Cowboys Heart of Stone

Brock was gone by the time the boys woke up and sent the women who spent the night with them on their way.

They still had their chores to do, so after finishing off the coffee and a loaf of bread that they made toast with, they left, leaving the place in a mess.

When lunch rolled around, they rode into town on their horses to grab a bite to eat at the local diner. The three of them walked in and sat at the booth next to the counter and stools.

Lee noticed a young woman sitting by herself on a stool. “Hey guys, check out the hot babe,” he said, pointing in her direction.

The other two checked her out. She had long brown hair, a petite figure, and was wearing jeans and a white blouse.

“I haven’t seen her around here before. I wonder if she’s new or just passing by?” Cody asked, looking her over. “Maybe I ought to go over and introduce myself.”

Rory and Lee both laughed. “Forget it, man, she’s way out of your league,” they both said at the same time.

When Sally, the waitress, came over to take their order, Cody smiled at her. “Hey doll, who’s the girl over there?”

“She says her name is Zadie. She’s asking the boss if there are any jobs available. Poor thing, her car broke down, and she has no money to fix it. She’s looking for work and a place to stay. Now, what do you boys want to eat?”

After placing their order, they noticed the woman at the counter was just drinking coffee. “Sally, get the woman the lunch special, and we’ll pay for it,” Cody said, looking at his brothers. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Yeah, well, like I said, she’s way out of our league,” Rory answered, looking back at Cody.

“No, you idiots. Brock told us to hire a housekeeper, and she’s looking for a job. I say we offer her the job. Just look at her man, she’s gorgeous.”

“What if she’s a lousy housekeeper and can’t cook?” Lee asked, glancing over at her. “But with a body like that, who cares?”

Rory shook his head. “Have you forgotten about Brock? If we hire someone who can’t cook or clean, he’ll kill us.”

He looked over at the young woman. He saw her wiping a tear from her eyes and felt bad that she was so sad. “I guess we can deal with him later. Let’s ask her after she’s eaten.”

Just then, their lunch was delivered and so was hers.

She looked up at the waitress and shook her head. “I didn’t order this, and I don’t have any money.”

“That’s okay, honey, those boys over there bought it for you,” Sally said, nodding her head toward the three brothers.

Zadie turned her head in the direction that the woman pointed. If she wasn’t so hungry, she would have refused it, being that they were strangers. “Thank you so much,” she said just loud enough for them to hear.

Rory got up and went over to her. “Why don’t you come and join us. You don’t have to worry about us; my brothers and I are harmless.”

She looked over at the other two—something was telling her that they were harmless, and since they had bought her the lunch special, she thought it would be the polite thing to do. “Okay, I guess I could do that.”

He picked up her plate and coffee cup and carried them back to his table. When she sat down, he did too. “My name is Rory Wagner, this here is Lee and Cody.”

“You’re all brothers? But you look to be the same age.”

“We’re triplets.”

“Oh, how nice. I’m Zadie Porter. Thank you so much for the lunch. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

“Sally tells us that you’re looking for a job?”

She looked at the one who called himself Rory. “I am. My car broke down, and I have no money to get it fixed. I thought if I could find a job here in town, I could save up enough to get it repaired.”

“Do you know how to cook and clean?”

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“Well, we’re looking for someone to cook and clean for us. We own a cattle ranch, and we’re always so busy we don’t have time to do any of that.

“So since we’re looking for a housekeeper and you’re looking for a job, it would help all of us out.”

She looked at each one of the brothers while she ate her lunch. “I don’t know. I don’t know you guys, and if you think that I’m going to sleep with you, let me tell you right now, that’s not going to happen.”

“Oh my god, no, that’s not what we’re after at all. I give you my word that there won’t be any of that going on. Besides, all of us have girlfriends.”

Looking at these guys, she knew they were being sincere, and she liked them. They were young and sweet. “Okay, I guess we can give it a try. Do you know of a place where I can stay and if they will wait until I get money to pay?”

“You can stay at our place. You can have your own bedroom upstairs, and it even has its own bathroom.”

Cody and Lee turned their heads sharply to look at Rory but didn’t say anything.

“Are you sure? I mean, that would be perfect. And it won’t be forever, just until I make enough money to pay for my car to be fixed.”

“We’re sure.” He looked over at his two brothers. “Aren’t we guys?”

They both nodded their heads.

“That’s great, we can give you a ride back to our place,”

“I’ll have to get my things from my car, it’s over at the garage.”

“Rory, we rode in on our horses, or have you forgotten?” Lee asked, feeling a little nervous about what Brock would say when he found out.

“Oh yeah, I never thought about that,” Rory looked back at Zadie. “I’ll go with you over to the garage and see if Carl will drive you to our place. He’s a nice guy, and since he will be working on your car, I’m sure he won’t mind.”

They all ended up walking over with her to the garage. “Hey Carl, could you do us a favor and drive this little lady over to our place?”

He raised a suspicious eyebrow. “Your place?”

“Yes, our place, she’s agreed to be our housekeeper to earn money to pay for the work you will be doing on her vehicle. She needed a job, and we needed a housekeeper.”

Carl looked at each one of the brothers with a big grin on his face. Somehow, he knew that Brock didn’t know anything about this.

He’d give anything to see the look on Brock’s face when he came home and found a beautiful woman cooking and cleaning his home. “It’ll be my pleasure, ma’am.”

After the brothers put her luggage into Carl’s car, they got on their horses and rode home.

“Brock is not going to like this,” Lee said when they got off their horses.

Rory just laughed. “Hey, he’s the one that told us to hire a housekeeper and a cook.”

“I know, but I don’t think he was talking about a live-in. We don’t have an extra bedroom, so where is she supposed to sleep? We can’t very well ask her to sleep on the couch or in one of our rooms.”

“As I said earlier, we’ll put her in Brock’s room,” Rory replied.

Cody burst out laughing. “I don’t think our big brother will want a roommate. Even though it might be good for him to have a woman in his bed for a change.”

“No, you idiot, Brock can have one of our rooms, so two of us will have to bunk in together.”

Lee shook his head viciously. “Hell no, I ain’t sleeping with either one of you. You both snore loud enough to wake the dead.”

“Okay, you big baby, Cody and I will bunk together.”

An hour later, Carl dropped her off, and the guys helped carry her bags in. She looked around the place before going inside. There was a lot of land with some horses grazing and a large barn.

The house looked like an older one, but from the outside was very well kept. As soon as she stepped through the front door, she could tell that a bunch of young men lived there.

There were clothes all over the place, it was in bad need of a good cleaning, and that was just the living room.

Rory carried her bags upstairs and told her to follow him, which she did. He opened the door and walked in, setting her belongings on the king-size bed. He went over to the closet and opened it.

“You can use this closet and the dresser by the window. My brothers and I have some chores to do, so once you get settled why don’t you just take a tour of the house? The kitchen is just on your left when you get to the bottom of the stairs. Make yourself at home, and later we’ll discuss what your wages will be. Of course, your room and board are included.”

“Thank you, Rory, I’m sure I’ll be very comfortable here,” she said, going over to a door. She was thrilled to find that it was a full bathroom.

“Zadie. I know that you don’t know any of us, but I promise you that you will be safe here. None of us will try anything with you.”

She gave him a warm smile. “Thank you, but I somehow guessed that you and your brothers are decent and respectful men. After I get settled in, I’ll go down to the kitchen and start supper. You do have food that I can cook, right?”

“Yeah, we do, but we can always go shopping for more stuff. Just make out a list of what you need and we’ll be sure to get it for you. Okay, we’ll see you in about three to four hours.”

After putting her clothes away, she went downstairs to check out the rest of the place. Shaking her head, she knew that she had her work cut out for her. It was a total mess, and when she walked into the kitchen, she was shocked.

It was disgusting, with garbage all over the place and dirty dishes in the sink and on the counter. Leftover food was sitting on the kitchen table.

Oh my god, what have I got myself into? she asked herself. She went to the fridge and looked inside. At least it was clean, but there wasn’t a whole lot of food in there. Now, the oven and stove were a different story.

The oven was a disaster and needed a good cleaning. The stovetop was caked with leftover food, and the coffee pot was filthy.

Rolling up her sleeves, she got started on the cleaning. It was going to take hours to get it looking spotless. She wouldn’t have time to make a hot meal, so the boys would have to settle for sandwiches.

The guys were just finishing up their chores when Lee turned to the other two. “Don’t you think we ought to tell her about Brock? Maybe give her a warning about what he’s like.”

The other two scratched their heads. They were all trying to delay telling her.

“He won’t be back for another three days, so we have plenty of time to warn her. Right now, let her get comfortable and get to know us. After all, we don’t want to scare her off too soon,” Rory replied.

When they walked into the kitchen, they found a plate full of sandwiches sitting on the table. Zadie was busy scrubbing out the oven.

“Sorry guys, I didn’t have time to make you a hot meal, there’s so much cleaning to do. I promise tomorrow you’ll have a hot meal.” She looked over at them just as they were about to grab some sandwiches.

Seeing how dirty they were, she called out, “Don’t touch the food until you go clean up, wash your hands, and change out of those stinky clothes. Oh, and put them in the hamper.”

She held back her laughter when she saw the look on their faces. They looked like a bunch of little boys who just got scolded. She planned on laying down some ground rules when they returned to eat.