We got that fence line strung up around the gully.”

“Again?” Grady asked. “Hell, why do you even bother anymore? First good rain’s just gonna take it out.”

“Gives the boys something to do, I guess.”

Grady snorted. “The boys have enough to do.”

“Maybe I just want to keep them out of trouble for a bit.”

“Now that I believe.”

Silence fell for a minute while Isaiah slurped up some more spaghetti. “Joseph handled things pretty well in my absence.”

“Yeah, just don’t do it too often. Never seen a body so stressed. Thought he was gonna give himself a heart attack a couple of times. Tommy didn’t help.”

“No, he wouldn’t. What’s on the agenda for tomorrow? Anything I need to catch up on?”

Grady shook his head. “We’re doing okay. But I want to start moving the outer herds closer this week, get them ready to ship.”

Isaiah nodded. “I’ll probably send Micah and Tommy out to take care of that, then.

We’ve got a couple of late calves in the Wilson pasture. I thought I might check on them in the morning.”

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Josh, who had been following the conversation with half an ear, kicked Isaiah under the table.

“Brat,” Isaiah scolded fondly. He looked over at Grady. Dark hazel eyes studied them impassively. Isaiah wished, yet again, that his boss was easier to read. “I was wondering if you might have time to give Josh some riding lessons.”

“Course I do. Can’t have someone on a ranch who can’t ride. That’s just wrong.”

“Yep.”

Josh bounced in his seat. Grady chuckled again and passed over a napkin. “You look like a vampire,” he told Josh.

Isaiah let out a burst of startled laughter. Josh wiped his mouth. Spaghetti sauce still clung to his cheeks, clear up to his nose. Isaiah grabbed another napkin and finished the job.

Josh squirmed under the ministrations.

“If you’re done, you can go watch some TV in the main room,” Grady told him. “Your big brother can help me with the dishes.”

Josh made a hasty escape with the speed only attained by a kid avoiding chores.

“He could have helped,” Isaiah pointed out.

“Time enough for that later,” Grady replied easily. “Let him enjoy his first day before we start putting him to work.”

Grady watched Isaiah from the corner of his eye. The tall, lean cowboy moved with unconscious grace as he cleared the table. Grady turned the water on in the sink and added soap, careful not to get caught staring.