Page 9 of Unforgettable Cowboy (Montana’s Rodeo Cowboys #1)

I t’d been a hell of a morning. Andy had issues fixing the tractor, but after sending Hayes to town on another emergency parts run, had got the big machine back in action.

Hayes hadn’t seen Bailey that morning. He’d hoped that she would arrive early again to spend time with the kidnapped mare, but she hadn’t and by the time she had shown up, Hayes was on the phone with his brother Trev, who’d finally surfaced.

Trev planned to arrive on the ranch the Friday of rodeo weekend, along with his roping partner, Dylan Kent, then stay on to help Hayes unless he managed to find another day hand by that time. With Bailey hitting the road, they’d need additional help until Parker returned to work.

The question they bounced around was how much help was Parker going to be six months after major surgery?

And how long was Wade’s recovery going to take, and was he going to get back to one hundred percent?

He would behave as if he were no matter what, which could lead to additional problems in the future.

“I’m not looking for a job until we get this all sorted,” Hayes concluded. Which meant he’d be there through October, when Parker was slated to return, and possibly longer. Two older guys recovering from infirmities might not be able to handle everything even during the slower winter season.

“I’ll stay as long as I can, when I can,” Trev said. “I have a ton of PTO coming, but we just implemented this new security system at a big ass company and until the bugs are out of it, I’ll have trouble getting approval.”

“No worries.” Right. “I’ll keep posting ads.

Some of the bigger ranches might be letting their seasonal help go.

” Hayes had waded back into Facebook to take advantage of the Marketplace there, as well as posting on Craigslist. The response so far had been underwhelming.

The few bites he’d had were from guys he knew by reputation—not guys that he wanted in charge of the Tree Fork.

It was a busy time of year with fall calving and harvest, so maybe, when things cooled down, he’d have better luck.

Or maybe he’d have to advertise on a broader level.

He’d prefer a local person, but that may not be possible.

He had marginally better luck with the house maintenance/caretaker position that he and Jordan decided to chip in on.

Wade was going to hate having someone invade his space during the day, but he needed help in the house and Hayes had too much to do to care for his uncle and run the ranch.

In two days, there’d been two answers to his Marketplace ISO ad but only one had agreed to an interview.

It probably wasn’t a coincidence that the other person bailed after hearing the name of the ranch where they’d be working.

Wade could be the most reasonable guy on the planet, except for when he wasn’t.

“I’m interviewing a caretaker tomorrow.”

“Someone answered that ad and not the cowboy ad?”

“Go figure. Anyway, if I think she has even the remotest chance of handling Wade and if she agrees to the job, I’m hiring her on the spot.”

It was a temporary position, until his uncle was back on his feet, so Hayes didn’t feel as great of a need to find the perfect candidate—especially since there appeared to be only one. He was going to have to do his best not to scare her off.

“Keep me in the loop.” Trev sounded as if he wasn’t certain that Hayes could pull off this maneuver.

Hayes had a few niggling doubts of his own, but instead of voicing them, he simply said, “Will do.”

*

True to her word, Bailey worked late to make up for leaving early the previous afternoon, pulling up outside the barn as Hayes was finishing up corral repairs.

She sauntered over to where he was putting the last screw into a new rail, and he pretended that his body wasn’t reacting to her approach.

There was still a ridiculously strong tug of attraction between them and, honestly, he didn’t know how this would play out.

Would they ignore it? Pretend there was nothing to see here?

Probably.

Bailey was leaving in less than two weeks. He should be able to fake ambivalence until then.

“You look different than yesterday,” he said, lowering the drill.

“I’m so very proud of not driving into a bog.”

He set the drill in the canvas bag at his feet, then tossed in the box of long, ridiculously expensive, screws. “Did you make it to the post office on time yesterday?”

Oh yeah. Just making lame conversation here.

“I did,” she replied brightly. Bailey wasn’t normally a chirper, so she was probably feeling the same vibe he was. They’d addressed the elephant in the room, but apparently there was a new elephant in town. What to do?

Continue with business as usual, of course.

He picked up the heavy canvas tool bag. “Do you know Estelle Mendoza?”

Bailey frowned as she thought. “Isn’t she Paige Mendoza’s mom?”

“The quiet girl?”

“That’s the one.”

“Oh boy.”

“What?”

“I advertised for a caretaker to run the house until Wade’s back on his feet. She’s the only candidate, and if the mom is like the daughter, then I’m not feeling good about this.”

“Would you hire her anyway?”

“Oh yeah.” He spoke a little too adamantly, because there was no way he could care for Wade while he convalesced and handle ranch business at the same time.

“If she’s game, so am I. I just don’t want to have to do this all over again after Wade scares her off.

He comes home in two days, and I want everything set employment-wise.

Otherwise, he’s going to come up with a reason not to hire help. ”

“I see your point. When’s the interview?”

“Tomorrow. Here at the ranch, so that she can see the place.”

“Good luck with that.”

“Thanks, Bae.”

Her expression shifted ever so slightly, and Hayes realized his mistake. The nickname had slipped from his lips so naturally that it barely registered until he’d noted her reaction.

“No problem, Hay.” She capped the word with a twist of her lips.

Bae and Hay. Cutesy bantering nicknames from back in the day that, judging from her tone, Bailey no longer appreciated. He saw her point.

“Shut me down there, didn’t you?”

“Someone had to.” She took a slow step forward, hands jammed into her back pockets. “Those are stupid nicknames, you know. But…” she gave a dismissive shrug “…fun at the time, I guess.”

“We had fun,” he agreed. “Kids.”

“Exactly.”

The way she was looking at him reminded Hayes that they were no longer kids. Far from it. And being consenting adults, capable of communicating—

He shut the thought down. Hard.

Bailey was driving him crazy.

*

Where in the hell was Hayes?

Bailey checked her phone again, then tucked it into her back pocket.

This morning, before she’d taken off, he’d said that he was going to ride the southern fence line to make certain it was secure before they moved the cattle.

He’d also said that he planned to get back in time to clean up for the housekeeper interview.

That interview was in less than an hour and no Hayes. No cleanup. Nothing. He had to be out of cell service, which was spotty on the hill.

That left her with two choices—find him or handle the interview herself.

The first option was obviously the best, so she headed to the barn to fire up the quad.

He’d saddled Spot, the big Appaloosa gelding, meaning that the terrain was too challenging in certain areas for the ATV, but she didn’t have time to catch and saddle a horse.

Besides, it would take longer to ride, so she was going to chance using the quad.

She crossed the field to the southern fence, stopped to open the gate, thinking that it needed its hinges tightened so it didn’t scrape the ground, then mounted the quad and took off up the rocky trail, immediately understanding why Hayes had chosen to ride horseback.

She’d only traveled a couple of miles before she saw a rider in the distance, making his way down the steep trail.

She debated about simply turning the quad around and heading home, but instead she waited where she was, at the top of the draw, which was steep on Hayes’s side and more gently sloped on hers.

When he stopped at the bottom at the edge of the wide shallow creek and dismounted, she got off the quad and followed the trail down.

Even at a distance, she could see that he’d also had a muddy accident of some kind and was now crouched at the creek, attempting to get the worst of it off his hands and bare forearms. The thickly caked knees of his jeans were probably hopeless.

He glanced up as she approached, then let out a breath as if he’d been caught stealing cookies from Wade’s secret stash.

“You know, if the ground even hints at being soft, you should—” His dark expression brought her teasing words to a halt. She gave a shrug. “Just saying.”

“It wasn’t soft ground.” He stood and shook the water off his arms, then eyed the muddy knees of his jeans before turning his attention back to Bailey.

“The gravity-feed water pipe in the top pasture was plugged, and I tried to clear it. I got sludge, but no water. There must be an issue at the spring, but I didn’t have time to go up to check.

” His gaze narrowed as he studied Bailey in a way that made things shift deep inside of her. “You came after me?”

She held up her hands. “ I’m not conducting an interview.”

“I lost track of time dealing with the pipe. I can still make it.” He took hold of Spot’s reins, which he’d looped around the horse’s neck.

“Would you like to take the quad?”

He eyed the ATV parked at the top of the draw, then shook his head.

“I thought you might want to clean up before you scare the woman?”

“Maybe it’s best that she sees what she’s up against.”

“Good point.”