She lifted her chin. “The last I heard, this was a free country. I choose my own friends.”
His smile startled her, until she realized it was more like a snarl. “Not on Macklin land. You’ll do as you’re told, or you can find another job.”
“’You can’t fire me for what I do on my own time.” She stuck her nose up and smiled right back.
“But I can fire you for sexual harassment,” he murmured, his tone dropping to a low threat.
For a second, his words didn’t make sense. When they did, she burst out laughing. “That’s the most absurd thing I ever heard.”
“Is it?” He took a step toward her.
His physical warmth invaded the front of her body, then encircled her like a lover’s caress. She became aware of her own physical nature in a way that she hadn’t been conscious of in a long time. The need to touch, to share caresses, became overpowering. It was the oddest thing….
A shudder tore through her. Warnings clanged in her head like a five-alarm fire. Before she could react, his hands settled on her shoulders.
She stared at him, unable to believe what she saw in his eyes. But she wasn’t mistaken. He lowered his head, his intent clear.
He meant to kiss her.
Her own eyes closed involuntarily, the lids too heavy to hold open when his mouth brushed across hers, warm and slightly moist.
When he moved away, she licked her lips and found the taste of him—a tangy blend of the lemonade he’d been drinking and the subtle, spicy flavor of his mouth—on them.
He didn’t give her time to retreat. Instead, he took another kiss, this time moving swiftly between her surprised, parted lips to claim her mouth, driving out any protest she might have made.
A flash of agony, of some strange desire stronger than any she’d ever known, surged through her. Her legs went weak with it. She locked her arms around his waist, needing his help to stay upright under the onslaught of this fierce passion.
Dimly, she knew his intensity was made up of anger as much as anything else. And perhaps frustration that she’d laughed at his warning. Then her thoughts faded into a rosy haze as he moved even closer, his chest rising and falling in quick breaths against hers.
She’d never known human contact could feel so wonderful, so honestly, sweetly right, as his hands roamed her back.
His tongue invaded her mouth again. She answered each moist caress with one of her own, spellbound by all that was happening.
Abruptly, he tore himself from her, stepping back a foot and holding her when she would have instinctively followed.
“Hellfire,” he muttered hoarsely. “What is this?”
He sounded as if he’d discovered some phenomenon that no amount of logical thinking could explain.
“I don’t know, but it was wonderful.”
The wonder went out of him. His face hardened to the ferocity of an enraged eagle. “Now do you see?” he demanded.
“No.”
Giving her a look of pure disgust, he stalked off toward the dark woods. “And from now on, wear a bra,” he tossed back over his shoulder, and marched grimly off into the twilight.
She recovered her wits before he was completely out of sight. “From now on, don’t touch me,” she yelled at his back.
When she turned to stomp inside the house, she faced Elena and the three other women, who looked as shocked as she felt. She nodded to them and headed for her room, thankful for the privacy it provided.
Carly sighed tiredly on Friday. Ty had hurt her position with the other women by walking her to the house. Or maybe it was her own stubborn friendliness with Rodrigo.
Anyway, Elena had changed. She wasn’t exactly cool, but neither was she as friendly as she’d been when they’d first met. A shadow of constraint had edged their conversation all week.
She grimaced. The women weren’t sure of her relationship with the boss. Neither was she. Although he’d stayed away from her, she’d been aware of his presence in and around the ranch each day.
To her surprise, he was a hard worker, taking an active hand in moving bales of hay, checking on the condition of the cattle in the fields or deciding what fields to graze next.
From Isa’s description of his life with his former wife, Carly had concluded Ty Macklin was a playboy type. Now she found she had to revise that opinion.
Her muscles tensed when she heard him laughing with the men at the stables. He was quiet when he approached the porch where she and Elena sat shucking corn. He checked the huge pot after nodding to them.
“Are you two going to work tomorrow?” he asked.
“I am.” Elena glanced over at Carly. “We get extra for working on Saturday.”
Carly hoped the erratic pounding of her heart wasn’t as loud as it seemed to her. “Well, I hadn’t planned on it.” At his sharp glance, she added defensively, “I have things to do.”
Things like planning her future. She wasn’t making much progress. Not that the work kept her from thinking. No, it was just that, for the first time in years, she felt…at peace.
She didn’t understand the feeling. Tomorrow, she was going to drive up to Ashland and visit Isa. Maybe her friend could give her some advice on starting a new boutique.
“We’ll knock off at three tomorrow,” he told Elena. “Martha said they’re having a cookout at six, if you want to join them.” His glance took in Carly, too.
“My husband is coming up with my girls,” Elena told him.
“You know they’ll be welcome.”
Elena smiled happily. The two women worked silently after he left. Carly heard Elena sniff a time or two. The third time, she peeked and saw her friend wipe her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Are you hurt?”
“No.” Elena shook her head and laughed a little. “I don’t know what’s worse—not seeing my family for a month or seeing them and knowing they will be gone in a few hours.”
“I understand,” Carly murmured sympathetically.
A sudden memory came to her. After her parents died, she’d sometimes stood by the window, staring down the road, praying that they’d come to get her and take her home. Knowing that it could never happen hadn’t stopped her from longing for it.
When she’d become engaged, she’d allowed her dreams to revive. She’d thought they would marry and have a home, a family. It came to her she’d wanted those things more than she’d ever wanted the man. Gazing over the pastures, she thought of how wonderful it must be to have roots buried deep in this beautiful land….
Inside, a clock struck the hour. “Three o’clock,” Elena announced. “We’ll put these in the oven to roast. With ham and potato salad and green beans, that should do the men for supper.”
With a tired but grateful sigh, Carly emptied her bucket and carried the corn shucks to the compost pile at the back of the stable. One week down. Three to go. She’d better get serious about scouting out locations for her boutique and sizing up the market. “Do we get paid today?” she asked.
Elena gave her a surprised glance. “Of course. Didn’t they tell you?”
“I forgot to ask,” she admitted.
The other woman shook her head, then smiled. “How have you gotten along in the world without someone to see to you?”
“I always find people like you to keep me informed.” She laughed at her friend’s look of exasperation. Elena’s musical tones chimed in with no hesitation. Carly was relieved as they slipped back into easy companionship.
“We’ll go to the office,” Elena explained, leading the way. “You’ll get paid for six days. Today, also tomorrow for those of us who work the extra day, will be paid next week.”
“I see. Who pays us?”
Elena rolled her expressive eyes. “Come, child. Mama Elena will show you.”
They were paid by check, it turned out. Martha, who seemed capable of running the ranch, had her sign a roster before handing the slip of paper over.
As she walked to her quarters, she
looked at the signature at the bottom of the check. Ty Macklin had strong, clear handwriting. The check was drawn on a company account—Macklin Enterprises—on a bank in Yreka, the town closest to the ranch. Yreka was a thirty-minute drive along a winding road.
After she was showered and dressed, she paused outside Elena’s room. “Knock, knock,” she said.
Elena came out. She looked surprised to see Carly in a skirt and blouse. “You have a date?”
“No such luck,” Carly denied. “I, uh, will probably be gone most of the weekend. I’m going to spend the night in Ashland with a friend.”
“Girl or boy friend?” Elena demanded, her eyes twinkling.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Carly assumed a supercilious expression, then ruined it with a rueful grimace. “No boyfriends,” she lamented.
“Not even…” Dramatic pause. “Ty Macklin?”
Heat seeped into Carly’s ears, and she wondered if her face had turned red. “Alas, no.”
She hadn’t tried to explain that strange kiss the women had witnessed. How could she when she couldn’t explain it to herself? However, it had stayed on her mind all week. At times while she’d been working, heat would sweep through her body like a surge of hot lava, then she would realize she was thinking of him and that kiss.
No caress had ever affected her with the depth and suddenness of that one. She’d sensed raw, hungry passion, restrained anger and an unspoken need, all rolled into one.
“Well, I’ve got to go. See you later.” She left, aware of curious glances from the other women.
Her car was pulled to the side of the driveway. She unlocked the door and opened it. The trapped heat spilled over her. She paused before getting into the stuffy interior.
“Say, you going to town?” William crossed the road. He was a tall, skinny young man, with sandy brown hair that fell in a straight lock over his forehead. He had a nervous habit of pushing it back. He stopped at the rear of the car. “I could use a lift.”
She hesitated, wary of being alone with the cowboy after Ty’s warning. “Uh, where do you want to go?”
“Downtown Yreka.” He grinned at his joke. Downtown was about three blocks long.
“Okay.” She got in and reached across the seat to unlock the passenger door.
After William was settled, she followed the winding road to the town. “Where to?” she asked.
“Just drop me in front of Smitty’s right down the street.” He pointed the place out to her.
She pulled into a side street and stopped beside the small market, which had a pool table, deli and bar at one side of the long room. She recognized the remuda wrangler. He was seated at a table near the windows with two other men.
A shiver of distaste pulsed through her. A week working at the ranch hadn’t changed her mind about the man. There was something about him that reminded her of a reptile—the way his eyes followed her when she went outside or when he came into the dining room to eat and watch her at her work.
Following the main street, she came to the ramp and was soon speeding along Interstate 5. She noticed a sheriff’s car on the shoulder of the road and recognized Shane Macklin, who was talking to a truck driver. The sheriff had the same thick tawny hair that Ty had. It was easy to see that the men were brothers. Shane was a couple of years older.
A bit farther down the road, she took the first exit and drove to her friend’s home. Things were chaotic inside.
“We need a fill-in,” Isa told her, throwing clothes and makeup in a bag. “I’m taking over the lead. Want to do a bit part? It’s only four lines, but you’d get to be on stage most of the first act. Maybe you’ll be discovered.”
“No, thanks. If I walked out on a stage and saw hundreds of people staring at me, I’d faint dead away.”
She nearly did when just one man with sky blue eyes and a smile to tempt a saint’s heart looked at her. She pressed a hand against her chest, worried about the state of her own unstable organ.
Chapter Three
Ty parked in front of Shane’s house, then, following his nose, walked around the flagstones to the back. His brother was standing over the grill, long-handled fork in hand.
“Yo,” Shane called out. “Chicken’s almost ready.”
“Great. I’m starved.”
Shane gave him a critical once-over, but he didn’t comment. Ty had lost weight during the divorce. He hadn’t managed to gain much of it back. Shane, on the other hand, had put on a pound or two since his marriage. Ty felt a pang of envy.
Shane and Tina adored each other. They were generous with their love. It had expanded to cover him and Jonathan, too.
The door opened, and Tina came out, carrying a tray with tall glasses and a pitcher of iced tea. Ty crossed the patio in three strides and took it from her.
“Ty,” she said warmly. “You’re just in time.”
“Why didn’t you call me or Ty to carry the tray?” Shane demanded, clearly exasperated.
“It wasn’t heavy.” She went to her husband and leaned against his arm, not minding his scowl at all. She kissed his chin and smiled up at him.
Ty felt as if a frog had set up house in his throat. He cleared it and asked Tina how she felt. She’d told him earlier that summer, at Jonathan’s sixth birthday party, that she was pregnant. At six months, it was evident.
“Fine. No more false labor.”
“It wasn’t false,” Shane reminded her.
“Well, it went away.”
Ty remembered how worried Shane had been when Tina had gone into labor earlier that month. She’d stayed in the hospital for a few days, taking some kind of medicine through an IV before the doctor had decided she could come home. Ty’d been scared for her and the baby, too.
“Have you heard from Jonathan?” she asked.
Ty shook his head. “Not since I talked to him last Sunday. He’ll be home next week.”
And then maybe the house won’t feel like an empty shell, he thought grimly. He could have come over and eaten with Shane and Tina every night, or he could have eaten with the ranch hands. After Monday night, he’d chosen to eat alone.
“How’s the moving going?” Shane asked when Tina went back inside with strict orders to yell when she needed stuff brought out. He poured two glasses of iced tea and handed one to Ty.
“Okay.”
“But?” Shane questioned, hearing the things Ty didn’t say.
“But not as fast as I’d like.”
“How’s it working out with the female wrangler?”
“Venita does a good job. Actually, women seem better with the cattle than some of the men, but it’s hard to keep them. They tend to get married and have babies.”
“Hmm.” Shane turned the chicken pieces, poked them a couple of times with the fork and declared them done. He turned off the gas to the grill and moved the chicken to a platter on the warming shelf next to a loaf of sourdough bread.
“Hmm what?” Ty asked, knowing there was more that his brother was thinking.
“You should think about a brother or sister for Jonathan. He confided to me that he wanted one a whole lot when he was last here. He needs someone his age on the ranch.” His brother gave him a calculating glance.
Ty scowled at him. “Is that why you sent Carly Lightfoot to be the cook’s helper? Was she supposed to tempt me into married bliss again?”
“Why not?”
Tina leaned out the door of the sun room before he could tell his brother off with a few succinct words. “Okay, you two, you can bring the rest of the stuff.”
Ty felt a surge of affection for her. She’d been good for the family, drawing him and Jonathan into the circle of her and Shane’s love, making them welcome. Tina and Shane worked together as a team. He’d thought to have that closeness with his wife.
It hadn’t worked out that way. While Tina and Shane had been falling in love, his marriage had been falling apart.
He set his thoughts resolutely away from the past. Life was what it wa
s. A person had to accept that.
He brought out platters of vegetables while Shane carried plates and silverware. The two men took their seats at the round patio table. The tiles beneath their feet gave off the heat from the sun while the evening air cooled rapidly.
“Have you been avoiding us?” Tina demanded, hand ing the chicken platter to Ty.
He had. Since Jonathan had been gone last summer and again for this vacation, the loneliness had closed in on him. He was glad for his brother and sister-in-law, but sometimes…well, their happiness got to him.
“Nah,” he said. “I’ve been working.”
They chatted and ate, then sat in the warm sun room until nine o’clock. He helped his brother clear the table before climbing in his pickup and driving home.
The house was dark. He’d forgotten to turn on any lights before leaving. As usual. He went into the study, flicked on a lamp and settled in his favorite chair. With the remote control, he turned the TV on to the news. He wanted the sound of a human voice in the house, even if it was an illusion.
“Now for the weather,” a woman was saying. “What’s in store for us over the weekend, Charlie?”
The news anchor had dark hair and eyes. Like Carly Lightfoot’s. He’d heard Elena and Martha discussing Carly and the friend she was visiting for the weekend. They had questioned whether Carly really was going to visit a female friend.
He wondered, too.
The women liked her in spite of her continued friendship with Rodrigo. She was a good worker who didn’t complain and didn’t mind what she did. She liked to explore the ranch and seemed to enjoy living there-
He realized where that line of thought was taking him. He was not considering another marriage no matter what his son, brother and sister-in-law wanted or decided was best for him.
After the news, he flipped to the PBS station. A nature show depicting life in a far jungle was on. He’d seen it before.
His thoughts reverted to his newest hand. Lightfoot. An Indian name? With that hair and eyes, she could pass for Native American. He was as curious about her as Martha and the women.
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