“Jacob, boy, why’d you let her talk to you like that?”
The man Lisa had chewed out lifted his head and turned toward the older cowboy. “She’s upset about her dog. It’s no big deal.”
“Yeah, but why’d you take the blame for it? You and I both know Eric left the door open.”
Zan’s eyebrows rose. Not wanting to disrupt the men’s conversation, and the natural nosey gene she inherited from Bonnie buzzing, she stopped and leaned against the barn.
“Hank, don’t go making any more trouble. Eric already feels bad enough as it is. There’s no reason to tell Willard about this. He might fire the kid, but I don’t think he’d do that to me. I don’t mind.”
“Well, you’d better—” Hank paused. He looked over Jacob’s shoulder. “Well, how do?”
Stunned, Zan couldn’t decide whether to bolt or pretend she hadn’t been eavesdropping. Finally, letting her embarrassment pass, she straightened and walked over to the men.
Jacob’s stance stiffened as he turned, only to relax a fraction when he saw her. With one finger, he pushed the Stetson back on his head. A wisp of dark brown hair fell from under the hat.
“Ma’am. Is there something we can help you with?” he asked; his dark, dark brown eyes softened as he smiled at her. They were the eyes that had haunted her dreams since coming to Paintbrush.
“I…ah.” All of a sudden her breath caught and her knees jellified. Weak-kneed. She couldn’t believe it. She’d read about that flaw of damsels in romance novels, but she’d never actually known anyone afflicted by it.
No man had ever made her want to collapse in a heap onto the ground, much less had she ever been rendered stupid. Zan cleared her throat, “I’m looking for Doc. She asked me to drop something off for her.”
“Ah, yes, you must be Suzanne Walters, the wonder assistant.” An odd look crossed his face, but he immediately hid any and all expression, making his face neutral. He leaned forward, extending his hand. “I’m Jacob Bowman, the ranch foreman. And this is Hank Calhoun.”
She stared at Jacob, then her manners kicked in. She reached out and gripped his calloused hand and took a long deep breath—musky. She fought off a moan as warmth shot up her arm and she let go abruptly. “Zan.”
“Excuse me?” Jacob’s forehead scrunched.
“Please call me Zan. It’s short for Suzanne.”
“Zan it is. Doc’s up at the house. Lisa made them take the pup up to her room.”
“Thanks.” Zan left the two men standing by the barn. When she stepped up on the porch leading to the house, she turned to find them both staring at her with openly curious gazes. Her stomach did a little flop and heat crawled up her face as her eyes locked with Jacob’s chocolate brown gaze. A charming grin spread across his face and he tipped his hat.
“They don’t grow them quite like that in Texas,” she said under her breath, pulling the door open. “Too bad I’ve sworn off men,” she reminded herself.
———
“Damn, what a looker, that one.” Hank nudged Jacob.
Jacob hadn’t moved since one Miss Suzanne call-me-Zan Walters had disappeared into the Cates’ house. He’d dreamed about the woman every night since she blew past him at the diner.
Clad in a pair of tan pants and one of the funky hospital-type shirts all the vets wore, she shouldn’t look sexy as hell, but she did. The red highlights in her hair shone like fire in the setting sun, more so than the first time he saw her. Hair that still looked wild and arousing, like it might look after spending the night in bed. He could barely contain the groan that wanted to escape.
Had Jacob detected a flash of wonder in those gray eyes of hers when she looked at him—almost as if she’d been surprised and happy to see him? That was just stupid. He didn’t know her from Eve.
He sure as hell never imagined she was Doc’s new assistant.
When Hank nudged him again, somehow Jacob managed to find a small amount of composure and tore his gaze away from the back door.
“What’s gotten into you, boy? Never seen you dumbstruck before.” Hank’s voice was filled with amusement.
“Nothing.” Jacob couldn’t believe what the brief encounter with Suzanne—Zan—did to him. He’d fantasized about her for two weeks, and then to see her standing in front of him, he didn’t know how he’d managed to stay on his feet.
Shaking clear his thoughts, Jacob stalked past the old hand. “I need to head out to the back pasture. Willard thinks a fence may have gone down.”
———
When Jacob returned to the house two hours later, Zan was struggling with a large box, trying to load it into the back her Plymouth. She turned it this way and that, and each time one of the corners hung on the lip of the trunk. He couldn’t help but laugh while getting out of his truck.
When he got close enough, he saw her shiver. The pushed-up sleeves did little to protect her against the evening air, which had cooled considerably. He contemplated mentioning the briskness of Wyoming weather, just to speak to her again, but another thought came to him. “Where’s your friend?”
She jumped. “GEEZ!” The box fell to the ground and the contents spilled.
“Damn. Sorry.” Jacob squatted and shoved scattered clothing back into the box. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”
Zan smiled. “It’s okay. No harm done.” She reached for a sweater that had landed on her foot.
Jacob loaded the box in her trunk like it weighed nothing—all but flexing his muscles and hollering “look at me”. “What’s all this?” He motioned to the clothes.
“Mrs. Cates doesn’t think a Texas gal could possibly have enough warm clothes so she raided her closet.” Zan tossed the sweater in and lowered the trunk, then shivered again as a breeze blew across them.
“Imagine that.” He chuckled. He could hear her laugh, but couldn’t see her face for her bent head. He didn’t understand the sudden desire to see her relaxed.
When she looked back at him though, her brows scrunched. “What friend were you talking about?”
The hitch in his chest at her steady gaze stammered him. “I, uh… the first time I saw your car there was a three-foot bear in the passenger seat.”
“Four foot. Randall is very particular—” she cupped her hand to her mouth, “—about being vertically challenged. Bear envy. One of my nieces has a five-foot bear her ex-boyfriend got her.”
They both laughed and he started to say something, but Imogene, the Cates’ housekeeper and cook, stuck her head out the back door looking for him.
“Food’s on,” Imogene said. “Miss Walters. I didn’t know you were still here. Why don’t you stay for supper? There’s plenty.”
“No…I couldn’t. But…”
“Nonsense.” Jacob took her elbow. “You’ll hurt Imogene’s feelings if you don’t stay.” Thank you, Imogene. He couldn’t believe his luck. Before she had another chance to decline, he led her to the house. “C’mon. Let’s eat.”
Chapter Three
How did she get talked into this? She couldn’t eat with the man she had fantasized about. Plus, she didn’t even know the Cates. She’d come across them several times in town and had a couple of polite conversations, but she didn’t know them.
“So what brought you to Wyoming?” Marti Cates asked as she passed a bowl of steaming mashed potatoes to Zan.
“Just a change of pace, I guess. My aunt made it sound so wonderful that when I was ready to move, this was the first place I thought of.”
Mr. Cates shook his head. “I still can’t believe Bonnie moved to Sheridan. I never would have pegged her for a city girl.”
Zan tried not to snort. Sheridan made her aunt a city girl? Had Zan just crossed into an alternate universe, not just over a few state lines?
“Love will make you do strange things.” Marti looked at her husband with a gleam in her eye.
“I guess,” Zan said, swirling the potatoes around on her plate. Her idea of love was unfortunately tainted by her three-
year relationship with Charles Stratford. She honestly didn’t think true love existed—but if it did, it came at a price.
Zan looked up to find all eyes on her.
“Gene’s a great guy.” She really did like the man, and he obviously made her aunt happy. She just couldn’t buy into happily ever after.
“So, I hear you stood up to Dale Holstrom.” Lisa practically bounced off her seat.
Zan choked on her tea as the cool liquid turned instantly bitter at the mention of Holstrom. Covering her mouth, she coughed. Jacob jumped from his chair and started pounding on her back.
“I’m…okay. Went down…the wrong pipe.” She tried to take in a deep breath, but Jacob continued to pound. “You can…stop hitting me…now. I’m fine.”
“Oh, sorry.”
A tint of color splashed across his cheeks. A grown man blushing? She couldn’t get over how cute he looked. Whoa. She needed to keep her thoughts in check.
She cleared her throat.
“I wouldn’t say I stood up to him.” Everyone was looking at her again, waiting for her to explain further. “I just asked him to leave me alone and he didn’t, so I asked him again.”
“You’re being far too modest,” Jacob spoke up. He had been fairly silent since they sat at the Cates’ table. One glance at him though, and his eyes drew her in, made her forget the other people at the table. “The man was fit to be tied when you left. Not many, especially a woman, have ever bested him before.”
“Well, someone should. The man’s a jackass.” The room snapped back into focus at the sound of Lisa giggling. “Oops, sorry.” Zan fixed her gaze on her plate.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure she’s heard worse. And the boy is a jackass,” Willard Cates said with a smile when Zan looked at him. “Aside from Dale, how are you liking Paintbrush?”
“Oh, I love it. Back in Fort Worth, you can go days without running into someone you know. Here, every face you see is someone you’ve talked to or seen recently. It’s great.”
Lisa snorted. “I can’t wait to get out of here when I turn eighteen. The anonymity of a big city.”
Zan couldn’t help but notice the sad look that passed between Willard and Marti. Must be hard to know your child wanted to leave. She thought of her own parents and made a mental note to call them later.
After dinner, she offered to help with the dishes, but Imogene wouldn’t hear of it. The woman shooed Zan out of her kitchen. With nothing to do, and not ready to head home to her empty house, she wanted to take a peek in on Lisa’s pup.
“Knock, knock.” Zan pushed open the teen’s door. “How’s the patient?”
“Doing better.” Lisa patted the bed beside her. “Sit.”
Zan settled at the other end of the polka-dot comforter. The room looked almost identical to Zan’s niece’s back in Fort Worth with all the band and movie posters littering the walls.
“Jacob’s a hottie, huh.”
Where in the world had that come from? Zan tried not to fall off the bed. “I guess.”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice.”
“I, uh…boy, you’re blunt.”
“Ha. I just call it like I see it.” Lisa smiled and leaned back on a pile of plush pillows. “He’s single, you know.”
“That’s nice.”
“Don’t you want—”
“I just got to town. Dating is the absolute last thing on my mind right now.” Though she didn’t think she could go wrong with “hottie” Jacob. She’d noticed the way his muscles strained against his shirt as he’d reached across the table at dinner. How his denims molded to his wonderfully defined backside when he’d bent to pick up the fork Lisa had knocked off the table after dinner. Why that little…
It didn’t matter. Hottie or not, she didn’t need the hassle, would not let herself fall into the same trap again. She hadn’t moved over a thousand miles away to get stuck with another man telling her how to live her life. It might have taken until her thirty-second birthday, but she had finally found herself and wasn’t willing to lose that gal again.
Zan noticed Lisa watching her closely. She shook off her thoughts and picked up a CD off the nightstand. “I saw them in concert a couple of months ago.”
Lisa’s smile widened. “Really. Ohmygawd. They are so hot. I have all their stuff.” She reached over the side of the bed and dragged out a huge box. “Have you ever heard this one…”
Half an hour later, Zan managed to pry herself away from Lisa and headed back downstairs. She had to admit it’d been fun talking to someone about anything not Wyoming related—and it made her miss her family all over.
“Oh, hey.” Zan found Jacob alone in the living room. For a long, awkward moment, they stood, silent, both staring away from the other.
“I’m glad—” he started, as she said, “I should—”
“Go on, ladies first.”
“I was going to say, I should be going now. It’s getting late.”
“Yeah, sure,” Jacob said, but she detected a hint of disappointment. “I’ll walk you out to your car,” he offered.
“No, that’s okay. We’re out in the middle of nowhere. I’m not worried about getting mugged.”
“True. But have you ever come across a hungry coyote?”
Her eyes widened and she shivered. “Uh, no.”
“Come on then.” Jacob took her by the elbow like he had earlier that evening. The same little zing ran through her. She tried hard to ignore it as he guided her through the house to say her goodbyes and grab his coat.
The minute Zan stepped out the door she regretted not buying the heavy down parka her mother had tried to talk her into ordering from the Land’s End catalog. The cool autumn air chilled her down to her sock-covered toes. She wrapped her arms around her chest and shivered.
“You need to carry a coat with you at all times here,” Jacob said, his lips right next to her ear. The warmth of his breath and the nearness of his body stoked her internal flames a notch, making the wind not quite as biting. “The weather’s fickle and can get downright cold.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
They strode casually to her car. Even after a couple of weeks of staring up into the heavens, Zan still couldn’t get over the night sky in Wyoming. The clear air somehow made the stars shine brighter, illuminating the land and casting everything in a pale light.
Zan glanced at the man walking beside her. He was a beautiful specimen. His strong cheekbones and jaw gave him a rugged look, but his soft, puppy dog brown eyes and full lips rounded out his features. She’d bet women were knocking down his door, if for nothing else than to just stare at him.
A stirring in the pit of her stomach warmed her more. It had been so long since a man had excited her. Despite her three-year relationship with Charles, they hadn’t been intimate in a long, long time. She’d convinced him, or so he’d led her to believe, that they should wait until marriage.
She couldn’t remember the last time a man had touched her other than in a casual way or, for that matter, the last time she wanted a man to touch her in a way that made her toes curl and eyelids droop.
He must have noticed her scrutiny because he stopped walking. “Would you like me to fix that for you?”
Huh? He couldn’t have possibly read her thoughts. “Wha…what?”
“You have a flat tire. Want me to change it for you?”
“A flat?” Zan tore her gaze from Jacob and looked at her car. Sure enough, the back rear tire was flat.
“Do you have a spare?”
Tires. She needed to get her head back into the conversation and off her yearning libido. “Yeah, the spare’s on the other side. I had a flat on my way up here.”
“You never replaced it?” His eyebrows shot together.
Uh-oh. She could hear one of her big brothers’ lectures coming.
“Zan, you need to always keep the spare ready. You never know when you might get stuck somewhere.”
She remembered the day on
the highway stuck out in the middle of nowhere. What might it have been like without the spare? A shiver ran through her again.
“Tell you what. I’ll drive you home and take care of the car for you. Tomorrow’s Saturday and I had already planned to go into town for a bit.”
“That’s not necessary.” She didn’t know if she could take being in his truck, sitting next to him, alone, for twenty miles of empty back country roads.
“Well, you can call a tow truck, but Manny takes hours to get where he’s going. And that’s if he isn’t passed out in the back of the gas station.”
Her eyes narrowed. “The garage attendant drinks?”
“No.” Jacob frowned. “He does the janitorial duties up at the schools as a sideline. That’s on top of maintaining the sheriff’s cars and the school buses. He’s usually so tired that by the time he gets done, he just crashes in the back of the station. He doesn’t go home much since his wife died two years ago.”
“Oh.” Zan lowered her eyes in embarrassment. How’d she manage to miss that bit of town history? “I hate to put you out.” She cuffed her hands over her mouth to warm them up with her breath.
“No trouble at all. Let me just get my keys.” Jacob started to walk toward the outbuildings, but hesitated. Zan looked up as he took off his heavy, lined denim coat. He moved in front of her, wrapped it around her shoulders, and stood for just a moment staring into her eyes.
Just when she thought he might kiss her, he turned and headed toward a different building. She stood watching his retreat, inhaling his scent lingering in the fabric. Leather and man combined with an aftershave—she finally recognized the scent as a musky aftershave. For a brief moment, Zan imagined it was Jacob’s arms around her for warmth instead of his coat.
———
Jacob had been pretty quiet on the ride to Zan’s house. He wanted to talk to her. He wanted to learn all about her, but he didn’t want to spook her by asking too many questions, so he let her control the conversation.
Second Chances Page 2