His quiet words stopped her. “You love the ranching life, don’t you?”
Sober, he nodded. “Always did. Always will.”
“Then why aren’t—?”
“Why aren’t Jason and I still working cattle with our brothers? Because the herd and acreage isn’t large enough to support all of us. Two of my brothers have families, while Randy—Randy just got back from four years in the military. Right now he needs land around him.”
“Oh,” she said, the word an inadequate response to the weight of what he’d just told her. “I’m sorry—”
“Don’t say that. I don’t regret the decision I made.”
Maybe not, but his eyes told her he wished he hadn’t had to make it. If he could make it happen, he’d still be living on the ranch. “Lesson time,” she said, making her own decision to help him back away from his emotions.
He blinked as if not following her. “What kind of lesson?” “With the dogs.”
“Oh, right.”
Think. Concentrate on the relief in his expression.
“I’m assuming you can do that. There’s nothing getting in the way of you being able to focus.”
“I could ask you the same question,” he said after a moment.
Darn him, he wasn’t going to back her into a corner. She’d closed the door to what had happened in her bedroom and intended to keep it that way. “To set the framework,” she said in a practiced, practical tone, “most of what we’ll be doing today will center around getting Bruce and Tucker to understand that from now on they’ll be taking direction from you.”
Now he held her with a look she couldn’t comprehend. “How long will that take?”
“It depends on how well you and the dogs click.”
“All right.” He tucked in his shirt. Much as she hated not seeing his hard, naked chest anymore, it was better this way.
“What?” she asked, because his gaze kept getting harder.
“I’ve been debating whether to say something or let it go. No matter what the consequences, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“What? That you’re married?”
“No,” he said emphatically. “Not anymore. Look, I’m not going to apologize for what happened in there.” He nodded in the direction of the bedroom. “And I hope you don’t feel as if you need to either.”
He wasn’t married! Not anymore. “Regret doesn’t change reality.”
“That’s a loaded observation, Shari. One I hope you’ll elaborate on later.”
Maybe. If I trust you enough.
11
C
oncentrating on Shari’s instructions on how to deal with the dogs was harder than Maco wanted to admit. Part of his inattention came from her presence alone. He also kept wondering if she realized how much he’d revealed when he’d explained why he was no longer a cowboy. He certainly hadn’t expected to get into the realities of that hard decision, and it was now too late to take it back.
The dogs remained on task as long as she had their attention. Even with her body close to his and distracting him, he admired both her easy way with the take-no-prisoners pair and their enthusiasm for their roles.
The dogs obviously had a clear idea of their responsibilities and took them seriously. They understood that animals, birds, and rodents weren’t worthy of a warning bark while humans where and when they didn’t belong were fair game. Trained not to attack unless their handler gave the command, they nevertheless were expected to bark and growl at anyone who didn’t meet certain criteria. If it was him facing those raised hackles and exposed fangs, he’d be throwing up his hands and begging someone, anyone, to haul the dogs away.
Hopefully encouraging someone to rethink their actions was all Bruce and Tucker would ever have to do, but if need be, the dogs wouldn’t hesitate.
“They aren’t pets,” Shari told him for the second time.
“They’re well-trained employees and accustomed to being seen as such. Showing approval for a job well done but not treating them as a member of the family keeps things in balance.”
“Maybe that’s what we should have done with the cattle dogs over the years,” he admitted. “They’re all business when they’re on the job. Then they take command of whatever couch or chair suits them. At least that’s how it was when I was home. I’m not sure anymore.”
“Do you think things have changed?”
“I doubt it, particularly if my little nieces and nephews have any say in the matter. The last time I was home, Lane—he’s three—wouldn’t take a nap without at least one dog in bed with him.”
She faced him. “What if you had a wife and children? Would you be living there?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted, mentally kicking himself for opening that door again. “My ex would have hated it.”
“Not a country girl?”
“No.”
He thought she might push for more information, then as she focused on the dogs again, he decided she’d heard all she wanted to. Either that or she’d sensed his reluctance.
Shari, the Dobermans, and he had been walking around her property with her occasionally pointing at a bush or a tree and signaling the pair to check things out. After observing her for a while, he’d taken over. At first the dogs had looked to her for affirmation, probably because he’d been working on his tone of voice, but the last two times he’d given them a command, they’d immediately responded.
For a woman at least six inches shorter than him, Shari had strikingly long legs. Even more distracting was recalling how erotic those legs had felt fastened around him. She’d thrown herself into the sex act. If she’d held back in any way, he hadn’t been aware.
“What do you think?” he asked after she’d released the dogs from service so they could relieve themselves and seek shade. “Am I trainable?”
“You’re coming along faster than I expected.”
“I’m motivated. Question number two, is it time for me to take the dogs with me?”
She looked to where the pair was sprawled under a large oak. Her house and the kennels were at the bottom of the hill, while they were near the edge of her property not that far from where she’d believed the two shots had come from. Beyond that lay acre after rolling acre of nothing except brush, trees, and boulders. How often did she come out here and was it safe?
Damn it, he hated the idea of leaving her defenseless.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” she said. “I’d really like you to have one more lesson on turf familiar to the dogs. That way they’ll be able to concentrate on you. Then I’ll come out to the dam site and we can work them there. What’s your schedule like?”
Schedule be damned. Today had been one of the most remarkable of his life, much of it for reasons he wasn’t ready to face.
“I’ll have to talk to Jason,” he came up with. “See what we can work out. Also, I want you to bring my brother on board.”
“I figured that.” Frowning, she looked around. “Tomorrow maybe?”
“Hopefully. What is it? You saw something?”
“I’m not sure. Probably deer, if anything. The dogs are so used to seeing them that they usually don’t react.”
He pointed at the motionless Dobermans. “Besides, we wore them out.”
“Being taken through their paces exhausts them. Today’s lessons were pretty intense. Listen.”
Suddenly alarmed, he stepped closer to her. “What?”
“Quail. I love the sound they make. It’s as if they have something important to say. I wonder where they are.”
The distant chirp-chirp calmed him. He’d give anything to have the time to seek out the quails’ hiding place with her. Reluctantly pulling out his cell phone, he checked the time. “Damn. I didn’t realize it was that late. I need to get going.”
It seemed to him that she didn’t want to leave where they were standing, but maybe it was he who was putting off the inevitable. Much as he longed to take her hand, he wasn’t sure that was the right move.
They’d had sex; they weren’t ready for intimacy.
Belatedly putting one and one together and concluding that she was waiting for him to lead the way, he started down the hill. Bruce lifted his head, then let it drop. Maco started to look behind him to see if Shari was joining him when something on a slope beyond her property caught his attention. Shielding his eyes with his hand, he stared. The sun highlighted what might be metal. Just like that, his world narrowed down. Only one thing mattered.
A rifle?
Her nostrils flared, Shari studied him. “What is it?”
“I’m not sure.” When he moved to the left, whatever it was disappeared. It reappeared when he leaned right. “That wasn’t there before.”
“What—oh, I see it.”
Standing as close to him as she was, he had to work to concentrate on what his nerve endings insisted was a weapon. Damn it, they were sitting ducks.
“The dogs—” he started.
“If we need—wait, it’s gone. Maybe ...”
“Maybe what?”
“Sometimes people abandon stuff out there. There used to be a BMX cross-country course in the area. People would take Merriman Way and then cut off on to a dirt road. Maybe the sun was hitting just right on a junked car or appliance.”
“Maybe.”
“Maco, working with the dogs has you thinking security.”
“Don’t give me that. You’re the one who told me how the dogs acted last night.”
He caught the uncertainty in her eyes. Then, probably because she’d forced it away, it faded into nothing.
“Believe me,” she said, “I haven’t forgotten. But the Dobermans aren’t reacting.”
As far as he could tell, Bruce and Tucker were asleep. Earlier they’d impressed him with their keen hearing, but maybe the sense shut down when they were sleeping. He didn’t want to alarm her. Neither was he about to shrug off—what?
“What if we take them to the BMX course?” he suggested.
“It couldn’t hurt.”
“That’s county-owned property. The commissioners closed the course down and have posted the area with no-trespassing signs.”
Of all the damn—
Before he could finish the thought, his cell phone rang. The ring tone told him it was his brother.
“What?” he snapped instead of saying hello. “This had better be important.”
“It is.” Jason’s voice was clipped. “We’ve been hit.”
The tension he hadn’t shaken off since the sun glinting off something had caught his attention returned full force. Shari positioned herself so she was looking up at him. “What do you mean?”
“Sand in that new loader’s diesel tank,” his brother said. “A hell of a lot, from the looks of things.”
They hadn’t locked the largest backhoe loader in the enclosure with the rest of the machinery last night because it had a flat tire. “How the hell did that happen?”
Shari leaned close, and he held the phone so she could hear.
“My guess,” Jason said, “is that someone snuck in in the middle of the night. He was probably on foot, which is why we didn’t hear anything. Carl got the tire changed and started the loader up. That’s the first we knew anything was wrong.”
“Have you checked out the damage?” He couldn’t bring himself to say more.
“Not completely, but the sound was something I hoped I’d never have to hear. I called the sheriff’s office and then you. Damn it, you know as well as I do what we’re going to find.”
He did. A piece of machinery worth a quarter of a million dollars might have been destroyed. Shari’s expression said she’d come to the same conclusion.
His mind locked around the only thing that mattered right now. Security at the site had been breached. This was no juvenile prank. Quite the opposite, whoever had poured sand in the loader’s diesel tank had known exactly what he was doing. As for the reason—
“I’m taking off right now,” he told Jason. “If the deputy gets there before I do, don’t let him leave. Same with our employees.”
“They all know. Damn, I hate the thought that any of them—”
“So do I.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you,” Shari said as he hung up. “Right now you suspect everyone.”
“I have to.” His stomach was still tied in a knot and he figured his blood pressure had gone through the roof. “Damn.”
They headed down the hill at a jog. After a moment, the two dogs jumped to their feet and matched their pace. Going by the lack of wagging tails, he guessed they’d picked up on the humans’ emotions.
“I don’t know when I can get back here,” he said unnecessarily. Despite what had just blown up around him, he was grateful for her presence. Alone, anger might get the best of him.
She touched his arm. “Take them with you.”
“What? I’m not ready.”
“But
they
are. They know to alert the human in charge if they sense something isn’t right. Even if they haven’t yet accepted you in that role, having them at your place will send out a message to troublemakers.”
Although she was right, he didn’t commit to her suggestion until they reached level ground. So much felt off balance right now, everything unfinished.
“What about you?” he asked when she told him to come into the kennel with her for dog food and bowls. “I don’t like what we saw out there. We’d be crazy to dismiss it.”
She again touched his shoulder. The light, yet strong brushing of her fingers all but set him back on his heels. He couldn’t remember when he’d felt this torn. Did it really come down to a choice between his company’s future and her safety?
“Bruce and Tucker aren’t my only guard dogs,” she reminded him. “I’ll be all right.”
“But they’re the only ones that are fully trained, right?”
“Take them. You were vandalized.”
A fierce wave of emotion turned him toward her and placed his hands on her slim shoulders. “I’m sorry,” he muttered.
Instead of asking for an explanation, she leaned into him. Her body pressing against his sent hot blood rushing throughout him. He understood his physical response but not this fierce impulse to wrap her in a blanket and carry her into his house.
“For getting you sucked into this damned mess,” he belatedly finished.
Saying nothing, she rested her head on his chest. Caressing her back, he imagined the two of them heading for a tropical vacation. In that place of warm breezes, fresh seafood and fruit, long walks along white beaches and even longer sessions in bed, not once would they speak of responsibilities. They’d laugh at the way shorebirds waddled and share the excitement of finding a just-hatched turtle. Waiters would bring drinks with little umbrellas in them and they’d eat lobster and crab in restaurants that looked out at the setting sun.
Her clothing, when she wore anything, would consist of tiny, bright bikinis.
Instead of telling her of his dream, however, he forced himself to let her go.
Rachele showed up nearly three hours after Maco had driven away with the dogs in the Jeep’s backseat. She’d called to let Shari know she’d be delayed but hadn’t said why, which left Shari wondering if she’d made a mistake hiring Rachele. Rachele understood what made dogs tick and had infinite patience with them, but was that reason enough? What, really, did she know about the strong young woman?
Nevertheless, watching Rachele approach filled Shari with relief because she was no longer alone. As far as she knew, Rachele never washed her pickup. The ancient thing probably didn’t have air-conditioning, which undoubtedly was why Rachele nearly always drove with the windows down and hadn’t bothered to replace the missing one at the rear. Rachele and her vehicle of choice belonged together. Both were independent with a take-me-as-you-see-me air. Up until the last few days, Shari had believed the same of herself. Now she wasn’t so sure and that pissed her off.