Whirlwind (The Champions 1)

She nodded, pressing her lips together.

“If you can do that, then I’d like to take your ranch job on a trial basis. I have one week of rehab left. Then I’ll be out of here. All right?”

“Yes. All right.”

“It’s not too late to change your mind.”

“I won’t change my mind. You’ll be welcome—and needed. I’ll get your room ready and come for you in a week.” Lexie forced herself to smile. “It’ll work out. You’ll see.”

His expression told her he had misgivings, but at least he was willing to try. As for the rest . . . she should have known it would be like this. Shane was a proud man. For now, all she could do was respect his wishes. But it wouldn’t be easy—not when the need to be in his arms was already tearing her apart.

She made it out to the parking lot before she crumbled and broke. Falling in love with Shane had been a dream come true. But fate had had other plans for them. She thought of Tess and Mitch, of Val and Casey. It was as if her family was cursed. But now it was her turn to grow up and play the hand that life had dealt her.

The AC had gone out on Shane’s truck. She drove with the windows down, the radio blaring, and the hot desert wind drying her tears.

* * *

Later that week, Alma Jensen came to collect his bull. Tess had kept an eye on the cows, taking note of the ones that showed signs of having been bred. By now, most of them had been taken care of, and Gadianton was looking ragged. The lame old bull had done his job. But Tess wouldn’t know for sure until a few months from now, when the cows should begin to look pregnant.

She waited by the paddock gate as the truck and trailer crawled down the winding road. Inside the house, Lexie and Val were moving storage boxes out of Val’s childhood room and into the master bedroom where Callie had slept. When the job was done, Val would have her room back, and Jack’s old room could be set up for Shane, who’d be arriving in a few days. Musical bedrooms. Tess was well out of it.

Having Shane here would be an adjustment for the family. Tess could only hope that her instincts were right. If things worked out between Shane and Lexie, he could be a real asset to the ranch. If not . . . Never mind. She would take things as they came. Right now the Jensen rig was pulling into the yard.

As the rancher backed the trailer up to the loading ramp and climbed out of the cab, Tess remembered how she’d let him take that choice yearling in exchange for Gadianton’s services. She seethed at the memory—not angry so much at Jensen but at herself for allowing it to happen.

The cows had been moved to fresh pasture, leaving the bull alone in the paddock. Ruben, on horseback, stood by with a rope, in case extra help was needed getting him into the trailer. But the loading turned out to be no problem. Gadianton lumbered up the ramp, as if relieved to be going home.

“How did the old boy do?” Jensen asked as he bolted the trailer door.

“Well enough,” Tess said. “We’ll know for sure in a few months, but I can’t fault him for lack of effort. Say, how is that yearling doing? What are your plans for him?”

Jensen looked sheepish. “Well,” he drawled, “the thing is, I haven’t got that little bull anymore. I’d planned to raise and buck him, but out of the blue, I got an offer to buy him—for so much money that it made my head spin. I couldn’t say no.”

“So you sold him?” The premonition that crept over Tess made the hair bristle on the back of her neck.

“That’s right.” Jensen checked the bolt and walked around to climb back into the cab. “I sold him to that big stock contractor out of Tucson—Brock Tolman.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

VAL’S OLD BEDROOM WAS PILED HIGH WITH CARDBOARD BOXES. THE newer, more recent ones were folded in on top, the flaps tucked to hold them in place. Others, older, had been sealed shut with silver duct tape. For a time,

as Lexie barely remembered, the taped boxes had been stored in a spare room of the bunkhouse. But later, after Val had left home and the space was needed for other purposes, they’d been moved into Val’s empty room, where they’d stayed until now.

Lexie hefted one of the taped boxes in her arms, carried it down the hall to the master bedroom and added it to the stack along the wall. The job was tedious, and she was getting tired. But if this was the price of getting Val out of Jack’s room, so it could be readied for Shane, she would gladly pay it.

The afternoon was hot, even inside the thick adobe walls of the house. Beneath her cotton shirt, Lexie’s body was sticky with perspiration. As she paused to wipe her face with the back of her hand, Val appeared in the doorway with two chilled cans of Diet Coke. “Here.” She held out one to Lexie. “You look like you could use a break.”

Lexie popped the tab and took a deep swallow. “Thanks. I notice you’ve taken a few breaks yourself,” she said.

“I’ve done my share of the work.” Val perched on the foot of the stripped mattress. Even in ragged jeans and a faded tee, her face bare of makeup and her hair twisted up in a clip, she managed to look like a movie star.

“You could have taken this room,” Lexie said. “It’s bigger, with its own bathroom and a double closet. And we wouldn’t have to move all these boxes.”

A lock of Val’s fiery hair tumbled over her face as she shook her head. “Everybody who’s slept in this room has died before their time. I think it might be cursed.”

“Jack died before his time. You slept in there.”

“That’s different. It was temporary.” Val’s gaze roamed the shadowy room, coming to rest on the growing pile of duct-taped boxes. “I can’t believe nobody’s opened these.”