Billy John had just grabbed her hand when a loud scream jolted her. Several others joined in, and chaos broke out as people began running in all directions. The band stopped playing. “Everyone clear out.” It was Jake’s voice, but she couldn’t find him in the sea of arms and legs. What’s happening? She looked around frantically and gasped. Flames! The grill was on fire along with the edge of a tablecloth.
“Move aside.”
Meera saw Jake running toward the fire with an extinguisher. The tablecloth was now fully ablaze and lighting the roof of the tent. She took out her cell phone, but put it away when she heard the faraway sound of sirens. She ran out of the tent and stopped a safe distance away, noticing Jake had done the same. A few of the ranch workers were approaching with extinguishers, but Jake waved them back. The fire had spread too much. The slight breeze had carried the flames across the field, right up to the barn. The fire department would have to handle it.
The fire engines arrived in a blaze of lights, their sirens screaming. Several firefighters ran toward the fire, aiming their hoses.
Jake stood several yards away from her. As if he knew she was looking at him, he turned and caught her eye. Oh, boy! Even from a distance, she could feel his fury. He stalked over.
“Tell me you opened the vent on the back of the grill when you set it up.”
Her mouth went dry. She put a hand to her forehead, trying desperately to remember. She could see his instructions in her mind’s eye; she had written them down precisely on the clipboard. The paper said to open the vent after the coal heated up, but all she could remember was that she had been reading that very instruction when he walked up to her. And she had lost her train of thought. She didn’t remember actually opening the vent.
“I...I’m not sure I did. Oh, God, Jake, I’m so sorry.”
His eyes reflected the flames that were demolishing the barn behind her. “Do you have any idea how dangerous a fire is on a ranch? What it can do to the animals? Not to mention the fact that I may have lost a barn full of hay. Do you know how much bales cost these days?” He began pacing as the firefighters doused the fire. It seemed to be coming under control, but Meera could see a mess of soggy black ash on the ground and a black shell where the pretty red barn had stood. She thought that she’d ruined the barbecue earlier with the veggie dogs, but this? This was a complete disaster.
When Jake came close to her again, she touched his arm. “I’ll pay for the damage.”
He whirled to face her. “Are you kidding me? You can’t wave your magic credit card and make this all okay, princess.”
She inhaled sharply, trying to breathe against the tightness in her chest.
“Tomorrow morning, I’d like you to leave. I’ll talk to Marty about giving you a room—although after tonight, I’m not sure you’ll ever recover with this town.”
JAKE’S EYES KEPT wandering to the door. It’s still early—she may not be up yet. He knew she hadn’t left. Her rental was still in the carport.
“Earth to Jake! What do you want us working on today?”
Jake snapped to attention. “Go about your regular chores,” he said dismissively. “I’ll deal with the cleanup.” He watched his staff file out silently; they had worked with him long enough to know he was in a mood.
“Kell, have you gotten your physical yet?”
Kelly shook her head and mumbled, “I’ll get to it.” She left quickly, and he fought the urge to throw something at her. He worried about her. She tried to hide it, but he knew there was something wrong. He couldn’t let Meera go yet, not until she finished the physicals. And there is absolutely no other reason I want her to stay.
He hung around the kitchen, rearranging dishes in the dishwasher. After he was done, he went into the pantry. I know Jolene had a teapot. A teapot she used to drink fertility tea while she was planning on leaving me. He shook his head. Every woman in my life is determined to torture me. He couldn’t figure Meera out. Why was she so desperate to have the town like her? It was as if some internal motor was driving her to make sure she was acceptable. She’d worked herself to the bone getting that barbecue organized. She hadn’t snapped her fingers and hired an army to put it together. Though if she had, he wouldn’t be calculating damages right now.
He gave up looking for the teapot and glanced at his watch. He couldn’t waste away the day. He walked toward his ruined field and barn; he would hear her car leaving. His stomach turned as he saw the damage from afar. He’d had more than a hundred hay bales in the barn, and most of them were burned, charred or waterlogged and full of ash. With the drought this year, he didn’t have enough grazing fields to get through the winter. He’d managed to get a good deal on hay to keep the animals fed.
He stopped and stared, painful knots twisting his stomach. He couldn’t afford to replace that much hay, especially not at current prices. He wouldn’t make a profit this year. Again. He did some quick calculations. With the loss of hay, and this field, he would have to sell at least fifty steers or send them to slaughter right now. He wouldn’t get the same price he would get in a few months, but if he had to buy more hay and grain to feed them, he’d have to take out a loan and with interest—he did some quick math—he’d be screwed, anyway. Either way, the ranch was going to take a big hit.
He blew out a breath. Meera’s more trouble than she’s worth. Although truth be told, he should have checked the grill. That’s what he’d been walking over to do when her smile distracted him. He was furious at himself. He didn’t remember Jolene turning him upside down like that. But then, he’d never met a woman like Meera before. The way she’d come back from the humiliation of her tofu dogs...it took courage to face up to Hell’s Bells like that. He had seen her retreat to the guest cottage. Most women would have stayed there licking their wounds, but not Meera. She’d marched right back as though she owned the evening.
As he approached the field, he squinted. What the... He ran the last few yards. Meera was standing at the edge of the field, tossing debris into a trash bag as big as she was tall. She was wearing a T-shirt and shorts, and her legs were covered in soot and dirt. He remembered the disdain in her eyes the first day they met when he patted his dirty hands on his jeans. What is she doing getting her hands dirty? He knew the answer even before he asked.
“What’re you doing?”
“I’ve been taught to take responsibility for my actions, so I’m not leaving you with this mess.”
Her determination made his heart speed up. Why didn’t she just leave or hire staff to clean up after her? She was a princess; why break a sweat?
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Actually, Jake, I do. It’s my fault, and I need to fix it.”
He took in the firm set of her lips and locked on to her earnest, brown, almond-shaped eyes. She had guts coming out here to face him after the way he’d stormed at her last night.
Inexplicably, he wanted to take her in his arms and tell her it would all be okay, that he would take care of it. Manual labor was for hardy ranchers like him. She might have the heart for it, but she was too delicate to toil away in the heat.
He pointed to the big white tent that had fallen once the fire went out, then gestured to the area she was working on. “This is the easy part, you know. Wait till you see what’s under the tent—it’s ash and mud, and the barn has entire sections that’ll need to be rebuilt. Any idea how many gallons of water they dumped?”
She looked down. “I can’t undo what happened yesterday, but I’m going to make it right. I’ll also pay for whatever damage I caused.” He stepped closer, distracted by the ruined barn behind her. He pictured his last balance sheets. The numbers weren’t looking good.
“Meera,