“If Gretchen’s hands weren’t full with your father, I might take you up on it right now.”
One brow curved toward the other. “Good point. Any thoughts on how she’s going to be able to watch Flora and my dad?”
Lizzie inhaled and let her air out slowly. Fortunately, she’d given this topic lots of thought. “I’m one step ahead of you, Cole. Remember Gina, the woman I helped with birth control?”
He nodded, looking so darn much like a real cowboy she thought she’d traveled back in time.
“Well, she and I have been keeping in touch, and it turns out she has two kids under three. She could use some extra money and when you mentioned your dad was coming home, I asked if she’d consider watching Flora. She’d love to, even said she’d bring her by for midday nursing.”
“That’s great. I’m glad you’re making friends.”
She tossed her glance upwards. “Too bad Lotte and I can’t be friends, too.”
A benevolent smile coursed his mouth. “She’s what we call a crusty old nurse. Got a lot of opinions and isn’t afraid to push them on everyone.”
“Someone needs to tell her she’s a little outdated because she won’t listen to me.”
Suddenly losing the sexy cowboy gaze and taking on a diplomatic expression, he squared his shoulders. “Well, you do have a way of pushing the limit, in case you’re not aware of it.”
She shook her head. “Look, I know I’m not exactly an ambassador of goodwill, but I’m the one fresh out of medical school. When did she get her RN license? Thirty years ago?”
Cole walked to the horse Flora was watching while she cooed and squealed, and patted its cheek. The horse blew hot breath through flared nostrils in appreciation and the sound drew another shriek from the baby. “She’s a wealth of experience that you could tap into. Being fresh out of school can sometimes be a disadvantage, you know?” he said, admiring the horse rather than look at Lizzie. “You might just learn from her if you give her a chance.”
She’d honestly never considered Lotte a wealth of information, but seeing the sincerity in Cole’s avoiding eyes, and more so in his demeanor, she realized he’d just used a velvet hammer to call her out. Maybe her head was bigger than her knowledge? “Is this where I’m supposed to eat humble pie?”
Instead of seeming frustrated, he grinned. “I remember being full of myself, too. Just ask my dad—he’ll tell you story after story. The thing is, a lot of the old ways still work just fine. You might learn some time-saving tricks if you give Lotte a chance.”
“And no one, including you, likes a know-it-all, right?” How had she gotten called to the vice principal’s office in a stable? And more important, why did she have the strong desire to change immediately? Couldn’t he see her overconfidence was just a ploy to cover her insecurity?
He dipped his head and studied his boots, maybe a little disconcerted by her usual full-speed-ahead approach, then sent her a narrowed gaze. “If you’re here in Cattleman Bluff to learn, I’m suggesting you find every opportunity available. Nurses are a great source of practical knowledge and it never hurts to make them allies.”
He turned to leave, and partly because what he’d said made perfect sense, plus the fact he looked like a real-life cowboy in those tight jeans and that button-up shirt, except without a hat, she couldn’t let him go just yet. “Thanks,” she said. “I get it.” Really she did. She needed to soften up around Lotte. She waited for him to turn, expecting a surprised expression, but she found so much more. His eyes examined her as if he’d just seen her for the first time. Couldn’t the man see how she felt about him? His extra attention sent a shiver up her neck. “Um, Flora’s due for a nap—any chance I can take you up on that horseback-riding lesson offer?”
“The old man’s taking a nap, too, and Gretchen’s watching over him like a mother hen. No reason she can’t look in on Flora, too. Let’s do it.”
Excited over the prospect of taking her first ride, she rushed to Cole, popped up onto her toes and bussed his scratchy cheek, thinking he’d put her in her place without humiliating her and now he was kind enough to take her horseback riding for the first time in her life. This guy was too good to be true. “See you soon.” When she pulled her head back, the flash of fire in his dark eyes sent more hiss and sizzle slicing through her, except this time it sank deeper. She couldn’t very well stand there locked in his sight, not when Flora’s little hands flapped like a hummingbird, so she turned and headed out of the stable. As she strode toward the house, she realized she was out of breath and it had nothing to do with walking or carrying Flora.
*
Cole refused to be a cliché, damn it—boss falling for his attractive employee. But he stood there, watching her walk away, enjoying every sway of her hips and the bounce of her dark hair, and liking the way it made him feel alive in a way he’d forgotten lately. This was crazy.
And it had to stop.
He started to saddle O’Reilly, the Irish pony from Connemara, dark brown with calico markings on her legs, for himself—his father had brought her over five years ago for the ranch—thinking Trevor’s aging buckskin Appaloosa, Zebulon, would be good for Lizzie. He relaxed and enjoyed the process of saddling the horses, not having to think, just mindlessly following the steps. He should let go and see what the afternoon would bring, think of it as nothing more than a relaxing ride with a lovely lady. What harm could that do? Then tomorrow, back at the clinic, he’d go back to business as usual. Because he couldn’t let his growing attraction to Lizzie interfere with what was best for her. Best for both of them.
Thirty minutes later, Lizzie showed up in jeans and tennis shoes—better than flip-flops anyway—obviously eager, though nervously chewing her lower lip. That expression alone nearly stopped him dead in his tracks. He really needed to quit focusing on her mouth.
“Ready?” he said, going into forced casual mode. The horses were saddled and waiting.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
He couldn’t stand there staring at how cute she looked, so he moved in, weaving his fingers, making a footrest for her to launch off. “Put your left foot here and swing your right leg over Zebulon’s back.”
For once, she didn’t resist, but followed instruction to the T.
“Now slip your feet into the stirrups, so I can adjust them. You can hold on to the horn for now.” He shortened the stirrups to fit the length of her legs. “How’s that feel?”
“About right, I guess.” She looked all around stiff and anxious, and he tried to remember how he’d felt the first time he’d sat on a horse. But he’d been way too young to remember all the details now. Come to think of it, he kind of had grown up on a horse.
Not wanting to prolong her worries, he handed her the reins. “Hold these gently, no need to pull them. When you want Zebulon to walk, just squeeze your inner thighs right here.” He patted the area just behind the horse’s girth. “When you want to stop him lean back a touch and pull back on the reins. Not too hard, though—he’ll get the message.” He stroked Zebulon’s neck and kept talking. “Just don’t do too many things all at once ’cause that will confuse him and he’ll ignore you. Oh, and horses prefer gentle voices.”
Her eyes were large, concerned-looking and maybe a little panicked.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Zebbie’s gonna follow O’Reilly, and we’ll take it easy for your first time. Okay?”
She nodded, still looking uncertain, an expression he’d rarely seen on her.
“I’m not gonna let anything happen to you, Lizzie, so relax. Zebulon will pick up on your nervousness and he’s known to be stubborn. You don’t want to set off his stubborn button.”
“Okay.” Her nostrils flared slightly when she said it, and Cole understood the city slicker felt completely out of her element, so he grinned warmly to help soothe her.
“You’re going to do fine,” he said in his gentlest voice, as if he were talking to a spooked horse.
“If you say so.” She
sounded breathy, and he liked it. A lot. He gave her a quick lesson on how to turn the horse right and left, and let her practice a time or two with him right there in case anything got fouled up.
Once he’d mounted O’Reilly, they set off at a measured pace until he sensed Lizzie was settling in. “See that ridge way out there?”
She followed his direction and narrowed her eyes. “Yes.”
“From there you can see the entire ranch. Feel like giving it a try?”
Obviously hiding her nerves, she gave a courageous firm nod, and he admired her for that. But he admired her for a lot of things, and not all of them strictly physical. This woman had a lot to offer, and some guy down the road would be lucky to have her. “Let’s go.” Not him. “Remember, whenever you want Zebulon to go, squeeze your thighs together. If he doesn’t respond right off, squeeze a little tighter.”
She suddenly shared a shaky yet beaming smile with him. “No wonder women like to ride horses.”
He laughed—now that was the lady he was used to—and led out, wondering how it might feel to have Lizzie Silva squeeze her thighs around his hips. Oh, damn, he wasn’t going to be a cliché. Don’t forget.
The clear sky left the sun alone to bake their backs as they rode at a trot toward the trail to the ridge. “How you doin’?” he called back.
“Surprisingly well. This is fun.”
He turned to look at her and was rewarded with her happy expression along with a lightly flushed complexion. Yeah, he didn’t know one person worth their salt who didn’t enjoy riding horses. With one last glance and smile, he switched back and led the way to the ascending trail.
“What’s up with you and your dad?”
Whatever peace and tranquility he’d gathered up so far on this ride vaporized as chaotic memories broke in. “What do you mean?”
“There’s some major tension between you two. Am I right?”
He hated when people saw right through him, especially when he’d worked so hard to cover it up. “We have some old business, I guess you could say, like everyone.”
“It seems pretty current to me.”
Was it her street smarts or her training as a doctor that had her zeroing in on the situation? “Well, if you want to focus on the current issues, he’s getting old and neither Trevor nor I want to take over the ranch.”
“It’s his legacy, right?”
“Yup. Key word being his, not mine or Trev’s.”
“He’s worked hard to build it.”
“That he has. I think he holds me responsible for Trevor following me into medical school. I was the firstborn and it was taken for granted I’d take over someday, maybe build an empire for the Montgomery name—best steer in the country. You know how that goes.”
“Not really. Foster care, remember?”
“Oh, right, I’m sorry. So you probably fall on the ungrateful-son side with my dad, then, right?”
“No judgment from me.”
He decided to leave it at that, since he hadn’t figured out how to bring up the subject with his dad and didn’t think a woman who’d never had a dad could be empathetic. Things were complicated. He’d made a great career for himself yet his father still thought of him as a runner. “I’ve used my career to avoid dealing with him.”
“You don’t come home much?”
“Not since my mother died.”
“I can kinda tell he still loves and misses her. Probably why he likes to play grumps all the time.”
“I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain. Never did. Tried to impress a girl and fell off a bucking bronco, broke my neck. Then got it in my head I wanted to be a doctor, not a rancher. Then, to make matters worse, Trevor followed my lead. My mom used to keep me and Dad from killing each other when I was a teenager. Theoretically speaking. After my neck, I went the academic route when all Dad wanted was more help with the steer. He wanted to teach me everything he knew, didn’t give a crap about my winning the county scholastic decathlon three years running. Mom put her foot down when he refused to pay for college.”
“Wait a second. You broke your neck for a girl?” That low and husky laugh tumbled out, and, realizing the absurdity of his story, he laughed with her.
“Yup. ’Cause that’s how I roll. At fifteen anyway.”
She laughed until Zebulon protested, then covered her mouth and pushed the last of her chuckles back down her throat. What else was there to say after that? He’d been involved with Victoria for almost two years and had never told her about why he’d broken his neck. Now all he did was take a short horseback ride with Lizzie and spill his guts. He squinted toward the sun, inhaled more fresh air, deciding to chalk it up to the great outdoors and the woman with the green eyes that drove him wild.
Twenty minutes later, with only the creaking of their saddles and the plodding of the horses’ hooves, his lungs filled with crisp air and mind with earned solitude, they’d made it to the ridge.
“Let’s take a break here.” He dismounted, and led O’Reilly to some grass, then started for Zebulon, who’d taken it upon himself to share that patch of prairie grass with O’Reilly and had already moved closer. “Whoa,” he said gently, stopping the horse long enough to allow Lizzie to swing over her leg. He grabbed her from behind by the upper hips and helped her down the rest of the way, liking the weight of her in his hands and the heat simmering from her body.
How many times did he have to tell himself reacting to her like that was crazy?
She turned quickly in his arms, cheeks flushed from brisk air, mood clearly exhilarated from the ride. “That was incredible. I loved it.”
She’d taken right to riding, and discovering she loved it set off a light, flighty sensation in his chest. “I thought you might.”
“Wow!” She’d skipped right past their warm moment that evidently he was the only one feeling, trading him in for the view, but not before he zeroed in on that sexy little mole by her upper lip. “Would you look at that?”
He’d rather look at her, but he followed her invitation toward the cliff. The entire Circle M Ranch sprawled out before them, neatly divided into sections of green and brown grazing land for their steer, separate grazing areas for the horses, perimeter and pasture fencing protecting the cattle from the roads, and irrigated areas where they grew much of their own hay and grains to help feed the steer. Even all the way up here, he could smell the hay. From this angle the view was impressive, even though he’d seen it hundreds of times.
The prairie grass had turned light brown due to summer, covering the rolling hills and flatlands dotted with greener shrubs and trees. Their home was dwarfed by the panoramic view. It was the first time he’d been up here since coming home, and the view, as always, caused a swell of pride in his chest. His father had taken a dream and made it come true. Truth was, Cole wanted to impress her with the Circle M Ranch and all it stood for, to give her a clue how sacred this land was to his father. After their earlier conversation, it was also a lesson for him.
Unless he or Trevor stepped in, their family ranch might be gone in a matter of years. Or the M would be torn down and replaced by someone else’s initial. He didn’t want to dig into those consequences right now, not with Lizzie by his side, but the realization helped him understand better his father’s frustration.
“I don’t think I’ve ever breathed fresher air,” Lizzie said, breaking into his thoughts. A light breeze had kicked up and loose ends of her hair, though mostly pulled back into a ponytail, flicked and tickled around her face.
“Welcome to our little bit of heaven on earth.”
“I can’t imagine what it’s like to grow up in a place like this.”
“I’ll be honest, I took it for granted. Now that I live in Baltimore half the time and Laramie the rest, I appreciate the peace and solitude when I visit.”
“Which isn’t that often, right?”
“Don’t ruin my moment.” Something about Lizzie made it easy to say exactly what he thought without worrying it would
be taken wrong—another exact opposite from Victoria.
“You ever think about moving back?”
He raised his head, taken aback by her comment. Did he? “Let’s just say sometimes I wonder what will happen if I don’t.”
“You think you could live all the way out here and continue to be cutting-edge in cardiology?”
And there was the rub.
“Another good question that I don’t have an answer to.” She’d managed to make him edgy, even while gazing at the cattle kingdom his father had staked out for himself and his family. He had a lot of thinking to do on the subject, especially now with his father growing more frail by the year, hell, by the month.
He really didn’t want to think about that right now, though, not with the tall, intriguing woman standing so near, sharing the view with him. He’d much rather be close enough to smell her shampoo and to see the tiny golden flecks he’d just recently noticed in her soft hazel-green eyes. That tiny mole. Or to think about, for instance, how it would feel to put his hand on her waist.
She must have sensed his thoughts because she turned toward him, pushing hair out of her eyes as she did, smiling and practically willing him to come closer. He took a step or two and she met him halfway. They reached for each other as if they’d planned this lovers’ getaway for weeks. What was going on? He didn’t care; he pulled her into his arms as she stepped closer and soon his desire to sniff her hair and nuzzle her long neck became reality.
They stayed there, hugging, getting used to the feel of each other, and him liking every little discovery. Like how she fit so well against him; her being tall meant he didn’t have to hunch over, which took a lot of discomfort away from his neck. Her head fit neatly beneath his chin, and sharing the view with her made him want to fly. So much of what Lizzie Silva did was disturbing to his equilibrium, yet uplifting, too. He wondered what he did for her, and worried it fell far short of what she managed to bring out in him.
He needed to shut down his brain, to quit overthinking every little thing, because all of these thoughts were stealing from their moments together. Lizzie was normally like a skittish colt, yet right now she snuggled into his chest, relaxed and calm; he couldn’t let this slip by. Soon, though, her head moved from under his chin. He looked downward to her questioning gaze, and without a second thought, he answered her by pressing his mouth to hers. Their lips settled together in a warm and exhilarating seal. Hers were soft and smooth, and he swore he caught the scent of vanilla and tasted it from her lip gloss.
Father for Her Newborn Baby (Cowboys, Doctors...Daddies) Page 7
