“Uh…yeah. Okay.”
Ginny continued to stare at Ruby, still certain she couldn’t possibly have heard her right.
“Virginia,” Ruby said slowly, carefully. “The interview is over. You got the job. Now go.”
Ginny rose, thanking Ruby at the same time, then walked to her teller window in a daze.
“So tell me,” Rhonda whispered. “What happened?”
Ginny looked at her, still dumbfounded. “I got the job.”
Rhonda whooped. “Oh, sweetie, I knew you could do it!”
Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny saw Susan giving them both the evil eye. She must have surmised what happened, because she circled her desk and flounced her way into Ruby’s office, slamming the door behind her. Ginny heard a lot of muffled shouts, and when Susan finally emerged again, she went to her desk, grabbed her purse and stormed out of the bank.
“My, my,” Rhonda said innocently. “She seems a little miffed. Ginny, does she seem a little miffed to you?”
Ginny was going to have to leave the vengeful remarks to Rhonda, because right now there was only one thing she could think about.
I got the job. And I can’t wait to tell Cole.
COLE CAME HOME that night all hot and sweaty from working on the ranch, so he was shocked when he opened the kitchen door and Ginny launched herself into his arms.
He hugged her automatically, but given how he looked and smelled right about now, he was sure she was going to regret it.
“Cole, I got it! I got the job!”
He took her by the shoulders. “The trainee job? You got it?”
“Yes! Ruby said I was the first person she thought of, but since I didn’t apply, she thought I didn’t want it. Then, when I told her I did, she gave it to me. On the spot!”
Cole pulled her into his arms in a gigantic bear hug. “I knew you would get it!”
“I didn’t,” she said. “Not until you told me I could.”
She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then laid her palm against the spot where she’d kissed him.
“Thank you, Cole.”
He smiled. “I want you to give me all the details over dinner.”
“I will. Take a quick shower, and it’ll be ready in a few minutes.”
Cole headed for the bathroom, listening to Ginny hum while she cooked, and he had the oddest feeling inside, a strange sense of accomplishment, even though she was the one who’d gotten the job.
But you helped her do it.
For all the years he’d invested in real estate, each contract bigger than the last, he couldn’t remember a deal he’d made that had satisfied him more than Ginny’s news had tonight.
He was halfway down the hall when Ginny called to him again.
“Cole? One more thing.”
He stepped to the kitchen doorway. “Yeah?”
“I went to the doctor today.”
“Oh?”
“He gave me a prescription and told me the third Friday in October would be all right.”
She gave him a tiny smile, then turned to her cooking, as if she’d just mentioned the date of a dental appointment or an oil change.
The third Friday in October.
That hot shower he was anticipating had, by necessity, just become a cold one.
13
THE NEXT MONTH was the longest of Cole’s life.
Every move Ginny made drove him crazy. She couldn’t even bend over to take a pan out of the oven without him thinking about her being naked. Wearing the apron, maybe. Only the apron.
Some evenings she’d go with Rhonda to meet with the women of the Coldwater Booster Club, and she always came home in a good mood, chattering about whatever project they were working on at the time. He knew Ginny had had very little social life before now, and getting out with other women made her positively glow with excitement, which made him want her that much more. It got so ridiculous that after a while she could get him excited just by brushing her teeth.
Then she talked him into going riding with her, and damned if that didn’t shake him up, too.
She must have really studied the ads in Western Horseman, because somewhere along the way she’d bought a couple of pairs of blue jeans that fit. Really fit. And every time he watched her walk away, his mind wandered places he really wished it wouldn’t go, especially since the rest of his body wasn’t invited.
But other than Cole’s almost debilitating preoccupation with the prospect of making love to Ginny, the month passed uneventfully. The ranch was alive with fall colors, and on the weekends he and Ginny rode in the midst of them, sometimes for hours. Cole found enjoyment in riding a horse for the first time, though he was coming to realize that just about anything he did with Ginny he enjoyed.
He was glad, though, that he’d instituted the no-touching rule, because it seemed as if most of the time when they were at the barn, Murphy’s eyes were on them, and he didn’t appear to like what he saw. Even though it was none of the old man’s business what was going on between them, Cole knew he was passing judgment—always passing judgment—and Cole had already had enough of that to last him a lifetime.
When that Friday finally came, Cole was dismayed when Murphy asked him, in the middle of the afternoon, to ride out to one of the far pastures in search of a yearling who hadn’t come in with the rest of the herd. Cole eventually found her deep in the fifty wooded acres at the back of the property, with no clue as to why she’d wandered off. After a cat-and-mouse game that lasted a good thirty minutes with Cole cussing the filly the whole time, he finally got a halter on her to lead her home.
He checked his watch. Five o’clock.
It would take him a while to ride back in, and by the time he finished up around the barn, it was going to be after six. Ginny would be home already. Waiting for him.
Once he got home, he’d need a shower first, but maybe he could persuade Ginny that she needed one, too. At the same time. He shifted uncomfortably in the saddle at the prospect of seeing her naked and wet, and he decided that would definitely have to be on the agenda for tonight.
When the time finally came for Cole to head home, anticipation had every single nerve in his body humming. As he approached the house, though, he noticed Ginny’s car wasn’t out front. He went inside and was met with total quiet. He called for her. Nothing.
Where was she?
Then he saw the note on the kitchen table, and when he realized what it said, he thought he was going to explode.
She’d gone to Rhonda’s house to bake cookies for a Coldwater Booster Club bake sale. And she wouldn’t be home for hours.
Cole crumpled the note, every muscle in his body tied into a tight knot of frustration. He couldn’t believe it. They’d planned on making love for the first time tonight, and she was baking cookies?
No. No way. She was coming home, and she was coming home now.
He tossed the note aside and reached for the telephone.
GINNY HAD just put another pan of cookies into Rhonda’s oven when the phone rang. Rhonda picked it up and her eyes widened.
“Just a minute, Cole. I’ll get her.”
The moment Rhonda said Cole’s name, Loretta and Darlene, who were sitting at the kitchen table, immediately stopped their conversation and whipped their heads around.
Rhonda held out the phone to Ginny. “Look out,” she whispered. “He sounds a little unhappy.”
Ginny took the phone. “Hello?”
“What are you doing?” Cole snapped.
Ginny smiled. “I guess you got the note I left.”
“Yeah. I saw the note. Forget the cookies. Come home.”
“I’m sorry, Cole. I have to do this. We realized we’re going to need more cookies than we thought, so it’s kind of an emergency. I’ll be home when we’re finished.”
“No. Come home now.”
The urgency in his voice thrilled her. She hadn’t done this on purpose, but it was certainly turning into something interesting just the same.
>
“Ginny?” he said sharply. “Did you hear me? Come home right now.”
“Well, now,” she said, stepping away from the other women and lowering her voice. “We’re getting a little bossy, aren’t we?”
She heard him take a deep, calming breath and let it out slowly, his tone perceptibly shifting. “No, sweetheart. No. Now, you know I don’t mean to be bossy. But we had plans tonight, didn’t we?”
“Of course. They’re just delayed a little. That’s all.”
“How long will you be?”
“I don’t know. Three hours. Maybe four.”
“Four hours?”
“It takes a while to bake forty dozen cookies.”
“Forty dozen?”
“Just relax, Cole,” she said, hugging the phone to her ear, excitement tingling all the way down to her toes. “Have a little dinner. Watch a little TV. I’ll be home before you know it.”
She hung up the phone over the sound of him protesting one more time, smiling to herself, wishing in a way that she could rush right home and leap into his arms, but she really did have to help bake these cookies. Besides, there was something about him wanting her home so badly that sent warmth spreading through her like kindling catching fire.
She sat at the kitchen table with Rhonda and the other women.
“Everything okay?” Rhonda asked. “He sounded a little hot under the collar.”
“Oh, he’ll be fine before the night is out. Believe me.”
The women exchanged glances, then looked at Ginny.
“He’s just a little frustrated that I’m not home right now,” Ginny added. “This was going to be, well…a special night for us.”
In unison, the women raised their eyebrows.
“Just the two of us,” Ginny went on, wearing a tiny smile. “You know.”
“That’s it!” Loretta said, waving her hand wildly. “I can’t stand it anymore!” She looked at Ginny, an earnest expression on her face. “You’ve got to tell us, Ginny. You’re a really cute girl and all, so don’t get me wrong, but I never would have thought that Cole McCallum would settle down with anyone, and here he is setting up housekeeping with you on that ranch like some kind of family man.” She inched closer, dropping her voice. “So what’s your secret?”
Darlene and Rhonda leaned in, too, and silence fell over the kitchen. Ginny couldn’t believe it. Loretta and Darlene had been two years ahead of her in high school, both popular girls who’d had plenty of dates. She was the last person they’d have asked for advice about boys, yet here they were now, waiting for her to enlighten them on man-woman relationships.
“Well,” she said, treading the line between truth and fiction very lightly, “I suppose the secret is to give a man exactly what he needs.”
Eyes widened like searchlights all around the table. But Ginny hadn’t lied. Cole had needed a wife for six months, and she’d provided him one.
“So tell us, then.” Loretta prodded her. “Exactly what does a man like Cole McCallum need?”
“Loretta!” Rhonda said. “That’s none of your business!”
“Shoot, Rhonda! It’s just girl talk! I’ve been trying to get Billy to pop the question for two years now. Ginny got Cole to marry her in two days. I was hoping maybe she could give me a few pointers!”
“It’s still none of your business, so keep your questions to yourself,” Rhonda scolded. She paused a moment, then turned and eyed Ginny carefully. “Unless Ginny wants to tell us, of course.”
From the hopeful look on her friend’s face, Ginny knew her sudden marriage had been driving Rhonda just as crazy as everyone else. She’d just had the good grace not to pressure her into talking about it.
Ginny smiled. “Who can tell what brings two people together? It was just…one of those things.”
Loretta sat back in her chair, folding her arms over her chest with disgust. “Yeah, right. Don’t tell me you don’t know something the rest of us don’t, Ginny, because I’m not believing it.”
“Cole’s just got the good sense to recognize a really fine woman when he meets one,” Rhonda said. “Case closed. Now, get another couple batches of cookies ready to go in or we’ll be here all night.”
Everyone went back to plunking cookie dough onto the cookie sheets, and after a while the oven timer went off, signaling that another batch was done. Ginny hopped up to take it out of the oven when she heard a loud rap, then three more loud, very insistent ones, on the front door.
The women fell silent, looking at each other quizzically.
“Who on earth could that be?” Rhonda said, walking warily to the door as the rest of them followed her out of the kitchen. She looked out the peephole, then spun around.
“Ginny!” she whispered. “It’s Cole!”
Ginny’s heart skittered crazily. Cole knocked again, even harder.
“He looks kind of mad,” Rhonda whispered. “Sure you want me to let him in?”
Ginny smiled. “He’s only going to get angrier if you don’t,” she whispered.
Rhonda opened the door, and Cole strode across the threshold. “Where’s Ginny?”
His gaze swept around the room. When it finally landed on Ginny, she felt warmth puddling in her stomach—and lower. She couldn’t resist. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a sweet little smile, and for a moment she truly thought he was going to stalk across the room like some kind of chest-beating Neanderthal, sling her over his shoulder and drag her kicking and screaming to his cave.
He walked over to her slowly, his expression growing more intense with every step he took. He stopped in front of her, and for a moment it appeared as if the Neanderthal thing was a real possibility.
Ginny gave him an innocent smile. “The cookies are for a very good cause,” she whispered.
“I’ll get you for this later,” he whispered.
“Is that a promise?”
“Oh, you can bet on it, sweetheart.”
Ginny loved the sound of his voice—deep and provocative and very, very impatient.
He inched closer to her. “Are you trying to tell me you don’t intend to come home until those cookies are baked?”
“I’m afraid so.”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Well, then. I guess there’s only one thing I can do.”
He turned to face the other women, sweeping his gaze over them with the intensity of a Marine sergeant reviewing his troops before going into battle.
“Okay, ladies. I hear we’ve got forty dozen cookies to bake. Let’s get with it.”
The women might have fainted dead away, except that Cole got them moving to the point where falling down on the job wasn’t an option. Within minutes, he’d instructed Rhonda to pull out every bowl she had in the kitchen, lined the women up along the counter and started calling out ingredients and amounts. They measured and stirred with speed and precision, and all the while Cole urged them on, picking up the biggest bowl himself and stirring when things weren’t moving quite fast enough for him.
“Now, see how much more efficient that is?” he said with a big smile, brushing flour off his hands.
The women nodded, looking a little shell-shocked.
“You have double ovens,” he said to Rhonda. “Why aren’t you using the other one?”
“It doesn’t work. But since it’s just Earl and me, we don’t need it, so I never bothered to get it fixed.”
Cole yanked open the door and peered deep inside. “Well, look at that. It’s just your pilot light. I’ll have that fixed in a jiffy.”
He appropriated some matches from Rhonda and lit the pilot light, and pretty soon they had two ovens full of cookies going at the same time.
“So what’s up with Cole?” Rhonda whispered to Ginny. “He’s not exactly the cookie-baking type.”
“He just wants to help out. That’s all.”
“Oh, yeah. Like Earl wants to crochet doilies and paint my toenails. So what’s up?”
Ginny smiled at her
.
“I’ll get it out of you sooner or later,” Rhonda warned. “You see if I don’t.”
Once Rhonda’s back was turned, Ginny caught Cole’s eye, then slyly stuck her finger into the dough, bringing a fingerful out of the bowl and licking it off very slowly. She’d seen a woman do something like that in a movie once, and it drove her boyfriend wild. Sure enough, Cole followed every furtive flick of her tongue, then spun around and asked Darlene why in the world she was putting only twelve cookies on one of the sheets when fifteen would clearly fit.
Later, Ginny stepped down the hall to the bathroom. When she came out, a hand clamped onto her arm. Cole pulled her against him in the darkened hall, his hands sliding down to her hips and up again, then moving to cradle her face. Then he kissed her for the first time in a month, and suddenly cookie baking didn’t seem quite as much of a priority.
“What happened to our no-touching rule?” she asked, thinking how wonderful it felt to be in his arms again.
“I’m just giving you a little taste of what you could be experiencing right now if only you’d had your priorities straight tonight.”
“Well, the night’s not over yet, is it?”
“I sure hope you slept well last night, sweetheart, because you’re not getting a single wink tonight.”
While he still had her snugged against him, whispering a litany of truly provocative things, three faces peered around the door frame. When Ginny spied them over Cole’s shoulder, the women ducked into the kitchen, giggling like high-school girls.
“I can’t believe you’re behaving like this!” Ginny whispered.
“Yeah, and if we don’t get those cookies baked fast, you’re really going to see some outrageous behavior. Understand?”
Ginny took him seriously—so seriously, in fact, that when Cole finally let her go into the kitchen, she discovered that the pans would hold twenty cookies apiece.
While Cole was busy mixing up yet another batch of cookies, Darlene whispered to Ginny.
“All those good looks, and he bakes, too?”
Best of Virgins Bundle Page 63
