Accidental Agent (River's End Ranch Book 3) Read online

  Accidental Agent

  River’s End Ranch Book Three

  by Amelia C. Adams

  My thanks to my partners in crime on this project—Kirsten Osbourne, Pamela Kelley, Caroline Lee, and Cindy Caldwell. You’re all outstanding women—thanks for inviting me to play!

  I’d also like to thank my beta readers—Erin, Jeene, Mary, Meisje, Nancy, and Renee. Thanks for your support!

  Table of Contents:

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sneak Peak of Whitewater Wooing

  Chapter One

  When the bell over the door at Kelsey’s Kafé jingled, Liz looked up from the Formica table she was wiping. The family she’d served just a few moments ago had been cute, but the two toddlers had thrown more food than they’d eaten. She’d probably be finding bits of hamburger under the benches for days.

  The customer who’d just entered might help take her mind off that, though. He was tall and good-looking, dark-haired—as all really good-looking men are—and dressed well. He glanced around as though he’d never seen a diner before and didn’t know how to act inside one.

  “Welcome to Kelsey’s,” Liz greeted him, tossing her rag into the bucket of bleach water she’d placed on the bench nearest the mess. “Where would you like to sit?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. Anywhere, I guess.”

  “How about over here? You really can’t beat this view of the mountains.” She led him over to one of her favorite tables, the one closest to the huge front window.

  “Yeah, this’ll be fine.” He sat down, and she handed him a menu.

  “Take a minute to look this over, and I’ll be back. In the meantime, what can I get you to drink?”

  “Coke?”

  “Sure. Be right back.”

  Liz stepped into the kitchen and washed her hands, then dispensed a Coke from the machine on the wall. As she set it down in front of her customer, she asked, “What else can I get you?”

  “Oh, I guess I’ll have a cheeseburger and fries.” He handed her the menu. She was about to head back to the kitchen, but instead, she studied him for a moment.

  “You don’t sound very excited about your order.”

  He shrugged. “Same old, same old. I get the same thing wherever I go.”

  She shook her head. “Well, that’s no fun. Why do you do that?”

  “Less risk. I know what I’m getting.”

  “But . . . but that’s so boring. Do you trust me?”

  He looked up at her with eyes of blue. “Excuse me?”

  “Do you trust me? Do you believe that I know this menu very well, and that I can bring you something the likes of which you’ve never tasted before and might not ever taste again?”

  “Uh . . . sure, I guess.”

  She flashed him a grin. “Don’t worry—I won’t poison you. Back in a minute.”

  As she headed toward the kitchen, she yelled, “Western Wonder.”

  “Western Wonder,” Bob, their new cook, hollered back.

  Liz pulled out a tray and set a bottle of ketchup on it, then threw some fries into hot oil. While she waited for them to crisp up, she also cooked an onion ring, which she tossed to Bob as soon as it was done. He layered it on top of a nice lean quarter-pound hamburger patty smothered with cheddar cheese, four strips of bacon, and cheese sauce. He drizzled barbecue sauce over that, and topped it with sautéed onions. This was one of the new items he’d added to the Kelsey’s Kafé menu, and it was Liz’s favorite by far.

  When everything was assembled, Liz loaded her tray and carried it out, where she set it in front of her customer with a flourish. “Here you go—our new Western Wonder barbecue bacon cheeseburger and chili fries.”

  He looked down at his plate suspiciously. “It looks like a heart attack waiting to happen.”

  Liz put one hand on her hip. “Come on now—all I did was take your order and give it some life. It’s not like I talked you out of a spinach salad or something.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He didn’t look all that convinced, though.

  “Well, I tell you what. I’ll be right over there bussing that table. If you decide you really hate it, I’ll bring you whatever you want, on the house. And by ‘whatever you want,’ I mean ‘within reason,’ and when I say ‘on the house,’ I mean, ‘out of my paycheck,’ which is why I mean ‘within reason.’”

  He cracked a smile, the first sign of emotion she’d seen from him. Good. Now they were getting somewhere.

  “Just holler if you need me.”

  Liz went back to work, wiping dried ketchup off the table. If this had been left to sit another five minutes, she’d be heading for a razor blade to scrape it up.

  Everything was set back to rights and she’d put away her cleaning supplies when her handsome customer lifted his hand. She made her way back across the room and smiled as she approached his table. “Well, I see that your plate’s empty.”

  “I was skeptical, but that might have been the best burger I’ve ever tasted. What was in that barbecue sauce?”

  Liz shook her head. “Bob never reveals his secrets. He comes in first thing in the morning and mixes up his concoction before any of the rest of us are here. In fact, I’ve heard it rumored that he grinds the spices under the light of the full moon.”

  “Is that so?” His lips twitched into a smile. He really did have a nice smile. Even if he had barbecue sauce on his upper lip.

  “It’s very much so. Can I get you anything else?”

  He looked out the window, and for a moment, Liz wondered if he’d heard her. Then he seemed to snap out of it. “I’m new in the area, and I need some advice on where to stay and what to do while I’m here.”

  Liz motioned at the bench across from him. “Do you mind if I sit down?”

  “No, of course not. Please do.”

  She slid onto the bench. She and the other waitresses weren’t usually encouraged to hang out with the customers like that, but she knew she’d be excused because she was giving him advice on the best places to eat and do stuff, and of course she’d be recommending that he stay and play at River’s End Ranch. Kelsi, her boss, would be over the moon if Liz managed to get this guy to spend money at more ranch locations than just the diner.

  “My name’s Liz,” she said, knowing he could read her name tag perfectly well, but always preferring the friendliness of an introduction.

  “Jack,” he replied.

  “Well, Jack, where are you from?”

  “California,” he replied. She waited for him to expound on that illuminating comment, but he didn’t, so she went on.

  “And what do you do?”

  “You mean, for a living?”

  “Um, yes, that’s what I meant.”

  “I . . . don’t really know right now.”

  Oh, dear. That didn’t sound hopeful for the ranch’s bottom dollar. “You said you’re new to the area—are you moving here or just passing through?”

  “I don’t really know that, either.”

  Liz held back a sigh. Why did all the really good-looking men have to be the shiftless ones? “It sounds like you’ll
need a place to stay. We have some nice guest rooms here, or you can drive into Riston. There’s a Motel 8 there.” Hopefully that gave his wallet some options.

  He nodded. “What else is here on the ranch?”

  Liz shrugged. “What isn’t on the ranch? We’re like a whole little universe all by ourselves. We have horseback riding, whitewater rafting, rock climbing, a general store, a restaurant in addition to this café—we even have a spa. You know, you look kind of tense—a massage might be good for you. I get one pretty regularly.” And I’m not nearly as uptight as you are, she thought, but didn’t say.

  “I don’t know.”

  This one was a big talker, wasn’t he? “I tell you what. Go up to the bunkhouse and get a room, and they’ll give you a brochure with everything we offer. You can pick and choose from there.”

  “Okay, thanks. I think I will.” He rose and tossed a bill on the table. “Keep the change,” he said as he walked away.

  Liz picked it up, thinking it was a twenty. His meal had come to nine dollars and twenty-four cents, so a twenty would be a nice little tip, but then she blinked and looked again. He’d given her a fifty. That had to be a mistake—who runs around Idaho giving fifty-dollar bills to waitresses?—but he had left quickly, and she needed to get back to work. She’d pocket the change and then go over to the bunkhouse later and see if she could find him to give it back. Maybe he wasn’t as shiftless as she first thought.

  ***

  Jack climbed the stairs to the long porch that circled around the bunkhouse at River’s End Ranch. He didn’t know what had brought him here, just that he badly needed to get away. His boss had put him on leave, and rightly so—he needed time to clear his head, to figure out what he wanted to do next. Those were answers he wasn’t going to get overnight.

  He stepped into the building and walked over to the reception desk. A young woman with curly red hair greeted him, welcoming him to the ranch.

  “My name is Gwen, and I’ll be more than happy to coordinate your stay,” she told him. “How long would you like to be here with us?”

  “I don’t know,” Jack replied. “Can we start with three days and go from there?”

  “Of course. I have a great guest room available alongside the balcony—the view can’t be beat—and if you decide you’d like to extend your stay, just let me know. Here’s a brochure that tells you about all the activities and services we offer, and if there’s something you need but you don’t see it here, just ask, and we’ll see what we can do.”

  Jack glanced down at his slacks, button-down shirt, and tie. “I think I need some clothes that are a little better fit for a ranch.”

  “We have a clothing section in our general store,” Gwen told him. “The selection isn’t super extensive because really, how could we carry everything, but you should be able to get what you need.” She opened the brochure and showed him a map of where to find the general store, then pointed out other areas of interest on the property.

  “Thanks, Gwen,” Jack said. “You’ve been a lot of help.” He handed her his credit card to reserve the room, then decided to head straight over to the general store. He didn’t have any luggage with him, so there was nothing to carry up to his room, and he might as well get the shopping over and done with—he hated shopping.

  The general store was something else. When he walked in, he saw barrels of old-fashioned candy, bolts of fabric, and big sacks of flour—did these people really think that tourists wanted to buy fifty pounds of flour as a souvenir of their trip? But as he walked farther inside, he saw that the old-fashioned stuff was like window dressing, and all the good stuff was just beyond it.

  “Can I help you?”

  He turned and saw a cute girl with dark hair pulled into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. “I need some jeans,” he told her.

  “Not a problem. Right over here.”

  Gwen had been right—the store didn’t carry a huge variety of men’s clothing, but they had everything he needed. He ended up with two pair of jeans, two T-shirts, two plaid shirts to go over the T-shirts because that seemed to be the thing, a pair of sneakers, some socks, and some underwear. He also found a toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, razor, and shaving cream—everything that he’d left behind when he got in his car and started driving blindly to the north. He still had no idea how he’d ended up in Idaho, but this was as good a place as any to hide out for a while.

  At the register, he saw some cloth shopping bags for a dollar, and he decided to grab a couple. They weren’t exactly luggage, but they were a far sight better than what he had, which was nothing.

  The dark-haired girl—her name tag read “Heidi”—rang up his purchases, put everything in his shopping bags, and didn’t ask him any questions. He appreciated that. He didn’t imagine too many people came in and bought all new clothes from the skin out, and he figured the logical conclusion would be that he’d lost his luggage, but she didn’t say a word. She just swiped his card, gave him a receipt, handed him a coupon for 10% off any entrée at the restaurant, and wished him luck.

  Luck. He wasn’t so sure he believed in luck.

  Chapter Two

  Things at the diner the next day were pretty standard—a slow start at breakfast, since it wasn’t really their peak season, but it picked up. Liz was only scheduled until ten. She headed to the back and was about to take off her pink-and-white apron, but Kelsi called out to her. “Hey, Liz? Our new hire called in sick. Can you help with lunch and closing?”

  Liz held back a sigh. It wasn’t like she had any big parties to go to or anything, but she had been looking forward to some time on her laptop that afternoon and evening. Her book’s next chapter was just begging to be written, and maybe, just maybe, she’d decided to add a mysterious dark-haired stranger to her cast of characters. But they were having a hard time finding someone to fill Jess’s shoes since she’d gotten married and started working with her new husband at the vet clinic. “Sure,” she called back. “What’s she got? Food poisoning? I know she ate some of Bob’s meatloaf yesterday.”

  Bob turned from his spot at the grill and shook his spatula at her. “Not funny. Not funny at all.”

  “Particularly not funny if a customer overheard you say that,” Kelsi gently reminded her.

  “Sorry.” Liz grimaced and checked her apron pocket to make sure she still had an order pad and pen. She always cleaned out her pockets at the end of a shift, but since she wasn’t going anywhere because she had no life, she’d better make sure she had the tools of her trade.

  Her temporary trade.

  Her mother was convinced that she was going to be a New York Times bestselling author someday. She’d be happy just to land a contract, but she’d happened upon an online chatroom for authors and made good friends with the other ladies in there—May and Kaya, in particular—and they’d been coaching her through the crazy nonsense that was involved in the world of publishing. Just writing an awesome book wasn’t enough, apparently.

  A couple of new customers came in just then, and she went out to take their orders. A moment later, her friend Joni arrived, a little bit breathless. “Sorry I’m late,” she said as she tied on her apron.

  “Was there a traffic jam in front of the blacksmith shop or something?” Liz teased her. Joni was habitually five minutes late for every shift, but she was a good waitress and she always had an entertaining excuse, so Kelsi overlooked it.

  “No, I ran out of hot water.”

  Liz blinked. “That’s it? Just no hot water? Come on—what about a muscled Italian jewel thief who held you hostage until he could escape with a million dollars’ worth of diamonds or something like that?”

  Joni shrugged. “You’re the writer. I just ran out of hot water.”

  “You’re killing me.” Liz placed a ham and cheese, a tuna melt, and a cheeseburger on her tray and delivered it to her table, along with plenty of hot fries and ketchup, then returned to the kitchen. “I forgot to tell you. I know who did it.”

&n
bsp; Joni whirled around from the handwashing sink, suds dripping from her hands onto the floor. “You do? Who?”

  “I’m not going to tell you. That would ruin the whole thing. But you’ll love it. You really will.”

  Joni was always Liz’s first reader. She wasn’t the best at grammar and punctuation, but she was awesome at catching plot holes, and that’s what Liz needed most at this stage. They’d worked over eight books together . . . eight books that still didn’t have a publisher . . . but Liz couldn’t focus on that. She had to stay positive.

  Once all the napkin dispensers had been filled and the salt and pepper shakers were checked, it was time for the lunch rush. Not only were they feeding the guests of the ranch, but some of the residents of nearby Riston as well.

  Liz sensed him before she saw him, and when she turned to look, sure enough, there was Jack. She walked over to him with a broad smile. “You’re back.”

  “I am. Mind if I eat here twice in one week?”

  “Of course I don’t.” She looked him up and down. “Now that’s what I call someone who’s on vacation. In that tie you were wearing yesterday, you looked like you were getting ready for the gallows.”

  “Maybe I was.” He tugged self-consciously at the collar of his T-shirt like he wasn’t used to wearing one. “What else is good here?”

  “Well, everything, of course. What are you in the mood for?”

  Liz got him settled into a booth with a Coke while he studied the menu, and she took an order for another table in the meantime. When she came back, Jack handed her the menu with a smile. “I’ll have the chicken and dumplings.”

  “Going out on a limb, are you?”

  “What can I say—I walk on the wild side. It was a tossup between that and the lasagna, though.”

  “They’re both really good. You can’t go wrong with either.” Liz made a note on her pad. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  She entered the kitchen and started preparing a tray. Joni entered the kitchen right behind her and grabbed her arm. “Who’s that awesomely good-looking man out there? You were talking to him like you know him.”