Taming a Dark Horse

by Stella Bagwell

  “Well, you have to start somewhere,” she said as she took her seat across from him. “I guess tonight is as good as any.”

  Without looking at her, Linc somehow managed to maneuver the fork between his bandaged thumb and forefinger. Once he had it positioned, he discovered it wasn’t all that difficult to push it into the piles of food on his plate.

  For the next few minutes the two of them concentrated on eating until Nevada finally glanced across the table at him.

  “Victoria told me that you normally live in the bunkhouse with the hands that are quartered here on the ranch. But she didn’t say why.” She looked around the kitchen with its beautiful oak cabinets and up-to-date appliances. “Why don’t you live in this house? Or in the big house with Ross and Bella?”

  He didn’t bother to glance up. “Because I like being around the guys. They’re like family, too. Ross and Bella are great. But they’re newlyweds. They don’t need another person in the house with them.”

  Nevada studied him thoughtfully. “I’m aware of how big that house is. They’d never know you were around, unless you wanted them to know it.”

  “I don’t belong in that house,” he said curtly.

  Her brows inched upward, yet Linc didn’t see her reaction to his remark. He appeared to be completely obsessed with the food on his plate.

  “Why? You’re a Ketchum, too.”

  “Yes. I’m a Ketchum. But I’m not Tucker’s son.” “So what? I don’t think your cousins want to split hairs over that issue.”

  He looked up at her, his eyes thoughtful as they roamed her pretty face.

  “What would you know about it?”

  She shrugged one shoulder as she lifted a piece of steak to her mouth and chewed. After she’d swallowed the bite, she answered, “Maybe I can’t speak for the men of the family, but I can speak for Victoria. She considers you the same as her brother. She thinks you’re Mr. Wonderful.”

  A faint grin came and went on his face. “So you told me before. She’s misguided, but you’re right. None of them have ever shown me any difference because I was Randolf’s son. And before your little head starts spinning, I’ll tell you that, no, I don’t go around with a chip on my shoulder or anything. I live in the bunkhouse because I like it. There isn’t any need for me to live in the big house or in this house. Why would one man take up all this space?” he asked as he motioned a hand around his head.

  “I see your point,” she said, then a curious frown wrinkled her forehead. “Who built this house anyway? And why? It’s far too nice to be just a rental.”

  Releasing a heavy breath, he leaned back in his chair and looked at her. “You are a nosey little thing, aren’t you?”

  Nevada smiled at him. “Yes. I guess you could say that. I like learning about the people I care for. It makes it nicer. And—” she broke off as she glanced away from him, then began again. “In nursing school we’re taught not to get close to or attached to our patients. But in reality that’s a bunch of hogwash. A real nurse feels for the person she’s caring for. If she didn’t—well, she wouldn’t be human.”

  The idea of Nevada Ortiz getting close or attached to Linc made warning bells clang loudly in his head. It was okay for Victoria to love him as a brother and consider him Mr. Wonderful. She was his cousin. But a woman like Nevada was a different matter altogether. She was beautiful and sexy and the kind of female that could easily make a man forget he was supposed to be a loner.

  Feeling it was far safer to talk about the house than nurse/patient relationships, he said, “My father built this house about twenty-five years ago.”

  Her brown eyes widened with total fascination. “Really? That long ago?”

  Linc nodded. “You see my Uncle Tucker and he were partners and started building this ranch together in the late fifties and early sixties. The two of them built the big house first. And that’s one of the reasons it has so many wings. Both families lived there together. But then my dad developed a bad heart problem and was no longer able to do the physical labor of a rancher. He sold his half of the ranch to Tucker and built this house for himself and my mom.”

  “I see. Is that what eventually took your father? Heart disease?”

  For a second time, Linc nodded and Nevada could see a regretful shadow cross his face.

  “Yeah. I was just a teenager. It hit me pretty hard. We were buddies, my dad and I. He was a gifted horseman and taught me everything he knew about the animals.”

  A smile touched Nevada’s lips. “It must have been very nice to have had a father like that.”

  “Yeah. But I lost him way too early.” He awkwardly stabbed his fork into a piece of steak. “My dad was a quiet, gentle man. He never raised his voice or hurt anyone. Now my Uncle Tucker was just the opposite. My cousins would be the first to tell you he was a hellish rounder. Two different men, but they both died of bad hearts. Guess I should make sure I eat right,” he said with a bit of dark humor.

  Nevada wasn’t going to start preaching to him about how he could be genetically prone to heart disease. Now wasn’t the time to be a nurse. Tonight she was talking to Linc as a woman and a friend.

  She carefully sipped her tea, then dared to ask, “You don’t ever communicate with your mother?”

  He glanced up at her through narrowed eyes. “Who told you that?”

  Her tanned cheeks turned a hot pink. “Marina,” she confessed.

  Linc snorted. “Marina is just like a tape recorder. She doesn’t forget anything and if you push the right buttons, she’ll repeat it all.”

  Nevada put her fork down. “I’m sorry if I shouldn’t have brought up the subject of your mother.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he muttered as he turned his attention to the food left on his plate. “There’s nothing to tell about her anyway. We don’t talk.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry.”

  “No need to be sorry.” He lifted his eyes to hers. “There wouldn’t be much point in trying to communicate with a woman who’s only capable of thinking about herself.”

  Questions pummeled her from every direction. But she managed to stifle them all, except one. “Is that what you think about all women?”

  His lips twisted to a mocking slant. “I have more important things to think about than women.”

  After that sardonic remark, Nevada didn’t bother to attempt to make more conversation. She finished her meal then excused herself from the table to gather makings for coffee.

  She was waiting for it to drip when she turned around to see that Linc had left the table and slipped out of the kitchen. Which was just as well, Nevada thought. He’d made it clear that he didn’t put much stock in a woman’s company.

  The idea that any man could be so callous and cynical was enough to snap Nevada’s back teeth together in an angry grind. But then she quickly scolded herself for allowing his attitude to rile her. She wasn’t here to socialize with the man. Or even to like him as a person. Her job was simply to care for his burns and his physical needs. And from now on that was all she intended to do.

  Chapter Five

  Once the coffee was ready to serve, Nevada poured two cups and carried them out of the kitchen. The living room was empty, so she stepped out on the porch to see if Linc had returned to his willow chair.

  Sure enough, she found him there. His boots were crossed at the ankles, his gaze on the moon rising above the eastern mesas.

  “I wasn’t sure whether you liked coffee or not. But I brought you a cup anyway,” she told him. “It’s black.”

  He looked around to where she stood by the screen door and Nevada could see a flicker of surprise cross his face.

  “You needn’t have bothered,” he told her. “I would have gotten it later.”

  “No bother.”

  She handed him the cup and made sure he could manage holding it before she turned back toward the door.

  “Where are you going?”

  The question caught her totally off guard and she paused long
enough to glance over her shoulder at him. “Inside. I—have some reading to do.”

  “Oh.”

  “If you need anything I’ll be in my room,” she told him, then went into the house before he could say more.

  She had just gotten comfortable with her book when the telephone near the head of her bed rang. Nevada tossed the book to one side and rolled across the mattress to lift the receiver.

  “Hello.”

  “Nevada, it’s Victoria. I just wanted to check and see how things have been going. Is Linc there with you?”

  Nevada sat up on the side of the bed. “He’s outside on the porch. He can’t hear what I say.”

  “Good. Then tell me how things went. Has he been giving you a difficult time?”

  Nevada breathed in deeply then slowly released it. Linc Ketchum was like no man she’d ever encountered before. She’d never had a man make her so angry one moment, then filled with empathy the next.

  “When you said you wanted a favor from me, you meant a big favor,” she said wryly.

  “Oh dear. He’s been that bad?” Victoria asked with concern.

  “No. Not exactly. But he is—well, he isn’t ordinary, I’ll say that much.”

  Victoria sighed. “You have to understand, Nevada, that Linc isn’t your ordinary man. He’s not like the other single ranch hands on the T Bar K. Outside of his horses, he doesn’t have much of a life. And now the burns have taken that away. Just be as gentle as you can be without losing your mind. I promise, you’ll get a big bonus out of this.”

  Nevada frowned. She hadn’t taken this job for money. In fact, she really didn’t want extra pay for it. She already owed Victoria so much for giving her such a special job at the clinic.

  “I’m not concerned about any of that,” she told the doctor.

  “Nonsense. You’ve always dreamed about taking a vacation to Hawaii. When all of this is over with I’m going to make sure you’re going.”

  Under any other circumstances, Nevada would have been shouting for joy at the idea of heading to the tropical island. But something just didn’t feel right about using Linc’s misfortune for her gain. “We’ll talk about that later,” Nevada told her.

  “Okay. Is there anything you need? Something you might have forgotten to take with you? A book on patience?” Victoria teased.

  Nevada had to laugh. “Oh, he hasn’t been all that bad,” she tried to assure the other woman. “Just a little bad. And I’m dealing with it.”

  “That’s good. I know you will, Nevada. And I still believe you’ll be the best medicine for Linc.”

  Nevada chuckled with disbelief. “Apparently you don’t know your cousin too well. He doesn’t like women.”

  Aghast, Victoria asked, “He told you that?”

  “Not in so many words. But it meant the same.”

  Victoria didn’t reply for several long seconds, then she said, “Linc doesn’t trust too many women.”

  Nevada grimaced. “That’s obvious. He—uh—he told me a little about his mother. Well, it was very little. But he said she’d only thought about herself and that the two of them didn’t communicate. Is that true, Victoria?”

  This time an even longer pause passed before Victoria responded. “Linc talked to you about his mother?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “Well, frankly, I’m shocked. He doesn’t speak about her to anyone. Even in a remote way.”

  Surprise parted Nevada’s lips. “Oh. I didn’t realize.”

  “What did you do to the man anyway?”

  “Victoria, what kind of question is that? I didn’t do anything to the man!”

  Victoria laughed softly in her ear. “I meant what did you do to get him talking.”

  “Irritated him, I think.”

  “Well, it sounds like you’re doing the right thing. Just keep it up. Now, how about you? Are you comfortable enough? Did you find everything in the house you needed?”

  “Yes. My room is lovely. Everything is fine.” Except that each time I look at your cousin my pulse does silly flip-flops, Nevada silently added.

  “Good,” Victoria told her. “Then maybe the next couple of weeks or so won’t seem like being in prison to you.”

  Nevada assured the other woman that she didn’t feel locked away and then the conversation turned to work at the clinic and for the next few minutes they spoke of other patients and problems.

  Eventually, baby Sam began to cry in the background and Victoria ended the conversation to see about her son.

  Nevada hung up the telephone and reached for her book while wondering what it would feel like to go home every night to a husband and children.

  When she looked at Victoria’s life, it all seemed so wonderful. Even though her husband, Jess, was a lawman and often had to work odd hours, he made sure that he and Victoria spent special time together and Victoria did the same for him. Their children were the center of their lives and when they were all together Nevada could see a glow of love encircling the family.

  But as far as Nevada was concerned, the Hastings weren’t the norm. Most of her young married friends often complained about philandering, selfishness, fights and everything else that happened when a male and female butted heads.

  Nevada didn’t want that for herself. She’d already seen too much of it as a child. And she realized the chance of finding a special love like Victoria and Jess had was minuscule. She wasn’t willing to gamble her heart with those sorts of odds. No matter how lonely she became.

  Later, after Nevada had finally managed to read several chapters of her paperback, she got up from the bed and changed into a pair of black pajamas and a white robe trimmed in black.

  She was pulling a hairbrush through her long hair when she heard a soft tapping on her bedroom door and went to open it.

  Linc was standing on the other side of the threshold. His expression was just a bit disgusted and a little apologetic.

  “Were you asleep?” he asked.

  Nevada lifted the hairbrush for him to see. “Brushing my hair. But I was thinking about going to bed. Do you need something?”

  He grimaced as though her question was inane. “Hell, yes!” he burst out, then with a dismal shake of his head he apologized. “Sorry, Nevada. I’m just feeling too damn helpless, that’s all. I need for you to help me get undressed. I managed to slip off my boots. But the shirt and the jeans are another matter. I tried to work the buttons loose, but the bandages are still too thick to catch hold of something so small.”

  “Oh, Linc,” she said contritely, “I’m so sorry! I’d forgotten all about your clothing. And you must be getting tired.”

  He wasn’t exactly tired, Linc thought. In fact, he couldn’t remember a time he’d felt so worked up and restless. He felt as if he could jump at least ten barbed-wire fences and never get a scratch. Which was a damn stupid feeling for a man his age.

  “Yeah. It’s been a long day,” he replied as casually as he could.

  “Just let me put away my brush, and if you want to go across to your room, I’ll be right there.”

  He nodded, and she whirled back into her room. Linc released a shaky breath as he turned and walked into his own bedroom.

  Damn it, he thought, as he switched on a lamp next to the head of the bed. He shouldn’t be feeling so nervous about any of this. He’d had women undress him before. And most any man would be envious of his position—a young, beautiful woman taking off his clothes. But he wasn’t like most men. And Nevada surely wasn’t like most nurses.

  When Nevada knocked lightly on the door, he was trying to decide whether it would be best to sit down on the bed or stand. He very nearly jumped at the sound and quickly muttered a curse at himself. She wasn’t going to eat him. And he wasn’t going to bite her. The two of them weren’t like the mares and stallions he bred for the ranch’s remuda.

  “Come in,” he called gruffly.

  The room was L-shaped and she stuck her head around the corner and shot him a brief smile. “Ready?�
�� she asked.

  “Well, I don’t want to sleep in my clothes,” he assured her.

  Ignoring the sarcastic tone of his remark, Nevada moved into the bedroom and went to stand in front of him. The light by the bed was fashioned from a stack of horseshoes and shaded with a thin sheet of rawhide. The illumination slanting across the two of them was muted but enough for Nevada to see where the buttons on his shirt started and ended.

  She reached for the first one and quickly slipped it through the slot. The fabric of his shirt was starched and crisp, a stark contrast to his warm smooth skin. She tried her best to keep her fingers from touching his chest. Not only for his sake, but her own, too. Yet it was virtually impossible to maneuver the buttons without having her fingers touch his skin. Each time she did, her hands received a sizzling jolt and she wondered if he was feeling any of the same sort of reactions she was experiencing.

  One, two, three, four. Finally, she reached the eighth button and the two pieces of fabric fell apart. Barely glancing at the skin above his belt, she said, “Now hold your arms out slightly so that I can pull the sleeves down over your bandages. I don’t want to disturb the gauze.”

  He did as she instructed and Nevada carefully pushed the shirt off his shoulders until it draped against his back. By the time she’d moved to the sleeves, she was struggling to keep her breathing at an even keel. The physical reaction she was having to Linc totally shocked her and though she’d assured him that undressing him wouldn’t turn her face red, she felt heat seeping into every inch of her body, including her cheeks.

  Linc stood stock-still and barely breathing as her hands slowly and carefully worked the sleeves down one arm and then the other. Each time her fingers brushed against his skin, the muscles in his throat clenched to rigid bands. He tried to put his thoughts on other things, but he couldn’t think about the weather, his horses or the men down at the bunkhouse when every particle inside him wanted to reach out and touch this woman standing before him.

  “Can’t you hurry this up,” he said with a faint growl. “The roosters are going to be crowing before I ever get to bed.”