The Rancher Next Door

Chapter Three

Jack lined up the cans of oil so they would be ready to pour into the truck. Changing the oil in the ranch vehicles generally fell to someone lower on the food chain, but these days, with his mom mostly confined to the house, he preferred to stay close to home. So he’d taken over the chore of getting the vehicles in shape for spring roundup. Which meant every truck and car on the ranch got its oil changed.

The old Dodge four-by-four was battered. There were deep gouges in both doors, and the once red paint had faded some from long days in the sun. But despite the cosmetic problems, the truck had never once failed or left him stranded. His father had always told him to take care of his equipment and it would take care of him.

Jack frowned at the memory. He didn’t usually allow himself to think about his father. Russell Darby had walked out on his family eighteen years ago and had never once looked back. He’d not been in touch with any of his children, not to mention his wife. Hell of a legacy, Jack thought grimly.

A small sound caught his attention. He turned toward the noise, grateful for the interruption. Long ago he’d taught himself to avoid any thoughts of his father, and he didn’t want to break the habit now. He saw a boy standing just inside the open double doors of the oversize garage. Even without the sunlight glinting off wire-rimmed glasses, he would have recognized the child.

Shane Fitzgerald had the look of the Fitzgerald family about him. Blond hair, blue eyes, stubborn chin. Aaron’s chin. Jack could also see Katie in the boy—Katie and someone else. The boy’s father.

“Hello, Shane,” Jack said pleasantly.

Shane took a step closer to him. “Mom says I’m supposed to stay out of the way. She’s up at the house helpin’ Mrs. Darby.”

“I know.”

There was something tentative about the boy. An air of caution that made him seem smaller and younger. Normally Jack didn’t make much time for children—they weren’t a part of his world. But for some reason he found himself wanting to make Shane feel comfortable.

“I’m changing the oil in the truck,” Jack said. “You’re welcome to stay and watch. Or you can help me.”

Shane took another step forward. He wore a long-sleeved shirt tucked into jeans. He was skinny—the belt around his waist was the only thing that kept his pants in place. The boy pushed up his glasses in a nervous gesture.

“I don’t know anything about cars and trucks.” His shoulders hunched as if he expected Jack to yell at him. “I watch the men change the oil in Mom’s car when she takes it in, but they’re underground and it’s hard to see anything.”

“I know what you mean,” Jack said. He studied the child. He wasn’t a strapping boy, and he hadn’t been raised on a ranch. He was obviously interested in his surroundings, but also frightened of them. Was Aaron taking the time to make the child feel at home? Jack had his doubts.

“Come here,” Jack said, motioning to the truck. “I’ll give you a lift up so you can see the engine, then I’ll tell you what all the parts are.”

Shane’s expression turned eager. He moved closer until Jack could loop one arm around the boy’s slender waist and hoist him to the bumper. Shane stood there, leaning against Jack. The kid didn’t weigh much more than the ranch dogs, he thought with some surprise.

“We put the oil in there,” Jack said, pointing. “I’m draining the dirty oil now. Then I’ll replace the oil filter and put in new oil.”

He patiently explained the various parts of the engine and how they helped make the truck go. Next he grabbed a second dolly so Shane could slide under the truck with him.

“Careful of that oil,” he instructed as Shane scooted next to him. “You get it on your clothes, your mom’ll kill me. You get it in your eye and Doc Remington’ll do it to me, instead.”

Shane giggled. He pushed on the bridge of his glasses. “These will keep me safe.”

“Not from your mom.”

Shane watched as Jack loosened the oil filter and pulled it free. He showed the boy the clean replacement, and they compared them.

“Now we put a drop of clean oil around the seal at the top.”

“To make it stick?” Shane asked eagerly.

“That’s right. You catch on fast.”

The simple compliment made the kid glow. Jack found himself wanting to say other nice things to Shane, although he wasn’t sure what.

“How do you like living in Lone Star Canyon?” he asked.

Shane shrugged. He rested his heels against the concrete and rolled himself back and forth a couple of inches. “It’s okay.”

Something in the boy’s voice alerted Jack to the fact that there was more to his answer. He waited patiently. Shane continued to roll on the dolly. Finally he took a deep breath.

“I always liked my grandpa’s ranch, so I was happy when Mom said we were moving there. Except it’s different living there. It’s bigger and kinda scary. And I miss my friends in Dallas, only I can’t tell my mom ’cause I don’t want her to worry more than she does. And Grandpa’s real loud.”

Jack wasn’t sure what to do with all that information. He decided to start with something easy. “Have you started making friends here?”

Another shrug. “I guess. Some. The boys are different. They all ride and stuff. I like computers.”

“You’ll find boys who share your interests. Even if you don’t, you can still be friends. Come on. We’re done under here.”

They slid from under the truck. Jack stood, then held out his hand to help the boy scramble to his feet. Shane shifted his weight from foot to foot.

“What if they don’t like me?” he asked without looking at Jack. “My mom’s boyfriend didn’t like me much. He never said anything, but I could tell.” He glanced up, his eyes bigger than usual, his expression troubled. “I think that’s why we moved away. And now that we’re here, I don’t think Grandpa likes me very much, either.”

Jack’s chest tightened, but he didn’t have any words of wisdom to offer. Instead he put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and squeezed.

“Shane, there you are.”

They both glanced up and saw Katie standing in the entrance to the garage. She looked at them, then at the truck.

“So what have you two been getting into?” she asked with a smile.

“Shane’s been helping me change the oil. He’s really good with engines,” Jack said, earning a quick smile from the boy.

“Is he? I’m not surprised. Shane is bright and generally successful at whatever he tries.”

She stood with the light behind her so it was impossible to read her expression. Probably a good thing. Her body was distraction enough. Jack told himself that he wasn’t interested in women in general and Katie in particular. He told himself that the thrust of her breasts and the roundness of her hips didn’t interest him. He told himself that the fact that he knew she kissed hotter than any other woman he’d ever known was meaningless.

He lied.

As much as he didn’t want to acknowledge the truth, he couldn’t help the fire that seemed to spring up from nowhere and settle in his groin. He’d managed to ignore it the past couple of times he’d seen her, but now it threatened to consume him. It was just desire, he told himself. A lust for sex didn’t much matter. It was only biology. At least she no longer engaged his heart.

Misty, the Lab-shepherd mix ranch dog, trotted into the barn. She went up to Shane, sniffed him once then licked his hand. The boy giggled and, when she ran out of the barn, he chased after her.

“Was he a bother?” Katie asked when they were alone.

“No. I meant what I said. He was a help.”

She smiled. Again he noticed how time had changed her face, age adding beauty by defining her bone structure more clearly. Experience and wisdom darkened her eyes, making him wonder about the years she’d been away. What lessons had she learned and how had they made her different?

Wait a minute, he told himself firmly. He was not interested in Katie in any way and he didn’t want to know about her personal life—changes or no changes.

“I doubt he did more than get in the way,” she said, “but thank you for being kind.”

“I wasn’t. I like him. He’s a good kid. You’ve done a great job.”

“You think so?” She tucked her hands into the pockets of her tailored slacks. Even in her low-heeled pumps she barely came to his shoulder. “My father wouldn’t agree. He thinks Shane isn’t man enough.” She hesitated, then looked at him. “I heard what Shane said. About Aaron not liking him.”

“Is it true?”

“I don’t know.” She shook her head. Her blond curls fluttered around her face. “Actually I do know. I just don’t want to admit it to myself.”

“Shane isn’t what your father is used to. He’ll come around.”

Katie raised her eyebrows. “I know you don’t believe that for a second. My father invented the word stubborn.” She dropped her hands to her sides, then moved closer to the truck. She rested a hand on the hood and studied the windshield. “Shane likes to read and do things on his computer. I don’t think my father has read a book in years, and he still does his account books by hand. They don’t have much in common. Shane is a child of the future, and Aaron is firmly entrenched in the past.”

“That doesn’t mean he can’t love his grandson.”

“Maybe.” But she didn’t sound convinced. She looked out the open door. “You’ve made a lot of changes around here. Not that I was a frequent visitor, but I can tell you’ve updated a lot. Obviously you don’t share my father’s love of the past.”

“Agreed.”

Jack avoided the past whenever possible. If he didn’t he could get lost there. Even now it taunted him with memories of how it had been between Katie and himself. How she’d looked and tasted when he kissed her. The feel of her skin again his hand. He remembered their first kiss and their last, the first and only time he’d touched her breasts. If he let himself, he could get caught up in the longing to have been the first man to know her intimately.

“I admire what you’ve done here,” she said.

He told himself the compliment didn’t matter even as he enjoyed hearing it. “I had good role models. Old Bill Smith was the foreman for nearly twenty years. He believed in using new technology if it saved time and money.”

“Any regrets about staying?” she asked.

He didn’t like the question. “I told you before. I’m content with my life.”

“I know, but I was hoping for something more.”

“A confession? I don’t have any.”

She tried to smile, but it wobbled at the corners then faded altogether. “Gee, and I have too many.” She took a step toward the door and paused. “Thanks for taking the time with Shane. I know you’re busy.”

“I meant what I said, Katie. I enjoyed his company. He’s a bright boy.”

“Not everyone has figured that out. You were one of the good guys back when I was Shane’s age, and it looks like you still are.”

He watched her walk away. Her hips swayed. Her curls danced. She moved into the sunlight like an angel of God returning home.

Jack blinked. Where the hell had that thought come from? Was he getting soft or something? No way was he interested in Katie. Except for occasional sex, he did not do relationships, and he wasn’t going to risk any entanglements, sexual or otherwise, with someone like her. She’d always been trouble and that hadn’t changed. Besides, he’d learned his lesson. Women didn’t stay with him very long. Why get all wound up about something that was bound to end?

He stared through the open door, saw her call for her son, then step into her Explorer. He ignored the unexpected ache in his gut, ignored the fact that it was mighty similar to the ache he’d felt when she’d left eleven years before. There was no way she still mattered. Not after all this time.

Even so, he would do his best to avoid her. Keeping his distance had always been the safest route. If he hadn’t known that when he’d been a teenager, he’d learned it in spades as a man.

Katie closed Shane’s bedroom door and sighed. Her son was finally asleep. Despite his usual quiet demeanor at dinner, the rest of the evening had been spent with him chattering about his time with Jack. How he’d helped with the oil change. How Jack had explained the different parts of the truck engine to him. How Jack seemed to like him.

It broke her heart that her nine-year-old son worried that adults didn’t like him. Unfortunately she knew exactly where that fear came from. First from Shane’s father, who had walked out of his life before he was born and had never reappeared, then from her father, who couldn’t say a single pleasant word to the boy.

“Katie?”

Speak of the devil, she thought as she turned and saw her father approaching.

“Hi, Dad.”

Her father didn’t respond to her greeting. Judging by his closed, angry expression, he wasn’t going to.

“In my office. Now.”

She thought about protesting. She wasn’t a little girl any more. She didn’t like him ordering her around. Then she glanced at her son’s closed door and knew that if she got into it with her father here in the hall, Shane would hear everything.

“I would be delighted to join you for a few minutes,” she said lightly. “Lead the way.”

Aaron glared at her, as if suspecting sarcasm, then turned on his heel and headed down the hall. Two minutes later they were in his office at the back of the house.

A fire burned briskly in the fireplace and chased away the chill. This twenty-by-twenty room was her father’s domain and always had been. A large desk sat in the middle of the floor. Worn chairs flanked it. There were a couple of bookshelves, trophy animal heads mounted on the paneled walls and a large calendar featuring cattle opposite the desk.

The office was the place she and her siblings had presented themselves when they were in trouble or at report card time. Lectures and punishment came from this room, as did their allowances and chore lists. The kitchen might be the heart of the house, but this place was the heart of her father’s world.

Katie settled into the worn leather wing chair closest to the fireplace. While the night wasn’t especially cold, she found herself shivering. Her father took the seat behind the desk—his usual position in this room.

Katie closed her eyes for a second and breathed in the different scents. Leather, dust, wood smoke, the faint hint of cattle and horses. She leaned her head against the chair and smiled at her father. “I know you’re not going to lecture me about my grades or staying out late. I was actually a pretty good kid.”

Aaron’s hard features softened slightly. “That’s true. You paid attention to the rules. The boys and Josie were a bit of a handful. Of course Suzanne’s girls more than made up for you two, and then some.”

Katie laughed. Aaron spoke the truth. While she had been a practically perfect, probably boring child, her sister Josie and Suzanne’s daughters, Robin and Dallas, had been hellions. Especially Robin, who now flew helicopters for the Navy. The three girls had been headstrong, bright and fearless. Aaron adored them even as he resented Robin’s attempts to get him to modernize.

Her father rested his forearms on the scarred desk and met her gaze. “I want to know what you think you’re doing, going to the Darby ranch like you are.”

Katie hadn’t been sure what he wanted to talk about. The knot in her stomach had expected something about Shane. When she understood she was the one who had displeased him she felt first relief, then amazement that he still kept the ridiculous feud alive.

“You make it sound like I’m selling secrets to a Third World country,” she said, hoping to inject some humor into their conversation. “I’m a trained physical therapist, Dad. Right now Hattie Darby is one of my patients. I’m over there helping her recover from her accident.”

“You’re going to have stop treating her. She can find someone else.”

Katie’s mouth opened and closed. She didn’t believe she was hearing this. “Actually I don’t have to stop and she doesn’t have to find anyone else. Except for the hospital staff, I’m the only physical therapist in Lone Star Canyon. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to move back here. I knew that I would have plenty of work and could provide a necessary service. But I can’t settle in town and then hang out a sign saying No Darbys Allowed. I have a responsibility to myself and to the community.”

“That’s a load of horse manure, and you know it.” Her father glared at her. “You don’t need to work at all. You can live on the ranch just like before. I’ve never liked the idea of you being all on your own in Dallas.”

Not in this lifetime, she thought with a shudder. Not even on a bet. “Dad, welcome to the modern age. Lots of women take care of themselves. We live in cities, have jobs, we even drive.”

His gaze narrowed. “Don’t get smart with me, missy.”

Whatever nostalgia he’d felt at their shared past had faded, she realized with a sigh. As she watched, color rose in her father’s face. He was getting angry, and they hadn’t been talking but five minutes. Why did he have to make everything a fight?

She straightened in her chair and leaned toward him. “Dad, I appreciate the offer, but I’m not the kind of person who would be happy living here. I need to make my own way. I love my work. It’s important to me and it makes me happy.”

That made him think for a minute. “I don’t want you working with Darbys.”

“I don’t have a choice.”

“We all have choices. You chose to come and live on the ranch while your house is being built. While you’re under my roof, you’ll follow my rules.”

She couldn’t help laughing. “You are the most stubborn, difficult man I’ve ever know. This is exactly why I’d never move home on a permanent basis, Dad. You make me crazy.”

Reluctantly he smiled in return. She watched the wrinkles deepen with his grin. Every time she saw him he looked a little older. He was still powerful and formidable, but she wondered how much longer it would be until he looked old and frail. She dreaded that day. Aaron was as much a part of her world as the sun or the sky.

“I need my work,” she said quietly. “I make a difference in people’s lives, and that makes me feel whole. Part of that work means helping Hattie. I won’t turn my back on her, no matter what you say. Can you live with that or do you need me to move out?”

Aaron glared at her. “You’re my daughter, and there will always be a place for you. But I don’t like what you’re doing.”

“As long as you still like me, Dad.”

He grunted in response, which was as close to a sign of affection as he gave. He shuffled the papers on his desk, then returned his attention to her. “We need to talk about that boy of yours.”

Warning sirens went off in her head. “No, we don’t.”

“The boy’s a sissy. I’ve been telling you to get him up on a horse, but you don’t listen. You cater to him too much. If you don’t get out of his way, he’ll never turn into a man.”

Her spine stiffened. “You mean he won’t turn into you. Guess what, Dad? That’s fine with me. Not because I don’t love you but because Shane is his own person. He has to follow his own path.”

“That’s a crock, and we both know it. You’re ruining the boy. I want to take him in hand so he’ll turn out right.”

She linked her hands together and squeezed until her knuckles turned white. “I admire your ability to know what to do at all times. Most people have questions and wonder if their actions are correct.”

“Most people are fools.”

“Are you ever wrong?”

“Of course not.”

But he wouldn’t met her gaze as he spoke, and they both knew that he was lying. He’d been wrong many times before. How on earth had Suzanne put up with him all these years?

“Dad, I appreciate the advice, but for now I’m going to have to do what I think is best. I know you want Shane to be a part of the ranch, but it has to be in his own time, on his own terms. I need you to respect that.”

“What you need is a man to take you in hand. You and your boy. You’re going to ruin him. Mark my words. You’ll screw him up just like everything else in your life.”

His words hit her like a blow. Until that moment she’d honestly thought her father was proud of her for making her own way in the world. She’d raised a son on her own, paid most of her way through college, been a self-supporting member of society. But none of that mattered to her father. She’d chosen a path other than the one he wanted for her, so she was a failure.

Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them back. No way she was going to let him win by seeing her cry. Without saying anything more she rose to her feet and headed for the door.

“Get back here,” Aaron demanded. “I’m not finished with you.”

“Good night,” Katie said softly as she closed the door behind her. She stood in the hallway fighting for control. She couldn’t stay here much longer, she thought sadly. If she did, Aaron would destroy both her and Shane. In the morning she would call the contractor and see if there was any way to hurry the construction on her new house.