She could hardly expect Case to be grateful for her help. Men hated feeling vulnerable. Case probably loathed the realization that Mellie had played nurse. Besides, there was a chance he didn’t even remember her being there.
But Mellie remembered. Wow, did she. In the middle of the night when Case had finally stopped shivering and his temperature had moderated, she had relaxed enough to doze with him in her arms. She didn’t sleep deeply. But when she roused again and again to check on her patient’s condition, it had been a shock to find herself entwined with him in a quasi-intimate position.
Gradually, as the night waned, she’d felt something shift inside her. No matter how much she wanted to maintain boundaries for her own emotional protection, after this weekend she would never be able to look at Case the same way again.
The fact that he hadn’t called or even sent her a text this afternoon told her he wanted her to stay away. The loud silence hurt. Even though she thought she understood why he hadn’t made contact, her feelings were bruised. In truth, she might have to assign someone else to continue cleaning Case’s house. The situation was likely untenable.
Telling herself not to be maudlin and foolish, she wandered into the kitchen and found a paper plate and some plastic utensils. She was too tired to worry about cleaning up after herself, and since she had unloaded the dishwasher only an hour before, she didn’t want to make a mess.
She was moments away from scooping out a small serving of pasta when her phone made a quiet noise. Her heart pounding, she wiped her hands and glanced at the screen.
Are you busy?
It was Case.
No. Are you hungry?
She told herself she was only being a Good Samaritan. That she wasn’t throwing caution to the wind and launching herself willy-nilly into a situation that was wildly inappropriate. Feeding a neighbor in need was a Texas tradition.
Her phone buzzed again.
I’m starving.
I made lasagna. Would you like me to bring you some?
I don’t want to interrupt your evening.
She smiled in spite of herself.
It’s no trouble. See you soon.
Working rapidly, she covered the casserole dish and wrapped it in towels to keep it warm. The loaf of fresh bread from the bakery in town could be heated in Case’s microwave. Even if Dr. Reese had provided lunch for his friend, that was a long time ago. She didn’t want Case to wait any longer than necessary.
On the way out to the ranch, she lectured herself. Stay calm. Don’t let him bait you. Treat him like a brother.
There were two problems with that last suggestion. Number one—she’d never had a brother. And number two—her reactions to Case Baxter bore no resemblance at all to sibling affection. He disturbed her, provoked her and made her want things.
Unfortunately, the trip was not long enough to gain any real handle on the situation. Before she knew it, she was unloading the car and making her way up the steps of Case’s home. With her arms full, she had no choice but to ring the bell.
It was almost a full minute before the door opened. Case stood there staring at her, the planes of his face shadowed in the harsh glare of the porch light. “Please come in,” he said.
In the foyer, he insisted on taking most of the load away from her. As she followed him to the kitchen, she couldn’t help but notice the way his gray sweatpants rode low on his hips. In the midst of the cheery room she had worked so hard to organize, the lighting was better. Now she could see all of Case. His navy cotton shirt was unbuttoned, revealing a white T-shirt underneath that clung to the contours of his muscled chest.
When she could tear her gaze away from all that male magnificence, she saw—as she’d suspected—that he was definitely not 100 percent. His eyes were sunken and his hair was askew. But he smiled.
“This smells amazing, Mellie.”
“I hope you like Italian food. I suppose I should have asked about your preferences before I fixed something.”
“I’m not a picky eater.”
He set the containers on the table and pulled out her chair. “Let me get you a glass of wine,” he said. But she noticed that despite his polite manners, he was weaving on his feet.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” She resisted his attempt to make her take a seat. His skin was clammy and his hands unsteady. “You look like you’re about to pass out. Sit down, Case. Now.”
Surprisingly, he obeyed, but said, “I don’t expect you to wait on me.” The statement was a shade on the belligerent side.
She handled him the same way she would a fractious toddler. “You’re not well. Sit there and rest while I get things ready.”
He didn’t argue, but his gaze followed her as she moved around his kitchen. His eyes were dark, his unshaven jaw tight. “I owe you an apology,” he said. “For what happened when you were here before.”
She shot him a look. “You mean last night?”
His jaw dropped noticeably before he snapped it shut. Dark color slashed his cheekbones. “I don’t remember much about last night.”
For once, she had the upper hand. He was juggling a healthy dose of discomfiture. It was almost funny to see the suave, self-assured cowboy off his game. “Not much to remember.” She set a plate of food in front of him. “Eat it before it gets cold.”
He grabbed her wrist, not painfully, but firmly. Enough to stop her in her tracks. “I made inappropriate remarks about your clothing. I kissed you. I’m sorry.”
Resting her hand on his shoulder, she let herself lean on him. “Don’t be silly. You gave me a compliment. I was flattered. And the truth is, you’re not my boss. You were right. We’re equals. A man and a woman.”
“And last night?”
When she slept in his bed, holding him in her arms? “Last night was nothing,” she said. “You were sick. I couldn’t very well leave you here alone. I’m glad you’re on the mend.”
When she sat down and took a bite of her lasagna, she almost choked at the look on Case’s face. His laser stare made her squirm in her seat. There was no way he could know for sure. He’d been too feverish and addled to understand that she had held him like a lover, doing everything she could to give him comfort.
He finally picked up his fork, but he never took his eyes off her. “Parker told me I lost an entire day...that I had a very high fever. He said I might have ended up in the hospital if you hadn’t been here to look after me.”
“I think your friend exaggerates. It was no big deal.”
Case leaned across the table and put his hand over hers. “It is to me. Thank you, Mellie. For everything.”
Eight
Case knew he had shocked her. Hell, he had shocked himself. He wasn’t a touchy-feely kind of guy. Beneath his hand, Mellie’s fingers were soft and delicate. An impression at direct odds with what he knew to be the truth about the woman. She was strong and independent. She didn’t need a man to take care of her. Which made it all the more inexplicable that he had the strongest urge to do that very thing.
He forced himself to release her. “Sorry,” he muttered. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” She had the look of a rabbit frozen in the grass, trying to appear invisible.
Mellie shook her head. “I’m not uncomfortable. But I’m trying to figure you out.”
When he made himself take a bite, he realized how hungry he was. He chewed and swallowed, weighing her words. “I’m an open book.”
She snorted and tried to cover it up as a cough. “Um, no.”
“Explain yourself, woman.” He waved a fork in the air. When Mellie smiled at him, he felt a tug of desire low in his belly.
“First of all,” she said, “you’re wealthy and available, but you don’t date. At least not in Royal.”
“How would you know that?” She ha
d him spot-on, but that was beside the point.
“I have my sources.” Now her smile was wry.
“Go on.”
“You’re a self-professed privacy junkie, but you know everyone in town, and you are so popular and well regarded the powers that be elected you president of the Cattleman’s Club.”
“Liking privacy is not necessarily the same as being a hermit.”
“True.”
He circled back to the most promising point. “I’m flattered that you’ve studied me.”
Mellie shook her head. “Don’t be. Your ego is too healthy as it is.”
“Ouch.” He paused, realizing that he was deliberately flirting with Mellie. But his sexual overture wasn’t necessarily being reciprocated. “Ego is neither good nor bad. I think it’s a matter of degree.”
“And where would you fall on that scale? Somewhere near the top, I think.”
He stared at her, no longer amused. “You might be surprised.” Finishing his meal, he stood and poured himself another glass of wine, cursing the fact that his legs were wobbly. Sadly, it had nothing to do with the modest amount of alcohol he had consumed. How long was this damned flu going to keep him down? He had places to go, people to see.
At his best, he would have enjoyed sparring with Mellie Winslow. But he was definitely not at his best. He brought the bottle with him to the table and collapsed into his chair, trying not to let on that he was light-headed.
Mellie studied him. “You need to be in bed,” she said.
“Will you join me?” The words popped out of his mouth uncensored. His subconscious was an uncivilized beast.
His dinner companion gaped. Her mouth snapped shut as hot color reddened her cheeks. “What is it about men?” she muttered, the question apparently rhetorical.
Now he had her measure. If he wanted to keep Mellie off balance and not the other way around, all he had to do was give her the unvarnished truth about what he wanted from her. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “You’re barely able to stand, and still you obsess about sex.”
“It’s in our DNA. We can’t help it. Especially when a beautiful woman brings us dinner and plays nurse.”
“I wasn’t playing last night. You were sick.”
“I’m only sorry I wasn’t able to enjoy it.”
“Case!”
Now it was out in the open. He wanted her. And he was almost certain she wanted him, too. But he needed confirmation before he went any further. He would never pursue a woman who wasn’t interested.
“There’s a strong spark between us. But tell me you don’t feel it, and I’ll leave you alone. Am I wrong?”
He saw the muscles in her throat work as she sputtered and looked anywhere but at him. “You’re not wrong.”
Three words. Three damn words, and he was hard as granite. He studied her, unable to come up with a response. She wasn’t wearing her uniform. Instead, soft denim jeans outlined long legs and a narrow waist. In deference to the weather, she wore a pale green pullover sweater. The V-neck exposed a long porcelain-skinned throat and fragile collarbone.
A man could get lost nibbling his way across that territory.
Under other circumstances, he would have stripped her naked and taken her on this kitchen table. Tonight, however, he had to accept his limitations. “Sadly, I don’t have the stamina at the moment to follow up on that interesting admission.”
“There’s no reason you should.” She appeared entirely, frustratingly calm...until one noticed the way her lips trembled the tiniest bit.
“We’re dancing around this, aren’t we?” The woman who almost certainly didn’t have casual sex and the man who wanted more than he was able to give at the moment.
Mellie stood, resting her hands on the back of her chair. “I’ll come back tomorrow...with more food.”
“Don’t be afraid of me, Mellie.” He meant it. He couldn’t bear the notion she might think he was blasé about this. The level of his fascination with her, the depth of his hunger, made no sense. But he wasn’t a man to walk away from something he wanted. Even when having her and protecting her seemed to be two diametrically opposed behaviors.
And that wasn’t even considering the fact that his actions might spark the wrath of Amanda Battle...or worse, her sheriff husband.
“I’m not afraid of you,” Mellie said, her beautiful eyes grave. “Or even afraid of the possibility of us. But I’ve never started a physical relationship with a man, knowing up front that it had an expiration date.”
Her words made sense. He even understood her caution. The feminine hesitation, though, only made his libido fight all the more to be heard. “It’s not necessary to plan every turn in the road in advance...is it?”
Temper sparked in her expressive eyes. “Do me the favor of not pretending, Case. If I have sex with you, we both know it will be a physical thing only. No hearts and flowers. No pledges of undying love.”
“That’s pretty cynical.”
“But accurate.”
He wanted to argue, but he didn’t have a leg to stand on. Mellie had pegged him pretty well. “So that’s a no?” Never in a million years would he admit that her harsh assessment of his motives stung. Most women in this situation would be all over him.
But he was rapidly learning that Mellie Winslow was not most women.
She shrugged. “Let’s take it a day at a time. This flu isn’t going to go away overnight. Maybe you’ll have the opportunity to rethink your invitation.”
“Don’t go,” he said gruffly. He wanted her here...under his roof. In a way he hadn’t wanted anything in a very long time. “It’s not like I can seduce you. I can barely hold my head up.”
* * *
Mellie shivered, though the kitchen was warm. He was doing it again. Winnowing away her good intentions. Trying to pretend that he wasn’t the Big Bad Wolf and Mellie a wretchedly willing Red Riding Hood.
“I can’t stay the night.” That was a lie. She could. But she wouldn’t.
“A movie, then. I’m sick of lying in bed.”
“Such a touching offer. I’m better than boredom.”
“You have a smart mouth.”
She took pity on him. Beneath his masculine swagger, he was the color of milk. “I’ll stay for a while.”
“Good.”
When he got to his feet, she moved closer and slipped an arm around his waist, inhaling the smell of warm male. “I don’t want to scrape you off the floor again.”
He chuckled, the low sound making her catch her breath. “Is that how I got the knot on my skull?”
“Let’s just say that you were not the best patient last night.”
He kissed the top of her head casually, as if they were an old married couple wandering down the hall to watch a favorite TV program. “You’re more than I deserve.”
“Damn straight.” Making Case Baxter laugh was fast becoming her life’s work. But it was either that or give in to the urge to join the handsome, bad-to-the-bone cowboy in his bed.
They had their next argument in the den. Case collapsed on the expensive leather sofa and crooked an arrogant finger. “Come sit with me, Mellie.”
“I’ll be fine right here.” She snagged a spot on the matching love seat, a safe distance away from the heavy-eyed male. “Have you taken your medicine?”
He scowled at her. “Is that all you can talk about? You’re a broken record.”
“I’ll get it,” she said wryly. Clearly, he was feeling like roadkill and didn’t want to admit it.
When she returned after gathering what she needed from his bedroom and the bathroom, Case was holding the remote, his expression moody as he channel surfed. She put a hand on his forehead, not surprised to find it ferociously hot.
“Take these.�
�� She shook a couple of caplets into her palm and held out a glass of water.
“I feel fine.”
His big body radiated tension. They had entered dangerous territory. Case was physically frustrated, not only from sexual arousal but because his brain was writing a check his body couldn’t cash. As far as she could tell, he was holding himself upright by sheer stubbornness.
She nudged his knee, keeping her tone light and gentle. “Be reasonable, and I’ll sit with you. You can put your head in my lap.”
It was the perfect opening for some of his sharp-edged sexual innuendo. The fact that he said nothing worried her. He must feel worse than she realized.
When he finished the glass of water—and in the process downed his meds—he stretched full-length on the sofa. Mellie sat down as promised, stroking the hair from his forehead. “Do you really want to watch a movie?” she asked.
He shook his head without opening his eyes. “No. I feel like hell.”
“Okay, then...”
After a few seconds, Case’s breathing deepened, and she knew he had fallen asleep. The old house creaked and popped as it settled for the night. On the mantel, a beautiful clock ticked away the minutes.
The moment was surreal. How had she and Case transcended so many social barriers so quickly? She was the hired help. He was the rich cowboy. He had one failed marriage behind him. She’d always been too afraid of loss to give marriage a try.
Yet here they were. As intimate together as if they had already become lovers.
With nothing else to command her attention, she traced the shell of his ear with her fingertip, trying to imagine what he would be like in bed. Healthy. Vigorous. Demanding.
She pressed her legs together, her insides shaking with what could only be described as lust. Delicious, quivery, melting need. Heaven help her when Case was back to his old self.
Right now he was like some brilliant sun dimmed by a dust storm. The essence of the arrogant cowboy was still there but muted. The reduced kilowatts made it possible for her to keep up her guard. Maybe it was his vulnerability that stripped away her defenses and misgivings. Perhaps Case Baxter had seduced her without even trying.
Courting the Cowboy Boss: Reclaimed by the Rancher Page 7
