Fugitive Fiancee. Kristin Gabriel
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“So where is your car?”
“Someone must have stolen it.” She tried to sound forlorn, but it was hard when her prospects were suddenly looking so much better.
He snorted. “This area is hardly a hotbed for car thieves.” He braked to a stop, then cut the engine. “It’s got to be around here somewhere. A car just can’t disappear.”
Mimi climbed out of the truck and joined him in the middle of the road, telling herself not to get her hopes up. He could still refuse to hire her.
He stood with his hands on his lean hips and a disgruntled expression on his face. “What have I done to deserve this?”
She looked at him, squinting in the glare of the morning sun. “Maybe it’s a sign.”
“I don’t believe in signs.” He stalked to the truck. “I’ll just take you back to Austin myself.”
“Okay,” she said, trudging along beside him. “You can drop me off on a street corner somewhere.”
He stopped to frown at her. “I don’t think so.”
“A homeless shelter?”
A muscle flexed in his square jaw. “Stop fooling around, Mimi. Tell me your address.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “I assure you I’m completely serious. You may not want me to work for you, but you can’t force me to go home, either.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You’re trying to make me feel guilty. It won’t work.”
“I’m not trying to make you feel anything. I’m just telling you I won’t go home. Not yet.”
“Then when?”
She gave a slight shrug. “Maybe in about four weeks.”
He looked at the sky, but she couldn’t tell if he was contemplating hiring her or leaving her out here to the coyotes. Suddenly, she wanted more than a refuge from her problems. She wanted to get to know Garrett and his life out here. A life that was so different from her own.
Mimi heard him swear softly under his breath before he turned to face her. “You’re serious, aren’t you? You really want to hire on as my ranch hand?”
Her heart leaped. “I’ve always wanted to work outdoors.”
He shook his head. “Ranching isn’t some glamour job. And it’s nothing like what you’ve seen on television. It’s hard, dirty, exhausting work.”
“I’m not afraid of hard work.”
“How about ice storms? This January is looking to be worse than usual. And we work every day, rain or shine. I mean every day, no weekends or holidays off. During calving season, we take shifts and work through the night, too.”
“You’re trying to scare me. It won’t work.”
“I’m just telling you the facts of ranching life. You’ll get kicked by cows, stung by bees and definitely break every single one of those fancy fingernails. Ranching is tough for any woman. But for a city woman, it’s downright impossible.”
She arched a brow. “You have a pretty low opinion of me, don’t you, Garrett?”
He sighed. “It’s nothing personal. I just don’t have time to waste coddling a tenderfoot. This is a working ranch, not some vacation spot for bored debutantes.”
His words stung. “I’m not looking for a vacation. I expect to earn my keep. I’m just grateful you’re willing to give me a chance.”
He opened his mouth, then closed it again. “Wait just a minute,” he began. “When did I offer to give you a chance?”
“Are you a gambling man, Garrett?”
He folded his arms across his chest. “Only when the odds are in my favor.”
She moved a step closer to him, the air crackling between them. Yesterday she’d blamed her initial attraction to him on exhaustion and nerves. But today she was drawn to him even more. His strength and vitality appealed to something primal inside her. Something that made her want to throw off the stuffy constraints of her upbringing and make him really see her. Make him believe she was a woman worthy of his respect.
She looked at him. “Let’s make a little wager. I’ll work here for three days. If I can keep up—”
“And keep out of trouble,” he interjected.
“Then you’ll let me stay.”
“But if you can’t keep up, then you’ll give me your address and let me take you home. Deal?”
Three days. She just hoped it was long enough to prove herself to him. Still, it wasn’t as if she had any options. “Deal.”
He smiled, obviously convinced he’d gotten the best of her. “Don’t expect me to go easy on you just because you’re a woman. I’ll treat you like I’d treat any other ranch hand.”
She resisted the urge to do a little victory dance right in the middle of the road. “Absolutely. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“And don’t be afraid to tell me when you’ve had enough. I can take you back at any time. You don’t have to stick it out for the whole three days.”
He was very confident. Alarmingly so. For one brief moment, Mimi wondered what exactly she’d gotten herself into. Then she shook off her qualms. Nothing could be as bad as facing her father and Paul.
Their betrayal still cut into her like a knife. A shiver ran through her when she realized how close she’d come to marrying Paul. Especially when her short time with Garrett had elicited a more intense physical reaction than she’d ever experienced with her fiancé.
“Second thoughts?” he asked, misinterpreting her silence.
“Not at all,” she replied, squaring her shoulders. “What do you want me to do first?”
He tipped up his cowboy hat. “Well, for starters, you could tell me your full name.”
“Banyon.” She improvised with only a moment’s hesitation. Her mother’s maiden name wasn’t nearly as recognizable as Casville. It also wasn’t in the Austin phone directory, just in case this was a trick and he planned to call every Banyon in Austin until he found one who would claim her.
She tilted her head at him. “And yours?”
“The name’s Lord. Garrett Lord.”
She held out her hand. “It’s a pleasure to be working for you, Mr. Lord.”
He clasped her hand in his, and Mimi couldn’t ignore the warm tingle that shot up her arm. Then he smiled and said, “I think you’re in for a surprise, Miss Banyon.”
“Just remember, I get three days.”
His smile widened. “Mimi, you won’t even last one day.”
SHE BARELY LASTED one hour.
First, she stepped into a gopher hole, wrenched her ankle and landed in a fresh pile of cow manure. It only got worse after that. By dusk, her entire body ached from the arduous task of helping Garrett fix fence. It didn’t sound difficult, but it took muscle power to straighten fence posts and tighten barbed wire. Unfortunately, her one-day-a-week workouts at Austin’s trendiest fitness center hadn’t prepared her for life on the range.
“Ouch!” Mimi gasped as a razor-sharp barb on the wire fencing pricked her finger.
“There’s a pair of leather gloves in the truck cab,” Garrett informed her as he tightened the barbed wire with the wire stretchers.
“I’m fine,” she replied, feeling a little woozy as she watched blood ooze out of her thumb. She closed her eyes and hastily wiped her thumb