Chapter Five
Kristen kept her mouth stubbornly closed as they rounded a series of corners. She probably thought he was making a point about who was in the figurative driver’s seat as well as the literal one with his insistence on talking, but he wasn’t. There were things he wanted to know. Questions he wanted answered, and he wasn’t going to take social anxiety as an excuse.
“Here’s a topic,” he said, once the road straightened out again. “Did you really think you could get away with pretending not know me at the saloon?” More than that, pretending to be someone else.
Kristen sat straighter in her seat, but didn’t attempt to dodge the question, possibly because she sensed what a lost cause that would be. “I’d hoped.”
“Did you think I was that stupid?”
“I was banking on drunk, actually. And pretending not to know you seemed so outrageous, I thought I might get away with it.”
“You didn’t get away with it.”
“You weren’t drunk.” She smoothed the hem of the flowery shirt she wore.
“The situation bothered me.”
“Enough that you came back to the casino. I noticed.”
“I don’t like being lied to.”
“I don’t like being ratted out.” Kristen started pleating the fabric of her shirt between her fingers again, then stopped. “Would you have told my sister?”
“Maybe. What you did was kind of crazy.” He glanced her way. “But I wouldn’t have told her out of revenge.” It still ticked him off that she thought he operated that way.
“Did you ever think of revenge?” she asked.
“No.” His fingers tightened on the wheel as he thought back on his reaction to their public face-off. “But I did kind of hate you for a while. You shocked the hell out of me. I thought I was a prize until then.” True story. He’d been good at bronc riding—not as good as his brother, but he was close. And the girls seemed to find him attractive. All but one.
“Guys who are prizes go to class.”
He frowned at her. For an alleged shy girl, she was holding her own. He’d expected her to try to clam up. “Do you have a guy in your life?”
Her chin lifted ever so slightly. “I do not.”
“Have you ever?” He was curious as to whether anyone had managed to battle through her defenses. If there were guys out there, unlike him, who recognized the difference between what she called social anxiety and arrogance. He still wasn’t totally clear on what the difference was because the result seemed to be the same. People got put off.
“None of your business.”
And there’s a limit. “Fair enough.”
There was a note of challenge in her voice as she asked, “How about you? Women?”
“I’m not shy.”
“Well, bully for you.” The telltale color was once again staining her cheeks, giving her a vulnerable look that belied the cool note in her voice. This was the high school Kristen he’d caught intriguing glimpses of. A touch vulnerable. A touch uncertain. After she’d taken him down, he’d decided he’d been imagining things. Maybe not.
“Actually, there is no woman in the picture.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Then why did you ask?”
“Because you did.” She turned her attention to the side window as they emerged from the canyon, watching the scenery with such intense focus that she had to be developing a crick in her neck. She was shutting down, drawing into herself.
Not going to happen.
He waited until they passed the town of Fernley before asking, “Why did you get fired from the casino?”
Kristen let out a soft snort. “You have no mercy, do you?”
“Not much.”
She turned her gaze toward him and calmly replied, “I got fired from the casino because I shirked my duty with your table because I was afraid to come back and because I didn’t smile.”
He shot her a frowning look. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. I was polite, but apparently too distant with the customers.” Kristen pushed her hair back from her face with both hands. “Ice princess, remember?” Austin lifted his eyebrows, surprised at the reference, but before he could speak, she said, “It’s hard to break a lifelong habit.”
“You’re trying?”
She nodded. “In college, I discovered that people avoided me because they thought I was judging them. I’m trying to be friendlier.”
“How’s that working out for you?” Because in his view, she had a ways to go, although being aware of the problem was a big step forward.
“I got fired from the casino. Remember?” She gave him a look. “Maybe we can talk about you for a while.”
“I’m an open book.” He slowed as he spotted a highway patrol vehicle parked in the median, then sped up once he was around the corner. “Nothing about me that you can’t find on a fan site or Wikipedia.”
“Does that mean we’re done with small talk? I can just silently research you on my phone?”
“We’re talking to ease the tension.” Halfway true. Kristen was still tense, but in a different way than before.
“What tension?”
He met her wide green eyes. “Tell me you didn’t just say that.”
“I said it.”
He reached out and lightly touched her hand, which was resting on the console. She jerked it into her lap. “That tension. It’s not healthy to be that wound up all the time.”
Her eyes flashed. “I appreciate the ride, but enough, okay?”
She was serious and he felt a twinge of regret for pushing to get a reaction from her. “All right.”
“You make me jumpy, Austin.”
It always surprised him when she was candid. “Because you’re shy?”
“Because you’re you.”
He didn’t know how to take that and the closed-off expression on her face wasn’t giving him any clues. “I apologize for touching you.”
She let out a breath and once again stopped her fingers from working the edge of her flowy shirt. “Don’t.”
“Why not?” he asked on a note of surprise.
Her jaw set before she said, “Because I don’t hate it. I just…don’t know how to handle it.”
Austin gave his head a small, bemused shake. “I’ll watch myself.”
“Thank you.” With that she turned to stare at the passing scenery, shutting him out once and for all.
Austin let her be.
*
Kristen had fully intended to control the situation—and her mouth—as they drove to Salt Lake City. Unfortunately, Austin had a way of short-circuiting her strategies. How was it that she’d said things to him that she’d never said to anyone else? Not even her sister?
She’d spoken the truth about not hating it when he touched her—and not knowing how to handle it. And these were just small innocent touches. What would it be like if he really touched her?
She shifted her gaze sideways, watched his profile as he drove. He was a million miles away. Thinking about bulls? Or the road? Or maybe her?
She didn’t know. Wouldn’t know. She pulled out her phone, went to the news app and started to read. It wasn’t until they pulled into the Callahan Ranch that service faltered. She set her phone aside and Austin finally spoke. “If at all possible, be nice to my friends.”
Her eyes widened, but he simply stared at her, showing no sign of remorse for his bald statement. Which made her wonder just how much of a bitch he thought she was.
“What I’m saying is don’t take out your feelings about me on them.”
“No worries,” she replied coolly as she reached for her door handle.
Half a dozen trucks were parked near the barn and a group of five or six people were gathered near the chutes.
“Austin!” A small woman with a thick blonde braid, dressed in jeans, a flannel shirt and a canvas vest, started toward him, clipboard in hand.
“Ellie.” Austin caught her in a tight embrace, lifting her feet off the ground.
Kristen folded her arms over her middle, staying rooted next to the front bumper of the truck and feeling awkward. Nothing new there.
“Unhand my bride,” a tall dark-haired man demanded as he broke away from the group. He also pulled Austin into a hug, only he lifted Austin off his feet.
“Easy,” Austin said on a choked laugh. “Hard Landing gave me a hard landing last night.”
“But you won! Congratulations.” Ellie gave him another hug before looking over at Kristen. “And you brought a friend.”
“I did. Kristen and I went to high school together. We bumped into each other in Reno, and I’m giving her a ride home.”
More like halfway home. Kristen worked up a smile, feeling very much as she had in the Silver Bow, and came forward. Austin introduced her to Ellie and Clinton Callahan, as well as to Katherine, Ellie’s aunt, and the rest of the branding crew—Tom, Clay and Rusty—all of whom seemed to know Austin well. She was the odd man out.
Nothing new there.
“Would you mind manning the clipboard?” Ellie asked. “We’re one hand short, so I’m delighted that you came.”
“Sure. Just tell me what to do.”
A shadow crossed the woman’s face. “Have you ever been to a branding?”
“A few,” she said dryly. “My mom grew up on a ranch in Montana. We branded twice a year.”
Ellie’s eyebrows lifted in surprise, probably because Kristen was dressed in clothing no one wore to a branding—running shoes, skinny jeans and a flowered tunic top—and then she smiled. “Excellent.” She gave Austin a thumbs-up. “Nice work, Austin. Better than last time…”
He smiled sheepishly, then went to join the men who were heading into the pen where the calves were being held, making Kristen wonder what wasn’t being said.
Ellie instantly filled in the blanks. “Austin brought a girl a couple of years ago who lectured us on the cruelty of freeze branding.”
“Guess she’s never seen hot branding.”
“She hadn’t seen anything. Austin spent more time calming her down, than helping out. Finally, she sat in the truck and ignored us all.”
“Interesting.” She meant that sincerely.
“But you guys aren’t…” Ellie made a gesture with the clipboard as if encouraging Kristen to set her straight one way or the other.
“No.” Kristen gave her head a quick shake. “He’s friends with my twin sister and things just worked out for him to give me a ride to Salt Lake.”
“Are you going to watch him ride there?”
“I’m catching the bus the rest of the way home.”
“To Marietta.”
“Yes.”
Ellie frowned at her and seemed about to say something, then instead she nodded at Kristen’s shirt. “Do you want something old and beat up to wear over that?”
“I probably won’t hurt it manning the clipboard.”
Ellie arched an eyebrow. “You’ve been to how many brandings?”
Kristen smiled—a genuine smile that made her feel lighter inside. “Right. If you have something I’ll borrow it.”
“If I have something. Dear heavens.” She jerked her head toward the house, then moved toward the side-by-side ATV. “Come on. My Aunt Katherine is still at the house and I promised to give her a ride to the corrals. You can pick a grubby jacket, and by the time we’re back, the guys will be ready to start moving calves through the chute.” Ellie gave her a wry smile. “And you can meet Duane.”
“Duane?”
“The world’s yappiest dog and the center of my aunt’s universe.”
*
Kristen’s mother had grown up on the Marvell Cattle Company ranch, so Austin wasn’t surprised to see that Kristen was very much at home at the chutes, wearing one of Clinton’s old denim jackets and jotting information on the clipboard. What did surprise him was that she and Ellie acted like old friends.
But, like Whitney, Ellie had never met a stranger. And maybe Kristen did better with people who didn’t have a preconceived idea about who she was. She was more relaxed than he had ever seen her…unless their gazes met. Then there’d be that little jolt he was certain she felt as much as he did.
A jolt of…what?
He didn’t have that pinned down yet, but it kept him thinking as they worked their way through a hundred calves. The three younger guys, Clinton’s cousins, pushed the calves through the chute. He and Clinton clamped them onto the calf table, rotated it, taking turns branding and vaccinating. Ellie’s Aunt Katherine helped Ellie load the needles while Kristen recorded exactly what vaccinations and medications each animal received.
Midway through the day, they broke for lunch and Katherine got her little poodle dog, Duane, out of the playpen where he’d been barking all day while they worked. Austin didn’t know what it was about ranchers and small yappy dogs, but he knew a lot of bona fide ranch guys who carried the little beasts around on one arm. He didn’t get it.
When he left the AEBR tour and got a dog, it would be a real dog. A dog with some size to him and some baritone to his voice. Duane had a high-pitched yip that made Austin’s shoulders go tight every time he heard it. And he heard it a lot that day.
After the break, they went back to the branding. Kristen was all business as she did her job. He knew because he didn’t seem to be able to keep himself from watching her. Clinton caught him a couple of times and gave him a look that clearly said, “You sure you’re only traveling together?”
Austin kept his mouth shut, because he knew the dangers of protesting too much. But the truth of the matter was that he was surprised that Kristen seemed to fit in with his friends. She fit in better than Sierra had a couple years ago…and maybe that was it. Anyone would have fit in after Sierra’s behavior that day. It wasn’t the last time he’d dated an urbanite, but it was the last time he’d brought one to a ranch.
Now he was here with Kristen, whom he wasn’t dating at all, but who kept drawing his eye, just as she had in high school. This was different though. He was studying her because he was trying to figure her out. She didn’t mind being touched, but she wasn’t used to it. That’s what she said anyway. Yeah. It had him thinking.
“Any time now,” Clinton said.
He brought his attention back to the calf, slid the needle under the skin on his neck and pushed the plunger.
“Four more,” Clinton said as they tipped the table together. The calf had a low tag number—one of the first born that season. Heavy guy.
“I could use a beer,” Austin muttered.
“Or four.”
He laughed. “Maybe not four. Three. I’m in training.”
Clinton grunted an acknowledgment just as Katherine let out a shriek.
“Get him!” Ellie yelled, pointing toward the white streak heading straight for the pen where the cows were mothering up with their babies. “Those ladies will stomp him into the mud.”
Austin doubted that ‘those ladies’—the cows—could catch him, but if they got lucky, Katherine would be inconsolable. Both he and Clinton dived for the dog, who swerved away, and the last thing he saw before going down was Kristen dropping her clipboard. A split second later a cheer went up, and he raised his head to see Kristen lying on her stomach in the dirt, her hand wrapped firmly around squirming Duane’s hind leg.
She was instantly surrounded by a crowd—Ellie helping her up, Katherine scooping up Duane and nuzzling him and then throwing an arm around Kristen and hugging her close. Clinton smiling and helping her brush off—although some of the stuff she’d landed in didn’t brush easily. Only Austin and the teenage boys in the pens didn’t mob her. But across the distance their gazes locked, and then she looked back at Katherine, who was trying to hug her again. Austin went back to the table, groaned as he tipped it upright and released the calf.
Kristen laughing—genuinely laughing—was an amazing sight. She was covered in cow shit from the knees down and her chin was dirty from where it had hit the dirt, but she looked beautiful.
Austin shook his head and motioned for the boys to bring the next calf down the chute. He’d thought his days of having Kristen Alexander stir things deep inside of him were long gone.
Apparently, he’d been mistaken.
*
Brandings at the Callahan Ranch always ended with a big dinner. Both Clinton and Ellie had put in a day’s work getting the meal ready so that all components could be pulled out of the oven, the fridge, or microwaved with the least amount of effort when the tired crew returned to the house.
Katherine took over the kitchen while everyone else washed up and then settled in the living room with much-needed beer. Kristen changed her clothes, politely refusing Ellie’s offer to wash her jeans, and then disappeared into the kitchen with Katherine. When she didn’t come back, Austin went in to find her washing the roasting pan while Katherine made gravy.
“Need help?”
Kristen gave him a look over her shoulder while Katherine said briskly, “You shoo on out of here. We have everything under control.”
Austin allowed himself to be shooed out of the kitchen and rejoined the crew in the living room. He didn’t know if Kristen was hiding or making herself useful, but she appeared comfortable where she was and who was he to interfere?
There was just one thing that he hadn’t counted on and he had a feeling Kristen wasn’t going to be that happy after he told her. He waited until the dishwasher was loaded, the extra dishes done and every freaking surface in the house had been wiped down before he ambled over to where she was draining the sink and asked if he could speak to her outside.
Instantly cautious, she followed him out the door.
“I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to jump right in.” Her eyes rounded with alarm, so he hurried to say, “Nothing earth-shattering. It’s just that there’s no room for…us…” meaning her “…in the house. Katherine has the spare bedroom.”
He’d been offered the bedroom on every single branding he’d attended on the Callahan Ranch, but had always slept in his bedroll in the truck. Now, the one time he’d counted on the spare bedroom, Katherine had come to visit. Apparently, Ellie had just assumed he’d be arriving alone and following his usual custom. Which was fine…as long as Kristen was okay with it.
Not that she had a lot of choice.
“The boys are bedding down in the living room,” he added when she didn’t respond immediately.
“I see.”
Austin cleared his throat. “I’m sleeping in the bed of the truck.”
“Where am I sleeping?” she asked in a grim voice.
“Well…in the bed of the truck.”
She put up her hands. “Unacceptable.”
“We can sleep head to toe.”
She grimaced and he had to admit, sleeping with someone’s feet in your face didn’t sound all that inviting.
“Sleep face to face.”
No grimace, but she didn’t look at all happy with the idea. “I’m sorry about this. I didn’t know Katherine would be here.”
“I understand.” She folded her arms over her chest, looked toward the Dodge, then back at him. “I can sleep in the back seat of the truck.”
“How?” It was a reasonable question. Kristen was almost as tall as he was.
“I’ll scrunch.”
“Sleep in the bed with me and I’ll build a divider.”
“A divider.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t want a divider. I just don’t want to sleep with you.” Her mouth tightened. “You know what I mean.”
She didn’t want to have sex with him. That was very clear. “You want to pick who you sleep with. I mean sleep literally. I get that.”
“I’ll sleep on the back seat.”
“Suit yourself.”