by May Williams
Chapter Seven
She trembled as Ian’s lips skimmed over her sensitive skin and his body clung tight to hers. She gripped the sink’s edge, fingers still dripping with water until he spun her around and pinned her to the sink. His eyes met hers, posing an unspoken question. In answer, she wrapped her arms around his neck, yanking him to her and initiating a kiss, deep and rich, unlike anything she’d ever done before.
Groaning, he pulled her closer and slid his hands to her hips. The hard surge of his erection pressed against her stomach as his tongue swept through her mouth. It was a tease, a dance, as they ground together, taking pleasure from each other. But through her closed eyelids and clouded senses, she caught a flash of light brighten the room. When Romeo thrust his head between them, she realized how intense the moment had become and broke from the kiss, dropping her head against Ian’s shoulder
“It’s just Romeo,” she whispered, slowly catching her breath and calming her wild desires. His hands made long strokes up and down her back, soothing her, but his heart still raced under her ear. “Too fast?” He said into her hair.
“A little, but I like it.” She kissed him gently on the neck, making him moan. “I’m going to go change.” She disentangled herself from him, but took his hand to lead him through a door into her kitchen. “I’ll only be a minute.” She kicked off her shoes and dashed up the back stairs to her bedroom on the second floor.
Hastily, she tossed off her soiled clothes. As much as she loved the animals, she didn’t want to smell like the barn with Ian around. Not that he seemed to mind, she mused, while yanking on fresh jeans and a pink tank top. She removed the clip from her hair, letting it fall down her back. The feel of his kisses lingered on her skin. Should she put her hair back up and tempt him to more kisses? She played with her hair, studying her reflection in the mirror for a moment. Hers was the face of a woman who had been recently and seriously kissed. Her lips were a little puffy and her skin flushed.
She found a bright green fabric headband in the basket on her dresser and put it on her head as a compromise. It brought her hair relatively under control, but left it long in back. For the first time in her life, Colette hoped the man in her life would like it.
The thought made her draw up short. She sat down on the edge of the bed, staring at the plain, but pretty room. Since when did she care whether he liked it or not? Possibly since he chased a runaway dog on Grand Island, but certainly since dinner the other night.
Part of her wanted to hug a pillow to her stomach and roll back on the bed. The other part wanted to race downstairs to be with him. And that meant she was starting to like him. Really like him. And she didn’t want that…did she? The memory of her disastrous relationships told her the first option was the most sensible, but Ian was different. She could trust him. Right? She certainly wanted to.
She wanted a relationship filled with love and trust. She wanted to build a life with someone special here on her farm. Was he the one? The thought that he could be made her dig through her makeup bag for lip gloss and mascara. She left the safety of her room, half-excited and half-fearful to join Ian in the kitchen.
He was gazing through the window over the sink, which looked out toward the barns. When she came down the stairs, he turned to her with a slightly dreamy look, as though the light from the window had mesmerized him.
“Bright colors. Nice. They’ll photograph well,” he commented.
“Huh?” She blinked at him.
“Your blouse.” He eyed her up and down. “Pictures for your website. Remember?” He was smiling now, a teasing glimmer in his eyes.
“Right.” She took a breath and made herself walk across the kitchen toward him to grab two glasses from a cupboard. “Should I put on something more professional?”
“Nope. I like this.” He hooked a finger in the neckline of her tank top to pull her toward him and plant a quick kiss on her lips.
“Will it look all right, though?” Feeling suddenly nervous, she skirted away from him and reached in the refrigerator for a pitcher of iced tea.
“It’s fine. You’re not going for a high profile business image.” He took the glass of tea she handed him. “I think you want to look warm, friendly, and smart,” he took a sip, “which you are.”
She ignored his cool and smoky gaze and tried to re-direct his attention. If he stared at her any harder, she would embarrass herself by blushing and squirming. She liked him, but his intensity could be overwhelming.” Do you want to see the rest of the house?”
“Later. First, I want to look around at this eight hundred acres you own.”
“My family owns.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “How do you know how big it is?”
Ian took a large gulp of tea and sputtered as it hit the back of his throat. In a moment, when he could speak again, he answered, “It’s amazing what you can find out on Google.”
“You looked it up?”
“Research for the website.” There was a sheepish grin on his face now. “The county auditor’s office has records of everyone’s property. They’re posted.”
“Oh, I wasn’t thinking about the website. Learn anything else?”
“Nothing important, but I do have a question. Why do you and your siblings own the property? Why don’t your parents?”
“Cherry Ridge belonged to my father’s parents, but my mother inherited a house in town from her family. My parents still live there, and they like it. As kids, we spent summers and hours afterschool out here. Lexy was in the kitchen learning the secrets of French cooking. I was in the barns with Grandpa, and Adrien was down at the beach studying anything that moved. When they were older, my grandparents deeded the property to us, knowing our parents didn’t need it.” She put her glass on the table. “Are you ready?”
“Sure. I want to grab my other camera from my car.” He opened the kitchen door for her and they stepped out into the shade of the side yard. After a quick stop at his car, Ian slung one camera with a long lens around his neck and held his more compact one in his hand.
“Do you need both of those?” She asked since he looked like a complete tourist.
“Uh-huh.” At her doubtful look, he gave her a grin. “Trust me. I’m a professional.”
“You say that a lot.”
“That I’m a professional?”
“No! ‘Trust me’.”
“Do you trust me?” He asked, focusing his gaze on her.
She couldn’t tell if his tone was teasing or serious. Did she trust him? Moreover, should she? He made it easy to, but…
“I don’t know. I’d like to.”
With his free hand, he took hers, rubbing his thumb over the back of her knuckles. “I’m not here to hurt you, you know.”
“I hope not.” She forced a smile to reassure him and herself. Breaking their joined hands, she gestured to the sweep of land around them. “Where do you want to go first?”
“Take me down to the lakeshore.”
“This way.” She started down a path through the cherry trees toward the lake. Pointing to a wide section of lawn on the east side of the house, Colette said, “That’s where we set up the main tent for the fundraiser.”
“What fundraiser?” When he stopped walking, she turned to face him.
“I didn’t mention it the other night?” He shook his head, giving her a blank stare. “We had the first one last summer. Animal rescue is expensive. We get most of the supplies at cost through the clinic, but it doesn’t cover it all. Lexy cooked up an idea last year to have an evening of food, wine, and music here at the farm. One of those so much per head things plus a silent auction.”
“You organize it yourself?”
“Lexy, my mother, and I. Lexy manages all the food and Mom badgers businesses for donations. She’s good at that sort of thing. I do the on-site set up.”
“You make it sound easy, but I know it can’t be.”
She laughed. “You’re right. It was a helluva lot of work last year, but worth it.
We raised enough money to get the center off the ground and take care of the animals who came in this year.”
“Impressive. Hope I get my business off the ground so well.”
“You will.” She smiled at him. “You’ve got ambition and the right equipment.” She gestured to his camera.
“Mind if I take a few pictures here?” he asked as he studied the trees.
She looked around at the old cherry trees, lush with fruit. “Go ahead.”
He clicked several shots, pivoting around to take in the landscape. “Do you have any employees?”
“High school kid from down the road works when we need someone or I’m away.” She plucked a ripe cherry off a tree and popped it in her mouth.
“When is the fundraiser?” He stopped taking photos and focused on her.
“In about a month.” She realized abruptly that he might not be here that long. The thought made her feel a little hollow inside. She continued leading him and took a sharp turn to the left, down a path that entered a grove of pines. “Watch yourself. The path gets steep and rocky here.”
“Can I help with anything?” Ian stepped around the exposed roots of a tree, carefully guarding his cameras as he did so. “I could do some promotional work for you. Make up some flyers or advertisements.”
She stopped in the grove in a slice of afternoon light that cut through the trees. There it was again: temptation. The temptation to keep him around, invite him back, trust him. “If you like, but why would you?”
“Maybe because I believe in the value of animal rescue,” he said. She nodded, thinking he was done speaking. “Maybe because I like you and enjoy being with you,” he finished quietly, reaching out a hand to stroke the side of her face. She shied back, but his gray eyes didn’t falter. “That’s not too hard to believe, is it?”
What did he want her to say? To respond in kind? She supposed it was the normal thing, to want to spend more time with him, but…there was always a but.
Just as she opened her mouth, the squawk of a blue jay caught his attention. Automatically, he put the camera with the long lens to his face and found the jay high in a tree through the viewer.
He knew how to find things when he wanted to, she realized suddenly. At least…through that lens. Maybe…he really did want to find her….
“He has a nest up there,” he said, abruptly, “You can see the little baby jays poking their heads up. Do you want to look?” He held the camera still slung around his neck out to the side for her.
She put her head on his shoulder to look at the nest through the camera’s lens. The jay covered his young with out-spread wings, showing his love and protection. His mate flew in from another tree, joining him and bringing food for their young. Mama, Daddy, and babies—the animal kingdom made it so simple. In the human world, finding someone to be with, to love and trust was more challenging. Was this her chance?
She sighed, and he turned his head toward her. This close she caught the scent of his spicy cologne and fought the urge to kiss him. It really was like sliding down a bottomless slope when it came to him.
She jerked back when Romeo shot past them to bark at the birds, who doubled their cries of displeasure at the dog’s intrusion.
Dropping her eyes, she stepped back and glanced away through the tall trees when he tried to move closer to her.
“Colette, am I making you nervous again?”
“No,” she said quickly.
“Liar.” He pulled the camera off his neck and put it on a soft bed of pine needles. “I am making you nervous. You don’t want me to get too close.”
Colette didn’t realize she’d been backing away from him until she hit the sturdy trunk of a pine tree. She could have dodged to the side to avoid his advance, but it seemed silly, a little fourth grade on the playground, so she lifted her chin and waited. He put one hand on the tree next to her head. With the other, he touched her cheek.
“Don’t you like me?” He nuzzled her neck and had the satisfaction of hearing her gasp.
“You know I do,” she whispered, her words bringing him a sudden flash of joy.
“Then what is it?”
She tipped her head back against the tree. “I told you I’m a bum magnet. I have a bad track record with men.”
“How bad?”
“Terrible enough to have me living like a nun for the past two years.”
“Tell me.” He kissed her softly on the lips.
“There was a string of them, but the last and worst was Tyler.” She let out a long sigh and focused on Ian’s face. “He was charming. Said all the right things. Did all the right things. I thought I was in love. I thought he was.” She gripped the front of Ian’s shirt with her fist. “You have to understand, I’ve been surrounded by people with perfect relationships my whole life. I told you about my grandparents, but my parents are the same. You know, love at first sight, years of wedded bliss. My sister and her husband, too. I don’t know how I came from the same DNA. I’m a train wreck when it comes to men. It’s like I’m cursed. What did I do to deserve it?”
“I don’t think you’re cursed.” He placed a kiss on her forehead. “I think you work hard and are caring. That means you have something people find worthwhile. You just have to find the right person to share it with. Tyler wasn’t it.” And because he couldn’t let it go at that, he asked, “What happened with him?”
“We dated for a couple months. Then, Dad and I started to notice that some medicines were missing from the clinic or from the kits we keep in the trucks.”
“Animal drugs?”
“Some of them are the same as human pharmaceuticals. You know, pain killers, tranquilizers.”
“So the guy was an addict.”
“No, he was stealing the drugs from us and selling them.” She drew in a deep breath. “It caused an investigation of the clinic and threats from the certification board about my license and Dad’s.” She swiped at the tears forming in the corner of her eye. “Sorry. It still pisses me off that he used me and I never caught on.”
“Is he in jail?” Ian controlled his tone to mask the irrational anger he was feeling. This Tyler was pond scum. “He is now. He skipped town, but tried to run the same scam in some small town in Indiana. The vet there wised up faster than I did.” Her face twisted in a grimace. “Dad and I had to go testify against him. He’s in prison now, but it doesn’t make it any better.”
“I’m not going to steal from you or cost you your license,” Ian said, only to realize the truth about what he was saying and stop the fake assurances. He wasn’t a hell of lot better than Tyler. “Uh…have you dated at all since then?”
She tried to smile at him. “Not really, thought I’d forgotten how.”
He didn’t know what to say so he put some space between them. Nothing he could say would help her or make him less of a hypocrite.
“I’m sorry if I seem distrustful sometimes,” she said. “It’s just hard to get past an experience like that.”
She pushed off the tree. For a second, she brushed against him causing his heart beat to quicken. But all too soon she slipped past him to walk back to the trail through the woods, her blond hair swaying behind her. “We better keep going.”
Ian retrieved his camera and followed her down the narrow path like a puppy, thinking of how he could comfort her. “So you put all your energy into the rescue center for the past two years?”
“Yep. Animals can’t lie.”
“Not all people lie.” As he watched her back retreating quickly, he told himself he hadn’t lied to her. He just hadn’t told her the whole truth. He tried to mentally justify his actions, but that was getting harder to do. Part of him wanted to take his brother’s advice and tell her everything, right here, right now. But the fear that she’d send him packing permanently stopped him. So he’d wait and hopefully by the time he told her or she found out, she’d forgive his deception.
They cleared the edge of the forest and walked onto a wide ledge of sandstone sl
oping down to the rocky shore. The lake shone a brilliant blue in the summer light with a few boats dotting the surface of the water. Colette sat down on a large rock while Ian turned in every direction to take in the view.
“It’s as beautiful as the cottage property on Grand Island,” he said, after several minutes of study. “There it’s wild but confined by the rocks and trees. Here it’s sweeping and grand. Your family sure knows how to buy property.”
“Thanks for the compliment, but I’m just the lucky recipient of some very good decisions about a hundred years ago.” She cupped her chin in her hands, watching his every move.
“That long?” he asked although after his title search, he knew exactly when this property became Peterson land. Again, he reminded himself, he wasn’t lying. He was just not telling the whole truth.
“This property in 1894 and the cottage in the 1930s. Family rumor says it was won in a poker game. My grandfather always said that wasn’t true, but I met my great grandfather once when I was a kid and I’m not so sure.”
He chuckled. “Family secrets are the best.”
She raised her eyebrows at him. “You have any?”
“Loads, but my father is too stubborn to tell them to me and my brother.” Too stubborn to do anything normal families might do.
“Difficult man?”
“Yeah. You could say that.” And probably mad as hell by now since Ian hadn’t wrestled this property away from the Petersons yet. The likelihood of that was becoming minute.
Ian looked down at Colette. A little of her vibrancy disappeared in the woods. She took the spare camera he handed her, tucking it safely in her lap and brightening a little. “You never mention your mother,” Colette observed.
“My parents divorced when Tom and I were ten. Mom re-married shortly after and moved to Scottsdale. We spent vacations with her, but stayed in Chicago most of the year.”
“She didn’t want you with her?” Colette winced when his expression hardened. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t ask it that way.”