Chapter Four

Ben

The next morning, I find my breakfast warming in a cast-iron skillet on the stove. Grace is nowhere to be found, but her scent lingers. After a shit night of sleep in a bed that’s two feet too short, I’m in a dark mood. Her sweet scent doesn’t help. I hear her upstairs, humming. The sound makes me growl.

When her door was open, I glanced in her room. Her bed is twice the size of mine, a pretty four-poster bed that would fit my frame just right. I’m pissed that I slept alone last night, and I’m pissed she gave me a tiny bed. I’m sure she’s messing with me, and I don’t take kindly to her switching things around.

I tossed and turned all damn night. The woman I’ve chased for months was just down the hallway, sleeping in her great big bed. Probably sleeping with a smile on her face. Every time I heard a noise, my senses shifted into high alert. I couldn’t stop thinking about her lying in bed and how she’d look, asleep in the moonlight. Then I thought about her living alone in this house and how easy it would be for somebody to get to her, and I’d go from fantasizing about her to wanting to protect her from men, men like me.

I came back to San Felipe with a single goal. To acquire the Hopkins Ranch. Meeting Grace a few months ago made me waver for a moment. It’s clear she loves the ranch with all her heart. I might even feel a tad guilty for the plans I’d made. But yesterday, when I watched the truck plow into the little farmhouse, something inside me, something primitive, an emotion I’m not proud of, took over.

Lust.

I want more than a chunk of land stolen from my family. I want the great-granddaughter of the man responsible.

I swore I wouldn’t hit on her, and I swore on the Bible. I might come from a line of rough men, but I don’t take swearing on the Bible lightly. I’m a man of my word. Still, I’m not too worried about keeping my promise. Gracie’s going to come to me. I can see her checking me out when she thinks I’m not looking. I won’t need to lift a finger to rope that little filly.

I just need a little time.

I wolf down my breakfast and head out to the shed. Yesterday I had the delivery guys set aside what I’d need for the first day’s work and I loaded it onto the trailer. Grace has a couple hundred feet of unfinished fence line, and I aim to get most of the posts set today. That would be impossible if I’d worked on my own, but I have back-up.

Just as the sun lifts over the ridge, Tyler and his brothers roll into the barnyard, pulling a horse trailer. They’ve brought my old roping horses and my tack too. Along with my horses, they’ve come to help get this fence built.

Their father bought my former ranch, 2,500 acres in the panhandle. After they unload the horses, I get the animals bedded down in the barn. Later, I might throw saddles on them and invite Miss Hopkins for a ride. I’ll give her a tour of my future ranch.

After the horses are settled, the boys jump on the trailer. I drive the tractor out to the field, unhitch the trailer and run the auger.

“I can run the auger, Ben.”

I narrow my eyes at Tyler. He’s grown a couple of inches in the last few years and he’s settled at about six foot one, but it’s still hard to see him as anything but a kid. “I remember the postholes you dug for me a couple of years back.”

Tyler grins. His brothers toss out a few insults, adding to mine.

“I’ve gotten better. We fenced the entire Wilson place last winter. And you know what a hard-ass he is.”

I shake my head. “Nope.”

“This ain’t even your place.”

“I’m working on it, and even if my plans fall through, I want don’t want the owner to have a fence that looks like a dog’s hind leg.”

Tyler grumbles but doesn’t argue.

It takes me about an hour to dig the postholes. The soil here is rich, and black, damn near perfect. Not sandy like in the valley, or rocky like the hill country. Just fertile, and soft, and sweet. I shake my head. Seems like every thought I have takes me back to Grace.

By the time I’m done, the boys have mixed the cement and have several posts set. I leave them with a few instructions and head back to the barn on foot.

I’d intended to feed my two horses and Grace’s yearlings. When I open the barn door, I’m surprised to find Grace inside. I wanted to take care of the horses as a favor to her. I’m about to give her some grief, about something. Anything. Breakfast maybe. But when she turns around, I see her face. It’s blotchy. Her eyes are red. She sniffs and turns back to the wheelbarrow. She says nothing, but continues tossing hay into the stalls.

I don’t know a lot about comforting a crying woman. I don’t stay in a relationship long enough to be around too many tears. It’s one of the benefits of playing loose. But her tears make something twist inside me. I’d like to hurt whoever is making Grace cry. Badly.

I walk down the aisle and stop by the wheelbarrow. “I was going to feed the horses. So you could get your work done.”

“I finished,” she says, her voice hoarse. “Just as I got everything done for the week, I saw a Facebook post from my sister. She and her fiancé got married last night.”

“Married?”

She nods. “I talked to her yesterday morning. She must have forgotten to mention she was in Las Vegas. I guess it slipped her mind.”

“So, you don’t like the husband?”

She shoots me a furious look. “I’ve never met the guy!”

“Are you mad she got married? Or mad she married without telling you?”

Grace gives a small feminine growl and wheels the barrow back to the feed room. “Both.”

I follow a few paces behind.

Grace gestures furiously as she explains. “She’s talking about coming here, to show the property to her new husband and meet with a realtor. Now she’ll have two votes and I’ll lose the ranch.”

I lean against the doorway. “Her husband will have as much say as you?”

“That’s right. They can force me to sell. What they really want is the trust. Granddad tied up the money in a trust. Neither of us know how much is in the account, but Vivian’s always insisted it was a fortune.”

She slams the wheelbarrow against the wall. When she whirls around to face me, fire blazes from her eyes. Her hair, halfway restrained in a messy bun, is falling around her face, framing her features in a way that makes every drop of blood in my veins turn to wicked heat. She’s pissed and even that arouses me. I might officially need to see a doctor or something. This girl is fucking with my head so badly, I must have something wrong with me. Low iron, maybe.

“Are you even listening to me?” she demands.

“I am. What can I do? Want me to buy the ranch for you?”

I’m so fucked. If she wanted me to go to the depths of hell and bring back an ice cream sundae, I swear I’d do it. Does she want me to buy her ranch? Fuck yes? I’m ready. I wonder if she has any idea how much of me she owns. All of me. Every miserable bit. And if she knew half of my background, she’d run screaming.

“I could get your sister off your back. You know… pay off Lillian.”

“Vivian!”

“Right.”

I’m trying to be sweet to her, offering her things I never offered any other woman, and, if anything, she’s more pissed than a few minutes ago.

“Just stop it, Ben. Quit being so nice to me. I don’t know what I am to you. An easy lay? You’re pretending to act like the wrecked truck is like…”

She waves her hands around her head like some demented person. It’s adorable. I want to bend her over my knee and spank the sass right out of her. And I want to kiss her and tell her everything’s going to be just fine. I also want to make everything totally all right. I want to do that too. Sweat rolls down my neck and I wonder, briefly, if I’m running a fever.

She sputters. “You’re acting like the wrecked truck is no big deal.”

“It’s not.” I stalk down the length of the feed room. “A big deal. I already bought a new truck so quit hollering.”

She’s scrambling back, her eyes wide.

So far I’ve only been sweet. Mostly. Maybe a little teasing. She’s not quite ready for me coming on strong, but I want her to settle down. To quit fretting. I don’t know what’s gotten her so hot and bothered, but I intend to take care of it. Whatever it is. She thinks her sister’s going to make her sell the ranch? Well, I’ll buy it for her. She thinks the truck’s going to cost her a fortune. I already bought a new one.

There’s no problem that I don’t want to solve for her. None. This woman owns me. I’m a little concerned about just how much she rules my heart. I’ve faced 2,000-pound bulls, and never worried about what might happen when I took them on. But Gracie Hopkins, at 110 pounds, slays me. At the same time, I can’t believe how much I want to toss her over my shoulder and carry her off. I’d show her who’s boss.

What the hell’s wrong with me, I’d really like to know.

I come from a long line of men who didn’t treat women right. I need to rein it in and take care of Gracie. She’s sweet. Angelic. I want to fix things for her. I want to be her hero even though I’m sure I’m the last person that’s right for the job.

“Gracie,” I set my hands on her shoulders. “I know what you need.”

Her lips part with surprise.

My words sound a little different than I’d intended. She blushes. I can’t take my eyes from her mouth and it takes every ounce of restraint to keep from pulling her into my arms and kissing her.

“That wasn’t what I meant,” I say softly.

She gives a breathless laugh.

“I meant we should saddle my horses and go for a ride.”

She smiles, and the way her eyes light up makes me ridiculously happy.

“What do you say, cowgirl? Why don’t you show me if you can handle a horse?”

“Oh, I know how to handle a horse,” she says, the worry fading from her voice.

“Better than a stick shift?”

She laughs again and gives me a little push. “Shut up, Ben.”

I shrug a shoulder. “The first time I saw you at the dance hall, you were wearing your cute little boots and some pretty fine jeans. And seems that’s what you wear around the ranch, but that doesn’t mean you know anything about riding.”

“I know plenty.”

“All right. Let’s go.”

I feel the tension flow from her shoulders. There’s nothing better than getting on the back of a horse for working out your troubles. If I can get Gracie out on the trail, she’ll settle down and we’ll be able to figure out some sort of solution to her pesky sister.