One Night Rodeo (Blacktop Cowboys 4)

“I’d appreciate it.”

“Good enough. Let’s say seven o’clock?”

“Works for me,” Kyle said. “I have a couple questions about this house if you have time. What’s the primary source of heat?”

Josh laughed. “Stumped ya, did it? It’s wood fired, but the wood burner is outside, and it generates the heat to fire up the radiators. Kind of an unusual thing. But it’s basically free to heat your house as long as you’ve got a store of firewood and the time to keep it fed. Marshall has a backup of electric heat, which was a good thing this time around. Come on. I’ll show you where it is.”

As soon as they left, Celia returned to the kitchen, moving everything off the counters to get to the dishes. Didn’t appear the dishwasher had been used recently, so she washed by hand. Once that was finished, she cleaned out the fridge, dumping the freezer contents except the frozen dinners. Marshall had enough canned food to last the entire winter.

She scrubbed the stove. Cleaned the microwave. Checked under the sink, in the cupboards and drawers for signs of rodents. An unoccupied house was an open invitation to critters. Luckily no signs of mice or squirrel infestation.

She glanced at the time on her cell phone and was shocked to see that an hour and a half had passed since she’d last seen Kyle.

Had he fallen outside? Gotten lost? Panicked, she skirted the boxes and headed toward the front door just as Kyle stumbled into the house and slumped against the wall. “Are you okay?” When he didn’t move, she unbuttoned his coat and pulled off his hat.

His face was red, his breathing labored. He croaked, “Water.” She raced to the kitchen to fill a glass, brought it back, and he drained it in three fast gulps.

When he seemed settled, Celia asked, “Where were you?”

“Chopping wood. Holy shit, am I out of shape for that kind of physical activity. Josh helped me get the wood burner going, told me how much wood is needed every day. There was none chopped so I split wood until…”

“Until you’re ready to pass out.” She tugged him to the couch. “You want another drink?”

“Sure.”

She handed him the glass when she returned from the kitchen and said, “What’s that smirk for?”

“If I tell you thanks for fetching me a glass of water you likely will toss it right in my face.”

“Use of the word fetch anytime around me might get a bucket of water dumped over your head.”

“So noted.” He cocked his head. “You make a good wife.”

Celia retorted, “Damn straight,” like she’d accepted the fact they were husband and wife.

Whoa. When had that happened? What did that say about her?

That you’re helping Kyle because you want to. It also means that Kyle was right; part of you wanted to marry him.

Not that she could tell him that, even if the tiniest part of her had started to believe it.

Kyle said, “Appears you made progress on the kitchen.”

“You can actually see the countertops.”

He stood. “I’ll come look because this couch smells like ass.”

Celia spread her arms wide. “Ta-da.”

“Hey, this space ain’t half bad.”

“If we get the breakfast nook cleaned out we’ll have a place to sit that doesn’t stink. But there’s no place to put those boxes until these boxes are moved.”

“Is that your way of tellin’ me to get busy hauling stuff to the basement?”

“To be honest, I think most of this is junk. Let’s sort through it now and save two trips up and down the stairs.”

In seven boxes they found only a handful of useful items. Same situation with the piles in the breakfast nook. While Kyle stacked the trash outside, Celia scrubbed the walls, raised the blinds, and scoured the table and chairs.

Supper wasn’t fancy, just soup and toast, but they both ate like they’d never seen food before.

“So what happens tomorrow?” Kyle asked. “And feel free to explain it slowly so this greenhorn can understand.”

Celia pushed her bowl aside. “Our cattle are mixed in with Josh’s cattle. We’ll look at the brand and cull our cows from his herd. I’ve got experience sorting. I’d prefer to have my own horse, because a good horse can make all the difference. I’ll cut the cow out and send her your way. Your job will be to keep the separated ones penned, while getting the new ones I’m moving toward you into the pen.”

“Will I be on the ground or on a horse?”

“I imagine Josh will be on horseback too, so it might be easiest for the first part if you were on the ground. You’ll need a riding crop to smack the wayward ones back in line.”

Kyle stared into his soup bowl.

“Something wrong?”

“Just a lot to think about. Especially for someone like me who’s spent the last decade only thinking about my job eight seconds at a time. I hope this dream of owning my own ranch don’t become a nightmare.” He stood and grabbed her bowl, quickly washing both and setting them on the drying rack. “I’ll check the woodstove again and bring in our stuff from the truck.”

Next thing she knew Kyle had dumped everything in the master bedroom.

“I take it we’re sharing this room.”

“No place in the other bedrooms to sleep and I didn’t figure you’d wanna bunk on that smelly-ass couch.” Kyle held up his hand. “Spare me the rules for us sharin’ this bed tonight. I’m whupped. All I wanna do is watch a little TV before I crash.”