A Rancher for Christmas. Brenda Minton
her past and dug up what dirt he could find. He’d done it for Mia. Even bringing her to Oklahoma had been for Mia, not for Breezy.
It had worked out, though. And had given her a taste of what it was like to belong. It had only been a few days, but she wanted to belong in Martin’s Crossing. Belong to a town with a small grocery store and neighbors who asked how she was doing.
Jake ended his call and walked back toward her. With his long, powerful strides he was there in a matter of steps. He kneeled next to her, bending those long legs and folding his arms over his knees. He pushed back the black cowboy hat and peered at her. He looked concerned.
She took a breath and waited.
“Are you okay?”
“Of course I am.” She made sure to smile as she said it. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
His face split in a grin. “Well, you were almost toast out there with Johnny.”
“The bull’s name is Johnny? How ridiculous.”
Eyebrows arched. “Really? What would you name him?”
She shook her head. “I thought perhaps Sir Loin. But then he didn’t seem very chivalrous for a knight, so maybe Johnny is better.”
“He usually isn’t aggressive, but he does like to play. And when a bull his size decides to play, that makes you the bouncy ball.”
“I’m glad you came along when you did.”
“Me, too,” he replied. His voice was soft, like wind through the pines, and it undid her a tiny bit. “You’re probably cold.”
She was cold. She’d been wearing yoga pants and a T-shirt when she’d gone on this wild adventure. And her slippers were soaked from the damp morning grass. As she considered her pathetic condition, he slipped off his jacket and eased it around her shoulders.
“This should help.”
Words failed her. The jacket smelled of Jake Martin, like pine, mountains in the fall and cold winter air. She wanted to bury her nose in the collar and inhale his scent. She wanted to tell him she didn’t need his jacket. Without his jacket she was safe. Not tangled up with him, longing to be a part of something she’d never be a part of. In her experience, wanting always ended with disappointment. What she wanted was always taken from her or left behind when she moved on.
* * *
Jake watched as a train of emotions flickered across her face. He’d seen gratitude when he’d first put that coat around her, then he’d seen fear and maybe regret. He wished she wasn’t so easy to read. She’d be less complicated if she could be as composed as she thought she was.
Breezy was poetry, classic novels and maybe the Bible, all rolled into one very open book. It was a book he thought he might like to read. In any other life but his own.
For Violet and Rose’s sakes, he couldn’t mess this up. He’d seen, even in their short introduction to Breezy, that the girls would need this woman in their lives. But he couldn’t need her. His entire life was a juggling act. The ranch, his career, the twins, his family. One more thing might set the whole mess falling fast around him.
But he would handle the moments when she made him smile, made him laugh. He was selfish that way.
“Do you want to go back to the house?” he asked, needing to get past whatever vibrated in the air between them.
She shook her head; he’d known she would. “I’m cold, but I’m not going to faint or fall apart, Martin.”
He smiled again. “I didn’t begin to think you would, Hernandez.”
At that she actually smiled, and he saw her vulnerability slip away. She was strong again. Snuggled in his jacket that she would leave scented with her lavender-and-citrus fragrance.
“If you need to do something, go right ahead,” she offered. “I know you didn’t come over here with the intention of rescuing me and then solving a mystery.”
“No, I came over to feed. To do that, I’ll have to get the tractor and hook a round bale. I’ll be gone in about fifteen minutes.”
“I haven’t forgotten how to protect myself. I’ve been doing it a long time.”
He had no doubt she could protect herself. And he also knew that was her way of telling him she didn’t need him to look after her. He walked away, taking a spare jacket that had been left inside the tack room and heading out the side door to the tractor. He climbed up into the big green-and-yellow machine and closed the door, blocking out the sounds and thoughts that were bombarding him this morning.
But one thought wouldn’t be evaded. When was the last time anyone had looked out for Breezy? Had she ever been made to feel safe, to feel protected?
It wasn’t his job, that role of protector. She did have a sister in Oklahoma. And she had made it clear that she relied on herself, her own abilities.
Jake had the twins, Samantha, Brody and sometimes Duke to watch over, to keep out of trouble and to protect. Lawton had put Breezy in his life but he hadn’t made Jake her guardian.
With that settled in his mind, he drove out through the field with a round bale on the back of the tractor and cattle following behind him. He’d hired a kid to do this job but it hadn’t worked out. James had been twenty-one and wanting to save up to go to welding school. After a week of taking care of things at Lawton’s place, James had stopped showing up.
That left it to Jake. Maybe when Brody came home he’d help out. And Duke would do what he could.
As he headed back to the barn to park the tractor the county deputy was pulling up in his car. Mac the blue heeler greeted him, his stub tail wagging. Jake knew the deputy. They’d gone to school together a long time ago.
When he stepped back into the barn after parking the tractor, Deputy Aaron Mallard was in the office. Breezy stood in the doorway answering questions and apologizing because she really hadn’t seen anything other than loose cattle and an open door.
The deputy nodded in greeting when he saw Jake. “Jake, been a while.”
“Aaron, yeah, it has. I didn’t touch anything, but I can tell you it wasn’t like this yesterday.”
“Didn’t figure you left it a mess. And I know Lawton was a stickler for neatness. Someone was looking for something in the filing cabinet. It’s pried open. Funny, because I’m not seeing anything but feed bills and farm equipment receipts.”
“That’s really all that we kept in here.”
“Anything in the house that someone would want?”
“I guess there could still be paperwork or research in Lawton’s office. He took most of his work to Austin but sometimes he worked at home,” Jake responded. He tried to remember anything Lawton had said or even hinted at. Had they had prowlers before? It wasn’t unheard-of these days.
The country used to be safe. They hadn’t locked their doors for more years than he could remember. Yeah, life had changed. People didn’t mind stealing from neighbors. Worse than that, now they even stole from the church if they got a chance.
What had happened to respect? Leaning against the door frame, he shook his head at the turn of his thoughts. “I’ll take a look around, and see if I can find anything that might have been interesting to a burglar.”
“Could be it isn’t a burglar, Jake.” The deputy closed the filing cabinet drawer and walked out of the office. “Could be they’re searching for something and it isn’t a random break-in. Lawton developed some pretty serious financial software. Could he have left something around here that he was working on? Something new?”
“Yeah, maybe,” Jake agreed, trying hard not to think about how this put the twins, and Breezy, in danger. If someone was searching for Lawton’s latest project, what would they do to get their hands