Honey Kisses (Romance on the Ranch Series #2) (4 page)

"No, my fault—I surprised you."

"It'll only take a minute to pick them
up."

Jackson walked over and squatted beside her. He
placed his big hand over the top of hers. "Leave them, Annie."

Ann's throat closed up and she dropped a book on
the table, jumping backwards. "Okay, if you say so."

Jackson stood. "Can I get you something to
drink? I've got tea in the fridge. Hey, why don't we go to the kitchen anyway?
You can check it out."

She followed him down a hallway that opened into
a kitchen that could have been featured on the cover of
Country Homes and
Gardens.
Set into the breakfast nook, another huge window had the same view
as the living room. The thought of enjoying morning coffee and watching the unfolding
of a new day in such a beautiful home took her breath away.

Jackson motioned her to a stool at the center island
and then opened a cupboard next to the refrigerator to retrieve glasses. He set
them on the counter before opening the massive stainless steel door for the
pitcher of tea. "It's sweetened. I hope that's okay with you."

"That's just fine. I can drink tea with or
without sugar."
Lame thing to say.

Jackson poured their tea and handed Ann hers.
Rather than sit on the stool beside her, he returned to the other side of the
island and leaned his hip against it. "So, what do you think of the
kitchen?"

Ann glanced around at the natural finish birch
cabinets, rich brown granite countertops with swirling beiges, pots and pans
hanging above the island, stainless steel appliances, beige floor tiles, and a
sink full of dirty dishes. She grinned, "It's the kitchen of every woman's
fantasy."

Jackson laughed. "Minus the dirty dishes,
of course."

She smiled, "Okay, minus the dirty
dishes."

Jackson sipped his tea and watched her over the
rim. When he set his glass down, he said, "I guess you can see I'm in
desperate need of help. I can't run cattle and a household at the same time.
Since my heart is in ranching, but I don't want to live in a mess or confusion,
I'm looking for someone to run the house. Do you think it's something you might
be interested in?"

Ann looked down at her tea. Oh, she was
interested all right. Her heart was interested in Jackson and her pocketbook
was interested in the job. Since anything between them was ludicrous, could she
divorce her attraction and simply become an employee.

Jackson waited while she considered working for
him. Finally, he said, "The place is that bad, huh?"

"Oh, no, it's beautiful. It's just that
I…I…"

"What?"

"I don't want the job because you feel
sorry for me. There are so many qualified people who–"

"Annie, I'm offering you the job because I
know you'll be great at it. Why should I look further when there's a qualified
person standing in front of me? What do you say? Do you want to give it a trial
period?"

Before she could rationalize further, she said,
"Okay, I accept the job. You can try me out for a month and if I'm not
right for you, then you can let me go with no hard feelings."

* * *

Jackson kept his eyes on Annie's hoping she
couldn't see the reaction his body was having to her words:
You can try me
out for a month and if I'm not right for you…
He wanted to try her out
alright, in more ways than just as his housekeeper.
Shit. Jackson, wrap your
mind around something else.

Sarah sat on the edge of her bed and pulled her
boots off. After spending a rare "date night" at Boot Bustin' Barn with
her husband while Julie and Jacob watched the twins, all she wanted to do was
soak in a bubble bath in the beautiful bathroom Sage had remodeled for her. She
massaged her foot. "Do you think we're doing the right thing encouraging Ann
to work for Jackson?"

Sage unbuttoned his double-breasted western
shirt and pulled it from his Levis revealing washboard abs.

Sarah looked from his abs to his face and
grinned. "Now what was I saying? Oh, yeah, do you think we should encourage
Ann to work for Jackson?"

Sage sat on the opposite side of the bed and
pulled his boots off, too. "Honey, you know they both have a thing for
each other. Hell, they can hardly be in the same room without having a
coronary. But if we don't give them a push, I think they'll see too many
obstacles standing between them. Ann is what, in her early forties, and Jackson
is in his early thirties. She'll definitely see a negative in that, although I
can assure them from experience that marrying an older woman has made me the
happiest man in the world." He winked. "Anyway, she has a grown son
and Jackson doesn't have children. She was married, and, as far as I know,
Jackson never has been. She may be so disillusioned with men she never gives
another one a chance."

"I know. I know. I just don't want either
of them to get hurt."

"They're both carrying emotional baggage.
Maybe they can help each other."

"You're right. They'd be perfect together. So,
tomorrow, we help Ann move to the cottage and play matchmaker whenever we can.
Right?"

"Right."

Sarah walked to the bathroom door. "Hey
Sage?"

He tossed first one boot and then the other
toward the closet. "Yeah, honey?"

"I need help washing my back in that big
ol' bathtub."

"Do you need help washing anything
else?"

"Hmm. Why don't you follow me, cowboy, and
we'll talk about it?"

* * *

Sage and Jackson unloaded the last of Ann's
belongings into the cottage. She'd only stayed at the Lazy M for a week and
left most of her things packed. Ann found Sarah checking out the kitchen. Sarah
said, "This is lovely. You're the first person to live here after the
remodel."

Ann looked around the cheery, light-filled room
and felt her heart expand. It was perfect. The window over the sink faced the
river, which was about a hundred feet away down an embankment, and the small adjoining
dining room had a large window with the same view.

She returned to the living room with its windows
facing the pasture separating the cottage from the main ranch house. When she'd
met Jackson a week earlier to talk about the housekeeping position, she'd been
right about this house being the cottage. How she hoped she could perform her
job to his expectation and stay.

"What do you think, Annie?"

She hadn't heard Jackson enter the room and
twirled, catching her foot in the carpet. A strong hand shot out to keep her
upright.

"Goodness, clumsy me." She walked a
few paces from him. He smelled like hay and sunshine. "It's even prettier
than I remembered when you showed me last week."

"Well, you just do whatever you want to
gussy it up."

Ann felt so tongue-tied she didn't know how to
respond. Sarah saved the day when she entered the room. "Do you want me to
help you unpack your clothes?"

"Yes, yes. Let's do it now. Excuse us,
Jackson."

In the larger of the two bedrooms, Ann opened
her suitcases. Sarah asked a few questions to find out where she wanted clothing
stored, and then went to work. After a few minutes, her friend said, "Do
you start work tomorrow?"

"Yes. Jackson said I should come to the
house at nine and he'll give me a tour."

"I think it's wonderful he was able to buy
the Triple T. Sage told me he worked for Tommy for a couple of years as his
foreman." She looked at Ann conspiratorially, "You know he's rich,
don't you?"

"Who?"

"Jackson."

"Oh, no, I didn't."

"Sage said he made his money playing the
stock market. I guess he has a business or marketing degree or something like
that. From what I gather, he lived in New York for about three years and worked
for a brokerage firm. He told Sage it didn't take him long to figure out New
York living wasn't for him. When he moved back here, he took an entry level job
working for Tommy Travis Tritt and worked his way up to foreman."

"Goodness, I didn't know all that."

Sarah winked. "Jackson is going to be a
great catch for some lucky woman. I think Pritzy Purvis has her eye on
him."

"Oh, I met her at the wedding. She's really
pretty. They looked striking together."

"Striking or not, I don't think she's right
for him."

"Really, why not?"

"She doesn't come off as being, well,
authentic. I think she wants him for his money. Everyone in the County knows
he's rich as Croesus. Now what Jackson needs to find is…" Sarah tilted her
head. "He needs to find a woman like Dixie St. John. She's sweet like
you."

Ann folded some underwear and stacked it in the
beautiful antique redwood chest. She had her back to Sarah. "I don't think
I've met Dixie. Does she live on one of the ranches?"

"No, she owns the coffee shop and bakery, Dixie's
Cuppa Joe, in town. The few times we've been there, I haven’t seen her to
introduce you. I've seen Jackson in there several times. Maybe he's already got
his eye on her. Do you want these sweaters hung up or folded?"

Ann turned. "Just fold them. I'll store
them in the trunk at the foot of the bed."

"Next time we go to town, we'll make a
point to stop by the coffee shop. After you meet Dixie, you can give me your
impression. I've been thinking about inviting her and Jackson to supper at the
house."

"Uh, sure."

Ann wiped her hands on her jeans and
straightened her white cotton, button-down-the-front blouse. She had almost
reached the gate to the main house and her insides felt as twisted as taffy.
Lifting her eyes to a cloudless sky, she prayed for peace-of-mind. She was the
housekeeper for this marvelous ranch and she had one month to prove herself
worthy of the position.

She thought about what Sarah had said the day
before about Pritzy and Dixie. Jackson was a young, eligible bachelor and she
didn't want to have ill feelings toward the women. If Dixie seemed right for him,
she would let Sarah know she should invite them to dinner and play matchmaker.
As far as Pritzy was concerned, she believed Sarah's assessment of her
character was smack on.

Ann reached the gate and flipped the latch. She
opened the French doors of the terrace and stepped into the living room. The
books she had knocked on the floor a week earlier were again stacked
haphazardly on the table. She entered the kitchen and noticed coffee already
brewing. A cup had obviously been set out for her. She walked to the fridge to
find creamer and while she had her head stuck inside the big door, she heard,
"Good morning, Annie."

Grabbing a carton of real cream, she backed out
of the door feeling embarrassed for no obvious reason. She noticed Jackson was
carrying an almost empty coffee cup. "Good morning. Can I pour you a refill?"

"Sure thing." He looked at the carton in
her hand. "I drink mine black."

She reached for the coffee pot and while she
refilled his cup, she asked, "What time do you usually get up?"

"I'm up by five everyday except Sunday. I sleep
in on that day…at least until six." He grinned and lifted his refill to
his lips.

"What time would you like me to start work in
the mornings?"

"Annie, that's entirely up to you. I'll
just take you on a tour and then you can make all the executive decisions. Come
on. Bring your coffee with you."

"Okay." Ann followed him through the
hall and back to the living room. She was curious about the beautiful furniture
in the house, and after he led her through the oval opening into the formal
dining room, she asked, "Did the furniture come with the house? Oh, if
that's being nosy, please forgive me, I didn't think before I spoke."

Jackson laughed, "Annie, you're adorable—always
so polite. Most of it was purchased with the house. Tommy and Gertie decided
when they sold the place they wanted to start over like newlyweds. They bought
a little cabin in the woods and the last time I visited were as happy as ticks
on a dog. Of course, they own thousands of acres in West Texas and could build
another ranch any time they want. But, so far, according to Tommy, fishin' and
makin' love to his wife is all he has a hankerin' to do."

Ann felt her face turn pink at Jackson's frankness.
She followed him back to the living room and down a long hallway. He opened the
first door, "There are four bedrooms in the house and three open off this
hallway."

Ann entered the lovely room with floral
wallpaper and a view of pastures.

Jackson said, "This is the only guest room
with its own bathroom. It's a bit over-the-top for my taste, so maybe you can
come up with some ideas to tone down the frou-frou. Sometimes a macho buddy of
mine visits from New York and…well, he looks ridiculous in this frilly room."
Ann smiled. Ideas were already popping into her head.