He closed one cabinet and opened another, but it was empty. So he turned to her, leaning against the counter. He had a habit, already, of looking directly at her when he spoke. All charm and smiles and green eyes and…stuff. But this was different. No smiling. He wasn’t even making eye contact.
“Look, I get it. I don’t know a thing about anything. That’s why I hired you. I haven’t the first clue what I’m doing. All I know is my grandpa always made it sound like… He made it sound like ranching meant something. Gave him a purpose or whatever. He said this place was his heart. And, the fact of the matter is, my entire life’s purpose is hockey, and whether or not I’m going to be involved in hockey in any capacity for much longer is questionable right now, so I want something. I want something that’s going to matter if the one thing that does gets taken away from me. Grandpa suggested this—his heart—so here I am.”
She didn’t dare move, or speak. She absorbed those words. The honesty in them. “Why not ask your grandpa for the advice, the help? If he loved it so much, why did they move away?”
Dan stared hard out the dusty, filmy window. “He’s not doing so hot these days. Neither of them are, actually, and it’s been a long, slow road to not really being all there. They moved to a warmer climate for Grandma’s health, and it killed him a little bit. Never been the same. In fact, his suggestion for me to take this on probably wasn’t even a rational one, but it stuck with me.”
She could feel the sadness coming off him in waves. Or was that her own sadness? Dad might still be mentally there, but that was about it. He mainly wheeled around the house like a ghost, barely speaking, never getting involved. So, she was pretty familiar with that heavy bleakness of not knowing how to fix someone you loved.
Then his eyes did meet hers, that cocky grin back in place. The only hint he had just spilled his guts was the fact that his hands were gripping the counter. Which made his biceps stand out, and those shoulders…
“I’m at your mercy, Cowgirl,” he drawled. It didn’t matter that the drawl was fake, or the words were goofy, she could very much imagine him being at her mercy. Or her being at his as he pushed off the counter and walked toward her.
“It’s no accident I’m dropping a pretty penny on you. Just about anyone I talked to brought up your name. Told me to get Mel Shaw, not Caleb. So, here I am, having Mel.”
If he hadn’t brought up Caleb’s name, she might have dissolved into a pathetic puddle of lust. But the mention of her brother—and people warning Dan away from him—undercut any fantasies Dan having her might have brought up. All that was left was determination.
She’d done a lot in the way of mending her brother’s burned bridges, but the fact of the matter was, every time Caleb had stolen from one of the businesses in town, every time he’d crashed his pickup into someone’s fence, the people of Blue Valley put a little black mark against the Shaw name. People might like her, respect her, but none of them would give an inch when it came to helping with the ranch, because Caleb was a part of it. No matter what Caleb had done to try to make amends.
At least the town respected what she’d done enough to give her this. She couldn’t ignore that it was something.
So, she’d do this. She’d do a hell of a job helping Mr. Hockey Player become Mr. Awesome Rancher. Or at least Mr. Doesn’t Embarrass Himself Rancher.
She slid the notebook and pen back into her pocket, fixing Dan with her best I’m-the-boss glare. “Grab your wallet, moneybags. We’ve got some errands to run.”
His grin changed, from that cocky “I’ll get the best of you” quirk to something softer and more genuine. “You’re really going to do this?”
“Paying me, aren’t you?”
“I figured when you heard how much work teaching me a thing or two was going to be, you might bail.”
“That’s one thing you’ll learn about me pretty damn quick, Sharpe—I don’t bail.” She grabbed her Stetson off the counter and pulled it low on her head. Then she marched out the door to her truck.
She was here for the money, and she wouldn’t leave without that, but at least she had enough insight into Dan’s motivations to care. Care that he got off his feet and running, care that as oblivious as he seemed, he was in it for the heart of the ranch. She knew how much that could mean.
So, nope, she wouldn’t bail. And maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to get a deserted ranch back and running again.
*
Dan watched Mel from his seat in an uncomfortable vinyl booth while she chatted with two sheriff’s deputies at the diner counter.
She smiled at these guys. Laughed at their lame jokes. Not that he could hear their jokes, but they were cops. How funny could they be?
Even after his rather personal revelation of why he was here, and her dragging him around all morning, spending his money on all means of supplies, she didn’t smile or chat with him like that. She gave orders. She muttered under her breath.