would keep this ranch running exactly as it was right now for a hundred years after his death.
Just as he always did, he persevered. But only because he didn’t deviate from the blueprint he created to achieve his goals.
So no. Sophie Penazzi and her baby were not staying. Might as well start the ball rolling now on finding her replacement.
Two seconds after Jeb strode into his house, Sophie had realized her offer to leave if he would pay her for expenses had been a terrible lapse in judgment. Her horror at making such a stupid mistake must have shown on her face because after Slim had taken her to her room, he’d told her to give him a few minutes and he’d straighten out this mess with Jeb.
Standing in the sitting room of the three-room maid’s quarters, admiring the hardwood floors, traditional sofa and chair and big screen TV—quarters much nicer than any apartment she could afford—she took a long breath and said a prayer that Slim would be successful. Not only did this job pay enough to wipe out the debt she owed the hospital for Brady’s birth, but also she had nowhere else to go. The thousand dollars she’d demanded as compensation for driving to the ranch wouldn’t pay the first month’s rent on a new apartment; forget about the additional security deposit required on most places. If she lost this job, she and her baby would be dead broke and homeless.
With her little boy asleep in the bedroom, she cursed Brady’s dad for dumping them the way he had, putting her in the predicament of having no money and a child to raise. But rather than fall victim to self-pity, she reminded herself that Mick wasn’t as much to blame for bailing on them as she was for trusting him. She’d been brought into the world by parents whose careers always came first. She shouldn’t have been surprised that when she got pregnant, Mick no longer saw her as a partner, but a burden, maybe even an obstacle to the life he had planned. He’d never hidden his determination to arrange his world just the way he wanted it. She hadn’t been blind to his self-centeredness. But she had stupidly believed love could cause him to make room for the new addition to their lives.
She shook her head in wonder. Thinking love would cause him to make room for Brady was just another way of saying that she believed that with enough love Mick would change. After twenty-two years of jumping through hoops for parents who never found a way to have any time for her, she should have known better than to take up with someone as career oriented as Mick. But she hadn’t. He had to dump her before she finally got the message. People didn’t change. And she wouldn’t again make the mistake of believing they could.
A knock sounded on her door, then Slim opened it and poked his head inside. “You’re set for a while.”
“A while?”
“It sometimes takes Jeb a bit of time to realize everything’s going to be okay, but he’ll come around. You just do a good job.”
Sophie smiled and nodded, but from the guarded expression on Slim’s face she knew he hadn’t really made any headway with her stubborn boss. Jeb Worthington wasn’t happy with her and her baby and though he’d told her to stow her gear that didn’t really mean she was staying. She appreciated the ranch foreman going to bat for her, but she wasn’t the kind to let somebody else fight her battles. Once Slim disappeared down the hall, she checked to make sure Brady was sleeping soundly, scooped up the baby monitor and went in search of Jeb.
She walked down empty corridors and through half-furnished rooms confused that a man who seemed to have money didn’t surround himself with creature comforts. Eventually she found him in his office. Pacing behind the huge cherrywood desk and tall-back black leather chair, he talked on the phone, his boots clicking on the hardwood floor.
“I’d like to speak with Mrs. Gunther, please.” He was so absorbed in his pacing that Sophie knew he hadn’t noticed her in his doorway. She let her gaze slide up his jean-clad legs, the lightweight plaid shirt, his broad shoulders. “It’s Jeb Worthington.”
If his jerky strides were anything to go by, patience wasn’t his strong suit… Or maybe he wasn’t a man accustomed to sitting or even being inside? The natural tan of his face and hands said he was more at home in the elements than his office. Plus, his body was trimmed, toned, muscled—probably from hard work, not a gym.
Her gaze moved up again, until it reached his face. Straight nose. Silky looking black hair. Her breath stuttered in her chest. Wow. How had she missed that he was gorgeous?
Thinking back on the day she interviewed with him, she winced, remembering that she had noticed. In fact, she remembered wanting to swoon when he walked into the room. She’d been so excited about the great pay and benefits he’d offered her that she’d forgotten that.
“Mrs. Gunther?”
He stopped his pacing, turned to the heavy drapes that covered a wall of windows, affording Sophie the opportunity to see his strong back that tapered into a taut waist and trim hips.
“When you sent me a woman with a baby, I think you forgot my housekeeper has to live in.”
Jeb’s conversation brought her back to the present and reminded her of another complication with her employment at this ranch. She was ready to fight to keep a job that meant she’d have to live with a man who was so attractive she’d wanted to swoon the first time she’d seen him.
Was that smart?
“The ranch is so far out in the country we only go into town for supplies once a month. She can’t commute. And it’s impractical for her to hire a baby-sitter. That is, if she can even find one. I had to go the whole way to California to find her.”
His voice went from businesslike to impatient to downright angry so quickly that Sophie blinked. Maybe she was the one being too hasty? He was a grouch with little to no patience with mistakes. Not even honest ones. Yet instead of running for cover before he saw her eavesdropping, she stood gazing at him like a star-struck teenager, as if how he behaved didn’t matter; he was so good-looking that she could forgive his being a little grouchy.
That wasn’t like her at all. And it also wasn’t right.
“Okay, let’s just say we both agree that mistakes happen. I can appreciate that your staff got the instruction wrong. That doesn’t change the fact that her having a baby is a deal breaker. I can’t keep her.”
Sophie’s mouth fell open in dismay, but as he paused to listen to Mrs. Gunther, he turned in her direction and she jumped away from the open doorway into the hall, flattening herself against the wall so he wouldn’t see her.
“I know that under the circumstances, especially with the flexible schedule, it doesn’t seem that a baby would be a problem. But they’re a hindrance, a distraction. I can’t risk everything I’ve put into this company because she can’t get her work done.”
Though her heart had been pounding a hundred beats a second, his argument caused it to settle down and she frowned. That was all he was worried about? That she wouldn’t get her work done? Was he nuts? Every mother in the world cooked and cleaned while caring for her children. Of course she could get her work done.
“Just start gathering résumés again. Get me somebody who can do everything I need done and this time without a baby.”
He slammed the phone receiver into the cradle and Sophie hightailed it out of the corridor. But as she scrambled back to her quarters, she smiled, suddenly inspired. She might not have been able to get her parents or Mick to change, but the problem she had with Jeb Worthington wasn’t about getting
