“Oh.”
“Be real with me.” I inched closer, bringing my hands to her shoulders. “If no one else, be real with me.”
She dropped her gaze. “I don’t know how.”
“Yes, you do.” I hooked a finger under her chin, tipping it up. “You were last night.”
“That was me having a breakdown, then practically begging you to take me to bed. And this morning, I woke up alone. Not that I blame you for sneaking out. If I were you, I wouldn’t want to deal with my mess either.”
“Now hold up. Me leaving this morning had nothing to do with you crying last night.” She’d been all too tempting naked in that bed. The reason I’d left was definitely not because she’d let her guard down.
“Sure,” she said, dryly.
“It’s the truth. I left this morning because I’m doing my best to keep some distance from you, Gemma.”
Another woman might have gotten pissed at me for that comment. But not Gemma. Her eyes softened and the tension in her shoulders fell away. “Can I make another confession?”
I nodded.
“You make me feel things.”
“You told me last night. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “But that doesn’t make it any less terrifying.”
She had nothing to fear when it came to me. There wasn’t a thing she could do that would make me think less of her, make me judge her or make me dislike her.
Except leave again without a goodbye.
“Can I make a confession?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“I’m scared to get too close to you because I know you’re eventually going to leave.” It was only a matter of time.
“Where does that leave us?” she asked, not denying what we both knew was the inevitable.
I shrugged. “I don’t have a damn clue. I wish I could say I’d steer clear of you and that cabin and we could call this thing quits. But I won’t.”
“I don’t want you to steer clear of me and the cabin, and I don’t want to call this quits. What if we kept things casual?”
“Great theory. But you have to know that the minute my mother or my grandmother sees us paired together, casual is out the window.”
I wouldn’t put it past Grandma to move Gemma into my house, making up some bullshit excuse that the cabin was too cold or too isolated or too small for a single woman in the winter.
“Then let’s keep it between us,” she said. “Except I already told Katherine.”
“She’s the only person on this ranch who can keep a secret.”
“Then it’s settled.” Gemma winked, then took a step away. “See you around.”
“What?” I tried to catch her but she was already moving backward. “You’re leaving?”
“Aren’t you working?”
“Yeah.” But I didn’t want her to go. It was Saturday and instead of sitting behind my desk, I wanted to spend some time with her. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”
She gave me a curious glance, but when I turned and marched to the office to get my truck keys, coat and her flannel, she followed.
Gemma played along, not peppering me with questions as I escorted her to my truck. She sat quietly in the passenger seat, her expression relaxed as we drove away from the stables and to the soon-to-be site of the Greer Ranch’s latest expansion.
When I pulled over to the edge of the gravel road that ran the length of the new property, she looked around and asked, “What am I looking at?”
“See that right there?” I pointed to the open field out her window and the large barn in the distance. “I just bought it.”
“Nice. This is a pretty spot.”
Pretty and the setup for the facility was perfect with the flat, wide fields. “My Realtor called me right before you came into the office and told me the buyers accepted my offer. You’re the first person I’ve told.”
“Lucky timing on my part.”
“No, not just today,” I corrected. “At all. I didn’t tell anyone I was putting in an offer.”
Her eyes widened. “No one?”
“Nope.”
The magnitude of what I’d done settled on my shoulders. I’d been so desperate to make a decision without debate or counsel that I’d bought land in secret. My plan was to use the ranch’s capital reserves to pay the three-point-one-million-dollar price tag. The money was there and at my discretion. But I should have told my family before making this big a commitment.
Shit. What did that say about my trust in them? Maybe the reason they questioned my decisions and stayed so in the loop was because they feared I’d shut them out.
Which, ironically, I had.
“Was that stupid?” I asked Gemma.
“What will you use it for?”
“I want to expand the horse operation. We’re known around the area for our stock. We have some of the best genetics but mostly, we have skill. Cash is one of the best horse trainers around. He’s wasted on guest activities.”
A smile tugged at her mouth. “So you bought this place for your brother?”
“Partly. And because my gut says it will be a success. Worst case, we use the land for more pasture and expand our cattle operation.”
“You did your homework?”
“I did.” I had profit and loss projections at my home office and every worst-case scenario plotted out.
“Then no. I don’t think this was stupid.” She turned to the window again, surveying the frozen ground.
The ice crystals clung to the flaxen grass, reflecting the bright morning sun. The sky stretched powder blue above us, wrapping around the snow-capped mountains rising up around us.
And Gemma seemed to soak it all in. She seemed at ease this morning. She looked comfortable in that seat, wearing my flannel and not minding the smell of dirt and hay that, no matter how many times I cleaned this truck, was permanent.
I’d seen plenty of people come and go from the ranch. It was easy to pick out the guests who’d return on another vacation. Because Montana’s rugged and raw landscape called to something deeper in their soul.
They’d found peace here.
It wasn’t for everyone but it was in Gemma. How could she not know that she fit here?
Maybe she needed more time. Maybe she needed to see more than the lodge and the cabin.
“What are you doing today?” I asked.
“Nothing much. Why?”
I grinned. “Because I’m going to put you to work.”
“Oh, sweet Jesus, that stinks.” Gemma gagged and plugged her nose. “I’m never eating eggs again.”
I chuckled and placed another two eggs in the bucket she was carrying. “When I was a kid, Mom’s favorite punishment was to make us clean out the chicken coop. I always made sure I was on my best behavior when it had been a couple of months between cleanings.”
“I don’t think I like chickens.” She gave one of the hens perched a sideways glance. “How do I get the eggs from under her butt?”
“Just reach in there and take them.”
“You do it.”
“Don’t be scared. Just brush her aside. She’ll move.”