Page 32 of Taming the Wild Cowboy

Which would be trouble only if it impacted her future on the ranch over the next few weeks. Things would have to move pretty fast for that to happen.

What if you don’t have a new job by the time Jordan comes home?

Maybe Trev would keep her on longer, but she couldn’t count on that.

She walked to the center of the room and turned a slow circle, taking in the interior of her new abode—the surprisingly comfortable-looking leather sofa with a wool rug in front of it; the vintage stove and fridge separated by a length of counter with cupboards above and below; the small mid-century dining table with two chairs. She had a place to stay and internet so she could job hunt. She also had a hot cowboy in the house next door.

Just keep your hands to yourself.

Why did those feel like famous last words?

Because kissing Trev had not been the get-it-out-of-her-system move she’d intended. Instead, it had kind of lit the fuse. The only positive was that Trev was probably no more anxious to muck things up than she was because, even though she was not his dream employee, he needed her.

Needing each other for their own purposes was the middle ground they shared. They might mess around, play a little, but neither of them was going to do anything to jeopardize their current working relationship.

And yeah. Now they knew what they were dealing with.

Fire.

*

Trev spent the night in and around the barn before abandoning the new mothers and cooking breakfast for Wade, who’d enjoyed a full night’s rest. Four cows had chosen to calve—two the easy way, and two that took so long he drove them into the birthing pens in the barn to monitor. Eventually they calved without Trev having to intervene or wake Wade to help. A good night, all in all, but long, with lots of time to think about Maclyn and what was happening between them.

He’d never kissed an employee before. Of course, looking back at his employees, there was a good reason for that.

Would he be kissing this one again?

He would leave that up to Mac, at least for as long as she was his employee. The ball was firmly in her court.

“I put out some feelers and nobody knows anything about this Carl Jordan guy.” Wade slathered jam on his toast.

“How’d you go about putting out those feelers?” Trev had a bad feeling about this.

“I said, ‘Are you familiar with a guy named Carl Jordan? Lived here a while ago?’”

“And who did you say that to?”

“Few guys on my trip to town yesterday. Don’t worry. I wasn’t obvious. I just said that his name had come up and I couldn’t remember the guy. Even when I went to the courthouse to look at the plat, they didn’t know anything.”

Of course, he’d gone to the courthouse and looked at the plat. While he wasn’t being obvious.

“Where’s Jordan’s inheritance located?”

“About ten miles southeast of the Tree Fork. Squeezed in between a nature conservancy and a herd district. If he wants to sell to some rich guy who wants privacy, he’d be in good shape.”

“You think he wants to sell?”

“I think he needs some time to wrap his head around this.”

“Agreed.”

Silence fell, interrupted only by the crunch of Wade’s toast as he ate. The Jordan situation was strange, and Trev had meant what he said about being there if his brother needed to talk. So far he hadn’t.

“It looks like Maclyn got here early.”

Trev drained the last of this cup then got up to get the pot and refill both of their cups. “I offered her the foreman’s house.”

Wade’s gaze came up. “You did.”