Her Billionaire in Hiding (Texas Ranch Romance Book 3) Read online

  Chapter 9

  Cooper went into town after work that day and got a couple burner phones. He wanted to make sure he didn’t show up on anyone’s radar. It made it difficult to keep in contact with his family, which was why he had Jerry give his mother the package. She knew where he was, what he was up to. She had agreed with his decision to lie low, if only out of respect for Clara. The things people were saying were so disrespectful of their relationship, it was horrible.

  Coop filled the ranch truck with gas and drove back to the bunkhouse. When he went over to the main house for a cookie, his treat for the day, Chase didn’t want to come back to the bunkhouse with him.

  Coop hunkered down and rubbed his ears, looking into those faithful eyes. “Chase, what’s going on here, boy? I’ve never seen you hanker after someone else.” He thought back to the bus station. “Well, except for that beautiful sheila. And I can forgive you for that, I didn’t really want to leave her either. You must be having a hard time adjusting to the States. I’m sorry boy, you probably miss the bush.”

  Chase got up reluctantly and followed Coop.

  Coop lay back in his bunk, thinking about that woman. Those lavender eyes had haunted him lately. Thinking about her raised his heartrate and put a yearning in his heart. He still felt guilty for even thinking about someone else so soon after Clara’s death.

  This kind of attraction was new to him. He never had a strong physical attraction for Clara. She had just always been there. They had grown up together, and it was always assumed they would marry. Combining both of their cattle stations would give them the largest ranch in Australia. But with Clara, there was never the excitement of a first meeting or love at first sight. He loved her for sure, he had always loved her, but it was a different kind of love. He knew he would have had a wonderful life with her. Just not a thrilling, heart-throbbing romance. That kind of stuff was just in books, wasn’t it?

  He turned on his radio, searching for his song. He had taken to associating it with the sheila at the bus station. But they never seemed to play that song any longer. With a sigh, he turned the radio off again.

  Jessie was up at 4 a.m. taking Patch out for a walk. He had been whining and barking all night, wanting to go outside. Finally she gave in and got up. She decided to walk around the lake. There was a full moon shining, and she could see fairly well. She stopped halfway and sat down on the bench while Patch was busy finding just the right spot.

  It was so peaceful. She loved mornings. Some of the birds were already singing. She looked out toward the barn; someone was coming. Jessie stood up and ran over to the lakeside trees and climbed up on one of the branches. She scooted farther out on the branch, holding a higher branch with her hands. It was precarious, but so far it was holding.

  As the man got closer, she could see it was Cooper. She stood perfectly still. The branches seemed to be covering her spot, and it was still reasonably dark. She held her breath as he walked by. Patch was still back by the bench, sniffing around. Perhaps Cooper would just continue walking around the lake.

  Then she saw Chase running up to her tree. “Go back, Chase,” she whispered. Jessie moved out just a little farther on the branch, hoping to stay out of the dog’s sight. A loud crack was her only warning as the branch broke and sent her screaming into the lake.

  Coop ran to the edge of the water. “Who’s there? Are you all right?”

  Jessie stood, her wet clothes clinging to her, and made her way up the bank. She turned and started quickly walking away. “I’m fine,” she called over her shoulder. “I better get back and change.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Coop followed her. “I would be happy to walk you back. What were you doing out here at this hour?”

  “Just birdwatching! There was a little nest I wanted to get a better look at. I’m fine, really. Have a good day.” She practically ran back to the ranch house.

  Oh my goodness! I can’t believe that just happened. He must think I’m a complete idiot. She rushed up the back stairs to avoid getting mud everywhere and went into her room to shower.

  That afternoon, she tried again to get a good look at Cooper. She watched the barn to see when the men went in for lunch. Then she grabbed a sandwich and ran back to the river road. She could see more fence work needed to be completed, and so she found a tree to climb where she could watch without being seen. She had asked Mary to keep the dogs in so they wouldn’t “scare the birds.” She hated to lie like that, but Mary didn’t question it.

  This time, Jessie would have success. She just wanted to watch him and analyze her feelings. Plus, it didn’t hurt that he was good to look at. “Am I stalking him? Really?” She shook her head in disbelief.

  She had climbed trees all her life, so climbing this one was relatively easy. Although, it did seem a bit harder than when she was twelve. She climbed high up in the tree to a solid branch, and once she was situated, she pulled a few branches around her for camouflage. She had her binoculars in hand. And waited.

  Cooper came back and turned up his radio as he started pulling some of the torn barbed wire away. He was working hard when a bull, out of nowhere, charged into him from behind and slammed him up against a tree.

  Jessie screamed and started climbing down the tree.

  Cooper fell to the earth, not moving. The bull backed away and lowered his head to charge him again.

  “Oh no! Stop!” Jessie dropped out of her tree and grabbed a big stick. She ran at the bull, waving the stick and yelling at him. He turned away from Coop and toward her, kicking dirt behind himself with his back legs. When he lowered his head, she knew he planned to charge her.

  “I am not going to let you stomp Coop to death.” She grabbed a handful of dirt. And as the bull charged, she jumped behind a tree, flinging the dirt into his face. He snorted and kicked his back feet, turning slowly to eye her by the tree. He shook his head back and forth, and Jessie quickly moved, putting the tree between them.

  He charged again, but stopped near the tree this time, snorting and kicking. As he stomped past, Jessie gathered up her courage and stepped out directly behind him. She swung her big stick and started hitting him on his hindquarters. She wasn’t sure what to do, so she tried yelling in her deepest voice. “Hee haw! Hee haw!”

  She wished the dogs were with her. But after being hit repeatedly on the rump, the bull finally trotted away, head held high, as if he had just won a bullfight in Spain.

  Jessie ran over to Cooper and carefully turned him over. “Cooper, are you okay?”

  She took her handkerchief and brushed some of the dirt off his face. He was still breathing, but he was not responsive.

  Jessie called Mary on her phone, her voice sounding frantic, almost unrecognizable. “Cooper has been hurt. He’s unconscious. A bull ran him into a tree.”

  “Where are you, Jessie? I will send Carson with the truck.”

  Cooper’s injuries looked pretty serious. He had a huge bump on his forehead, and his shirt was torn where he’d slammed into the tree. He was lying there like a limp rag. “Mary, he might need an ambulance. We are back by the river.”

  “Carson is on his way. He’ll know what to do.”

  Jessie rested Coop’s head in her lap and continued brushing off the dirt carefully. She ran her fingers through his hair, pushing it back in place. His forehead was swelling. “It’s going to be okay, Coop.” She started humming the last song she wrote while she waited for Carson to arrive.

  Carson drove up with Henry and a stretcher. They ran over and felt all of Coop’s bones. “He might have a couple broken ribs. This bump on his forehead is what is worrying me.” Henry pulled out his phone. “Let’s call the ambulance. We will meet them up by the barn.”

  They carefully shifted Coop to the stretcher and placed him in the back of the truck. Jessie got up to help Henry keep him steady as they drove back along the bumpy dirt road. Mary was waiting by the front porch with rags and first aid supplies. She ran over to the truck just as the ambulance
arrived.

  The EMTs checked him over again before they put him in the ambulance. “Can you give us the name of the patient?”

  Jessie wondered how they would handle this since everyone at the ranch was incognito.

  Mary looked at Henry. “Henry will come with you to handle the paperwork.”

  Jessie sighed. What a day. She headed to get Patch and Chase and went up to her room. It wasn’t every day that you declared war on a mean bull and survived to tell about it. She was still shaky when she retired to her bed that night, the dogs lying in the corner.

  Chapter 10

  In the morning, she let both dogs get up on the bed with her. They were comforting. She just needed to get a hold of herself and calm down. Her adrenaline must have been really pumping last night because she was still shaky this morning.

  The dogs were happy to see her. Chase sniffed her all over and then sat in the corner whining. “It’s okay, Chase. He just had a bit of a run-in with the bull.”

  She made her way downstairs. The day was just beginning, and she was already exhausted. She moved out onto the deck and sat in the chaise lounge. The dogs were happy to be outside and lay down on the deck for their morning naps. Jessie fell asleep as well. She woke up an hour later to hear the dogs barking.

  “Come on, pups, let’s take a walk around the lake.” She put her running shoes on, and they all ran down the back stairs. It looked like Carson had put that bull, Curly, in a front corral by himself. Carson walked across the lawn, taking off a pair of work gloves, and she stopped to talk with him.

  “Do you think Coop will be okay? Have you heard anything from Henry?”

  Carson sat down on the front steps, and Jessie joined him. “Henry said they checked him out thoroughly. He has a concussion, and one rib is cracked. They have him taped up, but he is still unconscious, and they can’t figure out why. With a concussion that mild, he really should have come to right after the accident.”

  That worried Jessie. But she didn’t know what else to say. “I see Curly is up front.” Jessie pointed over to the corral.

  “Yes, he’s a very aggressive bull, but he’s unique too. All his offspring are male, and that means money. We may have to divide the pasture fence so that he can cover the heifers in the spring on one side and then we can isolate him the rest of the year.”

  “Do you think it would be okay to take a walk back by the river? I left some things there, and I think the dogs would appreciate being out.” Jessie stood up to stretch.

  “Sure. As long as Curly is up here, you should be fine. With those dogs, you will be double fine.” Carson laughed and headed into the ranch house.

  She loved a walk in the country, but her heart was weighed down with worry over Coop. His color hadn’t been good when he left, and what if there were internal injuries? She’d have to take her dad’s truck into town and see how he was doing. She had no business being so concerned, but she was, and it was starting to drive her crazy.

  On the way back to the ranch house, she stopped at the stables to see Carson. “Do you know where Coop comes from?” Jessie leaned against the corral, looking at Curly.

  “Not really. He’s an Aussie, but other than that, I don’t know. He was a guest here at first and then decided to hire on.”

  “Really? Well, I don’t blame him. Once you are here, you dread the day your vacation ends.” Jessie climbed up on the corral’s fence and sat down. “Do you think his family should be notified about his accident?”

  “I am sure Mary has done that already.”

  After dinner, she drove over to the county hospital.

  Jessie took the elevator up to Cooper’s floor. She stopped at the nurses station and heard them talking about Coop. They were doing more tests tomorrow, and so far all the tests were normal. Jessie walked down to his room. She could hear him snoring. She went in just as the doctor stopped by on rounds.

  When the doctor was finished, she pulled a chair up close to the bed. “It’s going to be okay, Coop. You don’t really know me, but I know you. It’s the craziest thing that I can’t get you out of my head. You’re in my dreams at night, and in my thoughts all day. Once you are awake, maybe we can make some sense out of all this.”

  Jessie sat silent for a time and then started to sing. “The question in your eyes…” She closed her eyes as she sang. Oh, she missed using her voice. Somehow as the words flowed out of her, pieces of her life started to make sense. A feeling of peace settled.

  “That was beautiful.” A woman stood just inside the door and walked toward the bed.

  Jessie’s heart jumped. “Oh, I’m sorry. You startled me.”

  “You must know my son.” She stood at the other side of the bed and put her hand on Cooper’s arm. “I just talked with the doctor.”

  Jessie looked at this woman’s kind eyes and could see the resemblance. “No, I really don’t know him. We just met in passing.”

  “And yet you would come to his hospital bed and sing a love song?” She took off her jacket and sat down.

  Jessie stood to leave. “I know. It’s as perplexing to me as it is to you. It was nice meeting you.”

  “We didn’t meet yet, officially. I am Brooklyn Smith, and you are?”

  Jessie couldn’t refuse this woman. “I’m Jessie Forester.” She headed out the door. “Goodnight.”

  Back at the ranch, Jessie sat on the porch with the dogs and watched the night sky until late. She could hear coyotes in the far distance. The birds had all gone to bed when she decided it was time for her to retire as well.

  She brought both Patch and Chase to her room. She felt comforted knowing Coop’s mother was with him. Although she hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since she’d arrived, this night she slept soundly.

  Chapter 11

  Jessie came down to breakfast late the next morning. She was humming a tune while she got her plateful of breakfast delights from Mary’s table. She loved the fluffy, whole-wheat apple pancakes. They seemed to hit the spot and lasted through the morning. She took her orange juice out to the front porch and sat by Henry. Even though she was worried about Coop and this growing fascination she had with him, the beautiful morning gave her hope. “It’s sure pretty here in the morning. It’s a beautiful day.”

  Henry nodded. “I love the mornings best. The evening dew glistens on the leaves and grass, and then the sun parches the earth.” Henry gave a wry smile. “I love it all, even the heat. But I have to admit, sitting here enjoying the cool mornings before my work begins is a joy I count on each day.”

  “Have you heard anything about Coop?” Jessie watched the dogs frolic in the pasture. All three of them seemed to get along so well. Freckles more or less presided over the fun, but the two younger dogs were chasing each other all over the hillside.

  “His mother has the whole hospital staff hopping. They brought in specialists, and she moved him to a bigger room. If they don’t see progress in a couple days, she is talking about flying him to the brain trauma unit in Houston.”

  Jessie smiled. She’d had a sense that Coop’s mom didn’t leave room for argument. “I imagine it would be hard to disagree with her. I met her last night.”

  “I didn’t know you went to the hospital. So how did he look?”

  She sighed. “Wonderful.” The word slipped out before she knew it. “Well, I mean, for being in a coma, he looked very good.” She blushed. “Good color, you know.”

  Henry got a small, knowing smile and leaned over to look directly at Jessie. “Hm, so how long have you known Coop, then?”

  “I don’t know him at all actually. I did meet him in passing at a bus station in Houston a little while back, and then here he was at the ranch. What are the odds of that happening?”

  “What, indeed.” Henry was smiling ear to ear as he headed to the stables to check on Curly.

  Jessie looked over to the barn’s corral, and Curly was strutting around kicking things and snorting. He charged the fence when Henry got close.

 
; She still got a shiver of fear when she replayed her standoff with Curly. When she’d seen Coop was about to be trampled, no thought of her own mortality even entered her mind. Thinking back however, there had been real danger of getting trampled herself.

  Jessie hurried off the porch and ran to catch up with Henry. “Hey, Henry, I woke up with all this energy. What can I do to help today?” The dogs ran after her, jumping around and barking.

  “You certainly have some loyal friends, here.” Henry petted each dog in turn as they lined up for an affectionate pat. “Well, the grass around the lake always needs mowing.”

  They reached the stables, and Carson walked over. “I think it might be better if I took care of the grass around the lake. We’ve had a few incidents in the past. The back pasture needs the Bush Hog, though, there’s some mesquite coming up back there. I was going to have Coop do it, so it would be a great help.”

  “Fun! I have never driven a tractor, but I’m happy to learn.”

  Henry laughed. “Looks like you’re all set.” He turned to Carson. “Once you get her set up, I would like to go over the budget for the barn addition.”

  Jessie got up into the old-looking Kubota tractor, and Carson turned it on.

  “This old tractor just won’t quit. It’s very simple: The foot pads move you forward or backward. The side level raises and lowers the mower, which determines how short the grass is, and this nob turns it on. Keep the tractor on high when mowing. Follow the road left of the lake and go through that gate. It doesn’t matter to me how straight your mowing rows are as long as the grass is cut.”

  It was still morning, and there was a cool gulf breeze. It was a glorious day. She sang as she went along. There was something serene about mowing grass, row after row. She loved the smell of the mowed grass, and it was gratifying to look back and see what she had accomplished.