by Sara Orwig
Her reaction to him was a phenomenon she would never understand, but one that occurred consistently. Along with it came an awareness about herself and a ridiculous tendency to want to smooth her hair. She noticed wind whipping her slacks and knew she would never wear a skirt to the ranch.
Why, why, why had she let her guard down and returned his kiss? She shook her head.
“Hey, you already started to change the tire. You didn’t need to do that,” he said, his voice bringing her back to the situation at hand.
“I can’t get the lug nuts loose.”
“You ever changed a tire?” he asked, checking the jack and then hunkering down to turn the wrench.
“Yes, my brothers made sure of it. This is a new car with new tires, so a flat is frustrating.”
He squinted up at her. “It happens. May just be a faulty tire. Still say you should move in and save yourself so much hassle,” he said as he worked. Locks of his black hair fell over his forehead and she still puzzled over her reaction to him when there was no such thing with his twin brother. They looked identical, only she had no difficulty knowing which one she was with. In addition, she had noticed that Jeff had a tiny scar along his jaw. Probably from some daredevil stunt. She didn’t want to ask.
Dropping nuts and bolts into the hubcap with loud clinks, he removed the tire and stood, turning to face her. “Want to?” “What?”
“Move in. Try it this week and if you don’t like staying on the ranch, move out.”
She gazed into the darkness beyond him. “You don’t think we would bother each other?”
“Nope. We didn’t last time. Main house will be more convenient than a guesthouse,” he said as he carried the flat toward his pickup. “Move in and give it a try.”
“I suppose it’s worth trying,” she said.
“Good. I can get the guys to check out your tire.”
“Don’t bother. It’s under warranty. I’ll get a new one,” she said and watched as he carried it easily to place it in her trunk. “Thanks.”
“It was nothing. I’m glad you were on the ranch when it happened and off the highway.” He stood wiping his hands on a rag, but he was close in front of her and he paused to look at her. Again, that electrical current sparked between them. Held by his gaze, she remembered his kiss totally, feeling as drawn to him as she had that moment when he had leaned down to kiss her.
With an effort she turned away to get into her car, flustered, breathless and annoyed. “I’ll see you at the office.” She flung the words at him without looking back. She glanced in the rearview mirror to see him make a sweeping turn and follow her.
And she had agreed to move into his mansion.
She was relieved to be caught up in work that didn’t involve him most of the day—they saw little of each other.
Alexa arrived at the condo that night the same time as Holly.
“I was going to call you tonight,” Holly said. “I’m moving to his ranch for the rest of the week. If it works out, I’ll stay there during the week most of the time.”
“Good! That will be easier for you. You’ll like the job better, I’ll bet.”
“I’ll see how it goes. Cowboy Jeff said we can stay out of each other’s way.”
“If it’s as palatial as you described, that shouldn’t be a problem,” Alexa said.
“Noah’s urging me to stay out there, too. If Jeff were Noah, I wouldn’t have to give it a moment’s thought.”
“You’re working there anyway. I’ll keep an eye on things around here. Want any plants watered?”
“No, thanks. I won’t be away that long.”
“True, the week will be over before you know it,” Alexa said, running her fingers through her curly cap of brown hair.
“I hope,” Holly replied. “I’ll see you this weekend.” She returned to her condo to pack, spending another restless night dreaming about Jeff Brand.
Wednesday at the office she hardly saw Jeff, and his absence allowed her to throw herself into her work until she heard a knock at the door and looked up to see him lounging there.
“I’m calling it a night. The secretaries left two hours ago.”
“Good heavens, what time is it?” she asked, glancing at the clock. Surprised, she saw it was twenty after seven. “I think I’ve been sitting for the past hour,” she said, standing and gathering up papers. “I’ll have to drive to your house because I brought some things to keep there. You can ride with me.”
“Sure. Close up and we’ll go,” he said and disappeared down the hall. She heard his boot heels on the bare floor as he walked away.
The minute she stepped through the door in his path a blast of hot air struck her. Even though her car was parked beneath a cover, heat enveloped her when she opened the door. As she switched on the motor and air-conditioning, he climbed into the car beside her, moving folders to the back. “Taking work home?” he asked.
“A little,” she admitted, knowing he probably disapproved and would never do the same himself.
“You and Noah—work, work, work. Did you bring a swimsuit?”
“No, I forgot all about that,” she said.
“Well, I’ll swim later, but you might as well have dinner with me. I can grill a couple of steaks in no time.”
“You don’t…”
“I know I don’t need to,” he interrupted with amusement. “You have to eat and we’re doing fair to middlin’ together.”
“Sure,” she said, yielding because she suspected he wasn’t giving up easily and she was hungry now that she thought about it.
Picking up her bag, he led her upstairs. “I can put you in a different wing or back to the same room you had before. You won’t interfere with me there.” He turned to look down at her as they reached the top of the stairs. “And I promise I won’t interfere with you.”
She couldn’t keep from smiling in return. “Fine,” she said, wondering where all her intentions had gone to get far away from him.
He set her things in the same bedroom. “I’ll see you downstairs shortly. I can fix a drink—what would you like?”
“Iced tea would be great. Give me about fifteen minutes.”
“No hurry,” he said and was gone, but his presence permeated the room. She still wondered if she was making a huge mistake by staying here.
Wearing her same slacks and blouse, she joined him on the patio. He had his back to her and he had changed to a knit shirt and slacks. Steaks smelled delicious as smoke spiraled in the air from the grill.
Water splashed from fountains in the pool and pots of exotic flowers added a festive air. The place should have been relaxing, but her nerves were raw in Jeff’s disturbing presence.
Jeff turned and his gaze swept over her. Beautiful package that covered pure ice. Not so, he contradicted his own thoughts. There was fire somewhere beneath that ice. Red-hot and enticing. What a waste. He picked up a frosty glass of amber liquid and held it out.
“Your tea, Holly,” he said, her name rolling off his tongue. He saw the flicker in her eyes and the quick intake of her breath. They had some kind of chemistry between them and he suspected she loathed that she couldn’t control it. She was all about control. At least up to a point and then that attraction they both felt overwhelmed and consumed them, wreaking all kinds of havoc.
He turned away to tend the steaks and thought about his dad’s offer. Jeff turned around again to study Holly as she looked over his patio. He realized she might be the way to get even with his father and get the family ranch at the same time. A marriage of convenience with Holly.
The instant the thought came, he rejected it. She hated men right now—was not into relationships. He couldn’t imagine life with his total opposite. As he turned the steaks, arguments assailed him. Her low opinion of men could work in his favor. She wouldn’t want any marriage to last. But a marriage of convenience would be a business contract and wouldn’t be a real relationship in any manner. Jeff stared at the smoldering grill and listened to the
steaks sizzle and pop. Set up a marriage of convenience with Holly and get the ranch and then dissolve the whole thing. Could he ever talk her into going for it?
He felt sure he could because Noah had talked her into this year-long situation. This would simply be an added layer.
Noah had all the faith in the world in her. Jeff didn’t know her well, but he didn’t see that it would matter. Holly would never want to stay married, cause him trouble or try to take advantage of his wealth.
The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. He walked up to her. “Like what you see?” he asked.
“This is lovely. It’s an oasis out here.” She turned to face him and he met her level stare with his own. A faint breeze toyed with tendrils of her hair and he felt more confident by the second that they could pull off a marriage of convenience if he could talk her into it.
His gaze lowered to her mouth and she drew a deep breath. He wanted to kiss her again and at this moment, it was clear she wanted him to.
“Jeff,” she whispered, stepping back slightly.
He slipped his hand behind her head into her soft, silky locks. “Shh, Holly. Just a kiss…” He leaned forward and when she started to turn away, he placed his mouth on hers.
Her lips were soft, warm, luscious. Her eyes closed and she placed her hand lightly on his shoulder.
His tongue slipped into her mouth and then hers into his as she returned his kiss. While they kissed, he took her drink and set it on a nearby table with his own.
He wrapped both arms around her, pulling her close against him, her soft curves setting him on fire and reaffirming all he'd thought about her. Beneath the ice was a raging blaze. She was a fiery lover, but a woman who would have no emotional investment in a marriage. For his purposes, she might be the perfect bride.
Four
J eff’s kiss erased their differences leaving temptation in its wake. The thoughts of the ranch, working in a nowhere office—not one mattered when they kissed. They had a torrid, intense attraction that had nothing to do with the rest of their lives. Except she knew better. Dimly, she struggled to pull her wits together. This way lay disaster.
Finally she stopped him and he released her. As before, she was dazed. His gray eyes held desire so blatant that she wanted to walk right back into his embrace.
“Jeff, this is exactly what I was worried about. I don’t want an affair on the side.”
“Sure,” he said, smiling at her as he inhaled deeply and turned away.
Nice speech, she told herself, watching him return to his cooking. She may have interrupted things for now, but she couldn’t stop the raging desire that he had ignited. She walked away, trying to cool down and get herself together.
To her surprise, he must have decided to heed what she told him. Through dinner and into the evening, he was charming, but there was nothing physical, very little flirting. Time slipped away from her. She knew it had to be getting late. When she glanced at her watch, she saw it was one o’clock.
“I don’t stay up until one on weeknights,” she said.
“You’ll survive and we can be late tomorrow.”
“No. Let’s keep on schedule. I’m turning in now. I’ve enjoyed dinner and the evening, but you don’t have to cook for me every night,” she said.
“Most of the time Marc is here and I have dinner cooked and ready. The change of pace is nice.”
She had a prickly awareness of him, thinking about their kiss early in the evening. At her door she left him.
All evening after their kiss, he had done as she asked. He had been amiable, pleasant, but nothing more. It hadn’t cooled her desire or awareness of him a whit.
If there were no more kisses, could she get so she viewed him with the same detachment she viewed other men? She didn’t think she could if she lived here for the rest of the year.
Of all the strange places to find this sizzling chemistry…
During the rest of the week and into the next, Jeff was the same. Congenial, courteous and professional. Not that it helped her attraction to him. Far from it. She grew more aware of him, more tingly around him with each passing day, though they returned to their routine.
Thursday afternoon she was exhausted, warm even in the air-conditioned office and decided to stop for the day. She looked into Jeff’s office and saw he was on the phone with his head bent over his desk as he wrote.
She quietly left him alone. The secretaries had quit about half an hour earlier.
As she drove to the house in her hot car, she thought about taking a swim. Jeff was still working. She could get a quick, solitary dip in the pool, plus get a little workout.
She pulled on her new swimsuit, a one-piece that she wouldn’t have selected before this job. Her cover-up was longer than usual, a blue cotton that actually was a cover. Relieved to have the pool to herself, she dropped her things on a chair and jumped into the cool, inviting water.
She swam laps and then paused at the deep end.
“You ran off without me,” Jeff said. She turned to see him approaching the pool.
The sight of him stirred butterflies in her stomach. “You were busy working and on the phone so I didn’t want to disturb you. The drive home was so hot I thought I’d get a quick dip in your pool.”
“Good idea,” he said before he sliced into the water and swam the length of the pool. To her surprise, while they swam, he kept a distance between them. In spite of his impersonal behavior, she was more mindful than ever of his broad shoulders, muscled chest with a mat of dark hair, and his almost naked, muscled body.
“I’m getting out. You swim as long as you like.”
“I’ll go change, too,” she said. “This has been refreshing.”
How innocuous their conversation that did nothing to cool her fiery consciousness of both their bare bodies.
When she climbed out, her face flushed and she hoped he thought it was due to exertion if he even noticed. She slipped into the cover-up and hurried to her room to shower and change.
She had bought jeans for the occasion and wore a plain cotton blouse, trying to fit in to a degree. Boots—never.
Looking every inch a cowboy, he was ready and waiting in jeans, a Western shirt and boots and her pulse sped a notch the minute she saw him.
Throughout the evening he was his usual entertaining self and she was beginning to wonder about the change in him. Maybe he had just taken her at her word…Except there was that look in his eyes. That hadn’t changed one bit. It was as hot and blatant as ever.
All evening, as before when they’d been in public, women came by to talk and flirt with him. She never expected him to spend so much of his time with her because there was nothing between them except the job and it was obvious plenty of women would have been happy for his attention.
When the music changed to a waltz, he drew her into his arms to dance with her, circling the floor, talking about the ranch and an upcoming rodeo. His aftershave was inviting. He was light on his feet, an excellent dancer, which didn’t surprise her.
The music ended, followed by more fast two-steps. She finally turned to him. “Jeff, tomorrow is a working day. I should go.”
“Sure.”
On the drive to the ranch he kept her entertained and when they left the car, he draped his arm across her shoulders in an uncustomary gesture, yet his conversation was still warmhearted and impersonal.
“Let’s have something to drink. I won’t keep you up late, but I want to talk to you.”
Curious, she nodded, wondering if he wanted her to move out or make some job changes. She couldn’t imagine him talking to her about job changes now. She couldn’t guess what was on his mind and her curiosity grew as he got them glasses of iced tea.
“Want to come watch me ride?” he asked.
“I don’t know about that one. Thank you, though, for the invitation. It all sounds rather primitive,” she said and he grinned. “Watching you on a bucking horse—I think it would be frightful.”
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br /> “I’m glad to hear you’d worry about me. I won’t be on a horse. I’m entered in the bull riding.”
Aghast, she frowned. “You won’t be worth much to Noah if you’re in the hospital with broken bones,” she said before she thought. She would have never made such a remark to Noah. With Jeff, she didn’t care if her annoyance showed, even though she knew she was being unprofessional and overstepping bounds.
He laughed. “Ahh, you’re not worrying about my well-being. You’re worrying I’ll foul up Noah and work. I don’t intend to be in the hospital. That isn’t why I entered. I expect to win a tidy prize. So, want to come watch?”
She shivered. “Thank you, I think not.”
They sat on his patio with light from torches flickering and pool lights making the water sparkle.
“I have something to discuss with you,” Jeff said, pulling a chair close to face her. “I don’t know whether or not Noah has ever mentioned that our father meddles in our lives.”
“No, he hasn’t,” she said, thinking Noah was far too professional to discuss any such thing. “Your father seems to be a strong influence, at least in Noah’s life.”
“That’s right. Much more in Noah’s life than mine. That’s one reason I love the ranch—the ranch gets me off Dad’s radar. But he never stops trying to control the world around him. He’s got a proposition for me. Did you know that he offered both Noah and me a million dollars last year if we married during the year?”
Shocked, she stared at Jeff. “No, I think Noah’s in love—”
“Noah is in love, but that wasn’t why he married,” Jeff added quickly. “He actually did fall in love with Faith.”
“I’m certain he did. It was rather obvious.”
“Well, the year came and went and I didn’t marry and it’s worrying my dad. He’s made me another offer. If I marry this year, I get the family ranch. It’s all mine as of the time I marry. He’ll balance the inheritance for Noah in cash.”
“Do you want the family ranch?” she asked, wondering why he wanted to tell her this because it was none of her business. She knew he was getting to something. If he had asked someone to marry him, it would make a change in their business arrangement.