A Home with the Rancher Read online

  Something else was lodged in the top portion of the mitt. Mac thumbed smudges of mud away from the paper-thin item, revealing a familiar smile. His throat thickened as he studied the well-worn photo of his late wife. The shape of Nicole’s eyes and nose were exact replicas of Jaxon’s.

  “You promised.”

  Mac blinked hard and glanced up.

  Jaxon glared at him but his chin trembled and his eyes glistened.

  Gut churning, Mac said gently, “I’m sorry, Jaxon. I’ll make it up to you. I promise—”

  “Yeah, right.” Jaxon snatched the glove back, shoved past him and stomped out of the cabin.

  “Why’s he so mean all the time?” Maddie asked, poking her head around his thigh and frowning up at him.

  Mac forced a smile and tugged the pink ribbon brushing her cheek. “He’s not mean, baby. He just...” Misses his mother. Mac swallowed hard. God help him, so did he. “He just needs his space once in a while. That’s all.” He motioned toward the door. “Why don’t you play outside with your sister for a few minutes while I talk to Ms. Dani?”

  “Yes, sir.” Maddie brushed a speck of dirt off her sundress then skipped outside.

  “Don’t wander off, all right?” Mac called after her. “Stay near the cabin.”

  He relaxed slightly at her affirmative response then thrust his fists in his jeans pockets and avoided Dani’s eyes. “Sorry about that.”

  She was silent for a moment then her soft voice drifted in, soothing the tight knot in his neck. “It’s okay.” Her footsteps drew closer. “I don’t mean to pry but...is your wife here?”

  “Nicole passed away four years ago. The girls were too young to remember her but Jaxon does.”

  Mac cringed at the gruff sound of his voice. He walked to the door and peered out against the glare of the midmorning sun. Nadine chased the bullfrog across the grass while Maddie picked wildflowers nearby. Jaxon was nowhere to be found. As usual.

  Mac closed his eyes, his limbs heavy.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Dani whispered.

  “They’re normally not underfoot,” he said. “But it’s July and school’s out so they wander around from time to time. Just don’t mind them and go about your business as usual.”

  “Does that mean I have the job?” Dani’s voice was hesitant. “Because if so, I think I should tell you now that...that I’m really...”

  He opened his eyes and faced her. She stared at the muddy streaks marring the floor and her fingers picked at the hem of her T-shirt. Her soft curves and gentle tone made him yearn to cross the room to her side, ask her to wrap those slender arms around him and hug him close. Have someone hold him for a change.

  She met his eyes and hitched the bag strap higher on her shoulder. “I’m actually here to—”

  The strap snapped and her bulky bag slammed to the floor, clothing spilling from the gaping hole left behind. An unladylike word burst from her lips.

  Blushing, she knelt beside the bag, gathering up lacy bras and ragged T-shirts then shoving them back inside. “Sorry.” She puffed a wisp of hair out of her face. “That was rude.”

  A rusty chuckle stirred in Mac’s chest. Smothering it, he grinned and tried his best to keep his gaze from straying to her tempting cleavage. “You really do need this job, don’t you?”

  Her hands stilled. “Honestly?” She looked up, eyes lingering on his smile. “I really do need to be here. And woman or not, I know I can help you.” Her slim throat moved on a hard swallow. “If you give me a chance to prove it, I promise you won’t regret it.”

  Mac’s smile slipped at the shift in her tone. A strange coldness trickled into his gut and pricked at his skin.

  “Trial basis.” He forced the words past stiff lips. “It’ll only take a day or two for me to see if you can hack it.”

  Chapter Two

  Dani was going to hell—straight down a hole she’d dug herself. And she was tempted to drag lead hand, Cal McCoy, with her.

  “Now this here is what we call an ax.” Cal’s mouth—still chewing on that filthy straw of hay from earlier—delivered each syllable with slow, exaggerated movements. He eased the tool closer to her face, pointed a blunt finger at the sharp end and raised his brows. “And this here is the blade.”

  Dani narrowed her eyes on the scruffy cowboy in front of her, a spark of anger overtaking the guilt that had lodged in her gut one hour earlier during her conversation with Mac. Only ten minutes in Cal’s presence and she was ready to flip her wig. How in the world was she going to hold on to her temper long enough to secure this job?

  “And this here...” Cal grabbed a log from the ground, balanced it in his palm then hefted it in front of his chest. “This here is what we call wood.”

  “Butthead.”

  Choking back a laugh at the muttered insult, Dani glanced over her shoulder.

  Jaxon stood several feet away, leaning against a fence and tossing a baseball into the glove on his hand. Just as he had for the past ten minutes as Cal led her through her first assigned task on the ranch.

  “What was that, boy?” Cal frowned at Jaxon, the hay dangling precariously from the corner of his chapped lips.

  Jaxon looked away and thrust the baseball harder into his glove. “Nothing. Sorry, sir.”

  “You got fire, kid,” Cal said, laughing. “I’ll give you that. Ain’t you supposed to be babysitting? Your dad’s havin’ a time keeping up with those sisters of yours and getting the hikers started.”

  Jaxon stared down at his glove and didn’t answer.

  Dani leaned to the side and peered over Cal’s shoulder. A small group of guests was gathered at the edge of a nearby field, packing backpacks and listening to Mac’s instructions for the impending hike.

  Mac gestured toward Tim, who stepped forward and took over speaking to the group, then knelt beside his daughters. He tugged something from his back pocket, pulled one twin close and started brushing her hair.

  Judging from the girl’s muddy jeans and unhappy expression, Dani guessed it was Nadine. She craned her neck for a clearer view and smiled, the sight of Mac’s big hands moving gently over the girl’s long hair stirring warm flutters in her belly and an ache in her chest.

  When she’d concocted this plan to gain access to Mac, she’d expected to meet a ruthless man holding out for top dollar in a deal. Not a grieving father who loved his children and was clearly in over his head.

  And she’d lied to him.

  That ache in her chest tightened and a bead of sweat trickled across her temple. It didn’t matter if she’d never intentionally deceived someone before. She’d done it today.

  “...heard a word I just said?”

  Dani snapped back to attention, her gaze jerking from Mac to Cal’s disgruntled face. “What?”

  Cal rolled his eyes. “Whatever you missed, girlie, I ain’t got time to explain it again. And if you were a man, I wouldn’t have to explain it at all.” He tossed the ax in the dirt at her feet then ambled off, saying over his shoulder, “Just split those piles of wood and stack them. You got one hour.”

  Dani frowned. Jaxon was right. Butthead fit the bill perfectly.

  She stared at the high pile of thick logs and shook her head. Female pride or not, if she had any sense, she’d grab her tattered bag, hop in that pathetic car and burn rubber back to New York.

  Her shoulders sagged. But that would mean standing in the boardroom and facing a roomful of male executives—including her father. And what would she say? Sorry, Dad. I know I promised to make this deal but...

  But what? She’d failed to deliver yet again? Prove that he’d been right all along and she wasn’t equipped to run the company? That she was just another spoiled, rich girl who couldn’t pull her own weight?

  “Do you know what you’re doing?”

  Dani looked over her shoulder. Jaxon s
traddled the top rung of the fence and stared intently at her. His green eyes held no mockery or disdain. Just a concerned, empathetic light. And the kind note in his small voice made her think he knew much more than foolish men like Cal gave him credit for.

  “No,” she said. “I don’t.”

  Jaxon glanced down and shrugged. “I could help you. I mean...if you wanted me to, I could.”

  She smiled, her heart melting for this boy who’d lost so much, and whispered, “That’d be great. Thank you.”

  He looked up, revealing a crooked grin.

  Dani’s breath caught. The tilt of his mouth was so similar to his father’s brief smile earlier. The one that had lifted the sagging fatigue from Mac’s muscular frame and the heavy shadows from his handsome face. The one that had made it too difficult to come clean entirely and risk adding to the painful load he carried.

  “Okay.” Jaxon straightened on the fence rung and gestured toward the stacks of wood. “First, you gotta pick out the best logs. My dad says the seasoned ones with the cracks in ’em are the easiest to break.”

  Dani nodded then sifted through several logs before hefting one out of the pile and tilting it toward Jaxon. She drifted a finger along a deep crack in the wood. “Like this?”

  “Yeah.” He pointed at a large stump on the ground. “Now, put it on that and hit it right on the split.”

  She set the log on the stump, steadied it then grabbed the ax. “All right.” Taking a deep breath, she lifted the ax and started to swing. “Here we go.”

  “Wait!”

  Dani jumped and her hands slipped on the ax handle. The tool plunged to the ground, slicing into the dirt and lodging dangerously close to the toe of her sneaker.

  “Sorry.” Jaxon winced. “But if you stand like that, you’re gonna chop your foot off.”

  She raised an eyebrow, a humorless laugh bursting from her lips. “Sure looks that way.”

  Jaxon hopped off the fence, tossed his baseball glove on the grass and walked over. “You gotta stand wide and bend your knees.” He tapped her insteps with his boot until her stance met his approval then squatted slightly and held his hands up as though gripping the ax. “Like this, see? One hand high and one hand low.”

  Dani grinned, grabbed the ax and mimicked his posture. “This way?”

  “Yep.” Jaxon smiled and tossed his brown hair out of his eyes. “Dad splits two piles every day and saves ’em up for the cabins during winter. He lets me help sometimes. He told me it ain’t about strength. It’s about finesse.”

  Those warm flutters returned to her belly. She glanced across the field. Mac stood still, eyes fixed firmly on her and Jaxon, as his daughters chased each other by his side.

  “You need gloves, you know?” Jaxon added. “And glasses. At least, that’s what my dad says. He doesn’t let me practice without ’em. Says it’s better to be safe than sorry. You could ask him.” Jaxon’s voice hardened. “But he’s probably too busy to get ’em for you.”

  Mac lifted a hand to his forehead and squinted against the sun, his scrutiny more intense.

  Cheeks heating, Dani tore her gaze away. “I’ll be careful.” She adjusted her grip on the ax and tipped her chin toward the fence. “Jaxon, could you please watch from over there? I’d feel better if you were out of the danger zone.”

  He nodded, darted off then ducked between the fence rungs.

  She eyed the thick log standing on the wide stump, steadied her stance and swung. The blade stabbed into the surface of the wood and stuck, the impact reverberating down her arms.

  “Take it out and hit it again.” Jaxon climbed on to the fence.

  Dani smiled, pried the ax from the log then struck it harder. The blade landed perfectly, a heavy thud echoing across the valley, but the log didn’t split.

  Her back and shoulders were another matter. Every muscle in her upper body stretched with strain, screaming that she’d pay for this later.

  Jaxon smacked the fence rung with his palms. “You got perfect aim. Better than Mr. Cal.”

  Dani laughed, the excitement on his face easing the painful throb in her arms. “Really? You’re not just trying to make me feel better, are you?”

  “Heck no. You’re a better shot than him any day.” He grinned and bounced on the fence rung. “Flip it over and do it again.”

  She did. Two more swift strokes of the ax and a satisfying crack rang out as the wood split, toppling off the stump and onto the ground in even halves.

  Dani tipped her head back, heaved out a satisfied breath and closed her eyes. The sun’s heat seeped into her skin, her muscles tightening deliciously and a sweet satisfaction vibrating within her.

  Take that, suits. She laughed. This was something those stuffy executives could never experience behind an office desk or in a corporate boardroom.

  “You’re good.” Jaxon hopped off the fence, scooped up his baseball glove and tugged it on. “Better than good.” He crossed to her side, pounding a fist in the mitt. “You play baseball? ’Cuz I bet you’d be killer at bat.”

  “Yeah. I like baseball.” She bent, grabbed another log and balanced it on the stump. “I watch the Mets on TV quite a bit but it’s been years since I’ve played.”

  “The Mets?” His brow furrowed. “You from New York?”

  Dani froze, the log’s bark rough against her palm. She glanced up and the innocent curiosity on the boy’s face intensified the churn in her stomach. “Yes.”

  He mulled this over for a moment then asked, “How’d you end up here?”

  She swallowed the thick lump in her throat. “It’s complicated.” And shameful. Which made her a straight-up awful person. She ducked her head and resumed her chopping stance. “I should get back to work. And you should probably check in with your dad. Thanks for the help.”

  Jaxon kicked the ground and spun away. “Whatever.”

  The hurt note in his tone sent a fresh wave of guilt through her. “Hey.” She waited until he stopped, back planted to her. “There’s no way I could’ve done this without your help. And I really do enjoy your company. I just need to finish this, okay?”

  He looked over his shoulder, voice hesitant. “So can I stay and watch? I promise I won’t get in the way.”

  What was it Mac had said? Just don’t mind them and go about your business as usual.

  Dani’s eyes returned to Mac. He’d rejoined the group of guests and carried on a conversation with one of them, his daughters at his side, but he kept shooting looks at her.

  She faced Jaxon and studied the hopeful light in his expression. It was so familiar. That vulnerable look of wanting to be given admittance. Wanting to belong and not be brushed aside. It was a feeling she knew all too well.

  “Of course,” she said. “I’d like that.”

  Smiling, he hustled to the fence and climbed up again, settling on the top rung.

  Dani faced the log, tightened her grip on the ax handle then swung. An hour passed with rhythmic thuds of the ax. Sharp cracks of wood and Jaxon’s baseball pounding into his glove reverberated across the grounds. Sweat streamed down her face and back, her soaked shirt clinging to her skin with each swing.

  She struck the wood harder and tried not to think about Jaxon, his sisters or their handsome dad. Instead, she paused between each stroke of the ax and took mental notes of the ranch’s layout.

  Three paddocks with worn fences were stationed near a large stable. The stable looked sound and efficient but the outside walls were weathered and unattractive.

  A fat drop of sweat stung her eye and she flinched, blinking it away to view the structure more clearly. Hmm. Some red paint, a bit of white trim and several strategically placed azaleas and it’d be much more appealing to the eye. It would also induce that good old-fashioned nostalgic feel a lot of people sought when choosing a place to stay in the Smokies.

  Body a
ching, she paused, grabbed the split halves of wood then stacked them in a slowly growing pile. The grounds were in much the same state as the secluded cabin where she’d stowed her bag. So much potential but too much neglect.

  “Want me to take over for a while?”

  Dani dragged the back of her hand across her sweat-slickened forehead then smiled at Jaxon. “No, thanks.”

  “But you look tired.” He frowned, peering over her shoulder. “And they’re laughing at you.”

  She glanced around. The group of guests had left for their hike with Tim, and the girls were no longer in the field playing. But Cal and several other hands stood by the fence of a neighboring paddock, sipping from water bottles and grinning as they leered in her direction.

  “It’s okay.” Dani hefted the ax into her hands, renewed her grip and smiled. “Let them laugh. I’m used to it.”

  Jaxon smiled back but whispered, “You’re all red, though. And you really do look tired.”

  “He has a point.”

  Big palms settled on the wood handle between her smaller ones and Mac, solemn-faced, stared down at her.

  “The stalls need mucking,” Mac said, eyeing her and tugging on the ax. “You can do that instead.”

  She tugged back. “But I’m getting it done and there’s a lot more to split.”

  “Yeah, and at the rate you’re going, it’ll take you a week to finish.” His expression softened. “You’re getting it done. Just not fast enough.” He pulled the ax from her grip. “I’ve got time to finish this stack now and I’ll do the second one in the morning.”

  “But—”

  “The shovel and wheelbarrow are in the stable store room. Remove the waste, add clean shavings then dump the load out back.” He grabbed a log and steadied it on the stump. “When you finish, see Cal and he’ll tell you what to do next.”

  He positioned his muscular bulk in front of the stump, his hard jean-clad hip brushing against her soft middle.

  Her heart tripped in her chest and she stepped back, thighs trembling from her earlier exertions. Gritting her teeth, she forced out, “I can finish this.”