“Walk him around a bit.”
With the horse building her confidence with each step, Darcy gave her lungs the right to oxygen in slow steady breaths, letting the calming effect wash over her.
“Stand in the center.”
Nick’s baritone voice tingled down her back as he followed her to the sanded area. The heat from his body absorbed into her as he stood close behind. A calloused hand closed over hers, dissolving her strength into a puddle.
“Twirl this end. It will help to get him moving. Then take this hand—” His fingers slid down her arm causing her legs to turn to jelly. “And point the way you want him to go.”
T.J. started off, and Nick let go.
Caught off guard at his sudden absence, she stepped back and collided with Nick’s chest.
His hands went to her waist steadying her.
Her heart fluttered with the contact, but she set the feeling aside to step forward and point with the rope.
The animal started one way then reared to turn the other way.
“You’re confusing him. Point with the hand not holding the line.” Tepid fingers closed around her wrist. “Step out and look to his butt.” He pulled her arms to her belly.
Darcy did as instructed. With his body guiding her movements, her nerve endings shorted out, zapping her senses to full capacity.
The horse stopped, more from Nick’s body language than hers. Her mind, too busy absorbing the strength of the body wrapped around her, refused to focus on the exercise.
He raised her right arm, stuck her forefinger out and twirled the lead in her left, her arms performing as an extension of his own.
T.J. jumped and moved right.
“There ya go. Now stop him and turn him the other way.” The cowboy let go and stepped back.
She missed the connection in an instant. Not having time to dwell, she focused on the horse, and soon had him moving in the direction she indicated.
“Good. Keep him going.”
The relentless instructor guided her through for an hour before he called a halt.
“That’s enough for today. You did real good and catch on quick.” He smiled.
Her head tilted as she embraced the praise and tried to pull the vague memory to the surface.
“You can take him in the back and hose him down.” He went on to instruct her on how to cool the horse. “Then put him out to pasture.”
Needing time to think, to get her hormones under control, she sauntered to the barn.
Chapter Five
The day after Nick left, Darcy finished work later than usual and longed for a soak in the tub. She had just submerged her aching muscles into the hot bath when her cell phone rang.
Drying her hand, she placed the device to her ear. “Hello?”
“Hi, it’s Nick.”
Goose pimples rose on her skin despite the warm water and her eyes closed. He didn’t need to tell her; she recognized his voice the second he spoke. But why is he calling me? “Is something wrong?”
“Not that I know of.” A deep chuckle filled her ear. “Unless my brothers left you on your own?”
Funny how without him glaring down at her the comment made light of her mishaps. “Should I be insulted?” she chided back.
“No,” he sighed. “I told Sam I’d check in on things, but no one answered.”
“Trent and Chris went into town. I think Sam was headed for the shower.” She raised her knees causing water to slosh over the side of the tub.
“What’s that?”
“I’m...ah...water.”
“It’s kind of late to be watering the animals. They should have been fed and watered hours ago.” Irritation lined his tone.
“Um, I’m not. I mean, they were.”
“Are you doing dishes?”
“No.”
“Well, the only other place you’d have water would be in the bath.”
She sank deeper in the tub as if he could see her.
“Darc, are you in the—are you naked?” His voice choked.
“Yes.” How else did one wash?
He let out what sounded like a groan. “I have to go.”
The phone went silent. Tossing her cell onto the towel, she stuck her tongue out at the device. “If you didn’t want to know, you shouldn’t have asked.”
She finished her bath in record time with the sound of Nick’s groan circling her head.
He called two more times during the first week of his travels, short conversations, but on the third call, she ventured to ask his advice on how to deal with a couple of the animals.
“For the more stubborn ones, make sure you have a treat. It’ll make for a lot less headaches in the end.”
She sat up in her bed, adjusting the pillows behind her back. “What if I give the animal the wrong treat?”
He chuckled. “There’s a possibility.”
“Hey!” She laughed, then sobered when he remained silent.
“I like hearing you laugh.” His hoarse voice deepened.
Playing with a loose string on the bed spread, she admitted, “It’s easier to talk to you on the phone.”
“I apologize if I haven’t made things easy for you. I’m glad you’re more at ease with me now.”
“It’s a lot less painful when you’re not staring at me with your brows bent over your eyes.”
He chuckled, a deep rich sound.
She snuggled down into the bed. “I like hearing you laugh too.”
Nick cleared his throat. “There are, ah, peppermints for the horses in the tack room,” he said, picking up the previous conversation. “Roughage is in the refrigerator in the pig barn. For the others, grab a handful of feed from the bins.”
“Thank you for the advice.”
“Sleep well, Darc,” he murmured.
The conversations with Nick helped her grow more secure in her decision to remain on the ranch. No other visions of her past surfaced. No other incidents occurred. No more feelings of someone watching her.
During the day, she stayed busy learning the ways of the ranch. She educated the guests’ children on the care of the ranch animals and, with Sam’s assistance, she rode T.J. a handful of times in the arena.
The stocky cowboy glued himself to her side, babysitting her every move those first days, but inch by inch, day by day, he gave her space.
Yet, it was strange. From the minute she swung up into the saddle, her body took over, knowing instinctively what to do. With each passing jolt of the horse’s stride, she became more confident in her job. She may not have been able to remember riding, but her limbs moved in rhythm with the horse at every turn.
Nighttime consisted of another matter altogether—lying awake, waiting for Nick’s call. When he didn’t phone, she’d toss and turn with disappointment over not hearing his voice. When he did, she’d dream of him.
Gradually though, his calls increased to every night. He claimed to check on her progress, to see if she enjoyed working on the ranch, while she asked about his trip.
“Do you miss the ranch when you’re gone?” Pouring herself a glass of red wine, she went to the living room window.
“More than you know.”
“When will you be back?” Staring out into the darkness she envisioned his truck pulling in.
“Late tomorrow night, but only for a couple of days. I figured it might help my sanity to check in.”
“You mean to check on me?” Once or twice now, he let comments slip about her catastrophes on the ranch.
“Everything, Darc.”
She shut her eyes and embraced the warmth flowing through her with the sound of her name on his lips.
“I tried calling my brothers—any idea why they aren’t answering their phones this time?”
“They drove over to the Lonesome Steer for a couple of beers. “
“Why didn’t you go?”
“Someone needed to stay here. Besides, a quiet night sounded better.” And I didn’t want to miss your call.
Her pulse accelerated and wine sloshed over her hand. She set her goblet down on the end table and wiped her skin on her shorts. “What? Why?”
“It’s nothin’ big. I saw it and thought of you. No big deal.”
The fact he purchased anything for her loomed a huge deal. Uncomfortable with all the questions it stirred, she searched for another, safer subject.
“Have you talked to your parents?” She sat on her sofa, knees pulled to her chest.
“I spoke to my mom this morning. She’s impressed with everything Sam’s told her about you; wanted to call and talk to you herself, but Dad has kept her busy.”
“How’s he doing?”
“Good, but I hate that I can hear worry in my mother’s voice.”
Picking up the glass of wine, she sipped the liquid. “What’s troubling her?”
“My father has an appointment Monday. Until she gets a good report from the doctor, she’s pacing a hole in the floor.”
“She loves him a lot, huh?”
“More than anything. I think buildin’ the ranch from the ground up strengthened their bond.” A deep sigh filled her ear. “If his appointment goes well, she’s taking him on a cruise. One she hasn’t informed him of yet.”
“Sounds fun.” Darcy reclined on the couch and closed her eyes, letting the low rumble of his gentle tones wash over her.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure he’s ready for the high seas. The last time I spoke with him, he wanted to come back and make sure we didn’t bulldoze the place.”
She snorted. “Like that would happen. He has to know how much you love the ranch.”
“He does, but we weren’t the most obedient boys growing up.”
“I don’t imagine any child is. How many years separate you and your brothers?”
“Eleven. I’m thirty-two, Sam’s thirty, Trent’s twenty-five, and Chris is twenty-one.”
“At least you’re close with your brothers.” Again she wondered if she had a brother? A sister? She searched her brain, focusing hard to pull the information from the depths within her.
“Yeah.”
She envisioned him sitting next to her, talking to her as an old acquaintance. Except a friend’s voice didn’t cause a tingly-tangly feeling to flow through every nerve ending in her body.
“Darc, what’s wrong? You’re distant tonight, darlin’.” His endearments were becoming a regular part of his vocabulary.
Shivers traveled down her spine every time his southern voice spoke one. Before he left, she barely knew him. Now, on the phone, he edged close to being...more. Would the changes in the relationship hold true when he came home? Did she want it too?
“I, uh, was just thinking how lucky you all are to have each other.”
Stop thinking of Nick in any other sense than a boss. You’re only setting yourself up for heartbreak. Without knowing her past, any relationship remained out of the question, let alone one with her employer. She’d lose her heart and her job; the two went hand in hand.
“How come you don’t talk about your family?”
She swallowed the ball of nerves forming in her chest, threatening to choke her.
“Things not good on the home front?” His tone softened. “Come on, talk to me.” The friendship with the eldest Matthews developed and matured over the last two weeks, but if she informed him of her amnesia, would he understand?
In the beginning maybe, but not now.
“Do you ever talk to your folks?”
“They ah...passed away.” And somehow that rang true.
“Do you have brothers or sisters?”
The notion of lying to him any more hurt now that he had broken through her shell. She couldn’t just blurt out, “I don’t know. I can’t remember.” Her mind scurried for a way to distract him from the subject.
“Oh, geeze. Hold on. I spilled my wine.” She made a rustling noise, taking the reprieve to calm her nerves. After a few breaths she returned with a quick, “Okay, I’m back.”
“Drinking, Darc?”
“One glass. It helps me sleep after a busy week.” Her hand rose to cover the yawn the words provoked.
“Don’t get defensive on me. You’re entitled to a drink. I’d like one myself right about now.”
She swirled the remaining red liquid around in her glass. A comfortable silence stretched, and she closed her eyes, listening to his breathing. The sound soothed her, making her body languid along with the alcohol.
He sighed. “It’s getting late. I should let you go. Hold down the fort until I get back.”
Not wanting to let him go, she squeezed the phone.
“Darc, you fall asleep on me?”
An image of her head on his chest sprang to her mind. “No. But I should go. Night, Nick.” Darcy hung up the phone, set her glass in the sink, and went to bed. Her body hummed with the warmth of his tone while her mind grew troubled over the lies she told.
With conflicting emotions absorbing her every thought, sleep did not come easy despite the alcohol.
****
Nick tugged on his jeans, threw a T-shirt over his head and placed his feet in his boots, glad to be home. The phone calls to Darcy held him in suspense. His feelings for her remained a mystery to him. When he first left, he chalked up his attraction as just that—an attraction. She was a beautiful female; he a normal, hot-blooded male.
The mistake he made was checking in on her. The sound of her soft voice echoed in his mind. Without the stress of day-to-day life on the ranch, he found he longed to hear the sound of her laugh and her low, sultry voice before he fell asleep.
He went to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee, thankful he remembered to set the programmable maker when he got in late last night. On his drive to the ranch, he called and rescheduled his last advertising meeting.
You’re going through a lot of trouble for a woman, buddy.
Not any woman, Darcy. Though the fact remained she still held back when he brought up her family and her past, she warmed up to him during their conversations.
Downing the rest of his caffeine, he placed his mug in the sink, and went out the door. He squinted in the morning sunlight and started toward the equine barn. “Come on, boy,” he called to Dakota, slapping the side of his thigh.
The boxy-headed dog ambled over.
Nick reached down to scratch him behind the ears. He glanced to the full water dish and half-eaten food.
“I see someone fed you.” About five feet two inches of heaven, no doubt. From what Sam told him, Darcy had taken a liking to the dog.
He ambled across the way and grained the horses before letting the four-legged creatures out to pasture. T.J. kicked the wall in the last stall.
“Itching to run, fella?” Grabbing a hold of the gelding, he led the animal to his friends. By the time he finished filling water buckets and mucking stalls, sweat clung to his shirt. The weatherman promised the nineties by early afternoon. He peeled the wet material away from his body and used the cotton to wipe the water from his forehead. Tossing the shirt into the tack room, he moved on to the pig barn.
The petting zoo continued to be a success with the kids who stayed at the ranch, not to mention the few minutes of sanity for the parents. Another highlight if he bought a handful of placid horses for smaller, inexperienced riders—a possibility brought up during his trip.
Entering the pig pen, he sighed with relief. One of the guys beat him there. Or Darcy, another one of her regular pit stops in the morning according to Sam.
“Well, boy,” he said to Dakota, who lounged outside the entrance. “Let’s go see if the cabins are up to snuff for the next set of guests.”
The sun penetrated Nick’s skin as he sauntered over the three acres to the first cabin. He should’ve grabbed another shirt. After coming close to getting sun poisoning last year, he usually remained more cautious of the dangerous rays, but too many thoughts swirled in his mind this morning,
too much eagerness to see one specific person.
Each of the twenty cabins sported the same undersized living room, a small kitchenette, a bathroom, and a bedroom or two. He approached the steps to the small porch of the cabin, opened the door, and advanced inside. The floors shone in the sunlight as cleaning fumes assaulted his nostrils. He shut the door and jogged his way to the adjacent building. Country music blared from the bungalow. Racing up the steps, he stopped in the open doorway.
Darcy swung her hips from one side to the other while sweeping—or dancing—with the broom. The impact of seeing her in the flesh caused his hands to grow wet with perspiration. After their nightly conversations, his attraction went more than skin deep, and acknowledging that fact scared the daylights out of him.
Give it up. She’s an employee. And she deserved better than having her boss lust after her. He held no right to think of her in any other sense. The sexual attraction violated his ethics.
Even so, Nick bit his tongue to keep from chuckling out loud as she sang along off-key and moved through the room without a care in the world.
He stepped back to give her privacy only to trip on Dakota. The dog howled and in one sweeping movement, Darcy spun around, crossed the floor, and hit the power button on the radio.
“Nick!” She wiped the sweat from her face. “How long have you been standing there?”
“Not long.” He cleared his throat and picked up a rag off the floor.
Her cheeks heated to a nice shade of pink beneath her tan as she twisted the broom handle.
“Thanks for feeding Dakota.”
“Your truck wasn’t there when I went to bed. I figured you must have got in pretty late.”
“Actually, it was early this morning.”
“Then you should have slept in.”
Her eyes darted to his chest, reminding him of his absent shirt. Her caressing gaze boosted his male pride to levels beyond. His skin tingled with every inch her brown orbs touched as her sights traveled up to his face.
“The place looks great. How ’bout we go on down to the main house and grab breakfast.”
“I—I suppose I’m not going to get a better invitation. Unless we run into Horace, anyway.” She started out the door. “You know he’s my true love.”
Her full, kissable lips turned up in a smile, a true genuine smile, one his brothers had privilege to, but not him.
Honky Tonk Hearts Volume 2 Page 17