The Rancher and the Event Planner - By Cheryl Gorman Page 0,55

seen anyone work and yet there had been problems with each of the events she had planned, but she never quit. Pride welled inside him. Between the park and the mansion renovation the town had a solid chance of winning. She was hot no doubt about it. He’d like nothing more than to kiss away her anger, but he couldn’t give in. If he did, he’d be sunk up to his eye balls and once her community service was over, she’d go back to her life.

He plopped his hat on his head and looked up at the sky. Dark ominous clouds that hovered in the distance earlier had moved closer. The weather report called for a series of thunderstorms.

Rafe glanced at Jennifer kneeling beside a flower bed carefully patting the soil around the plants and his heart softened. An emotion something akin to love threatened to engulf him but he pushed it away. No way had he fallen for her. She was a good person and he liked her, end of story.

His conscience nudged him. The other night at the fairgrounds he had seen real tears in her eyes not the fake ones. She hadn’t given him a cute little pout, lowered her chin and batted her eyes. Her skin had been blotchy and her voice broke with trying to hold back her emotions. He had wanted to hug her to his chest and tell her everything was going to be okay, but he didn’t. He couldn’t, because the more time he spent with her the more he was starting to believe she was right. Maybe they did belong together.

Chapter Fourteen

JC and the crew worked through the rest of the afternoon until the first rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning halted their work. She’d accepted the job offer to run the resort but hadn’t told Rafe and Molly yet. The fountain had been set up, the new walkways put in. She pulled off her cap, loosened her pony tail and ran her fingers through her hair. She closed her eyes, leaned slightly back and rubbed her hands over her aching, lower back. The job was done. She only had eight hours of community service left and then she would take over the management of the resort.

After the men left, JC was putting the finishing touches on one of the flower beds, when the first fat drops of rain splattered on her head. Lightning flashed, rapidly followed by a sharp crack of thunder. She picked up her trowel and headed for her car, but half-way there the sky opened up soaking her to the skin. She jumped inside shivering despite the crushing heat of the day. She looked down at her arms and legs. Sunburn. She should have reapplied sunscreen but she’d been so busy. The rain pelted down with the ferocity of some angry god and the thunder boomed like a million metal drums. She gazed through the windscreen, but a wash of water distorted her view.

Then the hail started. Ice the size of golf balls beat down on her car and she cringed with nearly every hit knowing her car would be left with little divots over its bright red finish. Her insurance didn’t cover acts of God, only collisions. She had collided with the hail through no fault of her own. Maybe she could make that argument and the insurance company might at least consider paying a part of the repair cost. In a few minutes, the hail stopped, but the rain still poured in a gushing torrent. Wanting a shower and a hot meal, she cranked her car.

Headlights blazed suddenly through the interior of her car. She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Rafe’s truck with the wipers beating furiously over the windscreen, pull in behind her. What was he doing here? He climbed from the truck and in a moment rapped on the driver’s side window. She rolled it down a crack and leaned back a little as the rain splattered inside on the leather interior door of her Mini Cooper. Standing in the pouring rain with an umbrella in one hand, Rafe shouted above the storm, “How about some chow at the Bluebonnet?”

She glanced at her filthy clothes then back at him. “I can’t go like this.”

“Sure you can. I haven’t had a shower either. At least not in the traditional sense. Besides, Grace won’t mind.”

A hot meal at Grace’s was exactly what she needed. JC grabbed her purse and climbed from the