Free Much Ado About Mavericks by Jacquie Rogers

toward the house.
    *   *   *   *   *
    Ben seemed interested enough , asking good questions as Jake showed him around the Bar EL.   “Are you going to give me a tour of the Circle J, too?”
    “Yep.”  A little buzz in Jake’s heart made her smile at the thought of her very own ranch, and she hoped he’d see why she loved it so much.  “C’mon.”
    The morning sun’s rays warmed her face.  Taking a deep breath of autumn air, she mused that no place on earth could be better than the Circle J in September.  She smiled as she looked across the valley to the Owyhee Mountains , admiring their shades of purple.  Some people thought this land was ugly.  They thought there had to be trees everywhere, or else grass everywhere. 
    But she admired the delicate beauty of the rugged desert land—sagebrush and boulders, alkali dirt and wildflowers, Jump Creek Canyon and the Snake River —all of it.  This country was as much a part of her as her right arm.
    Too bad the man riding beside her could never feel the same.  Ben had forsaken the Bar EL, the land, and the people who eked a living from it, in favor of Boston ’s high living and prissy women.  No one with alkali dirt in his veins could have ever done that.
    “So this is your ranch,” Ben said, shaking her away from her thoughts.
    “Yup.”  She pointed to a small hill with a lone juniper perched on top on their right.  “Over that ridge yonder is the bunkhouse and corrals.”
    “Show it to me.” 
    His expression looked earnest, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to show him the humble beginnings of her place.  Hell, she hadn’t even scraped the money together to build a barn yet.
    Still, she’d worked hard for it—and building it—and she did want to show off a bit.  “Sure.”  She turned her horse.  “We can pick up the trail on the east side by the river.
    “I’ll race you,” he hollered, surprising the stuffing out of her.  He kicked his big bay into a gallop.
    “No damned city slicker’s gonna beat me,” she shouted back, and took out after him.
    The bay’s long legs and strong heart made him nearly unbeatable, but Jake knew the land and Ben didn’t.  While he raced directly across the flat toward the hill, she guided old Blue through the rocks and brush ahead until she passed the gully she knew he’d find soon enough.  She chuckled, wondering if he’d have the guts to go down it, or if he’d fall on his ass when his horse skidded to a stop in protest.  Either way, she’d beat him.
    After Blue picked his way through the rocks around the gully , she turned him toward south and let him have his head.  Blue loved to run.  She hunkered low in the saddle, hung onto her hat, and let him stretch it out.  He knew where he was going, and he knew where the oats were, too.
    Just as she rounded the hill to the Circle J, she saw Ben in front of the bunkhouse. 
    “You lost,” he said as he grabbed Blue’s bridle. 
    Jake swung down.  “How the hell’d you do that?”
    “The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.”  He shrugged and sent her an ornery grin.  “I went over the top and down the gully .”
    She was impressed.  The ride up wasn’t too bad, but then on the ranch side, the gully dropped off steeply.  Not many riders would even keep their seats, let alone ride down it as fast as he must have.  “Damn good horse, I’d say.”
    “Damn good,” he agreed.  He tied both horses to the hitching rail.  “Before you give me the grand tour, I expect you to pay up.”
    “Pay up?”
    “You did lose the bet.”
    She hated losing any bet, especially to this man.  “There ain’t nothing to pay.  We didn’t bet.”
    “I did.”  He moved closer to her, making her heart feel all funny like it did when he kissed her hand.  In fact, the very spot on the back of her hand heated up. 
    She backed away, irritated that she’d give an inch, but knowing whatever he had in mind wouldn’t be to