dining room was eerily empty, but there was a light from beneath the swinging doors that led to the kitchen area.
There was a sign on one of the doors: EMPLOYEES ONLY. She was an employee, even if she was here on a trial basis. A very hungry employee. Maybe there were some crackers or something she could munch on. That should hold her until morning.
But when she pushed through the double doors, she wished she’d stayed in her room. Brian sat on a stool at the long counter. He had a sandwich in front of him but it didn’t look as though he’d eaten any of it yet.
Something fluttered inside her chest and she knew it wasn’t hunger pains. The same feeling had happened earlier, when she’d first laid eyes on Brian. Not that anyone would blame her. He was a nice-looking man.
Before she could ease back out of the room, he looked up.
“Don’t go,” he said as though he’d read her thoughts and knew she was going to flee.
“I was hungry.” That sounded so lame.
“Me, too.” He stood and went to the cabinet, took down another plate. “Sit.”
She moved to one of the stools, keeping one between them.
“Do you like sandwiches?”
She nodded when he looked at her.
“Good, because that’s all I could find without having to heat anything up.”
“Right now I think I could eat a horse. I missed lunch and dinner.”
“I know.”
Of course he would. He probably knew everything that went on at the ranch.
He cut his sandwich in half, then slid one portion onto the empty plate and set it in front of her.
She took a bite. A steak couldn’t have tasted any better than the slice of ham. She barely restrained herself from cramming the whole sandwich into her mouth. Brian didn’t say anything until she’d almost finished the sandwich.
“Tell me about yourself,” he said.
“What do you want to know?” she hedged, picking at the crust on her bread. Then she took another bite of the sandwich. She didn’t want to answer questions. She hated questions.
“What was your last job?”
Okay, she could skirt around that one. “My last job was in a hair salon.”
“As a massage therapist?”
“Not exactly.”
He raised his eyebrows.
She shrugged. “There wasn’t an opening, so I worked as a receptionist.”
“I’ll need references.”
She cringed. She’d known it was coming. Just not this soon. “I was fired from my last job.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and saw his back stiffen. That didn’t bode well for her.
“Some money came up missing,” she hesitantly continued. “I didn’t take it, but I was the new employee and I made a good scapegoat. The charges were dropped because of lack of evidence. I doubt the owner will give me a reference.” She pushed her plate away, suddenly losing her appetite.
Brian tapped his fingers on the counter as though he was thinking about everything she’d said, then stood and took their plates to the sink.
“I really didn’t take it. The owner’s son did.” Which was the last thing she should’ve told Giselle. No mother wants to know her sixteen-year-old son is a thief. But Celeste had seen him shutting the cash register. He’d only looked at her with a snide grin on his face. Her sinking feeling had been a premonition of what was to happen next.
“You’d better get some sleep,” Brian said. “First day on a new job is usually stressful.”
She jerked her head up. “Then you’ll still give me a chance?”
Brian had to be losing his mind, but she looked pretty broke to have stolen money. And she looked innocent. Probably because she still had that sleepy look about her. Her blond hair hung down her back in a tumble of soft waves.
He still wasn’t sure she hadn’t lied about her age, though. Right now, he’d guess her to be closer to twenty than thirty. The way she was all tucked inside her heavy terry cloth robe reminded him of a little pixie. Sweet, adorable.
He cleared his throat and his mind. He wouldn’t get caught up in feeling sorry for her. “A trial basis is what I told you and I meant it.”
“Thank you.” She hurried from the room. Had her eyes sparkled because of unshed tears? Or the way the light had hit them?
He had to be crazy to keep her after her confession. He was usually a good judge of character, though, and she just didn’t look like a thief. He only hoped that he wasn’t making a huge mistake.
He turned off the light a few minutes later and walked out of the kitchen. He was tired all the way to his bones, but there had been things that still needed doing before he could go to bed. It seemed his days were getting longer and longer.
Cal was right: he needed a break, but he didn’t think he’d take his brother up on his offer to run the place so he could take a vacation.
He glanced down the hall and caught a glimpse of Celeste right before she turned the corner.
No, Brian had a feeling Cal had made more trouble when he’d hired the girl. There was something about her. Not that he thought she was a criminal, but then people became desperate when they needed money. No, there was something else about her. A feeling that she might be lost.
A completely ridiculous notion, of course. She’d found her way here, hadn’t she?
But as he made his way to his room and his bed, he had a gut feeling that he’d done the right thing by hiring her. He only hoped his gut was right.
Chapter 13
“Cock-a-do, cock-a-do!”
Nikki came straight up in the bed, groaning in pain when every muscle screamed out. Who would’ve thought she could ever be this sore. She was swearing off milk and butter for life. She flexed her back as she tried to get the kinks out.
What woke her, anyway?
“Cock-a-do, cock-a-do!”
“Good Lord!” She jumped.
What damned time was it? She blinked several times, then rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She stared at the illuminated dial on the wind-up clock. Five o’clock.
“Not again,” she moaned.
“Cock-a-do, cock-a-do!”
She eased back down and pulled the pillow over her head.
“Cock-a-do, cock-a-do!”
It didn’t help, and the bad thing was, the rooster now sounded like a man who’d gotten his balls caught in a vice that was rapidly getting tighter and tighter.
She flung the covers to the side and stomped out of the bedroom and out the front door and stood on the porch. It was damned chilly. The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon-
Awestruck, she just stared at the beauty of it all for a moment.
About fifteen seconds was all it took to realize she needed another three to four hours of deep, uninterrupted sleep.
“Cock-a-do, cock-a-”
