LITMIR.BIZ

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she could do for the time being. The other half had been spent wondering if she’d lost her mind. By this morning, when her alarm went off, she’d come to the point of not caring. She had a job. One she might even enjoy, in spite of her employer.

      Now that she was halfway to the ranch, her nerves had stretched as tight as a size eight girdle on an elephant. She was crazy. Work for Jake? He’d always been her biggest weakness. She’d thought she’d outgrown that, but apparently she hadn’t. Nonetheless, it wouldn’t stop her from doing the best job she could, if only to prove to Jake that she was even better than he thought.

      As she approached the ranch, she could see the other cowboys arriving. What would they think of working with a woman? Her apprehension grew with each step she took, until she found herself at the edge of the largest of the corrals, behind an obviously new barn. To the right of it was the sprawling two-story house with the wraparound porch, where Jake had spent his summers. Without thinking, her gaze moved beyond it to the big gambrel-roof barn that held the memory she’d put behind her. Or tried to. Everything that happened after that, except the accident that had taken her parents’ lives, had been affected by the decision she’d made that night he’d come back from college.

      She took a deep breath and looked away to see several smaller, new corrals encircling the large ranch yard—strong indications that he planned to stay. If she gained nothing else from this crazy need to prove she could be strong and face down anything thrown at her—including working for Jake—at least she would earn the money she needed. He obviously had plenty.

      Lost in her thoughts, she nearly jumped out of her boots when she heard him say her name. Slapping her hand over her suddenly racing heart, she spun around to find him standing only a few feet away.

      “You made it,” he said, a hint of surprise in his gray eyes.

      Proof, she thought, that he’d expected she wouldn’t show up. “Of course I did. Why wouldn’t I?”

      “No reason.”

      He looked her over from top to bottom and back again, sending a warm flush through her, until her clenched teeth made her jaw ache. No one could affect her the way Jake did, and she wished he would stop.

      “Come meet the others,” he said, turning around and leaving her to cool down and collect her wits.

      She nearly had to run to keep up with his long strides. Ahead of them, she saw the other ranch hands greeting each other. “Is this all of us?” she asked. “Three men and me?”

      “For now, it is. I could use one more. Maybe two,” he answered. “As the ranch grows, so will the crew.”

      Impressed, she had to smile. “That business degree is paying off.”

      They’d almost reached the others when he stopped and looked down at her. “There’s no degree.”

      When he moved on, she stumbled as she hurried to catch up with him, her mind stuttering on what he’d said. “Why not?” she asked, curious why he hadn’t finished the college degree he’d seemed to want so badly. Badly enough to leave her behind.

      “Why not what?” he asked, keeping his attention straight ahead.

      “Why don’t you have that degree?”

      Several steps later, he answered. “I quit school in the second semester of my sophomore year.”

      This time she didn’t stumble. She came to a stop, unable to take another step. He quit school? But before she could say it aloud, he’d joined the others and stood waiting for her.

      “Erin, these are your coworkers. That’s Bobby Ray,” Jake said, pointing to a tall, lean, forty-something cowboy, who tipped the brim of his hat with his finger.

      “Ma’am,” he drawled.

      “Hello, Bobby Ray.”

      Jake barely gave her a glance, his focus on his employees. “That over there’s Gary. We’ve worked together for several years. And this here’s Kelly, our most recent employee.”

      And the youngest, she thought. Mid-twenties, she guessed when Kelly smiled at her. Gary was close to Jake’s age, in his mid-thirties, with light blue eyes framed by deep crinkles at the corners.

      “This is Erin Walker, boys,” Jake finished. “And before you think there isn’t a whole lot to her, I can assure you she not only knows what she’s doing, she’s a lot tougher than she looks.”

      “It’s nice to meet you all,” Erin said, looking at each of them.

      Before any of them spoke, Jake issued duties for the morning. The men hurried off to do their work, and he turned back to her. “Think you can handle it?”

      “I don’t see why not.” None of the other hands had made her feel out of place, although she sensed they weren’t sure what to think of her. Not a new reaction. She’d lived most of her life in a man’s world, and it happened regularly. “I’m pretty sure that if you hired them, they know what they’re doing.”

      “They do,” he answered.

      “So what’s my job? What is it, exactly, that I’ve been hired to do?”

      “We’ll talk about that later. After you’ve had a chance to see the operation, we can decide. Until then, why don’t you go observe each of them? You have a good eye, and I’d be interested to hear what you think.”

      She noticed he’d said “we can decide” instead of “I will decide” and was surprised. Deep down, she knew she shouldn’t be. When they were growing up, he’d always shown interest in her riding and had constantly asked her and her brothers questions about horses, livestock and ranching in general.

      “I can do that,” she answered, only a little nervous that she would be observing, not working, at least for now. “In the meantime, I look forward to getting to know my fellow employees.”

      That brought a smile from him. “Just treating you like the others.”

      “Thanks.”

      He moved away, and then stopped. “If you have any questions, let me know. I have some other things to take care of, but I’ll be around.”

      When he headed in the direction of the big barn where she’d seen Kelly disappear, she blew out a breath. So far, so good.

      For the next few hours, she watched the other wranglers, making mental notes of how they handled the animals and of their strengths and weaknesses. What that had to do with the job she would be assigned, she didn’t know. But she guessed Jake would tell her before the day ended.

      Leaning against the corral fence, she felt someone walk up behind her and she turned to see the object of her thoughts.

      “How’s it going?” he asked.

      “Good. Not that I know why I’m doing it, but you’re the boss.”

      “You always were a fast learner.”

      No way would she answer that. She couldn’t be sure what he was referring to, but it was better that she didn’t try to guess.

      He must have picked up on what she was thinking, because she caught a ghost of a smile on his lips before he spoke. “What do you think of them?”

      “As a whole?”

      “Yeah.”

      “They seem to get along with each other,” she said. “There aren’t any slackers, so nobody is forced to do anyone else’s job. They each do their own thing, but they seem friendly toward each other. It’s a good group, at least from what I’ve seen.”

      “And individually?”

      She didn’t know how to answer. “Do you want an honest assessment?”

      “Nothing but.”

      Nodding, she glanced around the big ranch yard, where the

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