The Bad Boy of Redemption Ranch - Maisey Yates Page 0,17
under the sink. “It’s a damned awkward angle. Let me tell you.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Garbage disposals are a pain in the ass on a good day.”
“I didn’t know you knew about garbage disposals.”
“I’ve lived in a hell of a lot of crappy places and had to figure out how to fix my own stuff. I wasn’t going to be paying a repairman.”
He pushed himself into a sitting position, then stood, his large frame filling up the small space. Her house was more than adequate spacewise for her on a given day. But somehow right now the white walls were closing in on her and the wood ceilings seemed to be compressing, the oak floors rising up.
“Right,” she said.
“Growing up I fixed everything for my mom, too.” He grabbed a rag off the counter and wiped his hands. Large hands.
She wasn’t sure why she’d noticed that detail.
“Oh.” She blinked.
“You know I’m a Dalton, right?”
She hadn’t actually known that. And the revelation was enough to distract her from his height, breadth and hands.
“I... No.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Just another one of Hank’s illegitimate kids.”
“But I’m really surprised I didn’t know that. Because the town does love a rumor mill.”
“I don’t know if I’m disappointed or not. I would’ve thought that I would be the subject of some gossip.”
“Well, it could just be possible that Hank is so scandalous people don’t pay attention to it anymore.”
“Well, how about that,” he said, sounding rueful. “Not even a good scandal.”
“Actually, it’s kind of amazing that you haven’t been more of a focus. What with you being an ex-con and all.”
“I haven’t done much in town to be honest. As you know, I just closed on this house, and before that I was renting. Mostly I’ve been spending time helping out at the Dalton ranch. But, now I’m getting my own place set up.”
“And fixing my garbage disposal.”
“True.” He took a step closer to her and she felt eclipsed. It was weird that she noticed his height like she did.
She was the shortest one in the family. By far. Her sister Rose was about three inches taller while Iris was an inch or so taller than Rose. The boys were all over six foot. She was used to being...well, a pansy among redwoods. But there was something about him that felt impossibly large. Big and broad, the way that he filled the space with a flagrant lack of permission.
“I think technically you’re supposed to give me twenty-four hours’ notice before you enter my residence,” she said, the words like the wind chimes that hung on her porch. Rigid and clanking, and not in her control at all.
He lifted a brow. “Are you going to write me another ticket?”
“No,” she said. Mostly because she really did want her garbage disposal fixed.
“Then quit complaining and let me fix it.”
“I’m not complaining,” she said. “I’m simply pointing out the law. Because I know you have difficulty with those.”
He huffed a laugh. “Right.”
“So... Hank Dalton is your dad?” She only vaguely knew the Daltons. But she knew them in the sense that everybody knew who the Daltons were. Hank was a local celebrity, an ex-rodeo star who had become nationally famous during his time at the top, a run of ad campaigns he’d gotten back in the eighties.
She really shouldn’t start asking personal questions. There was no reason to. And anyway, it invited conversation she didn’t want to have. Which she already knew. But she was curious about him. And that made her almost as angry as the fact that he had won earlier today. By losing. He’d gotten the ticket, and still she didn’t feel like it had been a score for her.
She was harried and wrung out and irritated by the direction of her day, and he was part of it.
To top it all off, she didn’t actually know as much about him as she should. And that irritated her even more.
“He is that,” West said.
“And that’s what brought you out here?”
“I stumbled out of jail with nothing. Wearing the same clothes I had on when I went in. Most of what I had was gone. If any of it is recovered, it’s going to take a long time for that to come together. Like I mentioned, the sale of my house has me solvent.”
“So you came here for...”
“I didn’t have another place to go. I know my mom. I grew up with her. I figured I would see what this part of my family is all about.”