“Lottie insists on growing our fruit and vegetables. The ranch hands are required to take turns working in the orchard and garden.”
“Does Lottie cook for the ranch hands too?”
“Goodness, no,” Jake chuckled. “She would quit on me if I asked her to do that. I have an ornery old codger named Hank who fixes the meals for the ranch hands and manages the bunk house. He’s pretty good at keeping the hands out of trouble while they’re here on the ranch.”
Emily’s heart gave an odd little flutter at the affection in Jake’s voice as he spoke of Hank. She reminded herself he’d been sidled up to a pretty redhead not long ago. Time to change the subject.
“Lottie’s a gem. I hope you realize how lucky you are to have her.” Emily liked the no-nonsense, sometimes sassy, housekeeper. Her cooking was amazing. Emily wished she had more of an appetite lately. She took another bite of the chocolate mousse cheesecake Jake had gotten her.Mmm... It was delicious,butshe’d probably have to let Jake finish it.
“She is amazing. She’s been like a second mother to me. I think she is the reason my mother felt comfortable leaving the ranch to go stay with my Aunt Charity after Uncle Richard passed away. She knew I would be taken care of.”
Emily gave him a teasing grin. “Most people learn to take care of themselves.”
“We had this discussion last night, remember? Icantake care of myself, but not as good as Lottie can.” He gave her a heart-stopping grin, and wild horses raced through her stomach.
Jake continued to talk about the cattle and crops they raised. The number of calves born each spring and the amount of cattle Jake sold and shipped across the U.S. every year astounded Emily. This was a much larger operation than she’d originally guessed.
“When you say you put the cattle out on the range, do you mean on government rangeland?” Emily asked.
“No. We keep all of our cattle on our own land, which means we maintain miles and miles of fence line.”
“How much land do you own?”
“About forty thousand acres.”
Emily whistled. “Wow.”
Despite having ranch hands to help, Jake must be extremely busy. Guilt swept over her for imposing on him. She sensed that because she was here, Jake wasn’t doing near the work he usually did.
Jake continued to share information about the ranch. He motioned toward the gently rolling hills to the left. “That’s where the cattle graze for the summer.”
Emily looked where he pointed, spotting black blobs on the low, green hillsides. “I’m surprised they’re so green, considering this area of Washington is a desert.”
Jake pointed further north. “A tributary of the Snake River crosses our land, and we’ve dug a series of ditches across portions of the land to make good use of the water. We’ve also dug two additional wells to ensure the cattle have plenty of grass for grazing.” Then he pointed in the opposite direction. “Over there we raise the hay we need to feed the animals during the winter.”
Raising the binoculars, Emily studied a series of green circles, each with a silver pivot line. One field had a striped pattern in light and dark green hues.
“Why is that field striped?”
“I cut the alfalfa there today. And I baled the one to the right of that last night.”
Emily’s brow furrowed. “You made me hot cocoa last night.”
“After you went to bed, I went out and baled.”
“That was after midnight. Did I keep you from your work? Couldn’t it have waited until morning?”
“We always bale at night. We have to do it while the dew is on the hay to help hold the bales together.”
She noticed he didn’t comment on her keeping him from his work.
“And how long did you bale?”
“Until almost dawn.”
According to Faith, Jake usually got up with the sun. “Did you get any sleep at all last night?”
Jake shrugged as he looked away. “I slept on the couch for an hour or two this morning.”
