“Of course,” Ellison said. “Sorry to have delayed you.”
“Not a problem.”
* * *
ELLIE CLOSED THE door slowly and leaned back against it, then turned and watched through the leaded-glass panes as the cowboy returned to his horse. Her heart was still hammering from the snake encounter and it seemed to be hammering even harder after talking to Ryan Madison.
The snake had to have been six feet long, coiled up on the bottom stone step enjoying the sun. Ellie wasn’t particularly squeamish about snakes, as long as they kept their distance, but she’d practically stepped on this one and if it hadn’t seen her coming and slithered into action, she would have. But instead she’d seen the movement, recognized what it was and screamed.
Was there any way she could blame hormones? Ellie wasn’t a screamer. She continued to watch as Ryan walked through the gate to the plain brown horse that waited on the other side, pulled the rope off the gatepost, coiled it and tied it to his saddle. Then he mounted, the movement quick and smooth and somehow very sexy, gathered his reins and urged the horse out across the field.
Yes. He was definitely a cowboy, as he’d stated during their interview.
One that came to the rescue of screaming women.
Ellie pressed her hands against her warm cheeks. Hormones or not, that wasn’t going to happen again. The phone rang and Ellie followed the sound to the old-fashioned landline in the living room, answering it on the fifth ring.
“This is Walter Feldman,” the man said stiffly. “I understand that you want to set up a meeting with me.”
“I do.” And she was going to keep an open mind about this guy that Milo said was hell to work with.
“When?”
“Anytime that’s convenient to you.”
“This afternoon work?”
Ellie glanced at the clock. It was close to eleven. “Yes. That would be fine. Say three o’clock?”
“I’ll be there. Goodbye.” The line went dead.
Ellie wrinkled her forehead as she put the receiver back in the cradle. Open mind. He’d said his piece, made his appointment and hung up. That at least smacked of efficiency. Ellie reached for her sweater. That gave her an hour or two to take her self-guided tour, maybe come up with some questions to ask about the ranch itself.
She paused at the top of the porch steps as she pulled the sweater up over her arms and checked for the snake. Nothing, thank goodness, but she still hurried down the steps. Realistically the snake had probably been as frightened as she’d been—but it probably wasn’t as embarrassed.
It was no big deal, she told herself as she crossed the flagstones. She’d had a couple missteps with the local wildlife, but now she had more of an idea of what to do—watch out for snakes and keep the food in the house. And she might try thinking about the cowboy strictly as an employee, not as a rather fascinating man. It’d probably be better for her blood pressure.
* * *
WALTER FELDMAN WAS barely three inches taller than Ellie. His lined face was freshly shaved and he was dressed in a carefully pressed and starched white Western shirt and dark blue jeans. His boots were polished and he wore a string tie around his neck with a silver slide. Classic cowboy...who smelled vaguely of alcohol. It wasn’t on his breath, but it was there.
“Have a seat,” she said with a smile. He hesitated, then sat, his gaze traveling around the room that had once belonged to him. Maybe she should have arranged to meet at his place.
“I have my papers here,” he said, shifting his attention back to her.
“Your papers?” Ellie asked with a lift of her eyebrows.
“Yeah. Ryan said that you’d want a rundown of what I do.”
“Oh, yes. Of course. Thank you.” She reached out for the papers, watching to see if his hands shook at all. Nope. Steady as a rock. He’d written out his job description on plain white computer paper in careful block letters—all caps. No sign of unsteadiness in his handwriting, either, and since he had to have written this today, after being warned by Ryan, she decided not to jump to any conclusions about him being an alcoholic.
But he had been drinking heavily recently. His red-rimmed eyes, shining vividly blue in his lined face, gave testament to that. That and her hypersensitive sense of smell, thank you very much, progesterone.
“I, uh, put down everything I could think of, but might have left some stuff out because I didn’t know what you wanted.”
Ellie smiled, remembering her vow to keep an open mind. “Of course you didn’t. I’d planned to let you know what I wanted when we met, but apparently Mr. Madison beat me to it.”
“Ryan’s efficient.”
Ellie ignored the plug for Ryan and took a minute to read what the old man had written. He gave detailed information about cattle breeding and lineages he favored. He outlined the cattle-production schedule and had a section where he listed prizes and awards he’d won with his bulls.
“So your expertise is cattle breeding.”
“It’s what I do.”
“And around the ranch, what are your management responsibilities?”
“Well, Ryan takes care of the pastures and grazing. Francisco does the mechanic-ing, keeps all the equipment running, maintains the buildings and roads and such. We’re all on duty during calving.”
“And you run the breeding program?”
“I do.”
“Do you and Ryan and Francisco meet?” The old man wrinkled his forehead and Ellie said, “How do they know what to do and when?”
“Common sense is a big help.”
“So you don’t outline jobs for them?”
“If I see something that needs done, I mention it, but these guys are pretty much self-starters.”
“Describe an average day for me.” Another frown and Ellie explained, “I worked for a large software company until recently. I’m not familiar with ranching.”
“Then why are you here?” he asked pointedly.
“To get familiar.”
Walt took a deep breath, as if calming himself, then said, “On an average day I help feed the cattle. I might check fences. I might dig postholes. I might run the tractor or muck out the corrals. I might deal with irrigation.” He gave a frustrated movement of his hands. “It all depends on the day and the season.”
“I see.” She decided to shift gears. “As the supervisor, are you satisfied with Mr. Madison’s and Mr. Garcia’s job performances?”
“They’re still here, aren’t they?”
She looked down at the paper Walt had given her, then back up at the old man. “My job is to collect information about how this ranch is run and organize it so that my aunt and uncle can see what present practices are in place and move forward. When the consultant arrives—”
“What consultant?” Walt snapped, his eyebrows coming together fiercely. “I’ve heard nothing about a consultant.”
Probably because you aren’t very good at communicating with your boss and are therefore skating on thin ice.
“Later this summer a ranch consultant will be evaluating practices at the Rocky View. I’ll act as liaison between him and my aunt and uncle.”
“Who is it?”
“The consultant? I don’t know his name.” Although that was on her list of things to talk to Milo about once she’d settled in and could