He stood, muttering an oath because he had to adjust himself just so he could stand. “Be careful playing with fires, sweetheart.”
She lifted her chin and raised an eyebrow. Though she didn’t exactly look right at him, he noticed a fresh blush of pink on her cheeks. “Burn goes both ways, sweetheart.”
Then she reached behind her for his plate. “Now, are you going to finish eating this? Or can we go finish the window? Because the day’s not getting any shorter, and by my count, there are still three more windows to go. And I, for one, would like to see moonlight outside the window when I go to bed tonight. Wouldn’t you?”
What he wanted to see when he went to bed that night was her.
And that was something that was just not going to happen.
Because his last name wasn’t Smith.
Fiction or not, it was Fortune.
Chapter Eight
“Mom. I’m fine here. Last time I called, you promised you were going to stop worrying about me.”
“How can I stop worrying about you?” Karen’s voice sounded loud through the receiver against Ariana’s ear. “Your father wants to drive out to this Paseo place and bring you home. You’ve been there nearly two weeks, honey! There’s no reason why you need to keep imposing on those people while you wait for your car to be fixed. How are you going to pay your bills when you’re not even working? How are—”
Ariana barely had a chance to register that Jayden had walked into the kitchen, where she was using the wall phone, before he reached past her and plucked the receiver from her hand.
He raised his eyebrows at her. “Y’mind?”
She couldn’t have responded if her life depended on it. Primarily because she was too busy staring at his bare chest above the faded blue jeans hanging low around his lean hips.
Since the “day of the windows,” as she’d come to think of it, they’d both been careful to keep to their respective, circumspect corners. She knew the only reason she’d been successful at it was because he hadn’t so much as brushed against her, even inadvertently.
Not once. In ten whole days.
Even now, while taking the phone right out of her hand, he managed to do so without touching her.
He put the receiver to his ear and walked far enough away that the coiled phone cord stretched out to its full length.
But that just left Ariana’s eyes free to explore the sculpted lines of his back. To study the stark line of demarcation just visible above the waistband of his jeans. To admire the tanned skin above and the paler skin below.
And to pick out the few droplets of water that were still clinging to his shoulder blades from the shower he’d obviously taken.
The shower was part of his routine. Get up before the sun, work until the afternoon heat got really serious, then come in and shower away the sweat and grime that went hand in hand with repairing barns and fixing fence and working cattle. Over the last few days she’d learned that meant anything from giving inoculations to tagging ears to weighing to castrating. This time of year, though, he’d said they were mostly working with the calves that’d been born in the spring.
She’d also learned that if she timed it right, she could often catch a glimpse of him on the back of one of his horses as he came back in for the day.
She’d even managed to snap a few photos of him with her cell phone without him noticing.
But even though she’d learned his routine well over the past two weeks, this was the first time he’d strolled into the kitchen looking half-naked.
She quickly swiped her hand over her forehead and hoped her cheeks didn’t look as hot as they felt while she listened to him speak into the phone.
“Mrs. Lamonte, this is Jayden Fortune. Sorry to hijack your phone call, ma’am, but let me assure you that Ariana’s not imposing. Fact is, she’s been real helpful lately.”
She glanced his way and his carefully neutral gaze roved over her face.
“That’s right, Mom.” Despite her better intention, she stepped over to him, speaking loud enough for her mother to hear. She held up her palms as if Karen could see the bandage strips there. “Jayden put up a new barn wall this week and I helped.” Helped as much as she could, at any rate, once he’d shown her how to hammer a nail without hitting her own fingers. She’d hammered so many nails she’d earned blisters even through the work gloves he’d given her to wear.
“I appreciate your hospitality on my daughter’s behalf,” she heard her mom say, “but would you put her back on the line, please?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He set the receiver on the countertop and stepped around her.
Ariana picked up the receiver and told herself that it was her imagination that the hard plastic felt warm from his brief grip on it. “I’m here, Mom.”
“Seriously, Ariana. About your work? You haven’t been online anywhere. You didn’t put up a fresh magazine blog this week or last. Mrs. Wysocki was in for her teeth cleaning this morning and she just couldn’t wait to pump me for the reason why.”
“Mrs. Wysocki needs to worry less about what I’m doing than what the Empress of—than what her own daughter Juliette is doing. She has to testify soon in Judge Rivera’s sexual-misconduct trial, if I remember.” From the corner of her eye, she watched Jayden flipping through the pile of mail on the kitchen table.
As if he were aware of her attention, he angled his head and gave her a sideways look.
She tucked the phone in the crook of her neck and studiously picked the corner of one of the bandages on her palm. “And I haven’t posted anything online because the library internet has been down. But don’t worry. I still have a job. People are covering for me at the magazine and I got my latest story submitted on time just like usual.” She’d had to dictate it over the phone, which had been a pain, but it still had worked. Which meant she didn’t have another column to write until next month. At which time, she would certainly be back home again.
The thought of getting back home, of getting her life back on its usual track, ought to have been a relief.
“And what about that book of yours?”
Ariana stiffened, holding the phone more tightly against her ear. She hadn’t told anyone at work about her book deal but she had told her parents. How could she not have shared that momentous news with them? The day she’d been offered the deal had been one of Ariana’s proudest. But she didn’t want Jayden overhearing something that would only end up upsetting him.
“It’s coming along fine, Mom.” If fine could be described as not having done one single thing.
Her mother’s sigh was noisy. She clearly wasn’t convinced. “Well, what about your car? How’s that coming along? Daddy and I were concerned when you paid for it outright with your book advance. It would have been wiser to put some of that money in your savings. Or at least you could have bought some furniture to replace the hand-me-downs you’ve had since college.”
Again with the book? “My furniture is fine, Mom. And so is the investment in my car. Charlie—the guy who’s doing the work—was still waiting on one last part when I talked to him Wednesday.” Jayden had given Ariana the keys to his truck to drive into town and use the library. She had stopped to see Charlie on her way back.
The boat had been gone from his garage, only to be replaced by a showy new pickup truck and a John Deere tractor. Charlie had shown her the progress he’d been making on her car, though. And he’d tried to explain about the mechanical damage he’d discovered once he’d started working on it. Everything he’d said had gone over her head. But he’d assured her that her insurance had approved the work and all he was waiting on was the part, which he didn’t expect to get for another few days.
“So you’ll be driving home soon.” Ariana’s mom was still talking in her ear. “Daddy will be awfully glad about that. He’s not at all comfortable
with you staying under a strange man’s roof. Of course, he thinks all men are just after one thing where his baby girl is concerned. The only reason he can sleep at night is knowing you’ve got a built-in chaperone from that SEAL boy.” As if Ariana were still seventeen instead of twenty-seven.
Ariana thought it best not to share the fact that Nathan hadn’t been around for the last few days. And even when he had been around, he hadn’t been the least bit chaperone-y.
“Just make sure you let us know this time before you get on the road,” Karen continued pointedly.
“I will, Mom.” Ariana let the cord re-coil itself as she walked back toward the phone’s base on the wall. “I’ve got to go now. Love you.” She quickly slid the receiver onto its cradle.
Jayden was tearing open one of the envelopes and he glanced up at her. “Everything good on the home front?”
If he’d been able to hear her mother’s comments about the book, he didn’t appear interested.
“Same as usual.” She headed for the refrigerator and pulled it open. When she’d first blown in with the tornado, the refrigerator had been stocked to the gills. In the two weeks since, it had become nearly empty. Which meant that figuring out things to fix was becoming increasingly challenging.
She ought to have stopped at the gas station for some groceries when she’d gone into Paseo the day before yesterday. But she’d already been feeling foolish for reminding him that she’d lost her driver’s license in the storm, so she really shouldn’t be caught driving anywhere until she got it replaced. He’d just given her a look and dropped his truck keys on the table in front of her.
Having to ask him for money on top of everything would have been just too much. And he hadn’t remembered to offer.
Which was why the refrigerator was now in its current state.
No milk. He was a grown man, but he still drank gallons of it.
No eggs. She’d learned straight off that he and Nathan could plow through a half dozen a day before taking off at the crack of dawn.
No bread. Deborah Fortune made it from scratch and even the frozen loaves were gone.
No fresh lettuce or tomatoes or fruit. Though Ariana had discovered a garden near the house, it had been leveled by the storm.
And she suspected that the half carton of cottage cheese on the bottom refrigerator shelf was growing the world’s next great antibiotic.
On the positive side, there was a slab of leftover rib eye, from when Jayden had grilled the night before, and an onion.
She pushed the refrigerator door closed and pulled open the metal bin partially filled with potatoes that she’d discovered the week before.
She could make a hash with the potatoes and steak, she supposed. Though it would be better with fried eggs on top—
“Forget the food.”
She looked over her shoulder at Jayden. It was silly to feel light-headed just from the sight of his bare chest. She’d seen bare chests before. Had even been up close and personal with a few of them. What was the deal with Jayden’s, then?
“So? Do you want to go or not?”
The owner of said chest was giving her an impatient look and she felt her face flush. She’d completely missed whatever it was he’d said and had no idea where he’d asked her to go. Still, she answered, “Uh, yeah. Sure.” No matter what it was, she was determined to pick it up in context.
Only Jayden just continued standing there. Watching her. And after a moment, his eyebrows went up. “You going to change?”
She looked down at herself.
Despite her reluctance to invade his mother’s clothes closet, necessity had simply won out. She could only wear the same combination of jeans, cami and two tie-dyed shirts for so long without losing her mind. Which was why she was currently wearing one of his mother’s long-sleeved denim shirts. She had the sleeves rolled up. And even belted around her waist, the long shirttails made for an adequate dress. It covered her more than some of the sundresses hanging in her apartment closet. Plus, it was cooler than her jeans. “I know it’s hardly high fashion, but—”
“But you’ll be more comfortable on horseback wearing jeans,” he said drily.
She hid her surprise behind an obliging smile. The only time he’d asked if she knew how to ride a horse had been on the day of the windows. “True. I was just waiting for you to, uh—” She gestured toward him with her hand. “You know, change also.” She hoped her face hadn’t turned as red hot on the outside as it felt on the inside. She turned on her too-loose, borrowed tennis shoe and inadvertently stepped right out of it.
She barely managed to keep from pitching forward onto the kitchen table and scooped up the offending shoe during the momentum. “Your mom has big shoes to fill,” she said breathlessly.
“I’ll tell her you said so.”
It was too hard keeping a smile in place, and it died the second she ducked out of the kitchen.
Whether they’d reached a truce or not, she seriously doubted that Jayden intended to tell his mother one single thing about Ariana, once she was out of his hair. And she knew, without question, that he particularly wouldn’t say anything about her so-called Fortune hunt.
She closed herself in Deborah’s bedroom and quickly pulled on her jeans. She’d washed them that morning and had taken them from the dryer while they were still damp. They were dry now. But barely. Then she pulled on the closest thing she had to a real bra—the shelf-lined cami. She was just reaching for one of the hardware-store T-shirts to pull over the cami when Jayden knocked on the door.
She pulled it open.
His eyes skimmed over her from her face to her bare toes and back up again. His gaze left a trail of heat in its wake as surely as if he’d physically run his fingertips up and down her. “I just came to tell you to wear a pair of boots. Mom’s boots,” he added, as if she didn’t have the sense to know he hadn’t meant Ariana’s high-heeled red ones.
“Fine.”
His eyes roved over her again. “And put a shirt on over all that.” His fingers waved. Evidently meant to encompass her “that” which she’d intended on covering anyway.
An unwise spurt of contrariness bubbled inside her. “You’re going to stand there half-naked, but I have to wear a nun’s habit?”
He snorted, and before she knew it, he’d slid a finger beneath one of her cami straps. “Habit?” With a quick tug, he pulled the scooped edge of her cami down just far enough to reveal the wings of her butterfly tattoo. “Not even close.”
She yanked her strap back over her shoulder. If she could only hate the way her skin was tingling, things would be ever so much easier. But she didn’t hate it.
She longed for it.
And whether she was awake or sleeping, she couldn’t get away from the intensity of it.
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’m easy on top of everything else,” she warned.
“Believe me, sweetheart. Nothing’s easy about you.”
Her skin prickled even more. She abruptly turned away and snatched up the shirt she’d fully intended on wearing to begin with and yanked it over her head. She looked back at him as she worked her hair free. “Satisfied?”
His gaze roved over her and she actually felt dizzy.
Then he suddenly cleared his throat and turned on his heel. “Don’t forget the boots,” he said as he walked away.
Ariana’s breath rushed out. She leaned against the tall chest of drawers for a moment. When she felt a little steadier, she pulled on her mismatched socks and opened Deborah’s closet door again.
Jayden’s mom had several pairs of cowboy boots. Ariana chose the most worn-looking pair and sat on the edge of the bed to pull them on.
They were just as loose on her feet as the tennis shoes, but at least they weren’t so easy to step right out of. The fact that she had to tuck
the legs of her narrow jeans inside them didn’t hurt, either.
She rubbed the dwindling tube of lip balm over her lips and left the room.
The kitchen door was open when she got there and she went outside, spotting Jayden. He was pulling on a blue plaid shirt and it flapped loosely around his lean hips as he disappeared into the barn. Sugar was trotting along at his heel.
Her heart did a slow cartwheel inside her chest at the sight.
There just was no way to deny it.
She pulled the kitchen door closed behind her and followed after them.
Even though she’d spent hours this past week working on the barn wall repairs with him, her first step inside the barn had her nose wrinkling. Not because the smell was unpleasant. Far from it. There was the expected smell of horseflesh, yes. But even more, it smelled like fresh wood and hay and the cleanser Jayden used when he swept down the aisle at the end of nearly every day.
There were two fans at either end, suspended from the rafters. They helped keep the air flowing and the flies down, and as she walked down the center aisle, she could feel the air tugging at her hair.
At the moment, none of the horses were in their stalls. Nathan, she knew, had taken two of them with him when he’d gone out on the range earlier that week. Two others, she saw through the open door at the other end of the barn, were tied to the railed fence surrounding the pasture.
Since she’d been at the ranch, she’d gotten close to the horses only a few times, and that had been to feed them carrots over the top of the sturdy fence standing between them. And even though she’d sooner choke than admit it, the thought of getting up on the back of one now was more than a little daunting. But she wasn’t going to give Jayden another opportunity to point out what a city girl she was.
Not if she could help it, anyway.
“You going to stand there chewing your lip all afternoon?”
She looked over to where he was pulling a saddle from the rack. “Maybe,” she admitted.
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