Making A Texas Cowboy (Home at Last Texas #1)

Chapter Twenty

D on’t do it. Don’t do it.

It became a chant in Nic’s head as they walked beside the horse and the pony and their riders back to the barn. It would be a simple, easy solution, but the very idea of it made her too edgy to even think about it seriously.

And the fact that her mother had given her that well-known questioning look the moment she’d heard Jackson say “a place of our own” told her she had thought of it too.

They stopped at the platform Dad had built. Mom ground-tied the patient horse, who was very used to this by now, and Nic went up on the platform to help. Her mother had this pretty well down, but it never hurt to be on standby, just in case.

Once she was back in her wheelchair, she headed down the long ramp, letting the chair pick up a little speed about halfway down, when it would be safe. She let out a whoop Nic knew was for Jeremy’s sake, and the boy laughed.

“That’s pretty cool,” he said.

“Nobody wants to end up in a chair, but if you do, you grab your fun where you can,” Mom said. “Did you know there’s a famous barrel racer who got hurt like I did and still races? They even made a movie about her.”

Jeremy’s eyes widened. “Really?”

The boy glanced at his father, who smiled. “We’ll find it and watch it,” he promised.

“Now,” Mrs. Baylor said, “Nicky has something she’d like to show you that might suit your needs.”

“Mom!” She almost yelped it, making Jackson look at her curiously.

Her mother lifted an arched brow at her. “It would be the perfect solution, would it not?”

It probably would. And she’d have to come up with a pretty good reason not to even offer it, and the only one she could give her mother would cost too much in embarrassment. She couldn’t even plead it wasn’t fit to be shown, because she had just been there and tidied up.

“Dare I ask?” Jackson said, rather dryly. And he asked it of her mother, she noticed, no doubt having seen her own reaction.

“Nicky can explain,” she said cheerfully. “Right now, I need to get inside for a video meeting.”

Defeated, Nic watched her mother head for the house.

“She’s busier than most agents I know,” Jackson said.

She glanced at him, and he was smiling as he watched her mother go. Damn, he was hard to resist when he smiled like that, so warm and genuine.

“What’s goin’ on?” Jeremy asked.

“I’m not really sure,” Jackson answered, then looked at Nic directly, with those famous blue eyes. “What is going on?”

She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, calmingly. “I guess I’m showing you something. So unless you feel like walking a half a mile or so, you might as well saddle up Shade. Jeremy, you can just stay aboard Pie.”

“Cool,” the boy exclaimed. Clearly, anything that involved more time in the saddle was good with him.

It took them twice as long to get there as it had taken her the other day, because they went slowly on purpose, so Jeremy and the pony could keep up. Jackson didn’t seem inclined to chat idly, but then, he never did. He rode with the same ease she’d seen before and looked around with interest as they went. There were several of Dad’s herd in the biggest pasture, and Jeremy spotted them immediately.

“I thought cows were brown,” he said.

Before she could answer, his father did. “Those are special. Black Angus, they’re called.”

So did he actually recognize them, or had he been talking to Dad?

“Who’s Angus?” Jeremy asked.

Jackson blinked, and Nic couldn’t help chuckling. “Not who, where,” she said. “Angus is a county in Scotland, where the breed originated.”

“Oh,” the boy said with a small nod, apparently satisfied.

“We could cut across the big pasture and get there in half the time, but Dad would have a fit if we disturbed his babies,” she said. “And I’m only half joking.”

“Get where? Or should I not ask?” Jackson said.

They were starting up the slight rise now, close enough that she might as well explain. “Our longtime foreman retired a while ago. He was ready, anyway, and after we sold so much acreage, we didn’t really need a full-time guy, so we didn’t hire a replacement. Which left his house empty.”

Jackson’s gaze sharpened, and she knew he’d gotten there. But Jeremy merely looked curious again, so she kept going.

“We’ve thought about renting it out, but since it’s on the ranch itself, finding someone we could trust seemed daunting, so we’ve put it off.”

They could see the building through the trees now, the small grove of live oak and pecan trees that had been Clark’s favorite part of the location. They not only provided a bit of shade from the Texas heat, but they framed the view she herself loved. From the main house, all you could see was work. Barns, corrals, the driveway, all the things that needed maintenance. From here, on this slight rise, you could look out over the Hill Country she so loved without having the undone chores hammering at you.

She pulled to a halt in front of the expansive front porch that ran the width of the house. “It looks a bit rustic, because it was partially built out of the trees that were cleared to do it.”

“Seems fitting,” Jackson said. He’d said nothing about the obvious reason they were here, which she knew he’d tumbled to the minute she’d mentioned the house was empty.

“We thought so. But it’s up-to-date inside. Even has internet. Which is good because the cell reception is kind of lousy.”

“Not sure that’s not good too,” Jackson said, and she looked at him just in time to see his eyes roll.

“It’s cool,” Jeremy decided, that apparently being his descriptor of the day. “Can we go look?”

“Tie up right there,” she said, gesturing toward the old-fashioned hitching post to the right of the porch steps, “and have at it. I’ll be right there to unlock the door.”

The boy slid off Pie and did so, with great care, she noticed. Then he raced up the five steps to the porch, which was high enough to give an even better view.

She and Jackson followed at a slower pace. He was looking around intently, at the outbuilding that was both stall and feed storage, and the small corral next to it. There was a carport to one side of the main building, sheltered on three sides, and she saw that register too.

“No garage,” she said. “Clark didn’t need one, since he rode everywhere here, and borrowed one of the ranch trucks if he needed a vehicle.”

He only nodded. Then they were up the steps, just as Jeremy exclaimed, “Wow, it’s like you can see forever!”

He was leaning on the porch railing, looking out over the view she loved. “It is,” she agreed. “This is my other favorite spot on the ranch.” She glanced at Jackson, who was staring out across the hills as intently as his son was. “Only thing missing is that glimpse of the river.”

“It’s still amazing,” he said, still looking, scanning, as if he couldn’t get enough of the view. It let her study his profile, and a beautiful profile it was. She’d never denied how good-looking he was, only that he didn’t have a clue about the reality he was supposedly trying to portray. But she’d been wrong. About that, and other things as well.

“I can see how a man would get up in the morning, walk out here, maybe with a cup of coffee, and just... breathe it in. Look out over all this and be proud to be a part of it, part of what keeps it going.”

He’d said it all quietly, as if to himself. As if he was just speaking his train of thought. He wasn’t trying to flatter her or impress her. He didn’t even look to see if she’d heard him.

Because he means it.

“Clark, our old foreman, used to say we put our house in the wrong place, where all you can see is the work to be done.”

He did look at her then. “Maybe he was right. Because from here you can see why you do it.”

Nic had no words to describe how that simple observation moved her.

“Yes,” she said, past the tightness in her throat. “Our place is more convenient to the work, but this is where I would have put the main house, even if it did take a quarter of an hour to saddle up and get to work.”

“I’d think it’d be worth the ride down. Give you time to think, to organize the day ahead.”

“Exactly.” She wanted to say something, to say out loud how much she agreed with him, and how it made her feel that he saw all this. But she was afraid of what might come tumbling out, so instead she walked over to where a small birdhouse hung from a branch of the oak tree that shaded that end of the porch. She reached underneath and opened a tiny drawer that was almost invisible from the outside to pull out the front door key.

“Hey! That’s sneaky!” Jeremy exclaimed.

“Isn’t it?” She grinned at the boy. “My dad built it.” She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “And now you know the secret, but you can’t tell anyone.”

“Promise,” Jeremy said, making a cross motion on his chest and looking so pleased to be trusted it tightened her throat all over again. These Thorpe males were really getting to her.

She unlocked the front door and let Jeremy go in first. “It’s all wood in here, too!” He seemed excited by the idea. The second thing he seemed to notice was the ladder leading up to the sleeping loft that overlooked the great room. To the right was a large stone fireplace, flanked by bookcases and a log rack that were empty at the moment. At the other end of the main space was a simple, but well-equipped L-shaped kitchen, with a small table and four chairs against the wall next to the short end of the L.

Jeremy had waited as long as he could, she suspected, before running over to the ladder. “What’s up there?”

“Why don’t you go up and see?” It was a stepladder-type structure with solid railings, so he should be fine, but she realized belatedly she probably should have checked with Jackson first. But it turned out it didn’t matter, because Jeremy did just that.

“Dad?”

“Go ahead,” his father said. “Just take it slow.”

Her idea of slow and the boy’s idea were a bit different, but he made it safely and, apparently, easily. He was out of sight the moment he hit the top, but his shout was clear. “Hey! There’s a bed up here! And drawers, and a little table by a window where I can see the barn where Pie lives!”

When she glanced at Jackson again, he was shaking his head slowly, wonderingly. “I haven’t heard this much energy from him... ever.”

“Let me show you the rest,” she said.

She led him down the hallway from the great room. The bathroom was on the left, and she pushed the door open. “There’s only the one, but it’s a nice size. Clark had that whirlpool tub put in. Said it was a luxury after a long, hard day.”

There was also a sizeable shower, plenty of counter space, and a separate small room for the toilet.

“Nice,” he said.

She tried to tell herself she was just showing the space, and the fact that the bedroom was next meant nothing in particular. She opened the door and stepped back to let him take a look. He stopped about five feet into the room and made a slow turn, checking it out.

She was glad to know everything was still tidied up after her visit last weekend. The room was big enough to hold the king-sized bed easily, and the dresser with its mirror was a suitable size, and all that was needed besides the big walk-in closet. And on the back wall was a desk that faced a large window with the downstairs version of the view Jeremy had crowed about up in the loft.

“Also nice,” he murmured.

“Not too rustic feeling?”

“Wonderfully uncitified,” he answered.

She loved the way he’d put it. And knew in that moment what his answer would be to the question she hadn’t yet asked. She tried not to think about how this would complicate her life and focus only on how happy Jeremy seemed.

On the thought, the boy appeared, apparently wanting to see where they’d gone. “This is nice too,” he pronounced.

Jackson turned around and crouched down to the boy’s level. “You like it?”

“Yeah. That loft is cool. I’d like to sleep there.”

He straightened up and faced her. “Is that what we’re talking about here?”

“You need a place. It’s empty,” she said.

“Can I afford it?”

She blinked. Surely, money wasn’t an issue, was it? She didn’t know how much he got paid, but she was sure that by now, with the show a huge hit, it was a lot. He had to be a millionaire ten times over by now, at least.

“That you’d have to work out with my dad,” she said, rather carefully.

“We’re going to stay here? Live here, on the ranch?”

Jeremy sounded so excited Nic jettisoned all her doubts and worries. Crazy how she’d become so attached, so fast, but she would do a lot more than put up with a tenant in this house she loved for the joyous sound of that wounded boy’s voice.