He turned to the feminine laughing voice. One of the guests had meandered over to where he stood on his front step, watching the proceedings.

"I'm Vicki," she said. In her mid-twenties, she looked to be a replica of Camping Barbie-tall, blond, and stacked. She wore dark blue ironed jeans with a designer label that had never been meant for camping or ranching. Her blouse was silk, fitted, and also freshly ironed. He had no idea how she was going to feed pigs or milk cows in that blouse. Adjusting her designer cowboy hat on her pretty head, she smiled with her carefully glossed lips. "Are you one of the cowboys who'll be taking us out in the wilderness?"

"Uh..."

"I hear there are wolves out there." She let out a full-bodied shiver. "Sounds dangerous?" She grinned. "I love it, especially if there's a bunch of big, strong cowboys around. Do you think we'll hear them howl at night?"

Jake laughed. "The cowboys, or the wolves?"

She laughed, too. "Either. All of us are hoping for adventure. All sorts of adventure."

She was cute, and sidling up to Jake in a way that felt familiar. "All of you?"

"We're professional cheerleaders, looking for a good time." She looked him over from head to toe, and then back again. "What's your name, cowboy?"

"Jake."

"Well, Jake, you're the cutest Arizona cowboy I've ever seen."

"Why do I have the feeling I'm the first Arizona cowboy you've seen?"

She grinned broadly.

"Vicki? Vicki Henderson?" Callie was consulting her clipboard and looking around.

"Right here." Vicki waved. "Just taking in the sights. The excellent sights," she added in a breathy murmur to Jake.

Tucker came back out of the house, took in the way Vicki was practically lapping up Jake, and shot him a long look before he picked up her bags and headed toward the house again.

Vicki took her eyes off Jake and watched Tucker go. "Mmmm, you're all fine. Goodie." With an air kiss toward Jake, she followed Tucker.

Callie walked over to Jake, still wielding that clipboard. "We get one every time," she said.

At the front door, Vicki turned to wave at Jake.

He waved back. "One what?"

"Oh, that's right, you've been hit on so many times, you don't even recognize it for what it is anymore." She slapped the clipboard against her thigh. "Well, let me enlighten you. Vicki Henderson is here to pick up a cowboy."

Jake laughed. "No."

"Fine. Make fun." She put a finger in his face. "But she's picked you now, Jake. Enjoy her." Clearly annoyed, she stalked off, and his grin spread because really, she was quite adorable when she was jealous.

And I pick you, he thought. Before he could tell her so, she stopped and pressed her temples. "Damn it." She came back to him. "I forgot."

Her face was so serious, his smile faded away. "What?"

"I'm sorry. It never should have left my mind even for a second, but you slept in, and I didn't get a chance to talk to you before the guests arrived-"

"Tell me." All kidding and teasing aside, he put his hands on her arms. "Did something else happen to you?"

"Not to me..." She closed her eyes, sighed, and then opened them again. "There's two hundred and fifty dollars missing from my office, from petty cash."

Jake and Callie met with the sheriff and made yet another report. As discreetly as they could, they talked to all the employees one by one, working around the new guests. Everyone was horrified; no one knew anything.

And a bad feeling grew deep in Jake's gut.

The cheerleaders were...perky. For the rest of the day they were entertained with ranch chores. Eddie and Stone had lots of fun getting the women to feed the pigs, cows, hens, and horses. Both men wore ear-to-ear grins at dinner that night, which they naturally took in the dining room with their guests, all too happy to keep entertaining.

The sheriff came by again after dessert to check on things. When he left, Callie stood in her office and dropped her face in her hands.

Jake put his hand on her shoulder. "This is getting old."

Her face jerked up to meet his. "I'll replace the money myself, from my own account."

Startled at how she'd so misunderstood him, he shook his head. "Who the hell do you think I am that I would ask such a thing of you?"

"My boss."

"I have no idea," he said slowly, "how you can dislike and distrust me so much, and yet let me into your bed to kiss and touch and f-"

She put her hand over his mouth. "Don't go there."

He pulled her hand down. "Too late, I'm already there, sweetheart. There and waiting."

"Don't even try to tell me you've never slept with a woman who didn't like you afterward."

"No," he said honestly.

She laughed, then shook her head. "How do you do that, make me laugh when I don't want to?" Her smile faded. "Oh, Jake. Don't you get it? I don't dislike you at all." And on that shocking admission, she opened the door to leave. Tucker stood there, hand raised to knock.

He divided a glance between them. "What's going on?" He pointed to the cash box. "Did you find the money?"

"No," Callie said. "And I think we should implement new rules-no one goes where they don't belong. Amy, for instance, can be in the kitchen, but she shouldn't be in the barns or my office. Stone and Eddie-"

"Should be only in the barns, not the office. Yeah." Tucker looked grim. "Got it. You think it's one of us."

"Damn it, I don't think that at all. This is for our own protection, Tucker. A way to make sure no one is wrongfully blamed, okay?"

Tucker sighed. "Okay."

"The guests are all settled for the night, right?"

"Yeah," Tucker said.

"Good. I've got a killer headache. I'm outta here." She glared at Jake when he tried to stop her. "Alone," she said, and walked out of the room.

Tucker looked at Jake after she'd left. "I heard what she said before she opened the door. She likes you."

Jake was still worried about the headache he'd seen lurking behind Callie's green eyes, and the misery there. "Get your facts straight. She said that she didn't dislike me."

Tucker dropped into one of the chairs in front of Callie's desk. "She's off limits."

"Really? Says who?"

"Says me."

Jake shot him a look of disbelief.

"She's not like one of those cheerleaders, all right? She gives a shit about people, about everyone. I mean, look how she's protecting all of us, no questions asked. She trusts us, Jake. For no reason other than her heart tells her to. She's been hurt, and still, she trusts."

"What do you mean, hurt?"

"Haven't you ever wondered why we're all so close here? It's because we all have one thing in common. Sucky pasts, Callie included. So don't even think about fucking with her."

"How about," Jake said very quietly, "unless it involves you, you mind your own business, especially when it comes to Callie and me?"

Tucker's voice was just as quiet when he stood and got in Jake's face. "This is my business. She cares about me, Jake. She saved my life by letting me have this job, and I'm not going to repay that by letting you screw with her head."

Jake laughed incredulously. "She cares about you? How about me? How about how much I care about you? I dragged your sorry ass here. I gave you this job, not Callie. I asked her to keep you here."

Tucker stared at him stonily.

"Ah hell." Jake shoved his fingers through his hair and turned in a slow circle, searching for his cool. It was a hard time coming. Things were just so damn complicated. His feelings for Callie, his feelings about not being able to work, and now these problems here at the ranch. It was all changing his perspective, and he was so tired of thinking.

Tucker still didn't say a word and Jake shook his head. "Forget it. Just forget it." And like Callie had only a moment before, he walked out.

"There you go," Tucker said when he was alone. "Walking away again."

11.

Head throbbing with stress, worry, and a bunch of assorted other things, Callie started across the yard toward her cabin, the way lit by a blanket of stars. Halfway there, Shep met her, nudging her hand with the top of his head.

At his unconditional love, a lump grew in her throat the size of a regulation football. "Hey, boy. Got your family tucked in for the night?"

He panted alongside her, relaxed and at ease, so she knew everything was okay in the barn at least. The puppies had nearly doubled in size since they'd found them. She'd been checking on them every day, even if Tiger still wouldn't let her touch them.

Letting herself into her cabin, she pulled her shades and started stripping. She needed a hot bath, aspirin, and bed, and not in any special order. Down to her favorite soft silk camisole and panties, she moved toward her CD player. Some music would help her relax, help her think. She had a lot of thinking to do, but unfortunately, her cell phone rang, interrupting her thoughts.

"You sound upset again," Michael said.

Upset? Try tense enough to shatter. "I'm okay."

"Truth, Cal. You're working too hard. Is it worth it?"

"You mean the ranch?"

"I mean Jake. You're heading for hurt."

"I can take care of myself." She rubbed her temples but the ache only increased. "You know that."

"Yeah, I know. I've seen you do it for years." He let out a long breath. "Look, just give it all up and marry me. You can do whatever you want all day long."

She laughed, as he'd meant her to. "So you'd turn me into a housewife now, is that it?"

"Oh yeah."

Laughing again, she plopped to her bed and stared at the ceiling. "You know I can't cook. I can hardly make a bed, and I don't look good in an apron."

"I'll hire a cook, and who needs a made bed? And I bet you look hot in an apron."

Smiling, she shook her head. "Goodnight, Michael." She tossed her phone aside, slipped on her headphones, then hit the POWER button. Her ears filled with Sheryl Crow singing about how the "first cut is the deepest."

Callie knew the feeling. The room was warm and her head pounded. She stretched out on her back on the cool wood floor and closed her eyes, wondering how the hell she could fix all that was wrong in her world.

A cold, wet something brushed her tummy and her eyes flew open, landing on two large brown ones. "Shep." She let out a laugh, pushed the dog away, and rolled to her belly. Sheryl continue to wail in her ears, blocking out Callie's world, and she closed her eyes again. Animals loose, Sierra mistreated, her Jeep messed with, serum and money missing...

What was happening to her quiet, calm, beautiful world?

Sheryl eased into another song, and Callie sighed, some of the tension finally leaving her body as sheer exhaustion took over.

Jake walked outside, into the night. One of the horses let out a soft whinny, and then another. A pig snorted, and a cow moaned. From somewhere in the hills, not nearly far enough away, a coyote howled.

Had he ever thought this place silent? Without thinking, he stepped onto the grass. A sound came from behind him. He whipped around, and stared into the unblinking eyes of Goose. She honked at him and lowered her head for attack.

"Damn it-"

Menacingly, she honked again, and pawed the ground with her webbed feet.

Jake wasn't a fool. Sometimes a man had to run. So he turned and loped off the grass. Her grass.

Goose chased him to the very edge, glaring at him triumphantly, her feet firmly on her domain.

"I'd go on a diet if I were you," he warned, and crossed to the cabins. He looked at Tucker's and remembered his words.

"She saved my life by letting me have this job, and I'm not going to repay that by letting you screw with her head."

He really thought Jake would mess with Callie, purposely hurt her. The knowledge both burned and shamed, because it could quite possibly be true.

There was no denying Jake felt something for her, and up front that something appeared to be no different than what he'd felt for any of the women in his past.