to listen to him tell her how disreputable Nick was or that she’d do well to steer clear of him. She knew firsthand how unreliable Nick was.
Cheyenne sighed heavily as she climbed into her truck and drove the five miles to the Sugar Creek ranch house. She really didn’t have a lot of choice in the matter. Even if they figured out who held the promissory note—Emerald, Inc. or Nick—heaven only knew she didn’t have the money to repay it in order to get out of the work agreement.
Ten minutes later, when she pulled into the ranch yard and got out of the truck, the first thing she noticed was the bay and sorrel geldings standing saddled and tied to the corral fence. They were waiting for her to take Nick to see the cattle company herds—his herds. But he was nowhere in sight. And that suited her just fine. The less time she had to spend with him the better off she’d be.
Walking over to the horses, she patted the sorrel gelding’s neck. She’d been more humiliated than she’d ever been in her life during their meeting yesterday when she’d had to tell him that she and her father were practically destitute. But that hadn’t stopped her from noticing that the boy she’d once loved with all her heart had grown into a devastatingly handsome man or that whenever he turned his deep blue eyes her way, her chest tightened with an ache she’d thought she’d long ago gotten over.
“You’re late.”
Her stomach did a little flip at the sound of Nick’s deep baritone and, turning around, she found him standing with one shoulder propped against the edge of the barn door, his arms crossed over his wide chest. She swallowed hard and tried not to notice how his chambray shirt emphasized the width of his shoulders or how his worn jeans hugged his muscular thighs and rode low on his narrow hips. As he pushed away from the barn and walked toward her, her pulse sped up and she felt as if she couldn’t breathe.
“I had things to do,” she said, hating the breathless tone of her own voice. “Besides, this shouldn’t take long. Both herds are pastured within a few miles’ ride of each other.”
He nodded as he untied the two horses, then handed her the sorrel’s reins. “I need to be back before supper.”
“We’ll be back well before then,” she said, mounting the gelding.
“Good. I have plans.”
Cheyenne couldn’t believe the twinge of disappointment coursing through her. She couldn’t care less if he had a date. She really couldn’t. As long as he left her alone, he could date and bed the county’s entire female population and it wouldn’t bother her one bit.
“If you’d like to postpone checking the herds, it won’t bother me. I have other things I need to be doing anyway.”
He effortlessly swung up onto the bay and rode up beside her. “No, I want to see what we’ve got so that when I go to the auction tomorrow night, I can compare what we have to what’s being sold. Then I’ll have a fair idea of how much I can get when I sell our cattle.”
“You’re selling out?”
Panic sent a cold chill snaking up her spine and caused her stomach to twist into a painful knot. If he sold everything, how was she supposed to pay off the remainder of her debt?
“Don’t worry, you’ll still have a job,” he said as if he’d read her mind. “I’m starting a new breeding program that will make the Sugar Creek a major force to contend with in the beef industry. And I can’t do that with the cattle we have now.”
“You’re not going to start raising some obscure breed that no one has ever heard of, are you?”
“Not hardly.” Laughing, he shook his head as they nudged the horses into a slow walk. “The Sugar Creek has always raised Black Angus and we always will. The same as the Flying H. But they’re going to be free-range cattle. No more supplements, growth hormones or commercial cattle feed. We’re starting an all-natural operation.”
Relieved to hear that she wouldn’t have to worry about finding a way to pay back money she didn’t have—at least for now—she nodded. “Free-range stock of all kinds are becoming very popular.”
“It’s getting bigger by the day and we’re missing out on a fast-growing market.” When he turned his head to look at her, he adjusted the wide brim of his black Resistol so that their gazes met. “The way I figure it, between the two ranches there’s a little over a hundred and fifty thousand acres of prime grazing land and plenty of good grass to cut for hay to feed the cattle in the winter months.”
He definitely had her interest. It could take several years for an operation like that to reach its peak. Maybe if he was busy planning how many acres he’d use for graze, how many for hay and where and how to market the beef, she’d be free to do her job and get through the next four years of her contract without having a lot of contact with him.
“When are you going to start selling off the herds and bringing in the new stock?”
“Within the next couple of weeks. I’m going to talk to the auction house tomorrow night about selling off the cattle in lots of ten to fifteen. I think I’ll get more out of them that way.”
She frowned. With the cold Wyoming winter just around the corner, it seemed like a bad time to be bringing in a new herd. “When will the new stock arrive?”
“Next spring.”
Glancing over at him as they rode across the pasture behind his house, she couldn’t help but wonder where she fit into the equation. With no stock to feed or any need to chop ice for the cattle to get water from the ponds and streams this winter there really wasn’t going to be any work for her to supervise.
When they reached a gate at the back of the pasture, she started to dismount, but Nick was quicker and jumped down from the bay to open it. “I’m betting you’re wondering what you’ll be doing with your time this winter.”
She led the bay as she rode the sorrel through the opening into the next field. “Well, now that you mention it, it did cross my mind.”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry. There’ll be more than enough work for both of us.” Taking the bay’s reins, he swung back up into the saddle. “After the herds are sold, we’ll be busy planning how many acres per head of cattle we’ll need, how we intend to rotate them and how many acres of hay we’ll need to cut in the summer to get them through the winter.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “We? Why can’t you do that yourself?”
He stared off across the Sugar Creek Valley at the Laramie Mountains in the distance. “I’m changing your job description. From now on, you’ll be working in the office and I’ll be out supervising the men and managing the daily operation.”
“Excuse me?” She reined in the gelding at the edge of the creek the ranch had been named for. “What office are you talking about?”
Stopping the bay, he shrugged. “My office at the Sugar Creek.”
Cheyenne felt a chill travel from the top of her head to the soles of her feet. How on earth was she going to keep her distance from him if she had to work in his office? In his home?
“You mean until the new cattle arrive in the spring?”
He shook his head. “From now on. I’ve missed being out
