Chapter One

Texas, 1878

 

A vulture stalked him.

Jesse Nelson glanced behind him at the enormous bird. He swore the ugly bastard tried to look innocent, as if it hadn’t been on his tail for the last ten miles. His stomach gnawed on his backbone while he trudged forward, step by step. He hoped the Triad Ranch was close because he didn’t think he’d make it another mile without food and water.

After refusing to rent Jesse an old nag on credit, the old man at the livery in town told him the ranch was a pace up the road and he would get there in no time at all. Jesse snorted at the memory. A pace to an old timer was more like twenty miles to the rest of the world. Sweat trickled down Jesse’s back into the waistband of his trousers. It was more like August than May. Normally that would make him smile, but not today.

Fifteen minutes and at least twice as many curses later, Jesse finally saw a building in the distance. It put a spring in his step and he found an extra well of energy to hustle toward the sight. The Triad Ranch was small but well kept, with a house, a small barn, a large barn and a corral. The young colts in the corral were misbehaving, nipping a bit and kicking.

A grin creased his dusty face, unfamiliar and uncomfortable, but welcome. It looked like the old-timer in town was right. Jesse needed a job in the worst way, and a small, quiet place to be. This ranch appeared to be that place.

He knocked on the door, wondering what kind of reception he’d receive. To his surprise, he was rendered mute when a woman answered the door. Hell, women weren’t supposed to knock him stupid, but she had. It felt like an arc of lightning traveled between them and snapped, hitting him with the force of a mule kick to the gut.

Tall and curvy with blue eyes the color of a twilight sky, she was quite possibly the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. It wasn’t just her beauty that affected him, though, it was something else he couldn’t explain if he tried. She snatched his words right off his tongue.

“Can I help you?” Her voice had a slight Irish lilt. A lock of black hair swung back and forth on her cheek as she looked him over. No doubt she noticed the tattered trousers, the threadbare shoes and the inch of dust.

With effort, he shook off his lingering reaction to her. “Afternoon, ma’am. Name’s Jesse Nelson.” He touched the tip of his hat. “I’m looking for Gus Murphy.”

“You’re looking for work.”

It wasn’t a question and he didn’t know if he should answer. Most women didn’t deal with hiring hands on a ranch.

“Is Mr. Murphy here?”

“I’m Rowan, his daughter. I’m, ah, running the ranch, so it’s me you need to talk to.” She blew out a breath hard enough to move the stray lock of hair. For a moment their gazes locked and Jesse swore he actually felt her hair brush against his skin. What the hell?

She opened the door a bit wider and stepped out onto the porch. “Do you have experience working as a ranch hand?”

Her height surprised him. Jesse was tall, but she was nearly eye level with him. Since he was twelve years old, he’d spent his time looking down at women. For once, he could look her in the eye. It was a strange feeling. “I’ve lived on ranches most of my life. Grew up on one in Missouri. Made my way here over the years.”

He had spent quite a few lean times since he was twelve and lit out on his own. It took quite a few years to slide that anger off his back. A stint in the territorial prison hadn’t done much to move the chip off his shoulder, no matter how many times other inmates tried to knock it off.

“You work with horses on those ranches, or beeves?” She crossed her arms, pushing her plump breasts up, which he tried, unsuccessfully, not to notice. His dick noticed and twitched in his trousers.

“Yes, ma’am. I’ve worked with breaking and breeding horses, not just riding them.” Jesse preferred to be around animals. People made him antsy, especially beautiful women who knocked him sideways.

“What brings you all the way here to the Triad Ranch? We’re a far piece out of town.” Her eyes were shuttered, not expressing any hint of what she really wanted to know. By his guess, she wondered if he were there to do them harm.

“I needed a job and I was told you might be hiring.” He was as honest as he could be.

She nodded. “Why don’t we sit out here in the chairs for a spell? I can tell you what we need.” As she stepped out of the house, he noted she wore a man’s shirt and a worn split riding skirt. Her equally worn boots poked out from beneath the skirt, which hung a few inches too short.

After they sat down in the rocker, a breeze kicked up, blowing tendrils of that jet-black hair out of the braid that held them. She tried to tuck them back in but only succeeded in freeing a few more.

“Dammit.”

It was low, but he caught it. Jesse kind of like the idea of her cussing. Unusual, but then again, a woman hiring hands was too.

“The job, ma’am?”

She stopped fiddling with her hair. “The job, yes. We raise quarter horses, although there are a few other breeds we’ve adopted for our own. There are two full-time ranch hands, Buster and Jackson. They work the older horses with my sister Maeve, some colts, geldings, fillies and mares. My other sister Talulla takes care of the dams, foals and yearlings. We need someone to help her, keep the stalls clean, take care of the younger stock.”

“I can do that. I’ve worked a dozen horse ranches, took care of the purebred stock for a rich man and his family once.” She turned her head and he lost his train of thought. Jesse had never seen eyes that color blue before. The irises seemed to shift and move as though there was a storm brewing. Fanciful notion.

“The job includes room and board, but we can only pay thirty dollars a month, and that’s only if the Army buys some of our geldings.” She leaned forward and a whiff of roses swept past him. “It isn’t much of an offer, but that’s all I have.”

Her voice had dropped lower, became huskier. It wasn’t all she had, of course. She had a great deal of womanly charms. None of which he needed to think about. The woman was sin incarnate, but she just offered him a job. Eating and surviving until tomorrow sounded like exactly what he needed.

“I’ll take it.”

Shock skittered across her face and her lips opened. Their red, plump appearance did not escape his attention. “Okay, then let’s go to the big barn then. I need to talk to my sister.”

She almost catapulted out of the chair and into the yard. Jesse fell in step with her, their legs nearly the same length. She smelled of biscuits and roses and swung her arms as she walked. It had been some time since he’d had female company. He probably smelled of sweat and desperation, and possibly stupidity, considering how he’d reacted to the woman.

The door to the big barn was open and yet another surprise awaited him. Out the door came an identical version of the woman beside him. This one wore britches, chaps and a flat-brimmed black hat. She looked the same but there was no physical reaction this time, no punch to the gut he’d had when he first saw Rowan.

“Who’s this?” the one in britches asked with a narrowed gaze pointed at him.

“He’s looking for work. Abner sent him.” Now how the hell did she know that? Rowan knew who sent him to the ranch that morning without him even telling her. How was that even possible?

“Kind of sketchy looking if you ask me.”

Jesse would not tell the woman exactly what he thought of that particular comment but he had to say something. “I am standing here. Listening.”

“He looks strong and he agreed to take the job.” Rowan licked those red lips and glanced at him. “You would sleep in the barn. We have a bunkhouse of sorts in the back that Bird fixed up for the hands.”

“Bird? Who’s Bird?” There were definitely some strange characters at the Triad.

“She’s our housekeeper.”

“Rowan, you can’t just hire someone without talking to all of us, especially Pa.” The woman wearing britches spat out a wad of tobacco chew. Jesse didn’t even have time to react to that not-so-ladylike habit before the conversation continued.

“He’s had experience with horses and that’s what we need, Maeve.” The one called Rowan turned her attention back to him. “He needs a job pretty bad too.”

Well, hell’s bells, was he transparent?

“Let Talulla introduce him to the horses and we’ll see what she thinks.” Maeve walked away, pulling gloves out of her back pocket, and headed to the corral. A few eager colts immediately came to her.

What kind of ranch was this? Twin women running things, unusual ones at that. He hadn’t met anyone like them in the thirteen years he’d been wandering. One sent him into silly fantasies and the other spit tobacco on his boot.

“She’s right. Talulla needs to see what you can do. Let’s go.” Rowan walked into the barn, leaving him to follow.

Did he follow her? Did he want to? Did he have a choice? Yes, yes, and no. A job was a job regardless of his reaction to this woman. He needed to eat, and he would rather not have to resort to eating his belt. Jesse followed her into the gloom of the barn.

The sound of women’s voices drew him toward the left side, into one of the stalls.

“Is she going to foal soon?”

“Yes, in three weeks or so. She’s really hungry so I’ve been giving her a lot of the special feed. We’ve got three more due to foal next month, though. We’re going to need more feed.”

Jesse peered into the stall and found another identical black-haired woman. Three of them! He’d never seen triplets before. Fact was, he only heard of them once or twice. The Murphy girls were a once-in-a-lifetime thing. He didn’t know if he should run like hell or stay and see what happened.

“We’ll have to sell a few colts early, then. There isn’t enough feed left from last year.” Rowan and her other sister were standing beside a very pregnant chestnut colored mare.

The horse swung her head to look at him, her large brown eyes intelligent and warm. He reached up to pat her neck and she snuffled his stomach.

The third sister wore a light pink dress, currently smeared with whatever she knelt in. She glanced up at him, then at the horse, then back at him. When she smiled, he nearly smiled back, at ease with this sister. She wasn’t aggressive like the tobacco-chewing sister. She also didn’t make him want to throw her against the wall and bury himself inside her, like Rowan.

Where had that thought come from?

“Ethel likes you.” She turned to her sister. “Who is he?”

Rowan didn’t look at him. “Jesse Nelson. He’s our new ranch hand.”

Jesse could have said he changed his mind and walked back to town. He probably should have since he had such an elemental reaction to her, one that could be big trouble. But he couldn’t turn down the offer. A job was too important, even if it only paid room and board. He needed to be in a place where he could live and work, nothing more.

If there were another reason, hidden deep where the light of day couldn’t touch it, then it would stay there.

 

Rowan’s stomach jumped like a pack of frogs had taken up residence inside her. The man’s appearance had knocked her sideways. She hadn’t spent a lot of time around men in her life, but she’d never had a physical reaction to one. Her pulse thundered right along with her heart, which made her a little dizzy.

When she’d seen the man on the porch, it stole her breath. A rush of energy, of knowledge, of connection hit her square between the eyes.

It was him.

The man she’d been dreaming of since she was a girl and he was a boy. The dreams spanned more than ten years, some vivid as though she could reach out and touch him, and others were vague impressions, like pictures painted on moving water. But they always featured him, a boy, then a man, she’d never met.

Until today.

As she walked back to the house from the barn, she lost her balance, almost falling on her face. Thank God Jesse had stayed with Talulla in the barn or she’d really be embarrassed. Rowan rushed into the house and closed the door with a bang. She leaned against it and took a few deep breaths.

“Rowan?” Bird stood in the doorway to the kitchen frowning, her auburn eyebrows in a deep V on her forehead. “Come in here now.” She led her to the table and pushed her into a chair. “What happened?” She peered at her, looking for some sign of what was going on.

Rowan wanted to tell her about the man, how she’d hired him and how the horse liked him, but what came out of her mouth was, “I met him.”

The housekeeper sat down beside her, surprise evident on her face. “Are you sure?”

Rowan nodded. “It was like somebody had punched me. It was the strangest feeling. I knew him and I think he felt it too. Bird, I wanted to touch him, to make sure he was real.” She pressed her head into the table, the familiar smell of the wood helping to bring her back into control. “I couldn’t read him, either. His mind was like a blank slate.”

Bird rubbed her back. “Take a few deep breaths if you can. I’ll make some special tea.”

Rowan wanted to say no. The “special” tea always tasted like old socks. She knew it was to help her focus, important when they were practicing their powers and spells. Now, though, she didn’t want to focus. She wanted to escape.

Bird steeped the tea for exactly two minutes before she set the cup down in front of Rowan. Under the careful eye of her teacher and friend, Rowan grudgingly drank the tea, making a face with each swallow. After it was gone, she felt better, even if the aftertaste was hideous.

Nodding in approval, Bird finally spoke. “Did he look like he did in the dreams?”

“No, yes, I don’t know. I was too distracted to pay much attention.” Rowan took Bird’s hands in her own. “When I saw him, though, I knew it was him. I just knew.”

Bird nodded. “You have to trust in that. Don’t doubt yourself.”

“I don’t know, Bird. I never felt anything like that before. What if he’s not what I’ve dreamed?”

“He’s been your companion since you were a child. He was meant to be here. You shouldn’t question that.” Bird patted Rowan’s hands with her tiny ones. “You aren’t the only one who has dreamed of your mate. Your sisters have as well. It’s common amongst our kind.”

Your mate.

That was the part that scared Rowan. A mate implied a lifelong partnership, someone she would grow old with, create a life with. The rough-looking stranger at the door didn’t appear to be the type to settle down. He was big, with broad-shoulders, lean hips and a ranginess to him that implied he hadn’t had an easy life. His expression was cut from stone and his eyes, well, they were cut from dark amber, deep and hard.

“Why him though?”

“I don’t know. He was chosen for you just as you were chosen for him. The spirits do not tell us why.” Bird squeezed her hands. “Just as I was chosen to teach the three of you.”

The housekeeper was more than a teacher, and she knew it. Bird had become the mother they never had, and they all loved her fiercely. They would not be the women they were without Bird.

Rowan looked down at their joined hands and finally admitted what she was feeling, down in her gut. “I’m scared.”

“Trust in your instincts, Rowan, and in your powers. They will guide you.”

“But what if—”

A knock at the door stopped her mid-sentence. It was Jesse. Her gaze flew from the door, then back to Bird’s but the housekeeper just raised one brow and waited.

“Better to embrace life then let it pass you by. You were the one who recognized him, remember?” Bird made sense, as she always did, but that didn’t mean Rowan had to like it.

As she walked to the door, Rowan pressed a hand to her stomach and took a deep breath. It helped a little but as soon as she opened the door, she had the same rush of intensity from minutes earlier.

Jesse wasn’t classically handsome, but his features were all arranged just so. He had a hawkish-like nose, amber eyes, a strong jaw with a cleft in the chin, full lips and sandy brown hair that grew past the top of his shirt collar. Although his shoulders were broad, he looked as though he hadn’t been eating well. His cheeks had a gauntness too them, accentuated by the two-day-old whiskers.

“Hello, Miss Murphy. Your sister sent me in for dinner.” He pulled off his hat and held it in front of his stomach. Rowan told herself not to look at his hat. She had no business staring at his lower half. None at all.

“Come in then.” Bird called him from the kitchen. “Stew will be ready in a few minutes. I was just about to pop some biscuits in the oven.”

Rowan stepped aside for him to enter. His scent washed over her, the smell of man and outdoors. It was familiar, although there was no way it should be, and it sent her nerves tingling. She needed to distract herself.

She saw his bag still hanging from his shoulder. “Did Talulla show you where you’ll be sleeping?”

“Not yet, ma’am. I expect she was busy with the mares.”

Bird made a strange noise as though she was choking on her spit. It was a not so subtle hint.

“After dinner I can show you. Buster is out working now but he’ll be in soon so you can meet.” Rowan gestured to the table, resisting the urge to wipe her clammy hands on her skirt. It wouldn’t do well for him to know she felt off center when he was around.

“All right.” He glanced around the room. “You have a nice house.”

What did he see when he looked? The furniture was clean but not new, with many dings, dents and scratches. Same with the floor and the doors. A childhood memory of playing on the floor in front of the sofa with her sisters was a hazy, sweet one. Her father had made most of the furniture and it showed. Big, oversized wood with large seats, comfortable and plain, just like everything else they had, with one exception. The large rag rug on the floor had been made by her mother while she was pregnant. The bright reds, blues and greens had always been soothing to Rowan, as though her mother had meant it for her babies to play on safely.

“Thank you. Why don’t you sit down while we get dinner on the table.”

The kitchen was silent except for Bird cutting out the biscuits and Rowan pouring water for everyone. The quiet was uncomfortable, not a surprise considering just how thick the atmosphere was between Rowan and Jesse. Heck, she could nearly see the air shimmering.

She wished she’d had more time to talk to Bird before he came in. Her stomach might not be ready to eat for a long time, much less in ten minutes.

“There, the biscuits are in.” Bird poured herself a cup of coffee as she watched Jesse out of the corner of her eye. “Since Rowan has forgotten her manners, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Bird. Now tell me about yourself, Mr. Nelson.”

Jesse cleared his throat. “Please call me Jesse. I don’t know that I’ll ever be ‘mister’ anything.”

“Fair enough.” Bird stayed up on her feet, likely to be at eye level with him. This gave her the opportunity to spear him with one of her “talon” looks. Named so because of how sharp they were. “Now tell me about yourself.”

He blinked at her repeated command, but he answered. “I, uh, am originally from Missouri. I moved around a lot and I needed a job. So I came here.” He watched Rowan set the cups of water on the table. His gaze made a chill dance up and down her spine. “Is there something I can do to help with dinner, ma’am?”

Bird cocked her head and looked at him. “No, nothing you can do but I appreciate the offer.” Her gaze slid to Rowan and that damned red brow went up again.

That was it. Rowan needed to escape if only for a few minutes. She was never out of control, and Jesse’s presence sent her careening in all directions.

“I’m going to go check on Pa.” She headed for her father’s room, out of the kitchen. Yes she was running, escaping.

“Rowan.” Bird’s words followed Rowan up the stairs, but she ignored her.

 

Jesse sat at the table with the strange little housekeeper, Bird. Rowan had run like her ass was on fire, away from him. He saw how she twitched and fidgeted until she’d fled the room. That stung, surprisingly enough. He had inured himself to people, or at least he thought he had until he met Rowan.

He felt like he knew her, which was impossible since according to Talulla, they’d never left their little corner of Texas. And he’d never been to this part of Texas until now.

Truth was, it scared the hell out of him and he should just move on. However, something told him to stay, so he did. After a dozen years of rolling along like a tumbleweed, maybe he would stay in one place. Or maybe he was loco.

“You have lived a long time on your own, Mr. Nelson.” Bird went back to the stove, peeked inside at the biscuits, then straightened up to look at him. Her expression told him she was waiting for confirmation.

“Yes, ma’am. Since I was twelve.” There was no chance he’d tell her more than that. It wasn’t her business and he wasn’t in the mood to dredge up his sorry life. Bad enough he had to hold the memories of it all.

“You had a long road to get here to the Triad.” Bird spoke as though she knew his history without telling her about it.

“Everyone has their own tale. I don’t need to hear ’em though.” He didn’t want to say one more thing about it. If she pushed, he would get up and leave, empty stomach be damned.

“I won’t ask you about yours.” She held up her hand. “A man’s story is his to tell.”

Jesse relaxed a little, but not much, knowing he was too new to the ranch. He could walk off, or be walked off, the land at any time. “I appreciate that.”

She still watched him, intensely, enough that he wanted to bang his fist on the table and tell her to quit it. After what seemed like ten minutes, she finally rose and started fussing with the pot on the stove.

Jesse had the insane urge to let out a breath of relief, as though he’d passed a test. A test for what, he had no idea.

 

Injured to the point he couldn’t walk, Gus Murphy spent his days yelling at people from his room. It was like the cave of hell in there, and smelled like it. As Rowan stepped into the room, a cup crashed into the floor with a loud crack, the metal vibrating as it struck wood. She leaned over and picked it up, glad it wasn’t a bowl of soup this time. Her father had been throwing things regularly from his sick bed.

Gus Murphy was the world’s worst patient.

She glanced up to see his expression, full of pain and frustration, and her annoyance fled. The accident left him unable to walk and therefore unable to run his own horse ranch.

“I’m sorry, Pa, but the doctor said you can’t use the invalid chair for at least another few weeks.” She wiped the spilled coffee with a rag. “I know you don’t like being in the bed—”

“Damn right I don’t like it.” Gus was a bear of a man, with the same raven-black hair and blue eyes as his three daughters. He towered over men and made women feel small next to his barrel chest. However now he was shrinking before Rowan’s eyes. Staying in bed would kill him slowly and painfully.

“What if I talk to Buster and he can carry you downstairs for a dinner?” The ranch’s largest wrangler might be able to carry her father.

“Buster would end up in the bed next door if he tried. I’m too damn big for anybody to move.” Gus picked up his plate and heaved it at the door.

Rowan snatched it out of the air with her mind and brought it safely in her hands. “Stop throwing things.”

“Stop doing that stuff around me. It was spooky when your mama did it, and I don’t want you doing it either.” Gus had ignored his daughters’ specialness as much as he could. He really had no idea of how much the girls could do, even if he wanted to know.

“I’ll stop if you stop.” Rowan was damn tired of picking up everything he threw. After a month of being in the bed, he was becoming impossible to care for. Bird refused to be in the room with him more than to bring him meals, which left the girls. Maeve begged off every day while Talulla handled the horses, which left Rowan. It was an untenable situation.

He crossed his arms and scowled at her, looking as though he were five and not forty-five. “I’m sick. You’re supposed to be nice to sick people.”

“Stop it, Pa.” She sat down on the edge of the bed and pried one of his hands loose. The big, callused palm felt warm and comfortable against hers. “I want you to get better as much as anybody. You’re not going to if you don’t stop being angry.”

His face softened, a smidge, but it was enough to know he had heard her. Gus Murphy was as stubborn as he was big.

“Buster tells me you’re doing the books and running things.” He narrowed his gaze. “I don’t know how I feel about you doing that.”

She held back the retort she really wanted to throw at him. “You taught me how to run things.”

“You’re not even twenty-one, Rowan. A babe in the woods.”

Rowan got to her feet. “I’ll be twenty-one in a month and I’ve been doing the books alone for three years.”

“We need to hire another man. Buster and Jackson can’t do it all alone.”

She counted to ten before she answered. “Maeve is also out there with them.”

He waved one hand in dismissal. “We need another man. I had Buster put the word out in town.”

Rowan loved her father, truly she did, but he had a wooden head sorely in need of a knock with a hammer. “Fine. Just so you know, your daughters can do twice as much as any man, which makes us worth half a dozen of you.”

Gus ignored her comment as she knew he would. “Who was that walking up to the house? He looked scruffy.” Papa squinted at the window. He could see just about the entire front of the ranch from his viewpoint.

“A new ranch hand. I hired him just like you wanted.”

“Can he work the horses?” His only concern was the horses, of course. Not the daughters he’d raised or their well-being, just the ranch. A sharp pain pinched her heart, but she shooed it away.

“Yes, Talulla already approves.” Rowan busied herself checking on everything in the room. She was not hiding, however. She was visiting with her father and making sure he didn’t need anything.

“Why are you in here in the middle of the day? Bird usually comes up and brings me dinner.” He scowled at her, his jet-black eyebrows creating a dark wing in the middle of his forehead.

“I just wanted to tell you we hired somebody and to, ah, check on you.” She finally looked at her father and realized he knew she was lying but he didn’t mention it. “Do you want to meet him?”

Gus smiled, but not in amusement. “If this is the one man who sent you flying up here to hide in my room, then damn right I want to meet him.”

“I’m not hiding. I told you I was checking on you.” Rowan started inching toward the door.

“You fought me tooth and nail for every bit of control you could get on this ranch. Now you hire somebody and run for the hills.” It had been difficult to hide everything from their father. After all, he had something to do with making them who they were. “Bring him on up here.”

Unable to find an excuse to disobey him, she took the dirty breakfast dishes and escaped. The air in the hallway was less dense and she was able to take a breath. Being around her father in this condition was slowly driving her loco. There had to be something they could do to get her father back on his feet. Now she had to bring Jesse up to meet him.

She made a face as she reluctantly went back downstairs.

 

The housekeeper watched Jesse even when she wasn’t looking at him, and Rowan had run out of the room as though she couldn’t be in the same space as he was. He certainly felt out of place, which was not uncommon, something he should be used to.

Rowan said she had to take care of her father, but he had doubts that was entirely true. He’d felt the heaviness in the air, the prickling along his skin, as soon as they’d been in the same room together. It made him jittery because he didn’t understand it and he sure as hell didn’t want it.

“Biscuits are just ready.” Bird set the pan on top of the stove. “Go ring the triangle out on the porch to let the others know it’s dinner time.”

Duly ordered, Jesse got to his feet, turned and slammed right into a female body. He was jerked by the jolt that raced through him when he touched her. They both stumbled backward. His head swam with images and sensations, and damned if his dick hadn’t gotten hard, pressing against his buttons like it was ready to bust out.

Jesse opened his eyes to find himself a foot away from Rowan, her mouth open and eyes wide as saucers. They both let go of each other and he noted her nipples were as hard as his rod. She was as affected as he was by whatever had just happened.

“What was that?” he blurted.

She shook her head. “I don’t know.” Her gaze moved to Bird.

“Hm, well then.” She flapped her hand. “Someone needs to ring the triangle.”

Jesse turned and left as quickly as his legs could carry him. He walked to the end of the porch and found the triangle. He cursed the fact he’d had to take two whacks to ring the fucking thing. When the hell had he gotten so weak-minded? Especially over a woman.

His first meal on the Triad Ranch was about to start. He didn’t know what to expect, but it couldn’t be any stranger than his morning. As he stepped back into the house, with the taste of reluctance mixed with wariness, he spotted Rowan in the kitchen wringing her hands.

“Pa wants to meet him.” Rowan blurted, then turned to look at him. “Oh you’re back.”

“I’ll fix a plate and you can take it up to him. With Jesse.” Bird ladled the steaming stew into a tin bowl, then put two biscuits on top. “I’m sure you can carry this, can’t you?”

He couldn’t possibly say no, even if he wanted to. There was no reason to be nervous, after all, he’d come to the ranch to meet Gus Murphy.

“Why is he upstairs?”

Rowan’s expression grew pained. “He got hurt a while back and he can’t walk.”

He heard the grief in her voice and understood. Losing his mother was painful even if his life hadn’t been anything like the Murphys’. Jesse took the dish from Bird and thought he saw a flash of approval in her eyes.

“Top of the stairs, second door on the right. Rowan will show you.” The tiny housekeeper turned back to the big black cookstove. “I’ll get dinner on the table for everyone else.”

He followed Rowan; he couldn’t help but notice her scent washed over him again. Jesse knew he’d do himself a favor to stop thinking about her and think about what he was about to say to her father. The old man in town had a lot to say about Gus Murphy and Jesse was about to find out if it was all true or not.

The upstairs had three doors, two of which were closed. The third was open enough for sunshine to spill into the hallway and onto the worn wood floor. Rowan walked forward and he had no choice but to follow.

“Pa?” She stepped into the room. “This is Jesse Nelson.”

Jesse didn’t know what to expect but it sure as hell wasn’t a giant who dwarfed a bed. The man had his daughters’ hair and eyes but the similarity ended there. Gus had obviously worked all his life, with wide shoulders and beefy arms. His three-day beard was thick but it didn’t hide the peaked complexion or the shadows under his eyes. He scowled at Jesse, looking at him like a bull sensing another in a pasture.

“He ain’t a reputable-looking fella.” Gus’s voice boomed in the small room.

“Pa, that’s not very polite,” Rowan admonished as she helped him sit up. The woman was stronger than she looked if she could move such a big man.

“I’m not interested in being polite.” He eyed Jesse. “Where do you hail from, boy?”

“All over. I go where the work is.” Jesse gestured to the table next to the bed. “Should I put this stew there?”

“Don’t set it near him yet.” Rowan’s scowl was nearly as fierce as her father’s. “He tends to throw things.”

“I’m not going to throw it. I like Bird’s stew. I wouldn’t waste it.” Now the older man appeared more like a little boy.

Jesse looked to Rowan for approval before he set it down. She nodded and he carefully put the bowl on the table. Gus snorted.

“She’s got you by the balls already.”

Jesse forced himself not to react. No need to anger his new boss or her father. The annoyed retort went down like a bitter gob in his throat. “Just being respectful, sir.”

Gus picked up his bowl and started in on the stew like he hadn’t eaten in days. “I think it’s good for a man to do what he needs to get by.” He slurped the stew in big mouthfuls. “Oh she has outdone herself this time. The carrots are just perfect.”

“Pa, is that all you have to say?” Rowan crossed her arms, pushing her breasts up again. Jesse forced himself to look away, but the image of those orbs in his hands burned into his brain as though he’d already touched them.

Impossible.

“No, that’s not all I have to say. Get out and I’ll get finished saying it.”

Jesse’s tension notched up at Gus’s command. Rowan huffed but she headed toward the door.

“Be nice, Pa. You’re the one who said we need another man to work the ranch.” She gave Jesse an apologetic look before walking out the room.

“I just have two things to say to you boy.” Gus wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Keep your pecker in your britches and never lie to any of us. If this ranch is your home, then I expect you to treat it that way.”

“Yes, sir. I can abide by those rules.” Jesse didn’t intend on doing anything but working on the Triad Ranch, no matter how strange his reaction to Rowan.

“Fine then. You see to it.” Gus turned back to his stew, pointedly ignoring him.

Feeling dismissed made Jesse grit his teeth. He left the old man’s room and went back downstairs for dinner. The voices floated up as he got closer. There were two male voices, and four females.

He hesitated halfway down, hidden from their view. A bit sneaky perhaps but he learned to gather information when he could.

“I can’t believe you done hired somebody so quick.” The first man said, obviously through a mouthful of something.

“She’s a smart girl, Jackson. You got to remember she been running things for a while.”

“Girl. You said it right, she’s a girl. Ain’t right for women to be running everything.” The man named Jackson obviously had no respect for the Murphy sisters.

“You all just need to shut up. We run this ranch just fine.” That was definitely Maeve. After spending a few minutes with her, he would know her tone anywhere.

“Be nice children.” Bird sounded amused.

“Well where is this new ranch hand?” That was the one called Jackson.

Rowan responded. “He’s talking to Pa.”

Some male laughter and one of the women shushing them. Jesse decided it was time for him to meet the rest of the Triad Ranch family.

Six pairs of eyes locked on him when he walked into the kitchen. To his relief, five of them went back to their plates quickly. Rowan held his gaze until he nodded, then her lips opened just a bit and his mind wandered into territory it shouldn’t.

“Well, what happened?” Maeve glanced at him.

“Just menfolk talking.” He didn’t want to tell them what Gus said, especially in front of the ladies. The men probably already knew.

Jesse walked toward the open place setting at the table. Next to Rowan. She didn’t look at him after he sat down, which was just as well. It was hard enough to be so close to her and not want to leave. She made him think of things he had long since given up. A woman, a home, a future. It all tasted like dust in his mouth.

Bird handed him a bowl of stew with biscuits on top and his stomach picked that moment to growl noisily. Most everyone smiled, and a few snickered. Rowan grabbed a third biscuit and put it on top. She had taken pity on him, which was worse than the scraps he’d been subsisting on. His pride screamed at him to give it back, but his head knew an extra helping wasn’t to be turned down.

Ignoring everyone and their conversation, Jesse kept his head down and ate the stew and biscuits, although the third one was hard to get down considering how full his belly was by then. Rowan stayed as quiet as he was. She rose to leave before he was done eating.

“I’m going to go work on the books. Buster, please show Jesse where he can put his gear.” She disappeared down a hallway that he assumed led to some kind of office. It shouldn’t surprise him that she was responsible for the finances for the ranch, but it did. Gus’s mind was as strong as an ox, there was no reason Jesse could figure the older man didn’t take care of his own ranch’s money.

It wasn’t Jesse’s business, though, so he shoved the thoughts aside and focused on finishing his meal. He had a job and intended to keep it.

 

Jesse lay awake for quite some time after settling down in the barn for the night. They had turned three stalls into a bunkhouse for ranch hands. He had settled in with a cot, an upended crate, a few nails for his clothes and two blankets. It was far more comfortable than some of the beds he’d slept in. It was warm and dry, and he had a full belly. The other cots were currently occupied by Jackson and Buster, who had showed him the bunkhouse area at the same time he eyeballed Jesse as though he were a pile of cow shit. It would take time to convince him Jesse had skills with horses.

Buster also snored like a locomotive.

That was part of the reason Jesse couldn’t sleep. The other was the Murphy sisters, most particularly, Rowan. He hadn’t seen her again until supper. During the meal, Rowan had kept her eyes down and barely spoke at all again. Talulla kept the conversation going with the little housekeeper Bird chiming in.

The Triad Ranch was full of strange people but the horses were healthy and obviously well cared for. He trusted people who took after their equines as well as they did humans. It would take some time for him to fit in.

The place had an odd smell to it, one he couldn’t put his finger on, but it was comfortable. Jesse had started to drift off when he heard the murmuring. He sat up straight in his cot and listened. Definitely female voices. They were outside the big barn, and from what he could tell, on the other side of the corral.

Jesse had spent too long protecting himself. Sounds woke him even when he was fast asleep. He didn’t sleep hard. Ever. Light sleepers could protect themselves.

He got to his feet and padded barefoot to the wall. The voices became louder and he recognized Rowan’s husky lilt. The sound of it made him lean against the wood. There was more than one voice but they were low enough he couldn’t quite understand what they were saying.

The voices began to fade as they moved away from the barn, likely toward the wooded area north of the house. He could either climb back into bed and get some sleep, or he could follow them and find out what they were doing in the middle of the night. No doubt if Gus knew what his daughters were up to, he would tan their hides. Jesse could help him out by making sure the sisters weren’t harmed. A weak excuse to be sure, but he wanted to know what they were up to.

The decision was an easy one. He pulled on his tattered boots, promising himself he would buy new ones as soon as he had enough money. He slipped on his shirt and crept out of his room without a sound. The moon was bright enough to light the meadow in front of him. The dark shapes on the other side of it disappeared into the trees.

Jesse followed, running lightly on the balls of his feet. The dew coated his trousers and boots, but he was welcomed the cool, long grass. It had been hot for so long he wanted to dive into the meadow and swim around. Better yet, a pond would be heaven on earth. Hell, a bath would even do since he hadn’t had a true one for weeks. Washing up in a lukewarm creek wasn’t enough with the heat that coated him during the day.

He ran until he reached the edge of the woods. If the women had looked back, they would have clearly seen him by the light of the moon.

The trees grew thicker as he crept into the woods. The darkness welcomed him, familiar and inviting. He’d always felt comfortable in the dark. A place where he could anonymous and as powerful or as weak as any creature roaming with him.

He followed the sound of their voices, now muffled by the bounty of nature around him. Yet he followed, now so curious about what was going on, he couldn’t have returned to the barn if he tried. It was a bit underhanded to be doing this without their knowledge, but the sisters were secretive. He’d already witnessed the silent communication between them. There was no reason to think they would be willing to talk to him about why they were in the woods, much less anything else.

It sounded as though they had stopped and he slowed down to listen. The sound of the forest, the insects singing to the darkness, the slither of a snake, was music around him. He closed his eyes and focused on the murmurs ahead.

There were four of them.

That surprised him. He knew the three girls were close but the housekeeper must be the fourth out there in the woods with them. He moved closer, realizing there was a clearing at the center. It wasn’t quite circular, more egg-shaped, but he could tell there were no trees that grew in the clearing, as though nature knew it shouldn’t grow there.

He stopped behind an enormous tree, keeping his breath and his heart at a slow rate. After a few minutes of intense curiosity, he peered around the edge.

They were standing together in a circle, dressed in the same clothes he’d seen them in earlier. The shortest one was definitely Bird, the housekeeper who had stared at him as though she were counting his eyebrow hairs. The three sisters were identical in the darkness but he knew which one was Rowan. Jesse couldn’t say why he knew, just that he did.

“Someone’s out there.”

He froze in place, not entirely surprised he’d been found out. As quickly, and as quietly as he could, he moved back through the woods. The darkness led the way, its cool fingers guiding him to the field just beyond the forest.

On the walk back to the barn, he felt eyes on him. He wanted to turn around and find out who it was, but kept moving. He needed this job bad enough to ignore the strange goings on at the Triad Ranch. Even if he couldn’t stop thinking about his new boss, her odd sisters or the way he felt at home in the dark with them.