Brazen (Brazen #1)(16)

She got her camera bag then tugged on a pair of jeans and hiking boots that were more suited for the terrain than her shorts and flip-flops. She hurried back downstairs to find Seth waiting for her at the garage door.

“You ready?”

She smiled and nodded, a surge of excitement rushing through her veins at the idea of spending the day with him.

They climbed into his four-wheel-drive truck and headed down one of the many dirt roads that crisscrossed the ranch property.

The land was beautiful and barren. Dry. Rocky. Few trees dotted the dusty landscape, but there was plenty of scrub brush and cactus.

Sweetwater Creek was barely a trickle when they forged the nearly dry bank. After a rain, water would often overflow the banks and run angry and swollen for a few days before rapidly dissipating.

Ahead, jackrabbits, as well as a few cottontails spooked by the truck, darted back and forth over the road. As Jasmine gazed out her window, she saw a small herd of Black Bucks meandering among the brush.

She turned to Seth. “We have more now?”

He smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I’d say one or two more got out of Lark’s fence this past fall. They’ve been breeding, and now we have a small population.”

“You don’t allow them to be hunted do you?”

Seth shook his head. “No. We leave them be. We’ve never had the desire to get into exotics, and I don’t aim to start now.”

Jasmine smiled. “I bet old man Lark was fit to be tied when he lost more of his herd to us.”

Seth grinned back at her. It was the first time he’d looked truly relaxed around her since she’d gotten back home. “He wanted to come over with a tranquilizer gun, dart them and haul them back. I told him if I caught his ass on our property, I’d fill his hide full of lead.”

Jasmine chuckled. Lark was an obstinate, pompous ass of the first order. His idea of hunting was to lead an animal blindfolded and hobbled in front of a deer stand and let the hunter blast away.

“What are you meeting Brad for?” she asked.

“I’m planting the north one hundred. Getting his advice on layout and food types. We’ve managed to keep our herd healthy and disease free, and I credit him with a lot of that.”

“Are you booked for this fall?”

“Nearly,” he said. “We have a few weeks open in the late season, but I expect they’ll fill up closer to hunting season.”

“Oh, look!” she exclaimed. “Stop, will you?”

Seth slammed on the brakes, fishtailing the truck as he ground to a halt. Jasmine pointed to a hilltop about a hundred yards away.

“Is that him?” she whispered. “Is that Old Man?”

Not waiting for an answer, she yanked her camera out and rolled down her window. She focused in on the deer and took a series of shots.

“Looks like him,” Seth murmured. “If it’s not, it might be one of his offspring. I’m hoping it’s the latter. We could use more like him running around.”

She zoomed in on the rack. Covered in velvet, the antlers probably had at least a twenty-two inch spread, and she counted at least fourteen points.

“He’s beautiful.”

She sighed in disappointment when the deer turned and disappeared over the hill. Seth pulled forward again and continued down the road.

A few minutes later, they passed through a bump gate, and Jasmine saw a truck parked on the side of the road several yards up. Brad was leaning against the grill, and when he saw them, he straightened and waved.

Seth pulled up behind Brad and parked. When Jasmine got out of the truck, Brad looked curiously at her for a moment before recognition flashed across his face.

“Jasmine Quinn! Lord have mercy, girl. You sure have grown up.”

She walked forward self-consciously only to find herself yanked against a hard chest as Brad enfolded her into a huge hug.

Jasmine peeked over at Seth to see him scowling. Brad pushed her back and surveyed her from head to toe.

“When did you get back?”

She smiled at his infectious grin. Who wouldn’t fall victim to his good old boy charm? Warm brown eyes peered at her from underneath the brim of his Stetson. She let her gaze filter downward over his form-fitting jeans and scuffed work boots.

“Day before yesterday,” she said.

“If you’re free one night soon, I’d love to take you for a beer. You can tell me all about g*y Paree and civilized culture.”

She giggled at his exaggeration. “I’d love to. Just give me a holler. I don’t have any plans.”

Seth’s scowl deepened, which only made Jasmine’s smile grow wider.

“Can we get to the matter at hand?” Seth asked pointedly.

“Oh, sure,” Brad said, as if he’d forgotten Seth was standing there. “Show me what you had in mind for the plots, and we can discuss your planting options.”

Jasmine let them walk away, and she opted to wander in the opposite direction, camera in hand. Her boots scratched across the parched ground. In the distance, dust swirled and skittered as the wind kicked up.

She took a few random landscape shots as she simply reveled in the joy of being home. The sun warmed her to her bones, and she enjoyed the heat scraping across her cheeks.

She climbed up a slight rise and gazed down at the winding creek bank that carved through the layers of rock and soil. Two hawks circled high overhead, dipping then soaring higher.