Rusty knotted his hands into fists. He’d worked hard for Ezra, had given him an honest day’s work for what he got paid. Ezra was dead. He could name the ranch whatever he pleased. When Ezra got sick and barely had the energy to go from his recliner to the kitchen, Rusty had run both the ranch and the house for the old guy. Then a week or so before he died, he’d called in the lawyer and changed his will. Rusty had been disappointed, but Ezra assured him that his daughters were like their worthless mothers and wouldn’t last a week on the ranch.
Guess who was wrong, he thought as he crawled up into the tractor, ate his peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast, and waited for good daylight to begin his day.
* * *
Bonnie planned on keeping her word and sleeping until noon, but she had a restless night and was more than ready to crawl out of bed at five o’clock that morning. She ate a bowl of cereal and two muffins, then packed a lunch to take to the field. If she was honest, she missed Rusty coming in to eat with her that morning, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t still mad at him for his arrogance the night before.
What about your stubborn pride? Shiloh’s voice whispered in her head. Y’all are just alike. Neither one of you will give an inch.
“I’m up, and I’m going to the field. That’s giving a mile, not an inch,” Bonnie said as she grabbed her sack and jug of sweet tea. “Stay on your side of the barbed wire, sister. I don’t need your advice. I can take care of myself.”
From day one, Bonnie had never given a damn what Ezra wanted done. He hadn’t even cared enough to take a look at her when she was born her mother had told her, and he hadn’t been around to see one single solitary accomplishment in her life, so he didn’t deserve the right to call her daughter after he was dead.
As she crawled up into the driver’s seat of the tractor that she usually drove, she remembered that Loretta, Jackson Bailey’s wife from the adjoining ranch to the north, had welcomed them to the canyon, and said, “It’s kind of bare right now, but in a few weeks, when the wildflowers pop up, it will be lovely. Bluebonnets, wild daisies, coreopsis, and flowering cactus sure give it a different look. And trust me when I say it grows on you. The sunsets and sunrises are beautiful, and pretty soon, you’ll wonder why you ever wanted to live anywhere else.”
Bonnie had admired Loretta’s flaming red hair and her sweet smile, but she’d thought that the woman had rocks for brains. There was no way this barren place would ever grow on her. She would stick around for a year just to prove those two bitchy half-sisters who were looking down on her that she could hold her own. But Loretta had been right. The place might not have grown on her, but it did have a kind of beauty in the spring and early summer, and she’d come to love her sisters.
“Damn it to hell!” She slapped the steering wheel and then started up the tractor’s engine. “I promised myself that I wouldn’t stay six months ago, and I never go back on a promise I make to myself, but now a part of me wants to stay here, and that would mean being tied down.”
Her mind went back to that first day she’d been in the canyon. Ezra’s funeral was over and the neighbor, Jackson, had brought a copy of Ezra’s will for each of the sisters to keep, and one for Rusty. He had cut past the legal jargon and told them that Rusty would pay each of them on Friday evening for forty hours of work at minimum wage. Room and board would be provided free of charge. Rusty would bring in staples once a week, but if they wanted anything other than what he had bought, they would have to buy it themselves.
Bonnie hadn’t been expecting a salary, so that had made her happy. No way would she ever let either of her sisters know that she’d spent her last dollar on enough gas to get her to the funeral. She kept her mouth shut and listened as Jackson went on to tell them that they would get their salary whether they sat on the porch and did nothing or whether they pitched in and learned the business of ranching. It made no difference and was their decision.
“I should be doing that today just to prove to Rusty that I can,” she muttered, “but it sounded too boring, and besides if I’m going to get a good price for this place, it should be kept up. God only knows that Rusty can’t do it by himself.”
Jackson had said that Rusty would teach them the ranching business, if they had a mind to learn. Then he’d told them that whichever daughter was still on the ranch one year from that day would inherit the whole place. If anyone left before the year was up, they got a one-time, lump sum payment from Ezra’s estate, but they would relinquish any and all rights to the ranch. Abby Joy and Shiloh hadn’t been allowed to disclose what their inheritance was when they’d left. For all Bonnie knew, it was anywhere from $500 to $50,000.
At noon she parked the tractor and got out of the cab. After doing a few stretching exercises and rolling the kinks out of her neck, she picked up her sack lunch and sat down under a shade tree. She’d only taken the first bite when Rusty joined her.
“What are you thinkin’ about?” he asked. “You look like you’re ready to fight a wild bull with nothing but a willow switch.”
“Just going over in my mind what Jackson told us that first day I was here,” she said honestly, but she didn’t tell Rusty that she’d fought against an attraction for him since day one. No way was she going to admit that, not when they had crossed horns over the ranch like a couple of rangy old bulls. She admired his work ethic—getting up at the crack of dawn seven days a week to take care of things—but she also liked his kindness. Add that to his eyes and the way he filled out his jeans, and it was dang hard to fight the feelings that had grown for him.
“That was a strange time for sure,” Rusty said.
“You didn’t like any of us so well, did you?” she asked.
“I didn’t figure any of you would last a week. Abby Joy would get tired of it, and Shiloh was way too prissy for ranchin’. I was wrong about all of you. I figured you’d sit on the porch and draw your pay. Never figured you’d pitch in and learn a damned thing, but y’all got out there doing your best,” he chuckled. “But I could also see that the other two were determined to learn, and you were just passing time. You don’t give a damn about this place.”
“Nope, I don’t,” she admitted. “Only reason I learned anything at all was out of sheer boredom and to show my sisters that they weren’t better than me. Why’d you come over here anyway? I thought we were mad at each other.”
“Only shade tree around here,” he replied.
“I was here first,” she protested.
“Too bad.” He shrugged.
She tipped up her chin and looked down her nose at him. “I’m going to take a lot of pleasure in getting out of this place.”
“Then I’ll get the whole shade tree to myself,” he smarted off.
There weren’t many times she’d been alone with Rusty. She stole a glance over at him. Bulging biceps, a flat tummy under a chambray work shirt that was wet with sweat. That some woman hadn’t snatched him up already was a miracle. She’d have to be very careful in the next months to not let anyone know about the little flutters in her heart whenever he was around.
“You’ve gone all quiet again,” Rusty said.