Texas Wishes: The Complete Series

by Kristina Knight

  “One more step.” His voice was quiet, calm, but it did nothing to slow Vanessa’s racing pulse.

  The bull stared, snorted one more time and Vanessa climbed the rails faster than an Olympic hurdler cleared a barrier. She flung her leg over the side, missed the next rail and tumbled down — straight into Mat’s arms.

  He pulled her to his chest, holding her close as her breathing slowed. He smelled like the outdoors. Saddle leather and sweat and man. An intoxicating blend, at least for her. Vanessa breathed deeply for a long moment, her head resting against his chest. Gradually her breathing slowed but she didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to leave the safety of his arms. Which was silly. They were fine on this side of the fence.

  The buyers cleared their throats and Vanessa remembered they weren’t alone. She wiggled but Mat didn’t let her down.

  Movement through the gate slats caught her attention. The bull had lost interest in her and was snorting all over her Canon. He butted his head against it and the flash ignited. The bull bawled, kicked and the camera exploded into small bits of plastic. Her plans to use that image as the background for the new website header exploded with it. She didn’t care. She could take another picture. Or get Jackson to do it. His forte might be models and fashion but how difficult would it be to grab a shot of the bull herd?

  “Nice catch, Mat.” The buyers ambled back to the gate. The taller man pointed, a silly grin splitting his face. “Think you’re going to need a new camera, though, Miss Witte.”

  Mat set her back on her feet. Vanessa swallowed hard. New camera? That was the least of her worries. If she wasn’t careful Mat would trample all over her newly found heart.

  Chapter Four

  “We need a new plan because sniping isn’t businesslike.” Vanessa slid beside Mat as he leaned against a rail fence, watching a new cow with her baby calf. It was two days since the lunch incident — two days of making cold sandwiches in the kitchen in the foreman’s cabin, two days of avoiding everything in the Witte household, including his bosses, and two days of missing Vanessa like a man on death row misses sunlight. Once day since the incident in the bull pasture and his body still went on point when he thought of Vanessa so close to one of the bulls. Nothing happened. He should let it go. This was getting ridiculous.

  Damn straight businesslike wasn’t working. He still had no idea what prompted their stupid argument in the dining room. He’d been so focused on her he had no idea the reaction of the rest of the table but could imagine their heads turning left and right as if they watched a tennis match.

  He still regretted that kiss in the office, even more the harsh words he’d had for her beforehand. And if he’d been paying attention instead of ignoring her presence in the pasture she’d have never gotten through the fence in the first place. She wouldn’t have wound up in his arms. Again.

  Three ridiculous situations that left him with that spinning out of control feeling he knew all too well.

  And it was Vanessa’s fault.

  Her stupid “let’s pretend we haven’t slept together” idea had him thinking about sex constantly. Sex with her. Sex in the hayloft, in the foreman’s cabin, beside the stream in the north pasture. Sex. Sex. Sexsexsex.

  He didn’t tell her any of this, though.

  “I realized that about halfway through our little argument over the bull viewings.”

  “I still think it’s a good idea.” Her low voice demanded attention. He looked at her for the first time, taking in the tight blue denim over her legs, the black leather of her boots, and the long-sleeved tee that looked like it might have come from Kathleen’s closet. Vanessa had gathered her hair into a ponytail, which only served to accentuate her high cheekbones and narrow nose. Made her look about eighteen. Innocent. She shifted under his inspection.

  “I said, I still think it’s a good idea.”

  What the hell was he thinking, looking her over like a piece of meat? God, he needed to get a grip on himself.

  “Sorry.” He forced his gaze back to the cow and calf in the pen. The mother delivered a full two months behind the others — how she’d gotten pregnant was still a mystery. She wasn’t in line to be bred last spring. Still, here she was, calf at her hip. “You were saying?”

  From the corner of his eye, he watched her bite her lip, as if afraid of her next words. The movement made him want to kiss the corner of her mouth. She stepped closer to the fence, propping one foot on the bottom rail, mimicking his pose, and throwing her forearms over the top rail.

  “That businesslike isn’t working. Lunch was a disaster, the viewing wasn’t much better.” There was a question in her voice. He waited. “This isn’t just about the bulls or that night.”

  She was right, it was about much more than the bulls. And he didn’t need Vanessa thinking she had a foothold into his life.

  “I like my space. My routine. Even for just a couple of weeks or a month, I don’t like to change things. Bringing buyers in to look at the bulls changes things,” he tried to explain.

  “I’ll handle the buyers, you won’t have to do anything.”

  He let out a bark of laughter. Her handling the buyers was exactly what he didn’t want, especially after yesterday. Vanessa at the round pens every day would be a worse distraction than wondering what she was doing. If he allowed that kind of distraction, things could end much more badly than a fall from a fence.

  Not that he could tell her that.

  “Just letting them on the property before sale day disrupts my schedule, Miss Witte.”

  She made an angry sound in her throat. “Just call me Vanessa already. The sale has never bothered you before this year.”

  “Until this year I didn’t have you in the back of my mind twenty-four-seven.” There, it was out there. Mat clenched his jaw to keep from telling her more. That her sweet, vanilla scent haunted him at night. That her ice-blue eyes, her black hair and silky voice had him so distracted he’d set out for a pre-dawn run this morning and instead stumbled into a water trough. She looked over her shoulder, toward the general vicinity of the ranch house. As if she didn’t know how to handle him any more than he knew how to handle her and might run back inside.

  The calf made his way to their side of the pen and butted his head through the rails, hitting Vanessa on the hip. She jumped, letting out a small, “Eeek,” and looked wildly around. The calf didn’t give up. Its long tongue shot out of his mouth and over her hand. She jerked her arm away, leaving the little guy to wonder where his mid-morning snack went.

  His chest clenched a little. Maybe he was being too hard on her. She was the family socialite. He’d never seen her ride. Never seen her approach the sale, other than creating the website and looking like Glamour Barbie during the ball afterward. She’d never talked to a single buyer that he knew of.

  But she was trying. Her plans for the website were good. The viewing went well, despite the fall over the gate. He’d never seen vulnerability in her eyes, not even at Kathleen’s wedding, before this visit. Never wondered what made Vanessa tick. Now he couldn’t stop.

  What made a woman like her who had never shown interest in a place now seem to be committed to it? In his other life, he would think it was just him, but no one here knew who he used to be.

  Mat took a small apple from his pocket, stuck his thumbs against the core and split it down the middle. He laid half of the apple in her hand and pointed. “He’s looking for a little treat.”

  She just stared back at him, those blue eyes wide and a little scared.

  “Go ahead. Cows aren’t foodies like horses but they like treats now and then. Especially calves.” He pushed her arm closer to the baby, who looked at them with rich, brown eyes and a curious expression.

  She moved her arm an inch closer and then the calf’s tongue shot out against her fingers, Vanessa laughed. “That tickles.”
/>   “Keep your palm flat, fingers straight. Go slow.”

  The calf licked his way over her fingers to the apple slice on her palm and Vanessa pulled back. Mat reached around her, guiding her hand with his. Telling himself he didn’t feel the electric shock as his skin met hers. It was just an aberration. Physical chemistry didn’t mean anything.

  Slowly their intertwined hands descended until the calf’s mouth was only an inch away. His rough tongue shot out again, licking over their hands.

  “Oh my God,” she breathed the words as the calf pulled the apple into his mouth and chewed. The animal closed his eyes as if savoring the taste. “Oh my God, I just fed a calf.” She looked up at him, a broad smile on her face. “Can I do that again?”

  God, yes, as often as you like. He was entranced by her expression. She looked happy. In a way he’d never seen Vanessa before. Excitement lit her blue eyes, contentment lined her lips. The pulse at the base on her throat beat madly, as if she’d run a marathon. Mat’s head dipped until their mouths were mere inches away from one another.

  The calf butted them and the spell was broken. Mat shook himself. He’d nearly kissed Vanessa. Again. No fairy lights to blame. Just himself. Wanting someone he shouldn’t want, yet again. He stepped back, putting space between them, ignoring the hurt on Vanessa’s face at the loss of contact.

  He handed over the other half of the apple and watched as she carefully placed it in the middle of her palm, straightened her fingers and held out her hand again. Shoved his own hands into his pockets to keep from reaching out to her. The calf licked his way to the apple and snapped it into his mouth.

  “Wow.”

  The calf looked from Mat to Vanessa. Mat patted the animal’s head and chuckled. “Sorry, buddy, I’m all out.”

  “If you feed them like this all the time, it’s no wonder you’re attached to them.”

  “We don’t, usually. They’re better off eating alfalfa, a little grain.” The calf gave up and wandered off to inspect another corner of the pen. Mat shrugged. “He and his momma are going back in with the rest of the herd tomorrow. And you looked like you needed a little cow reassurance. I mean, you can’t be shrieking and running for cover with the next buyers when you come look at the bulls.”

  “I didn’t shriek.”

  “You didn’t not shriek.”

  “He startled me.”

  A smile stretched Mat’s face. He’d just bet the little bugger startled her. Wasn’t hard to do with a city girl. Vanessa’s expression changed, a smile lighting her face once more.

  “Wait, did you just say when the next buyers and I come look at the bulls?”

  He shrugged. It was a good idea, and he had to start building up immunity to Vanessa or they’d be right back in another kiss-and-tell situation within a few days. She was just an ordinary girl. A society lady. The more she was around, the more he’d see the society side.

  The less he’d want the side of her that squealed with pleasure when a calf ate from her hand.

  “After my click-and-dash, I figured you’d nix the whole idea.”

  He shook his head. “Mitch wants the viewings. And they’re a good addition.”

  Vanessa danced in a little circle. “We won’t get in your way, I promise. I’ll make a schedule so you know which buyers are coming in and which bulls need to be brought down, at least a day’s notice for each. Where will you set up the pen?”

  “The boys and I will figure it out, probably just over there.” He pointed to a flat area, with a sharply graded hill on one side. They could set up the pen using the hill as a back fence, giving the bulls more area to roam.

  “Thank you,” she said. She reached out but pulled her hands back before they could touch. “For teaching me to feed a calf, too.”

  “In any case, now you’re more familiar with the animals — although I wouldn’t try feeding half an apple to a full-grown bull. Their bite isn’t quite as soft.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m not a complete idiot.”

  “I’d say you’re not an idiot at all. Just inexperienced.”

  “I can handle the sale.”

  He wasn’t referring to the sale, but Mat didn’t correct her. The more he saw Vanessa, the more ill-equipped she seemed. Enthusiastic but ill-equipped. Who grew up on a spread the size of the Double Diamond and had never fed a calf an apple?

  “No more than three buyers each day. No more than six or seven bulls. And I’d like to keep the viewings to two days for each of the two weeks before the sale.”

  Her grin returned. “You really like my idea?”

  He didn’t not like it, but Mat wasn’t about to say that. “It has merit. Do you have a new camera for the pictures yet?”

  “Jackson helped me order one last night. It will be here by next week.”

  “He might take the pictures, if you wanted.”

  “I can do it.”

  He nodded. Mat couldn’t avoid her for the week of photography, not after what happened yesterday, but maybe that was a good thing. By the time the buyers arrived, he’d be used to her hanging around.

  “Mat?”

  He focused on the cow in the pen, not ready for the question he heard in her voice.

  “Businesslike didn’t work.”

  “We both agreed, no repeat performances.”

  “So, maybe friends is a better idea.”

  Not hardly. Mat couldn’t remember ever being this revved up for a friend. But they couldn’t turn back time to erase that night from history, and that night meant they couldn’t be mere acquaintances any longer.

  He kept his face impassive and turned to her. “Friends.” Mat held out his hand and when her soft skin melted against his roughened hand, he tried valiantly to ignore the shiver of awareness that rocketed up his arm and into his chest. He dropped her hand.

  Vanessa looked hurt at the sudden lack of contact. “Friends it is, then.” She looked around, as if searching for something more to say. “I’ll … let you know what days I’d like to shoot next week.”

  “Sure, whatever works for you, we’ll make it happen.” Mat refocused his attention on the cow and calf in the pen until the sound of her footsteps faded into the distance. Friends. What the hell was he thinking?

  • • •

  Vanessa sat behind the wheel of the four-wheeler she’d found parked behind the ranch vehicles. The hands seemed to prefer riding horses on their rounds, doing whatever ranch hands did, but she didn’t know how to saddle a horse. Or how to ride one once it was saddled.

  She still wasn’t certain she wanted to know. But even more importantly, she was tired of asking people to do things for her. What Texas, ranch-bred woman couldn’t saddle her own horse?

  All she knew was she’d needed to talk to Mat, to clear the air a little since their argument over lunch. She needed him not to be mad at her when she told him about the baby. Needed him to believe her when she said she didn’t want or expect anything from him. If they couldn’t come to an agreement on how to advertise the bull sale, how would they ever agree on raising the baby separately?

  So she’d taken the keys from the hook, asked a young hand where to find him and followed him to the pen with the cow and calf. Now she watched him from the trees. He was so focused on the momma cow and her calf. Was he still thinking about her? Or was the blip of her visit already far from his mind as he planned the day ahead? And why the hell should she care either way? It wasn’t as if she wanted anything from him. They needed to get through the bull sale, she needed to change his life, and then everything could get back to normal.

  Friends. What, were they in third grade all of a sudden?

  Hi, Mat, do you want to be my friend? Check yes or no.

  Vanessa shuddered. She’d never sent a note like that to a boy. The possible humiliation of a chec
ked no held her back. What made her ask now, especially when she shouldn’t want to be his friend?

  At least she’d gotten the non-humiliating answer. He’d mostly agreed they couldn’t be businesslike acquaintances. The humiliation came from knowing she was the one who insisted on businesslike in the beginning. Why, oh why, couldn’t Matias Barnes not matter to her? All her life people had come and gone and none had mattered quite as much as this one man who didn’t know anything about her. Who she didn’t know anything about. Spending one night together shouldn’t affect either of them this way and yet …

  Mat did matter. In ways she didn’t quite understand. In ways she definitely shouldn’t think about.

  His opinion about her bull sale idea mattered, more than Grandfather’s or Kathleen’s. His wanting to be friends mattered.

  Damn it all, Mat seemed to matter in general, and not just because of the baby.

  This morning was the perfect opportunity to tell him about the baby and begin to put all of that in the past. To start moving forward with her plans. She’d already started looking at virtual tours of condos in Houston and Dallas. Had contacted a realtor — after the bull sale, she would put the King William District house on the market, leave San Antonio and the miserable memories it held behind.

  Leave Mat behind.

  So why couldn’t she tell him this tiny piece of news?

  “Hey, friend, we’re going to have a baby. I don’t want anything from you, I won’t even put your name on the birth certificate. Just thought you should know.”

  The words echoed in her mind and the void in her heart seemed to grow as soon as the thought solidified. She would have her baby, the second chance she hadn’t known she wanted just a week ago. Mat obviously loved the ranch and liked his independence. It was the best of both worlds. So why not just tell him?

  Vanessa started the four-wheeled gator and rubbed her palm over her jeans. Following the graveled track back to the house, she thought about feeding the calf. When Mat had children, would he teach them to feed animals the way he’d taught her? Sadness filled her. He would, she thought. He would be gentle and encouraging.