He glanced up and smiled.
Mercy. That smile of his could knock her for a loop.
Since when? Her practical side demanded.
Since always, her feminine side countered.
When she didn’t respond, that roguish smile died. “What?”
“Nothing. You just look so studious. I’m not used to it.”
Landon pushed to his feet and ran to Brandt, possessively wrapping his arm around Brandt’s thigh.
Jessie shook her head. “He’s really afraid I’m gonna take him away from you, isn’t he?”
“He’ll get used to you. I’m just the only familiar thing in his world right now.”
“How many times did you see him before his mother went to jail?”
He shrugged and continued looking at Landon. “I stopped by about twice a week. Sometimes Samantha needed a break from bein’ a single parent and I’d take him off her hands for a couple of hours.
Other times she just needed someone to talk to. Either way, I ended up hangin’ out with him.”
An unfamiliar, sharp pang arose. For the first time Jessie wondered if Brandt might’ve developed feelings for Landon’s mother.
“Jessie. Look at me.”
She met his gaze.
“You’re not doin’ anything wrong with him. Give him more than a day to get used to you.”
She was relieved Brandt hadn’t picked up on the real reason for her worry. Especially since she didn’t understand why it’d caused a spark of jealousy. “I’m going out to feed the horses and the llamas.”
“Do you need help?”
“Nah. I’m used to doing everything myself.”
A guilty look flashed in his eyes. “How are the llamas?”
“Lucy and Ethel are great. But they’d like male attention. They miss their mates. And their babies.”
Jessie hated selling her male llamas and Lucy and Ethel’s last babies. But they’d been raised specifically to work cattle and were easily bored and got into trouble if they didn’t have a herd to protect. A bored llama was a dangerous llama. Luckily Lucy and Ethel had half a dozen horses to run with, but they had escaped a few times, probably looking for intimate male companionship.
You’d like some intimate male companionship too.
What the hell was wrong with her today?
“Those baby llamas were awful cute,” Brandt said.
“Someday I’ll have babies, but not now. The timing is all wrong.”
Brandt frowned.
“I’ll be back in a bit.”
Jessie slipped on her coveralls, her ratty old Carhartt coat, her leather gloves, and her ridiculous looking, but very warm, Elmer Fudd hat. She tugged on the waterproof work boots, whistled for Lexie and was out the door.
I’m used to doing everything myself.
It wasn’t a shot at him, but Brandt still felt guilty. In the six months before Luke died, he’d passed a lot of his ranch responsibilities to Jessie. Jessie already had her hands full taking care of the horses, Luke expected she’d learn every aspect of being a ranch wife and worked her to the bone.
Which was why Brandt, Tell and Dalton had become so enraged when his father kicked Jessie out of the home she and Luke shared. After Jessie turned down Brandt’s offer to live in his house, which he owned free and clear, he’d scrambled to find Jessie a place where she could bring her horses and llamas. It pained him to think she’d still had to give up some of them up.
When he didn’t feel Landon clinging to his leg, he glanced at the boy standing by the door. The kid only cared about the dog, and running free outside as he chased the dog, so maybe fresh air would do him good. “Wanna go outside and see the llamas?”
Landon just stared at him.
“It’d be nice if you could talk. Or at least try to talk.”
But when Brandt grabbed his coat off the peg, Landon seemed to grasp Brandt’s intention. He didn’t fuss at all when Brandt bundled him up. But his winter wear options were sorely lacking and the kid needed snow boots and snow pants.
No snow covered the ground today, although it was cold and the wind blew like a bitch. He blocked the worst of the wind from Landon’s face as he carried him to the fence.
Jessie was in the pasture with the llamas. They were intent on whatever she was talking to them about, until they noticed Brandt and Landon.
Given the way Landon was scared of everything, it surprised him that the boy reached over the fence to touch the animals. “Whoa, buddy, wait a second. Let’s make sure it’s okay.” Brandt looked at Jessie.
She said, “As long as you hold him, it should be all right.” She spoke to the llamas in a lilting tone, and Brandt had a moment of jealousy. What would it be like to have Jessie murmuring to him like that?
Pure heaven.
Landon shrieked, “Goggie!” and Lexie bounded away, her doggie body language said, Ha ha, you can’t catch me now, sucker.
Brandt laughed. For some reason Brandt’s laughter made Landon giggle.
Jessie grinned. “This is much better than earlier today.”
“No doubt.”
She wrapped her arm around a llama’s neck and urged her closer. “This is Lucy. She is far too curious for her own good.” She looked at Landon and held out her hand, palm up.
He blinked at her and frowned. But he watched her.
She reached in her pocket and pulled out a chunk of carrot. She opened her palm, put the carrot in the center and held it out to Lucy.
Lucy sniffed and lowered her head over the carrot, bringing it into her mouth.
“See? You wanna feed Ethel? You’ve gotta do the same thing. Just like this.” She explained the whole process again. Landon held his hand out, exactly the way Jessie instructed.
Brandt was blown away by her patience, showing Landon every step, speaking to him softly, but not in a baby-talk voice.
When Ethel gobbled the carrot chunk from Landon’s hand, he shrieked with happiness.
Both he and Jessie winced. “We’ve gotta find a better way for him to communicate.”
“Agreed. I’m almost finished.”
“With all the animals?”
“No, just the llamas. See? Here come the horses.”
The six horses trotted in from the pasture, tossing their manes, as if eating the hay Jessie had spread out was of no consequence. That if they truly wanted something better, they could’ve gotten it themselves.
Temperamental damn things. He preferred cows. They ate. They bred. They calved. They either went through the cycle again or went away. Simple.