Winning The Rancher's Heart

Even in an off-white long-sleeved T-shirt as plain as day. He didn’t normally notice such things, not when all he cared about was if someone could do a job properly, but the visual image in his head was so far from the reality that it startled him.

“What about you?” he said. “Do you have any questions?”

“Yes.” She pinned him down with a stare like an entomologist would a cricket. “You won’t be bothered by two kids and a dog, will you?” She looked around her as if envisioning two terrors inside his home.

“I would expect them to stay out of the way.”

And suddenly she appeared amused, her blue eyes lighting up from within, her whole face transforming, and if he’d thought her beautiful before, that was nothing like the way she looked with a smile on her face.

“I can’t keep my kids in a kennel.”

“No, of course not, but kids are always off doing things, at least in my experience. As far as your dog, I would appreciate you keeping him on a leash, at least until we know how he’ll react around horses.”

“You don’t think your dog will mind having a new dog on the property.”

“What dog?”

Her brows drew together. “The one on your porch. Or it was. It ran off when the alarm sounded.”

“What?”

“By the front door. But like I said, it ran off.”

“I don’t have a dog.”

“No?”

He shook his head. “If you see it, please let me know. I’ll have to call someone to catch it.”

“No. Don’t do that. It’s better to try to re-home a stray.”

“We don’t know it’s a stray.”

She frowned. “I think it is. It looked skinny.”

And she cared. With concern clouding her eyes, she looked younger. She couldn’t be much older than thirty.

Younger than you.

Much younger.

“Let me know if you catch it and we’ll go from there.”

She nodded. “Anything else?”

“One last question.”

She waited quietly. He admired the way the sunlight set strands of her hair afire before he admitted he shouldn’t be noticing that type of thing.

“What if you change your mind?”

“About what?”

“The move. Working as a housekeeper. Living on the ranch.”

She lifted her chin a tiny fraction, but enough for him to realize she was sensitive about the issue. “I won’t. We even drove my old Ford truck all the way out here. And I’ve started the school enrollment process for my kids. They’ll be all set to start at their new school in the fall.”

He studied the woman in front of him. Lauren had told him Naomi worried that her husband’s death had affected her kids far more deeply than she’d surmised. That they were having problems in school and that a move all the way across country would be good for them. He couldn’t say he agreed. Then again, he didn’t have kids, so who was he to judge?

“All right then. I guess we’ll see what happens.”

“Terrific.”

“And your first task will be helping to organize a party I’m having here in a couple of weeks. Local military brass. Short notice, but I’m sure I can easily pull strings and get people here. You’ll have an unlimited budget to make it an affair people will remember. I want to make a big splash.”

Her mouth dropped open. “I—”

“You’ve planned events before, or so you said.”

He saw her take a deep breath. “Of course I have. I just didn’t think I’d be starting so soon.”

“Is that a problem?”

“No. Not at all.”

“Good, then I’ll take you on a tour of the ranch next.”

She seemed surprised again.

“Unless you’d like to settle in first.”

“No, no. That’s okay.”

“Good.” He glanced at his watch. “And before I forget, here’s some information I put together for you. My cell phone. Email. Etcetera.” He slid a manila envelope forward. “Meet me in front of your apartment in ten minutes.”

She lifted a hand, saluted. He lifted a brow. She smiled and stood up, envelope held in front of her like a shield.

“It was nice to finally meet you.”

“Same,” he said with a dip of his head.

He watched her slip away, but when she left he spun his chair so that it faced the windows. Maybe he shouldn’t have left the hiring of a housekeeper to his sister. He had a feeling Naomi Jones might prove to be a handful, although he had no idea why he felt that way.

Her eyes sparkled.

As if she saw the world from the big end of a telescope and what she spotted amused her. Usually, he hired people who were far more serious, but he supposed that was to be expected given the nature of his work. Naomi seemed...complicated.

He hated complications.

Chapter Two

“Can I tour the ranch with you?”

T.J.’s face was imploring and it killed Naomi to shake her head. “Honey, there’ll be time to show you around later today. Let me spend some time with my new boss first.”

“But I thought you weren’t going to start work until next week,” he said.

She’d thought so, too, but she should have known her new boss was a workaholic. His sister had told her how often he was out of town. That he was driven and impatient and yet the kindest man she’d ever get to know. She’d have to take his sister’s word for it. So far she felt...nervous. He had the ability to escalate her pulse, and not because he was good-looking, although he was that, with his dark hair and blue eyes. Handsome and intimidating as hell.

“Plans changed.” She brushed her hand through T.J.’s hair. “But I promise to explore with you later on today.”

When she got off work she would make sure to show T.J. the ranch, although she’d forgotten to ask Jax Stone about her hours. And what days she’d have off. And a whole host of other questions because when she’d looked into his eyes she’d just sort of gone ooohh.

Someone beeped a horn. Janus stood up from his position at Sam’s feet and began to growl.

“Nein,” she softly told him. That was all she needed to say for the dog to rest his head again. That was the last thing she needed—for Janus to start attacking the door. “Stay inside,” she told her kids, although she doubted Sam heard her. Earphones didn’t quash the sound of music that emanated from the tiny white buds. Her daughter would be deaf by the time she was fourteen.

“Can I go see the pool?” T.J. asked, eyes filled with hope.

“No.”

His lower lip stuck out. “But Mom...”

“Just stay here. Sam.” He daughter continued to tap something out on her phone. “Sam!”

That got her attention, but she seemed completely put out that she had to remove one of the buds from her ear. She did everything but roll her eyes.

“Keep an eye on T.J.”

T.J. wiggled. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

The horn beeped again. Janus barked. Naomi turned to the room and said, “Stay.”

“Mom. I’m not a dog.”

“I know that. I meant all of you. Don’t leave.”

She slipped outside before T.J. could start complaining again. “Sorry,” she told her new boss, drawing up short at the sight of the all-terrain vehicle he’d arrived in. It looked like something the military would use—all camo paint and big black bumpers and a cab framed by a roll cage.

“Was that your dog I heard?”

She nodded, her face coloring a bit because it was only then that she realized she hadn’t told his sister exactly what kind of dog she’d be bringing with her.

“That did not sound like a small animal.”

Once again she found herself tipping her chin. “He’s a Belgian Malinois.”

He knew what that was, she could tell by the way his blue eyes narrowed. “You have a Malinois?”

She nodded, decided that she should just spit the rest of it out. “He’s an ex-military war dog.”

His lips pressed together before he said, “What are you doing with an MWD?”

“He was my husband’s.”

Trevor.

Her high school sweetheart. The man she’d known instantly that she would marry, even as young as she was. She tried not to let her emotions show, but she saw Jax’s gaze hone in on her own. It still hurt, although she’d hoped, goodness how she’d hoped, that it would have faded by now. At least a little bit. She prayed the move would help. Less of a reminder of what her life had been like before.

“You took possession of him after he died?”

She nodded. “Smartest thing I’ve ever done.”

He stared at her a long time. “Come on,” he said. “I’m sure you want to spend time unpacking when we’re done here.”

“It’s fine,” she said, forcing a smile as she slipped into the passenger seat. “How far away are the horses?”

“Not far,” he said. “I wanted the guest quarters to be within walking distance of my home.”

Jaxton Stone was rich. Not that she hadn’t already known that. Not that she cared, but she could tell he was more than just well-off.

She’d found out about Dark Horse Ranch through Trevor’s best friend, Ethan, who’d taken on the role of surrogate brother over the past year. Ethan’s brother-in-law Colt had told her Jaxton owned the company Colt’s brother, Chance, used to work for, and that they’d been in combat together once upon a time. And that Jaxton was the type of man who’d give his left kidney to someone. It was Ethan, Colt and Chance who’d convinced the reclusive Jaxton Stone to move to Via Del Caballo and build his therapeutic horse ranch for combat veterans. Naomi loved the idea so much she’d asked if he was hiring, and voilà, here she was. Except given their description of the man, and then after meeting his sister, she’d expected someone completely different. Guarded. Not this...stern taskmaster who didn’t seem to have the muscles to smile.

“I love your home.”

He put the vehicle in gear, the clutch lurching them forward so that she grabbed the roll cage to steady herself, the metal cold beneath her fingers. It was far cooler than she’d expected. She’d be chilled within a matter of minutes in her long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans.

“Thank you,” he said, shooting her a glance, looking like any rancher on any given day, on any other average ranch, in his black cowboy hat and jeans. The road followed the curve of the hillside, and she gasped at what stood on the other side. A massive equestrian complex, one made out of thick beams and with a steeped roof and tall windows across the front. It was all off in the distance, but close enough that she and the kids could walk, and all tucked away in a little valley behind his house.

“Wow.”

She hadn’t meant to say the word aloud, but it escaped before she could stop it.

“It turned out nicely, I think.”

He thought? The ranch was a showplace. Long, rectangular buildings were usually plain and ugly, but whoever had designed his house had also designed his barn. It had thick beams jutting out, not just across the front, but along the sides. Massive double doors—two stories high—were set into the front so they could be opened or closed, but they were cleverly designed so that it looked like the short end was all one big wall of windows. It wasn’t just a barn, she realized then. It was an arena.

Amazing.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t seen stables before. Ethan’s sister-in-law, Natalie, owned an equestrian facility twice the size. It was the sheer newness of it all that blew her mind, that and the knowledge that before his arrival, none of it had been in the center of the valley, one with a small lake in the distance and hills that had been browned by the June sun.

He drove forward again. “I’d like to have the party down here, in the arena, so people can mill around and see what we’ve built. I’ll invite some of the country’s leading experts on post-traumatic stress disorder. Anyone who needs a room can stay in the guest quarters.”

And he wanted to do this how soon? She gulped at the thought, but something told her Jaxton Stone didn’t know the meaning of the word failure.

“We’ll need to ensure we have plenty of food on hand, and maybe hire a caterer if you think it’ll be too much. You should probably get me a list of local media. I’m hoping they’ll take one look at Dark Horse Ranch and spread the word about what we hope to accomplish here. I want this facility to be the best therapeutic ranch on the West Coast. I want to change lives here. Help people. Make things better.”

She turned to look at him, stunned to realize this wasn’t just a passing fancy or some kind of tax write-off. She could hear the sincerity in his voice, earnestness mixed with hope and maybe even longing.

He cared.

“Let me show you the arena and the corrals and the horses we’ve purchased for the program first. That’s something Colt and Ethan are helping me out with. I don’t know a whole heck of a lot about horses, but I’m learning.”

For the first time he had become animated, showing her the state-of-the-art, climate-controlled arena—actually driving through the center so she could see the iron stall fronts to her right and the polished wooden beams—every inch the masterpiece that his home was. The kids would go nuts when they saw it.

“The horses have been carefully selected for the program.” He motioned toward a dark bay horse that peered at them curiously from the other side of a stall front. “And they’re turned out to graze in the evening, something that’s good for them.”

He showed her the turn-out pens next, driving behind the barn.

“The pastures are so green compared to the hills.”

“We’re on an aquifer. That’s where the water for my lake comes from. That’s what keeps everything green. Natural springs.” He pointed toward the horse pens. “The Reynolds family could have charged me a small fortune for this property, but they sold it to me cheap. Actually, their home’s just a few miles away from here as the crow flies. They still ride their horses out by the lake.”

She smiled at the mention of the Reynolds family. She adored Colt and Chance and their sister, Claire. Particularly Claire, who’d taken such good care of Janus when he’d been in her care. Claire owned a military dog rescue and she was married to Ethan, who was a veterinarian.

“This is my favorite animal.” He pulled to a stop in front of one of the horse corrals, getting out and heading toward the brown horse that walked toward them. “His name is Zipping Down the Road. Zippy for short. He used to be some kind of famous show horse, an actual world champion or something, but his owners retired him a few years back and he’s been a therapy horse ever since.”

She watched from her seat in the ATV as he walked up to the animal in question, holding out a hand, letting the horse sniff it before moving up next to his head and patting his neck.

“Looking for a treat?” he softly asked. “You know I have them somewhere, don’t you?”

Who was this man? she found herself wondering, watching as he fished a baby carrot out of his back pocket and then gently fed it to the horse. His whole face had changed. Gone was the stern taskmaster. In his place stood a man with soft hands and warm eyes.

“Come here and pet him.”

Okay, so there was the taskmaster again, but that was okay. She smiled because she’d been worried the kids would hate him. That her new boss seemed cold and distant and that he wouldn’t like her children. But for the first time she saw the man who’d spent millions of dollars on a state-of-the-art facility for wounded warriors. A nice man. A caring man. A man with a gentle spirit.

Their gazes connected as she slowly moved up next to the horse.

“He’s gorgeous,” she said, and she couldn’t hide her smile because it felt so good to pet one again. It’d been years, but she’d always been a horse-crazy girl. “I bet you were really something in your younger years,” she told the animal, leaning in next to his nose and inhaling the sweet animal scent that only horse lovers understood. The horse did the same thing right back, smelling her loose hair and tickling her ear and making her giggle.

When she drew back she felt his gaze on her, her smile fading at the look on his face.

“What?” she asked.

He stepped away. “Nothing.”

For some reason she felt the need to explain her reaction. “It’s been awhile since I’ve gotten to pet a horse.”

“So you’ve been around them before?”

“Oh my goodness, yes.” She patted the animal on the softest part of its body, its muzzle, a place that felt like velvet. “When I was younger I used to ride all the time. My mom showed horses and I did, too, up until her death when I was sixteen. My dad died at the same time. Car accident.”

And even after all these years, it still ached like the dickens. She wasn’t all that close to her in-laws. They hadn’t approved of her being a blue blood. That’s what Trevor had called her. He must have seen the twinge of pain in her eyes because he crossed his arms and drew himself up, the softness in him fading.

“We should get back.” Had her words upset him? “You have a lot of work to do,” he added.

He’d gone back to the uptight, aloof business owner, and for the life of her she didn’t know why. She was the one with a sad past. First her parents and then her husband had died. Some days, it just didn’t seem fair.

“Sure.”

She reluctantly returned to the vehicle, gazing at the sorrel horse that watched them drive away. They headed back in silence, and Naomi wondered if she should ask him about her kids, if it’d be okay to show them around, but something made her hold back.

“Thank you for the opportunity to work with you,” she said when he dropped her off.

“Don’t thank me, thank my sister.” He glanced at her quickly. “I’ll expect you to start work at eight tomorrow morning. Feel free to show your kids around. You might not have time over the next few weeks.”

He left her standing there, the tires even kicking up a little bit of gravel as he headed back to the garage on the far side of the house. Naomi watched him drive away with dread in her heart.

What have I done? she wondered.

And was it too late to change her mind?

Chapter Three

She would be here any moment now. He listened for her footfalls on the steps leading to the second floor. She had her own entrance to the house, through the kitchen, and he suspected she’d make use of it today.

He’d given her the pass code and instructions for his alarm yesterday, although he probably should have given her some kind of schedule, too. An oversight he would soon rectify. He stared out the row of windows that stretched across the second story of his home office, not really focusing on the view.

She still wore her ring.

And yesterday, when they’d talked about her husband’s dog, she’d seemed lost. It had hit him hard for some reason. Maybe because she reminded him of his sister, who’d been through the same thing. There was just something...sad about her that had touched him when she’d told him about the Malinois, and then later, when she’d been petting Zippy.

His gaze slid over the front of his property, watching for movement in the brush. Old habits die hard.

Something stared up at him. Jax froze.

A dog. Big dark eyes held his gaze. If not for the contrast of the dark hair against the muted gray trunk of an oak tree, he wouldn’t have seen him at all.

“Well, I’ll be—”

She really had seen a dog. There’d been a part of him that had wondered if she’d imagined it. Maybe confused a fawn for a canine. Or a coyote for a domestic dog.

“Am I late?”

He didn’t turn around. “That dog is back.” It was crazy the way the animal stared up at him, almost as if he saw him through the glass. Maybe he did.

“Is he brown?”

He nodded.

“Mohawk?”

“What?”

“Never mind.” She came forward. “Where?”

He pointed. “Out by that tree.”

The smell of her body lotion or perfume or whatever wafted toward him. Vanilla and lemons.

“We should try to catch him.”

She sounded as Southern as Georgia peach pie. He finally looked away from the dog to peer over at her. Even in profile she was deeply and extraordinarily beautiful. She’d worn her hair loose around her shoulders, the bulk of it resting against an off-white sweater. An ambient morning glow filtered in through his windows and highlighted the paleness of her skin and the gorgeous blue of her eyes.

“Stay here.”

He didn’t give her time to respond; frankly, he was almost glad to leave her side. He didn’t like noticing how stunning she was. She worked for him. Her looks were something he didn’t want to dwell too deeply upon, so he stepped away from her, ducking through the entrance of his office and turning left, toward the massive stairwell that bisected the house. He’d always thought stained wood and wrought iron balustrade just a tad over the top, but it served its purpose well. He headed straight for the front door.

“Do you have a leash?”

She had clearly ignored his order to stay put. Why didn’t that surprise him? “No.”

“Maybe I should go get one of mine.”

He burst out onto his porch. The dog didn’t move. He headed toward the tree that it cowered behind, noting the matted fur and the skin that hung off its bones like a coat that was too big. It seemed to be some kind of terrier breed, an overgrown Toto that’d gotten too big for the basket. And it looked like it had a Mohawk. That was what she’d meant earlier.

“That’s him. That’s the one I was telling you about.”

“Go call animal control.”

“No.”

He glanced over at her sharply. She didn’t seem to notice, just moved past him. “Let’s see if we can catch him first.” Her feet crunched on the rocks of his gravel driveway.

“Leave it alone. It might have rabies.”

She stopped, turned to face him, the look on her face the same one she no doubt gave to her kids when they said something ridiculous, like maybe a candy bar would be good for breakfast. It raised his hackles. He’d been up for hours and he was pretty sure the scruff on his chin and the ends of his hair stood up on end, and he was tired, which might explain his cranky mood.

“I sincerely doubt it has rabies. Like I said, we need to catch it.” She turned back to the animal. “Poor thing. It’s been weeks since he’s had a good meal.”

“All the more reason to call animal control.”

He turned to go back to the house to do exactly that, but she half turned and caught him with a “No,” and it was hard to say who was more startled, because she stared down at their joined hands for a moment, then jerked her gaze up at the same time she released his fingers.

“I mean, please don’t do that. Not right now. Let’s see if we can catch him first.”

“I don’t think he wants to be caught.”

“Come here, Fido,” she crooned softly, once again ignoring him.

“Fido?” he heard himself say.

“Shush,” she told him.

Shush?

She hunched over a little, and God help him, his eyes dropped to her backside and the way her jeans clung to her curves and he forgot his disgruntlement and cursed inwardly instead.

“There you go,” she crooned softly as she moved toward the oak tree near the edge of his driveway. “Don’t be shy. Remember? We met yesterday.”

The dog didn’t move and Jax found himself eating his words because the mutt didn’t run away at all. He reached out with his nose, sniffing her.

“Do you have a rope?”

“Uh, I have no idea.” And if he did have one, who knew where it was. He’d paid someone to move him in. The past couple months had been a constant game of hide-and-seek.

“A belt then?” She glanced up at him, still standing next to the dog, gently stroking his head, her wedding ring catching his eye. “Or a tie?”

“I’ll go see what I can find.”

This wasn’t how he’d envisioned his morning going at all. He’d imagined her sitting across the desk from him. Had planned to give her a to-do list a mile long. That would have kept her out of his hair. Instead he found himself standing in front of her and contemplating the odds of her obeying an order from him to let animal control deal with the situation.