The Cowboy's Heart, page 12
Needless to say, after they got home from the vet hospital late last night, the tree that Janice had put up in his house was moved to the retreat center and safe from all the dogs for the time being.
He hadn’t bothered going to sleep because he’d have to be up in a few hours. He couldn’t take Janice’s apologies anymore. She was wrung out and distraught, having assisted Pete in the surgery. It wasn’t her fault and he certainly didn’t blame her.
Nate had wanted to ease her feelings, but he was afraid if he tried, he’d come apart. Instead, he worked a long day in the saddle, skipping lunch to take a siesta in the truck. He hadn’t been hungry anyway. When they got back tonight, he forced himself to have dinner with the ranch hands and he felt slightly more human after a burger and fries. He had planned on face-planting into his bed, the bed that he and Janice had shared what seemed like a lifetime ago.
But before he could, Frank had knocked on his door.
“Nate? Got a minute?”
Nate wanted to refuse. He didn’t have it in him to get into it with the old man. Not after his last twenty-four hours. But he was also too tired to argue.
“Yeah,” he said, letting him in. “You want a beer?”
“I wouldn’t say no to a cold one.”
Nate opened up two Rahr extra darks and handed him one.
“How’s the pup?”
“She survived the surgery.” Nate looked at the text that Pete had sent him. “She’s going to need to stay at the hospital a few days to make sure there’s no infection. But she’ll pull through.”
“Pete’s a good doctor.”
Nate nodded, too raw to think about how much he owed the vet. “Janice helped, too. You would have been proud of her.”
“I’m proud of them both. I wanted to tell you that was good work finagling it so Pete bought her the cows.”
Holding up his hands, Nate said, “I had nothing to do with it. That was all his idea.”
“She was impressed, right?”
“I was impressed.” Nate took a long swig of his beer.
“What’s our next step?”
“Our next step is to butt the hell out.” Nate was pretty sure he didn’t sound as vicious as he felt.
“I want you to go to the parade with them on Friday and find a way to get them together.”
“Fuck no.” Yeah, that time it slipped out. Nate would rather be slathered in barbecue sauce and staked out for the fire ants. “I’ve got a job to do and it’s not playing matchmaker for your daughter and the rich doctor.”
“Esteban can handle the work for the day. Your doctor wanted you to take it easy, right?”
Nate snorted. “Now, you’re all for listening to the doctor’s orders? You take her to the parade.”
“I’m already going. Sarah’s on the parade committee. I’m going to have my hands full with that. Trent, Kelly and Alissa are going to be riding in the parade, too. The bull-riding school’s got a float. Donovan and Emily are manning the booths for the riding school and the safari tours. That leaves you.”
“Frank, are you sure you want this? I mean Pete’s a good guy. He’s a regular saint, but I don’t know if he has Janice’s heart.” Mostly because I want it.
Frank’s eyes narrowed on him and Nate wondered if he’d gone too far.
“Something you want to tell me?”
Nate grit his teeth. “I’d marry her. I’m not rich. But I…” He was not about to tell her father that he loved her. Janice deserved to hear it first. “I think she and I could be happy. If we worked hard, we could keep the ranch going.”
He braced for the explosion, but none came. Frank looked at him thoughtfully. “If I thought you could make each other happy, I’d be all for it. But you’re too much like me. Too angry. Too set in your ways. I’d hate to see you and Janice make a go of it and then wind up hating each other.”
“I could never hate her.” That much he could tell Frank.
“You might not have noticed, but I haven’t been the best dad,” Frank said, finishing his beer. “You got anything stronger?”
Nate fished out a bottle of whiskey and poured them each two fingers.
“You were better than mine.” Nate sighed.
“I almost lost Kelly. And Alissa. All because I was too stubborn. I drove Janice away. Hell, Emily had to go to Africa to get away from me. I had good intentions. I only wanted what was best for them. But they rebelled. They refused to see it my way.”
“I’d like to think I’m not the ‘my way or the highway’ type,” Nate said.
“Well, you are. Just ask any of your ranch hands.”
“That’s the ranch hands. Not my…” he almost said family, but he changed it to “…friends.”
“Janice needs a husband who shares her interests and understands her.”
“Like Emily and Donovan?” Nate quipped. Emily was a vegetarian and Donovan was a trophy hunter.
“They compromised. He gave up his hunting lodge for a nature safari.”
“But he still hunts boar and deer.”
“When he needs to. He doesn’t have hunters come in anymore because it upsets Emily. I couldn’t do that. If it were up to me, Emily would just have to deal with it. You’re the same way.”
Nate shifted uncomfortably. Maybe, he should have pushed back at a few of Frank’s opinions. He had never wanted to rock the boat and find himself out of a job. What Frank was saying, though, touched a nerve. Nate had advised Donovan to keep booking hunting parties, even though it distressed Emily to think of the animals being killed for sport. “Janice isn’t Emily.”
“Do you know what Emily wants to do?”
“I know she’s got a lot of ideas.”
“She wants us to get out of the beef business.”
A flare of alarm ran through him. “What?”
“She wants to have dairy cows instead.”
“This isn’t a dairy farm,” Nate said. Dairy farms didn’t need ranch hands or a ranch foreman. Where did that leave him? Out of a job and out of the only family he’d ever really known. He drew in a shaky sigh.
“Janice is going to side with her. You’re going to side with me. And we’re not going to give in. What do you think that’s going to do to your relationship?”
Nate opened his mouth, but no words came so he just drank his whiskey.
“They’re going to sell our cattle and use the money to put up a dairy barn and buy the equipment and milk cows. Emily says it’s too expensive to have Angus and longhorns. But that’s bullshit. The real reason she wants to sell our beef is because Emily thinks having dairy cows is more humane.” Frank sneered the last two words. “Over my dead body.”
“Frank,” Nate said warningly because Frank was starting to lose his temper.
“But if Janice marries Pete, Emily’s argument that it’s too expensive goes away. Janice and Pete will be our vets. We can buy a dairy barn to keep Emily happy and you and I can continue with our cattle.” Frank emptied his whiskey and set his glass down with a clank. “I’m glad we had this talk.”
Nate’s head was whirling more than it was after Jonas had dragged him halfway across Bushwacker pasture.
“So you’ll escort Janice to the parade on Friday and help keep the boohoo club occupied while she and Doc Pete get to know each other better.”
“I’m not sure…”
“I’m not asking, boy. We’ll talk later.” Frank let himself out while Nate just stared after him. He poured himself another whiskey.
“It’s official,” Nate said to the empty room. “Christmas blows.”
It was too empty in his house without Daisy and he couldn’t relax after the conversation he’d just had with Frank, so he wandered over to the retreat center. The lights were on in Janice’s makeshift dressage ring and he saw that Black Dahlia and Synergy were being put through their paces.
Janice was watching from the sidelines, looking a little twitchy. But her horses were following directions, even though the retreat women obviously weren’t comfortable seated on them.
“I hope they’re better on the trail horses,” he grumbled, coming up to lean on the fence next to her.
“What are you doing up?” she asked, placing a hand over her heart. “Is it Daisy?”
“As far as I know, she’s still at Honeyman recovering. I can pick her up tomorrow. Thank you for assisting Doc Pete when he operated.”
“Of course,” she said. “It’s my fault she was in surgery.”
He reached down and gripped her hand. “No, it’s not. Daisy just ate something she shouldn’t.”
“You told me not to put up the tree. I should have listened. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t feel guilty,” he said. “She’s going to be all right.” It was odd that he was comforting her about this. After all, she’d helped save Daisy’s life. “Right?”
“Right.” Janice nodded. “She needs to rest and heal up. Just like you did. Would you let her stay with my mom during the day? She’ll keep her isolated from the other dogs, but that way Daisy won’t be all alone.”
“I’d appreciate that,” he said.
“Pete’s a miracle worker,” Janice said. “He was so calm and he knew just what to do.”
“He’s a good man,” Nate admitted. And now he owed him. If Pete wanted Janice, Nate should do the right thing and step away. “You and he made a good team.”
“I was terrified,” she said shakily. “If something went wrong in the operation, I never would have been able to forgive myself.”
“Shit happens.”
“Not at Christmastime,” Janice said.
“Especially then.” Nate didn’t want to get into this right now, but he also didn’t want to go back home alone. He watched as Janice switched the women and instructed them on their technique. “How late are you going to be out here with this?”
“About another hour. I need to have them used to handling horses by this time next week.”
Nate made a face. “A guaranteed shit show.”
“Thanks for the positive outlook.” She whirled on him, blinking back tears.
Crap. Frank was right. He was too ornery of a bastard for her. “I’m being a realist. You can’t expect someone who has never been on a horse to spend a day in the saddle, in the hot sun, working nonstop.”
“They’ll be ready,” Janice said between her teeth.
If drive and enthusiasm and sheer bullheadedness could get them there, Janice would have it covered. He wanted to ask her about the plan to get rid of the beef cattle and start a dairy farm, but he was afraid she’d confirm what Frank had said. And where would that leave him?
Where does that leave us?
Chapter Fourteen
Janice knew she’d screwed up. And even though Daisy was going to pull through, she should have listened to Nate about the Christmas tree. It didn’t matter that her heart had been in the right place and that she couldn’t stand seeing Nate being so distant and bah-humbug-ish about Christmas. He had his reasons. Reasons he was keeping from her.
Nate hadn’t been around a lot the last few days. He went out with the ranch hands in the morning and then went back to his cottage at night. Janice could only hope he was resting his sore shoulder and concentrating on taking care of Daisy.
Gayle and Heidi were doing great roping the wooden sawhorses they were practicing on. Tracie and Regina looked better in the saddle than they had when they first got here. Everyone was settling into ranching life and in between sessions with Rita, they got the dressage ring built enough to do some practice.
Janice had forgotten how much enjoyment she got out of the sport. While Emily took Melanie and Suze over to Trent’s bull-riding ring to do some barrel racing, Janice had the rest of the retreat taking turns on Synergy and Black Dahlia, practicing controlling the horses through the patterns. That would help them remember how to move with the horse when they were on the cattle run next week. So far, it looked like the new riders would be joining them. They were going to be sore and she’d probably have them herd from the back, but she was confident they could handle themselves. Even better, Janice could see by their wide grins that they were confident as well.
Her phone rang and she looked down and saw it was Kelly calling her.
“What’s up?” she asked, wondering why her sister just didn’t text her.
“Some flashy-looking guy in a souped-up Caddy wants to talk to you about renting the retreat center. I told him you were in a lesson right now, but he was willing to wait. How long do you think you’re going to be?”
“I can wrap it up, but it’s still going to be about a half hour. You can tell him all about it, though. Maybe get his number so I can call him later.”
“I did. He still wants to talk with you.”
“All right. Ask him if he wants to wait or if he’d rather come back tomorrow.”
After a pause, Kelly came back on the phone. “He’ll wait. I’ll give him a piece of banana bread and a cup of coffee.”
Janice finished up the lesson and then instructed the women to take the horses back to the barn and feed and brush them down and then to take it easy until dinner. They were going to cook over an open fire and camp out by the pond tonight. Donovan and Trent had agreed to come along to provide hog protection, so her sisters and Alissa were going to join them.
She wanted to invite Nate, but after everything, she thought he needed a good night’s sleep in bed more than he needed to be on the cold hard ground. Wishing she looked a little more presentable for the potential client, Janice combed her fingers through her hair and straightened her clothes as she walked up to her parents’ house. Sitting at the kitchen table coloring with Alissa was an older gentlemen with salt and pepper hair. He was handsome in a slick, silver fox sort of way. He rose out of his chair and offered her his hand when she walked in.
“Hi, I’m Janice,” she said.
“Charlie Lincoln. Thank you for seeing me. I’m sorry to interrupt your retreat.”
“We were taking a break before dinner anyway,” Janice said, shaking his hand. Sizing him up, she was pretty sure he wasn’t going to slap her ass like the last guy did.
“Your sister tells me that you’re taking the group camping tonight.”
“We have to watch out for piggies. Daddy is going to keep us safe,” Alissa said solemnly.
Janice could have lived without him knowing about the feral hog problem since it was being taken care of, but it didn’t seem to faze Charlie. “Would you like a tour?”
“I’d love one.”
Leading him outside, she gestured for him to get into the Gator. Starting it up, she took him around the ranch area first, pointing out the heifer pens and the garden. “What type of retreat are you looking to do here?”
“I’m going to be honest with you, Miss Sullivan.”
“Janice,” she corrected.
“I’m an ex-con.”
Janice braked hard and they both lurched ahead. “You might have brought that up before I drove out all alone here with you.” She refused to panic. She was in yelling distance and someone would hear her. Although he had been alone with Kelly and Alissa and hadn’t tried anything. She shouldn’t be so judgmental, but he could have been more forthcoming. The fact that he just showed up on the ranch instead of calling first and being upfront got her back up. Shifting so she could jump out and run easier, she turned to face him.
“I probably should have mentioned it, but people tend to react the way you’re doing right now, when I do.” He gestured at her tense fight-or-flight posture, but she refused to let her guard down. “I made a lot of bad decisions in my life and people got hurt. But I was in for theft and fraud. I’m not a violent man.”
Janice put the Gator back in gear and steered toward the retreat center. She only had his word for that, but she would accept it until she could verify his story. There was no sense just sitting out here in the middle of the ranch. What worried her was she might have shown him where they were camping tonight if he hadn’t dropped his bombshell on them. “So why are you telling me this now?”
“It’s part of what I’m looking to rent the retreat for. I want to bring ex-cons here.”
Yeah, her father would shit a brick sideways. But she wasn’t going to say no until she was back with other people, so she nodded.
“It’s hard going back to the real world after doing time and as you can imagine, some may be inclined to go back to old habits and poor choices. I was talking with my parole officer and he thinks it would help with my rehabilitation as well if I continue my mentorship of prisoners.”
“How did you find out about my retreat?”
“I’ve seen some of the ads you’ve put out.”
Janice felt a twinge of conscience. People made mistakes. They deserved a second chance if they were trying to change and had paid for their crimes. Part of her retreat mission statement was to help people be more confident and live their lives to the fullest.
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable having violent offenders at the ranch,” Janice said, thinking of Alissa and her parents. Still, she couldn’t put her family in danger. But would they be in danger if the ex-cons were nonviolent? Janice just wasn’t sure.
“Of course not. I would be hosting white-collar criminals, all of whom have served their time and have been deemed safe to be released into society.”
Janice chewed her bottom lip. “I would have to bring in extra security.” Maybe she could even hire back some of the ranch hands they had let go.
“I completely understand, and I would insist that you add their salaries to my bill. This would be an ongoing contract. Three or four times a year.”
Between his groups and Rita’s groups, she could have a comfortable income. She’d be able to contribute to the ranch’s debts, pay down her own, and maybe put in some improvements to the dressage ring. “What type of services are you interested in?” she asked.
“Animal therapy.”
“I’m not a therapist,” Janice said. “But I do have access to one.” She wondered if Rita would be interested in offering her services to Charlie’s retreat groups.
“That’s good to know, but I simply meant having the guests take care of animals. The cows, the other animals. And, of course, fishing, camping, and horseback riding would be paradise for men who have been locked up for a few years.”
