Five

With a sigh of satisfaction Kara walked among the corrals filled with all kinds of livestock.  The steers she had put up for sale had brought in a good price and she was walking around, looking for ideas to minimize her costs and hours of input.  She had managed the timeline she had set for herself with the drive despite being shorthanded, but she was under no confusion that she could not keep up the pace indefinitely. 

She had to find solutions to make her life easier.

She came upon a demonstration for cattle dogs and she watched with interest.  The dog was so efficient that she wondered if he could help her with the drives, maybe even speed it up a little, not to mention the general work with cattle.  After a while she put up her name for a demonstration on her own ranch and then walked on to see what else she could find, even while her mind wandered. 

She had been on the ranch six weeks now and the work just seemed to keep adding up and she had the feeling of falling further behind.  She just could not manage to get everything done that she deemed needed; she would have to think about hiring more men.  But first she had to sit down and figure out her Grandad’s accounting system to see how much funds she had to her disposal. 

She would have to automate some things or at the very least get more hands, but she had still not managed to figure out her grandfather’s filing and bookkeeping system.  That was probably the next thing she had to set to work on; she could not keep going if she did not know what she had to work with.

But to this point she had kept his office door tightly closed against the sight of papers piled high on the desk and any other horizontal space, which included the floor.  Obviously paperwork had not been high on her grandfather’s list of things that needed to be seen to, but she knew it was an important part of keeping this farm running effortlessly.

But it was a mountain that she was not sure she could face just yet.

She would have to figure out a way to let things run more smoothly.  She would speak to Brad on Monday about the bookkeeping; she would never have enough time to get to that too – at least not at this point.  She was sure it would take weeks, maybe months to organize everything and get to the bottom of the system.

Kara was so deep in thought that she did not see the large figure stepping in front of her and she walked into him so hard that she was toppled over backwards.  She gave an involuntary gasp while her arms flailed to catch herself.  The man managed to catch her before she hit the ground and she mumbled an apology before she glanced up and into the smiling face of Matthew Connor.

Instantly she felt the anger in her rise once more and she tried to pluck her hand from his the moment she had her footing.  But he held on.  “Nice to see you again, Miss Daniels.  How is the ranch life treating you?”  He asked with glee when he saw her face flush with anger.

Why did he have this effect on her?  He had barely greeted her; quite civilly and she was already annoyed.  Was it because she knew that he remembered her moment of impulsiveness with obvious clarity?  Or was it her simple annoyance with knowing that he had seen her naked before they had met?

“Hello, Mr. Connor.  Played peeping tom, lately?”  She asked coolly.  She knew she was being unfair, he had been friendly now, but she could not help herself.  There was just something about him that rubbed her the wrong way.

He chuckled with amusement while he held her gaze and her hand.  “Now, Miss Daniels, I did not choose to see what you showed me so freely that day at the river.”  He teased and watched as the anger rose in her green eyes so it seemed that the golden shards would impale him.  A crooked smile played on his features when he saw her face flush with her anger.  It seemed as if he enjoyed her temper more than she enjoyed having him raise it by simply appearing.

“What were you doing on my land?  If I remember correctly trespassing is still a crime.”  She said, the anger lowering her voice.  Kara tried her very best to keep her trembling voice under control.  She hated the way the trembling always made her sound like she was about to cry.

He laughed as if she had just told him a joke.  “Well, I’m sure it is, but I wasn’t trespassing.  That river forms the border between our ranches and you were the one who was so reckless without checking to see if there were any spectators.”

“A gentleman would have warned me of his presence before I had stripped down completely.”

“A lady would not have stripped down completely when there was a chance of being seen and I never said I was a gentleman.”

Clearly she had nothing on him, at least not yet, so she had to settle for a request on his honor.  “I would appreciate it if you could keep it between us, Mr. Connor.”  Kara spoke through her clenched teeth while she kept tugging unsuccessfully at the hand he still held.  How dare he?  “I trust you have enough honor to do such a thing, even with the little you do possess.”  She hated sounding like a fool, but she really could not think of a snide remark.  He made her sound like a schoolgirl and she hated that feeling.

He chuckled again at her intended insult and fell into step beside her as she started to walk away when he finally released her hand.  “What do you want?”  She demanded while she smiled at the people who greeted her friendlily.  She had met a few more people after the party, though she had not yet had a chance to be socially active and people seemed to understand that better than she had expected.

“I want to show you something.  Come to my place this evening on your way home.”

“And what would that something be?”  She asked, stopped and turned to face him with her hands on her hips, hoping that she had managed to control the emotions that always showed so easily on her face.

“Wait and you will see.”  He grinned and he touched his forefinger to her nose as if he were talking to a child and then turned and left her standing there with impotent anger.  How dare he?  Again he had managed to make her feel and probably look like a child he was teasing.  Well she refused to go.  She would not give him the pleasure!

Raising her chin slightly, she stared after him with a look that would have killed.  She had the impulse to stomp her foot before walking away, but she stopped it just in time.  Taking a deep breath to cool her hot anger, she turned and walked in the opposite direction he had gone.