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Zander
His jeans were well-stacked with a crease down the front. Maybe not washing them had been a mistake. The afternoon sun cast sharp shadows on the lines of his jeans.
Zander wouldn’t accept anything less than the best, but the denim hadn’t been properly broken in. If cowboys had a nerd version, he would get the label. Running his hands through his hair, he regretted stopping in Taylor Falls at the small boutique to ask for directions and get clothes. He’d bought the entire wardrobe for working a ranch – not just any ranch.
Bella Acres.
Without access to a washing machine, he decided to suffer through the scratchy new purchases and hope no one noticed what he wore.
Trying to get on and off a horse, though, in denim that didn’t want to move was proving to be difficult. And he didn’t want to think about his boots. Dang things were apt to cause blisters before the day was out.
He held his groan inside. Just day one and he was already miserable. He missed his White’s boots and his Alaskan king-sized bed. Tommy would never have let him get on a horse in unwashed jeans. At least his men would’ve been honest when he made a fool of himself. The men he was supposed to work with at Bella Acres left him out and didn’t include him in much.
Yay for first days.
“Your last employer seemed pretty impressed with you, Zander. I’m excited to see how things go here at Bella Acres for you.” Drake Benson owned Bella Acres and was Nathan Rourke’s brother-in-law.
And Zander’s new boss.
According to Nathan, the man had swept in and stolen the land, the house, and his sisters from him. The way Nathan told it, Drake was a nefarious swindler determined to ruin everything in Nathan’s plans. Curiously, when Nathan spoke about Drake, his tone was riddled with bitterness but laced with envy and respect.
Judging by the easy grin on Drake’s mouth and the comfortable way he stood around the men in work clothes and worn boots, Zander couldn’t help wondering just how much of Nathan’s drunken rambling had been truth and how much had been bitter perception.
Zander cleared his throat and shifted in the blistering new boots. Had anyone else heard the creaking of the unworn leather? He had to look like a dandified city boy. Not what he was going for in the least. “Yes, sir. I got along great with my last boss.” He better, too, since his foreman back home had set up the references like Zander had asked but had let his bias through.
Zander would have to remember to keep Tommy’s bonuses in check or the near-hero worship from the men who worked for him could be a problem.
“Well, we’re glad to have you.” Drake resettled his hat, a habit Zander had picked up on as soon as he arrived. Some men spit or adjusted their pants, Drake adjusted his hat often and Zander found it to be an honest trait. The way your hat sat on your crown could make or break another man’s impression of you – did you appear sneaky, forthright, or just plain dumb? The tilt of a hat could define that.
Zander nodded politely. He’d up and left his own ranch on the east side of Montana to take the job at Bella Acres. Silver Spoons Ranch had more than a hundred hands working under his main foreman and Zander was taking a huge gamble by being gone six weeks like he planned.
Six weeks should be plenty of time to fall in love. He hoped. He’d never been in love, but judging by the stories Nathan told, the Montana Trails cousins were worth falling in love for.
Not that he would fall for the entire group of cousins. He had his mind set on one – the last one.
Hannah Rourke.
Drake shoved off the side of the barn he leaned against and nodded with a satisfied smile at the group of men around him. With a new summer upon them, Drake had hired a fresh batch of hands and Zander had been lucky enough to get in on the ground floor. Unfortunately, he wasn’t too well-versed in hand work, but he was a hard worker and an easy learner.
He wasn’t worried about the work. He was a little nervous about taking orders. That wasn’t something someone like him did comfortably.
“You guys are in for a treat. My sister-in-law and my own wife are cooking for you tonight. They’re better than any high-ranked restaurant. Cookie will be back in a couple days.” He nodded his head toward the men and turned to gather some rope at the base of the barn wall.
His wife was Stefanie. Was Drake talking about Hannah, too?
Disconcerted by the sudden increase in his pulse rate, Zander sought for a more nonchalant tone than the one of a lovesick kid – who had never actually met the woman he was supposed to love. “What are their names? I want to be able to thank them.” Did Drake sense his nervousness?
Zander bent over and brushed off imaginary straw from the toe of his boot. He stood, his face now flushed from bending and not from the question.
“Hannah is my sister-in-law and Stefanie is my wife. They’ll be down later and thank you for wanting to express gratitude. I’m in their debt for taking on this task. They’re busy enough as it is.” Drake looped the rope around his elbow and his hand then tossed the bulk of it over his shoulder. He set out toward the front of the barn and the house, calling over his shoulder. “Get settled, men. Tomorrow we’ll roughen up this ranch and get some things done. Welcome to Bella Acres.”
Zander avoided the group camaraderie which was already forming in the six other men. He’d hired one of them a few seasons back and he hadn’t been fond of the man then. The ranch hand had been drunk most of the time. A glazed look in his eyes when he glanced at Zander explained the lack of recognition. He probably thought Zander was familiar but wasn’t sure how.
Hopefully, his drinking habits had stopped, but Zander wouldn’t count on it.
Zander stepped to the side as the men passed by him, laughing and talking amongst themselves as they headed toward the bunkhouse. After the men had left, Zander leaned against the newly painted red side of the barn and took a deep breath.
Spring and early summer had left Montana smelling like a fresh pine potpourri bag as the occasional rain storm kept things smelling clean. Greenery was more abundant on the western side of the state, but Zander still missed the plains of his hometown and the way the sky stretched for miles before the ground broke it up.
He checked one more time for any passersby or onlookers and then pulled out a picture of a family he’d stashed in his wallet. The family was large and the picture incomplete. Nathan had said many of the cousins in the picture had since gotten married or found their significant others. He’d glanced fondly at it while he’d been sitting at the bar by himself.
Would Zander be able to recognize Hannah from the young girl she’d been in the picture? Not for the first time, he brushed his thumb over her features in the photo. Had she met someone already? Had she lost her heart to another man?
Nathan hadn’t talked to the family in a long while, but he kept tabs on the cousins with various contacts he had around the state. The oldest Trail had described Hannah and the family so often and so acutely, Zander couldn’t be more enamored with them and the entire ideal around the Montana Trails. He felt like he knew them, like they were his family, his cousins. He wanted that sense of belonging that Nathan had abandoned when he’d lost everything.
Hannah was going to be the only chance Zander had at joining the family. At the risk of sounding like an obsessed stalker, he couldn’t help longing for something so basic yet so valuable.
Did Hannah know they were already in love?