He loved it. And he knew what he was doing. He might have all that money but she had a feeling that even without that money his ranch would be a success.
She went inside, looked around the adorable little cabin and felt hope rising up again. The Texas-themed rooms were well done. Even the cattle skull hanging on the wall was pretty, the way it was decorated with dried flowers. There was a cattle skin rug on the floor, which again, all Texans were used to seeing that. The furniture was beautiful, made of what looked like mesquite wood and clear-coated to a shine that glistened. Everything was perfect.
Small but perfect for her and Toby.
She sat down at the dining table, cupped her hands together, and said a prayer of thanksgiving. And she prayed that she wasn’t being fooled. Even though she didn’t think she was, there would probably always be a leery feeling inside her. After the last couple of jobs she had and then her husband’s lies…she might never get over the feelings of distrust.
But she wanted so badly for Levi to be who he said he was. And for this job to be real.
* * *
Levi had had to spend a little bit of time with ranch business after showing Rita her cabin. She had loved it and he was glad. They had gone through a good bit of expense to make the cabins nice here and at the other two ranches. Before they had made all that money, when the ground had pretty much exploded like a cash machine at a casino giving out the winning payout, they’d made some improvements on the ranch because they all loved ranching. Then they bought more ranches in the area and continued to do so. He, for one, could give away all that money and just have his little piece of heaven right here on this ranch.
He’d used the money to update everything and had enjoyed spending money on the cabins to make them nice for guests with some good comforts of Texas. Heck, even the new bunkhouse he’d built for his guys farther into the ranch interior was built of Austin stone and had all the luxuries any cowboy could want. It even had a pool table and indoor or outdoor shower, depending on what the cowboys wanted, and plenty of full-size bunks rather than little twin-sized mattresses. He figured the better they slept at night, the better they worked. He wanted the guys who worked for him to want to work for him. He knew what sleeping on an uncomfortable mattress felt like because he’d spent some time in high school summers helping out on other ranches when needed.
His dad always said working for someone else would give them a different perspective for when it came their time to hire ranch help. It would help them understand what it took to be fair to both the men they hired and themselves. Dad had been right in his thoughts. He’d led by example, but it had been a good lesson to see that not everyone treated their hired help like their dad did. Levi tried to live up to the standard of his dad.
Finally, after taking care of the business he needed to get done and after giving Rita time to settle in, he jumped in his ATV and headed toward the cabin to pick her up. Of all the things the money had enabled him to do here on the ranch and the charities they donated to, he had to admit that having the ability to help Rita out had felt the best of all.
She stood up from where she had been crouched down, taking a picture with her camera of one of the rosebushes that they had transplanted from the original ranch here. Their mother loved roses and they planned to make sure they always had plenty of them on the properties.
“I see you’ve found my mother’s roses. She loves them. Yellow roses especially.”
“They’re beautiful.”
“Thanks. Mom planted a whole bunch of them up at the original ranch that Cole runs, so we brought some here. Tulip did a great job landscaping over there, and I’m hoping she’ll do some here too. That’s her specialty. I’ll have to take you by—it’s beautiful. I can’t let Cole out-do me. Are you taking pictures of the flowers?”
She beamed at him and there was a lightness to her smile, as if she had relaxed some. Maybe she was feeling less stress than she’d been feeling; if that were so, then that made his day.
“Well, I am, but mostly I’m taking a picture of the bee that’s getting pollen off the roses. I love bees and butterflies and hummingbirds and all kinds of fast-moving flying objects.” She laughed. “Unless they’re coming after me to sting me, but thankfully bees don’t bother me too much.”
“Oh, that’s good to know. I don’t want anything to do with a bee. I’m allergic. Daggummit, I was just sitting here thinking on the way over here that I’d like to live in the 1800s—you know, be a throwback to the wild days, but all it would have taken is one sting from a bee and I’d be a goner.”
“Do you carry an EpiPen?”
“I do.” He patted his pocket, where there was a red container sticking out. Looked like a toothbrush holder. “It’s kind of awkward sometimes but out here I don’t know what else to do with it. It doesn’t go in my back pocket, so I just stick it in this pocket and go. So, anyway, you know where it’s at. If it’s not on me, it’s somewhere nearby. All the guys know when I’m out and about I have to make sure it’s close.”
“I am so sorry. That would be really scary, and I guess I’m not helping by being horrified by the fact.”
He shrugged. “I’m used to it. It’s been that way since I was a little kid. Got stung early on and if it hadn’t been for one of the other ranch workers having been allergic…he ran and grabbed his pen—pretty much saved my life. After that, we always kept them handy. Anyway, you ready to take a ride? I thought we’d ride out in this bad boy and show you some of the cattle that you’re going to be taking pictures of. It will be a week of it. Well, two or three. I’m not going to overwork you—you’ve got plenty of time. And like I said, when you go, either I’ll be with you or one of the ranch hands, depending on what I’ve got going that day, but there will be plenty of room for Toby. I know you said he is four and that he’s a handful, but we can figure something out. And if he’s with me, I know how to hold somebody’s hand and while you do your job, I can take care of him.”
She slid into the seat beside him and he liked this. They were closer than when they were in the truck. Their elbows could touch; he didn’t move his elbow enough to do it but if he wanted to, he could. He grinned at her. “All right, hold on to your horses—here we go. This land is big out here, rugged. Lots of rock, lots of sage, prickly pear, mesquite, some jackrabbits. We’ve got a couple of mountain lions that run around, but don’t be worried—they don’t come too close normally. I’ve got my shotgun here if they do and my EpiPen, so we’re good. But I would suggest that at night you don’t go wandering around by yourself. Can you do that for me? If you have a problem and you get scared about anything, you just call my number and, darlin’, I’ll be there.”
Daggum. He said darlin’. He needed to watch himself. It just came natural, the flirting part. He hated that about himself. Sometimes he was a flirt; everybody teased him about it, but when you hadn’t really dated in a long time, the flirting part just kind of came out.
She smiled at him as if she hadn’t heard the darlin’ part, which was a relief.
“Believe me, I will be calling if I hear anything strange and I will not be walking around outside by myself. Although I have a feeling that the nights are glorious out here. I bet you can just see the sky—so beautiful. I love looking at stars. I’m kind of a star buff. My best friend—she’s a science teacher to middle graders, and oh goodness, she loves the starry sky. She’s always teaching me about the constellations. Anyway, one night, I may just have to go outside and look up, so I might have to twist your arm a little bit and see if you’ll do it. You’re probably so used to seeing the stars at night that you don’t even care.”