Page 4 of The Soldier and the Cowboy

“Mind if I listen to the radio?” the cowboy asked.

“No, sir,” Bailey said. He tuned the radio to a country station, picked up a soda can from the console, and spit into it. Bailey turned to face the window, hiding her grimace. She could stomach a lot but had never warmed up to tobacco juice. Her stomach churned. She closed her eyes and breathed through her nose until she got herself back under control. She was heading to a rough, unsettled place full of rough, unsettled men, nothing she hadn’t handled before. She would stick to herself and keep her own counsel, as she always did.

The ride to the ranch was long and might have been boring, if not for Bailey’s aforementioned love of nothing. The scenery outside was blessedly flat and uneventful with both houses and towns few and far between. Mostly there were cattle, lots and lots of cattle.

“How far is the ranch?” Bailey asked, a half hour in.

“This is the ranch, ma’am,” he said and Bailey’s gaze returned to the window.

“This is all the same ranch?” she asked, another twenty minutes later.

“Yes, ma’am.”

She wanted to ask how large it was but figured it was some kind of etiquette breach to do so. And so she kept staring out the window, watching cows and land go by, mile after mile after mile.

Forty minutes later, they arrived at a sprawling ranch house. It looked like something from the old west, Spanish style stucco with two massive annexes sprouting from the center like wings.

“Here we are, ma’am,” the cowboy said, unnecessarily so since it was the only house for miles and miles. Bailey reached for her duffle, but the cowboy put up a hand. “Uh, I’d leave that, ma’am, until you talk to Cal. It’s, uh, possible you might not be staying.”

Bailey suppressed a sigh and heaved herself from the tall truck, landing lightly on her feet. As they approached the house, a man stepped through the front door, filling it completely. He was massive, well over six feet with shoulders so wide they appeared to brush the doorway. But it was his bearing more than his size that told Bailey who he was. She had been in the military long enough to automatically know who was in charge. This man was master of his domain and, guessing from his bearing, possibly the entire world. His gaze swept her up and down—from her tidy ponytail to her polished combat boots—then quickly dismissed her and turned questioningly to her chauffer.

“This is Bailey,” the cowboy explained, pointing at her, a hint of nervousness in his tone.

The man’s gaze rested once again on Bailey. He tilted his head at her and shook it. “No. Take her back.”

“Um, excuse me,” Bailey said, taking a step forward. “You were expecting a man. Believe me, I get that a lot, but I’m also a marine and I heard you’re in need of some help.”

He smiled at her in an amused sort of way. “Darlin’, you’re cute. And I’m certain you’re good at whatever it is you do, but this is no place for a woman, believe me. So I think it’s best for all of us if you go on back home now.” He turned dismissivelyaway, not waiting for her reaction.

“No,” Bailey said.

The man stopped short and faced her again. “No?”

She shook her head. “I was hired for a job, and I’ll decide when it’s over. Now, if you’ll kindly show me where I’ll be staying, I’d like to freshen up.”

He took a step forward, his smile disappearing. “You realize I’m the one who’s paying you to do the job.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And if I don’t pay you, then there’s no job,” he said.

“You’re going to need me to prove myself. I get that a lot, too. So let me get started, and I’ll show you I’m capable. If, after that, you still feel I’m not what you need or want, I’ll go away again.” Bailey had worked incredibly hard to cut all emotion from her tone over the years because the first one to show emotion lost. And she never lost. So she wasn’t angry or hurt, and the injustice of the situation didn’t affect her. She kept it reasonable, rational because that was the only way to win. And Bailey always won.

The big man blinked at her, assessing. “Tell you what, little bit. You take me down right now, and the job is yours.”

She blinked at him, the only outward sign of her shock. “You want me to take you down?”

“Yes, ma’am. To the ground, right here, right now and you can stay.”

She licked her lips, her eyes darting to the horizon. “You’re not attacking me. It’s not ethical to disable a man who’s standing still.”

“Neither is it easy. So show me what you’ve got, little one, or go away.”

Bailey took a few steps closer so they were approximately six feet apart. Behind her, the cowboy shifted in anticipationand possibly amusement. The man in front of her was certainly amused. “Let me clarify, sir, you want me to take you down to the ground, you’re requesting me to do that?”

“I’m demanding it,” he said, grinning, not even attempting to hide his laughter at her expense.

“Yes, sir,” she said and, before he could blink, withdrew a Taser from her pocket and zapped him. He dropped to the ground, convulsing as the voltage ran through his body. Bailey yanked the bolts out of his chest and retrieved them, standing over him as she did so.

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