The Ranch Hand (13 page)

He swung down off his horse. She stepped out of the truck. They met in the middle of the road.

For a moment they simply stood there, staring at one another. Then Harlan tipped his hat.

“Howdy.”

Nothing else. Her mouth dropped open. “That’s…that’s all you wanted to say?”

“No. I have a mouthful to say. I’m workin’ up to it.”

She crossed her arms and waited. She wanted to go to him, wrap her arms around him and lose herself in his tight embrace. Instead she waited.

“I was riding easy in life,” he said, speaking slowly, that intense gaze locked on her as if she were the only thing that mattered in the world. “Maybe I didn’t have all the things I wanted, but I was on the trail I thought would get me there. I’d had my eye on you for a long time…but never felt the situation was right for me to make a move.” He paused and rubbed his hand against his chin, thinking, his fingers rasping against his five o’clock shadow. “To tell you how I felt.”

She waited, her heart pounding hard in her chest. When she swallowed, the lump in her throat seemed to lodge itself in her chest. She didn’t try speaking. It was all she could do to breathe as the storm inside her broke open.

“Then you went and decided to get on with your life,” he continued. “Buying that land. Heading off on your new adventure. And the part I couldn’t accept was you being gone. The thought of it kicked me like a mule. Thing is, I’m also about as stubborn as a mule, so when I got it into my mind that I had to earn you, well, I had to earn you. No matter that you wanted to do your own thing, blaze your own trail on your own ranch. Maybe I didn’t have land to settle, but I could damn sure take care of that tree. Lend a hand and a little sweat.”

“Look, I shouldn’t have—” she began, but he held up a hand for silence, shaking his head.

“No, you had every right. I didn’t understand where you were coming from, and for that I’m real sorry. We went after each other like two wet badgers fighting over the last burrow in the field. I thought I could ride away and things would go back to the way they were. Found out that after the dust settled, I couldn’t go back. I’d changed. I’d changed because I love you, cowgirl. Have for a long while, I reckon. First time I let the words out of my mouth. Long past time, maybe.”

Her hands were trembling. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to cry. All she did was stand there and stare at him, emotions all storming inside her, and her hands shaking, and all the words flashing through her head like lightning and her unable to catch a single one to speak aloud.

Her silence didn’t seem to upset him none. When he spoke again his voice was low and fervent. “These last few days have been hell for me. With you gone, I ain’t sitting right. That’s how I know. I don’t have much. Hell, I don’t even own that trailer. But what I have is yours. I work hard. I’ll work hard for you.”

“Work hard for us,” she said, her voice choked. Tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes and ran down her cheeks. “For
us
.”

The smile that spread across his face was slow but beautiful. It lit his face from the eyes outward. She ran to him and he caught her easily, spun her around and she gasped a laugh. Then he kissed her. It was a kiss she would never forget. A kiss she wouldn’t trade the world for.

“I love you, cowgirl,” he said again, that easy grin on his face, but his eyes were full of passion.

“I love you, cowboy,” she said back, and meant every word.

Epilogue

Spring, Colorado

Carol set aside her hammer as Harlan finished reinforcing one of the joists. Most of the house frame was up, but that was it. Right now it was little more than a skeleton of boards and right angles and here and there a window or door-shaped hole. Still, it was beautiful, even stripped down like this. She smiled. The house was beautiful because it was theirs. Harlan had brought his savings in and together they’d sat down with an architect to redesign the house and the property. The results had been far better than she’d ever dared hope, changing the place into something they would both love. Functional, but grand, and far better than she could’ve hoped for on her own. Most of the construction was being done by a crew because Harlan still worked at Snowbrook—at least until their first shipment of cattle arrived at their ranch—but the two of them still managed to put some work of their own here and there, making the place belong to them from the bones up.

True, she’d had to go back on her promise to her uncle—the one about not headhunting the help from Snowbrook for her own ranch. Her uncle had only laughed and winked at her, then had planted a kiss on her forehead, his wide mustache tickling her.

They’d named their new ranch Snowfall Ranch, for the storm that had tumbled them together and forced them to admit the feelings they had for one another. The name was a nod to her aunt and uncle’s place. Her uncle had grinned like a schoolboy and her aunt’s eyes had gone all misty-eyed, though she’d only said, “It’ll probably confuse the mailman something fierce.” Carol thought it a mighty fine name. So did Harlan. That was all that mattered.

The afternoon was growing late. Evening would be on soon. She glanced at the mountains, then at the clouds. She couldn’t get enough of that view. Not even if she lived here the rest of her life. If all went as planned the house would be up by late Spring. They’d have a working ranch by summer. She smiled, content, and then her stomach rumbled. Well,
almost
content.

“You hungry yet?” she called to Harlan.

He wandered over to her, slapping the dust from his blue jeans. “I could eat.”

She laughed. The man said it as if he almost needed convincing, but whenever they sat down at the table, he packed food away as though there were a famine in the forecast. “Suppose we should call it a day and head on home. What do you think?”

“I think I’ve hammered my last nail for the night.” He slipped his arms around her and pulled her close. He kissed her so passionately it rocked her back on her heels.

“Whoa, cowboy, what’s got into you?”

“You did,” he said, grinning. His voice dropped, filling with promise.

She smiled back, kissed him and bit playfully at his lip. He cupped her ass through her blue jeans, hauled her up, and carried her over to Pike, who waited patiently, tied to a fence post and nibbling at the grass.

He set her down, then climbed into the saddle. She swung up after him, sitting in front of him, settling her hand on the saddle horn. He wrapped his arms around her and she snuggled close. She felt right.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, glancing over at their house frame and the land and all the potential and future happiness they represented. She couldn’t wait for them to move in and start their adventure together.

“You’re beautiful,” he said, and lifted her cowboy hat enough to kiss the back of her neck.

Dark was falling as they rode up to her aunt and uncle’s house. All the lights were on, blazing away in warm yellow welcome.

Her aunt came to the door at the sound of hooves. She was smiling as she dried her hands on her apron.

“Well now,” she called. “Suppose you are hungry. How about some hot dinner?”

Carol laughed.

A little dinner would make things just about perfect.

~ About the Author ~

Hannah Skye loves to write about cowboys and cowgirls. Her first story was about a swimming horse, written when she was eight. While her stories now have people for main characters, she still holds on to her love of horses.

Discover more about Hannah Skye here

Website:
http://hannahskyeauthor.wordpress.com/

Twitter:
http://hannahskyeauthor.wordpress.com/

~ Coming Soon ~

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