The Love Ranch (BWWM Romance) (5 page)

BOOK: The Love Ranch (BWWM Romance)
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The maid’s grin vanished and then she shrugged, before turning away and striding off, her nose in the air.

Tiana shook her head. The other woman was a piece of work alright.

“Come on, Jamal. Let’s go find the kitchen ourselves,” she muttered as she reached for Jamal.

Several minutes and numerous diversions later, Tiana stumbled across the kitchen and her heart flew into her throat. The kitchen was an epitome of modern technology and was frankly everything any cook could ask for; the occupants however, left a lot to be desired.

One fat Frenchman stood, stirring at a dizzying speed the contents of one pot whilst sweating profusely. She watched in fascinated horror as a large glob of sweat plopped right into the pot and he kept right on stirring merrily. 

Several other persons were scattered about the kitchen and it was complete chaos as everyone bumped into everyone else, while chattering a mile a minute. This was the place she was tossed into?

She turned to leave, tugging Jamal along when a familiar mocking voice, tinged with laughter drawled, “Don’t tell me you’re leaving so soon. I never pegged you for a quitter.”

All the hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she turned to face her tormentor. He was clad in his trademark jeans and a white shirt with the ends tucked into the jeans, but for once, there was no hat to shield his eyes. A red bandanna was tied around his neck with the knot right under the Adam’s apple and his shirt was opened at the throat enough to reveal a tantalizing and jaw-dropping expanse of flesh lightly dusted with dark chest hair.

Mrs. Rose Shirley stood beside him, panting as she fixed the occupants of the kitchen with a wide eyed stare that was hard enough to have them all slow down and fall silent.

“I’m not sure what business of yours it is,” she began even as one of the kitchen workers gasped, “But I’m damned if I’m going to work amidst this chaos.”

“So make it what you want to be,” he suggested as though it was the easiest thing in the world.

Tiana rolled her eyes, “I don’t have that kind of power.”

“Alright! How about for today, you run the show,” he suggested, crossing his arms over a thick barrel of a chest as he spread his legs even wider where he stood.

“You can’t give me the power when you don’t have it yourself,” she scoffed trying not to notice how macho and deliciously attractive he looked. “Besides, shouldn’t you be off mucking a stall or something?”

Rose Shirley’s eyes seemed to be rolling back in her head as her fascinated gaze jumped from Christian’s amused face to Tiana’s increasingly irritated one.

“I’m sure the men will let me know when it’s time to muck out stalls,” he responded, a grin playing about his lips.

“Just don’t blame me if you get fired,” she said as she once more headed towards the exit.

“Never pegged you for a scaredy cat,” he crowed behind her, deliberately baiting her. He couldn’t have her walk out of here. He wanted her, he admitted silently to himself.

“I’m not scared.”

“Then why the hell are you thinking about leaving already.”

“I can’t work in this place, it’s too disorganized,” she said.

“Then fix it. I already said you could, didn’t I?”

Tiana looked questioningly at Rose; the woman didn’t flinch. She could do this then, she realized.

“Okay. What’s for dinner?” she asked the room at large.

Then she rolled up her sleeves and began to give orders, putting everyone where they ought to be. Jamal had gone upstairs with Christian and Rose. For some weird reason, she trusted him with Christian when she would not trust him with the maid.

***

Dinner had been a luxurious and wonderful affair, so much so that even the sour Rose Shirley had been impressed.

The lasagna had been extremely delicious, the broth just thick enough to be slurped greedily by the men after work and the beef tenderloin had been out of this world.

Christian was certain he had never, in all his years of existence on God’s green earth, tasted anything so wonderful. He said so too and was gratified to note the general assent from everyone in the dining room. He strolled into his library and relaxed against a sofa, shutting his eyes as he leaned back and waited for Rose to join him. He had decided to hire Tiana permanently. That would be pure torture for him yes, but in the meantime, she would feed his body good, delicious, homemade meals and he really needed that. At the ripe old age of thirty, the last thing he needed was the sort of nauseatingly rich French sauces Vanessa had been shoving down his throat for six months.

The door of the library banged shut, announcing Rose’s arrival but he deliberately remained with his eyes shut as she waddled towards him.

“Well the meal wasn't so bad, but I still say Vanessa is...”

His eyes flew open, “Let’s set some ground rules, Mrs. Shirley. No more talks about Vanessa for now okay? She’s gone and I’m damn well not going to talk about it again.”

Rose paused, regarding him through narrowed eyes and then she blurted the question in her mind since the morning, “Why did you want me to hire her?”

“I had a hunch she would be good,” he said. “And speaking of, I asked her to join us here. I’m going to offer her a full-time position.”

“Christian!” she gasped.

“Mrs. Shirley! Am I misunderstanding? Is there some reason you don’t want Tiana working here?”

Rose clamped her lips tight together. She was not going to argue with him when he was like this. He rarely raised his voice and if he was doing so now, it meant the
topic was important to him. But something about the beautiful, olive-skinned girl bothered her. She was going to have to watch them more closely from now on because the last thing she wanted was for her dearest Christian to fall in love with some girl only to get hurt. Besides, the girl had a son, there was bound to be some husband or boyfriend lurking around somewhere. 

A slight knock at the door announced Tiana’s entrance.

“You wanted me, Sir,” she began. Her voice trailed off when she saw the man seated behind the huge oak desk.

“Yes, come in,” he said briskly, enjoying her surprise.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded, stalking right across the room and up to the table, without noticing Rose Shirley sitting in a chair nearby and gaping at her. “Are you stalking me? Is that it? I heard the ‘Head of the Ranch’ wanted to talk to me. What are you doing in his chair?”

“He asked me to meet with you instead. He’s a bit of a recluse.”

“Well, I'm not interested in meeting with you.”

“Why not?” he asked innocently. “What have I done wrong?”

“You. Kissed. Me,” she enunciated furiously, leaning her balled fists against the top of his desk as she leaned across it to glare into his face.

“You’re right, I did, but you enjoyed it,” he reminded her reasonably.

“I didn’t. It was despicable, irritating...”

He rose to his in one fluid motion, his eyes flying to Mrs. Shirley’s as he said in his most authoritative voice, “That will be all, Mrs. Shirley.”

Tiana jerked as though he had slapped her and turned around, her distressed gaze clashing with Mrs. Shirley’s antagonistic one as the woman levered herself up and began to exit the room.

“You did that on purpose,” Tiana accused hotly the moment the door shut behind the other woman. “What you hope to gain, I’ll never know.”

“Lie to me, lie to yourself,” Christian interrupted just as if she had not spoken, “But never tell me you did not enjoy the kiss.”

As he spoke, he slowly made his way around the desk to stand in front of her.

Tiana’s breath hitched. Slowly, Christian raised a hand and cupped her cheek then gently began to caress the smooth skin of her cheek.

“I have a child,” she began in protest as wondrous sensations began to curl in the pit of her stomach just from his slight touch.

“I know. I like him.”

“I mean, I can’t do this.”

“Do what?” he murmured huskily, his eyes taking on a sleepy, heavy-lidded quality as he lowered his head and inexorably covered her lips with his.

Tiana groaned, clinging to him as her skin began to flame under his tender assault. Every vein in her body sang as he kissed her. She arched against him, molding her soft curves perfectly to the hard contours of his long, sinewy, body.

His hand tangled in her hair, holding her in place as he loved her with his mouth. His tongue stroked hers in long, delicious strokes that made her cling harder to him.

Christian’s hand wandered down her back to cup her buttocks and he groaned with excitement as his hand finally closed over the soft mound of flesh that had been driving him crazy for weeks.

Tiana moaned and strained closer, her hands encircling his neck and caressing the hair at his nape as she returned his kiss. One large, warm palm trailed slowly to her breast and as the hand closed it, she lost all sense of time and place.

All her inhibitions fell away as she deepened the kiss, plundering his mouth with an urgency borne of desire. He cupped the mound of flesh between her legs with one eager, questing hand and she gasped and arched against him.

“Tiana,” he moaned against her neck, “What are you doing to me?”

Tiana was lost in a sea of sensation as she pressed harder against him, unable to respond.

“Mom?” a small piping voice called down the hallway.

It was like being doused with a bucket of cold water. They sprang apart guiltily, breathing harshly as she hastily began to straighten and rearrange her clothing. The library door opened and Jamal peered around the edge of the door.

“Mom?”

“I’m right here, honey. I was just talking to Mr. Langfield. You remember him right?”

Jamal looked up at Christian, his big eyes round as he measured the older man. He looked back at Tiana and shouted, “The Cowboy!”

“That’s the one,” she said dryly. “We’ll be leaving now, Mr. Langfield, if it’s all the same to you.”

Christian’s silver-grey eyes glinted at her as he grinned and said, “We have not finished our discussion, Ms. Walker. Please sit,” he suggested mildly but it managed to sound more like an order.

Tiana grudgingly sank onto a seat wondering why he wielded so much power on the ranch. She had thought he was just a cowboy but he might be a foreman or something.

“You are welcome to wait in here too, Jamal. Mommy will just be a few minutes.”

Christian marched around the desk and sat down in one smooth motion. “I’ll be quick, Tiana,” he began formally.

She nodded, her heart in her throat. Had she been so bad that they were not even going to keep her on temporarily?

“We were pleased with your efforts in the kitchen today and we would like to offer you a more permanent position.”

Her heart soared.

“You have to leave Tiny Tim’s” he added.

Tiana’s heart skidded in her chest as she considered what he had said. Leave Tiny Tim’s? Well she was not particularly attached to the place, she reasoned, so in her book, that was no great loss.

“What are my wages?”

“Fifty dollars per hour with two days off each month. You also get Sundays off each week.”

Tiana blinked; that was more than generous.

“We have a deal then. And just so you know, I intend to be so damn good at my job that I’ll impress whoever the boss is. I intend to have him so happy he’ll toss you out on your ear if I ask him to.”

Christian’s grin was pure evil as he rose to his feet and towered over her. “I’d like to see you try,” he drawled as he presented the contract to her.

With a barely a glance, Tiana scrawled her signature at the bottom of the offer and handed it back to him, watching as he also appended his rather bold and appealing scrawl beside hers. She shook her head. Everything about the man was sexy; even his signature; either that or she needed help!

Christian’s voice stopped her as she turned to leave, “Tiana? When are you moving in?”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s a condition of your employment. When do you move in?”

She gasped, “I'm not moving in! I have a house of my own where I just put down two months’ rent and you better believe I intend to get my money’s worth.”

“Did you bother to read the fine print? An accommodation on site is one of the ‘perks’. Besides it will save you the rent.”

“I just paid for two months.”

“You’ll be fully reimbursed,” he assured her smoothly.

“I’m doing an online degree program in Business” she announced desperately. She had started a year ago, but she rarely told anyone; it was her secret.

Respect gleamed in his eyes as he looked at her. “That’s very admirable. Think how much more money you will have to pay for tuition if you don’t have to add rent to the list.”

She looked down, biting her lip as she considered his suggestion. It was reasonable but she couldn’t quell the butterflies in the pit of her stomach.

“Oh don’t worry, Tiana, I’m not going to ravish you,” he said, hitting on her greatest reason for hesitation. Then just when she was going to relax, he added with a wolfish grin, “Unless you ask me to, of course.”

BOOK: The Love Ranch (BWWM Romance)
11.07Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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