Turn and Burn (Blacktop Cowboys 5)

“Forever branded as a bad girl by one isolated incident.”

Someone behind them snorted.

Tierney stepped forward and offered her hand. “Tanna, I’m so happy to finally meet you in person. Celia has said the best things about you.”

“Likewise. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work at the resort. It’s a gorgeous place from what I’ve seen.”

After they exited the office, a good-looking guy, whose carriage screamed cowboy, stepped up beside Tierney. He offered his hand. “Tanna. Renner Jackson. We’ve met before. It’s been a while though. I’ve enjoyed watching you barrel race on many occasions.”

“Thank you. So, you’re the big boss?”

“I’m the majority owner but I’d be skinned alive if I copped to bein’ the big boss.” He grinned. “I was smart enough to hire the best and the brightest.”

Tierney hip-checked him. “Don’t you forget it, cowboy.”

Renner looked at Kyle. “You wanna drive Tanna’s truck to the employee lodgings? She’ll be in the fourth trailer. Park in back. We’ll walk down.”

Tanna tossed Kyle her keys.

Renner offered a brief history of the resort and took her back to the main room. He pointed out the various areas with a promise she’d get a more in-depth tour on Sunday.

They cut through the kitchen, which was surprisingly quiet for a Friday. “We’ve only got two rooms booked for tonight and the couples made alternate supper plans so we’re without kitchen staff.”

“You don’t have your kitchen staff cooking for the employees?”

“No.” Renner held open the door for her and Celia and Tierney who were in conversation, walking behind them. “The Split Rock is run like a hotel and not a bunkhouse where the cook is feeding ranch hands twice a day. Most of the employees go home. With a couple of exceptions. The foreman for my stock contracting company lives on-site, as does our jack-of-all-trades, who’ll run my commercial stock-breeding business if we ever get the damn thing off the ground. The head of housekeeping and the groundskeeper are married, so they’re livin’ here too. And now you.”

He’d started down a footpath crafted from flat stones. “There are paths like this everywhere. Most of ’em are marked, with the exception of the way to the employees’ quarters.”

Tanna looked around, immediately calmed by the peaceful scenery. She knew it’d taken a lot of work to make this look natural. They kept walking until they reached a series of high wooden fences. The angle of each section and cut of the pieces of wood gave the illusion of a see-through fence, but all six segments were solid. “Cool fence.”

“Thanks. When guests ask we tell them it’s a windbreak and a sound barrier, which ain’t entirely a lie. But it’s mostly to keep the employee quarters hidden from plain sight. We had a few guests complain early on that they hadn’t paid big money to stay at a pricey resort only to have to look at decrepit trailers. So we remedied that.”

“Should I be worried about these decrepit living conditions?” she joked.

“Nope. We revamped them too. Of course they ain’t nearly as nice as the lodge. But they’re much better than when I lived there.”

That shocked her. “You bunked down with your employees?”

He shrugged. “I wouldn’t ask them to do something I wasn’t willing to do myself.”

That was a refreshing philosophy.

They skirted the farthest end of the enormous fence and crossed a gravel path. Six trailers were nestled in a straight line. Each one had a small deck that separated it from the trailer beside it. A covered portico arched over each front door. A planked walkway ran from the first house to the last and it resembled a floating dock. All the structures had the same wood siding and looked more like cabins than trailers. A small set of steps led to the slightly raised platform.

“This is yours, the fourth from the left. Tobin lives in the first one, Hugh the second one, and Dave and Yvette in the last one.”

“Two are empty?”

“Tierney’s sister Harlow was supposed to take one, but she’s moved into our old place.”

“Where do you and Tierney live?”

“In a new house down the road,” Tierney said. “We’d planned to wait until this fall to start building, but Mr. Impatient insisted the house be completely finished before little bean gets here in the next three months.”

Renner placed his hands on Tierney’s belly. “I take care of what’s mine. And it was past time. The cabin was too damn small for us, let alone us and a baby.” He kissed her.

“You’re fogging up my glasses.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

All these mushy love vibes were making Tanna’s feet itch with the need to escape.

Kyle walked down the plank. “You want all the stuff from your truck carried inside, Tanna?”

“No, if we could just set it on the deck I can get it inside later. Thanks.”

Renner pointed to Celia and Tierney. “You two stay put. No lifting anything.”

They exchanged an eye roll and resumed their pregnancy complaints.

Tanna was anxious to see the inside of the place she’d be living all summer. Sort of pathetic that at her age she’d never really had a place of her own. She’d lived at home on the family ranch when she wasn’t on the road chasing the gold buckle. After her father had sold the place, she’d returned to life on the blacktop, staying in the cheapest motels she could find or she had bedded down in her horse trailer.