Lady Jane and the Cowboy (2 page)

“Would you give me a
tour of the house, Red?” Jane asked, snapping him back to the present and
suddenly appearing a little unnerved at the penetrating way he was staring at
her.

He nodded, took her
elbow and guided her brusquely from room to room. He just couldn’t believe he’d
allowed himself to be talked into this. As if it wasn’t bad enough Honey had
been constantly trying to set him up on blind dates before. Now he had to live
with one of them! He was beginning to feel like he was being railroaded. Or
corralled like a wild stallion.

“Oh, it’s exquisite!”
Jane cried when she saw the ancient solid oak dining room table and chairs, it
had belonged to his grandparents. His Grandpa Joe had created it with his own
two hands. He’d always been proud of the pair of them, the way they had moved
out here, into what had once been the middle of nowhere, settled down and made
a life for
themselves
. Grandpa Joe’s talent as a
carpenter had come in very handy, not to mention Grandma Marie’s cooking
skills. Jane was running her hands over the smooth surface of the wood.

“Well, if you like
that, you’re going to love the attic,” he said gruffly, oddly touched by her
thrilled reaction to what was an important part of his family heritage.

“More antique furniture?”

He nodded, and
continued on to the rest of the rooms, but left the attic for another day.

Jane was clearly
disappointed when he escorted her to her room at the end of her tour, but he
could see that her eyelids were starting to droop a little. It had been a long
trip, and she’d admitted over dinner tonight that she’d barely slept for
several days prior with anticipation.

“Have a good night,
Jane, if you need anything I’m right next door.” He didn’t give her a chance to
say anything or offer her a kiss
goodnight,
he just
walked off leaving her standing in the door to her room.

“G’night Red,” she
called as he disappeared down the corridor. He just gave a backwards wave over
his shoulder as he turned the corner to go back downstairs, leaving her alone
with her thoughts of how this had all begun.

Three
weeks earlier
.

“Jane, I can’t believe
you’re really going to do this!” Lily cried, as both she and Camilla stared in
disbelief at the picture of the gorgeous cowboy on Jane’s computer screen.

“I need a fresh start,
girls, and really, what could be fresher than the farmlands of Wyoming?” Jane
asked.

“You don’t know
anything about working on a ranch!” Camilla pointed out.

“It’s not
just
the ranch she’s going to be working
on, Camilla,” Lily said with a giggle.

“Well, I can certainly
see your incentive,” Camilla noted, gesturing toward the screen displaying the
image of Redstone MacAlistair. “But still, you’ll be in the middle of nowhere!”

“As
opposed to the ‘hub’ of activity here at Sinclair Manor?”
Jane said wryly, looking around her ancient family home. Sinclair Manor was a
sixteenth century manor house overlooking the Yorkshire moors, it took far too
much money to keep up, and with the astronomical annual property taxes, she had
no choice now but to let it go. It was an historic monument, it would be
protected. It just wouldn’t belong to her.

“Won’t you miss the old
house?” Lily asked sadly, looking around. They had all spent many summers here
during their school holidays away from boarding school; out in the countryside
surrounded by the wild untamed Yorkshire moors, often pretending to be
characters from Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. They weren’t far from Haworth
where the Bronte sisters had lived. It had always been the perfect retreat from
London.

“I will, but life moves
on, girls,” Jane said pragmatically. Losing her family home hurt like crazy,
but what could she do? She had to think of her own future, and looking at the
picture of the gorgeous and available American hunk on the screen, it didn’t
seem like such a sacrifice somehow.

“But what if he’s a
jerk?”

“I can go take another
job somewhere else, that’s the beauty of this situation. I have the right to
work over there in the States for a year. Hopefully at the ranch, but…” she
shrugged.

“He’s just going to
adore you, Jane!” Lily said loyally.

“Well, I hope Jane
feels the same way about him!” Camilla stated practically. “Now girls, what do
we know about him?”

“He’s thirty two, never
been married, no kids…”

“And gorgeous,” piped
in Lily.

“Yeah,” Camilla said,
eyeing the photograph. “Big deep blue eyes, and dark blonde hair, tan year
round probably if he works outdoors, and it looks like
there’s
a few muscles under that shirt…”

“How tall is he?” Lily
asked.

“Six two,” Jane
answered.

“Well, if you change your
mind, I’ll be happy to take your place,” Camilla offered. “It would be no
hardship at all.”

“No chance, Cam, this
cowboy is mine!” Jane stated emphatically.

Over their favorite
chocolate raspberry mud truffle ice cream, and the last bottle of champagne
from the Sinclair cellars, they reminisced about past boyfriends and daydreamed
about their shared future hopes.

“To
Lady Jane and the Cowboy!”
Lily said, holding up
her glass.

“To
Lady Jane and the Cowboy!”
They chorused,
clinking glasses.

As the full screen
close-up picture of Redstone MacAlistair looked on.

Chapter Three

Red was certain he’d
awakened in an alternate universe. He was never going to live this down.
Ever.
Apparently, Jane had awakened
early,
her body clock not yet adjusted to the time change, and had gotten to work on
his house. He’d slept in, unusual for him, but he’d been up half the night
trying to figure out what the hell to do about the situation, and how on earth
he got into this mess in the first place.

The smell of coffee,
bacon, and eggs greeted him, and sounds of laughter.
Male
laughter.
The house was filled with ranch hands and they were all seated
at the dining table…she’d actually set the damn
dining
table for breakfast? They couldn’t just grab a plate at the
kitchen table? She had placed folded napkins by each plate, put the flowers
he’d bought her in the middle as a centerpiece, and she was dressed like
something from an old fifties sitcom. Knee length flared print skirt, prim
blouse, high heeled shoes, and an apron tied around her small waist. She had
her hair done up, make-up on and she even smelled great.
Geez.
Ten ranch hands looked up expectantly as he stalked into the room glowering
ominously at everyone.

“Morning, Sunshine!”
Glen grinned at him.

“Morning?
It’s damn near afternoon,” Cory, the oldest and usually the crankiest chuckled,
forking a giant rasher of bacon into his big mouth.

“Don’t swear dude,
there’s a lady present,” Alex warned.

“I’ve heard worse,”
Jane said, smiling as she popped more eggs and bacon into the serving dishes on
the table and slid a plate in front of him. “Breakfast, Red?”

He nodded to the room
in general. She kissed his cheek and he automatically turned to kiss her back,
and found himself kissing air as she buzzed about the room.

“Cory said you’ll be
out in the south pasture today, do you want me to pack you a picnic?” she
asked.

Great! She couldn’t
have just offered to pack his lunch.
A picnic?
It
conjured up images of checkered table cloths and picnic hampers. All ten faces
turned in his direction grinning. Cory picked up his coffee cup, then smirked,
jiggled his eyebrows and daintily crooked his little finger. Red was tempted to
snap it off. “Sure, thanks.”

“For
how many?”

“Why don’t you stay
here, boss? Looks like you have plenty on your hands for the day,” Jerry
teased, watching the way Red was looking at Jane. “We’ll get by without you.”

Like hell he was
staying here alone with Jane. “Jane needs to get settled in and she won’t see
how things work around here if we keep changing our routine, will she?” Red
stated.

“Didn’t know we had
one,” Cory muttered.

Ornery bunch of so and
so’s, Red thought, watching their faces, they
were absolutely
loving
this. They’d obviously gotten wind of what this whole thing was
about.

“I’ll bring Jane out to
find you later,” Honey said, walking in, placing her hand on Jane’s shoulder.
Red sighed in relief and choked down a little breakfast before hurrying out to
the truck to get on with his work before his world got any weirder.

***

Red had to admit, he was
getting kind of hungry, he’d been too wound up to eat much this morning, and a
good breakfast was paramount to getting a good start on a working day. Honey
usually made breakfast for him and the rest of the hands and threw a packed
lunch together for them all, then the bunk house cook took care of dinner. He
was both relieved and nervous when he saw Honey drive up in her truck with Jane
as he waited to see what she had in store with her ‘picnic’. All the ranch
hands were doing the same, not a soul moved. It felt like a scene from an old
black and white Sci Fi movie, where all but the main characters were
temporarily frozen in time and space. He heard them all start to snicker when
she hopped out of the truck, still wearing her pretty skirt and heels, and with
Honey’s help started to unload the picnic baskets from the back. Oh hell! He
was never going to live this one down if he lived to be a hundred! Though he
doubted it would be a problem, he’d probably have a heart attack long before
then. Along with a few of the younger members of his crew who were watching
Jane avidly as she spread the checkered table cloth—just as he’d feared—on the
old wooden picnic table in the shade of the ancient oak, and started putting
out the dishes of food. Her pretty plain white blouse was fitted and she had a
real nice shape, especially when she leaned forward. The young ranch hands rose
up on their toes leaning forward to get a glimpse of her fabulous cleavage. She
stumbled, nearly twisting her ankle on a
rock,
he
hurried forward to take her elbow. No doubt about it, he was going to have to
get her some boots. She needed to be properly attired.

Jane smiled up at him,
and handed him a plate, he motioned for the other hands to come on over. She’d
made fried chicken, potato salad and rolls, with fresh fruit for dessert. Not
bad, at least it wasn’t prissy little finger sandwiches. He was just starting
to feel relieved when she ran around handing out wet wipes for everyone to wipe
their fingers before they ate.

“No finger bowls?” he
asked. Then wanted to kick
himself
for hurting her
feelings. He didn’t have
to,
Honey elbowed him in the
ribs instead. But Jane’s feelings were not quite as delicate as either of them
anticipated.

“Finger bowls are for
after
you eat, Red,” she said, and sauntered
off on her high heels. Her calves were really nicely shaped. And he wasn’t the
only one who was noticing.

“What’s wrong with you,
acting like a barbarian around her?” Honey asked, elbowing him again for good
measure. “Gran would be disgusted.”

Red decided against
agreeing with her. Though they both knew she was right. Gran was a stickler for
good manners. He went with a simple change of subject. “We need to take her to
get some boots.”

“Good idea, Red!” Honey
smiled at him, and he groaned. He knew that look. She was either pleased her
little scheme appeared to be working out so well, or she was up to something
new.
Hard to tell.
Either way he was screwed. He
wolfed down some chicken and rolls and headed back to work. Work he understood.

***

Red had absolutely no
idea what to expect when he got in. He’d taken his time, prolonging his work
day as long as he dared, and then grabbing a bite for dinner with the ranch
hands down at the bunk house. It would be just the two of them. Honey would
have gone back to Tony’s house. He needed to have a talk with Jane.
A serious one.
This whole thing had been a bad idea that
needed to be nipped in the bud.

The house smelled like
old lemon polish. There were frilly curtains up at the kitchen window that he
suspected she’d retrieved from the attic, and Jane was nowhere to be seen. He
walked into the living room and discovered she’d fallen asleep on the couch,
apparently waiting for him. He pulled off his Stetson, ran a hand through his
hair and knelt down beside her. She did look kind of cute. He hadn’t kissed her
since the airport and she hadn’t offered, other than the quick peck on the
cheek she’d given him this morning. He tucked his fingertips gently under her
chin, her sleepy blue eyes opened, and widened for a second when she saw him so
close. Then she slipped her arms around him, and he forgot why he was there.
Her hands were small and super soft as she caressed his neck and drew him
invitingly closer.