“Good morning, Tessa,” he greeted.
“Good morning, Joseph,” she replied with an impish grin. “I was beginning to think you were still home in bed. I’ve been waiting for hours.”
He glanced at his watch. “It’s ten. That’s when I told you I’d be here.”
She let out a soft laugh. “I’m teasing. You’re right on time. And Rosie and Rascal are ready to go.”
He glanced over at the horses. “So I see. Sam must have been here earlier and saddled them for you.”
The indignant look on her face had him laughing.
“For your information, Sunday is Sam’s day off,” she said primly.
“I’m the one teasing this time,” he said then turned back to his truck. “I have our lunch already packed in my saddlebags. All I have to do is tie them on and I’ll be ready to go.”
They walked over to the horses and Tessa stood to one side while he fastened the leather bags onto the back of Rascal’s saddle.
“It’s a beautiful morning,” she said. “Not too hot and only a few fluffy clouds in the sky. Is the weather always like this down here in Arizona?”
“As summer goes on, it’ll get hotter. July and August are the months we stand a chance for rain. But even then we don’t get much moisture. That’s why we’re constantly irrigating on Three Rivers.”
“Where does that water come from?” she asked curiously. “The river?”
“We’re blessed to have a spring that never runs dry. We pump it from there. We also have several ponds and an endless number of water wells. It takes all of them to keep the stock watered and the fields irrigated.” With the bags secure, he turned to her. “Ready to go?”
The sight of her smile affected him like nothing he could ever remember. It made everything around him seem bright and special, as though he was seeing the world through different eyes. He didn’t know what that meant, except that it was going to be hell for him when, or if, she decided to leave.
“Sure. I have everything I need already on my saddle.”
Her gaze met his and suddenly he couldn’t stop his hands from wrapping over the tops of her shoulders or brushing his lips against her forehead. “Forgive me, Tessa, but you look so pretty this morning. And I’m very glad to see you.”
The slight tilt of her face had her lips pressed against his jaw and the sweet kiss touched him somewhere deep in his chest.
“I’m very glad to see you, too, Joseph. I’ve been looking forward to today. To being with you.”
Her admission thrilled him, making him wonder if he’d turned into a complete sap. Not wanting to dwell on that idea or give himself the chance to deepen their embrace, he stepped back. “Me, too. So we, um, better get started. Don’t you think?”
She nodded and he quickly helped her onto Rosie’s back. While he mounted Rascal, she asked, “Do you have a certain area picked out to ride?”
He reined the horse alongside hers. “No. You choose.”
“Well, I’ve not had a chance to look at the southern part of the ranch. Have you ever been back there?”
“No. So we’ll discover what it looks like together.”
* * *
For the next hour they rode through fields covered with large patches of cacti and groves of Joshua trees, until the land began to break with deep, brush-filled arroyos. Once they’d maneuvered their horses out of the narrow gorges, they found themselves on a wide mesa covered with a carpet of green grass. In the distance, tall, rocky bluffs made a jagged line across the horizon and Tessa couldn’t resist traveling onward.
“Let’s ride to the bluffs. We might find a nice shade there to eat our lunch,” she suggested.
He shot her an indulgent smile. “Fine with me. Let’s go.”
Twenty minutes later they reached the cluster of rocky hills and Tessa couldn’t help but gasp with delight at the raw, rugged beauty in front of them.
“Oh, Joseph, this is spectacular! Look at the pine trees! And there’s a pool of water over by that red cliff. Let’s have our picnic over there. What do you say?”
“Looks like a great place to me,” he agreed. “Let’s go.”
When they reached the natural pool, they let the horses drink their fill, then loosened the saddle girths and turned them free to graze on the patches of grass growing nearby.
“Don’t worry,” Joseph assured her. “The horses won’t leave. They’re trained to stay close.”
“I hope you’re right,” Tessa joked. “Otherwise we’ll have a long walk back. It feels like we’re miles from the house, but that can’t be. I only own a thousand acres. Is this land still on the Bar X?”
“Actually we’re not as far from your house as it feels. We’ve not reached the border fence yet. I expect we’d find it behind this ridge of hills. So we’re still on Bar X land.”
Tessa stared in awe at the spectacular landscape. Then, realizing she must seem like a gaping child, she glanced sheepishly at him. “Just when I think I’m getting adjusted to...Ray’s gift...I see something like this and... I get all choked up.”
“Anyone in your place would feel overwhelmed,” he said gently.
Pushing back the brim of her hat, she quickly dabbed at her misty eyes and gave him a wobbly smile. “Sorry for getting all silly on you. Come on. Let’s eat. I’m starved.”
“I’m starved, too. But not for food. Not just yet,” he murmured.
He moved closer and the dark gleam she spotted in his eyes caused her to draw in a sharp breath. Before she had time to release it, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and lowered his head. Tessa tilted her face toward his and that’s all it took for their lips to connect.
As his mouth fused with hers, a familiar ache swept through her and with it came a jarring revelation. The aching need she was feeling wasn’t just a physical urge to be close to this man; it was flowing from the very center of her heart.
Sweet. All giving. And totally euphoric. The sensations rushing through her were all those things and more. Like dangerous and reckless. Yet in spite of the risks, she was tossing her heart to him and all she could hope for now was that he caught it before it crashed to the ground.
Chapter Seven
Tessa lost count of how many times Joseph kissed her. Not that the number mattered. She could’ve gone on kissing him forever. But something eventually caused him to lift his head and once the contact between their lips was broken, Tessa was so dazed she could hardly focus on his face.
As he eased her out of his arms, she breathed deeply and tried to calm the desire raging inside her.
“I, uh, think we’d better get our lunch,” he said, “Before...”
His awkward pause had Tessa finishing the words for him. “Before things get out of hand.”
“Something like that,” he muttered.
She was trying to come up with a suitable reply when he turned away and picked up the saddlebags packed with their lunch. As Tessa watched him carry the meal over to the wide pool of water, she wondered what he could possibly be thinking. That he wanted to make love to her but had decided he would later regret it?
She fought off the depressing idea and walked to where he was spreading a small square cloth on the ground.
“Is this spot okay?” he asked.
Her lips were still tingling from his kisses, her body still aching to be next to his. She didn’t want to think about eating, yet she was mature enough to understand he needed space and that she needed to give it to him.
“Yes,” she told him. “It’s lovely. The shade from the pines is deep and cool. And I can hear water trickling. Is that coming from the mountain?”
As she eased down on her knees to take a seat at the edge of the small tablecloth, he motioned to a spot in the slabs of red rock jutting from the hillside. “Over there. Looks like you have a spring, too. I don’t know if th
e pool stays full year round. I never heard Ray mention it, but I’m sure Sam can tell you.”
“This is desert country,” she stated the obvious. “The water has to be coming from somewhere deep underground.”
“Look over to your right,” he told her. “Deer tracks where they’ve been watering. I figure mountain lions show up here, too.”
“Let’s hope that species stays away until we eat our lunch,” she said wryly.
Sitting cross-legged, he placed their meal on the space between them while Tessa made herself a comfortable seat on the thick carpet of pine needles.
He said, “Looks like Reeva packed sandwiches of pulled pork. There’s also potato salad and some sort of cake for desert. And I put in canned sodas just in case you wanted more than water to drink.”
“Sounds yummy. Thanks,” she said as he passed half of the meal over to her.
As they began to eat, he cast a sheepish glance in her direction. “I guess you’re thinking I’m crazy or something.”
She lifted her gaze to his and as their eyes met she felt a soft punch to her midsection. “Why?”
He grimaced. “You’re not making this easy for me, Tessa.”
She said, “Look, Joseph, you ended that kissing session because you wanted to—or thought it best. I’m not going to question you about it. In fact, maybe we’d better forget it—again.”
His gaze dropped to his sandwich. “Yeah. That’s what we’re always telling each other, isn’t it? To forget it. But I don’t think that’s working. Not for me or for you.”
He certainly had that right, Tessa thought glumly. They were long past the forgetting stage.
Tired of skirting the issue, she decided to be blunt. “Do you have this sort of problem with your other dates? You can’t decide whether you want to make love to her?”
He sputtered then coughed. “Damn it, Tessa, it’s been a long time since I’ve had other dates. And as for making love—there’s more involved than just wanting—especially with you.”
“Like what?”
He rolled his eyes. Then, lifting the black hat from his head, he raked a hand through his hair. “You’re very young.”
“Not that young,” she countered.
He tugged his hat back onto his forehead. “We’ve not known each other that long.”
“It doesn’t feel that way to me.”
He grimaced. “You don’t intend to stay here permanently. It wouldn’t be smart for us to start something that’s only going to end.”
Her teeth sank into her lower lip as she glanced out at the grazing horses. So he was thinking about the end rather than the beginning.
She said, “I haven’t talked about leaving anytime soon.”
“No. But we both know you will—eventually.”
He didn’t trust her to stay in Arizona and she was smart enough to know he’d never follow her to Nevada. Her throat was suddenly so thick she couldn’t possibly take a bite of the sandwich, but she held on to the piece of food anyway, as though it was some sort of lifeline.
“I think we should talk about something else,” she finally managed to say. “Okay?”
“Gladly.”
She looked at him and felt her heart wince with longing. “So tell me what you’ve been doing at work.”
He picked up a container of potato salad and used a plastic spoon to scoop up a bite. “Nothing out of the ordinary. I worked a quieter area yesterday. Our main office is located in Prescott and that area usually keeps the deputies hopping. Our captain keeps us rotated, though, so none of us is overworked.”
“Do you like things quiet or would you rather be busy?”
He shrugged. “It’s nice to have a break once in a while. But I’d rather keep busy.”
She forced herself to start eating her sandwich again. After a moment she was relieved to feel some of the tension drain out of her.
“Liam, one of the Calhoun brothers, is a detective for the Carson City Sheriff’s Department,” she told him. “Grandfather Bart was never pleased about Liam’s choice to be a lawman. And to make matters worse, a few years ago, Liam was badly wounded in a shootout and nearly died.”
His amber-brown eyes were somber as they settled on her face. “That’s bad. Did he recover?”
The memory of Liam’s close call with death was something that would always remain with Tessa and she shuddered to think how Joseph might possibly face the same danger. That he could end up wounded and fighting for his life.
“By the grace of God, Liam recovered completely and was able to resume his job,” she answered. Then, in the most casual voice she could muster, asked, “Have you ever been in a dangerous situation?”
He glanced at her. “Depends on what you call dangerous. If you mean a shoot-out, no. I’ve never had to draw my weapon. And I hope I never do.”
His answer brought her a measure of relief. “Does your family worry about you?”
“I think Mom does, but she doesn’t let on. Especially to me. And, anyway, she understands there are plenty of other hazardous jobs besides being a lawman. Like Holt’s for instance. Working with young horses is far more dangerous than my job.”
She picked up her potato salad and sampled a spoonful. “Hmm. That’s true,” she admitted. “But a badge on your chest puts a target on your back. Anyway, that’s how it seems to me.”
Joseph scooted backward until his back was resting against the trunk of a pinyon tree then stretched his legs out in front of him. “Yeah, it makes us a target in lots of ways.”
She frowned. “What does that mean?”
His features twisted with sarcasm. “Wearing a uniform and rounding up the bad guys gives us an image that draws the ladies.”
“Are you telling me that’s supposed to be a problem? I thought men loved attention from the opposite sex.”
He made a mocking grunt. “It’s ironic, Tessa. We get the attention, but we have a hard time trying to have a long-term relationship with a woman. At least, that’s the way it’s been for me.”
Her curiosity sparked, she studied the sardonic expression on his face. “So, being a deputy puts a strain on dating? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
“It puts a strain on plenty of things.” He picked up a tiny twig from the ground and tossed it toward the pool. “You might find this hard to believe, Tessa, but there was a time in my life when I was actually thinking about getting married and starting a family.”
Now that Tessa had kissed him and held her body close to his, she couldn’t imagine any other woman being in his arms. The shaft of jealously that lanced through her was unlike anything she’d felt before.
“You were engaged?”
“No. Things never reached that point. And I guess I should be thankful for that much. Neither of the women I was interested in would’ve made a good wife for me. The first one, Candace, turned out to be more interested in my family’s wealth than me. When she learned we’d basically be living on a deputy’s salary, she was outraged. And that was a damned hard pill to swallow.”
“Obviously that was enough to end your relationship with her. Or did you try to work things out?”
He grimaced. “How do you work things out with a gold digger? No. I couldn’t get Candace out of my life fast enough. And for months afterward, I beat myself up for having such a miserable judgment in women. In fact, for a long time I couldn’t bring myself to date anyone. And then I met Willa. She was sweet and cute, and cared less about the Hollister money. She had plenty of her own and hardly needed mine. But the closer our relationship grew, the more I could see she was too emotionally weak to deal with my job. She was terrified for my safety and continually begged me to find another job. She didn’t understand that being a deputy is a part of who I am.”
Try as she might, Tessa couldn’t feel badly about his broken relationships. Instead
she was incredibly relieved that he was unattached.
“So did all of that make you put away your dream of a wife and family?”
He shrugged one broad shoulder and Tessa couldn’t stop herself from imagining how he would look beneath the denim shirt. Would dark hair be sprinkled across his chest? Would the rest of his skin be as tanned as his face? Oh, lord, why was she thinking these things? Why did she want to leave her seat on the ground and move as close as she could possibly get to him?
“Let’s just say after two busted relationships, I don’t have much trust in women or myself,” he answered.
He didn’t have much trust in her either, Tessa decided. He was expecting her to pack up any day now and head back to Nevada. But how could she tell him that the longer she was near him, the more torn she felt about leaving? That would be like admitting she was falling in love with him and she was quite certain he didn’t want that from her.
What does he want, Tessa? To take you to bed? Then end things whenever he decides he’s tired of you?
The questions in her head put a momentary damper on her appetite, but she did her best to shake it away and force herself to eat.
After downing a few bites of potato salad, she said, “Mom always told me if I followed my heart, everything would work out right. Orin tells me the same thing. But I’m not sure if that’s the safe way for a person to maneuver through the dating field. I’ve already made plenty of mistakes.”
“You think of the Calhouns as your family, don’t you?”
She glanced over to see he was regarding her with a thoughtful eye.
“They’ll always be family to me. You see, other than Mom, I don’t have any relatives—at least, any I know of. She was an only child and by the time she was grown, her parents divorced and left Carson City in opposite directions. Mom never got along with them, so I guess it hardly mattered that neither one could be located for their daughter’s funeral. And now...well, honestly, I have no desire to look for someone who never cared about their daughter or granddaughter.”
The Arizona Lawman Page 11
