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Yes, she vaguely recalled the place.
“Most folks around here assumed Ray left his place to Sam,” he continued. “After all, he was the one who hung around and took care of him after his lungs quit working.”
Was this man implying she didn’t deserve the place? The notion disturbed her on many levels.
Moving away from the chair, she started toward a wide, arched opening. “Look, Deputy Hollister, you can be frank with me. I’m quite certain that you, and everyone else who knew Ray Maddox, isn’t going to understand his last wishes. How could they? I don’t understand them myself. And I’m certainly not thinking I deserved everything the man had worked for in his life. But that’s the way he wanted it. Not me.”
The deputy followed her into a breezeway and Tessa paused, uncertain as to which direction she wanted to go first. Certainly not to the bedrooms. Not with this man right on her heels.
He said, “I didn’t mean to sound like I’m accusing you, Ms. Parker. Or that I thought you were undeserving. It’s just that Sam was such a loyal employee for many long years.”
She let out a long breath. “Then I can only hope that Mr. Maddox left his employee something. As for me—” She broke off and lifted her hands in a helpless gesture. “I have just as many questions about all of this as you probably do.”
He opened his mouth as though to say something but must have decided against it. After a pause, he gestured to a pair of swinging doors off to their left.
“The kitchen is over there. The bedrooms and a study are to the right.”
Tessa headed to the kitchen and since he’d taken it upon himself to join her, she decided Deputy Hollister clearly wasn’t in a hurry to get home. Or perhaps he felt it was his duty to make sure she was safe and sound before he left the premises.
“This is beautiful.” She walked over to the left side of the room where a large bay window created a breakfast nook. Beyond the paned glass was an incredible view of distant jagged mountains and rocky bluffs. Closer to the ranch house, the desert slopes were filled with sage, saguaro and blooming yucca.
Another wave of emotion caused her voice to quaver. “Is this my land?”
“Most of it. Your boundary stops before it reaches the mountains. The most productive grazing area runs to the east toward Three Rivers,” he explained. “Before Ray became ill, he ran about fifty to a hundred head of cattle. After it became impossible for him to care for the herd, he sold out. I can tell you, giving up his cattle and horses hurt him about as much as the lung disease.”
“I believe that. I live on a large ranch in Nevada. I see firsthand how much the livestock means to everyone who cares for them.”
She glanced over her shoulder to see he was studying her with an air of faint surprise.
“So you’re used to living in the country.”
“Absolutely. This place is closer to a town than what I’m accustomed to.” She turned and walked over to a long row of varnished pine cabinets. Another wide window sat over a double porcelain sink. After turning on the water to make sure it was in working order, she gazed out at the small backyard shaded by two huge Joshua trees. It was a cozy area with a small rock patio furnished with a pair of red motel chairs and a tiny white table for drinks.
“It’s fifteen miles from here to town,” he informed her.
The skeptical sound in his voice put a faint smile on her face. “Yes, I know. The Silver Horn is double that amount of miles from Carson City.”
“The Silver Horn,” he repeated thoughtfully. “I think I’ve heard of that ranch.”
“The Calhouns own it. Bart and Orin Calhoun.”
“I’m not familiar with—uh—” Deep thought put a crease between his brows and then he snapped his fingers with recognition. “Now I remember. My brother Holt purchased a broodmare from that ranch about four years ago. She’s been a dandy.”
“The Calhouns are known more for their quality horses than anything,” she told him.
He walked toward her and Tessa found herself backing up until her hips bumped into the cabinets.
“But your name isn’t Calhoun,” he pointed out.
“No. It isn’t.” As far as she was concerned, she didn’t have to explain anything else to this man. She rubbed her palms down the front of her jeans. “Uh, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go get my things.”
“I’ll help you.”
Tessa let out a silent groan. Was the man never going to leave? Aloud she said, “Thanks. I do have several bags.”
What are you so antsy about, Tessa? A normal woman would be enjoying the company of a good-looking man. And Joseph Hollister definitely fits that description. What are you afraid of? That you might actually allow yourself to be attracted to the deputy?
Trying to ignore the taunting voice in her head, she walked past him and out of the kitchen.
* * *
As Joseph followed Tessa Parker out to her truck, he mentally cursed himself. What the hell was he doing? He’d already investigated the situation and made certain no one was going to vandalize his late friend’s home. He’d checked this woman’s credentials and everything appeared accurate. She had a legitimate reason for being on the Bar X Ranch, so why was he still hanging around when he should’ve left a half hour ago? Because she looked like a walking dream?
Her slim, angular face was dominated by startling blue eyes, prominent cheekbones and a soft, wide mouth. Straight, caramel-brown hair hung nearly to her waist and though she was far more slender than his usual taste in women, she was nicely curved in all the right places. Her creamy skin was smooth and soft, like she’d been living in a tropical climate rather than the dry west. Furthermore, she carried herself with class and grace.
Yeah, all those things were pleasant to a man’s eyes, he conceded. But in Tessa Parker’s case, it had been the vulnerable wobble in her voice and the emotions flickering in her eyes that had tugged at something inside him. Even if she did have a family back in Nevada, she seemed to be very alone. And that notion bothered Joseph far too much.
“I’m sure I brought much more than I need,” she was saying as she opened the back door on the truck. “But since I was uncertain about how long I’ll be staying, I wanted to have plenty.”
She placed two very large suitcases on the ground, along with a pair of duffel bags. Joseph picked up the suitcases, both of which were quite heavy.
“I’ll get these,” he said. “If the duffel bags are heavy, leave them. I’ll fetch them later.”
“Thank you,” she said, “but I can manage.”
Joseph followed her back up the steps of the retaining wall and into the house. Along the way, he found himself watching the sway of her slender hips and the curtain of thick hair moving gently against her back.
In the living room, she placed the bags she’d been carrying on the rug and turned on a table lamp situated near the recliner.
Joseph asked, “Where would you like for me to put these?”
She gestured to a spot on the floor near the other bags. “Just sit them down there. Both bags have wheels. I’ll deal with them later.”
For some idiotic reason he felt a wash of warm color burn his face. “I can see they have wheels. But they’re both very heavy.”
An impatient, even wary expression crossed her face and it dawned on Joseph that he was making her uncomfortable. But then he had to remember he was a stranger to this woman. He couldn’t expect her to behave as though he was an old friend.
“Well, yes, they are. But—” She broke off with a shake of her head then gestured toward the archway. “All right, let’s go.”
She started out of the room in a long stride and Joseph fell into step behind her. As they made their way down a narrow hallway, the scent of her flowery perfume teased him like a gentle ocean breeze.
“I don’t suppose you have any idea which bedroom Mr. Maddox used, would you?”
Her question snapped him out of his dreamy cloud. “I’ve only been as far as the study,” he admitted. “It’s the first door on your right. Why do you want to know about Ray’s bedroom, anyway?”
Pausing in the middle of the hallway, she turned to look at him. “This is probably going to sound silly to you, but I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable about staying in Mr. Maddox’s room.”
“I don’t understand why you’d feel that way. This is your house now.”
As soon as he’d said the words, he wished he could take them back. They sounded insensitive, even rude. And she didn’t deserve that. Not unless she turned out to be a complete fraud.
Seemingly unoffended by his tart remark, she said, “That’s true. But I’m a stranger in this house. I feel it would be more proper for me to stay in a guest room.”
Even though she’d told him she hadn’t been acquainted with Ray Maddox, she seemed to want to respect him and his memory. Joseph had to admire her for that.
“Well, let’s have a look and maybe we can figure out which room was Ray’s.”
Nodding in agreement, she moved on down the passageway and opened a door on the left. Peering inside, she said, “I very much doubt a man used this bedroom. I’ll stay in this one.”
Joseph followed her into the bedroom and placed the cases at the foot of a queen-size bed. When he looked up from the task, he saw the pretty heiress standing in the middle of the room, gazing around with a look of awe on her face. Everything was in white. Even the antique-style furniture.
He said, “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but all this stuff looks new to me.”
Clearing her throat, she walked over to a long dresser with a scallop-edged mirror. Lying on the glass top was a matching brush and mirror with silver-engraved backs. The set was the fancy sort, like the one his mother kept for sentimental reasons.
Joseph watched her pick up the brush and rub her fingers across the soft bristles. “I think you might be right. Did a woman live here with Mr. Maddox?”
“Not since his wife died. And that’s been several years ago.”
Tessa shifted her gaze to the bed, which was covered with a fluffy down comforter and pillows edged with lace. “How odd to find a room like this in a widower’s house.”
“Maybe Ray had all this fixed for you,” Joseph suggested.
She looked at him, her lips parted with surprise. “That’s a crazy notion. Ray Maddox didn’t know me.”
“He had some sort of connection to you. And he obviously made plans for you to be here.”
The notion appeared to rattle her. She quickly placed the brush back on the dresser top then, bending her head, she fastened her hands around the front edge of the dresser as though she needed to support herself.
As Joseph watched her, he was assaulted with all sorts of urges, the main one being to put his arm around her shoulders and assure her that whatever was bothering her would eventually right itself. But he’d only met her a few minutes ago. Even if she did need comforting, he had no right to get that personal.
“I’m so confused. I’m not sure what to think anymore.” With her head still bent, she slanted a look at him. “That’s why I have to stay long enough to find answers.”
The notion that she might be here for an extended length of time filled Joseph with far too much pleasure. He tried to ignore the sappy reaction as he walked over to a pair of large windows and made a show of inspecting the locks.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He could feel her walking up behind him and then her lovely scent was floating around him.
“Making sure the locks are secure,” he answered.
“I thought you said this was a crime-free area.”
He allowed the curtain to fall into place before he turned to her. With only two short steps separating them, he could see little details about her face that he’d missed earlier. Like a faint dimple just to the left corner of her lips and the fine baby hairs tickling her temples. Her skin was so smooth it appeared to have no pores and he wondered how it would feel beneath his finger. Like cream on his tongue, he figured.
“A person can never be too safe,” he said. “Have you ever stayed alone before?”
That wasn’t actually his business, either. But he told himself it was his job to make sure she was capable of keeping herself safe.
“Not out like this. But I’m not the timid sort.”
He wanted to tell her only fools were not afraid but stopped himself. Compared to his thirty years, she was very young. Not to mention determined to stand on her own two feet.
“I can assure you, Ms. Parker, my mother would be more than happy for you to stay with us on Three Rivers. We have plenty of room. And she loves company.”
She looked away and Joseph couldn’t help but watch the rise and fall of her breasts as she drew in a deep breath and blew it out.
“Thank you for the invitation, Deputy Hollister, but I’ll be fine. There’s no need for you to be concerned about my safety.
“That’s my job.”
Like hell, Joseph. As a deputy of Yavapai County, you don’t go around inviting women to stay at the family ranch. You’re stepping out of line and you know it.
She said, “You must be a very conscientious lawman.”
No. At this very moment, he was being a fool. But Joseph was hoping like heck she wouldn’t notice.
“The offer has nothing to do with me being a deputy. I’m just being neighborly.”
“Oh.”
The one word caused his gaze to land on her lips. As he stared at the moist curves, something fluttered deep in his gut. In his line of work, he met up with all sorts of women, but he’d never met one who’d made him think things or feel things the way this woman did.
Clearing his throat, he fished a card from his shirt pocket and handed it to her. “If you need anything, my number is on there. And if you decide to visit Three Rivers, it’s easy to find. When you leave the entrance to your property, turn right and follow the road until you reach a fork. Take a left and you’ll see the ranch sign. Someone is always at home.”
She folded her fingers around the card and bestowed him a warm smile. “Once I get settled, I might just do that. And thanks for your help.”
“Sure. So I...better get going and let you get on with unpacking.”
He forced himself to step around her and as he started out of the bedroom, she fell into step beside him.
“I’ll show you to the door,” she told him.
The polite gesture was hardly necessary, especially when he was far more familiar with the house than she was. But he was hardly going to turn down a bit more of her company.
Damn it, somewhere between Wickenburg and the Bar X something must have happened in the workings of his brain, he decided. He wasn’t in the market for a woman. Especially one that would only be around for a few days and then gone.
When they reached the front door, she accompanied him onto the porch and surprised him by offering her hand. Joseph clasped his fingers around hers and marveled at the softness of her skin, the dainty fragility of the small bones.
“It’s been a pleasure, Deputy Hollister.”
A pleasure? It had been an earthquake for Joseph. As he continued to hold her hand, the tremors were still radiating all the way down to his boots.
“Uh, well...maybe we’ll see each other again before you go back to Nevada.”
She gently eased her hand from his. “Yes. Maybe.”
Well, that was that, he thought. “Goodbye, Ms. Parker.”
He left the porch and as he walked out to his vehicle, he resisted the urge to glance back. But when he eventually slid behind the steering wheel, he couldn’t help but notice she was still standing where he’d left her.
When he started the engine, she lifted her hand in farewell. The sight filled him with ridiculous pleasure and before he could turn the SUV around and drive away, his mind was already searching for a reason to see her again.
Chapter Two
Joseph had planned to tell his family about Tessa Parker as soon as he arrived home. But he’d hardly gotten a mile away from the Bar X when he’d been called back to work to help deal with a three-vehicle accident on the highway—a result of loose cattle and drivers blinded by the sinking sun.
By the time the cattle had been rounded up and the vehicles cleared away, it had been well after midnight. When he’d finally gotten home, everyone in the house had already gone to bed.
But this morning as Joseph, and most of the family, sat around the dining table eating breakfast, he wasted no time in relaying the news. Starting with Tessa introducing herself and ending with her promise to stay until she found answers.
“Ray left his property to a complete stranger? I can’t believe it. He wasn’t the fanciful sort. In fact, he was a steadfast rock. That’s why he was sheriff of Yavapai County for twenty years. He was a man everyone could depend on. There has to be more to this situation.”
The statement came from Maureen Hollister, the matriarch of the family. Tall and slender, with dark brown hair slightly threaded with gray and a complexion wrinkled by years of working in the blazing desert sun, she was a picture of beauty and strength. And Joseph had expected his mother to react to the news in just this way.
He said, “I was shocked when she hauled out a handful of legal documents to prove she wasn’t a trespasser.”
Maureen pushed her empty plate forward and picked up her coffee cup.
“I’m glad you happened to be going by the Bar X whenever she arrived, Joe,” his mother said. “Except for Sam, no one ever goes near the place. If I’d spotted a strange vehicle there, I would’ve thought someone was trespassing.”
For the past five years, since Joel, her husband and the father of their six children, had died suddenly, Maureen had accepted the reins of Three Rivers Ranch with a calm yet fierce determination to continue the legacy of the ranch and the Hollister family name. Now at sixty-one, she showed no signs of slowing down.
Joseph took his eyes off his plate to glance down the long dining table to where his mother sat next to her late husband’s chair. Ever since his death, Joel’s spot at the head of the table had remained empty. A fact that everyone in the family tried to ignore.
Across from Joseph, his oldest brother, Blake, was frowning thoughtfully.
“I visited Ray in the hospital a day before he died. Unfortunately he was too sedated to talk,” Blake commented. “Let’s hope he was in his right mind when he made out his will.”
Next to Blake, the middle Hollister son, Holt, spoke up. “I stopped by Ray’s house about a week before he went into the hospital. He was hooked up to oxygen, but he could still talk. That day he appeared to make perfect sense. He told me Sam had driven him around the ranch earlier that morning. He was telling me how happy he was with the way everything looked.”
“Poor man. Seventy was far too young for him to die.”
Joseph glanced to his left, where his sister, Vivian, was sitting at his elbow. At thirty-three, with shoulder-length chestnut hair, she was pretty in a wholesome way. It was just too bad her ex-husband hadn’t appreciated her, or their daughter.
“Any age is too young, Viv,” Joseph told her.
“Yes, but Ray had such a tragic life,” she observed. “What with his wife being disabled and bound to a wheelchair all those years. I always thought he deserved so much more.”
“Ray loved Dottie,” Maureen pointed out. “It broke his heart when she passed away.”
Holt, who was also head horse trainer for Three Rivers, reached for a biscuit. As he tore the bread apart, he said, “Ray was a widower for years and never bothered to marry again. That was the sad part.”
“Sad!” Joseph blurted in disbelief. “You’re a good one to talk, Holt. You’ve gone through women like a stack of laundered shirts. And you’ve never bothered to marry any of them!”
Holt frowned as he slathered the piece of biscuit with blackberry jam. “Well, you sure as hell aren’t married, either, little brother.”
“From the way Joe talked about this Ms. Parker, I’m thinking he’s getting the idea on his mind,” Vivian teased.
Joseph didn’t rise to his sister’s bait. He figured if he protested too loudly the whole family would become suspicious about him and the lovely stranger from Nevada. And that was the last thing he needed.
“As a deputy, I’m supposed to take in details,” he said flatly.
“From the description you gave us, you certainly took in plenty of details about the woman,” Vivian said slyly.
“Except the most important one.” Blake spoke up, “Like why she ended up with Ray’s place.”
Being the eldest son of the family, Blake had always taken his position as manager of the ranch very seriously. But then, Blake had always been the serious-minded one of the Hollister kids. There was rarely any joking going on with him. Whenever he did try to be funny, it was so dry he wound up getting more blank stares than chuckles.
“We’d all like to know that, Blake,” Maureen interjected. “But, frankly, it’s none of our business. And it would look mighty suspicious if Joseph started interrogating her for information.”
“Amen. Thank you, Mom,” Joseph told her.
Holt leaned forward, his gaze encompassing everyone at the table. “As far as I see things, it would be damned awful if we sat around and let someone take wrongful possession of our old friend’s property.”
Joseph tossed down his fork and shoved back his chair. “Holt, you can accuse the woman all you want, but she has legal, binding documents. And, by the way, she lives on the Silver Horn Ranch in Nevada.”
His brother’s jaw went slack. “Are you joking? You mean the ranch I bought Lorna’s Song from?”
“That’s right. She volunteered that piece of information on her own. I didn’t ask for it.”
A sheepish expression stole over Holt’s face. “That ought to be easy enough for you to check out. I guess the woman is legitimate.”
“I’m certain of it,” Joseph said bluntly.
Maureen put down her coffee cup as her gaze traveled over her children. “The way I see it, the questions are about Ray, not Ms. Parker. And we really should keep our noses out of the situation. Still, it would be neighborly of me to stop by and welcome the young woman to the area.”
Blake smirked while Vivian gave their mother a clever smile.
Joseph said, “I got the impression Tessa has plenty of questions, too. Maybe you’d be a help to her, Mom.”
“I have a Cattlemen’s Association meeting in Prescott early this afternoon,” Maureen said. “I might stop by the Bar X on my way out.”
Joseph rose and walked down to the end of the table to drop a kiss on his mother’s cheek. “Thanks, Mom. I’m off to work. Don’t look for me until much later tonight. I’ve got extra duty,” he said.
Vivian wailed out a protest. “Again? You worked half the night last night!”
He grinned at her. “A deputy’s work is never done, sis.”
He left the room with the group calling out their goodbyes amid reminders for him to stay extra safe. A morning ritual that never failed to make him feel loved and wanted.
Inside the kitchen he found Reeva, the family cook, standing at the cabinet, peeling peaches that had come straight from the ranch’s own orchard.
Poking his head over the woman’s shoulder, he asked, “What’s that going to be? Cobbler?”
“No, I’m making preserves.” The bone-thin woman with an iron-gray braid hanging down the center of her back turned and poked a finger in the middle of his hard abs. “You don’t need cobbler. It’ll make you fat.”
Chuckling, he said, “Well, I wouldn’t have gotten to eat it, anyway. Got to work late tonight, so don’t bother saving me any supper, Reeva.”
“But Uncle Joe—you said you’d go riding with me this evening! Have you forgotten?”
Joseph glanced across the room to see Hannah, Vivian’s ten-year-old daughter, sitting at a small round table with a bowl of cold cereal in front of her. At the moment, she looked crestfallen.
“Hey, Freckles, I thought you were still in bed.” He walked over to where she sat and planted a kiss on top of her gold-blond head. “Why are you eating in here? You’re too young to be antisocial.”