After a few moments, his breathing calmed. He reminded himself of the most important detail of all. If he’d never been jilted at the altar to begin with, he wouldn’t be here, about to pick out a ring for Reese.
“Hudson Ross?”
He turned at the gravelly voice, one belonging to Paul Whitfield, the farmer who owned the wheat crop planted in his west hundred acres. He’d tried a few times to talk to the man since he took possession of the ranch, but Paul was sided with the folks who wanted to hunt on his land. Their conversations hadn’t gone too smoothly. Mostly, they stayed out of each other’s way.
“Mr. Whitfield.” He nodded, but didn’t reach to shake hands. “Your crop’s looking good this year.”
“If I can just keep those wild turkeys out of the field,” Paul muttered. “They’re a right nuisance, is what they are.”
Hudson stiffened, braced for an argument. “They’re not bothering your crop, Mr. Whitfield. You know they don’t bother what’s growing, only leftovers from last year.” Not to mention they ate a good deal of insects, but Hudson didn’t waste his breath adding that detail. After their last conversation, he did his homework. If Paul’s crop was seeing any beating, it wasn’t from wild turkeys.
“Take that hunting ban off your land, Mr. Ross. Let us take care of that there problem for good.”
Folding his arms over his chest, he stared down at Paul without blinking. Theuswas meant to be an intimidation technique to remind him just how many in town wanted to hunt his land, but Hudson wasn’t about to be bullied into any decision. “I’m not going to do that.” Even if he agreed to it, which he never would, hunting season for those turkeys wasn’t until the fall anyway. The urgency was the biggest annoyance of the whole thing.
Paul’s wrinkled face screwed up a few times as he pursed and unpursed his lips. “Then you’ll need to find someone else to lease that field next growing season. I’m not dealing with those wild creatures again. I don’t care what youthinkyou know, Mr. Ross. They’re hurting my crop.” His face was good and red, and he seemed ready to turn and stomp off, but first he pointed a stern finger at Hudson. “You better watch your back, Mr. Ross. Could be that I might sue you for it. Or worse.”
“I don’t take kindly to idle threats, Mr. Whitfield.”
Paul narrowed his eyes before he stormed off.
Hudson blew out a frustrated breath. He had enough on his plate, he didn’t need to deal with this too. He didn’t want to lose the farming lease. There weren’t many in the area who grew wheat. But if keeping the integrity of the ranch in check meant losing some income, he’d find another way to make it up. Maybe even take a closer look at boarding horses now that Reese had him thinking more about it.
A glance at his watch warned him he was low on time, but he wouldn’t get another opportunity. He hurried into the jewelry store, earlier anxiety forgotten. “I need to see engagement rings. Only the best ones.”
Chapter 14
Reese
Reese was sweaty, her hands and back ached, and she was super thirsty. But she was happier out here in the field learning how to mend fences than she’d ever been trapped inside an office cubicle. How had it taken her so long to realize that, all along, something wasn’t quite right with her life?
“Living room looks real good, Reese,” Jed said when awkward silence had gone on too long. Ever since they left town, Hudson had been tight-lipped. Stress poured off him in ripples, and she wished she knew why. Or at least, what she could do to make things better for him.
She’d never felt that way about anyone she dated, never yearned to fix the way they felt or had been so affected by their emotions as she was now. As if his strain were her own. She’d bet anything his sour mood had something to do with the errand he ran. Whatever emotional connection they seemed to share, it didn’t clue her in to that detail. “It did turn out pretty nicely, didn’t it?” she said to Jed, wiping away a bead of sweat from her forehead.
It was quite possible that for the first time in her life, Reese was in love with someone. In love with Hudson Ross.
“Are we out of water?” she asked Jed, already knowing the answer.
“I’ll run back to the house and grab some,” Jed said, hopping on the four-wheeler. “Want iced tea?”
“Not this time, thanks.” She preferred Hudson’s special brew to the store-bought brand, but she’d polished off the last of his before they headed out to mend fences. Maybe she could sweet-talk him into making another pitcher, and with any luck, a better mood.
“Talk to me, Hudson,” she said after Jed’s dust trail was all they could see of him. “What happened in town?”
Hudson wrangled a fence post, the muscles in his arm flexing hard enough to make her a bit dizzy. None of her old boyfriends had muscles likethat. “Nothing to talk about,” he said without making eye contact when he stepped back from the post.
“You’re a terrible liar.” When he still refused to look at her, she planted herself in his way and touched his arm. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.” He forced a smile, and she felt a sliver of tension lift. “Reese, you don’t have to worry about a thing, okay?” He leaned down, as if he might kiss her again—my, how she was addicted to his kisses—but the roar of an engine turned both their heads.
Ronnie pulled up alongside them in her oversized SUV and got out, waddling more than usual. “Don’t make any duck comments, or you’ll regret it,” she snapped. “Just ask Colten.”
Reese and Hudson shared an amused glance that softened the earlier tension even more. “You get lost?” Hudson asked her. “Thought that house was on the north side of town.”
“Came to deliver your tickets, ungrateful brother of mine.” She flashed him a sarcastic smile. “To the Rolling Range concert tonight.”
“Rolling Range?” Reese filled with instant excitement. The only reason she didn’t leap into Hudson’s arms—sweaty or not—was because Ronnie was standing there. “That’sthe country blues band that’s going to be in town tonight?”
