Redeeming the Rancher. Deb Kastner
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he’d had his loaf of bread from the night before. Not only that, but the cowboys had realized his predicament and had graciously offered him the use of their pantry. Otherwise he probably would have gone hungry—or he’d have had to go begging to Alexis, which he wasn’t inclined to do. Thanks to Vivian, he was already beholden to Alexis, more than he wanted to be. He disliked owing anybody anything. He’d rather starve.
He made a mental note to anonymously restock the wranglers’ pantry—and maybe add a little bit more variety to their scant offering. They seemed woefully lacking in diversity. How many cans of baked beans could a man eat?
“Griff?” Alexis sounded impatient.
“One second,” he called again, dipping his fingers into the pomade and randomly dabbing the paste into his hair. He wasn’t a vain man, but his thick hair was downright scary in the morning before his shower. He did the best he could to tame the ragged peaks, then strode to the door.
Alexis’s eyes widened as she surveyed him. “I’m sorry if I woke you.”
Griff cringed. Apparently he hadn’t been entirely successful with the hair.
“No, I was awake. I was reading. Did you need something?”
Alexis’s fair skin coloring gave away even the smallest nuances of a blush, and right now her cheeks were rose-petal pink, though he couldn’t imagine what she had to be embarrassed about. He leaned his shoulder against the door frame and waited for her reply, which seemed a little bit too long in coming.
It was a simple question, requiring a simple answer. Obviously she needed something or she wouldn’t be here knocking at his door. So why was she hesitating? And blushing?
“Well, this is awkward,” she muttered.
He raised a brow. “Really? How so?”
“My sister—” She started but then stammered to a stop. She shook her head. “No, never mind. My problem. I’ll deal.”
What was the woman chattering on about? He waited, hoping she’d finish her sentence. What had Vivian done now?
“It doesn’t matter,” she continued. “I didn’t come here for that.”
It would help him tremendously if he knew what “that” was, if he had any expectation of contributing to this conversation. He had to admit he was curious, but it was all he could do to follow Alexis’s wild roller-coaster of a monologue.
“I’ve scheduled a superbusy afternoon ahead of me, so I wanted to make sure I got down here this morning to ask if you’d care to take supper with me.”
“Tonight?”
She looked surprised. “No. Well, I mean, yes, but not just tonight. I meant always, while you’re here. You’re welcome to eat supper at the house every night for as long as you’ll be staying on at the ranch, or whenever you’re available, anyway. I thought maybe we could spend some time discussing your strategy for finding some land. For starters, I can introduce you to our local Realtor, Marge Thompson.”
“There’s only one?”
“In Serendipity? Yes—and she only works as a Realtor part-time. She’s also our resident insurance agent, so she’ll be able to set you up with anything you need for your house and land and car and all that.”
“That’s convenient,” he said, tongue-in-cheek. He swallowed a chuckle. Instead of the soft, lazy Texas drawl that Vivian possessed, Alexis’s words were all jammed together and coming a mile a minute, increasing speed at every intersection.
Again he had the impression something was off about her. She was acting skittish. Was she nervous about something?
He was good at reading people, but Alexis had him stumped. Every time he started to believe he had her figured out, she changed. She was a total mystery to him.
Had he said or done something to send her off-kilter? And if he had, what could he do to take the edge off?
“I’d be happy to accept.”
Not that. He wanted to kick himself for his sheer stupidity. Open wide, mouth, ’cause he had two feet coming.
If only he could take back the words. In his rush to make her feel more comfortable, he’d dived right off the side of a cliff without looking to see if there was water at the bottom of the canyon, never mind how deep. What had happened to his not wanting to be beholden to her? Sharing meals with her was just exactly the kind of thing he was trying to avoid. Here he went again, acting like an imbecile over a pretty face. He’d wanted to ease her obvious discomfort, he’d panicked, and he had blurted out the first solution that had come into his mind. Idiot.
“Oh, my goodness,” Alexis exclaimed, clapping a palm against her cheek. “I didn’t realize. I should have been thinking of your predicament yesterday. I’m so sorry. I didn’t think things through. I hope you got along okay last night. You didn’t have a thing to eat. Oh, my goodness,” she repeated.
He couldn’t help but chuckle at how flustered she’d become over his “predicament,” as she’d called it. “Don’t worry about me. You don’t need to feel obligated. I managed just fine. I had supper with the ranch hands. Since the cook has Sundays off, they were kind enough to open a can of beans for me. Oh, and don’t forget I had my loaf of bread from breakfast.” He grinned, hoping the statement didn’t come out sounding facetious. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
“I am so sorry.”
She was an astute woman and correctly interpreted his tone. “No worries. I’ll admit it was a bit of a challenge at the outset. I didn’t expect all the stores and restaurants in town to be closed on Sunday. But as I said—no worries. It all worked out in the wash.”
“But still—I should have realized you’d be in a pinch. I should have at least thought about it. Please forgive me for not realizing your dilemma.”
“Not your problem,” he reminded her again. “It isn’t up to you to make sure I get fed.”
As sweet as the woman was for wanting to look out for him, she took too much on herself. He’d showed up out of nowhere with no advance warning, and yet she was treating him as though he was a guest at her ranch. He didn’t want her to think she was accountable for him—not in any way, shape or form.
“It kind of is my problem.” She propped her fists on her hips, tilted her head up to meet his eyes and set her jaw. Her gaze was no-nonsense, almost daring him to argue with her. She was nothing if not determined. “You are my responsibility as long as you’re staying at my ranch.”
No. This wasn’t right at all.
It was as if she’d dropped a cage over him, trapping him behind steel bars. He didn’t like the feeling. Every muscle in his body tensed for flight and he had to consciously breathe through the urge to sprint away. “Let me reiterate—you are under no obligation to take care of me. I don’t want to be any kind of bother to you. I’ll just stay out of your way.”
And you stay out of mine, he added silently. He’d come out here to get away from debts and commitments. If she took charge of him while he stayed at the ranch, then he would feel beholden toward her, which was the last thing he wanted.
“But you’ll still take supper at the house, right? At least tonight? Then you can decide if you want to come back for another meal. I promise not to poison you.” She chuckled drily.
It wasn’t the possibility of being poisoned that he was worried about. On the second pass, conceding to her wishes didn’t sound any better than it had at first. She was practically forcing him into her debt and he was definitely making extra work for her. He desperately wanted to backpedal, except that her voice sounded so hopeful, not to mention the expectant look in her compelling blue eyes that tugged at his heart despite his best efforts to ignore it.
Those pink-tinged cheeks and that ready smile were hard to say no to. He just wasn’t strong