Sunrise Ranch - Carolyn Brown Page 0,6

wildflowers pop up, it will be lovely. Bluebonnets, wild daisies, coreopsis, and flowering cactus sure give it a different look. And trust me when I say it grows on you. The sunsets and sunrises are beautiful, and pretty soon, you’ll wonder why you ever wanted to live anywhere else.”

Bonnie had admired Loretta’s flaming red hair and her sweet smile, but she’d thought that the woman had rocks for brains. There was no way this barren place would ever grow on her. She would stick around for a year just to prove those two bitchy half-sisters who were looking down on her that she could hold her own. But Loretta had been right. The place might not have grown on her, but it did have a kind of beauty in the spring and early summer, and she’d come to love her sisters.

“Damn it to hell!” She slapped the steering wheel and then started up the tractor’s engine. “I promised myself that I wouldn’t stay six months ago, and I never go back on a promise I make to myself, but now a part of me wants to stay here, and that would mean being tied down.”

Her mind went back to that first day she’d been in the canyon. Ezra’s funeral was over and the neighbor, Jackson, had brought a copy of Ezra’s will for each of the sisters to keep, and one for Rusty. He had cut past the legal jargon and told them that Rusty would pay each of them on Friday evening for forty hours of work at minimum wage. Room and board would be provided free of charge. Rusty would bring in staples once a week, but if they wanted anything other than what he had bought, they would have to buy it themselves.

Bonnie hadn’t been expecting a salary, so that had made her happy. No way would she ever let either of her sisters know that she’d spent her last dollar on enough gas to get her to the funeral. She kept her mouth shut and listened as Jackson went on to tell them that they would get their salary whether they sat on the porch and did nothing or whether they pitched in and learned the business of ranching. It made no difference and was their decision.

“I should be doing that today just to prove to Rusty that I can,” she muttered, “but it sounded too boring, and besides if I’m going to get a good price for this place, it should be kept up. God only knows that Rusty can’t do it by himself.”

Jackson had said that Rusty would teach them the ranching business, if they had a mind to learn. Then he’d told them that whichever daughter was still on the ranch one year from that day would inherit the whole place. If anyone left before the year was up, they got a one-time, lump sum payment from Ezra’s estate, but they would relinquish any and all rights to the ranch. Abby Joy and Shiloh hadn’t been allowed to disclose what their inheritance was when they’d left. For all Bonnie knew, it was anywhere from $500 to $50,000.

At noon she parked the tractor and got out of the cab. After doing a few stretching exercises and rolling the kinks out of her neck, she picked up her sack lunch and sat down under a shade tree. She’d only taken the first bite when Rusty joined her.

“What are you thinkin’ about?” he asked. “You look like you’re ready to fight a wild bull with nothing but a willow switch.”

“Just going over in my mind what Jackson told us that first day I was here,” she said honestly, but she didn’t tell Rusty that she’d fought against an attraction for him since day one. No way was she going to admit that, not when they had crossed horns over the ranch like a couple of rangy old bulls. She admired his work ethic—getting up at the crack of dawn seven days a week to take care of things—but she also liked his kindness. Add that to his eyes and the way he filled out his jeans, and it was dang hard to fight the feelings that had grown for him.

“That was a strange time for sure,” Rusty said.

“You didn’t like any of us so well, did you?” she asked.

“I didn’t figure any of you would last a week. Abby Joy would get tired of it, and Shiloh was way too prissy for ranchin’. I was wrong