07 It Had to Be You Read online

  “Why?”

  “Why?” She let out a disbelieving laugh. “Come on, Jake. You’re not that thick.”

  Uninsulted, his lips curved. “Do you greet all the guests so friendly-like?”

  Only the ones who made her world feel like a roller coaster. Damn, she wished she could look at him without remembering what had happened between them on one dark, drunken, foolish night. “I’m sorry.” She sounded stiff to her own ear, and lifted her hands to indicate the mud she wore. “Let me take you inside. I’ll change, see what accommodations we can find for you, even though I can tell you we really are booked.”

  “Great.”

  Great. She told herself she wasn’t going to worry. She wasn’t going to waste energy thinking about him or what he could do to her life—such as ruin it.

  They stepped onto the grass, and with a loud, aggressive honk, Goose waddled toward them, head down, picking up speed as she went.

  Jake stopped short.

  Goose charged him anyway.

  “Goose!”

  At Callie’s sharp voice, the goose let out one more honk, but slowed. Glared at Jake.

  He shook his head. “You haven’t eaten that thing yet?”

  “She’d be too tough to eat.”

  His laugh said that he agreed, but he eyed the goose with a healthy mistrust as they walked by her.

  Callie tried not to think about why his laugh had somehow softened her, or why his being afraid of a silly goose made her want to hold his hand. Clearly, she had hormonal issues today. Nothing a good hard day of work couldn’t cure.

  They headed toward the big house, Jake moving with a natural grace that reminded her that she dripped mud with every stiff step she took. She’d never felt more unfeminine or unattractive in her life.

  There. Hormonal issue resolved.

  “Where is everyone?” he asked.

  A safe enough question, and one that didn’t surprise her. “Eddie and Stone are most likely in town enjoying their day off.” Stone was probably drinking too much, too, she thought with a flicker of worry that she kept to herself.

  “Tucson?”

  “Tucson’s too far for a day run. Three Rocks.”

  “Three Rocks isn’t a town. I blinked on the way in here and nearly missed it.”

  “Not every place is as big as San Diego.”

  He lifted a brow in agreement. “Okay, so the Motley Crew is out on the ‘town.’ ”

  Callie smiled at the nickname for Stone and Eddie McDermitt. The brothers might have been hell on the myriad of other ranches they’d been fired from because monotony bored them, but the Blue Flame catered to their guests’ whims, which always varied, so there was no monotony. She’d known when she’d hired the brothers that she wouldn’t be sorry. They had a good work ethic, were fast on their feet, and delighted their guests with their “real cowboy” charm.

  In fact, she couldn’t have managed without them. That they had some personal problems was another story. “You know Kathy left us last week. I just hired a new cook. Amy Wheeler. I faxed you her employment form? She’s probably in town today, too. Marge left yesterday to take a break from cleaning and preparing bedrooms, but if I know her, she’s at her mother’s house doing more of the same, and Lou’s looking for work as he just got laid off from his full-time job in town.”

  “Lou?”

  “You remember Marge’s husband? He works for us on an as-needed basis doing all our mechanical stuff?”

  “Right. But I guess when I said others, I meant Tucker.”

  Now that did surprise her. “His day is his own today as well.”

  Jake nodded, and she couldn’t tell if he was relieved or disappointed.

  “So why are you here today?” he asked. “Don’t you ever take time off from this place?” He looked around as if he couldn’t understand why one would choose to spend their free time out here. That insulted her, and since she couldn’t come up with something nice to say, she took a lesson from Thumper’s mother and said nothing at all.

  They stepped onto the porch that might have needed some refinishing, but did he have to look at it like it wouldn’t hold their weight? She kicked off her muddy boots, not wanting to ruin the clean floors inside. Opening the door, she gestured him in ahead, but he stopped in the doorway with her and put his hand on her arm.

  She looked down at his fingers on her skin, then up into his face. He was crowding her, darn it. Please, God, don’t let him say he was selling. Not yet. She wasn’t ready yet—

  “I saddled you with him,” he said quietly. “Is it working out?”

  It took a moment for her brain to shift gears. “You mean Tucker?”

  He nodded, and she let out a low laugh. “You ‘saddled’ me with him nearly two years ago. You’re just now asking?” She shook her head. “Tucker is amazing with the horses. This place is better for having him here. You should know that. You would know that if you’d looked around at all on your last two visits.”

  Jake’s steely gaze searched hers. “I’m just making sure. He’s stubborn as hell, and hard-headed to boot.”

  “And brooding and moody, too. All traits that run in the family, I’m taking it.”

  “He’s only my half brother.”

  She knew this, of course. She knew far too much about this man that stood too close. “Look, make yourself at home, okay?” He would anyway. He had every right to do so more often than he did. She needed to remember that, and be grateful this was probably no longer a visit than his others had been. “I’ll be back in a few.” She turned to go back out, but they were still in the doorway together, too close in her opinion, and she accidentally bumped into him, making him hiss out a breath. “Sorry,” she said, a little surprised at his reaction.

  His expression shuttered. “No problem.”

  She looked him over, trying to figure out what she was missing, but he gave off no clue. “When I get back, I’ll try to figure out where to put you for a few nights—”

  “More than a few.”

  “So…three or four?”

  “Yeah, three or four. Months.”

  And he turned and walked into the living room.

  2

  Callie ran to her cabin, mind whirling. Three or four months. Was he crazy? Jake Rawlins was a city man, through and through, and a firefighter who loved his work. She knew those two things about him at least.

  Clearly, he’d been messing with her, just to drive her crazy. She stepped inside her cabin, and let herself be soothed by the interior. She’d painted the walls in the color of sand, with adobe-colored trim, and had hung a few tapestries she’d picked up from the occasional art shows on the Indian reservations around the area. Everything was clean and in its place. “Anal,” Richard had called her fondly, and she had to agree. She washed up and changed quickly, and then stepped back outside into what had begun as such a glorious day. She inhaled the fresh, crisp air that held a hint of the warmth to come, and looked at the row of cabins. Tucker had the one next to hers. Then followed Stone’s, Eddie’s, Marge and her husband Lou’s, and lastly, the newly hired Amy’s. There wasn’t an extra cabin for Jake.

  Instead of crossing the poor grass, which had taken a beating that day, she took the path up to the big house, wondering what to do. There were twelve guest rooms on the second floor, all booked by the Japanese businessmen coming tomorrow, each excited about their first time out in the wilderness.

  Which left Jake out in the cold.

  Or sharing with Tucker—

  That would have to do. Callie could handle him there for several nights, but several months…the thought boggled her mind. She wondered how Tucker would feel about it.

  She stopped to check on the horses. They had twenty in all, though four belonged to her and the crew, and one was Richard’s old horse, leaving fifteen for their guests. Most of those fifteen would be riding out with their guests tomorrow on a mock roundup that wasn’t really a mock roundup at all. They really did need to gather up their small but