Meeting Her Match

Chapter Three

Pace looked over each mustang, assessing them as he guided his mare through their ranks. They looked healthy despite the long trip from the Oklahoma Field Station. A bit ragged, but healthy. They were scared and wary though, congregating in a tight knot and moving about the pen as one unit.

Because they’d made such a long trip and now were in unfamiliar territory, he wanted to make certain their transition was as easy as possible. His own transition gave him even more empathy for these poor creatures. He herded the first six into the second pen then waited on the next group to be released from the second compartment of the trailer. Once he was satisfied that they, too, had made the trip without being injured in the crowded trailer, he rode to the gate and nodded at the young cowhand to let him pass.

“Mr. Gentry,” he said as Pace rode his horse through the gate he held open. “I’d like to come out and watch you work if you’d let me. I mean, sir, Clint said he’d let me help you anytime you needed help.”

Pace dismounted and studied the younger man. He recognized the familiar light in his eyes. “You can come out some—we’ll see about helping me. First, you have to call me Pace. My dad was Mr. Gentry. What’s your name?” Pace held out his hand.

“Jake, sir.”

He accepted Pace’s handshake, and Pace noticed with satisfaction that he had an easy but firm grip. That went a long way in handling a scared horse. “You want to break horses?”

“If I can do it your way, sir. I’ve broke a few, gentled some, but frankly, sir, when I saw that documentary you were featured in I knew I didn’t really have a clue how to do it the right way.”

“Do you have patience?”

“Um, yes, sir. I do.”

Pace nodded. “Come out the end of next week. Right now I want some time alone with them. They need time to adjust to the trip and the change of scenery.”

Jake grinned and nodded as though he’d just been given the best present under the Christmas tree. “Yes, sir. I’ll be here. You need anything else, you call me. I’m at Clint’s bunkhouse.”

Pace watched the younger man leave, reminded of himself, recognizing the gleam in his eyes.

“Hello, neighbor. What’s that you said about patience?”

Pace twisted around, recognizing the voice he knew belonged to his nosy, beautiful neighbor. He might have been less than friendly the day before, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t noticed her. He’d noticed plenty.

He’d been watching her ever since she’d climbed out of that atrocious car of Lacy’s.

He studied her, taking his time, thinking if he could keep her offended enough, maybe she’d leave him alone…. She was staring at him with a playful smirk on her lips that matched the easy lilt of her voice. A tone very different from the irritated one of the day before. Today, she had a bright hat on that said Mornings and Hair Don’t Mix, and she was right. Her chestnut, shoulder-length hair was more out of her ponytail than in. It reminded him of a horse’s tail that had tangoed with a crop of scrub bushes.

“My name’s Sheri Marsh, by the way. Thought I’d tell you since you had that sudden emergency inside your cabin yesterday and didn’t have time to inquire.”

There was mischief in her eyes as she held her hand out to him. She had long, slender fingers, and he hesitated before reluctantly wrapping his callused fingers around hers. He swallowed hard at her touch, feeling an unexpected connection as her soft hand met his.

“Patience with people—” he started, his gaze meeting hers and suddenly his gut felt the way it did the moment before he settled into the saddle of a bronc “—is on an entirely different level for a loner like me,” he finished, realizing only then that he was still hanging on to her hand. He dropped it like a hot branding iron, then reached to check the saddle cinch on his horse. His movements out of sync, he forced himself to focus on what he was doing instead of the woman standing near him.

Stepping closer, she ran her hand down the flank of his horse. “Believe me, I figured that one out myself,” she said drily.

He shot her a sideways glance from beneath his Stetson. She was standing close enough that he caught the fresh scent of her. Something tangy and tart, like the personality that radiated from her.

“Well, anyway, cowboy. I just thought I’d tell you that I was sorry to interfere with your business yesterday. I was only looking out for Clint and Lacy.”

He nodded and tried to work up the will to say he was sorry for his behavior. But before he could respond, she spun on her bright red city boots and strode away.

He didn’t call her back, but watched her leave instead. She bounced as though she were walking on springs.

He realized suddenly that he wasn’t alone in watching Sheri Marsh sashay away. Almost every cowboy in his line of vision and probably on the lot had stopped what they were doing and were calling goodbyes to his striking neighbor. She knew it, too. She tilted her head to this side, then that, smiling at each one and waving. The woman acted as if she were on the red carpet or something. There was no doubt that she was one hundred percent comfortable standing in the limelight. Again, that did not surprise him.

Pace had always liked Sam’s Diner. It was a diner and pharmacy all rolled into one, like so many drugstores had been way back when. This one was complete with the original marble soda fountain and spinning bar stools. He could still remember the first time he walked into the place as a kid. He’d been ten, and he and his dad had been on the road for eighteen hours straight. Pace had been starving, and the smell of bacon and eggs had started his stomach growling the minute they’d walked through the heavy swinging door. Even as a kid he’d been taller than the bowlegged man who came storming from behind the counter and grabbed his dad’s hand. He’d shaken it so hard it looked like a strong-arm contest.

Pace smiled at the memory of wiry little Sam taking on his six-foot-four-inch dad. To this day he’d never met anyone who could shake hands like Sam.

“How ya doing, son?” Sam greeted him heartily as he grabbed the hand Pace held out. Though Sam had aged, his grip had only grown stronger. Pace was pretty certain it came from years of practice on all the customers who walked through his doors. “Sorry to hear about yer dad,” he said, pumping away. “It was a terrible shame. He was a good man.”

“Thank you, sir. He died doing something he loved. He was luckier than most in that respect. I doubt he had any regrets when it came to the life he lived.”

Sam let go of his hand at last, crossed his arms and nodded thoughtfully. “Yer right about that, son.”

From the window table Pace heard a snort and glanced toward the two old-timers hunched over a game of checkers. Seemed nothing much changed around Mule Hollow.

“Sam’d be right smart if he took a lesson from yer daddy on that,” Applegate Thornton practically shouted as his opponent, Stanley Orr, nodded.

It had been five years since Pace had traveled through Mule Hollow, and he wasn’t sure if those two old-timers had moved an inch since he left.

“Turn yer hearin’ aid on, App, yer shoutin’ loud enough to wake the dead,” Sam ordered, then turned back to Pace and Clint. “What kin I get fer you boys?”

It was early for lunch but late for breakfast so they settled on burgers with sautéed onions and fries. They’d chosen a booth near the back of the diner, one they’d huddled in on many occasions when they’d kicked around as early teens. If he wasn’t missing Idaho so much, Pace would have felt as if he’d come home. But try as he might, he was still fighting a longing for what he’d left behind. He was trusting that the Lord was going to help handle that with time.

“How are you doing with the move?” Clint asked as if reading his thoughts.

Pace set his hat in the seat next to him, then met his old friend’s knowing gaze. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t having trouble. I keep asking myself what the Lord needs me for down here.”

“Could be He just needs you to be willing to follow Him.”

Pace hadn’t thought about that. “Could be.”

Clint clasped his hands on the table and leaned forward. “I think it’s more than that. I believe you’ll be surprised by God’s plans for you. You’re thinking he can’t use you because you’re not the most social guy I know. On that I have to agree, but he used silent types all through the Bible.” Clint grinned. “The thing is, God doesn’t need any of us. We need Him.”

“Yeah, my dad said something similar right before he died.” Pace felt the familiar tug on his heartstrings thinking about the last days with his dad. An extremely quiet man, he’d raised Pace all alone after his mother died giving birth to him. He’d taught Pace to be the man he’d become. He’d been overjoyed when Pace had finally come to love the Lord. Pace thanked God his dad lived long enough to see him accept Christ. It blessed Pace every time he remembered the hug his dad had wrapped him in when Pace told him.

“If only I’d inherited Dad’s patience.”

Clint laughed hard at that as Pace knew he would.

“If only, if only.”

“I’m serious, Clint. Did I tell you how I just about bit the head off my new neighbor?”

“Sheri?” Clint’s eyes widened. “All I can say is watch out. That gal can bite back.”

“Tell me about it.”

Sam came out carrying two large plates and a bottle of ketchup. He placed them on the table then turned to leave.

“Sam,” Clint said, drawing him back. “Did you hear Adela’s daughter is after her to move to Abilene?”

Sam stiffened.

“A’ course he heard,” Stanley called.

“But do you think it’s spurred him on to pop the question?” Applegate boomed. “Nope. He’s still keepin’ his lips buttoned up like an old fool.”

An almost wistful look passed over Sam’s face before he glared at his two friends. “Can’t a proprietor get any peace in his own place of business? What happened to the two of you getting out of here by nine?”

“It’s called re-tar-ment,” Applegate snapped. “And it’s fer the birds.”

“Yeah,” Stanley sighed. “These here golden years ain’t exactly what we expected.”

“Well, if that’s why y’all keep stayin’ in my business then I wish you’d go back to work,” Sam growled.

“We’re stayin’ in yer business ’cause we’re yer friends,” Applegate snapped. “You love that sweet woman and need to ask her to marry ya, and I aim ta bother ya ’til ya do.”

Sam grumbled his way back into the kitchen.

“What’s up?”

Clint shrugged. “Honestly, we don’t know. He’s loved Adela forever. Her husband’s been dead around sixteen years, but Sam won’t ask her to marry him. Everyone knows if he did she’d say yes. It’s baffling, especially because we know he wants to. But from what he’s told a few of the guys over the past few months, he can’t get over the fact that she loved her first husband so much.”

“You think that’s all there is to it?”

“I don’t know, Pace, it just doesn’t make sense. I think there’s something more, but you know Sam. He won’t talk unless he’s good and ready.”

Pace could relate to that.

“The only thing that worries me is if Adela were to leave, I think it would break his heart. He’s been real moody for the last few months, and I think it’s wearing on him. That, or something else is wrong with him and he’s not letting on.”

“Maybe you should talk to him.”

“Don’t think I haven’t tried.”

Pace was driving home an hour later and kept thinking about Sam. The man had lived basically seventy years a bachelor. Maybe he just couldn’t see changing his situation after all this time. It seemed that the town had a preoccupation with weddings, and he could see why. He remembered the first time he and his dad lived here. That had been when the oil was flowing freely and there seemed to be as many oil wells dotting the pastures as mesquite trees. It took men to run the wells, and the town was busting at the seams with families. Not the case when they’d come the last time to break some horses for Clint’s dad. The wells had been locked up and the families gone, leaving behind only the ranches and a town that seemed like a ghost of what it had been. He’d been eighteen, but he’d noticed it. It was nice to see it coming to life again.

He just had to hope nobody got any ideas about fixing him up. He drove past the little white house where his neighbor lived. The woman had all kinds of stuff in her yard. There were strange sparkling things hanging out of the trees, made from what looked like triangles cut from mirrors and copper sheeting. One large tree was so sparkly, it looked as if it had earrings on it. In the flower beds there were spikes of copper tubing and what looked to be cups and saucers stuck on top of them like whimsical bird feeders. Her yard seemed alive with sound and movement as the summer breeze wove its way through the obstacle course.

There were bright painted birdhouses along the fence line, and her mailbox was painted bright purple with yellow daisies all over it. Then there was an assortment of hummingbird feeders hanging from the porch.

He’d never seen anything like it. He shook his head and moved on past the house. The woman was either hobby crazy or spent all her money on flea market finds. Neither image fit the woman he’d met. Maybe all the stuff came with the house. That would seem more like it, since Sheri Marsh didn’t appear the sort to tinker with yard decorations. Then again, she didn’t seem the sort to tinker with flowers, either, and they were hanging off window boxes and overflowing from pots and beds. Even if those had come with the house she would have to tend them. She didn’t seem to be a tender, a nurturer.

His conscience pricked. How would he know, really? He’d been rude to her yesterday, but she’d reared up at him like a mamma wildcat protecting her cubs and that hadn’t set well with him.

He should apologize.

Moving on, he rounded the bend toward his place and the horses waiting there. The work, the familiar. He was not familiar with watching what he said. Back in Idaho there wouldn’t be any need to watch his words or any need for apology. He’d have been alone out there, working with the horses and taking care of his cows. Out there in the wide-open space and endless plains, he wouldn’t have to worry about neighbors popping in un-announced demanding things. It was a simpler life. The kind of life suited for a man like him—a man who’d been raised to live by his own rules….

What was he doing? Pace slammed on the brakes in front of the horse pens. He was here to learn to live life by God’s rules.

He hadn’t come here to disappear. He hadn’t come here to crave solitude and wish for things to go back to the way they’d been. But he did, and despite his determination to change, this longing for his old life wasn’t easing up as the days passed. Especially with this building conflict with his neighbor.

Pace saddled his horse Yancy and rode out onto the open range. Clint’s ranch was one of the largest in Texas, and back in the interior Pace could almost get the sense of the Great Basin. The terrain was sweeping and vast with hills and valleys rubbing up against rocks and ridges. It wasn’t Idaho, but riding anywhere always helped him relax.

He was riding along the fence line, heading back toward his cabin, when he spotted Sheri jogging along the road. She was a long way from home and didn’t look as though she was tiring at all. He had a feeling Sheri Marsh never tired out.

“Hey, cowboy,” she called the minute she spotted him.

Fighting off the urge to turn Yancy around and gallop off, he watched her jog up to the fence separating them. Standing there grinning, the sassy woman made him figure that a man with any sense would heed the warning and run. But Sheri drew him in like the most ornery filly in a herd always did. He was a sucker for a good challenge, and challenge radiated off his neighbor like flames from a burning building.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” she said.

“Always been a downfall of mine,” he said, resting his hands on the saddle horn.

She kicked a rock, watched it skitter across the dirt. “I used to be that way.”

His disbelief must have shown because her grin widened.

“It’s true,” she protested.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Oh, yes you did. I heard you loud and clear.”

“What happened?”

“Lacy Brown. Well, Matlock now. She just bullied the shyness out of me. Always dragging me around and forcing me to step up. She’s a brute, that one.”

“Did Clint know this before he married her?”

“Oh yeah. Believe me, he tried to fight it, but she’s contagious. Thank goodness. Now, I kinda like speaking my mind and getting noticed.”

“That’s more than apparent.”

They studied each other until she lifted her eyes to watch a blue jay chase a sparrow out of its territory. “Bully,” she called as they zipped by, the sparrow doing evasive maneuvers, and the blue jay squawking in loud pursuit. Pace chuckled before he could stop himself.

She shot him an indignant look. “They are. They’re always chasing something or griping about it.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Yes, you did. Don’t forget, I can hear you, Pace Gentry. So, is it true that you’re the best there ever was at bustin’ a bronc?”

“Well, I don’t know about that. I can get the job done.”

“Are you competing in the rodeo Mule Hollow is putting on at the end of the month?”

Behind him the sun emerged from a cloud and Sheri lifted a hand to shade her eyes, still squinting. She was cute, even with the awful-looking face she was making. It was easy to see why she was so popular with the cowboys.

“Are you?” he asked, causing her to double over with a laugh before springing back up, her eyes twinkling.

“Me?”

“Why’s that so funny?”

“The only thing cowgirlish about me is my love of boots. I barely know which end of that horse you’re on is which.”

Pace’s lip curved up on one side. “Yancy might take that as an insult.” He liked the way her eyes lit up mischievously. “So you live in cattle country, but you’re not a cowgirl?”

She gave a one-sided grin. “That’d be right, bud. I jog on my own two feet. I tried a horse once and fell off.”

“Were you wearing those red frog giggers?”

“Frog giggers! What’s a frog gigger? Are you callin’ my boots ugly?”

“If the shoe fits…”

She slapped her hand to her hip. “Hey, you better back up now. Calling a woman’s footwear ugly is almost as bad as telling her she has an ugly baby.”

“Wouldn’t want to do that.” He couldn’t help his grin now. He’d smiled more in the last ten minutes than he’d smiled since making the decision to leave Idaho.

“Smart man.”

Not so much, he decided, realizing he was enjoying her spunk just a little too much. He straightened in the saddle and pulled his head out of the clouds. “Well, I need to get back to work.” He tipped his hat and nudged Yancy forward, more than aware that she was surprised by his sudden departure.

He could feel her eyes on his back watching him leave. He didn’t look back. The last thing he needed was to get ideas about his neighbor. He didn’t need female complications thrown in on top of trying to build a business and figuring out what God wanted from him.

Chapter Four

Well, so much for thinking they were making progress and having a decent conversation! The man had just closed up and rode off without so much as a have a nice day.

“Hey, cowboy,” Sheri called after Pace. When he didn’t bother to glance back at her despite the almost-pleasant conversation they’d had, Sheri felt her face grow hot. “You are about the rudest man I’ve ever met,” she shouted across the distance, making certain he heard her loud and clear.

He didn’t nod his head, wave his hand or in any way acknowledge that she’d just insulted him. What a jerk.

Clamping her lips in a hard line, it took everything she had to hold back the smart crack begging to be let loose. Instead she forced herself to let him go as she resumed her jog. The man was impossible.

Maybe she needed to rethink involving Pace in her plan. Surely she could find someone else to fit the requirements. Even as she thought it she knew that—rude as he was—he was the right man for the job.

It was obvious the man would never marry—not with that mood disorder. Surely he wouldn’t want the posse trying to fix him up, and that made him perfect.

Her conscience pricked thinking about it. All night long she’d told herself she had good reasons for trying to teach the ladies a lesson…but it was complicated and she wasn’t certain even she could pull it off. She needed to believe in what she was going to do if she was going to be able to pull if off.

“I do believe,” she said aloud.

She was no math whiz, but she could add—unlike the matchmakers. If the Lord had intended for everyone to get married, then the ratio of men to women would be equal. Right?

Right. It might sound silly, but after watching her parents marry—and divorce—as many people as they could, it fit. It was disgusting.

Sheri recognized the truth. Fear of following in her parents’ footsteps factored heavily in her reasons for not wanting to fall in love. And with good reason, she rationalized. She grew bored too easily. No matter how wonderful the guy was, her restlessness always ruined it. Clearly a genetic trait, with her parents’ history and all.

It didn’t take an Einstein to figure out some people just weren’t marriage material. She’d recognized the truth about herself long ago and made peace with it. She simply wanted to go back to the way it had been. She’d always had fun dating the guys she wanted to date then moving on when the time came. Her surprise almost-commitment to J.P. had been a huge step for her. Now she recognized that it had been brought on by the happily-ever-after atmosphere of Mule Hollow. It had invaded the water system, and it was in the air, too. Love. That had to be it. The love bug was floating around, and she’d caught it for a moment. That was the only excuse she could think of that would explain why she’d stepped over the line and found herself at the almost-commitment stage.

These feelings she was experiencing were a good lesson in why she’d been so cautious. Heartache. Not heartbreak, exactly, thank goodness. Still, she shouldn’t have let her guard down. Really, from now on the joy she got from dating might be diminished for fear that she might be tempted to cross that line again. Arrgggh! It was frustrating. She was content with her life the way it was. She was.

And she would be again. There was life after J.P. She had her head on straight again, and she would choose not to ever live the way her parents had lived. She’d never bring a kid into a potential time bomb. That was her motivation, the fear that she had her parents’ genes of discontent. Her mother’s words rang through her head once more…. Some people just aren’t good at being tied down. That might be true, but knowledge was power, and Sheri would use that power to control her life.

This sudden fascination with Pace so closely after thinking she might have been in love with J.P. was a sure sign of things to come. There was only one way for someone like herself to avoid a string of divorces: avoid marriage like the plague.

That was the reason she was going through with this plan.

The posse needed someone to show them that they should respect people’s choices. It hurt too badly as a kid to be yanked from Mom’s to Dad’s and back again, and it hurt too much almost letting her heart think it could have the fairy-tale happy ending.