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“Uh, as in change rooms?” she asked.
Jonah shook his head. “Change the sheets and make up the beds in the guest rooms. They’ll also need dusting and checking for any lost items. Empty the waste-baskets, too.”
“Sure.”
Upstairs, she stripped the six beds, gathered the used towels and started the washing machine she’d discovered in a laundry/storage room yesterday while searching for the bathroom. Next to the laundry was a room with a large, tiled shower. A powder room with a toilet and sink was on the other side of that. Each bedroom also had its own sink, which was convenient for the occupants.
Linens and towels were stored in a cabinet in the laundry room, which also held a vacuum cleaner and cleaning supplies. While the sheets were washing, she made up the beds with fresh ones, then cleaned and checked each room as instructed. By the time the second load of sheets was spinning out, she had the rooms finished.
She cleaned the shower and powder room, then vacuumed the hall runner. Finally she folded and stored the clean linens, then put fresh towels in all the rooms.
Noting the empty vases on the reading tables, she dashed outside and picked long stalks of dried grass beside the stable, plus a few graceful branches from a hemlock and a juniper. These she made into interesting arrangements in the vases in each guest room, then used the leftover pieces in her room.
“Very nice,” a deep voice said from the doorway.
Startled, she jerked around. Her boss stood there, his expression thoughtful. She tried not to sound defensive as she explained, “I placed some grass and evergreens in all the guest rooms.”
“Yeah, I saw them. Good idea.”
She relaxed, unable to figure out what it was about him that made her nervous. Other than his ability to move around the place without a sound. And to probe her mind with a glance and a few observant questions.
“What’s next?” she asked.
“Roundup. Keith and Janis are driving part of the herd this way. We’ll meet them and bring the cattle here. The seed cows stay for the winter. The rest go to the stock sales or are delivered to those we have contracts with.”
She detected a note of displeasure in his manner, but hadn’t a clue to what bothered him. “Uh, who takes care of the campers? And the store?”
He shrugged. “We use the honor system. It seems to work okay most of the time.”
“I can probably handle the herd—”
“You don’t know where it is.”
“I’m good at directions.”
He studied her long enough to start the qualms to churning. He didn’t have a lot of faith in her abilities. She met his gaze dead-on, determined to show him she could hold her own against any male wrangler.
“Do you always argue with the boss?” he demanded.
She’d asked for that one. “Not always.” She kept her tone neutral.
“Just most of the time,” he muttered, then he smiled. “The rooms look nice. It’s time for lunch. We’ll eat, then hit the trail.”
“I’ll need a mount.”
“You’ll need two for the country we’ll be traveling. The horses should be rested enough to leave around one o’clock.”
She nodded as a trill of excitement pinged around inside her like an echo in a box canyon. Actually she’d only herded animals a few times in her youth and at the rodeos where she’d usually helped with the bucking broncos.
No need to tell him that. Cattle were just critters. She could handle critters.
Jonah closed the safe and spun the cylinders. He’d bought the relic at his cousin’s shop last year. Wells Fargo was still visible in faded gold letters on the front. It suited the resort’s needs perfectly.
He liked things that fit in, that made sense in the grand scheme of life as he saw it. He was pretty sure the new wrangler didn’t fit any mold.
As a former orphan, she might not appreciate the intimacy of long winter days snowed in, just the two of them at the lodge when hunting season ended. You could get to know a person extremely well in those circumstances.
However, Keith and his family did come over if the weather got too bad to stay at their place. That added some diversity to the winter nights. After the new year began, the snowmobile and winter hiking crowd would show up.
She might not like that, either, he admitted. He’d already deduced that she preferred being around animals more than people. Interesting. In his experience, women loved any excuse to go to town and gossip with friends.
He wondered if she was running from something…or someone. Zack Dalton was the assistant sheriff. He could ask the lawman to check out her credentials.
A smile tweaked the seriousness of his thoughts. One thing—the lady could cook. On a lot of ranches that would be enough to keep her at all costs.
He headed outside and spotted her at the fence. She had two cowponies saddled and two on leads. The rain gear and food packets he’d prepared after lunch were already tied behind the saddles or on the spare mounts.
“You’re efficient,” he commented.
“One learns to be.”
“In the orphanage?”
“At the rodeo. You have to move things along for the shows. Broncos and bulls aren’t always cooperative.”
Her smile was brief, but intriguing as it hinted at memories of her past. He refrained from questions.
“Your horses are very well trained,” she finished.
“Most of them are retired cutting horses. Our neighbors, the Daltons raise and train some of the best. Keith and I buy the ones that are getting a bit long in the tooth.”
“An old-age home for horses,” she murmured. “I like that.” She patted her mount’s neck.
He noted she had her gloves on, but no chaps. “You’ll need chaps to get through some of the brush. There’re extra pairs in the tack room.”
She nodded and hurried to the stable. The tack room took up a space the size of a stall at one end. She returned in less than two minutes, the leather chaps outlining her body.
Watch it, he warned his libido as she swung up into the saddle, her lithe, slender body moving with sensuous ease. She was the hired hand and way, way off-limits to anything that might come to mind.
He glanced at the lofty mountain peaks surrounding the ranch. At present, there were only a couple of lingering ridges of last year’s snow on the highest peak. The first snow of the current season hadn’t fallen yet, but when it did, they could be snowed in for days at the lodge.
The question on his mind wasn’t whether she could take it, but whether he could.
Startled, he glanced around as he headed across the pasture to a trail bordering a steep hill. She was gazing back at the main house as if memorizing the place.
Her T-shirt fit snugly across her chest, revealing the outlines of her bra and her small, pert breasts.
His blood surged with heat. This, he admitted wryly, wasn’t the first time he’d been around a female wrangler, but it was the first time he’d reacted to one with intense male-to-female interest.
At thirty-four, he was sure of his control. After all, he’d been around beautiful women in abundance in New York, from top models in their fields to self-assured actresses and businesswomen to fresh-faced new talent just off the farm. He’d dealt with all of them as fairly and impartially as possible, looking only at their suitability for the job at hand. Or for a pleasant evening or weekend, no strings attached. He’d made sure his companions agreed with that philosophy. Marriage wasn’t part of the package.
Following the new wrangler’s gaze as she faced west and studied the famous mountains, he wondered if another snowbound winter on the ranch would change his mind. He smiled sardonically at the thought.
Chapter Three
Mary inhaled the balsam-scented air and decided she could stay here in this one place forever.
“Ready?” Jonah asked, rising from the boulder where he’d taken his rest. He tucked the remainder of the trail mix packet into his shirt pocket and took a swig of water from a plastic bottle.
“Yes,” she said, also getting to her feet. She’d gobbled down all her snack as soon as they’d taken a break. She was still hungry, she realized.
“Hold still,” he ordered.
She froze.
He smacked her on the back of her thigh, a glancing blow that startled her.
“What—” she began.
“A tick. You have to watch for them if you’re going to sit on a log. Turn around. Slowly.”
She followed his directions.
“Okay, I don’t see any others.”
Creepy-crawly sensations ran over her skin. She brushed vigorously at the back of her jeans, down her legs, then along her shirtsleeves just to be sure the little buggers hadn’t hitched a ride in a fold of fabric.
“Makes you feel as if you have a thousand of ’em on you, doesn’t it?”
She looked up to find him grinning at her precautions and nodded. With an effort, she refrained from whipping her hat off, releasing her braids and running her fingers all over her scalp, which now felt under attack from unseen little beasties with a thousand legs each.
“You’re okay,” he assured her, then laughed as she felt along her neck.
They mounted and headed out again. She wondered how long they would follow the steep game trail through the silent forest. They’d been riding for more than an hour and had crossed two ridges.
The answer came when the downward path opened into a meadow nearly an hour later. A carpet of white and yellow fall flowers landscaped the area. Cattle dotted the land, munching on the sparse grass and abundant flowers.
“Ah,” her boss said, “there’s Keith.”
She spotted the lone cowboy circling the far side of the herd. He waved his hat to indicate he saw them, too, then urged his mount to a faster pace.
Jonah waved, then reined up in front of a cabin built on a hillock overlooking the five-acre meadow. He dismounted, tied his two cowponies to a tree and indicated she should do the same.
“Are we spending the night here?” she asked, perusing the cabin which couldn’t possibly be more than one room. Would it hold three people?
“You are,” Jonah answered as she dismounted and tied her horse and spare cowpony next to his.
“Hey,” Keith Towbridge called, arriving at the cabin. He dismounted and dropped the reins, leaving his horse ground-hitched a few feet from theirs. “Glad to see you guys,” he added, smiling at Jonah, then surveying her.
Mary held out her hand. “Mary McHale, the wrangler,” she introduced herself.
“Keith Towbridge,” he answered and shook hands. He turned to his partner. “Everything looks good around here. There’s a young bear over near the Dalton line shack. He’s ventured this way a couple of times, but he’s no problem.”
“Cats?” Jonah asked.
Keith shook his head. “No signs of any. One was spotted over at the canyon last week. Scared a couple of vacationers in their camp, but it seemed mostly curious.”
“What’s the count?” Jonah next asked.
“Fifty-two mamas, fifty-eight babies.”
“Better than last year,” her boss said in pleased tones.
Mary listened to the report while she sized up the two men. Keith was about her height and her age, she thought. He looked younger than Jonah, who she judged to be in his early to mid-thirties. A wedding band reminded her that Keith was married and had a son.
“I’m heading home for the night,” the younger man told them. “We have a dozen head of cattle there. Janis and I’ll bring them over tomorrow. You two staying here?”
Jonah shook his head. “I thought I’d head back since we have several campers checking out today and more in the morning. Mary can keep an eye on the herd while you bring in the other cattle tomorrow. I’ll be back in the afternoon or first thing Thursday morning to drive them down the valley.”
Keith gave his partner a sharp glance, then turned to her. “You okay with being here alone?”
Mary nodded. Actually she was relieved.
“There’s food and firewood in the cabin,” Keith told her. “Nothing will bother you.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said, smiling to show she wasn’t worried about the solitude.
“She prefers her own company,” Jonah informed his partner rather dryly.
“Actually I just like the quiet,” she said to Keith, ignoring Jonah and his conclusions about her.
“You’ll do,” Keith said with an approving grin at her and a speculative glance at Jonah. “See you tomorrow.”
She and Jonah watched him mount and head southwest. In a minute he disappeared into the trees. “Anything in particular I should know about the cattle?” she asked.
“No. Just keep an eye on them. There’s a creek near here. We’ll water the horses, then I’ll lay a fire in the stove and show you where everything is.”
She followed his example in caring for their mounts, leaving her ponies hobbled in the meadow with the herd while he switched his saddle to his spare. He went into the cabin.
Mary observed from the door while he laid pine cones, kindling and wood in the old-fashioned iron stove set on a hearth of field stones at one end of the cabin. “Matches,” he said, holding up the box to show her. After she nodded, he replaced them on the shelf mounted on the wall.
He pointed to one side of the wood stacked in a corner. “Old newspapers, in case you need them to get the fire started. Sometimes it’s hard to get the stovepipe to draw.”
“You have to heat the cold air to get an updraft going,” she said to let him know she understood how to start a blaze in the potbellied stove.
Two double bunks, stacked on opposite walls, offered resting places for four people, she noted.
“Blankets,” Jonah said, removing the top from a barrel. He tossed three of them on one of the bunkbeds. “There’s soup, crackers, a can opener.” He pointed out the items.
