Texas Bossa Nova (Texas Montgomery Mavericks Book 5) (5 page)

Chapter Six

The first week in January was balmy with a front that blew in from the gulf. The sun shone every day. No rain. No ice. No snow.

Life within the little house settled into a routine. Meals consisted of lots of meat and potatoes and whatever vegetables Magda could talk the guys into trying. Muddy boots in the house only happened once—Darren, no surprise there. As she’d promised, he’d found his boots in the evergreen tree just past the front porch. He took the boot-relocation punishment well, laughing as he went to reclaim them. However, Magda suspected that the unusually warm weather and the dry ground kept him in a good humor.

The same couldn’t be said for Reno.

Since New Year’s Eve, Reno had been distant. Oh, he spoke to her. Thanked her for his meals or a clean pair of jeans, but the light had gone out of his eyes when he looked at her. She missed it.

Zeb Hobbs went for his second stent on the first Monday in January. Magda took off that day and headed to the hospital cath-lab waiting room. She wasn’t surprised at all to find Blanche Jenkins there.

Blanche was a very nice woman and Magda was so pleased to see that she was carrying the Christmas Coach purse. In a way, Magda was a little jealous of all the time Blanche got with Zeb. However, when Dr. Myles came out to tell them that Zeb had done great and that he was in the recovery room, he mentioned that Zeb had asked for them both to come back.

There was no need to make plans to stay overnight as she’d done before. This time, the procedure had been done on an outpatient basis and Blanche would drive him back to his house, and apparently, play nurse. Magda didn’t mind. How could she when she saw the smile on Zeb’s face when Blanche took his hand in recovery? Magda was the third wheel.

After getting her dad settled in Blanche’s car for the ride home, Magda kissed him on the cheek and walked to where her Fat Boy waited. The balmy weather from last week hadn’t carried over to this week, but she could live with forty-degree temperatures.

The ride back to the D&R was pleasant after spending the majority of the day inside. She drew in deep breaths of fresh Texas air, replacing the antiseptic smell of the hospital. She really needed to get out of the house more. Keeping the D&R ranch house clean and tidy was a breeze. More than once, she’d considered asking the guys if there was anything she could do to help them. Oh, she knew she couldn’t string a fence or round up cattle, but she could certainly refill water troughs and feed bags. Maybe she’d put that on the agenda to talk about tonight.

The first drop of rain splattered on her helmet face shield about twenty minutes out from the ranch. By the time she turned into the drive, the clouds had released their water stock in torrents. The guys had given her an unused stall in the barn to store her motorcycle out of the weather. Used to leaving it outside, she was glad she had a nice dry place to park it tonight. The faded-red door was heavy as she pulled to open it, but it slid to the side without a creak or squeak. She rolled her bike inside so she wouldn’t frighten the horses stabled there. Once out of the rain, she pulled the helmet off her head and sat it at the door to pick up on her way out.

Layla popped her head over the stall door. As soon as she saw it was Magda, she whinnied for a treat. That brought two more heads over the doors. Magda laughed.

“Sorry, ladies and gent. The pockets are empty.”

She parked the bike in the first stall on the left, the one designated for her Fat Boy. The guys kept some drying towels in the barn and she pulled a couple out to dry her jacket and then her bike. As she was finishing, the clop-clop sound of approaching horses echoed, drawing the three stabled horses back to their doors. Reno rode in on Gordo and Darren on Archie. Water sluiced off men and horses.

Magda pulled a couple more towels from the supply and handed one to each man as he climbed down.

“Thanks,” Darren said. “That caught us off-guard. I swear there wasn’t any rain forecasted for today. Cold weather for sure, but no rain.”

Reno rubbed the towel over his short hair. “Welcome to Texas, my brother. The weather can change hourly.” He tossed the damp towel over a railing. “How’s your dad?”

“Good. The stent procedure went like clockwork.”

“He home?” Darren asked as he unbuckled the strap around Archie’s girth.

“Yep. You know he’s got a girlfriend, right? Blanche Jenkins?”

“Olivia’s housekeeper is dating Mitch’s foreman?” Darren asked.

“That’s her.”

“Gee, bro,” Darren said to Reno. “The man’s more than twice our age and he can get a girlfriend.” He slapped Reno’s back. “There’s hope for you yet.”

Magda laughed. Reno snarled, which only made her laugh more.

“Dinner will be ready in about an hour. Should be enough time for all of us to get into dry clothes.” She was glad she’d checked the weather that morning and had known she’d need the warmth of her leather jacket today. Otherwise, she’d have been standing there like a contestant in a wet T-shirt contest.

“Great,” Darren said.

“Why don’t you go on and get cleaned up. I’ll finish the horses,” Reno said.

“I’m not looking that gift horse in the mouth.” Darren laughed at his own joke. “Get it? Gift horse and you’re doing the horses?”

Reno shook his head. “Pitiful attempt, but I got it.”

Darren dashed from the barn, leaving Reno and Magda alone.

“Can I help?” she said, indicating the horses with a tilt of her head.

“No. I’ve got it.” He turned away and began brushing Gordo.

“It’d be faster if I helped.”

The cold look he gave her over his shoulder chilled her worse than the ice storm that had brought her to town. “I said I’ve got it.”

“Fine.” She snatched her helmet off the floor and ran to the house, the rain mixing with the tears of frustration and anger on her cheeks.

The weather continued to worsen. The rain stopped by the next morning, but the temperatures began to steadily drop. By the weekend, the daytime highs were forecasted to be only in the twenties.

Thunder rolled as they sat down to dinner Friday night.

“Good thing we got that fence repaired in the back forty,” Reno said. “If it’s going to rain again, the mud would be a mess.”

“No posthole digging in the mud.” Darren raised a hunk of pork chop to his mouth. “I’m heading into town tonight,” he said around his chews. “Be late when I get back, but do you need anything, Magda?”

She stopped eating to think about their supplies. “Yeah, I do. I got a list started. If I call in the order to Parker Market, can you pick it up for me?”

“As long as nothing will spoil in my truck. Headed out to Leo’s Bar and Grill. He’s got live music tonight. Either of you want to come along?” His eyes got wide as he looked at Magda. “Don’t slap my head. I’m not asking you out.”

She laughed. “I’m not sure if I should be insulted that you don’t want to ask me out or relieved that you don’t want to ask me out.”

“Well, ma’am,” he said with an exaggerated drawl. “You’re one fine-looking lady, but hands off means hands off.” He grinned. “Besides, I’m sure I’d get my head slapped more than once during the evening.”

Reno didn’t contribute to the conversation. He continued to eat as though it were the last meal of his life. He didn’t even laugh at Darren’s really bad southern drawl.

Standing at the kitchen with her hands in sudsy water, Magda heard the first ping of ice on the window. She leaned to the right to see the thermometer nailed to the tree. The needle was sitting right at thirty-two.

Heavy boots thumped on the stairs and into the kitchen. When she looked over her shoulder, Darren was putting his hat on to leave.

“Parker’s knows I’m coming for a delivery? I don’t want to hang around there all night. The ladies are awaitin’ my arrival at Leo’s.”

Magda chuckled. “I bet they are. Don’t worry. Everything will be boxed and waiting for you to pick up.”

“Good deal.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek. She slapped the back of his head, which brought out a loud guffaw. “That was a wussy slap.” He hotfooted it to the back door. “But I’m not going to give you another shot.”

She smiled. “The weather is getting nasty. Started sleeting just now.”

“I’m not worried. My truck can plow through anything.”

He left with a loud bang of the door. Through the window, she could see him hunched over in the wind. He pulled his hat lower to protect his face. But his bright red truck was fairly close to the back porch, so he was in it and gone before she finished rinsing the dishes.

Reno came in to the kitchen. “I heard some sleet hitting the roof. I’m going to head down to the barn and check on everything for the night.”

“Need any help?”

“Nope. Not this time. I’ll be back shortly.”

As she dried the clean dinner plates, she watched Reno walk toward the large barn, his heavy coat flapping in the wind, his cowboy hat pulled low on his head. The ice, which had been pinging pleasantly on the glass, changed to large shards that clanked when they hit. The sound made her shiver even though the house wasn’t the least bit cold.

She was just finishing up in the kitchen when the back door slammed open, allowing a rush of icy air in. Reno stepped through, his arms full of chopped logs.

“Let me give you a hand,” Magda said, hurrying to close the door behind him.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m going to set these by the fireplace in case the floor furnace has trouble keeping up. Then I’ll head back out and load some wood in the firewood box. We’ve been taking advantage of the nice weather to do field work and have let our winter preparations get behind.”

She held out her arms. “Let me have the logs. I’ll take them in the other room.” When she could see the objection rising on his lips, she added, “I’ve got sleeves on so my arms are protected. Now give them to me and go.”

Reno nodded, transferred the wood to her and left.

Sometimes Reno was sure Magda Hobbs would be the death of him. He stepped on the bottom step from the back porch, his mind on the woman who’d dominated his thoughts for almost a year instead of the freezing rain, and slipped on a small ice patch.

“Damn it,” he muttered. “Most stubborn woman I’ve ever met. Pretending like there was nothing going on between us last summer. Acting like I haven’t seen her sweet ass naked as the day she was born.” He opened the door to the firewood box. “Great. Just freakin’ great.”

There was one stick of wood left from last winter. Otherwise, the box built into the house to hold wood for the fireplace was a gaping hole. And the area to hold the surplus fuel for the wood box had two tiny sticks for tinder and one log. Yeah, that wouldn’t hold them if they needed a fire.

They’d put the major pile of wood behind the barn, bringing up loads as needed. For a minute, he thought about saying screw it and heading back inside. These cold temps might last through the night, but come morning, the sun would likely warm everything back to normal.

Still
, the other side of his brain said,
you know eventually you’ll need wood for a fire. And this will keep you from grabbing Magda and hauling her off to your bedroom.

“Damn it.” He tromped back to the kitchen to get his truck keys.

“That didn’t take long,” Magda said.

“That’s because I didn’t do anything,” he groused. “Gotta haul some wood up from the storage area.”

“I’ll give you a hand.” She grabbed her heavy leather jacket off the coat peg.

“I can do it.” He slammed the door behind him.

Why didn’t she understand that being around her more than was necessary sent him into a shitty state of bone-jarring lust that produced a dick as hard as a fence post?

During the day he was fine. There was more than enough to do to keep his mind busy, but the nights? The nights were the worst. If he didn’t already have calluses on his hands from the field work, he’d have them from his nightly
tension release
her presence caused.

After backing his truck down the hill and around the barn, he set the brake and climbed out. Why was he not surprised to see Magda standing there, heavy leather coat on, thick leather work gloves protecting her hands?

“Don’t argue with me. This will be faster with two.”

Gritting his teeth, he nodded. “We’ll do a relay. Stand at the truck gate and I’ll pass you logs and you put them in.”

“Works for me.”

For ten minutes, he passed firewood and she stacked it in the back on the truck. Every time he touched her fingers, even through their thick protective leather gloves, his heart jumped.

His mother had meant well hiring Magda, but this simply wasn’t going to work.

Meals were hell. The lump that formed in his throat made every bite of food almost impossible to swallow.

Her scent filled the house. Each draw of breath filled his nose with her unique blend of spices.

And her laughter. That might be the worst. When she laughed, or even smiled, it was as if the sun had risen after years of darkness.

He couldn’t live like this.

Darren would give him hell. That he was sure of. Despite being slammed on the back of the head almost daily by Magda for something he said—and Reno suspected Darren deliberately egged her on—Darren had fallen for their housekeeper. Not fallen as in romantically attracted, but more like one would care for a sister. Darren loved the hot meals, clean house and fresh clothes. He seemed to enjoy chatting with Magda, passing jokes back and forth, and generally being in her company.

Yeah, Darren would not be happy when Reno told him that Magda had to go.

“How’s that?” Magda asked, jerking him out of his thoughts.

The back of the truck was loaded down, way more than the wood box could hold. At least the overflow wood had a storage area much closer to the house.

“Good. Let’s go.”

Reno headed for the driver’s seat. Magda crawled up into the truck’s bed and sat.

“Hello?” he said, his eyebrows arched. “You can ride up front, you know.”

“Nope. I’d just get warm and then have to get out again. I’m fine here. But let’s go. I’m freezing.”

With a roll of his eyes, he did as she asked and they drove slowly back up to the house and around to the side near the wood box. This time, they reversed the relay with Magda passing wood over the side of the truck to Reno and him stacking it in the wood box until it was full and then making a neat stack in the overflow storage.