In Bed with the Rancher

by Sara Orwig

  “I know you can’t and Gerald knows it, too. The rain has to stop and then the water has to run off and the creeks and streams go down. Just relax. We’ll try to find something fun to do,” she said, smiling at him and he smiled in return.

  “May I make a suggestion?”

  “I don’t think so, unless it doesn’t involve both of us and anything where we would touch each other.”

  “Well, you never want to hear my suggestions. They were good rainy-day ones,” he said. “It would just put a bit of fun into our lives and I don’t have to even know who I am to participate and have a great time. You don’t have to do anything, but just be your irresistible self.”

  “I think we should avoid temptation and move on to other topics.”

  He sighed. “I know you’re right and have spent more than half my waking hours since we last talked lecturing myself and promising myself I wouldn’t do what I just did—tell you I want to kiss you. So much for common sense. I’ll try to do better. We can talk about the rain or you can tell me more of your life history. I can’t tell you anything. I’m a blank.”

  “Not really. You have ideas.”

  “Oh, yeah, do I ever,” he said and smiled. “See what I mean? You bring that out in me.” He tried to keep the conversation light, but that wasn’t the way he felt. He wanted her in his arms and he wanted to kiss her. Right now, while he looked at her, his heartbeat was faster. They sat looking intently at each other and he realized she was fighting desire just the same as he was.

  “What do you do to entertain yourself here?” he asked as he sipped coffee.

  “Ride one of my horses sometimes, which is out now. I garden, which is also out. I have a gym and I exercise most days. I run on the treadmill each day. Sometimes I bake things to freeze and take back to Dallas with me. Or I get my camera and take pictures.”

  “If they’re anything like the one over the mantel, they’re good.”

  “Thank you. I have good subjects—my horses, Gerald’s, too, a roadrunner who hangs out here in the summer, owls that are here year-round, a pair of cardinals. Once I caught a mountain lion going through.” She stood and he came to his feet.

  “I’ll start getting breakfast,” she said.

  “I’ll help. What can I do?”

  “I’ll scramble eggs and you pour orange juice,” she said. She walked around the table and they both crossed to the kitchen counter and cabinets. He glanced down at her to catch her looking up at him, and when she did, he knew she wasn’t thinking about breakfast.

  He reached out to take her wrist, but her words stopped him.

  “Breakfast, remember?”

  “No, I don’t remember,” he replied in a deeper voice as he tugged lightly on her wrist to get her closer. “I can only think about one thing. Kissing you again.” He drew her to him. “Even just a good-morning kiss.”

  She wound her arms around his waist. “You know we shouldn’t. At the same time, you know I can’t resist you,” she whispered. She turned her face up to his and her big blue eyes were filled with obvious desire, making his heartrate quicken.

  He leaned down to kiss her and with the merest contact, all his good intentions from last night were forgotten. He knew he shouldn’t be kissing her now, but when he’d finally fallen asleep last night, he’d dreamed about her, and woke up wanting her. He knew she would be out of his life soon and he wanted as much of her as he could have when she was beside him. And kisses weren’t binding.

  Never breaking contact with her lips, he picked her up. She put her hand on his good shoulder while he carried her to a chair and sat with her on his lap, holding her close against him with one arm, cradling her against his good shoulder. His other hand slipped beneath her pink sweater to push away her lacy bra and fondle her breast, her softness making him ache with wanting her naked in his arms. He caressed her lightly. Every touch, kiss and whisper made him want her more.

  She moaned softly as she settled in his embrace. Her kiss was fantastic, blazing hot. Her hands fluttered over him, making him want all of her. His hard erection pressed against her hip as he held her tightly.

  When his hand slipped down to unfasten her belt, she caught his wrist and sat up. She was breathing as hard as he was. He felt on fire with longing and need, for all of her, and wanted to carry her off to bed, her naked body against his. But he saw the determined look on her beautiful face.

  “We need to have some space here,” she whispered and he released her. She stood and walked away.

  Pulling her pink sweater back in place, she turned to face him. “I think you know why I want to stop. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  He stretched and took deep breaths as she left the room. He needed to think about something besides seducing her. Had he ever wanted a woman to the extent he desired Ava?

  He looked out the window and tried to think about the storm. Was anyone out there somewhere, looking for him?

  * * *

  It was just lust, Ava told herself as she escaped down the hall. He was an incredibly sexy man—one who clearly wanted to make love to her. Her eager response to him was no doubt due to her being alone so much. And, she acknowledged, perhaps part of it was longing to stop some of the hurt over her broken engagement. It was a way to put an end to being so vulnerable.

  She shut the door to her suite, and as she brushed her hair, she lectured herself to get it together and exercise self-control. When she heard a car, she looked outside. Recognizing Gerald’s pickup, she went to greet him.

  With his hat pushed back to reveal his thick blond curls, Gerald was already inside, talking to her guest, as she entered the kitchen. He looked strong and cheerful.

  “We’ve got spotty showers predicted all day, so the water won’t recede, but I thought I’d pick you two up and take you to my place. I’ll show Bill some of my horses. You two can spend the day with us today.”

  When Ava started to protest, Gerald held up his hand. “We insist. Molly has already cooked a bunch of stuff, so get your raincoats, lock up and let’s go. It’s just drizzling right now so let’s go while the rain is light. I can’t go home without you.”

  She knew he meant it and they were sincere about the invitation. She was relieved because it was a constant, sheer temptation to be here alone with her guest. Going to the Roan house would work better and she wouldn’t have to worry as much about what she was doing.

  “Thanks, Gerald. I can drive to your place and then you won’t have to come out again later.”

  “Naw, c’mon. I’ll be out for one reason or another, anyway, so I’ll bring you home. Do what you want here. I’ll have a cup of coffee while I wait,” he said, getting his coffee. The two men sat talking while she put away a few things. As soon as she finished, she went to get what she wanted to take with her and to put on her raincoat. She found an old slicker for Bill Smith. She still thought of him as a stranger, but she was beginning to feel that he was far from being a stranger to any of them.

  “I’m ready,” she said when she returned to the kitchen and held out the slicker and an old cowboy hat for her guest. He stood to put them on and the way he slid on the hat, catching his tangle of black hair that fell on his forehead, she had the feeling he had worn broad-brimmed cowboy hats before, and that strip of pale skin on his forehead indicated that, too. In minutes they were in Gerald’s pickup on their way to Roan Ranch.

  After a big breakfast with the family except the grandmother who had returned to her own house to catch up on her sleep, Bill Smith, Gerald and his seven-year-old son, Aiden, put on rain gear and left to go to look at the horses while Molly cleaned the kitchen and Ava read stories to their five-year-old, Megan.

  The men and Aiden were back in time for a lunch of hamburgers, golden corn on the cob and homemade blackberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream.

  “Well, Bill doesn’t have many more memories, but I’m sure he’s a
rancher,” Gerald informed them over lunch. “He knows horses and is familiar with ropes, tack, tools and barns.”

  “I have little glimmers of moments on horseback, moments in barns, but I don’t recall anything significant or helpful beyond knowing that I’m familiar with those things.” He addressed those remarks to Ava, then turned to Gerald. “I think you have some fine horses.”

  “You’re right on that one,” Gerald said. “I do. Fine, expensive horses,” he added as he smiled.

  After lunch the men left again and Molly, Ava and Megan had a quiet afternoon. Ava sat on the floor to play with Megan and her dolls while Molly got dinner ready. When Megan took a nap, Ava and Molly sat talking and later Ava watched Megan draw and color.

  The men returned and while the kids went off to play, the adults sat down with glasses of iced tea and some cheese and crackers.

  “We drove back to the bridge over Blue Creek,” Gerald said. “There’s no getting across it today and probably not tomorrow, either. Water is over the bridge, and for about a quarter of a mile approaching it on either side, the road is underwater. Now it looks like a lake down there with roads running into the lake. Doesn’t look promising for getting into town. Not until the rain stops and the water goes down.”

  That night, after a big dinner of baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, home-grown okra and tomatoes, they sat in the family room and talked until about eight o’clock, when Ava said they should go. She felt they had imposed on her neighbors’ hospitality long enough.

  After goodbyes, Gerald drove them home.

  As soon as they watched him drive away and they had stepped inside and locked up, her guest turned to Ava. “Once again, they’re very good neighbors.”

  “They really are. The kids are cute and polite and fun. I love having them for my neighbors.”

  “I asked Gerald if he ever sold any of his horses and he said yes. I told him if it turns out I’m a rancher, I’m coming back to buy a horse. I may not have memories of living on a ranch, but I know he has some fine horses.”

  “He does. I think you are definitely a rancher. Everything points to that.”

  She studied the stranger who was becoming less and less a stranger to her, but she still couldn’t think of him as Bill Smith. Somehow, the name didn’t fit. She saw he was looking at her and wondered what he was thinking.

  “They asked us to stay at their house tonight,” she told him. “I didn’t agree because Molly has worked all day to have us there, cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner for us, entertaining us. I felt we needed to give her a chance to catch her breath. That’s why we’re here.”

  And her first thought since she’d entered the house was they had another night to spend under the same roof.

  The second was wondering if he would kiss her again.

  * * *

  Ava watched Gerald’s pickup stop by the gate and her houseguest stepped out and talked to Gerald for a minute, then closed the truck’s passenger door and headed toward the house. They had gotten through yesterday without a kiss, mainly because Gerald had come by to pick him up and take him back to Roan Ranch. Gerald thought if Bill Smith spent the day following Gerald around as he worked on the ranch, it might jog Bill’s memory. Molly had said it wouldn’t hurt to try if Bill was willing. He’d been very willing, so he’d left early and then stayed at the Roans’ ranch last night because the rain had ended. Today they’d hoped to get across the creek and go to Persimmon to see the sheriff. Today was the first day Gerald could get through to the sheriff and he made an appointment for Bill and let the sheriff know briefly about Bill. Now she was eager to hear if there had been any announcements regarding a missing man.

  With a sack in his hand, Bill Smith came up the porch steps two at a time. Her pulse jumped when she saw the unusual expression on his face. “What is it?”

  “Come on, we can talk inside,” he said, taking her wrist and leading her in.

  The minute they stepped into her entryway, he turned to take her into his arms.

  “There’s only one thing I could think about all the way back here.” As his mouth covered hers and he leaned over her, she pressed against him. His body was warm, all hard muscles and flat planes, and he felt perfect. While his strong arms held her, her heart raced. She clung to him tightly and kissed him in return, then stopped worrying about what she should or should not be doing.

  At some point, he leaned away slightly and looked down.

  “That kiss was the most important thing on my mind.” Finally, he released her. “The next most important—I know who I am.”

  Five

  “Sort of,” he added.

  She tilted her head to study him and frowned. “What do you mean by ‘sort of’?”

  “I have a name, but it means no more to me than Bill Smith. There’s more news—we still can’t get to the Interstate or much beyond Persimmon because part of the bridge was damaged by a tree floating down Blue Creek.”

  She waved away his latest words. “I don’t care about the creek. For heaven’s sake, tell me what your name is.”

  “Okay, I’ll give you my name, but it’ll mean as much to you as it does to me. I still don’t have my memory, but at least the sheriff told me who I am.”

  She smiled. “So who are you?”

  She looked into his dark brown eyes as he watched her. “I’m Wynn Sterling from Dallas, Texas. And it doesn’t mean any more to me right now than Bill Smith, except it’s my real identity and I do have a history and a family.”

  “Are you a Sterling of Sterling Energy?” she asked.

  He nodded. “They said I am. That doesn’t mean anything to me, either. I don’t know Sterling Energy. But apparently I have a twin brother. His name is Wade and he was on television. That’s how they found out who I am. The sheriff said Wynn Sterling disappeared driving back to Texas from a resort in Nashville. The storms we had here have been all across the Gulf coast and some worse than what we’ve had. They think Wynn Sterling might have been swept away in the storm. They said the twin brother, Wade Sterling, cut short his fishing trip to the Gulf coast because of the storm and returned home.

  “The sheriff will contact the Dallas police. Gerald said we might not hear today because it’s hard to get through on cell phones because of the poor reception out here in the boonies. Gerald and I agreed we weren’t going to hang out at the police station all day to wait to hear. If I’m going to hang out, I’d rather be with you than the sheriff.”

  “That’s flattering,” she said, smiling at him. “Now you know who you are even if it doesn’t mean anything yet. You have family, and a big one—a well-known Texas family. I have heard of the Sterlings. Wynn, you’re a prominent Dallas citizen.”

  “So you say.” He raked a hand through his thick black hair. “Damn, you remember and I don’t. That’s a hell of a thing.”

  “Patience. Your memory will return.”

  “Sorry. Don’t stop telling me what you recall.”

  “I think you’re single. I don’t think you or your twin is married.”

  “That’s good news.”

  “I’ve heard of your family, but I’ve never met any of you until now. Somehow I thought the brother named Wade was the rancher and the other one wasn’t, but I really don’t know that much about you.”

  “That’s what Gerald said when we heard the news in town. He said he thought the brother he met was Wade. They met at a rodeo and they talked another time at the Fort Worth stockyards. Before Gerald left, he said he remembered that Wade Sterling and three of his cousins, Luke Grayson, Cal Brand and Jake Reed, contributed millions to build a new rodeo arena in the Fort Worth area. It was built to replace an old arena that burned down. I don’t even remember having a twin. I have no memory of my sibling contributing to building a rodeo arena, but if I’ve ridden in a rodeo before and I’m from a well-fixed family, I don’t know why I didn
’t contribute to building the new arena. More puzzles than answers, I guess.” He smiled at her. “I’ll tell you what I did do. The police helped and gave me the address and phone number of my parents.”

  “Did you call them?”

  “I did and talked to my mother. It was a tough call. She was so happy I was okay that I don’t think she worried about anything else and I couldn’t tell her I don’t remember her.”

  “You might have to tell her sometime.”

  “I hope to get my memory back before I see her. Anyway, I have my parents’ address. That’s where I’ll go when I get to Dallas.”

  “Did you tell them you’re coming home?”

  “Yes, I did. I told them that because of torrential rains it might be a few days, that I would let them know when I start home.”

  “I need a car to get home, and I need a license. Not to mention, I don’t have a clue where I live. I have my parents’ address, but not my own.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll be able to get directions from your family and I’ll take you home. We can go together. I’m not doing anything except riding out the storm and the worst of that is over, and the water will go down even more today. We can probably safely leave tomorrow if you don’t mind waiting that long. We can try today, but there are still showers and the ground is soaked. I’d rather wait until tomorrow.”

  “I hate to impose on you to take me home.”

  “Not a problem. I’m eager for you to get home to your family and find out about yourself.”

  “Well, thanks. I’ll go shower now. If you want to continue this conversation, I’d be more than happy to have you join me.”

  She laughed as she shook her head. “You don’t stop trying, do you?”