Learnin' The Ropes (11 page)

“Yes, he did.,” Lexi walked across the yard and up the porch steps with Ty right behind her. “He kept it on his desk. I shoved it in a drawer when I took over the ranch.”

Lexi stepped into the office and sat down at the desk. Rummaging in one of the drawers, she pulled out a framed photo of her sitting on her dad’s lap in his car, looking into his face with adoration.

Reverently running her fingers across the frame of the photo, she stared at it a moment before turning it over and removing the back. Taped to the back of the photo was another clue.

1969

“Is that a significant year?” Ty asked, glad they found the next clue.

“My dad graduated from high school that year. A box of yearbooks should be around here somewhere. Guess I’ll have to find it before I can discover the next clue.” Lexi placed the back on the photo and set the frame on a corner of the desk.

“If you need any help, just let me know.” Ty moved to the office door, followed by Lexi.

“Thanks, Ty. I really appreciate it.” She placed a warm hand on his arm that made them both jump when heat snapped between them.

“You’re welcome. And don’t worry. I won’t say anything to anyone. Cal and Jimmy would start digging holes all over the ranch looking for a treasure if they found out.”

“That they would,” Lexi said with a grin as Ty walked out the door. He stopped in the yard long enough to put all of Baby’s stuff back in her house before returning to the shop.

An hour later, his focus remained on Lexi and the vision of her digging around in Baby’s house. Annoyed with himself, he shook his head to clear his thoughts. He turned his attention to the part in his hand just as Gus popped his head inside the door.

“The boss is making lunch for us today. Said to be at the house at noon, dude,” Gus said then hurried on his way to the barn.

“Thanks,” Ty called after him. The day was getting better and better. Aware of  Lexi’s culinary talents, he looked forward to the meal.

At a quarter of twelve, he took off his coveralls and washed up. In the small bathroom, he looked in the mirror and combed his hair that had grown too long again. He stopped at barbershop in Burns last week to have it trimmed, but the guy that cut it assured him women went wild over hair like his and didn’t cut it as short as he wanted. Ty didn’t feel like arguing with him, so he resigned himself to getting it trimmed again in a few weeks.

After making sure he didn’t have any grease on his face, Ty decided he looked presentable. He whistled to Baby as she lounged on her bed in the corner. The dog followed him to the house where she plopped down on the back porch.

Lexi was outside grilling burgers. An assortment of chips, dip, fruit salad, buns, and all the fixings needed for a great hamburger spread across the checkered cloth covering a big picnic table in the yard.

As the rest of the crew ambled into the yard with clean hands and faces, they all tipped their hats at Lexi and thanked her for inviting them for lunch.

“It’s too nice a day not to barbecue something,” Lexi said with a laugh. “I’m not quite as handy with the grill as Ty, but I think I can make an edible burger.”

“I’m sure it will be dandy,” Swede said, fishing a bottle of pop out of a cooler Lexi had left near the table. “Ya didn’t need to go to extra work for us.”

“It’s my pleasure,” Lexi said, flipping burgers. “You have all worked so hard. Let’s just call this a little thank you.”

The conversation was lively as they sat down to eat. Ty thought he might actually give in to his desire to kiss Lexi when she brought out a huge chocolate cake with ice cream. None of the cowboys were good at baking, so his sweet tooth had been extremely deprived.

“This is so good,” Ty said as Lexi offered him a second piece of cake and he gladly accepted it.

The men helped clean up the dishes and leftovers then sat around the yard resting in the sunshine and enjoying a rare mid-day break. Lexi told them to relax as long as they wanted before she disappeared into the house.

Ty opened another bottle of soda, teasing Jimmy about something he’d done the previous day. Jimmy didn’t pay him any mind as his gaze focused on the back door of the house.

Ty followed his stare as he tilted the bottle of soda upward, missed his mouth, and slowly poured the sticky drink down his shirtfront before he realized what he was doing.

Lexi strode across the porch looking like she stepped out of a photo shoot for a fashion designer. Her long black hair floated around her in glossy waves, her lips were ruby red, and trendy sunglasses covered her eyes. She wore a black sequined cocktail dress that hugged her curves to perfection and hit her a few inches above her knees. Her legs, her crazy long legs, carried her toward Ty one swaying step at a time on a pair of heels that made his thoughts spin out of control. All the while, ZZ Top’s song
Legs
played loudly in his head.

Abruptly realizing soda soaked into his shirt, Ty set the bottle down next to his chair and jumped to his feet, along with the rest of the crew.

“Land sakes, boss, where in tarnation are ya’ headed?” Swede asked as Lexi stopped by him.

“Portland. I promised a friend I’d attend a fundraiser tonight, so I need to get on the road if I’m going to be there in time. You guys enjoy your afternoon. I’ll be back tomorrow before dark.” Lexi adjusted the overnight bag on her arm as she addressed the group, although her attention was centered on Ty. “Mind helping me with the garage doors?”

“Sure thang,” Swede said, following her out the back gate. With the rest of the crew looking at their boss like she’d grown a second head, he called to Ty. “Dude, come help me with this door.”

Ty managed to engage his brain just enough to run over and help Swede pull the two big garage doors open. Lexi backed out in a cute little sports car, waved her hand, and zipped down the driveway.

Aware that Ty couldn’t take his eyes from her departing car, Swede slapped him on the back and cackled. “Whooee! She plumb threw ya for a loop, didn’t she?”

Ty didn’t pay any attention to Swede. He was watching Lexi drive away in her sports car – a sexy car for a very sexy woman.

“If ya like that car, I bet ya’ll love the one in the garage,” Swede said and tugged on Ty’s arm.

Ty followed as Swede led the way into a building that originally served Lexi’s ancestors as a carriage and sleigh house. A cloth-covered vehicle piqued his interest.

Swede pulled off the cover to reveal a machine that made Ty grin from ear to ear. In need of a paint job and no doubt a complete restoration, Ty couldn’t stop from running his hand along the fender and over the hood of a black 1969 Mustang Boss 429.

A soft whistle blew from his lips as he opened the door and allowed the musty air to escape before sitting in the seat. The interior needed some work, but nothing that wasn’t manageable.

“Is this her car?” Ty set his hands on the wheel and imagined driving the car down an open road.

“Nah,” Swede said, leaning on the doorframe. “This was her daddy’s car. Lex bought this brand-spankin’ new back when he was a young feller. He was gonna restore it but jes never got around to it. Lex Jr., says it reminds her of her daddy and plans to get the car fixed one of these days.”

Ty climbed out and popped the hood. Suddenly, he wanted to fix this car. Not just for the challenge of fixing it, which was plenty of motivation for him, but because it would make Lexi happy.

“Ya know anything about this vehicle?” Swede asked, watching Ty as he continued to examine the car.

“A little. They only made 859 of these cars in 1969. Ford wanted to develop a Hemi engine that could compete with Chrysler in a NASCAR race, so that’s how this car came to be. They contracted an outside company to create the Boss 429 by making extensive modifications to the Ford Mustang,” Ty said, warming to the subject. Cars that looked good and went fast were among his most favored hobbies. “They rated the cars at 375 horsepower with 450 pounds of torque but the actual output was well over 500 horsepower. Imagine how this baby could rip up the road.”

“Don’t have to imagine,” Swede said, giving Ty a grin. “Lex let me ride in it a few times and I even drove it to Bend once.”

“No way.” Ty stared at the weathered foreman.

“Yep. And yer correct, she rips right on down the road,” Swede said with another cackle. “Thet’s more words than I’ve heard ya string together since ya been here. If I ain’t careful, I’d get the idea ya have a things for sports cars and purty girls.”

Ty snapped his head up at Swede’s observation. He could deny it, but that would be lying and directly violated rule number three on the cowboy code Swede gave him. Instead, he offered the older man a grin.

“Guess that might be true.” Ty appeared only mildly guilty. “I may be out in the sticks but I’m not blind or dumb.”

Swede laughed and slapped Ty on the back as they closed the garage doors. “Didn’t think ya would be where the boss is concerned. Ya just don’t go gettin’ any ideas about lovin’ and leavin’ her. She ain’t that kind of gal.”

“I never thought she was. Not even for a moment.” Ty narrowed his gaze and glared at Swede. “She’s a lady and my boss. I haven’t forgotten that.”

Swede nodded his head and finished closing the door. “Good. Glad we’re ridin’ the same direction on thet subject. Jes so ya know, I don’t think a little lookin’ will cause any harm.”

“Right.” A little looking had already caused Ty a great deal of harm. He was in complete danger of losing his heart to the alluring and enchanting Lexi.

In the midst of making a chocolate cake after inviting the guys for lunch, Lexi was surprised when a friend called to remind her about the fundraiser she promised to attend that evening. With all the spring ranch work, it completely slipped Lexi’s mind. The last thing she wanted was to make the long drive to Portland, socialize with a bunch of snobby, stuffy people nibbling on overrated food, spend money on something she didn’t really want, and act like she enjoyed the entire experience.

Months ago, she told her friend to count on her being there to offer support and she wouldn’t go back on her word. However, she didn’t want to disappoint her ranch crew after asking them to lunch. Quickly deciding on a picnic lunch, she could feed the men and still have time to get ready and on the road.

While the men lingered, eating more cake and swapping stories, she curled her hair, and did her makeup, then dressed. By the time she returned downstairs wearing the black dress with a smattering of sequins, she’d warmed considerably to the idea of being dressed up and feeling like a woman instead of one more hand on the ranch.

The opportunities for her to wear cocktail attire were extremely limited in Harney County. For one evening, it might be fun to pretend she was a trendy urbanite.

When she stepped outside, she had to hide her smile as Ty spilled soda down his front. His eyes nearly popped out of his head as she walked toward him.

Never had she been so openly ogled, at least not by such an incredibly attractive man. It gave her a heady feeling as she summoned her feminine powers from their months-long hibernation. She felt the weight of Ty’s stare roving over her as she talked with Swede and then went into the garage.

If she’d had time to think about it, she might have worked up the nerve to ask Ty to go along with her this evening. Waltzing in on his brawny arm would have set her old group of friends into a gossiping frenzy. A vision of Ty in a suit, all cleaned up, made her breath catch in her throat. He was dangerous enough to her system in a T-shirt and jeans. She didn’t think her mental and emotional well-being could handle him in a suit or tux.

Carefully backing out of the garage, she wasn’t sure if the look of blatant desire on Ty’s face was for her, the car she was driving, or both.

As she revved the engine of the car and sped toward Portland, Lexi hoped it was for more than her sporty wheels.

Lesson Five

Family Is Everything

“No matter where ya go or what ya do,

nothin’ is more important than family.”

With his head buried under the hood of a two-ton dump truck that had seen better days, Ty didn’t hear his phone buzzing. It rang twice more and still he didn’t hear it. The fourth time it buzzed, Baby ran over to Ty and grabbed a mouthful of his coveralls, tugging on his leg.

“Baby, what do you think you’re doing?” he asked as she pulled so hard, he had to step down from the truck’s bumper onto the shop floor to keep her from yanking him over backward. “That is not okay, Baby.”

Just as he was about to scold the dog, his phone rang again and he hurried to answer it.

“Bro, where have you been? We’ve been trying to call for an hour,” Nate said, sounding both nervous and excited.

“Hey, man, what’s up?” Ty wiped his hands on a rag as he held the phone to his ear with his shoulder.

“The baby, that’s what,” Nate said.

“What?” Ty lost his hold on the phone, barely catching it in his hand before it hit the concrete floor of the shop. “What did you say?”