by Diana Palmer
He scowled more and stuck one hand into his pocket, thinking fast. “How could we do without you during roundup?” he asked reasonably. “Stay until summer.”
She felt the box against her palms, warm from his body where it had lain in his pocket. It was sort of like a link between them, even if he hadn’t meant it that way. She’d never had a present from a man before, except the coat the brothers had given her. But that hadn’t been personal like this. She wasn’t sure how it was intended, as a sort of conscience-reliever or a genuinely warm gesture.
“We’ll talk about it another time,” he said after a minute. “I’m tired and I’ve still got things to do.”
He turned and walked past her without looking back. She found herself watching him helplessly with the jewelery box held like a priceless treasure in her two hands.
As if he felt her eyes he stopped suddenly, at the back door, and only his head pivoted. His black eyes met hers in the distance between them, and it was suddenly as if lightning had struck. She felt her knees quivering under her, her heart racing. He was only looking, but she couldn’t get her breath at all.
He didn’t glance away, and neither did she. In that instant, she lost her heart. She felt him fight to break the contact of their eyes, and win. He moved away quickly, into the house, and she ground her teeth together at this unexpected complication.
Of all the men in the world to become infatuated with, Cag Hart was the very last she should have picked. But knowing it didn’t stop the way she felt. With a weary sigh, she turned and went back toward her room. She knew she wouldn’t sleep, no matter how tired she was. She linked the necklace around her neck and admired it in the mirror, worrying briefly about the expense, because she’d seen on the clasp that it was 14K gold—not a trifle at all. But it would have been equally precious to her if it had been gold-tone metal, and she was sure Cag knew it. She went to sleep, wearing it.
Chapter Three
Everything would have been absolutely fine, except that she forgot to take the necklace off the next morning and the brothers gave her a hard time over breakfast. That, in turn, embarrassed Cag, who stomped out without his second cup of coffee, glaring at Tess as if she’d been responsible for the whole thing.
They apologized when they realized that they’d just made a bad situation worse. But as the day wore on, she wondered if she shouldn’t have left the necklace in its box in her chest of drawers. It had seemed to irritate Cag that she wanted to wear it. The beautiful thing was so special that she could hardly get past mirrors. She loved just looking at it.
Her mind was so preoccupied with her present that she didn’t pay close attention to the big aquarium in Cag’s room when she went to make the bed. And that was a mistake. She was bending over to pull up the multi colored Navajo patterned comforter on the big four-postered bed when she heard a faint noise. The next thing she knew, she was wearing Herman the python around her neck.
The weight of the huge reptile buckled her knees. Herman weighed more than she did by about ten pounds. She screamed and wrestled, and the harder she struggled the harder an equally frightened Herman held on, certain that he was going to hit the floor bouncing if he relaxed his clinch one bit!
Leo came running, but he stopped at the doorway. No snake-lover, he hadn’t the faintest idea how to extricate their housekeeper from the scaly embrace she was being subjected to.
“Get Cag!” she squeaked, pulling at Herman’s coils. “Hurry, before he eats me!”
“He won’t eat you,” Leo promised from a pale face. “He only eats freeze-dried dead things with fur, honest! Cag’s at the corral. We were just going to ride out to the line camp. Back in a jiffy!”
Stomping feet ran down the hall. Torturous minutes later, heavier stomping feet ran back again.
Tess was kneeling with the huge reptile wrapped around her, his head arched over hers so that she looked as if she might be wearing a snaky headdress.
“Herman, for Pete’s sake!” Cag raged. “How did you get out this time?”
“Could you possibly question him later, after you’ve got him off me?” she urged. “He weighs a ton!”
“There, there,” he said gently, because he knew how frightened she was of Herman. He approached them slowly, careful not to spook his pet. He smoothed his big hand under the snake’s chin and stroked him gently, soothing him as he spoke softly, all the time gently unwinding him from Tess’s stooped shoulders.
When he had him completely free, he walked back to the aquarium and scowled as he peered at the lid, which was ajar.
“Maybe he’s got a crowbar in there,” he murmured, shifting Herman’s formidable weight until he could release the other catches enough to lift the lid from the tank. “I don’t know why he keeps climbing out.”
“How would you like to live in a room three times your size with no playmates?” she muttered, rubbing her aching shoulders. “He’s sprained both my shoulders and probably cracked part of my spine. He fell on me!”
He put Herman in the tank and locked the lid before he turned. “Fell?” He scowled. “From where?”
“There!”
She gestured toward one of the wide, tall sculptured posts that graced his king-size bed.
He whistled. “He hasn’t gone climbing in a while.” He moved a little closer to her and his black eyes narrowed. “You okay?”
“I told you,” she mumbled, “I’ve got fractured bones everywhere!”
He smiled gently. “Sore muscles, more likely.” His eyes were quizzical, soft. “You weren’t really scared, were you?”
She hesitated. Then she smiled back, just faintly. “Well, no, not really. I’ve sort of got used to him.” She shrugged. “He feels nice. Like a thick silk scarf.”
Cag didn’t say a word. He just stood there, looking at her, with a sort of funny smile.
“I thought they were slimy.”
The smile widened. “Most people do, until they touch one. Snakes are clean. They aren’t generally violent unless they’re provoked, or unless they’re shedding or they’ve just eaten. Half the work is knowing when not to pick them up.” He took off his hat and ran a hand through his thick hair. “I’ve had Herman for twelve years,” he added. “He’s like family, although most people don’t understand that you can have affection for a snake.”
She studied his hard face, remembering that his former fiancée had insisted that he get rid of Herman. Even if he loved a woman, it would be hard for him to give up a much-loved pet.
“I used to have an iguana,” she said, “when I was about twelve. One of the guys at the rodeo had it with him, and he was going off to college. He asked would I like him.” She smiled reminiscently. “He was green and huge, like some prehistoric creature, like a real live dragon. He liked shredded squash and bananas and he’d let you hold him. When you petted him on the head he’d close his eyes and raise his chin. I had him for three years.”
“What happened?”
“He just died,” she said. “I never knew why. The vet said that he couldn’t see a thing wrong with him, and that I’d done everything right by the book to keep him healthy. We could have had him autopsied, but Dad didn’t have the money to pay for it. He was pretty old when I got him. I like to think it was just his time, and not anything I did wrong.”
“Sometimes pets do just die.” He was looking at Herman, coiled up happily in his tank and looking angelic, in his snaky fashion. “Look at him,” he muttered. “Doesn’t look like he’s ever thought of escaping, does he?”
“I still remember when I opened up the washing machine to do clothes and found him coiled inside. I almost quit on the spot.”
“You’ve come a long way since then,” he had to admit. His eyes went to the blue and white sparkle of the necklace and he stared at it.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, wrapping her hand around it guiltily. “I never should have worn it around your brothers. But it’s so lovely. It’s like wearing a piece of the sky around my neck.”
“I didn’t think they’d notice.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I haven’t bought a present for a woman in almost seven years,” he said shortly. “It’s noteworthy around here, despite my intentions.”
Her face colored. “Oh, I know it was just for my birthday,” she said quickly.
“You work hard enough to deserve a treat now and again,” he returned impatiently. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
She nodded. “A little thing like a broken back won’t slow me down.”
He glowered at her. “He only weighs a hundred and ten pounds.”
“Yeah? Well, I only weigh a hundred!”
His eyes went over her suddenly. “You’ve lost weight.”
“You said that before, but I haven’t. I’ve always been thin.”
“Eat more.”
Her eyebrows arched. “I’ll eat what I like, thank you.”
He made a rough sound in his throat. “And where are those new clothes we’ve been trying to get you to buy?”
“I don’t want any more clothes. I have plenty of clothes.”
“Plenty, the devil,” he muttered angrily. “You’ll go into town tomorrow and get some new jeans and shirts. Got that?”
She lifted her chin stubbornly. “I will not! Listen here, I may work for you, but you don’t tell me what I can wear!”
He stared at her for a minute with narrowed eyes. “On second thought,” he muttered, moving toward her, “why wait until tomorrow? And like hell I can’t tell you what to wear!”
“Callaghan!” she shrieked, protesting.
By the time she got his name out of her shocked mouth, he had her over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift. He walked right down the hall with her, passing Leo, who was just on his way back in to see what had happened.
“Oh, my gosh, did Herman bite her?” he gasped. “Is she killed?”
“No, of course he didn’t bite her!” Cag huffed and kept walking.
“Then where are you taking her?”
“To the nearest department store.”
“To the…you are? Good man!”
“Turncoat!” Tess called back to him.
“Get her a dress!” Leo added.
“I hate dresses!”
“In that case, get her two dresses!”
“You shut up, Leo!” she groaned.
Rey was standing at the back door when Cag approached it with his burden.
“Going out?” Rey asked pleasantly, and opened the door with a flourish. “Have fun, now.”
“Rescue me!” Tess called to him.
“Say, wasn’t there a song about that?” Rey asked Leo, who joined him on the porch.
“There sure was. It went like this… ‘Rescue me!’” he sang.
The two of them were still singing it, arm in arm, off-key, at the top of their lungs, when Cag drove away in the ranch truck with a furious Tess at his side.
“I don’t want new clothes!” she raged.
He glanced toward her red face and grinned. “Too late. We’re already halfway to town.”
This strangely jubilant mood of his surprised her. Cag, of all the brothers, never seemed to play. Of course, neither did Simon, but he was rarely around. Leo and Rey, she’d been told, had once been just as taciturn as the older Harts. But since Dorie came back into Corrigan’s life, they were always up to their necks in something. All Cag did was work. It was completely unlike him to take any personal interest in her welfare.
“Leo could have taken me,” she muttered, folding her arms over her chest.
“He’s too polite to carry you out the door,” he replied. “And Rey’s too much a gentleman. Most of the time, anyway.”
“These jeans just got broke in good.”
“They’ve got holes in them,” he said pointedly. “It’s fashionable.”
“Most fashionable jeans have holes in them when you buy them. Those—” he gestured toward the worn knees “—got like that from hard work. I’ve seen you on your knees scrubbing the kitchen floor. Which reminds me, we bought you one of those little floor cleaners that’s specially made for linoleum. They’re sending it out with the butane and lumber we ordered at the same time.”
“A floor cleaner?” she asked, stunned.
“It will make things a little easier for you.”
She was delighted that he was concerned about her chores. She didn’t say another word, but she couldn’t quite stop smiling.
Minutes later, he pulled up in front of the downtown department store and led her inside to the women’s section. He stopped in front of Mrs. Bellamy, the saleslady who’d practically come with the store.
He tilted his hat respectfully. “Mrs. Bellamy, can you fit her out with jeans and shirts and new boots and a dress or two?” he asked, nodding toward Tess, who was feeling more and more like a mannequin. “We can’t have our housekeeper looking like that!” He gestured toward her faded shirt and holey jeans.
“My goodness, no, Mr. Hart,” Mrs. Bellamy agreed at once. She frowned thoughtfully. “And we just received such a nice shipment of summer things, too! You come right along with me, Miss Tess, and we’ll fix you up!” She took Tess’s arm and waved her hand at Cag. “Shoo, now, Mr. Hart,” she murmured absently, and Tess had to stifle a giggle at his expression. “She’ll be ready to pick up in about an hour.”
I’m a parcel, Tess thought, and Cag’s a fly. She put a hand over her wobbly mouth as she went meekly along with the older woman. Hysterical laughter would not save her now.
Cag watched her go with an amused smile. So she didn’t want new clothes, huh? They’d see about that! Mrs. Bellamy wasn’t going to let a potential commission walk away from her!
An hour later, Cag went back for Tess and found her trying on a royal blue and white full-skirted dress with spaghetti straps and a shirred bodice. Against her white skin the sapphire-and-diamond necklace was brilliant. With her freckled white shoulders bare and the creamy tops of her breasts showing, she took his breath away.
“Isn’t that dress just the thing, Tess?” Mrs. Bellamy was murmuring. “You wait right here. I want to show you one more! Oh, hello, Mr. Hart!” she called as she passed him. She waved a hand toward Tess. “What do you think? Isn’t it cute? Now where did I see that pretty black lacy thing…”
Tess turned as Cag joined her. His face gave nothing away, but his black eyes glittered over the soft skin left bare by the dress. It certainly made her eyes bluer.
“Is it…too revealing?” Tess asked nervously, because of the way he was watching her.
He shook his head. “It suits you. It even matches the necklace.” His voice sounded deep and husky. He moved closer and one big, lean hand lifted involuntarily to her throat where the small sapphire lay in its bed of diamonds and gold. His hand rested there for an instant before it moved restlessly over the thin strap of the dress. His fingertips absently traced over her soft skin as he studied her, noticing its silky warmth.
Her breath caught in her throat. She felt her heartbeat shaking the dress even as she noticed his black eyes lowering to the flesh left bare by the shirred bodice.
His fingers contracted on her shoulder and her intake of breath was suddenly audible.
He met her eyes relentlessly, looking for hidden signs that she couldn’t keep from him.
“This is the sort of dress,” he said gruffly, “that makes a man want to pull the bodice down.”
“Mr…. Hart!” she exclaimed.
He scowled faintly as he searched her shocked eyes. “Don’t you know anything about dresses and the effect they have on men?” he wanted to know.
Her trembling hands went to tug the bodice up even more. “I do not! But I know that I won’t have it if it makes you…makes a man think…such things!”
His hand jerked suddenly, as if her skin had burned it. “I was teasing!” he lied shar
ply, moving away. “It’s fine. You look fine. And yes,” he added firmly, “you’ll have it, all right!”
She didn’t know what to think. He was acting very strangely, and now he wouldn’t look at her at all. Teasing? Then why was he so stiff and uncomfortable looking if he was teasing? And why keep his back to her and Mrs. Bellamy, who’d just rejoined them.
“Here, Tess, try on this one. I’ll box that one while you’re dressing.” She rushed the girl off before she could say anything to Cag.
That was just as well. He was fighting a raging arousal that had shocked him senseless. Tess was beginning to have a very noticeable effect on him, and he was quite sorry that he’d insisted on bringing her here. If she wore that dress around him, it was going to cause some major problems.
He stood breathing deliberately until his rebellious body was back under control. He noticed that Tess didn’t show him the black dress she’d tried on. But she shook her head when Mrs. Bellamy asked her about it. She was trying to refuse the blue one, too. He wasn’t having that. She looked so beautiful in it. That was one she had to have.
“You’re not turning that blue one back in,” he said firmly. “You’ll need something to wear if you’re asked out anywhere.” He hated thinking about her in that dress with another man. But she didn’t date. It shouldn’t worry him. “Did you get some jeans and blouses, and how about those boots?”
After Mrs. Bellamy rattled off an inventory, he produced a credit card and watched her ring up a total. He wouldn’t let Tess see it. She looked worried enough already.
He took the two large bags and the dress bag from Mrs. Bellamy with thanks and hustled Tess back out to the double-cabbed truck. He put the purchases on the backseat and loaded Tess into the passenger seat.
She sat without fastening her belt until he got in beside her.
“You spent too much,” she said nervously, her big blue eyes echoing her mood. “I won’t be able to pay you back for months, even if you take so much a week out of my salary.”
“Think of the clothes as a uniform,” he said gently. “You can’t walk around in what you’ve been wearing. What will people think of us?”