by Sable Hunter
“It’s okay. I’ve got him.” She attempted to lead the confused man to his room. “I think he was rehearsing for the True Grit movie. Rooster Cogburn and Mattie are the characters. Isn’t that right, John?”
“I finished off that Chaney coward for you, Mattie. He’s dead.”
“I appreciate it, Rooster. Let’s get you back to bed, okay?”
Jonah stood with mouth agape. Each time he looked at Delaney, his attraction to her grew by leaps and bounds. Now, he’d calmed down enough to notice his house guest’s attire. The faded pink t-shirt and shorts looked to be well-worn and soft from too many washings. Their lack of style did nothing to detract from her sex appeal. Watching her move past him, he noticed how the thin shirt molded her breasts and how those tight shorts cupped her bottom. “Oh, for Pete’s sake,” he muttered when he realized he was rock hard and aching. All he could think was that she was in his house, right outside his bedroom door, and he hadn’t had sex in a month of Sundays.
“It’s okay. You go back to bed.” Delaney said as she maneuvered the trembling gentleman to his room. “Does this happen often?”
“Uh…does what happen often?” He stepped back into the shadows of the hall, afraid she would spot his excited state.
“John waking up disturbed like this.”
“Uh…yea. Unfortunately. No rest for the wicked. If it wasn’t his father waking up from a nightmare, it was Jonah. He followed them to his father’s bedroom but stopped just outside the door. “I’m used to this. I can take care of it.”
“No, that’s what I’m here for.” She flipped on the light, noticing a rose-colored Queen Anne chair next to the bed. “I’ll sit right here. We’ll be fine.”
“I sit up some nights, to keep him from roaming around or hurting himself.”
“Well, now you don’t have to. That’s what I’m here for. You’ve got work tomorrow.” Delaney glanced at Jonah, her eyes grazing his body. When they roamed low enough to see the large bulge in his jeans, her eyes widened, and she jerked her gaze back up to his face.
Jonah’s face flamed as he realized she’d noticed his embarrassing condition. “Fuck. Fine.” He wheeled around to leave. “We’ll talk about this all in the morning.”
Delaney watched him go, her heart fluttering in her chest. Yes, she couldn’t help but see he was aroused. Was that for her? A longing swept over her – not for sex in particular, but to be wanted by someone like him would be amazing.
“Miss Margaret, I can’t seem to get these covers straight.”
“Sorry.” She turned to help John into bed, fluffing his pillow, and straightening the blankets. “You rest now. I’ll sit here until you fall asleep.”
“Can I have a drink of water?”
“Sure.” The childish request made her smile. She found his glass next to the lamp and went into the bathroom to fill it at the sink. When she returned, it was to find him already asleep. “Well, it’ll be here if you want it later.” Smiling to herself, she placed the water within his reach.
After checking the time, she flipped off the bedside lamp and retreated to the small sitting area by the window. The temp wasn’t cold, but there was a slight hint of dampness in the air. Sinking down in the oversize chair, Delaney tucked her feet up under her.
Having seen to her patient’s immediate needs, her mind returned to the encounter with Jonah. After a few minute’s reflection, she realized men often wake up in an aroused condition. The likelihood she inspired such a reaction was slim…to none. She usually didn’t receive much attention from attractive men. And Jonah Callan was indeed attractive. He was also kind and considerate. In a single night, he’d rescued both a kitten and a damsel in distress – not to mention being the sort to care for his ailing father. Guys like him were in short supply in Delaney’s world.
As were many other things.
Letting out a resigned breath, she acknowledged the ups and downs of her existence. So far her life couldn’t be described as ideal – far from it. She’d spent far too many years tied down, working her fingers to the bone for other people. Somehow, she’d let a great deal of her youth pass her by. Now, she was almost thirty and she’d never really lived.
Oh, she couldn’t say it was all bad. She cherished the time she’d spent with her grandfather. Walker Ellis had been the light of her existence. Delaney would never forget the things he’d taught her.
Yes, she’d experienced her share of setbacks, so this new one shouldn’t have come as a shock – but it had. Learning there was no job waiting for her really took the wind out of Delaney’s sails. Top that disappointing fact with her car trouble and her day was complete. It was a wonder she wasn’t hunkered down in the back seat of her car, hoping to go unnoticed by two good old boys who’d singled her out for harassment.
Yet…here she sat in a situation that was both different and very familiar. The role of caretaker seemed to be her lot in life. Only this time her patient wasn’t family, and she was staying in close quarters with a very handsome man.
A soft giggle slipped from her lips as she thought of Jonah. What would he think to learn he was the silver lining in the otherwise dark cloud hanging over her head? Not much, probably.
Feeling her eyes grow heavy she closed them, her thoughts full of a sexy mechanic in shining armor.
Chapter Three
The next thing Delaney knew, the alarm was going off.
“What’s that? Gunfire?”
Hearing his reaction to the noise, she jumped to her feet in time to corral Mr. John before he found a weapon to defend himself against an imaginary attacker. “Everything’s fine. It’s just time to get up and start our day.” Since Jonah helped with his shower the night before, all she had to do was wrangle him into some fresh clothes and give him his medicine.
Once that was done, she turned the television on. “Now, you sit here on your bed and watch TV while I change clothes. Okay?” Flipping through the channels, she settled on a western. “There, you can watch High Chapparal. How’s that?”
As he grumbled because one of his own movies wasn’t playing, Delaney escaped to her room and dressed quickly. She wanted to look pretty, but she didn’t have a lot of things to choose from. After some frantic deliberation, she settled on a fresh pair of jeans and a pullover top with rosebuds at the neck. “How hokey. Oh well.”
A few minutes later, she steered Mr. John down the stairs to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. As soon as it was done, she made him a cup as she deftly flipped pancakes.
…Upstairs, Jonah heard an odd noise. Singing? Then he caught a whiff of something tantalizing. Raising his head, he began to follow his nose. “Damn. I think I smell pancakes. And bacon. And coffee.” He couldn’t help but hurry down the stairs. Once he rounded the corner, he found his dad fighting his face with the cat and the dog at his feet. The animals were hoping he’d drop a tasty morsel. Delaney stood with her back to him, her bottom wiggling in time to a tune she was humming slightly offkey. His reaction to the complete picture was stronger than he expected – a mix of both longing and alarm.
“Can anybody join this party?”
Delaney whirled around, spatula in hand. “Sure. Sorry we didn’t wait on you, Mr. John was starving. He didn’t eat much last night.”
“That’s all right.” He clapped his dad on the shoulder, stooped to pet both animals, then tried to figure out a clear path to the coffee pot that wouldn’t bring his excitable manhood into contact with her gyrating hips.
Sensing his discomfiture, Delaney scoffed. “Just sit. Sit. I’ll pour your coffee. How do you like it?”
“Black. Two sugars. Thanks.” Jonah let out a relieved breath as he claimed his usual spot at the table. He didn’t need a repeat of last night’s inconvenient arousal. He’d ended up resorting to a little self-love to ease the ache. There wasn’t time for such things this morning. “Does one of those golden delights have my name on it?”
Hearing the hope in his tone,
she laughed. “A whole stack of them bear your name.” She added one more pancake and four slices of bacon to the plate she’d reserved for him before passing the food across the table. “Let me get you some silverware. Do you want a glass of milk to go with it?”
“No. Coffee’s good.”
Delaney smiled when she saw his eyes were round with anticipation and pleasure. “Eat up. I might not be able to do a lot of things well, but I can cook.”
“Oh, I bet you can do a whole host of things.” He moaned at the taste.
The sexy noise coming from his throat and the way she interpreted his innocent comment made her nipples hard. Delaney looked down at the evidence, debating whether she should spray herself with water or put ice cubes in her bra. Keeping her back to Jonah, she finally settled on using a bad memory to get her mind off more pleasurable things. “Oh, I’m a passable domestic. From the time I could stand on a stool and reach the sink, the stove, and the washing machine, my mom relinquished all of the household duties to me.”
Jonah didn’t know what to say to her revelation, so he moved on to a fairly critical topic. “Uh, I have a busy day before me with several inspections and oil changes. One of the items on my agenda is fixing your tire. So if you could give me your keys, I’ll take care of that little chore first thing.”
“Oh, of course.” She ran to retrieve them from her purse.
“Are you gonna be able to stick around with Dad?” he asked as she reentered the kitchen.
“Yea, sure.” Delaney was as torn about the situation as Jonah seemed to be. “If you remember, I promised to stay until you made other arrangements.”
“I just don’t know where those other arrangements are going to come from.” He stood up and jerked a couple of paper towels from the holder underneath the cabinet, tossing one toward John. “After last night’s display, I’m sure this isn’t a situation you want to take on.”
Still facing the window, Delaney weighed her options. “No, this doesn’t follow the plan I’d outlined for my immediate future. However, my plans have fallen through. Spectacularly.” With a glance down at her errant breasts to make sure they were behaving, she turned. “Look, let’s be honest with one another. I don’t have any place to go, and you don’t have anyone to take care of your father. I’m willing to stay until the fall.” Seeing the expression on his face, she gave him an out. During her life, she was used to giving people outs. The sting of rejection seemed less painful that way. “If that’s something you could live with. Fine. If not…” Her voice trailed off to nothing.
He needed help with his father. Definitely. Yet…he hesitated for one reason. What was troubling him was the woman herself. She was just…too good to be true. Too nice. Too pretty. Too sexy. He must be missing something. And if she was for real, Jonah didn’t know how he’d live under the same roof with her without going mad with want. Hell, he’d end up with a terminal case of blue balls. Not to mention the fact he couldn’t afford to get attached. He was just a working stiff with nothing to offer a woman. Plus his dad was right, he did have a tendency to take in strays, his heart was too open for his own good. And Delaney Ellis appeared to be someone easy to love.
Face it, he lectured himself, there’s no room in your life for someone like Delaney – not in the long run. One day, he’d have to break his promise to John Callan and put him in a home. When he did, Jonah wouldn’t have anything. No house. No shop. The only thing he’d have to call his own would be a Harley-Davidson and a mountain of regret.
His delay in giving her an answer struck a chord of dismay in Delaney. The idea of setting out with no destination in mind was a scary prospect. “All right. Well, I guess it’s up to you. I can stay until you get my car going and then I’ll be on my way.”
“No.” Jonah found his mouth forming the word before he could get his brain in gear. “No. Stay. I’ll put out some feelers for a replacement for Ms. Bernice. I don’t know how much luck I’ll have, but I’ll look. Until then…I’d appreciate it if you’d stick around.” Who was he kidding? Having her here meant a great deal to him. “I got more sleep last night than I’ve gotten in the past few days put together. Ms. Bernice made it possible for me to go to the shop during the day, but the nights were another story. Sometimes I was too tired to accomplish very much.” Between his father and the stupid nightmares, a full night’s rest was hard to come by. Having to stay awake for his dad, he couldn’t take the stupid pill that would allow him to sleep.
Delaney felt like someone just lifted a boulder from her chest. “All right.”
“Uh, I’ll be glad to pay you what I was paying Ms. Bernice. I know it’s not fair, your being here full time instead of a forty-hour work week. Sadly, I don’t think I can do any better.”
“No problem, that’ll be fine. When you can. Room and board will be great for now.”
He waved his hand around at the kitchen. “Don’t think you’ll have to do all the cooking.”
With a shrug, Delaney added her own viewpoint. “Cooking is something I really enjoy – if that’s all right with you.”
Before Jonah could comment, John Callan spoke up. “Don’t I get a say in the matter?”
Taken aback, Jonah raised one eyebrow at Delaney. “Why, sure, I guess. What’s your take on the situation?”
He nodded his head toward Delaney. “I like Miss Margaret’s cooking. We need someone to help out around here with stuff. What I don’t need is a dang babysitter. So…if that’s what all of this is about, you can just head on down the road, little missy.”
Delaney held Jonah’s gaze for a long moment before facing John. “Hey, I don’t want to be a babysitter. What I would like is a friend to hang out with. I mean, Jonah goes off to work. He won’t be any fun.”
I won’t? Jonah was struck by her pronouncement.
“John, would you mind keeping me company?” Delaney continued. “We could do some interesting things together.”
“Like what?” John put down the kitten, who was busy licking syrup off its whiskers.
Delaney made such a cute face of panic that Jonah couldn’t help but chuckle. He just waited to see what she’d come up with.
“Well, I see the creek behind the house.” She pointed to the window. “We could go fishing. Go for walks. Bake cookies. Hey, we could go to the movies.”
“Huh, I make movies, I don’t go to movies.”
“I’m sure we can find something to do. I’m open to suggestions.” When he still appeared skeptical, Delaney could see she would have to try a different tactic. “When your son brought me home, it wasn’t just to stay with you, John. I was in a bit of a fix. There were these two men who were giving me a hard time. They scared me.”
This got John’s attention. He sat up straighter and narrowed his eyes. “These rapscallions gave you trouble?”
“What men are you talking about?” This question came from Jonah.
She shrugged, presuming there would be no harm in telling her story. “Well, I was traveling on the interstate between Houston and San Antonio when I first noticed them. You know how you’ll see the same vehicle several times when you’re both traveling in the same direction. Well, these two men tracked pretty steadily along with me, sometimes in front of me, sometimes behind. They came alongside me a couple of times like they were trying to get my attention. I just ignored them…until I had a flat. I managed to get off the road and was about to change the tire myself when they pulled in behind me. I told them I didn’t need any help, but they came over to me anyway. The only problem was that they weren’t there to fix my flat, they tried to get me in the car with them.”
Jonah leaned closer, his hand on his knee. He didn’t like what he was hearing – at all. “Did they hurt you? Did you call 9-1-1?”
“I think I’m fine.” She touched the sore place just above her hips. “They got in one pretty good blow to my lower back, but I’ve survived worse tussles growing up.”
Standing, Jonah motioned fo
r her to turn around. “Raise your shirt. Let me see your back.”
Knowing a bruise could be dangerous for her, she did as he suggested. “Thank you.”
Jonah squatted behind her, wincing when he saw the purplish discoloration. “Damn them to hell.”
“Do you feel a knot underneath it?”
He touched the place gently. “No, no knot.” She was so small and soft, seeing what those men did just made his blood boil.
“That’s good.” She was relieved. “I’ll put some ice on it and it’ll be fine.”
“I’ll get some. You sit down.”
Before she could protest, he was digging through the freezer compartment over the fridge. “I keep these packs in here for when I mash a finger.”
“Oh, good.”
She held her breath as he put the cold compress against her skin, adjusting her shirt in place. “Now, lean back and let it do some good.”
“All right.” She closed her eyes as her body attempted to adjust to the shock of the ice. “A cop showed up. Unfortunately, they left before he could exit and reach me.”
“Did the posse catch them?” John asked, his eyes wide with interest.
“No, they got away and…so did I. That’s how I ruined my wheel.” She thought that was enough explanation.
Jonah was shaking his head with worry, but John banged his fist on the table. “Why, you’re darn-tootin’ gonna stay here. We’ll look after you, won’t we?” he aimed his question at his son.
“Yes, sir. We will.”
“And I’ll look after the two of you,” Delaney summed up the situation, feeling a bit relieved.
“Good.” John smiled, happy with the outcome. “I want to go see Cletus soon. Care to take me?”
“Cletus?” Delaney asked.
Jonah shook his head. “Dad’s friend. Don’t ask. You’ll learn the rest soon enough.”
“Okay. I look forward to it – I guess.”
Standing, Jonah put his hands on his hips. “You rest here with Dad for another ten minutes, then take the ice off. Leaving it on too long can damage your skin.”