She quickened her stride, while dusting bits of alfalfa hay from the front of her shirt and jeans. By the time she reached the front entrance, she spotted a man walking toward her. His hat was sitting low on his forehead, making it impossible to see his face, but there was no mistaking the tall, muscled body or that long easy walk.
Noah!
Without even realizing it, her heels dug into the soft earth, bringing her to an abrupt halt just inside the doorway.
He quickly closed the last few steps between them and all at once a familiar trembling began to consume her entire body.
“What are you doing here?” she asked bluntly. “Has something happened to Jett or his family?”
“Nothing is wrong. I saw your light in the barn and thought something might be wrong with one of the horses.”
If she had any backbone at all, she would tell him to get lost. That she would rather crawl on her belly before she asked for his help. But she’d never been a vindictive person. Besides, how could she send him away when everything inside of her was jumping with crazy joy at the sight of him?
“You have a cell phone,” she said flatly. “Why didn’t you call Jett and ask him to check on me?”
His lips thinned to a straight line and as Bella studied his rigid features, she wondered why his kiss had tasted so incredibly good. And why, after days of fighting with herself, she couldn’t get it or him out of her mind.
“He doesn’t need the bother.”
Her boots planted in a wide stance, she folded her arms over her breasts. “You think I’m just a bother, period. Don’t you?”
His nostrils flared. “Do you need any help?”
She relaxed her stance. “I’m not having any sort of problem. I was simply down here visiting.”
The annoyance on his face turned to one of confusion and he glanced over her shoulder, toward the back of the barn. “Visiting? Is someone else down here with you?”
She laughed. “No. Just the horses. I was grooming them and giving them a few treats. They’re very good listeners. Did you know that?”
“I try to listen to mine. Not the other way around.”
She smiled faintly. “No. I don’t expect you ever need to talk to anyone. Not even your horse.”
“You don’t know what I need,” he muttered.
Even though the overhead lighting in the barn was dim, she could see his brooding gaze traveling over her and Bella wondered if he still had the urge to kiss her. Or had he gotten that weakness out of his system?
“Apparently, you don’t either,” she retorted.
“I need to be left alone,” he said stiffly. “I know that much.”
Shaking her head, she stepped toward him. “Seems to me that you’ve had that for seven years. After that length of time you ought to be the happiest man on the planet.”
“Maybe I am, Bella. So if you don’t need my help, I’ll be on my way.”
He turned to go, but she quickly caught his arm. “Noah, wait.”
His gaze scanned her face, then dropped pointedly down to the hand she’d curled around his forearm. “Why?” he asked simply.
Once again she could feel herself trembling, her heart pounding. He was like a drug, she decided. One that entered her bloodstream the moment she laid eyes on him. “I—because I wanted to thank you for stopping. I’m grateful that you cared enough to offer your help.”
He glanced away from her. “It was stupid of me. You don’t need a man’s help. Especially mine.”
Even though his remark was cutting, at least it gave her a glimpse of how he actually viewed her.
“What gave you that idea?” she asked.
He didn’t answer immediately and about the time she’d decided he was going to ignore her question completely he turned his attention back to her.
“You’re a successful career woman, Bella.”
Reluctant to remove her hand from his arm, she left it there, relishing the warmth of the hard muscle beneath her fingers. “I see. So that makes everything easy for me.”
“Something like that.”
Her short laugh was full of disbelief, but she didn’t expand on the matter. This chance meeting with him was too precious to have an argument cut it short.
“I have supper on the stove,” she told him. “If you’ve not eaten yet, I’d like for you to join me.”
He started to pull his arm away, but she tightened her hold on him.
“I can’t. My clothes and boots are nasty.”
“I like you just the way you are. Tells me you’ve been working. Besides, I owe you a meal.” She dropped his arm and stepped over to where a light switch was situated on the wall. After flipping it off, she said, “I’ve already put the horses back in the pasture. So if you’ll help me shut the doors, we’ll be on our way.”
To her relief he didn’t put up any more argument and after the double doors on the barn were secured, they walked side by side along a path outlined with solar footlights.
At the back of the house, they entered the kitchen, where Bella went straight to the sink and began to wash her hands.
“Hang your hat and make yourself at home,” she tossed over her shoulder. “You know where the bathroom is.”
When she heard no movement behind her, she looked over her shoulder to see him standing in the middle of the room. His hat was clutched in both hands and from the look on his face, bolting was the main thing on his mind.
“Is anything wrong?” she asked.
He raked fingers through his flattened hair and two pieces fell onto a black eyebrow. “Bella, didn’t you hear anything I said the other evening?”
With her back to him, she dried her hands on a paper towel. “Yes. I heard everything you said. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to follow your orders.”
“I said some nasty things to you.”
“Yes, you did,” she agreed. “But I’ve already forgiven you. Besides, you were only trying to make me dislike you.”
She heard his footsteps come up behind her and it was all she could do to keep from turning and sliding her arms around his waist. She wanted to rest her cheek upon his chest, to smell his skin, feel his breath upon her hair and the warmth of his body seeping into hers.
“Bella, why are you making this so hard for me?”
His voice was soft and the sound caressed her like gentle fingers on her skin.
She turned to face him and the anguish and need she saw churning in the blue depths of his eyes touched her as nothing had before.
Swallowing at the tightness in her throat, she said gently, “Noah, I’m not trying to make you miserable. I enjoy your company and I think you enjoy mine. I’m not asking you for anything. Just a bit of your time. What can be wrong with that?”
“All right,” he surrendered. “As long as you know there can be nothing between us—nothing serious, that is. I guess it won’t hurt for us to be friends.”
Joyous relief poured through her and she gave him a wide smile. “Friends, yes! Now you go on and wash up while I get our meal ready. I hope you like beef stew.”
He gave her a half smile, yet Bella felt as though he’d just given her the moon.
“Sure. I like it just fine.”
She watched him leave the room, then sped over to the stove and switched a flame on under the pot of stew.
Noah was staying! Her heart kept singing the words over and over as she set the table, fetched crackers from the pantry and heated cornbread muffins in the microwave.
Have you lost your mind, Bella? Just because Noah is going to eat a bowl of stew with you doesn’t mean it’s time to get all dreamy-eyed and sappy in the head. The man said he’d be friends. And you can bet your bottom dollar that’s all he’ll ever be to you. So why bother? Why are you feeling all this silly romantic joy? It’s only going to hurt you later on.
The voice going off in her head was something she’d been fighting ever since she’d discovered Marcus had been having affairs. Each time she’d let herself
look at a man or dream of having a family, it reminded her how he’d shattered her trust, her whole future. But time had helped heal the hurt she’d endured from her cheating ex-husband. Oh, she still had scars from the ordeal, but she was determined not to let Marcus ruin any more of her life. It was time to let herself hope and love and plan again.
By the time Noah returned to the kitchen, she had everything set out on the table except for their drinks.
“I have a pitcher of iced tea, but if you’d rather have beer, I think I have one in the refrigerator,” she told him.
“The tea will be fine.”
She poured their drinks. “Everything is ready. Let’s eat.”
He helped her into the long bench, then took a seat at the other place setting. All the while, Bella could hardly keep her eyes off him. This evening he was wearing a white Western shirt made of heavy cotton. Since his trip from the bathroom, he’d rolled the long sleeves back on his forearms and his dark skin made a vivid contrast next to the shirt. His damp hair was smoothed back from his forehead and lay in curling tendrils at the back of his neck. Just looking at his rough, rugged exterior practically took her breath away.
“So how did your day go?” she asked as she ladled thick stew into a bowl and passed it over to him.
“Busy. We moved cattle from Sage Meadow over to Salt Lick Flats. Reggie took a spill on his horse but thankfully he and the horse are okay.”
“That’s good. I’m sure you know that Reggie and his wife have a new baby girl. It would be especially awful for him to be hurt now.”
“Yeah. His wife has been pretty fragile ever since the baby was born, so I think Reg has been having to shoulder a lot of the household chores at home, along with his work on the ranch.”
“Oh, I wasn’t aware Evita was having problems. I should pay her a visit and see if I can help in some way.”
He looked at her. “You’d do that?”
His surprise put a frown on her face. “Why wouldn’t I? Reg is a part of our ranch family. And I know Evita well. I’ll make a point to go by their place tomorrow.”
He didn’t say anything as he began to eat and Bella wondered why it surprised him that she’d want to help a friend. True, he didn’t really know her, but surely he could see she wasn’t a snob or self-absorbed person.
You’re a successful career woman.
He’d stated the fact as though that set her above other women and made men an unnecessary part of her life. She could only hope he’d give her the chance to show him how wrong his thinking was.
“Jett told me you left work early today.”
Her spoon paused halfway to her mouth. “Jett was talking to you about me?”
He didn’t look across the table at her. Instead, he focused on the bowl of stew and the muffin in his hand. “He’s a little concerned about you. That’s all.”
Before she’d left the office this afternoon, Jett had asked her why she’d been moping about all week. Bella hadn’t been able to tell him the truth of the matter. That she’d been miserable over her argument with Noah. Unless Noah had mentioned their little Sunday dinner to Jett, then her brother didn’t even know she’d been with the ranch foreman, much less that she’d been kissing him.
She broke off a piece of muffin and slathered it with butter. “I’m fine. I wrapped up a trial case this morning and the rest of the work on my desk can wait until Monday, so I decided to close up shop and come home.”
“To go riding?” he asked.
Bella shook her head. “I considered it. But I ended up staying here in the kitchen instead.”
A few moments of silence passed as they continued to eat. Finally, he said, “This is good. Where did you learn to cook? From your mother? Or do you watch all those cooking shows on television?”
She chuckled. “How do you know about cooking shows? You don’t have a television.”
“So you noticed. You must think I’m really eccentric.”
She could have told him that she’d noticed everything about him and his modest home. Moreover, she’d spent these past few days thinking of little else.
“Not really. Actually, I’m a little envious. Sometimes I wish I could do away with every technical gadget I own. The contraptions intrude not only on our privacy, but also upon a person’s life.”
“But the convenience is nice,” he reasoned. “When I’m out somewhere on the ranch and need to make a call to Jett or someone, I don’t have to ride all the way into the ranch yard to reach a phone. That is, if the signal is strong enough for my cell phone to work.”
She nodded. “When Jett first got the ranch from our grandparents, there wasn’t even a phone in the house. Now he has a little office inside the barn, complete with a landline and internet access. The ranch has changed so much these past few years. And mostly because Sassy became a part of Jett’s life.”
“Hmm. I’ve not forgotten the first day Jett went to pick her up at the airport. Instead of taking her to the hotel room she’d already reserved, he brought her here to the ranch.”
Bella chuckled. “That’s right. And she’s been here ever since. At that time none of us knew she was actually Orin Calhoun’s daughter. I think it still shocks her to think she’s part of such a wealthy family.”
He grunted mockingly. “There’s no chance of that happening to me. I know for a fact which side of the track I came from.”
She thoughtfully stirred her stew. “Sassy came from very humble beginnings. You know, her adoptive parents perished in a fire when she was just a young teenager. Being wealthy was never her plan. All she ever wanted was a family. And I have a feeling you wouldn’t ever want to be that wealthy—I mean the Calhoun kind of wealth.”
He shook his head. “I don’t need to be rich. Not that way.”
“Lucky for Jett you feel that way or you wouldn’t be content to work here. You’d have a ranch somewhere of your own.”
A shuttered look came over his face as he reached to dip himself another helping of stew from the iron pot sitting in the middle of the table.
“I’d never want a place of my own,” he said.
The sudden sharpness to his voice told her she’d somehow stepped onto sensitive territory.
“Oh. Well, Jett has said he gives you a part of the calf crop every year as a bonus and you’ve never sold a one of them. That gave me the idea you might be saving them to put on your own land.”
The corners of his lips tightened. “You believe that’s what defines a man? What he owns?”
Confused by the abrupt change in his attitude, she frowned. “Not what he owns, Noah, but rather what he does.”
He said nothing and Bella could see he wasn’t at all convinced she was expressing how she really felt on the subject.
Holding back a sigh, she picked up her glass and leaned back in her chair. “When Marcus and I first got married he and his two brothers worked for their father’s asphalt company. Marcus located jobs and arranged the contracts. The position paid well and he never had to dirty his hands.”
“Some men are just lucky.”
She sipped the sweet tea, while wondering where she’d found the courage to talk about Marcus. He was a subject she didn’t care to share with anyone. After all, he was a constant reminder that she’d not used good judgment. But something about Noah seemed to open doors inside of her and everything came rushing out.
“Marcus certainly didn’t see it that way. He was constantly harping to me that his family wasn’t giving him the respect or appreciation he deserved. Eventually, he quit and tried to cobble together his own highway construction business.”
A cynical groove marked his cheek. “You can’t blame a guy for wanting to be independent.”
“I understood that part of it. But Marcus was too young and inexperienced to jump into such an endeavor. He borrowed a lot of money, lost it and somehow managed to borrow more. But by that point our marriage was on the rocks.”
His lips slanted with disapproval. “So is that why y
ou divorced him? Because his business failed?”
She shook her head. “His business didn’t fail. After the shaky beginning it started making money. Quite a lot, in fact. But the money, or the fact that he was his own boss, wasn’t important to me. I would’ve much rather had a husband who considered honesty and fidelity more important than his ego.”
He looked at her. “So you divorced him because he was a cheater?”
Blowing out a heavy breath, she placed her glass back on the table and picked up her spoon. “That’s right. I’ve spent a lot of sleepless nights wondering what it was about me that was missing and what Marcus had been searching for in all those other women. The only answer I could ever come up with was that I wasn’t woman enough to keep him faithful.” Smiling faintly, she glanced across the table at him. “But that’s all over with.”
His blue gaze made a long survey of her face and Bella realized that ever since they’d entered the house, she’d not even bothered to glance in the mirror. No doubt her hair was mussed and her makeup had faded away hours ago. But she liked to think that Noah was a man who looked beyond the surface. She only hoped he couldn’t see all the scars and doubts she carried. More than anything she wanted him to think she was brave and strong and worthy of his attention.
“Is it really?” he asked.
Did he actually care? Or was she reading too much into the simple question?
“Truly.”
“That’s good,” he said softly, “because you should never think of yourself as lacking.”
Coming from any other man, she would take those words with a grain of salt. But coming from Noah made them mean something.
“Thank you, Noah,” she said huskily, then feeling a bit like a blushing teenager, she quickly rose from the table and crossed over to the cabinet counter. “Please keep eating. I’m just going to put some coffee on to brew. It will go good with dessert.”
“You have dessert?”
The faint surprise in his voice caused her to chuckle. “Unfortunately, I have an insatiable sweet tooth, so I’m baking all the time. Even when I’m swamped with work, I somehow manage to throw something in the oven. Tonight I have peach cobbler. Made with fresh California peaches. So you might want to save a little room for a dish of it.”
Her Rugged Rancher Page 7
