Miranda closed the gate with Jesse still in the corral. He eyed her warily, stepped up on a fence rail and hopped over it, landing less than a foot in front of her. For a moment, Miranda thought he’d end up on top of her.
“You were the only other bidder,” he said as he headed inside.
Why would that be? If he didn’t want to expand on that information, she’d drag it out of him.
“There was no guarantee no one else would bid.” Miranda was on his heels when he turned to face her.
“Everyone in Ramblewood knew I wanted this place,” he snapped. “You don’t get it, do you? They all knew this was my ranch.”
Miranda held her ground. His intimidation tactics were not going to scare her this time.
“How was I supposed to know? And it’s not your ranch. It’s mine.”
“I deserved Double Trouble!” he shouted.
“And you’re about to get it if you shout at me one more time!”
Jesse flinched at her retort. This wasn’t quite how she imagined her first day in Texas. She figured she’d see her house, walk around the property, maybe drive into town and have a bite to eat. Anything but this.
“Some welcoming committee you are,” Miranda huffed.
“Sugar, if you’re looking for a warm welcome, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“To think, I drove all the way here for this. I’m starting to regret it.”
“Oh, goody.” Jesse clasped his hands together in mock glee. “Does that mean you’ll leave?”
“Not on your life.” Miranda didn’t appreciate his sarcasm. This was her home now. She wasn’t about to let some cowboy chase her away.
As she opened her mouth to tell him where he could go, a horse neighed from inside the stables. Her mouth snapped shut.
What was she thinking? She couldn’t send him away. He was the only one who could help her now. At least until Jonathan cleared up this mess.
From where she stood, the ranch seemed endless. It was a magnificent piece of land—the photographs hadn’t done it justice. There was a small cottage behind the house, nestled amongst dogwoods. From beyond the white pasture fencing, fields of wildflowers faded into a copse of trees. A couple of bungalows stood alongside a dirt road that ran through the pastures, toward the hills. The ranch seemed to roll with the landscape. She understood why Jesse was so protective of someone turning it into a housing development. The Hill Country was all she dreamed of and more.
Jesse stood beside her as he took in the same view. When Miranda turned to face him she noticed his features darkened by sadness. She found herself stumbling for words to comfort him in some small way.
“It really is beautiful here,” she said.
The wall between them needed to come down so they could work together. Miranda thought their mutual admiration for the land was a good start.
“Yes, it is. As long as you don’t ruin it.”
So much for that idea.
“Once again, I’m not going to ruin it. Give me a break, will you? I came here for some peace of mind.”
“Peace of mind? What’s been stressing you out, sugar?” Jesse eyed her top to bottom. “Your shopping sprees? Bet you’re still using Daddy’s credit cards to buy everything. You wouldn’t know the meaning of an honest day’s work if it bit you on the—”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Don’t beg, sugar. It doesn’t become you. Now come on, we have work to do.”
Miranda went with him, willingly this time, toward the stables. He removed a wheelbarrow and shovel from a storage room and pushed it toward her.
“Start with the first stall and work your way around. Shovel it completely out, down to the floor. Old bedding goes in the large green container out back for composting. We use the last stall on the left to store fresh bedding. Open five bags in the stall and spread it around till you have about a two-inch depth. I’ll check in on you later and show you how to wet the bedding to fluff it up. Good luck. You’ll need it.”
* * *
JESSE KEPT HIS LAUGHTER in check until he’d turned the last horse out in the corral. He’d never seen a woman so rip-roaring mad in all his life. After her hissy fit, she’d settled down and got to work mucking the stalls. She had to learn the ropes somehow.
He had to admit, even with all the aggravation she caused him, he sure did enjoy the sway of her hips when she walked and the way her hair fell free, to the middle of her back. She was a looker. There was no doubt about it.
Jesse knew the instant Miranda climbed from her truck, the name Double Trouble finally rung true. She was shapelier than a Coke bottle and had green eyes the color of spring leaves. A woman like her could only make a man’s life difficult. And she’d proven to be no exception so far.
Not only had he lost everything, he’d lost it to a beautiful blonde. But there was something different about her. She possessed such a deep self-confidence yet her face reflected a loneliness that reminded him of a child on the first day of a new school.
When Fran Carter’s sister put the ranch up for sale, Jesse was livid. He’d offered Caroline more than a fair price for the place. Nevertheless, she had been determined to get all she could for it.
It didn’t matter one iota that Fran and Ed Carter had spoken at great length about their intentions to sell Double Trouble to Jesse. They treated him like a son and Jesse considered himself blessed to have a second family. While the Carters enjoyed the ranch, the house had needed more and more repairs. They were tired and wanted a stress-free retirement in a smaller house near town. Then tragedy had struck.
Though Caroline had been devastated by her sister’s and brother-in-law’s deaths, when it came to the ranch all Caroline could see were dollar signs. From her Seattle home, she’d arranged the sale of the antiques and most of the furniture only two days after Fran’s funeral. Assuming the ranch would run itself she didn’t realize half of what Jesse brought in training horses was his to keep. Combined with the vet and feed bills, Double Trouble cut into her bottom line. Thanks to Jesse spreading the word around town not to buy the horses and cattle, she gave up and left them to the new owner.
After Jesse had forgone his father’s offer to work on his family’s ranch when he graduated high school, the Carters had hired him. Despite the fact he loved his family and respected his brothers’ decisions to work there, he didn’t want anything handed to him.
Bridle Dance was his great-grandfather’s legacy. And while he was proud of his family, Jesse wanted a legacy of his own. Now fifteen years later, he had to walk away from what he believed would have been his.
Just when he thought his time on Double Trouble was over, he had to contend with Miranda. The sight of her stepping out of that new truck made his blood boil. The woman didn’t know one end of a bull from the other. Now she owned his ranch. The last thing he wanted was to witness the destruction of the place he loved.
Common decency told him to show her enough to get by. Help her hire a foreman and then be on his way. Another part told him to stay in case she floundered and decided to hotfoot it back home.
If her expensive jeans and new boots were any indication, there was no way she could handle running a ranch. If his instincts were right, maybe Double Trouble would be his after all.
A girl like her wasn’t used to this type of life but she was about to learn the gritty details. And maybe, just maybe, she would realize this was not for her.
A few hours later, Jesse checked in on Miranda. He expected to see one, maybe two stalls mucked. Instead, he was amazed to see