‘Delicious be damned!’ Hank roared. ‘Are we men or a bunch of silly chickens?’
‘Chickens!’ Morgan defended herself indignantly. ‘It’s obvious you don’t appreciate a good meal.’
‘Call that a meal, lady? More like an appetizer.’
‘Now, Hank,’ Charlie said, ‘Morgan tried.’
‘Not enough, Charlie,’ called one of the other cowboys. ‘Not enough.’
‘You’re used to Brent’s meals. I understand that.’ Morgan struggled to make herself heard above the din. ‘I’m truly sorry you didn’t like the meal. Tell me what you want and I’ll see you get it next time. All I ask is a bit of time.’
‘We’re hungry now, honey,’ Hank sneered.
‘Hungry now! Hungry now!’ chorused the cowboys. ‘Hungry now!’
Morgan pushed an unsteady hand through her hair. She was at the freezers, about to take out more steak, when a new voice—one ringing with authority—demanded, ‘What’s going on here?’
Morgan spun around as the noise in the cookhouse suddenly stilled. Tilting her head, she found herself looking into Jason Delaney’s rugged, hard-boned face. Stressed though she was, Morgan found herself once again noticing shoulders that were impossibly wide and hips sexily narrow—a body that was lean and muscled.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked.
‘Came to see how you were getting on,’ he said. ‘Just as well I did, by the looks of it.’
‘You should have seen what this dame tried to pass off as a meal, Boss,’ Hank complained. ‘Steak so small you could hardly see it.’ He held up an enormous hand to demonstrate. ‘Bits of potato with some kind of stuff stuck to them.’ He pointed to the food which one of the cowboys had pushed away in disgust. ‘Just take a look at this, Jason. We’re men, Boss, not a bunch of halfweaned toddlers.’
‘I liked it,’ Charlie said.
‘Charlie’s appointed himself the lady’s shining knight,’ Hank said in disgust. ‘Won’t do, Boss. We’ve all had a hard day; we need to eat. Pretty lady here may make a man feel good at night, but she sure doesn’t know what it takes to feed one.’
‘Watch what you say, cowboy.’ Morgan spoke with a firmness that not a few men would have had rueful cause to recognize, the same firmness with which she addressed men who tried to take liberties with her. Most of the time it was successful in keeping unwanted advances at bay.
Hank, however, was unabashed. ‘Oh, yeah?’ came the insolent drawl.
‘You have a foul mouth, cowboy. I won’t stand for it.’
‘Oh, yeah?’ Hank said again.
‘That’s enough,’ Jason warned levelly.
‘But—’ Morgan said hotly, only to stop as a warning hand closed over her arm.
She was unprepared for the tingling that shot instantly from her wrist all the way up to her shoulder. But the touch did not last for seconds later Jason was turning back to the men.
‘This is Morgan,’ he said calmly. ‘She’s substituting for Brent. She means well but she’s not familiar with our ways yet. Say, why don’t you guys kick a ball around outside? We’ll have some more dinner ready for you in a jiffy.’
To Morgan’s surprise, the cowboys did as he suggested. Minutes later she could hear a ball-game starting near the cookhouse.
Jason’s defence of her had been so unexpected that she said gratefully, ‘Thanks for coming to my rescue.’
The rancher placed a pile of frozen steak to thaw in a huge microwave, before turning to her. Aloofly he said, ‘I didn’t do it for you.’
‘I thought...’ She broke off, dismayed at the hardness she saw in the ruggedly chiselled face. Not for the first time she wondered why Jason had taken such a dislike to her.
‘Didn’t fancy a mutiny on my hands,’ he said drily.
‘A mutiny?’
‘You heard what Hank said—they’re men and they’re hungry.’
‘I didn’t cook enough and I’m sorry about that. But that Hank, he’s crude and a big-mouth,’ Morgan said hotly.
‘He’s also,’ the rancher said, ‘one of the finest cowboys on this ranch.’
‘It doesn’t bother you—the way he talks?’
‘As I said, Hank is an excellent cowboy.’ Jason’s tone was abrupt. ‘An expert at roping a steer or calming an excited horse.’
‘That doesn’t excuse his manners.’
‘I don’t hire men for their fine manners, Miss Muir.’
Her head jerked up. Morgan had never met a man like Jason Delaney—so sexy that her legs felt a little weak when she looked at him, and at the same time so cold and arrogant and contemptuous.
An unaccustomed wildness drove her to speak without thinking. ‘Maybe that’s because you don’t have any manners yourself, Mr Delaney. You’ve been rude from the moment you set eyes on me.’
A hand shot out, grabbing Morgan’s wrist and closing around it with fingers like iron. Dark eyes spoke volumes of contempt. ‘If telling you that I disapprove of your presence at my ranch makes me rude then perhaps that’s what I am. I didn’t invite you here, Morgan. You’re quite free to leave any time you like.’
Morgan tried to suppress the flames which were once more searing her arm, the sudden thudding of her heart and the treacherous, utterly unwelcome stirrings deep in her loins. ‘You’re forgetting the contract.’
Sparks flashed in Jason’s eyes. ‘Notwithstanding the contract.’
‘I know you want to see me go,’ she taunted.
He chose not to answer the taunt directly. ‘You shouldn’t have come in the first place—but you know that.’
‘Brent wouldn’t agree with you.’
‘After the disastrous meal you produced?’
‘Was it really so bad?’ She tried to hide her distress.
Jason didn’t answer her immediately. Tensely Morgan watched him at the microwave, taking out one lot of steak and putting in another.
When he looked back at Morgan his lips were tight. ‘You saw the reaction of the men,’ he said brusquely. ‘Hank was right about one thing—the cowboys have been out on the range since dawn, sweating it out in the heat and the dust. Riding hard, working hard physically. They come back here, expecting a decent meal, and look what they got instead. They had every reason to be angry.’
‘It was a mistake.’ Her tone was low. ‘I realize now that I didn’t cook enough, but I did do my best.’
‘You should have known, Morgan.’
‘If Brent had stayed to explain...to show me around...’ For some reason it was very important that this very dynamic man should think well of her.
‘Any ranch cook worth his or her salt should know how to prepare a meal for a bunch of hungry men.’ His tone was a shade dry. ‘I wish I knew what you were thinking of when you applied for the job, Morgan.’
If only he were not so unyielding. Morgan swallowed hard. ‘I told you, it’s