Kissed by a Rancher

by Sara Orwig

  “That’s nice, Josh. I’m as dazzled as Edwin over the fishing trip. I’m going, but I can’t believe it will happen.”

  He couldn’t, either. “You’ve agreed. You’ve seen New York City in movies and on television—are there places you would particularly like to visit?”

  “Maybe I should let you surprise me with your favorite places.”

  “I don’t think so. I’ve been going since I was a little kid. You tell me what you want to see,” he said, finding his thoughts drifting to where he could take her for dinner each night—someplace where they could dance. He was happy she said she would go. He would have her with him all weekend, and with her hot, sensual responses, he planned on seduction. By Saturday, she might even be eager.

  * * *

  It was two in the morning when Josh kissed her good-night and she went to her room. Finally she was alone and could think about the trip that she had accepted. As she changed into pajamas and took down her ponytail, she knew she couldn’t cancel. She wanted to go. All too soon he would be out of her life forever, and she would be left with only memories of him and few of those. She intended to go to New York on Friday and have the time of her life, to store up memories for later.

  She was too inexperienced to know much about men and love, but she suspected that she was already in love with Josh. When Josh kissed her beneath the rising moon, how could she resist him? And his appeal doubled when she found out he had asked Mr. Hickman to go fishing with him—something so many men Josh’s age would never have taken time to do with someone elderly who was not a relative. All the help he had given her, the hours she had spent just sitting and talking to him—she liked him. He was handsome, sexy, exciting and a world of other good things. When he left, she would go back into the ordinary routine she had always had and would have for the rest of her life.

  One weekend in New York—that was a thrill all by itself. One weekend in New York with Josh—that was beyond her wildest dreams. She thought of their kisses tonight and closed her eyes, tingling and wanting to be in his arms as she remembered his hand beneath her sweater, his caresses that she really hadn’t wanted him to stop.

  Even though she had broken off with Lamont, he was still in Beckett, still an old friend. Would this ruin a future relationship with Lamont? Did she really care if it would?

  She would think about Lamont later. Right now the only man she wanted to think about was Josh.

  Five

  When she opened her eyes the next morning, she faced the realization that this was the day she would tell Josh goodbye—at least until Friday.

  She went down early to get breakfast started, and Josh showed up looking like a rancher in his boots and jeans. A sizzling awareness of him gripped her. As usual, he began to help, working alongside her, as busy as she was until they finally sat to eat their own breakfast.

  As they cleaned up the dining room and kitchen, the doorbell rang. “That’s probably Lamont. I’ll bring him in to meet you.”

  “This should be interesting,” Josh stated.

  When she opened the door, Lamont stepped inside, stamping his feet on the mat. He shrugged off his coat, removed his hat and gloves and crossed the hall to hang them on a coatrack that stood in the corner. He raked his fingers through his straight blond hair.

  “The weather is better, but it’s still cold and nasty out there. How are you doing?”

  “Fine, considering we’ve been snowbound.”

  “It’s slick out there, and we have deep drifts in spots. I have chains on my tires. I wanted to get here before other people get on the streets. Is Edwin around?”

  “He’s upstairs in his suite. But first, come meet one of the guests who’s been very helpful since my brother and sister aren’t here.” She led him to the kitchen.

  Josh put the lid on the coffeepot and turned when they entered, crossing the room to meet them.

  “Josh, this is Lamont Nealey. Lamont, meet Josh Calhoun,” she said, looking at the two together. Josh, with his brown hair, darker skin and dark eyes, looked more dynamic, but perhaps she thought that because she knew the personalities of both men. Lamont’s paler skin was a reflection of his time spent indoors. He was seldom out, and as far as she knew, he did little physical exercise. He didn’t convey the take-charge personality that Josh did, nor did he flirt. He was friendly, cooperative, intelligent and helpful about her bookkeeping, answering her questions when she had any. Lamont was absolutely reliable and he was hometown born and raised, just as she was. He was quiet, but she enjoyed the quiet, just as she had always enjoyed knowing Lamont.

  “Can you sit and join us a minute?” Josh asked.

  “I’d like to, but I better find Edwin. You’re a little out of the way in Beckett, aren’t you? I thought you lived in Dallas. I’ve seen your name in Texas magazines.”

  “I have a home in Dallas. I flew in here to see Jim Lee Hearne about buying a horse, and by the time we were through talking, it was all the cabbie could do to drive me back into town. The roads were closed and I had to stay in Beckett, which has proven to be nice.”

  “Good. Beckett is a very nice town.” Lamont glanced at his watch.

  “Well, it was nice to meet you, and I’m glad you found a place to stay. This has been a beast of a late snowstorm and I hope the last one for this year.”

  “It was nice to meet you, too, Lamont. I’ve heard a lot about you,” Josh said as Lamont and Abby started toward the door.

  “I hope it was all good,” Lamont said, smiling and turning to look at Abby before he continued out of the room with her. She walked beside him up the stairs.

  “I’m glad to see this weather clear,” he said, “but it gave me a chance to get a lot of tax work done while people couldn’t come to the office. It was a good time for uninterrupted work. You don’t need to come up with me, Abby. Edwin is expecting me, and we’ll be going over his taxes. I’ll let you know when I’m leaving.”

  “Sure, Lamont,” she said, pausing at the landing halfway up. She turned and walked back down to find Josh standing at the end of the hall, watching her.

  A rising panic gripped her. Lamont had paled in so many ways next to Josh. Lamont was wrapped up in himself, his job, his own little world to an extent she had never noticed before. Perhaps it was just because it was tax season. This time of year, he always became tense, buried in work and preoccupied. He hadn’t done the things Josh would have—asked if she needed help, inquired about when her brother and sister would return. Lamont was earnest, serious and reliable, and that had been enough to suit her until Josh crossed her path. How big a disaster was Josh turning out to be in her life? And was she contributing to it by agreeing to go to New York with him? Lamont would think she’d lost her wits or was sleeping with Josh, but she was glad she had suggested to Lamont they date other people.

  Josh came forward with his phone in his hand. “The roads are being cleared, but Beckett isn’t on a main highway, so it’ll probably be tomorrow before I can get out of here.”

  She felt an emptiness over the thought of Josh leaving. He made his presence felt. She thought of her father and how charming he could be with the same type of personality, dynamic, charismatic, winning friends, yet so unreliable. He had broken her mother’s heart, never being faithful, never able to stop charming everyone he came in contact with. She had always vowed she wanted the man in her life to be dependable, reliable, steady, settled—like Lamont. Josh was a man like her father, and she was following in her mother’s footsteps and should stop right now. Josh had helped her partly to be nice, but also to keep busy, and she was the only single woman around. He had turned on the charm and been helpful, but if she had shown up in his hometown, he would never have looked twice at her. She should back out of the New York trip, tell Josh goodbye and start trying to forget him. She suspected she wasn’t going to forget him for a long time.r />
  New York with Josh—letting him take her out and show her some of the things she had never dreamed of seeing in person—sounded so exciting. She sighed with indecision. She should back out, but she wanted to go. Josh would make sure she had a good time. And he was right—this would be a once-in-a-lifetime weekend.

  “That’s great,” she said quietly. “I know you want to get home.”

  He pulled out his phone. “I need your cell number—tell me and I’ll put it in my phone right now.”

  With a heavy heart, she watched him enter her number. Then she turned. “I better get back to the kitchen.”

  “I’ll help you with the chores and we’ll be through in no time.”

  “You’re a guest, remember? You don’t have to work constantly.”

  “Beats sitting still and doing nothing, and I’ve got my emails caught up and have taken care of all my business that I can from here. This weekend makes up for the past week,” he said as they walked to the kitchen.

  It was an hour later, as they had the table set for lunch, that Lamont appeared. “Am I interrupting?” he asked, frowning as he stared at Josh.

  “No, not at all,” Josh replied. He had been helping Abby put two trays of dessert into the refrigerator. He stepped away. “Did you finish with Mr. Hickman?” she asked while Lamont stood watching them.

  “For now. He has some forms to fill out. I better get home and back to figuring taxes. This is my busiest time.”

  “I think right now it’s Abby’s busiest time,” Josh remarked.

  “Yes, I suppose. Good to have met you,” Lamont said abruptly. As he walked out of the kitchen, Abby went with him to the front door.

  “That Calhoun fellow is worth a billion,” Lamont said while he shrugged into his coat. “I’d think he could have found somewhere else to stay. What in the world is he doing in Beckett? I know what he said, but why would he want a horse?”

  “He’s also a rancher.”

  Lamont glanced away. “Can you feed all the people you have here?”

  “Yes. I couldn’t if this storm lasted through today, but someone can get me groceries today, or I can walk over there myself and carry some groceries back.”

  “Want me to send Tommy over? He cleared my driveway this morning. He could get your groceries.”

  “Thanks anyway. I’ll get along, and I can probably get out tomorrow.”

  “If that Calhoun fellow is helping you out here, it’s because he wants on your good side for some reason—to keep whatever room you have him in. He didn’t become a billionaire by being nice. You should stay away from him.”

  “Being rich doesn’t rule out being nice. He’s been very helpful.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “He asked me if you and I have ever talked about marriage.”

  “That’s a personal question to ask you and none of his business,” Lamont said, frowning even more. “Is he the reason for your call about wanting to go out with other people?”

  “I just think maybe we’d both be better off if we see others at least a bit.”

  “We’ll talk about it again after tax season,” Lamont said. “Right now I’ve got all I can deal with.”

  “I know you do,” she said, thinking how different Josh’s remarks would be if she had a similar conversation with him. He would flirt, make light of the questions and ask more about her situation. She knew it wasn’t fair to compare Lamont with Josh, but it was impossible to avoid noticing differences.

  “Lamont, Josh has asked me to go to New York this weekend. He has a new hotel opening he wants to attend. It’s just the weekend to see the sights, sort of a thank-you for taking him in out of the storm.”

  Lamont narrowed his eyes at her. “So that’s why you called. You want to date Josh Calhoun.”

  “No. When I called, he hadn’t asked me to go to New York. Being free to date others is something I’ve been thinking about and want to do. It may be better for both of us.”

  “It may be at that. I’m shocked if you’re going out of town for a weekend with him, but that will make it clear to everyone in Beckett that we aren’t exclusive.”

  The phone rang, and she pulled it from her pocket. “Excuse me, Lamont.”

  “You take your call. I’ve got to get back to work. I don’t know when I’ll see you again,” he said and left.

  She answered her phone and heard her brother’s voice. While she talked and learned both her brother and sister might get home late that night, she stood by the window to watch Lamont get into his car and drive slowly away. She was certain he had already forgotten all about her and was thinking about taxes. How would Lamont react if she told him Josh had kissed her in the shadow of the trees under a full moon? Lamont didn’t believe the old legend for one second. Twice he had been with her and others when the heart-shaped shadow had occurred, but he had merely shaken his head and said it was a silly story.

  She finished the call with her brother and returned to the kitchen to find Josh making coffee.

  “You’re getting so you can do this all by yourself,” she said, amused as she watched him.

  “Has Lamont gone?”

  “Yes. He’s preoccupied when it’s tax season.”

  “I’ve called Benny to come pick me up around three,” Josh said, turning to her as soon as he finished with the coffee. “I’ve talked to my pilot. The weather is clear, so I can get home today.”

  “So you’ll be gone today for sure.”

  “Yes, I will,” he said, walking closer to her. “Miss me?”

  “Of course, I’m going to miss you terribly—you’re better help than my siblings.” Her voice changed and became sultry as she ran her finger across his shoulder, feeling his soft brown sweater over hard muscles. “You’re definitely better looking and more fun.”

  His dark eyes flickered. “Now I don’t want to go,” he said, sliding his arms around her.

  Smiling, she pushed his arms away. “You bring that out in me. Maybe I’ve been cooped up too long.”

  “The weekend is coming, and it’ll be fun. Abby, I don’t know if you go out to eat much in Beckett—”

  Smiling, she shook her head. “No, I don’t. Sometimes the family drives to a chicken place along one of the county roads, and after church sometimes we’ll eat at the hotel downtown, but not often. Actually, the food is better here or at Mom’s.”

  “Do you and Lamont go out to dinner?”

  “We rarely ever have. If we’re going to something—a movie we want to see—we usually eat separately at home first and then go. It’s easier.”

  “When you were in school, didn’t boys besides Lamont ask you out?”

  “Yes, but I really never had much fun with any of them, and we didn’t like the same things. I don’t know that I have so much fun with Lamont, but we do like the same things, so that works out. And Lamont doesn’t make demands on me or my time.”

  “It surprises me that you didn’t find anyone you had fun with,” Josh said.

  “Maybe a couple, but I’m wrapped up in my family, and I didn’t go to college and have that chance to meet more people my age. Besides, in high school, I wasn’t ready for sex with those guys, and I’ve been told more than once or twice that I’m very cold.”

  “That speaks volumes about them,” Josh said.

  She nodded. “And the few times I’ve gone out with someone besides Lamont, I think my family might have been a bit much for them. My relatives either live here or right next door. They’re a huge part of my life.”

  “You said Lamont doesn’t have a lot of family. He can deal with yours?”

  “He just stays away. Like I said, we don’t go out a lot.”

  “And you don’t want to leave Beckett?”

  “Oh, no. This is my home, my life, my livelihood. My family is here, which is
the most important thing. Why would I want to leave Beckett?”

  Josh smiled. “I can think of a few reasons why you might want to live elsewhere. Not getting snowbound, for one.”

  She could hear the laughter in his voice. “You don’t understand because you’re a cosmopolitan, sophisticated world traveler. You just can’t imagine the satisfaction I find in my work and this town and the friends I have.”

  He seemed to take that in. “I’ll bet I’m not the first single guy who has stayed here and wanted to take you out.”

  “You’re just the first one I couldn’t resist,” she said as he started to put the dishes on a shelf. When he set them back on the counter and turned to look at her, she shrugged. “That’s just a fact. Don’t let it go to your head.”

  “It just went somewhere else,” he said, crossing the room to her. “I find that a very candid, interesting statement.” As he placed his hands on her waist, his gaze traveled over her features with curiosity in his dark eyes. “I can’t wait for the weekend. I want to see if you can resist me then.”

  “This better be just a friendly, fun trip.”

  “I intend it to be,” he said. “When I asked about eating out in Beckett, I had a purpose. In case you don’t feel you have a dress for New York, when we arrive, I’ll take you to a shop and you can get a dress to wear that night when we go out to dinner.”

  “You don’t have to buy me a dress,” she said, smiling at him.

  “Of course I don’t have to. I want to. You select it or I will, but you’ll get a new dress, I promise you. Now I hear people coming.”

  “Probably looking for me,” she said, turning to go into the hall, trying to even imagine herself in a fancy dress, let alone at a fancy New York City restaurant.

  * * *

  At two-thirty in the afternoon, Abby sat at the desk in her room. She heard the scrape of boot heels on the floor, and she glimpsed Josh enter and cross the room he had rented for his stay. He glanced through the open door and saw her. “Can I come in?”

  “Sure. I’m working on records and very glad for an interruption.”