“I’m getting there,” he replied as he reached for another piece of chicken.
“Tell me more about your life with your parents,” she said when they’d both finished eating.
She was once again stretched out on the blanket, him also on his side facing her. A pleasant drowsiness had swept over her. Her stomach was full, the shade was nice and the sounds of nature surrounded them.
“What do you want to know?” he asked.
“Anything...everything,” she replied. She rolled over on her back and stared at the leaves above her. “Your family life was so different than mine. It’s kind of like reading one of my tabloids. I find it interesting.”
“Okay, then I’ll start at the beginning. I weighed almost twelve pounds when I was born. My mother swore she felt like she was birthing a continent,” he began.
She smiled. “Was your father a big man?”
“No, but apparently my grandfather was well over six feet tall and was considered a big guy. Anyway, from the time I was little my mother schooled me on the fact that I had to be extra careful not to hurt my friends because I was so much bigger than all of them.”
“The gentle giant,” she murmured.
“Something like that,” he agreed. “My dad got me into football when I was six and I played in junior high. They attended every game, carrying silly signs to cheer me on. Every Sunday Mom made a pot roast and I’d wake up with the smell of it filling the house. We’d all sit down at noon for a big meal and then later that night we’d have leftovers while we watched television together.”
That was the last thing she heard as she fell asleep and dreamed of a family life that included pot roast on Sundays and parents who cheered for their child’s success.
* * *
Forest knew the precise moment she fell asleep: her chest rose and fell in slow, even rhythm and her eyes closed and remained closed even after he’d stopped speaking.
He watched her sleep, taking the advantage to admire the splay of her fiery hair against the blanket, the curve of her slightly parted lips and her petite but sexy body in complete repose.
Her eyelashes were long and her jawline sweetly curved to her strong, determined chin. He could look at her forever and find something new to admire...like the faint hint of freckles he’d never noticed before that danced across the bridge of her nose and across both shoulders.
He’d like to kiss each freckle. He’d like to give her a kiss that would awaken her like a sleeping princess. But he was no prince. He was just an ill-educated cowboy who had no business lusting after her.
Besides, he didn’t care how long she slept. He wouldn’t awaken her. He was content to just sit and wait for her to wake up on her own. He had a feeling Dr. Patience Forbes probably functioned most of the time on pure adrenaline and cheese puffs. She worked long hours and he doubted she ever got the sleep she really needed.
He frowned as he thought about her confession about her sexual experience in the shadow of a silo. How traumatic it must have been for a young woman to give her virginity to a young man so callous, so cruel.
Was it any wonder that she had trust issues? She’d had no family to nurture her and the one time she’d let down her guard it had been disastrous for her.
He wanted a family and she needed one, whether she knew it or not. But one picnic, one day in the fresh air wasn’t likely to change her mind about her wants and needs and she was a woman who believed she needed and wanted nobody.
How could he want a woman who didn’t believe in love? His growing feelings for her were those of a fool, but he didn’t know how to stop himself from being a fool where she was concerned.
She slept for almost two hours and then shot up to a sitting position. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” She shoved a strand of her shiny curly hair behind one ear. “How long have I been asleep?”
“About two hours,” he replied. “And don’t apologize, you obviously needed it.”
“You must have been bored to death.”
“Not really, I made up songs to the sound of your snoring.”
She stared at him, obviously appalled until she saw his teasing grin. “You are so full of baloney,” she said. “Even if I was snoring, Mac might be able to make up songs, but I’d bet songwriting is out of your repertoire.”
He laughed. “You’ve got that right. I can manage a two-step for an impromptu barn dance, but I’m definitely not musically inclined. I’ve even been told that my singing closely resembles the sound of a bullfrog.”
“I’ve never sung in front of anyone before,” she replied. “But I have a feeling I’m not very good at it, either.” She looked around and then back at him. “Should we finish packing up and go?”
“Probably. By the time we get back dinner should be ready.” He stood and she did as well. They packed the remaining food and the plates they had used back in the duffel, leaving no trash on the property.
“I can’t imagine being hungry again so soon.” She picked up one end of the blanket and he grabbed the other. They folded it together and then he tucked it back beneath the saddle and fastened it and the duffel into place.
“It will take us a while to get back,” he replied. “By then I’m sure you will have worked up an appetite again.”
They were relatively quiet on the slow horse ride back. Once again his senses were all filled with her, the scent of her, the intimacy of his thighs pressed against hers, and his ever-growing desire for her.
She was the opposite of everything he wanted in his future and yet she was the woman he wanted. Each and every moment he spent with her only confirmed that fact. She was going to break his heart. He felt it in his soul, in his very gut. She’d made no indication that she shared any of the same feelings for him that he did for her.
He would be her knight in shining armor while she was here at the ranch, protecting her from further harm, but when her work here was finally done she’d be headed back to Oklahoma City and a life that had no space in it for anything except her work.
The breeze blew a wave of loneliness through him. It was a familiar hollow air. Despite his friendships with his working cohorts, loneliness had chased Forest for the past several years.
He was thirty-two years old and ready to find a special woman and build a life with her. He was hungry for children and pot roast Sundays. He wanted more from life than to be a single cowboy humming the lonely blues, but he was certain that despite his growing feelings for Patience, she wasn’t the woman who would fulfill his dreams.
He told himself it was enough that he keep her safe while she finished up her important work here. Hopefully when she was done she would unearth some clue that would point Dillon to the guilty.
By the time they got back to the stables and Forest unsaddled and stalled Thunder, it was almost five. “How about we head to our rooms and shower and by then we can get a bite to eat in the dining room,” he suggested.
“Okay, although I’m not a bit hungry.” They began the walk back to the motel.
“Once you smell whatever Cookie has prepared for the night I’m sure you’ll be able to eat just a little bit.”
She nodded and then stopped in her tracks. “I never saw who attacked me.”
Forest stopped beside her and looked at her. Her gaze was distant and it was obvious to him she was accessing her missing memory from the night she had been attacked.
“I was walking back to my room from the tent and I thought I heard a whisper of sound behind me. I turned around once and didn’t see anyone in the darkness. I’d only taken a couple more steps when I heard the sound again. But before I could turn I was hit in the head and that’s the only thing I knew until I came to at the hospital.” She sighed. “I didn’t get a single glimpse of my attacker. I was hoping that once I remembered I’d have a memory that might help identify who it was
.”
She began to walk again, this time in quick, hard steps. “Patience.” Forest hurried after her, recognizing she was angry.
She twirled around, her eyes narrowed. “What?”
“You’re displaying anger and that’s not what you’re really feeling. If I was to guess—you’re frustrated that you didn’t see the attacker. You’re frightened because you don’t know who hit you or why. You’re falling into an anger mode because that’s safe and familiar to you.”
She stared at him as if he was a steer with three heads. He tensed, expecting a full-blown explosion of temper from her. Instead she drew in a deep breath and blew it out on another deep sigh.
“For a man who has had very little formal education, you might be too smart for your own good. I am frustrated and more than a little bit scared, but anger is such a richer, more fulfilling emotion to dwell in.”
“If you say so,” Forest replied as they continued to walk.
“Don’t you ever get angry?” she asked curiously.
“Not often and I try to save it for really important things, like a man beating on a woman or a kid, or somebody abusing an animal. That kind of crap makes me angry. It’s just not an emotion I tap into very often. Do I get frustrated at times? Sure. Do I get impatient or irritated, absolutely.”
“I go from zero to bitch in sixty seconds,” she confessed.
He smiled at her. “I’ve noticed.” By that time they had reached her room. “Thirty minutes okay with you?”
“That should be plenty of time,” she replied. She unlocked her door. “I’ll see you in thirty.”
Forest waited to hear the door lock behind her and then he headed for his own room and a quick shower. As far as he was concerned, the day had been pretty near perfect. He’d managed to keep her away from her work and hopefully keep her brain moving at a slow, healing pace.
There was no way to keep her from returning to the blue tent tomorrow and he had no idea if her going back to her work would increase a danger to her or if her attack had been due to her angry words with the nasty ranch hands from Humes.
Realizing he hadn’t heard from Dillon, he called the lawman as soon as he got into his room. Dillon answered on the second ring.
“Dillon, it’s Forest. I was wondering why we haven’t heard anything about the Humes men and their whereabouts when Patience was attacked.”
“You haven’t heard from me because I have nothing to report,” Dillon replied, his frustration evident in his tone of voice. “The three men in question were alibied by several of their other coworkers for the night in question. Apparently there was an all-night poker game.”
“Why am I not surprised,” Forest replied dryly. “Whenever we have a fire set, fencing destroyed or an outbuilding damaged those men always alibi each other. They have more poker games than ranch dogs have fleas.”
“And I’ve always tried to break those alibis,” Dillon replied. “But they’re thick as thieves and I can’t get one to turn on anyone.”
“Then we still don’t know the who or the why of Patience’s attack. She just remembered that when it happened she didn’t see who did it. She was hit from behind and can’t identify who did it.”
Dillon released an audible sigh. “So that means everyone remains on my suspect list.”
“Do you think I’m the wolf guarding the hen house?” Forest asked.
“I sure hope not. I figure that night you found her unconscious and drove her to the hospital if you’d wanted her dead, she’d be dead. You could have snapped her neck like a twig and nobody would have been the wiser.”
Forest breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing he wanted was for the chief of police to believe he had taken on the guard duty of Patience to hurt her rather than to save her from any other approach of danger.
“I’m glad to hear that. You’ll keep me informed if you learn anything?” he asked.
“I’ll let you know anything I believe you need to know,” Dillon replied.
Minutes later Forest stood under the shower and tried not to think about the fact that Dillon had everyone on the Holiday Ranch on his radar.
He shoved away the thought that any one of the cowboys here was capable of killing six young men in cold blood. Nor did he believe that anyone here would harm Patience in any way. He knew these men, he knew their hearts, their past hurts and there was no way he thought one of them was capable of this kind of violence against another person.
It was exactly thirty minutes later when he knocked on Patience’s door. She stepped out of her room, and as always a spark lit up inside him at her mere presence in his company.
“Okay, I’ll admit it. I smell something barbecue in the air and I’m ready to eat again,” she confessed.
“Far be it for me to say I told you so,” he replied with an easy smile.
They fell into step as they headed around the building to the dining room where they were greeted by the others who had already gathered for the evening meal.
Barbecue pulled beef on buns, coleslaw, baked beans and corn bread were on the menu and Forest was amused when Patience filled her plate with a little bit of everything.
“I don’t know why I’m so hungry again,” she said when they were seated in the same places at the same table as the night before.
“Fresh air and sunshine, they always build a healthy appetite,” Forest replied. “Besides, there’s nothing wrong with eating a good meal.”
“You’ve had me eat more in a couple of days than I have in an entire month,” she replied.
“And I’m proud of that,” he boasted in return.
As always the dining room filled with laughter and talk of the day’s work. Patience ate with a healthy appetite, and after dinner Mac picked up his guitar. Patience and Forest joined the others on the sofas to listen to the music.
They stayed later than they had the night before and when they left to walk her home, a brilliant pink sunset splashed across the sky.
“Thank you, Forest. I appreciate all the trouble you went to. It’s been a nice day,” she said as they rounded the building to her room door.
“It has been,” he agreed. “And to top it all off we get a lovers’ sunset to boot.”
“A lovers’ sunset?” She leaned against her closed door.
He gestured toward the western sky with its vivid pink color. “That’s what we call a pink sunset around here.”
“That’s just a case of scattering,” she replied. “It’s the way air particles are...”
He didn’t want to hear her scientific explanation about a beautiful sunset. He acted purely on instinct and the desire that had simmered through him for what seemed like forever.
He reached out, pulled her into his arms and took her mouth with his. He expected a slap or a full-blown temper tantrum from her but he was willing to take the chance. It was a chance worth taking. Instead of yanking away from him, she kissed him back.
She melted against him, her lips parting to allow him to deepen the kiss. Her mouth was hot and hungry against his. Her tongue swirled with his and then she abruptly broke the kiss and stepped back from him. Her back slammed into her door as her features radiated a stunned expression.
“I... I need to go.” She pulled her key from her pocket and unlocked her door.
She was about to make her hasty retreat when Forest caught her by the arm. “I don’t need scientific facts about what I see in the sky. It’s a lovers’ sunset, Patience, and that’s all I need to know about it.”
He released his hold on her arm and she escaped into her room, closing the door and locking it behind her.
Chapter 8
“I’m so glad you’re feeling better,” Devon said as he greeted Patience at the tent entrance the next morning. “I was worried about you, but everyone kept me u
p to date on your condition and it was obvious you were in good hands with Forest.”
“Thanks, Devon, I’m fine and now it’s time for us to get back to work and finish up this job as soon as possible.” They stepped into the tent where she pulled on her white lab coat and Devon put on his.
She sat in front of her computer while Devon stood patiently nearby. He probably thought she was studying the picture in front of her of the burial site, but in truth she was attempting to find her focus.
It was true, she felt fine. Her headache was long gone and she was well rested, but she couldn’t get that kiss with Forest out of her mind. It had been so unexpected and surprisingly welcome and wonderful.
That was the part that had her confused—the fact that she’d liked kissing Forest so much. Her brain was a bit muddied this morning.
She’d expected some awkwardness when Forest had appeared at her door to walk her to the tent that morning, but thankfully there had been none. He’d talked about the brief rainstorm that had moved through overnight and how little the storm had done to alleviate the dryness in the area.
By that time they were at the tent where she knocked on the trailer to signal Devon that it was time to get busy. Forest had walked to the corral where the horse awaited him.
“We’re halfway through to the end of things here,” Devon said, pulling her from her thoughts. “There are only three skeletons left to deal with. Maybe you should head back to Oklahoma City and let me finish up here.”
She turned to look at him in surprise. Why on earth would he say such a thing? She was the official in charge of this site.
“Patience, I’m just thinking about your safety,” he said. “I talked to those men who you met in the café and they all swore to me they had nothing to do with the attack on you. I believe them and that means somebody else, like maybe the killer, is after you.”
She fought against the sudden quickening beat of her heart at his words. She was not going to be chased away from here by anyone until the job was done. “I started this work and I’ll finish it. Besides, if the person who murdered these people kills me, when you take over for me you’ll be his next target.”
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