The Cowboy's Lady Read online

  “You look like you have an idea,” Kylie prodded.

  A few more people came up behind Ted to pay their bills. The entry grew crowded.

  Ted angled his head to the door as he tucked the toothpick in his mouth. “Let’s chat outside,” he said to Vivienne.

  So she followed Ted across the street to the park, where he sat down on a picnic bench. Vivienne glanced down at the seat, trying not to make a face at the bird droppings liberally decorating the bench. She found a clear spot on the edge and perched there, hoping she didn’t come into contact with any other questionable material.

  “So what did you want to talk to me about?” she asked, crossing her long legs and flipping her long hair back over her shoulder.

  “We’ll consider this part of your interview,” Ted said, resting his elbows on the rough wood of the table.

  “Interview?”

  “Yep. If it’s a cooking job you’re looking for, we could sure use you up at the Circle C.”

  “But that’s a ranch,” Vivienne said, tucking her hands into the sleeves of her sweater. The sun had drifted behind a cloud and a breeze had picked up, tossing bright yellow leaves around their table, swinging the seats on the swings of the playground beside them. “I’m a gourmet chef.”

  “Well, yeah. I get that.” The toothpick in his mouth migrated from one side to the other.

  “I do gourmet cooking for high-end restaurants.”

  “Sure. Whatever.” Ted leaned closer, his gnarled hands folded together, his eyes twinkling at her. “But we need a cook, and from what I hear, you need a cooking job.”

  Vivienne chewed her lip, her eyes flicking down the street to the grocery store across from the Cowboy Café and the drugstore beside it. She doubted either place was hiring.

  The squeaking of the chains from the swings created a melancholy counterpoint to her reality. No job, no skills other than kitchen ones.

  She glanced back at Ted, wondering what Cody would think of this setup. “Do you think I would get the job if I applied?”

  “Oh, yeah. I’m sure you’d get the job.”

  “But shouldn’t I do a test meal first?”

  “If that’s what you want.” Ted gave her an encouraging grin.

  Even as she turned the idea over in her head, Vivienne couldn’t stop her mind from moving ahead. Sure, it was cowboys she would be feeding, but surely she didn’t have to serve steak and biscuits every day? She could still bring her own brand of cooking to her job. Keep her skills sharp.

  “So do I bring my own ingredients? Or is the kitchen fully stocked?” she asked.

  “Honey, you bring what you think you’ll need and I’ll make sure the kitchen is clean and ready for you.”

  Vivienne couldn’t help another look at the grime on the elbows of his shirt, the bits of mud and straw still clinging to his worn cowboy boots.

  She made a note to bring her own pail and disinfectant.

  “I guess I can show up tomorrow,” she said.

  “Sounds good.” He pressed his hands against the top of the table to get up. “Now I gotta check in on my little girl, Karlee. She works at Hair Today, you know.” He pointed a crooked finger at Vivienne’s hair. “She could get you set up with a whole new look. She’s good.”

  Vivienne nodded, then held her hand up to stop him. “So just to clarify. I head down Railroad Avenue to get to the Circle C?”

  Ted frowned. “You’ve never been there before?”

  She shook her head.

  “Really.” He rubbed his forefinger alongside his nose in a gesture of puzzlement. “I thought for sure…” He flapped his hand again. “But, yeah, that’s right.” He pulled a tattered agenda out of his pocket, licked his finger and flicked through the pages. Then he ripped out an empty piece of paper edged with grease. “I’ll give you the directions, just in case.” He sketched a map with the stub of a pencil.

  “And here’s where the cookhouse is,” Ted said, drawing an arrow, too.

  “And how will I know which one is the cookhouse?”

  “It’s the long, skinny building. The one with the most worn path to it,” he said with a chuckle. “Cowboys love their grub.”

  He gave her the map and she folded it carefully over, trying to avoid the grease stains. “So I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said.

  “You bet.” He tipped his hat to her, then eased away from the table. He shook her hand, gave her another gap-toothed grin, then limped across the grass to the other side of the park where Hair Today was located.

  Vivienne watched him go, shivering as another breeze created a swirl of orange and yellow leaves around the table. Fall was definitely creeping up, bringing a hint of cold with it. Could she really spend a winter in Clayton stuck out on a ranch in the boonies?

  She glanced down at the map in her hand, misgivings eroding her decision.

  But what was her alternative? Pound the few streets of town looking for something—anything—to pay her living expenses and her debts? Move back to New York and lose a chance at starting her own restaurant with the money from the inheritance?

  But what if Lucas didn’t show up in time? Their grandfather’s will clearly stipulated that they all had to be around for them all to get their money. Would she be making a wrong career move for nothing?

  She shook her head, dislodging her second thoughts. This was an opportunity to keep her cooking skills sharp and make some money.

  And for now, she had no other choice.

  “So you found us another cook?” Cody hung the halters on the pegs from the tack shed, glancing over his shoulder at Ted. “I’m impressed.”

  His uncle nodded, gnawing at his toothpick. “Working on lunch in the cookhouse as we speak.”

  Relief surged through him. “That’s great. I know the hands have been whining about the food.”

  “Delores’s grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and supper only get a man so far,” Ted said.

  “At least it’s food.” Cody had been fielding steady complaints about the grub ever since the last cook got fired for just about killing the hands with food poisoning. He’d managed to rope Delores, a hired hand’s wife, into cooking. She claimed the only thing she made was reservations. Or grilled cheese sandwiches. So that’s what they’d been eating. “So who did you find?”

  “A surprise,” Ted said with a grin Cody didn’t trust.

  “You know I don’t like surprises. Just tell me. Clayton’s not that big.” He stopped and put his hand on Ted’s shoulder. “Is it Arabella? Did you talk her into coming?” He could hardly believe his luck. Just thinking about Arabella’s pies and pastries got his mouth watering.

  Ted angled him an “Are you kidding” look as he limped toward the cook shack. “Woman’s got triplets and takes care of that Jasmine girl. As if she’d have time to come out and cook for us.”

  “So who did you get? Please don’t tell me you listened to Jonathan and got Vivienne Clayton to come and cook.”

  Ted said nothing. Instead he opened the door of the cook shack with a flourish. Cody stepped inside.

  And stared in disbelief as the very person he had warned his uncle against now stood in his kitchen.

  Vivienne wore a tall chef’s hat and a white smock and apron. She stood at the stove, her back to them, stirring something smelling, for lack of a better word, weird.

  What kind of joke was Ted playing? He yanked his hat off and slapped it against his thigh. He didn’t have time for this kind of malarkey. Too many things on the go and hired hands who grew more grumbly with each grilled cheese sandwich they had to choke down.

  Vivienne wiped her hands on a cloth lying beside the stove and gave Cody a quick smile, a dimple flashing in one cheek. “Thanks for giving me this opportunity,” she said, holding out her hand.

  Under that goofy looking hat, her hair was pulled back in a shining ponytail, low on her neck. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright and her cheekbones as beautiful as ever.

  She looked even more amazing th
an she had in high school.

  He caught himself, frustrated with how easily she brought back feelings he thought he’d dealt with years ago.

  You’re not some dumb, love-struck senior anymore. You’ve lost a wife and—

  He stopped his thoughts there. He couldn’t go to that dark place. Not now. Not ever.

  “What is going on here?” he said, giving her hand a perfunctory shake. He shot an angry glance at Ted, who lifted his shoulders in a vague shrug.

  “I’d like to go over the menu with you, to see what you and your uncle think of my choices,” Vivienne said, gesturing toward the stove. She pulled off her hat and whipped off the smock to reveal a black dress with no sleeves and some kind of shiny brooch pinned to one shoulder. “I hoped to have everything ready for my presentation, but you came earlier than I had anticipated.”

  He didn’t want to look at her. “Menu?”

  “Yes. For my test meal?”

  “Test meal?” He felt like slapping himself on the head. He sounded like some robotic moron.

  “Pauley Clayton doesn’t carry much of what I needed in the grocery store, but the best chefs can and do improvise.” She gave a quick laugh, her eyes flicking from him to Ted.

  “I thought we could start with a spinach salad with spiced walnuts and pears and a light vinaigrette followed by glazed pears and a filet mignon with red wine tarragon sauce. I’d like to serve the filet with a reduction made from the pears, but only if you agree.” Cody felt bombarded by words and terms he knew nothing about.

  Which made him feel stupid.

  Which, in turn, made him angry, mostly because it was Vivienne Clayton he felt stupid in front of.

  “That sounds like something for a restaurant, not cowboys,” he said.

  Vivienne lifted her shoulder in a vague shrug. “Cowboys can enjoy gourmet cooking, too.”

  “Gourmet? Not likely.”

  Ted grabbed him and gave him a half turn. “You’d sooner eat grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and supper?” he asked, turning, as well, so his back was to Vivienne and he was facing Cody.

  “I’d sooner eat ordinary food.”

  Ted yanked on his arm to pull him closer. “We could use some decent food here,” he muttered. “I think we should hire her.”

  Before Cody could reply, Vivienne handed him and Ted each a plate with half a pear sitting on a leaf of lettuce, and the whole business was sprinkled with nuts.

  “Why don’t you give this a taste and tell me what you think,” Vivienne was saying, “and I’ll get the steak ready.”

  Cody looked from the pear all fancied up to Vivienne. Gold hoops hung from her ears, and her eyes had that smudgy look Bonnie was always trying to create with endless pots of makeup and tubes of mascara.

  She looked exactly like she did in high school. Fancy. Unapproachable. The epitome of the same city girl Tabitha, his wife, had been. Someone who couldn’t live out here.

  His heart hardened at the memory. He wasn’t going there again. Girls like Tabitha and Vivienne didn’t belong on a ranch. They couldn’t handle the isolation and the stress.

  “Sorry you wasted your time coming, Miss Clayton,” Cody said, clenching the brim of his battered cowboy hat. “But we’re not hiring you.”

  Then he spun around on one booted heel and left.

  Chapter Two

  Not hiring her?

  He hadn’t even given her a decent chance.

  “Cody. Hold on,” Ted called out.

  Vivienne pressed her hands together, trying to keep the panic at bay.

  Cody stopped and slowly turned around, his mouth pressed into a thin line, his eyes narrowed. Vivienne stifled the tiny frisson of fear at his belligerent look as she took a long breath.

  “We need a cook,” Ted said.

  “I need someone who can do beans, beef and biscuits. Not…that.” He waved a dismissive hand at the pears that, Vivienne thought, had turned out very well considering the number of ingredients she’d had to improvise on.

  She wanted to be upset with Cody’s dismissive attitude, but she couldn’t.

  Because after speaking with Ted, on a whim, she walked around town talking to the various businesses. No one was hiring. Not the flower shop. Not Hair Today, the only beauty salon in town. Not the post office or any of the schools. She had even, out of desperation, tried the feed supply store, but Gene Jones, the proprietor, wasn’t looking for help either.

  The town of Clayton had been dying a slow death even when she lived there. Now, even with the reopening of the Lucky Lady Silver Mine, it was worse. This job was her only chance at making some money while she waited for the inheritance.

  Which will only come through if Lucas shows up.

  She smothered the errant thought. Lucas had been informed of what was at stake. He would show up.

  Ted turned to her and set his hands on his hips. “This is real nice, but would you be willing to cook simpler food?”

  Vivienne set the pear down, disappointment vying with practicality. “It’s not what I was trained to do.”

  “But you can do that,” Ted insisted.

  “I’m a professional chef…” As her words faded off, so did her anticipation at the thought of this job. Gourmet cooking was what she loved. What she was best at. “I suppose I could do what was required of me,” she continued.

  Cody pulled on his chin with one hand as if this answer didn’t satisfy him either. “I’m still not sure—”

  “She can go over the menus with us and make sure we think it’s okay,” Ted insisted.

  Cody fiddled with his hat, his teeth working at one corner of his mouth. “I don’t think she’s the right person for the job.”

  “We got no one else,” Ted insisted. “We kind of need her.”

  That Ted had to argue Cody into hiring her raised Vivienne’s ire. Sure she wasn’t a beans-and-bacon cook, but she was, as she had pointed out to Ted, a professional cook. And the thought that someone didn’t want to hire her made her angry.

  And, perversely, made her want the job even more.

  “I’d like a chance,” she said quietly.

  Vivienne watched Cody’s face, trying to get a read on where he was going. Then he looked at her, and as their gazes meshed Vivienne caught a glimpse of the young man who had asked her out all those years ago. Then his features tightened and any trace of that Cody Jameson disappeared, replaced by this hard-looking, uncompromising man.

  “We need someone who isn’t afraid of hard work,” he said, his voice gruff as he addressed her. “We need someone who can live out on a ranch for weeks at a time and not think they’re in the middle of nowhere.”

  Which, as far as Vivienne was concerned, was exactly where they were. But she sensed from the intensity in Cody’s voice that her comment wouldn’t be welcome.

  “I need someone who can live out here when storms blow into town and cut us off from civilization for days at a time,” Cody continued. “Do you think you could do that?” His voice had taken on a puzzling, belligerent tone, but even as she held his stern gaze she tried not to wince at the thought of being stranded up here.

  “I…think I could do it.” She lifted her chin and injected a note of steel in her voice. “I know I can.”

  It was only a year, she reminded herself, even as her knocking heart belied her confident tone. Three hundred and sixty-five days out here was a small price to pay for a quarter of a million dollars. And maybe more, once she sold the land that was part of the inheritance.

  After that, New York and her new restaurant.

  Keep your eye on the prize, she reminded herself. This is only a necessary detour.

  Cody’s gaze locked with hers, his hazel eyes probing, as if trying to find a weakness. She held him look for look, but as she did, her heart did a little unexpected flutter at his attention. She swallowed, willing the emotion away.

  He’s good-looking. It’s a normal reaction, she reminded herself, forcing herself to keep holding his gaze.
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  He’s going to be your boss.

  “No one else wants to live out here,” Ted said. “I think we should hire her.”

  Vivienne caught the angry look Cody shot his uncle. Obviously, Mr. Jameson wasn’t happy with Ted.

  “I’m okay with this,” Vivienne said, stilling the threatening note of panic. She’d just have to get creative. Maybe take out a loan to pay off her other debts. Sell some stuff. Live cheap.

  “Look, Cody, you make the decision. You know where I stand. I’ll be out at the horse pen,” Ted said. He dropped his hat back on his head and spun on his heel.

  After he left, Cody shoved one hand through his thick brown hair and blew out a sigh.

  “We’re not looking for gourmet cooking or anything even close to that. I’m just looking for—”

  “Someone who can do beans and biscuits.” Vivienne gave him a quick smile to counteract the faintly bitter note in her voice. “I get that.” She held her head high. She needed this job, but she wasn’t begging.

  Cody dragged his hand over his chin, still holding her gaze as if testing her.

  “It’s not just that,” he said, his voice grim. “Like I said, it’s a hard life out here. And if I think you can’t hack it, you’re down the road. I’m not risking anyone’s well-being again.”

  She wondered what he meant by “again,” but before she could ask, he continued. “You got the job, okay?” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand at the food she had so carefully prepared. “Just don’t get carried away with that fancy stuff.”

  Don’t get angry. Just smile and nod. You’ve got work for now.

  “Thank you,” she said, unable to keep the prim tone out of her voice. “You won’t be sorry.”

  Cody’s glance ticked over her hair, her dress and her high-heeled shoes that she had slipped on before he came. All in an effort to impress a boss who, it seemed, wasn’t impressed.

  “I’m not so sure about that,” he said grimly.

  Then the door of the cookhouse burst open and the young girl Vivienne had seen Cody with in town launched herself into the room. Cody’s head snapped around and Vivienne saw a look of frustration and…was that fear?…flit across his face.