Hitched to the Horseman. Stella Bagwell

information with Gabe just yet. It was hard enough for her to have a simple conversation with him. “You’ll have to ask me that later, Gabe. Right now I’d better go make peace with my mother.”

      She turned to untie the reins from the hitching post, but Gabe’s hand suddenly swept hers away.

      “You go find Geraldine. Let me take care of Mouse for you.”

      She hesitated, feeling both awkward and touched that he was being so thoughtful. Maybe he had truly put their cross words of this morning behind him. She hoped so. The sexual tension between them was more than enough to handle without adding hostility to it.

      “He needs a bath,” she said of the horse.

      His grin was droll. “I know how to give him one.”

      The playful look on his face filled Mercedes with relief and a lightheartedness she’d not felt in a long, long time.

      Laughing, she rose on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Yes, I guess you do. Thanks, Gabe!”

      As she turned and hurried away, Gabe stared after her and, like a fool, wondered how long it would be before he watched her walk away from the Sandbur. From him.

       Chapter Four

      An hour later, freshly showered and dressed in shorts and a tank top, Mercedes came downstairs to find her mother sitting on the front porch, talking on a cell phone. Near her armchair, on a low wicker table, sat a small pitcher filled with what looked to be margaritas. Next to it was an insulated ice bucket, along with empty glasses.

      Mercedes helped herself to one of the drinks, then eased down in a rocker angled to her mother’s right. By the time she’d swallowed the first sip of the icy lime and tequila concoction, Geraldine had folded the phone shut and tossed it onto the table.

      “That was Mrs. Richman, scolding me for not being present for the library fund-raiser last week,” she said. “I was trying to explain that my daughter had just come home from a job that has kept her halfway around the world for two years, but that didn’t faze the woman. I guess the five thousand dollars I contributed wasn’t enough to suit her.”

      Geraldine sighed with frustration and Mercedes tossed her an understanding smile.

      “Sounds as if things haven’t changed a bit around here. Everyone is always wanting more and more from you. If not your money, then your time. I honestly don’t know how you do it, Mother.”

      Geraldine reached up to push a hand through her hair and, not for the first time since she’d been home, Mercedes noticed that her mother no longer wore the wide gold wedding band on her left hand. Her father had been dead for eleven years and Mercedes was glad to see that her mother had moved on, but it still affected Mercedes to see the empty ring finger. To her, it signified the end of a beautiful union that had produced her and her two siblings. It also said that relationships, even the best of them, sometimes ended in tragedy. Something she was definitely acquainted with.

      “You just deal with things one at a time, honey. Otherwise, I would have been be carted off to the psychiatric ward a long time ago.” Turning her head, she leveled a look on Mercedes. “I’m glad to see you’re in a better frame of mind than you were this morning.”

      Shamefaced, Mercedes dropped her gaze to the drink in her hand. As she swirled around the milky green liquid, she said, “I want to apologize for my behavior this morning, Mother. I was acting like a shrew—or a spoiled brat—or something that I shouldn’t have been. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

      Geraldine’s soft laugh drifted on the muggy breeze and Mercedes lifted her head to look at her.

      “You never have to ask for my forgiveness, kitten. You know that. Besides, I said some pretty harsh things to you.”

      “You were only trying to shake me up,” Mercedes reasoned.

      The faint grin on Geraldine’s face faded. “Did I succeed?”

      Mercedes absently plucked at the hem of her shorts. “Well, it made me realize how much I love this place and still think of it as home.”

      Her mother reached across the space separating their chairs to pat Mercedes’s forearm.

      “I always knew that, darling. But it’s very nice to hear you say it.” She studied her daughter’s serious face. “Does this mean you’ve definitely decided to stay on the ranch?”

      Mercedes gave her a brief nod. “It does. But only if I can be useful. I’m not a hanger-on, Mother. You know that. I never was, and I don’t intend to start now. I guess—well, I’ve done a lot of growing up since I’ve been away from the ranch and this morning—I’m ashamed that you had to remind me of my responsibility as a Saddler.”

      Geraldine’s slender fingers gently rubbed the top of Mercedes’s hand. “Mercedes, if you think I was implying that you’ve neglected your family while you were away—well, I couldn’t be sorrier. I’m proud of all that you’ve accomplished. The whole family is proud of you. I was only—”

      “Being your blunt self,” Mercedes said with a soft chuckle. “Forget it, Mother. I have. The only thing I want to hear is what I can do around here to be truly helpful—other than get in Lex’s way,” she added teasingly.

      Leaning back in her chair, Geraldine took a long sip of her drink before she gave Mercedes a smug smile. “I have the perfect job for you, dear. We need someone to help with the marketing for the ranch. Cordero used to do some of it, but as you know, he’s over in Louisiana now getting the horse farm going. And Lex doesn’t have time for it. Now with us using the Internet and television to reach buyers, it’s a huge job to take care of these issues. Matt is already getting ready for the second annual televised cattle auction in September and now he and Lex are making noises about doing another one with the horses. I don’t know when they’ll find the time, but if you pitch in, maybe they can swing it.”

      Mercedes’s interest was more than piqued and she scooted excitedly to the edge of her seat. “That sounds great, Mother! And I’m surprised. I didn’t have any idea the ranch was getting that deeply into advertising and marketing. I thought it was still just ring up a buyer on the phone and they’d show up sooner or later with a few cattle trucks to haul off what they bought.”

      Geraldine chuckled. “Sorry, Mercedes, but the U.S. military aren’t the only ones to use high-tech devices. Your grandparents wouldn’t believe how far the Sandbur has come since their heyday.”

      “Hmm. It sounds interesting and challenging and it’s something I would love to do.” But would it mean she’d have to deal with Gabe on a fairly regular basis? That might be tricky. Still, she wasn’t a coward. If she had to deal with Gabe, she would.

      Geraldine’s grin was a bit wry. “Well, it wouldn’t be like gathering information for the military. But it would be a challenge, I grant you that. Think you want to tackle it?”

      Mercedes left her chair and sat on the floor next to her mother’s knees. “Of course I want to tackle it.” She reached for Geraldine’s hands and squeezed them tightly. “And I want to thank you for not trying to manufacture some sort of job for me just as a way to make me feel needed or useful. I—I couldn’t stand that.”

      Geraldine made a noise of disapproval. “Mercedes, you know I’m too direct to try to dance around or spin the issue. Lay things out as they really are—that’s the best way to handle a problem.”

      Her mother’s frankness when dealing with people had always been something Mercedes counted on and respected. Sometimes her brutal honesty hurt, but painful or not, it was usually right. Geraldine hadn’t been exactly on the mark when she’d accused Mercedes of wanting to stay in Diego Garcia as a way to avoid civilian life, but she’d been right that Mercedes had used her job to help push away personal disappointments.

      Sighing, she rested her cheek on her mother’s knee and gazed out at the front lawn of the ranch house.