Page 14 of The Cowboy's Downfall
For his part, Nix was doing his best. But it was equally obvious that Too Good, who had zero interest in rodeos and ranching and all that came with them, was trying to forge a relationship with her little sister, and right now, her plans had derailed. Their rocky relationship did not bode well for Nix and his plans to stay on the right side of the Endeavour’s owners.
A line of sweat formed on his spine. Telling her that Trouble had fluttered her fake eyelashes at him might not work out in his favor. First, Too Good would have to believe him—and what were the odds of that happening?
Plus—and he hated to be the one to tell her this, too—with the right close supervision, the ranch might be the best place to keep Trouble out of…trouble. Ryan’s wife ran the group home, and a couple of the cowhands doubled as caseworkers. When it came to teenagers hellbent on causing destruction, they’d seen it all.
He didn’t doubt that Trouble could hold her own against boys her own age. She manipulated grown men with no problem at all. But she was also a natural when it came to handling a horse. He’d been curious to see how a California girl with no previous experience would manage, so he’d watched them ride off and she’d managed just fine. Unlike Too Good here, who’d bounced around to the point that he’d pitied her horse.
Those were the pluses. The downside of having Trouble around pulled up in a half-ton truck outside the open barn doors. Eight teenaged boys tumbled out of its bed. Two more jumped from the cab. One was Remi. Their driver was a sour-looking Handy, who’d drawn babysitting duty. They’d been fencing all day in the heat, so they were sweaty and dirty and hungry and tired.
The boys perked up when they saw Taryn. Handy was too fed up with trying to wrangle them into helping unload their gear from the truck to notice.
Too Good spoke fast and low under cover of the distraction. “Taryn weaseled us an invitation to dinner, then movie night at the main house. Dan says they finish up around nine because the boys get up at five. If I pretend to get a work call and take it outside, we can meet here. Does eight o’clock work?”
“I see you’ve got it all figured out, Double O Seven.”
She didn’t though. She really didn’t. He pictured them alone in the barn in the dark and got a bad feeling regarding how strong his will was if she fluttered her not-fake, all-woman, eyelashes at him. His best hope was that her will was stronger than his and her thoughts didn’t run along the same lines.
Remi strolled into the barn, all smoothness in action, while the other boys watched him with envy. “Hey, Taryn. Been riding, I see.”
Taryn’s smile was pure sunshine. Remi blinked as if blinded. Nix was so glad this one problem wasn’t his. He had enough of his own going on. He didn’t want to meet Too Good at eight.
“Machine shed, not here. And better make it seven thirty,” he heard himself say to his horror. “You don’t want to cut it too close to the end of the movie.”
Chapter Five
Shauna
Shauna and Tarynhad dinner with Dan and Jazz in the ranch’s main house.
The house was divided into three separate apartment units, connected by a common lounge. The common area included business offices used by Ryan to run the ranch and his wife Elizabeth to manage the group home. It was also where the ranch held most of its formal and informal events.
Like Saturday movie nights for the teenagers in residence.
Shauna wasn’t fooled by Taryn wanting to stay for the movie. The attraction was Remi, not the latest instalment in the Marvel franchise. But she’d be well-chaperoned, and since it saved Shauna from having to spend the evening at home making progressively less-polite conversation with a girl who couldn’t peel her eyes off her phone for more than ten minutes, she didn’t see any harm.
A high-beamed ceiling crowned the biggest TV screen she had ever seen in her life. Heavy leather furniture knelt on a stone floor before it, bowing heads to the king in the room. She helped Jazz drag beanbag chairs into the circle of homage while Dan and Taryn made popcorn.
Dallas Tucker and his wife Hannah wandered in behind the popcorn, holding hands. Dallas, a doctor, ran the local free clinic. He helped Hannah lower her heavily pregnant body onto one of the sofas, then leaned in to kiss her. Weren’t they just the cutest pair ever?
Nix was the exact opposite of Dallas. He’d paid more attention to her horse than to her, and while granted they weren’t a couple, still. What was his problem?
TheDouble O Sevencomment rankled. Other than Taryn, and only because she wanted to talk about her, Shauna didn’t care who saw her with him, but when she’d suggested they speak in private, he’d gotten weird about it—as if he thought she was… How did Taryn put it? Rizzing him up.
She wasn’t rizzing any man up while she had her little sister living with her. She’d make that clear when she met him. Maybe then he’d quit acting so whacky around her.
Except, when Remi arrived for the movie, the way he homed in on Taryn had Shauna reconsidering her plan to meet Nix. Taryn might think she was worldly—and compared to the local kids in Grand, she probably was—but not up against someone like Remi. She was a pampered poodle compared to his wolf. A young wolf, granted. More of a pup. But a wolf, nonetheless. Shauna wasn’t confident petite, red-headed Elizabeth, with her PhD in social work and specialty in violent male young offenders, could predict the lengths this one would go to when it came to getting something he wanted.
Then she felt bad for being judgmental, because as a lawyer, she should believe in his potential for rehabilitation. As Taryn’s older sister, however…
It was a lucky thing for young Remi that she’d focused on real estate law.
Dan started the movie. Jazz sat on one side of him with Shauna on the right, which placed her directly behind Taryn and Remi, who’d pulled their beanbag chairs together. Shauna massaged her eyebrow, trying to fend off a dull pain. This was no big deal. They were two teenagers forging a friendship, not plotting a joint life of sex, drugs, and crime.
Her first weekend as a teenager’s guardian, and already, her nerves couldn’t take it.
The movie started and her attention flipped between the screen, the teens, and a clock on the wall, watching its hands creep toward seven thirty. At seven twenty-six, she was forced to decide. Either meet Nix or sit here glowering at the back of her sister’s blonde, vapid head.
She slapped a hand to her back pocket and drew her phone out. “I’ve got to make a work call. Land deal. I’ll take it outside,” she said to Dan, waggling her phone at him. “Would you keep an eye on Taryn for me?”
