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Miss Mim unfolded the last cardboard moving carton and turned it over so Trevor could tape up the bottom of the box. She smiled at him fondly as he assisted her. “You have no problem making up your mind. And you always tell people what you want.”
“You just don’t listen,” Rebecca Carrigan said, coming into the room.
Trevor hadn’t known Rebecca was on the premises. It figured she would be. He turned to square off with her for the second time that day, felt his senses kick into hihgh gear. It wasn’t just that she was beautiful. It was the way she moved—with a kind of sexy, inherent grace. The way her lips curled softly and her chin tilted stubbornly. The slender curves hidden beneath the pink cotton shirt and faded jeans—along with her straight and silky honey blond hair, challenging golden brown eyes and delicate features—made it impossible for him to look away. Even though it was abundantly clear she wished he would disappear. “How would you know whether I pay attention or not?” he asked.
Rebecca shrugged in mute superiority and gestured at their surroundings. She took the deed out of her pocket and waved it in front of him like a matador waving a cape in front of a bull. “Case in point, cowboy, since this place is now mine, not yours.”
Trevor felt like pawing the ground. Maybe because he had never been so ticked off, disappointed, and yes—humiliated. Figuring he would deal with Rebecca Carrigan later, he turned back to Miss Mim. “I told you I would buy The Primrose from you, at whatever price you deemed fair.”
Miss Mim straightened and stated patiently, “And I said I would keep that in mind.”
Trevor took over the job of fitting the last of her books into the carton. “And then sold it to Rebecca without giving me a chance to even make a bid?”
Miss Mim stood back, to watch Rebecca load the filled boxes onto a moving dolly. “She needs the land, dear. You already have a ranch.”
Frowning—it went against his grain to let a woman lift things when he was there and could do it for her—Trevor brushed Rebecca aside. “A ranch that you know I would like to expand.”
Miss Mim led the way to the front door and held it while Trevor pushed the dolly through. “Perhaps you can make the same arrangement with her that you’ve had with me, regarding grazing rights.”
Rebecca followed them to Miss Mim’s aging Cadillac. She fit the suitcases into the backseat, while Trevor set the cartons in the already-crammed trunk. Rebecca closed the door. Trevor shut the trunk. The warm April air was scented with primroses and the earthier smells of new grass, sunshine and grazing cattle. Despite this being one of his busiest times of year on the ranch, it was also the most pleasurable. Well, not this year.
Rebecca flashed him another provoking smile.
“Not going to happen, Miss Mim,” Rebecca said with a defiant toss of her head. “In fact,” her eyes claimed and held his, “I need Trevor to move his herd off my land as soon as possible. Hopefully, today.”
Trevor did a double take. He’d expected trouble from Rebecca Carrigan, but not this kind. “You can’t be serious.”
Rebecca’s smile faded. “Oh, but I am.”
Miss Mim chuckled and got her car keys out of her handbag. “You two are going to get along splendidly!”
Like hell they were, Trevor thought.
“HOW SOON CAN I EXPECT you to move your cattle?” Rebecca asked, the moment Miss Mim had driven off.
Trevor turned back to Rebecca, a stunned expression on his face. “Where is she going?”
Trying hard not to think what it was going to be like having this sexy know-it-all for a neighbor, Rebecca replied, “Laramie Gardens Home For Seniors. She’s the new social director.”
“She’s supposed to be retired.”
“Yes, I know.” Rebecca turned her glance to the three pastures located at the rear of the property. The square plots were each ten acres, and surrounded by an aging brown split rail fence. A ten-acre hay field sat behind that. The house, barn and detached garage were situated at the front of the property, on the ten acres nearest the road. The Circle Y and Trevor’s Wind Creek butted up on either side of her. She was now living smack-dab in the middle of two extremely ambitious men, both of whom coincidentally wanted her property for their own. Wasn’t this going to be fun?
“So why is Miss Mim taking another job?”
Rebecca reluctantly directed her attention back to her “visitor.” What was it about the McCabe men that made them think they had to know everything? “Apparently, Miss Mim has done all the traveling she wants now, and sitting around all day isn’t agreeing with her. A lot of her friends already live at the seniors’ home.”
Trevor folded his arms in front of him. He reminded her of a general surveying his troops. “When is she going to move the rest of her stuff?”
“They’ve given her a furnished apartment, as part of the job. So all she’s taking is her clothing and personal affects. The rest she sold to me as part of the deal.”
“I want to buy the ranch from you.”
Rebecca blinked. “What?”
“Add ten percent to whatever you paid her for it, and I’ll pay it to you.”
“Only ten percent?” she mocked. “Vince Owen has already been here and offered an additional fifteen.”
“You’re kidding.”
Rebecca let her too-sweet smile fade. “Do I look like I’m kidding, cowboy?”
The corners of his mouth took on a downward slant. “What did you say?” he demanded.
“The same thing I’m telling you,” Rebecca shot back. “No.”
She wasn’t surprised to see that Trevor looked relieved about that. Which led her to the next item on her agenda. “Back to the cattle. I need you to move ’em as soon as possible. And you’ll need to make sure you clean up after them, or in other words, remove all the dung. I want those pastures clean as can be when I put my alpacas out there.”
“You’re planning to use all three?”
Rebecca nodded. “One for the females, one for the herd- sires and another for the nursing crias and their mothers.”
“How big a herd are you starting with?”
“Ten. But I expect to expand rapidly.” Rebecca gave him a moment to absorb all that. “So, can I expect this will be done today?”
Trevor begrudgingly relented. “I’ll have to get some temporary help. I don’t employ anyone else on a regular basis.” He paused. “That may take a few days to arrange.”
She glanced out at the far pasture, where he had some thirty steers grazing. “Or you could start right now,” she suggested with a discreet lift of her brow, “doing it yourself.” Seriously, how long could it take?
His hazel eyes darkened. “I can see living next door to you is going to be a challenge.”
She slapped him on the back, rancher-style. Strode off, calling over her shoulder, “Cowboy, you don’t know the half of it.”
AN HOUR AND TWO PHONE CALLS later, Trevor met up with Tyler and Teddy at his horse barn. He’d known he could count on his triplet brothers to drop everything and help him out of this predicament, just as he had assisted them on numerous occasions, emergency and otherwise. The three of them were more than brothers and confidants; they were best friends. Their two much younger brothers, Kurt and Kyle, were growing up the same way.
“That totally sucks,” Teddy said, after Trevor had finished filling them in on everything that happened that day.
The ever-practical Tyler shrugged. “Should have had a contract with Miss Mim.”
Trevor brought out the lassos and handed one to each brother. “We’ve never had a contract on any of our arrangements. I just told Miss Mim what I wanted to do. She always said okay. When she needed something, she let me know, and I took care of it for her. I knew she’d want to sell the land eventually—she’d been thinking about moving into town for some time. I just figured when the time came she’d sell it to me.”
Tyler carefully cinched his saddle. “When it comes to women, I’ve learned the hard way, never assume anything,”
Trevor squinted, grinned. “You talking about women in general or Susan Carrigan in particular?”
Teddy swung himself up into the saddle. “You ought to just go ahead and admit it, Ty. There’s never going to be another woman for you but Susan.”
Tyler guided his horse between Trevor’s and Teddy’s. “Susan and I don’t get along.”
“Sometimes you do.” Trevor winked, thinking how smugly content his veterinarian-brother could be when his relationship with Rebecca’s older sister, Susan happened to be humming along. And how miserable Ty was at times—like now—when it was “off.”
“The two of you should just quit all the drama and get hitched,” Teddy agreed, as they rode toward the pasture.
“You should talk,” Tyler grumbled, with a sharp look at Teddy. “Since you’ve never had eyes for anyone but Amy Carrigan.”
“Amy’s my friend,” Teddy muttered.
Trevor stopped at the pasture gate and dismounted to open it. “I don’t see you dating anyone else—at least not for long.”
Teddy turned his glance toward the cattle they were going to have to move. “That’s because I’ve been busy getting my horse-breeding operation up and running.”
Trevor knew how hard he’d worked. The Silverado was fast becoming known in Texas as the place to get quality, affordable quarter horses. “Now if you could only train a woman as well as you school a horse,” Tyler teased Teddy.
Trevor frowned, his thoughts jumping back to the problem that had brought them all together on such short notice. “I could sure use a few tips on how to handle Rebecca Carrigan,” he said, closing the pasture gate, before taking the reins once again.
“Burr under your saddle, huh?” Teddy replied.
Worse, Trevor felt responsible for protecting her, since it had been Trevor’s lively public exchange with Rebecca at the feed store that had brought her feisty presence to Vince Owen’s attention.
Rebecca didn’t know about the bet the conniving jerk had tried—and failed—to make about her that morning. If Trevor had his way, she never would. What worried him was the thought that Vince was going to be living—at least part of the time—on The Circle Y Ranch, on the other side of Rebecca. If Vince were true to form, he’d soon be using his proximity to Rebecca every which way but Sunday in order to get to Trevor.
Vince’s efforts to annoy, distract and otherwise make miserable were already working. Trevor’s mind was on anything but the business he was supposed to be running on the Wind Creek cattle ranch.
Instead, he kept waiting for Vince to start up the ugly cutthroat competition again, via Rebecca, as a way of punishing Trevor for succeeding academically, professionally, romantically, where Vince had not. Knowing Vince, he’d probably go after the financial success of The Primrose Ranch and the Wind Creek cattle ranch before he was finished, too.
Unfortunately, the only way Trevor would be able to protect Rebecca and her newly acquired property was by befriending her first, a task not made easy by the fact that she thought, erroneously—her parents actually wanted the two of them to start dating. And was, of course, absolutely opposed to having anything at all to do with him. Now or in the future….
Aware his brothers were waiting on Trevor’s response to his pretty new neighbor, he frowned and said, “You’re right about that much. Ms. Rebecca Carrigan is going to be one royal pain.”
As a kid she’d had a reputation for never listening to anyone in a position of authority. From what he could tell so far, that had not changed.
Tyler slowed his mount’s pace as they reached the opposite side of the Wind Creek pasture and the gate that separated it from the Primrose Ranch pasture, where alpacas would soon be grazing. “Not to worry about it, bro.”
Teddy winked and continued the ribbing, “If any man can handle her—”
And that was a mighty big if, Trevor thought grimly.
“—you can,” Tyler said.
“REBECCA, DEAR, I’ve already thought of at least half-a-dozen things I forgot to get from the house,” Miss Mim said.
“No problem, Miss Mim. I’ll get them for you.” Rebecca picked up the chalk from the tray on the message board in the kitchen. “Just tell me what they are and I’ll make a list.”
“My favorite vase, on the dining room table.”
“Check.”
Miss Mim rambled off four more items while Rebecca wrote. “And I was going to ask you for my binoculars on the hook by the back door, but I’ve changed my mind. I thought you might want to use those to keep an eye on your new neighbors.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes, even as she took the binoculars and looped them around her neck. “Very funny, Miss Mim.”
“I’m serious, Rebecca. Those two men are going to be vying for your hand in marriage in no time. Just don’t make my mistake and say no to romance, like I did. When you get to be my age, you’ll find you regret it.”
Rebecca knew that was true.
Although Miss Mim had been “family” to every parent and child who’d come through the Laramie Public Library, lately she’d been regretting the road not taken. Fortunately, Rebecca was saved having to respond by muffled voices on the other end of the connection.
“Dear?” Miss Mim was back. “The canasta game is about to start. I’ll phone you later.”
“When would you like me to bring the items by?”
“Two days from now—say around seven in the evening? I’m going to be busy prior to that.”
“No problem.”
Rebecca hung up the phone.
She walked around the house, gathering the requested items and slipping them into a cardboard box, all the while admiring her new home. It was hard to believe fifty acres of prime Texas acreage, never mind the pretty white stone ranch house with the rose-colored shutters and dark gray roof, was all hers now.
Miss Mim had inherited the seventy-five-year-old homestead from her parents and had taken loving care of it during the forty-two years she had resided there. Handsome dark pine floors shone beneath the delicate antique furniture. Upstairs, there were three bedrooms and a large old-fashioned bath with a claw-foot tub and pedestal sink. In the master bedroom there was an old-fashioned four-poster, matching wardrobe, chest of drawers and vanity. The second bedroom was a sewing room and the third, a study.
Downstairs, a formal parlor and dining room, suitable for entertaining, encompassed the front of the house. In the rear was a big kitchen, complete with trestle table and six Windsor chairs, fireplace and white stone hearth. Black marble countertops gleamed next to state-of-the-art stainless steel appliances and antique white cabinets. The combination laundry room and spacious food pantry were tucked behind panel doors.
Across the front of the house was a wide front porch. Instead of a patio or deck out back, there were steps down to the grass, and a flagstone path that led to a white stone gazebo, surrounded by primroses.
Beyond that was a big red barn and a good distance away from that, a white stone detached garage. Rebecca intended to park in the lane in front of the house and convert the garage into the official farm office, where ranch business would be done.
Figuring she should go down and take another look at the interior of the barn to see what if anything needed to be done before she brought animals onto the ranch, Rebecca headed out the back door.
She had just passed the gazebo when she saw three men on horseback cantering across Trevor McCabe’s land, and onto hers.
Wondering whom he’d gotten to help him move cattle on such short notice, Rebecca picked up the binoculars from around her neck and stepped back into the gazebo.
It took a little focusing—and a minute for her to get a vantage point that avoided the stands of cedar and live oak trees between her and them—to get a good view of what was going on out on her land.
Rebecca smiled, identifying Trevor and his two oldest brothers.
When Trevor, Tyler and Teddy were younger, everyone had trouble telling the McCabe triplets apart. These days, it was no problem, despite the fact they all dressed in typical cowboy garb of hat, jeans, boots and cotton shirts. Although they all had broad shoulders, slim hips and fit, muscular physiques, their appearances differed. Trevor’s thick reddish-brown hair was clipped so short it was barely visible beneath the brim of his hat. Tyler’s hair was on the long side and brushed his collar. Teddy’s hair was midway between the two and tended to kink up on the ends. Their differing personalities set them apart, as well. Trevor had a commanding air about him Rebecca found hard to ignore. Tyler was more aloof and had a gentle, assessing manner. Teddy exuded friendliness and a willingness to go the extra mile to help out a friend.
Hearing the phone ring, Rebecca went back inside. It turned out there was a problem with one of her alpacas. But at least she knew where help could be found. Assuming, of course, Rebecca thought as she picked up the binoculars and headed back to the gazebo, that Trevor and his two brothers hadn’t left yet.
To Rebecca’s relief she could easily make out Tyler and Teddy on horseback, moving the herd. Trevor McCabe, however, was nowhere in sight. Unless, Rebecca thought, getting down on one knee, he and his horse had disappeared behind that distant grove of trees….
Frustrated because she still couldn’t locate Trevor, Rebecca adjusted the lens to the highest magnification.
A chuckle to her immediate right had her turning swiftly in alarm. Binoculars still resting on the bridge of her nose, she found herself close up and personal to a denim-clad zipper. Rebecca gasped and dropped the lens.
Smug amusement in his eyes, Trevor McCabe sauntered forward. “Find anything you like?” he drawled.
“YOU HAD NO RIGHT to sneak up on me that way!” Rebecca scrambled to her feet, glad the two of them weren’t as close as her initial view had seemed to indicate.
Trevor tipped the brim of his hat back. “Isn’t that a little like the Peeping Tom calling the spy nosy?”
She told herself it was the heat of the spring day making her sweat. “I am not a Peeping Tom!”
“Well, you’re not a spy, either.” He abruptly changed from flirting cowboy to more sober rancher. “Which leads us to the question of why you’re using binoculars on me and my brothers.”
Rebecca ignored the heat of awareness rising up between them and forced herself to return his level gaze. “I need to talk to you about borrowing your livestock trailer tomorrow morning. I just got a call from the breeder. I have to pick up one of my alpacas tomorrow morning.”
He lifted a brow. “Just one?”
“Blue Mist is pregnant. The vet in San Angelo doesn’t want her traveling past tomorrow. He thinks moving her too close to her due date could jeopardize the cria—the baby.”
“Why not pick up the rest of the herd while you’re there, then?”
Rebecca inhaled the scent of man and sun and horse. “I’m not ready for them yet. But I can go ahead and pick up Blue Mist.”
“Sure you want to do that?” he asked. “Alpacas are pack animals.”
Now he was sounding just like the saleswoman she had just gotten off the phone with. Fortunately, Rebecca knew a hard sell when she heard one.
“That can wait until early next week.” Rebecca knew she would have her hands full just managing one alpaca on her own. That went double for a pregnant alpaca. Besides, she wanted to make sure Blue Mist was completely comfortable and settled in before she brought in the other nine animals she’d bought. And then there was the matter of the balance due when she took possession of the animals. The temporary operating loan she had negotiated for start-up of the ranch was barely adequate. And she’d used most of her own savings on the down payment and mortgage fees for the ranch. She still had her credit card, but she didn’t want to max out on that unless she absolutely had to. The remaining balance was her only safety net. And she still had so much to do before the Open House in less than two weeks.
“So can I borrow your livestock trailer?” Rebecca continued.
Trevor frowned. “I’d have to charge you for it.”
Despite her tricky finances, Rebecca wouldn’t have it any other way, since she absolutely did not want to be beholden to him. “I’d expect to pay a reasonable rent,” she said hoping it wouldn’t be too much.
“My price is one home-cooked meal.”
Rebecca had been prepared to dicker over dollars. She opened her eyes wide, sure she couldn’t possibly have heard right. “What?”
Trevor lifted his hands. “That’s the arrangement I had with Miss Mim. Whenever I did a favor for her, helped her prune trees, or clean the shutters or whatever, she repaid me with a home-cooked meal and that is what I want from you, too.”
Rebecca bit her lip as she tried to figure a clever way out of this that would not shut down all the help she was bound to need from him—in the short haul anyway. “Miss Mim is a fabulous cook.” So was she. Trevor McCabe did not need to know that, however, lest he make a regular practice of demanding her culinary skills. She’d much rather exchange money or any other less personal commodity— like mucking out the pasture—with him.
“How well I know that,” Trevor recollected. He ran the flat of his palm across his jaw. “That’s what made working for her such a treat.”
Rebecca could see he’d made up his mind about what he wanted from her. “I would prefer to pay cash.”
“I don’t take money from women. Or in other words—” he paused long enough to give his words an aggravating connotation “—my favors are not for sale.”
Refusing to let him ruffle her, Rebecca tilted her head to one side. “And mine are?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. He leaned toward her and whispered conspiratorially, “Are they?”
Rebecca bit down on an oath. “Stop trying to get under my skin.”
“Why,” he countered, “when it’s so much fun?”
For the second time in ten minutes, Rebecca found herself fighting a self-conscious blush. “Is there anything else you’d be willing to barter?” she asked.
He took a moment to consider.
Sexual chemistry arced between them, hotter than ever.
She held up her hand in halting fashion. “Never mind.” Pulse racing, she shook her head in silent regret, mumbling just beneath her breath, “Forget I asked that.” She forced herself to meet and hold his decidedly mischievous gaze. “When do you want to get your dinner?” she asked.
Her irritated tone brought a provoking smile to his lips. “You make it sound like I’d be picking up a meal through a drive-through window.”
“Pretty close, although to be generous, I will be delivering it to you.” That way she could do at least that much of it on her terms.
He stepped closer, purposefully invading her space. “I don’t think you get what I’m saying to you. When I say I want a home-cooked meal from you in return for borrowing my trailer, I’m talking about the two of us getting to know each other and sitting down to break bread together.”
Just why he was suddenly so determined they be chums, she didn’t know. But she didn’t trust his newfound interest in her any more than she trusted whatever it was he had secretly been discussing with her father this morning.
Taking her time, she cocked her head and played with the ends of the braid falling over her shoulder.
Channeling Scarlett O’Hara—or maybe it was Calamity Jane—she batted her eyelashes at him coquettishly, asked sweetly, “I can’t just put the food on the table and run?”
He stood, legs braced apart, muscular arms folded in front of him. “You only wish I were that easy to deal with.”
No kidding.
He looked her up and down with lazy male confidence. “If you want my help, you have to sit down with me and regale me with your charming company every bit as graciously as Miss Mim always did. And in turn—” his gaze slid past the delicate hollow of her throat, past her lips, to her eyes “—I’ll regale you with mine.”
“Geez.” Rebecca made a great show of blowing out an exasperated breath. “You drive a hard bargain.”