The last words he’d said to her, almost eighteen years before, echoed in her mind. “You made your choice.”
“I didn’t—” He blew out a breath and glanced away. “I had other plans. You knew that.”
It hurt, and she didn’t want it to. “Not until you told me you were leaving. Not until after we—”
“Erin, it was a long time ago. We were young.”
He might as well have stuck a knife in her. “Right. I’d forgotten.” She hadn’t but wished she could. “Is this what you wanted to talk to me about? Because if it is—”
“No, it isn’t. I wanted to talk to you about ranch business.” He hesitated and then asked, “How much do you know about cutting horses?”
Taken off guard, she stared at him. “As much if not more than you do. I can rope with the best cowboys around, too. Why?”
Clearing his throat, he glanced around the tavern, then back at her. “I’m looking for somebody to fill an opening at the ranch.”
She peered at him through narrowed eyes. “Like who?”
He didn’t bother to beat around the bush. “Like you.”
Her mouth dropped open and she stared at him. “Me?”
He shrugged. “If you’re as good as I suspect you are, yes. I’d like to hire you.”
She didn’t want to believe him. Work for Jake? Impossible. “Have you suffered some kind of head injury?”
He smiled. “Not recently.”
She laughed. “You must be hard up to be offering me a job. If that’s what you’re doing.”
“It’s exactly what I’m doing.”
She shook her head. “I’m not interested.”
She moved away but not far enough to keep from hearing his reply. “Maybe you should think about it.”
“Nothing to think about,” she answered over her shoulder.
“If you change your mind—”
That stopped her. She took a deep breath and blew it out. Emotions tumbled through her. She needed a job. Money would allow her to get back to barrel racing, where she belonged. But working for Jake? She couldn’t.
The last person she wanted to be beholden to—no matter how broke she was, and she was pretty darned broke—was Jake Canfield. Turning to face him, she answered. “Thanks, but—” she broadened her smile and tried for indifference “—I have other plans.”
Jake watched Erin cross the room, a swing in her hips that now had womanly curves. But she was the same Erin. Sassy and headstrong. And she knew horses and cattle. He could use her talents at the ranch, but he’d offered and she’d refused. Why had he even thought she might be interested?
He returned to the table with the others but kept Erin in sight in spite of knowing he shouldn’t. Taking his seat, he folded his arms on the table, wondering what he should do next. She obviously considered him the enemy. Too bad he couldn’t say the same about her.
Trish reached over and put her hand on his arm. “Next time, try flowers.”
“Or dinner at a nice restaurant,” Kate added. “Women like that. It gets them out of the kitchen.” She frowned at her husband.
Dusty smiled. “You like being in the kitchen. You own a bakery and catering business.”
“And I like going out—alone with you—once in a while.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Dusty said with a grin, then turned to Jake. “Try a rope. It worked for me.”
Everyone laughed, causing Jake to wonder what they were talking about. “A rope? Surely you didn’t rope this nice lady.”
Dusty shrugged one shoulder. “It was the only way to keep her from running away from me.”
Jake looked from one to the other. “I have to hear this story.”
Leaning back in his chair, Dusty put his arm around his wife. “Let’s just say she was resistant to my charm...for too long.”
When Kate gave a soft snort, Morgan pointed at Dusty. “He roped her on Main Street on the Fourth of July, in front of the whole town.”
“Did you arrest him?” Jake asked the sheriff.
“What for? He wasn’t breaking the law.”
“I’m telling you,” Dusty said, “when you’re dealing with a stubborn woman, you do whatever it takes.”
Jake smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind if I should ever need it. In the meantime, I’ll just use simple torture.”
Kate’s eyes narrowed and the corners of her mouth lifted in a smile. “So it’s like that, is it?”
“Nope. Not a bit. But if I didn’t give her a hard time, she’d be disappointed and make it tougher on me.”
Across the table, Dusty chuckled. “You sure don’t want that to happen.”
“I was just saying earlier that I was sorry to hear you’d retired from riding,” Jake said.
Dusty leaned over to nuzzle his wife’s neck. “She didn’t give me a choice. Don’t tell her how glad I am that she didn’t, though,” he added with a wink.
Kate’s smug smile pulled a laugh from Jake, but it was clear that the two of them were happy together. He wished he’d had the same luck, but life hadn’t worked out that way for him.
He turned to Trish’s husband. “How did you manage to end up here in Desperation?”
Morgan chuckled. “I came here from Florida ten years ago to visit my uncle Ernie, and the crazy people in town elected me as their sheriff.”
“You’ve missed a lot,” Trish told Jake. “It’s been a long time.”
Jake caught a glimpse of Erin, who’d pulled up a chair at another table. She sat with her back to him, and he wondered if she’d done so on purpose.
He turned back to the group at his table. “Sounds like a lot has changed in the time I’ve been gone,” he said.
“Are you staying here for good?” Dusty asked.
“I plan to,” Jake told him.
“Your uncle’s ranch is yours now?”
He nodded, thinking of all the paperwork and court motions it had taken to work out the details of his inheritance.
“What do you plan to do with it?” Dusty asked.
“Raise horses and a few cattle, train cutting and roping horses, mostly. I’ve learned a lot since those summers I spent here.” His dream hadn’t happened overnight, but he had stuck with it and now he had it all. Or did he? There was still one thing missing.
He let his gaze wander around the room. Dylan and Luke had gone, leaving Erin behind. If she needed a ride— No, he wouldn’t offer. She would only refuse that, too, and he wasn’t in the mood to be turned down again.
As the evening grew later, the crowd began to thin. Other people he’d known drifted over to the table to say hello. He enjoyed the company and the evening and looked forward to more of the same in the future.
He liked Desperation. He hadn’t spent a lot of time in town when he was young, and yet the people had always been friendly and gone out of their way to make him feel welcome.