A wolf whistle pierced the air from the direction of the silhouette in the doorway of the barn.
“Oh stuff it, Kip.” CJ breezed past the one ranch hand who gave her respect. But he also assumed the right to tease, and that could become a problem.
His smile was broad, lazy, and handsome. “Wasn’t expectin’ you to come to work this mornin’ all dandified.”
CJ cleared her throat. Why was it a woman couldn’t dress like a lady and still get the respect due a man? She was either fighting for her place as foreman or fighting not to become a porcelain doll someone placed on the mantel. “God gives special skills to special people,” Charlie had always told her. “Ain’t no reason yours can’t be the same as mine. Lord knows, we both burn our toast as equals. Why can’t one shoe a horse as good as the other?”
Kip dogged her heels. “What’s the occasion?”
“I made eggs and toast.” He might as well know the truth.
“Eggs and toast?”
“Never mind.” CJ wasn’t sure her point had been made to Jonah, let alone trying to re-explain it to an overeager Kip. “How’s Remmy?”
Remmy. Jonah’s special-order horse. The Appaloosa he’d purchased and had transported to the ranch. The pony was from the breed in the Northwest the Nez Percé tribes had ridden and the white man had almost wiped out.
Jonah had good taste in a strong, hardy horse, she had to admit. If he could get an Appaloosa stud and breed Remmy, he could have the edge on a special breed of horse not prominently seen in New Mexico territory. The Appaloosa was a breed that would fit into the harsh desert and the gritty days very well. Maybe. But until Remmy’s leg healed up, she was just going to be a horse in a stall.
CJ couldn’t help but smile when Remmy nuzzled her shoulder. “Hey, girl.” She ran her hand up the broad, spotted forehead. The white hair dotted with black spots and brown smudges tickled her fingers.
“Her leg is still swollen.” Kip leaned against the stall and draped his arm over the rail.
CJ moved her hands down the horse’s shoulder and down the front leg to the knee. Remmy lifted her hoof, and CJ noted the wrap around her cannon where the tendon was swollen.
“It’s gone down, though.”
“I was thinkin’ she might be ready for a light walk.” Kip shifted, his boots sending dust particles into the air.
CJ released Remmy’s leg and nodded. “Yes. But I’d like to do that. Mr. Sparks will want the best of care, and I’d rather be the one to take any repercussions should something go wrong.”
Kip nodded in agreement. How nice to have some respect. CJ rewarded him with a smile.
“Just let me change out of this getup so I can do some real work.”
Kip smirked. “Mighty fine with me if you don’t.”
CJ punched his arm as she neared him. “Show some respect.”
“That’s all I ever show you, CJ.”
His words echoed in her mind as she exited the horse barn. Kip was dangerous ground, and she was walking a fine line between aching for comradeship and something flirtatious. The latter wouldn’t be wise. Not in her role as foreman, and certainly not with Jonah’s already dubious outlook on her career. The last thing she needed was to be caught in any semblance of a dalliance with Kip. It’d be exactly what Jonah was looking for. The excuse to terminate her and send her packing.
CJ hurried to her one-room adobe. She was lucky. Most foremen roomed in the bunkhouse, but that was obviously not something that could happen in her situation. And on her arrival, Jonah made it very clear she was not accepted in the main house for other obvious reasons. Fortunately, the old clay adobe from the original ranch still stood. Messy and dusty, it nevertheless worked for all intents and purposes.
She crossed the threshold, her toe scuffing the dirt floor. Her eyes caught a cactus in a clay flowerpot on her dilapidated dresser. She loved cactus, and every time she saw that one, she was reminded of her brothers. They did care about her. They truly did. When she told them she was moving north to take a position as a foreman, they all nearly lost their dinner. But when she opened her trunk to find a carefully potted cactus, worse for the wear from travels, CJ was quick to resoil it and rest it in full prominence on her dresser. Her brothers might not believe in her, but they loved her. She must remind herself of that fact. It was good to know one was loved.
CJ’s throat clogged with emotion. She was so close to succeeding, but she was also so close to failing. If she let him, Jonah Sparks would be the death of her dreams. She couldn’t allow that. Never. CJ ran her finger over a stiff spike on the cactus. Jonah was rigid, unyielding, and prickly. He was everything she never wanted to be as a boss. She unbuttoned the ruffled dress and palmed her neck, her skin, soft with her femininity. But Jonah was also much of what she had dreamed of in a man. Handsome, strong, able to corral her into a corner. No man before could ever do that. Put her in her place. Part of her hated him for it; part of her appreciated it. His blue eyes were—grand. But no.
She finished skittering out of her dress and threw it in the corner. Today wasn’t a day to be a lady, and not tomorrow either. She was first a foreman. Remmy needed to be walked. Hands needed instruction. Frivolous dreams of romance? Those were the stuff of dime novels. And she had never read one… not that she would admit it if she had.
CJ let Remmy limp behind her. The horse had been stalled for over a month since Jonah rode her into the ground. Crazy man. Although, CJ had to admit, it could’ve happened to any rider. That Remmy had bowed her tendon on the uneven desert floor wasn’t necessarily an uncommon injury. It was just another something to dislike Jonah for.
Sam glowered at her from the fence post. So maybe she hadn’t been able to fire him, but she sure as shootin’ was going to have him stabilize the corral. They’d be riding out in the morning to round up the herd of mustang they’d been keeping an eye on in the south canyon. They’d leave the stallion and a few mares, but the rest they’d bring in. With spring in full swing, it was time to prepare for the days when they could start bronc-busting and getting them ready to sell. Good stock. Solid. Mustangs brought in good money, and CJ was bound and determined that this lot would bring in more than Jonah Sparks had ever seen before.
She caught sight of Kip coming her way and paused. His lanky form and bowed legs shouted that he was a cowboy. His hat slouched over his forehead. He gave Sam a censuring look. Interesting. So he didn’t like Sam either?
Propping a boot on the lower rail, Kip leaned against the fence.
“Remmy looks good.”
“She’s slow and out of shape.”
“That’s to be expected.”
CJ curled her fingers through Remmy’s dark mane. The horse responded and nudged her shoulder.
“Say.” Kip cast a hesitant look over his shoulder. “Wanted to ask if you knew ’bout Mr. Sparks sendin’ a couple o’ guys out to the canyon to check on the trap-and-catch corral?”
“What?” CJ stiffened. They’d already done that, and now it was time to leave it alone. Mustangs were as wily as coyote when it came to traps. If they had any inclination they’d be rounded up or that man had been in the area, they’d spook. “What is he thinking?”
Kip shrugged. “Don’t know. Guess this mornin’ after breakfast he sent ’em out. Said somethin’ ’bout makin’ sure the poles were secured.”
“Because of Sam?” CJ skewered the ranch hand with a glare. He had the decency not to meet her gaze.
“Wasn’t only Sam that worked on the trap. Those corrals were inspected by me already, and I’d put my brand on it.”
“Here.” CJ handed Remmy’s lead to Kip. He took it with a question on his face. “I need to have a word with Mr. Sparks.”
“Now, don’t make me out to be a tattletale.” Kip’s words drained as Jonah himself strode into view.
Jonah looked meaner than the stallion that ran the herd of mustangs. CJ gripped the fence and noticed Sam spit into the dirt and shift out of view.
“What are you trying to do, Roadrunner?” Jonah’s nickname even made Remmy snort and toss her head.
“Roadrunner?” Kip questioned under his breath. CJ silenced him with a glower.
“I should say the same for you.” Her hands found their comfort spot on her hips. She was ready and hankering for a good fight. It’d already been a few hours since the last one.
“Why is Remmy out of her stall? You know she’s supposed to rest that leg?”
Was the man that dumb? CJ blew out an exasperated breath and gripped the fence. “It’s been four weeks. She needs to get out and start walking on it. To build up strength. I’m not riding her.”
“She’s mine.” Jonah came to a halt just on the opposite side of the corral. His hands tightened around the pole on either side of hers.
“And you injured her.” CJ watched a flicker of something spark in Jonah’s eyes.
It was a standoff.
Kip let loose a quiet whistle and a muttered, “Well, howdy.” He tied Remmy’s lead to the post and shuffled away.
Jonah was so close CJ could smell ginger on his breath. “I’m your foreman. Let me do what you hired me for.”
“So you keep reminding me.” Jonah’s jaw muscle twitched. He leaned forward. To intimidate her? Hmmm.
CJ leaned forward as well. She could feel warmth from his face. “And why did you send some of my hands out to check the trap? We’re going to round up the mustangs tomorrow and you have them out there scaring away the horses as we speak. That’s your livelihood.”
Jonah’s face whitened. Maybe he was furious at being challenged. Or maybe he’d wised up and realized messing with her job to get her to quit was going to cost him if he wasn’t careful.
“My horse.” He pointed to Remmy. “My mustangs. My ranch.”
“It’s all going to come a cropper if you’re not careful.” CJ shot back in grand Charlie-style.
“‘Come a cropper’? What in blazes?”
“Come to ruin. Fail. Mess up. Pick one, Mr. Sparks. If you don’t let me do my job, it’s going to sting you like a mean old scorpion, and you’ll take the fall. Not me.”
Jonah moved in closer. Dear Lord above, have mercy. CJ swallowed, trying to keep up her gumption. Fine. She’d admit it. She lied to herself and everyone around. She had read dime novels. Her drawer was stuffed full of them, and this was a scene pulled from the center pages of one.
His blue eyes were icier than anything she’d ever seen in the desert. They set her on fire. Which shouldn’t happen, ’cause ice was cold. So why did heat spread through her like a woodstove on a winter’s day in Alaska?
Jonah’s finger rose and began to dot every one of her horrific, ugly freckles. “I. Will. Own. My. Mistakes.”
His finger paused on the largest freckle just above her upper lip.
CJ lost her breath. Tarnation. He’d cornered her. She grappled for her stubbornness but couldn’t find it. “Am I one of your mistakes?” Her whispered insecurity made his eyes widen and stopped her own heart. Jonah’s finger yanked away.
“What do you think?” He muttered and spun on his heel then paused and narrowed his eyes in her direction. “And I’ll take care of Remmy. She’s my horse.”
CJ sank against the corral. Remmy nuzzled her leg. Sure. Kip had hightailed it out of there. She should have, too. Maybe she should still. Jonah Sparks was working hard to beat down her defenses, ruin her work, and tarnish her credibility with the men. Worst of all, he was making her breathless and causing her heart to pause. That was not something CJ ever wanted to be guilty of. Swooning over a man like a namby-pamby female? Never.
She dared another gaze at the man’s broad back as he strode away.
Never.