Page 42 of The Cowboy's Christmas
“I fell again.” The confession came out softly.
“When?” she asked in alarm.
“Before you came in to see the mess.”
“I thought you’d been splattered.” Although his pants and the side of his shirt had been a solid mass of tomato as she thought about it.
“More like I was the splat.” His shoulders sank. “I’m only fifty-three, Vannie. I’ll be fit again, but that second tumble took a bit out of me.”
It must have if he was confessing.
“Dear heavens, Deke.”
“I’m pretty sure I can cook without hurting myself.” He tightened his mouth before adding gruffly, “Tomato incident aside.”
“I’ll believe that when you’re able to get out of your chair.”
“I can get out. You handle things outside, and I’ll handle the inside.” Savannah didn’t answer immediately, so he added, “I’m going to handle the inside.”
She gave a silent nod. There wasn’t much else she could do.
“I think we should offer Quinn the foreman’s quarters while he’s here. He’s doing us a favor by staying longer.”
“Foreman’s quarters” was a lofty term for a tiny, dusty set of rooms in the barn next to Matt’s shop, which was now used for storage. The last time she’d been in there was when she’d dropped off a couple of old saddles that she was thinking of selling.
“Plus, if it snows, we’ll need him on the ranch, not snowed out.You’llneed him, at least until we can hire someone. I think I set back my timeframe for getting into the tractor.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Savannah said, patently aware of a sinking sensation in her midsection. “I’ll ask him tomorrow.”
Having the man around twenty-four seven was more than she’d bargained for, but growing pains were uncomfortable, and having Quinn on the ranch was definitely nudging her out of her safe place.
*
Frozen tractor tracksled from the highway to the Dunn Ranch, and as Quinn bumped along, he was glad that the flatbed weighed a zillion pounds or he’d have to tighten his seat belt to stay behind the wheel. But he arrived at the ranch in one piece and found Savannah climbing out of the tractor cab as he pulled to a stop in his usual place beside the barn. By the time he’d got out of the truck, Savannah was halfway across the driveway on her way to meet him.
“Is something up?” he asked, pushing his hat farther back on his head.
“Depends. How’s the radiator situation?”
“The garage has a firm delivery date, and the truck should be drivable by next Wednesday. That said,” he shifted his weight, “I did tell Deke I’d stay for another week at least and I can stay longer if you need me. I have nothing on my schedule until January.”
“I appreciate that.” She pushed her hands into her pockets as the wind lifted the hair around her face. “Deke is looking for hired help. I’m not sure how successful he will be, but this is a shift for him.”
“Did he have an epiphany?”
“He slipped and fell in the tomato sauce. He’s hurting.”
Quinn grimaced. The older man had been pretty well covered with the red stuff yesterday. “That sucks. Is he okay?”
“I think it helped him face reality.” She scooted snow in front of her with the toe of her boot, creating an arc. “Anyway, since you’ve kindly offered to stay on longer, I have a proposition for you.”
“Yeah?”
“Would you like to stay here?”
He glanced at the house, knowing he wouldn’t be comfortable sharing an intimate space with Savannah and her family.
Before he could form a reply, she added, “In the barn, I mean.”
