Josh Page 8

  “Did your mom ever bake bread?” Phoebe asked.

  “Cooking, baking, homemaking, aren’t even on my mother’s radar,” Sierra said with a laugh. “I don’t recall ever eating a home-cooked meal. We ate in fast-food places traveling from one town to the next. The closest thing I ever had to a normal home life was in boarding school, where there were rules, like when to eat and when to turn out the lights.”

  Big Jim arched a brow. “I’m curious about your life in a boarding school in England. It had to be a shock after a life with no rules whatever. Tell us what it was like.”

  Sierra tasted the chili and gave a sigh of pleasure. “Well, I can tell you that the food was never like this.”

  That had everyone laughing.

  “Did you have a private room?” Cheyenne was clearly intrigued. “Or did you have roommates?”

  “There’s no such thing as a private room in an English boarding school. We shared everything. Dorm rooms. Bathrooms. Study rooms. Dining halls. There was absolutely no privacy in my growing-up years.”

  “Sounds like growing up on this ranch.” Quinn stared pointedly at Josh. “Everywhere I looked, I had a younger brother shadowing me.”

  “Me, too,” Josh said dryly. “Which is why I took to climbing mountains. I figured out early on that nobody wanted to shadow me a few thousand feet straight up.”

  “You got that right, bro.” Quinn nudged his wife beside him. “And none of us wanted to shadow you when you took those thousand-foot falls.”

  Everyone joined in the laughter.

  Cheyenne turned to her husband. “Is that why you started following your wolf pack? To get away from the others?”

  “Quinn never had to worry about that,” Josh said with a laugh. “We were all too smart to spend our winters sleeping out in the wilderness just to record the life cycle of a wolf.”

  “You slept in the wilderness?” Sierra’s lunch was forgotten as she studied Quinn across the table. “To follow a wolf pack?”

  “Not a wolf pack. My wolf pack,” Quinn corrected.

  Cheyenne added proudly, “Quinn is considered one of the leading authorities on wolves in Wyoming. He’s made a name for himself studying their life cycle in their natural habitat.”

  Quinn closed a hand over Cheyenne’s and smiled into her eyes. “I’m afraid my wife tends to brag about me.”

  “I’d say she has a right to.” Sierra glanced at Josh. “You never told me.”

  He gave a quick laugh. “I figured Cheyenne would get around to bragging about it sooner or later.”

  Sierra turned to Quinn. “That’s impressive. While you’re studying your wolves, how long are you usually gone from home?”

  Quinn shrugged. “It could be weeks. Could be months.”

  “Months?” She couldn’t hide her surprise. She turned to Cheyenne. “I guess my parents aren’t the only ones who are footloose. Don’t you get lonely?”

  “Hardly. Since I get to go along.” Cheyenne shared a long, simmering look with her husband. “We just recently got back from weeks in the wilderness.”

  “Oh.” Sierra sat back with a smile. “Now that’s more like it. I guess as long as the two of you are together, it could be fun.”

  “Fun?” Josh cast her a sideways glance. “We’re talking about moving out every time Quinn’s wolf pack decides to go hunting for food. And sleeping in snowdrifts in the high country if the pack decides to take shelter during a blizzard.”

  Sierra chuckled. “How is that different from climbing a mountain during a snowstorm, just because some careless hiker doesn’t report in to the rangers’ station when she’s supposed to?”

  Big Jim winked. “I think she’s got you there, boyo.”

  Josh gave a grudging nod. “Yeah. I guess you do have a point. Still, I’d much rather climb a mountain and gaze down on some magnificent views than trudge through waist-high snow just to watch a wolf pack take down some poor unsuspecting deer.”

  “That’s just a small part of what we saw.” Quinn smiled at his bride. “How about that litter of pups?”

  “The cutest things I ever saw,” Cheyenne said with a sigh.

  Cole helped himself to a thick slice of bread slathered with melting butter. “I’m glad to know my sons have found some noble ambitions, but personally, I’ll take good old bone-jarring ranch chores any day, as long as I can be rewarded with a meal like this.”

  Big Jim nodded in agreement. “There’s nothing quite as satisfying as mentally crossing off a list of ranch chores, and knowing at the end of the day that everything’s done.”

  Sierra gave a shake of her head. “I think that’s called being obsessive-compulsive.”

  “That would describe my entire family,” Josh said with a smile. “We’re never happier than when we’re knee-deep in work.”

  “Or manure,” Cole added.

  Big Jim joined in the laughter. “We’ve all been there a million times or more.”

  “Speaking of which…” Big Jim turned to Sierra. “How’d you do with those barn chores?”

  “She held her own,” Josh remarked.

  “Wrong. I believe what I was holding belonged to the horses.” She wrinkled her nose. “And it wasn’t pretty.”

  That had everyone around the table howling.

  “I guess the first thing every tenderfoot notices on a ranch is the smell.” Cole winked at Sierra. “If you stayed here long enough, you wouldn’t even notice it.”

  “Just how long does that take?” She helped herself to another slice of warm-from-the-oven bread.

  “Oh, I guess a couple of years,” Cole remarked.

  “Don’t let him kid you.” Cheyenne sipped a tall glass of lemonade. “I’ve spent my entire life on a ranch, and there are times, especially in the heat of summer, when the last place I want to be is in the barn, mucking stalls.”

  “See,” Josh said, pointing a finger at his brother, “this is the problem with bringing a woman into our family. Women stick together. The minute we tell a little white lie, even though one of them”—he wiggled his brows at Cheyenne like a mock villain—“is supposed to be a member of our family now, she just can’t help spoiling our fun by telling the truth.”

  “You call that the truth?” Quinn nudged his wife with his elbow. “Are you saying the barns actually smell in summer?”

  “If it’s possible for them to smell worse than now,” Sierra said with a straight face, “then I have to believe that all of you have lost your senses. Or at least your sense of smell.”

  “Speaking of smell…” Big Jim set aside his spoon and looked around the table. “Cole, do you remember the time Quinn and Josh came running in to tell us that Jake was missing?”

  Cole looked up. “The time they were playing hide-and-seek and he bet them a dollar that they’d never find him?”

  Big Jim nodded and turned to Sierra. “Jake was about six. His brothers had said he could hide anywhere inside the barn, and they’d find him within minutes, or give him a dollar. But after an hour of searching every inch of it, they’d been forced to give up. Then they got to worrying that something bad had happened to their little brother, so they figured they’d better ask for some help.”

  Sierra was hooked. “Where did you finally find him?”

  “Hiding in the honey wagon.”

  “The honey wagon?” She arched a brow. “I’ve never heard of that.”

  “That’s what we call the wagon you were tossing the smelly hay into,” Josh said with a wicked grin.

  When the realization dawned, she gave a shudder. “Jake was hiding in a load of manure?”

  “Burrowed deep inside, where no one would ever think of looking. From the time he was a kid, that boyo would do anything to win money from his brothers. Anything,” Big Jim said with a chuckle. “He was still bragging about having found the perfect hiding place when Phoebe got a whiff of him, and ordered him to strip and get upstairs to a shower before she took a hose to him right there in the mudroom.”

&nb
sp; Around the table, the others roared at the image that came to their minds.

  “It took about half a dozen showers and a long soak in the tub,” Phoebe added, “before I would allow Jake to join us at the dinner table that night.”

  Sierra wiped tears from her eyes. “It sounds like Jake was a handful, Phoebe.”

  Phoebe circled the table topping off their coffees. “No more than his older brothers. I swear the three of them used to stay awake nights thinking of ways to test my patience.”

  Sierra caught the look in Phoebe’s eyes as she spoke. Though her humor was biting, there was so much warmth and tenderness there, it did something strange to her heart.

  This woman, brought in to help with three motherless boys, showed a depth of love for them that Sierra could only envy.

  It brought home once again the pieces that were missing from her own life. She knew her parents loved her, but their love was abstract. They seemed capable only of loving her from a distance. Whenever they came together, there was a kind of disconnect, as though they were a family of strangers.

  A family of strangers. The words were a knife in her heart. Especially here, seeing the deep and affectionate bond this family shared.

  “Well?” Josh’s voice beside her brought her out of her reverie. “What do you say?”

  “Sorry.” She blinked and felt her face flush. “I was distracted.”

  He’d noticed. And had seen the quick little frown that told him wherever she’d gone, it hadn’t been a pleasant place.

  “I said I’m going to head out to the equipment barn and take the backhoe. While Big Jim plows the roads, I’ll move the snow off to one side. Would you like to stay warm in the house, or join me in the barn?”

  “Since I’ve never seen a backhoe or, for that matter, a snowplow up close, I guess I’ll tag along to the barn.”

  Josh pushed away from the table, calling to Phoebe and Ela, “Great lunch, as always. I’ll see you at dinnertime. I figure, after a few hours playing in the snow, I’ll be packing an appetite.”

  Sierra followed Josh from the room, while the others hurried off to their own chores.

  CHAPTER NINE

  This is our equipment barn.” Josh rolled open the huge doors to the building and snapped on lights, revealing row after row of vehicles. Tractors. Earth movers. Giant trucks.

  Sierra stared around in amazement. “Your family actually owns all these? They’re—” it seemed she couldn’t take it all in “—so big. Like something I’d expect to see on a construction site, or in the fleet of some big city.”

  “In a way, I guess we’re like a city. We’ve got thousands of acres of land that we have to maintain.”

  Josh could see her digesting this information, and trying to imagine thousands of acres.

  “We’re responsible for keeping all the roads and trails clear if we want to keep things operating efficiently.” He moved along a wall of keys, each one clearly marked, until he found the one he was looking for. “Come on. I’ll introduce you to Big Bertha.”

  Sierra trailed him between hulking vehicles until he slapped his hand against the tire of a giant yellow monster.

  “Do you give all these things a name?”

  He laughed. “Only those I love. And I’m crazy about this one. She’s a front-end loader, with a backhoe.”

  He pointed, and Sierra could see the giant scoop on one end, the big claw on the other. “How do you know which way to drive it?”

  “Inside the cab, the seat swivels 180 degrees. Want to come aboard?”

  He climbed up, reached a hand down to Sierra, and pulled her up beside him. The two of them could just fit inside the small glass cab.

  Josh patted the seat. “Come on. There’s room for two.”

  She sat beside him as he inserted the key, and the big rig rumbled to life. Once the cab door was closed, the sound of the engine was muffled. While she watched in amazement, Josh maneuvered the vehicle past the others and out into the snow-covered yard.

  Behind them, Big Jim rumbled by, at the wheel of a snowplow, leaving in its wake mounds of snow pushed to one side.

  Josh pressed a button, and the cab grew warm enough that he could shed his parka. Sierra followed suit.

  With a shift of gears they were crawling along at a snail’s pace, with Josh handling the controls that had the giant front end scraping up the mounds of snow. When the scoop was filled to overflowing, he drove Big Bertha to a spot at the rear of the barn, where he deposited the load.

  Within a couple of hours, a mountain of snow had formed behind the equipment barn.

  As they deposited yet another load, Josh sat back with a contented sigh that had Sierra laughing.

  He looked over. “What’s so funny?”

  “You. You’re so happy doing this. It’s obvious that you love it.”

  “What’s not to love? It has wheels and big jaws and all this power.”

  “That’s what I mean. It’s such…” She shook her head. “It’s such a guy thing. Driving a big old machine, and moving a mountain of snow. And all the while you manage to look so sexy, as though…”

  She saw the flare of heat in his eyes and stopped. “What’s wrong?”

  “I look sexy?”

  “Is that what I said? I meant to say goofy.”

  “Uh-huh.” He managed a smooth, easy grin. “If you think this is sexy, you should see me dig ditches during an ice jam.”

  She touched a hand to her heart. “I’m not sure I could take it.”

  He gave her a long, slow look, and she almost see the wheels turning in his mind. “Now what?”

  “It’s your turn.” In one smooth motion he managed to lift her up, slide over into her spot while holding her on his lap, and then deposit her ever so gently in the middle of the driver’s seat.

  “Pretty smooth, cowboy.”

  He winked. “Didn’t you notice? I’m a smooth operator.” He pointed. “Push that lever.”

  She did as he told her and the big machine began lumbering forward. As they rounded the barn and headed along the long, curving driveway, he said, “Now lower that lever.”

  She did, and the scoop lowered until it was scraping the snow.

  “Oh, Josh. Look.” Her eyes were wide with excitement as they rolled along, scraping snow until the massive scoop was filled.

  “Now pull back on that lever,” Josh instructed.

  She did, and the scoop lifted smoothly until it was at eye level.

  “Now press that lever to turn around.”

  She did, and executed a perfect circle before heading behind the barn.

  Once there Josh showed her how to lift the scoop high before tipping it to spill the contents. When the scoop was emptied, she turned to him with a look of absolute delight.

  “Oh, that was amazing. Can I do it again?”

  He was staring at her with the strangest look. And then, without a word his arms came around her and he dragged her against him.

  And kissed her.

  It was the most amazing kiss. His lips warm and firm and seductive, moving on hers with all the skill of a very capable lover. While his mouth worked its magic, his hands at her back had a skill of their own, moving along her spine, across her shoulders, sending heat radiating all the way to her toes.

  “Mmm.” He muttered against her lips. “You tasted just as sweet as I’d thought you would.”

  “And you taste…” She sighed. “Delicious.”

  His hands were in her hair, his mouth moving seductively along her throat to nestle in the sensitive little hollow between her neck and shoulder, sending the most amazing shivers along her spine.

  After her initial shock, it occurred to her that this had been worth waiting for. Here was a man who knew exactly what he was doing. And what he was doing to her was absolute magic. She couldn’t seem to form a single coherent thought except one: she never wanted this to end.

  He nuzzled his way back to her lips. The kiss spun on and on, until her breath backed up in h
er throat and she could see stars behind her closed lids.

  When at last he lifted his head, she actually moaned, wishing he would do it again.

  She strove to keep things light. “So this is what it takes to get you to kiss me. All I have to do is drive some manly equipment.”

  He gave her that dangerous smile she’d come to love. “In truth, I’ve been wanting to do that since I first saw you on the mountain.”

  “Then why did you wait so long? Were you afraid I’d think you were easy?”

  At her joke his smile grew. “Yeah. That’s it. I was playing hard to get.”

  “You want to kiss me again?”

  His gaze burned over her mouth. “Oh yeah. But I think I’d better wait.”

  “All part of your hard-to-get game?”

  He shook his head. “Big Jim. About to come aboard.”

  She turned just in time to see the white-haired man climbing up to their machine.

  Josh leaned close. “I hope we can continue this another time.”

  His grin nearly stopped her heart. “Count on it.”

  Josh’s grandfather opened the cab door and poked his head inside. “Good job, boyo. I think we’ve cleared enough snow to get ourselves out to the main highway now.”

  Sierra felt her heart tumble. How easy it had been to forget that she was leaving. Now reality was slapping her in the face.

  She didn’t want to go. Especially now. She wanted more than anything to stay here with this fascinating family, and get to know them better.

  Who was she kidding? She wanted to stay here with Josh. He was just beginning to warm to her.

  Warm? It was too mild a term. If that kiss was any indication, he was absolutely hotter than chili peppers. And she wanted more.

  Big Jim indicated the barn, where he’d already parked the snowplow. “Drive us around, boyo.” He remained standing on a metal runner and clung to the door.

  Josh easily lifted Sierra and slid into the driver’s seat before setting her down beside him. With a flick of the controls, he drove them into the barn and parked neatly.

  “Come on, lass.” Big Jim climbed down and held out his hand.