Hang Tough(14)

“She’s beautiful,” popped out of his mouth first thing. “Got an attitude too, that’s for sure. She was in my face from the get-go, which was a challenge for her since she’s like five foot nothin’. She accused me of manipulating her grandma. I questioned why Garnet’s family took an interest in her only when they wanted to imprison her.”

“Yikes.”

“Yeah. Not a productive conversation. Long story short, Jade has moved in and is bein’ vague about how long she intends to stick around. I can’t just abandon Garnet, especially after . . .” Tobin scratched his jaw. “You know how Miz G always wears them funky clothes? The more outlandish the better? This morning she was wearing khakis. Khakis! And a plain, long-sleeved tan shirt. She even put on those preppy loafers. Not in vivid orange or bright pink but in basic brown. No jaunty scarf tied around her neck or worn as a headband. No jewelry. No rhinestones or sparkles anywhere. She looked like a Sears appliance saleswoman.” Tobin swigged his soda. “So I asked her, ‘Is it laundry day, Miz G, and that’s all you have left to wear?’”

“How’d that go over?”

“Dammit, Ren, she got teary-eyed. She said the time had come for her to toe the line and act her age.” He tamped down his anger. “Then she asked if I’d drop off the eight garbage bags of clothes she’d removed from her closet and bring them to the Salvation Army donation center. I told her I would, but only if she was sure.”

“Was she?”

“Up until her gold lamé disco pants fell out of the bag I was carrying to my truck. When she picked them up and hugged them, I had to turn away. I hoped when I turned around I’d see that she’d run those garish pants up the flagpole as a sign of rebellion. But she just handed them over and said, ‘You dropped these, sonny.’”

“Christ.” Renner’s gaze flicked to his monitor and then back to Tobin. “All those bags are in your truck now?”

He nodded.

“Take ’em to Harper at the clothing store and explain what’s goin’ on. There’s plenty of storage in the back room. She’ll keep an eye on them for a while in case Garnet changes her mind.”

“Thanks. So in light of this . . . I’ll be sticking around longer than I planned.”

“How much longer?”

Tobin blew out a breath. “I’m hopin’ just a week.”

Renner sipped his coffee. “What about Albuquerque?”

“I told them I had a family emergency.” He’d hated calling to postpone, but he’d tossed and turned half the damn night and hadn’t seen an alternative.

“While I believe what you’re doin’ for Garnet is admirable, don’t let it interfere with your plans any more than it already has.”

“Any applicants for my job?”

“Not a single one.”

“That sucks.”

“Tell me about it. Anyone worth their salt knows bein’ a ranch foreman is a lot of work. Anyone with a map can see we’re highly isolated here. Those two things together . . .” He shook his head. “Anyway, my personnel issues ain’t your problem.”

Tobin stayed silent. It’d been so ingrained in him to be a team player that for the hundredth time he had to bite his tongue to stop himself from telling his boss he’d stay until a replacement had been found.

“Before I forget . . . the guest from Schenectady wants the full rodeo experience. Since you’ll be working cattle with Teddy tomorrow, I asked Kyle and Hank to come by.”

“Good.”

“Was there anything else?”

“Nope. Thanks, boss. I appreciate it.”



Tobin returned to Garnet’s house to find Jade teetering on the kitchen counter, pulling down Garnet’s cookbooks from the shelf that stretched above the sink.

He paused outside the swinging doors, watching her in a desirous daze. She’d donned a tiny pair of jean shorts that did fantastic things for her ass. Plus he got the bonus of seeing her beautifully toned legs, which shouldn’t look that long since the woman wasn’t bigger than a minute.

Despite being mesmerized by the glossy fall of her hair swaying enticingly across the middle of her back, he realized when she reached for the cookbooks on the back of the shelf that she hadn’t compensated for the weight of the books already piled in her left arm. She bobbled the books, and her body listed to the side.

Rather than trying to catch her, he opted to stabilize her; his hands landed on her ass just as she started to fall backward.

Jade screamed and lurched forward, scrambling for a handhold on the shelf. The shelf separated from the wall, sending the rest of the books crashing around them like bombs.