Home Is Where Hank Is (Cowboys To The Rescue 1)

by Martha Shields

  She loved Hank. The certainty was so strong, it made her head swim. She wanted to wrap her arms around this man—her man—and never let go. She wanted to crawl inside of him so he could keep her safe and warm. She wanted to grant his every wish, feed his every hunger, satisfy his every desire.

  She wanted to tell him her feelings, to stand up and blurt it out so the whole world could hear. Alex Miller loves Hank Eden!

  She shuddered with the power of the emotion.

  “You’re cold,” Hank said immediately.

  Cold? Not in any sense of the word.

  “We need to turn in, anyway,” Jed said, rising from his seat on the steps.

  The three hands said good-night, then ambled toward the bunkhouse.

  Hank helped Alex rise, then held the door open for her. She hung her jacket on a hook and turned to find him watching her. Their gazes locked, hungry, searching. Tension stretched between them like newly strung barbwire. Alex took a tiny step, then another, then she was in his arms. They felt like heaven. They felt like home.

  Their kiss rocked Alex to the soles of her feet. It was as if light flowed from Hank’s lips, searching out the darkest corners of her being, until her whole body glowed.

  His hands spread over her back, pulling her so close she couldn’t tell whose heartbeat was whose. But it didn’t matter. Their hearts beat together.

  “Damn,” he gasped when they finally came up for air. “Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”

  She pushed her hands back through his thick, close-cropped hair. “For being you.”

  “Hell, I’m me every day. But you haven’t kissed me like that before.”

  This was her opportunity. All she had to say were three small, common words. I love you.

  She opened her mouth, but instead of speaking, she pulled his head back down and kissed him again.

  What if he didn’t feel the same? What if he didn’t want her to stay at the Garden? Now that she thought about it, Hank had never asked her to stay. Claire asked, all the ranch hands asked, Hen all but demanded she stay last time Alex talked to her. But Hank never did.

  Dread crept through her, and all the reasons she hadn’t wanted to go out with Hank in the first place flashed across her mind.

  Maybe he was just being noble, because he thought she still wanted to study under Monsieur Buchaude. And she did. Didn’t she?

  The trouble was, she didn’t know what she wanted.

  No, that wasn’t true. She knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted both Hank and the opportunity in California. But she couldn’t have both. She had to risk one or the other.

  Tears of frustration stung her eyes. To drive them away, she pulled Hank closer, knowing his kisses would make her forget there was any choice but his arms.

  The phone rang shrilly, disturbing the comfortable silence in the parlor and pulling Hank’s mind from the article on D-ring bits.

  “You want me to get it?” Alex asked lazily from the crook of his arm.

  He placed a soft kiss on her forehead. “That’s okay. I’ll get up.”

  He disentangled himself from her arms and caught the phone in the kitchen on the fourth ring. “Hello?”

  “Mr. Eden? This is Dennis Cowden, Ranch Realty.”

  Hank reached over and closed the kitchen door. “Yes?”

  “Sorry about calling so late, but I just got back in the office. Had to drive up to Mule Creek Junction today to look at some property. When I got back, I had a packet on my desk I knew you’d want to hear about.”

  “Another offer?”

  “Not just another offer, Mr. Eden. The offer.” The agent quoted a sum that made Hank lean against the counter for support.

  “Who’s it from?” Hank asked when the agent paused for breath laying out the details.

  “Some Japanese corporation. I’m not gonna pretend I know how to pronounce it,” the agent replied. “So, what do you think?”

  “Japanese? They’re going to develop it?”

  “Hell, I don’t know what they’re going to do. What does it matter? With this much money, you could buy a spread three times the one you’ve got in any other part of the state.”

  Hank ran a hand back through his hair. “How long do I have to think about it?”

  “Well, they want to take possession by June first, so I wouldn’t take more than a week. The paperwork’s gonna take at least six weeks.”

  “June first? Then they are going to develop it. To get anything built around here, construction has to start at the beginning of the summer.”

  “June first a problem?”

  All Hank had to do was say Okay, and he’d be free. The Japanese corporation wanted the ranch “lock, stock and barrel” which meant all he had to do was walk away. He didn’t even have to sell the cattle.

  No more worrying about falling beef prices. No more late nights pulling calves. He’d be back on the rodeo circuit in time for the busiest rodeo season of the year.

  He glanced out the window at the barn, lit by a strong floodlight, the barn built by his grandfather. If Hank said okay, the only home he’d ever known would cease to exist in two months. “I’ll get back to you.”

  “You aren’t thinking about pulling out now, are you?” the agent asked.

  “I still can, can’t I?”

  There was a brief silence on the other end of the line. “Well, if you can afford to turn your back on this much money, sure. But you’d be a damn fool.”

  Hank’s face tightened. “I have to discuss the offer with my brother and sister. They’re in on this decision, too.”

  “Okay, sure. Whatever. Give me a call. Just don’t wait too long. They might find some other property they like better.”

  Hank hung up the phone, then opened the kitchen door and stepped onto the back porch. A full moon hung over the tips of the mountains, making a jagged silhouette against the light.

  So, the time had come to decide. He hadn’t thought this moment would come for at least a couple of months. What the hell was he going to do? A month ago, it had all seemed so easy, so clear. Getting back to the rodeo was worth any price. Now things weren’t so simple.

  “You okay?”

  He turned to see Alex standing quietly in the door. “Yeah.”

  She stepped onto the porch, and he drew her into his arms.

  “It wasn’t bad news, was it?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “I just needed some fresh air.”

  She relaxed against him. Having Alex in his arms made him feel warm, content, whole. What could the rodeo give him that could compare to this? Sure, winning felt good, but that only lasted a few seconds a day. And he wouldn’t always win. With Alex, he felt like a winner every time he touched her. If only he could ask her to stay here at the Garden forever.

  Misery washed over him. Damned or damned.

  If he turned down the offer he was fairly certain he could persuade Alex to stay, but for how long? Would she stick by him when he lost the home she wanted so badly? If he accepted the Japanese offer, she’d leave. He couldn’t ask her to share the rambling life of a rodeo cowboy.

  Hank pulled away enough to lift her chin. “Kiss?”

  She slipped her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry I ever insisted you ask. From now on you have blanket permission for everything up to and including kissing. Now, please...”

  He wrapped himself around her and pulled her close, losing himself in the feel, the smell, the taste of his woman. He still had a few more days to put off his decision. The trail drive would take up the next two days, then he had to get in touch with Travis.

  Yes, he was damned. But not tonight. Tonight she was here, she was his. There was nothing else in the world that mattered.

  “Ready to mount? The men already have the herd moving.”

  Alex glanced over her shoulder. In the early-morning twilight, she saw Hank pulling three horses by the reins. “Almost. Just checking to make sure I didn’t forget anything. There isn’t a store I c
an run to where we’re going.”

  “Take your time. They’re going slow. We’ll catch up easily.”

  He waited patiently while she double-checked the contents of the two bags. They held the ingredients and utensils for the meals she would cook for the crew driving the Eden herd to their spring pastures.

  Finally she stood and dusted off her hands. “I guess I’m ready. I’ve never done this before. I hope I can fix something edible for so many people on an open fire.”

  Hank snaked his free hand around her waist. “You haven’t disappointed us yet.”

  She smiled at him wryly. “Yes, well, I’ve been working on a stove. I just turn a knob and ‘Poof’ I have nice, even heat.”

  Hank leaned down and pressed a light kiss on her mouth. As he pulled away, she moaned so softly he didn’t hear. He handed her the reins of all three horses, then bent to load one of the bags onto the one that wasn’t saddled.

  The dim light and the jacket he wore against the early-morning chill hid Hank’s muscled back. But as he lifted and tied the heavy sack, she didn’t need to see in order to imagine those muscles flexing. She knew each one by heart, knew how each one moved under her hands as she held him, as he held her.

  Alex moaned again.

  “You say something?” he asked as he bent to lift the other sack.

  She shook her head.

  She was sorely tempted to give Hank permission for intimacies far beyond kissing. The last few nights, when he held her close and kissed her good-night, she didn’t want the night to end there. She wanted more. She wanted him, and everything that went with him.

  When the bay mare named Julie nudged her arm, Alex stroked her nose absently.

  But Hank still hadn’t asked her to stay. There were times when it seemed like he wanted to ask. She could actually see him struggling with himself. But he never said the words.

  Which was just as well, since she still didn’t know which she would choose. Her time was just about up. She only had five more days to decide. That’s when her month’s employment at the Garden officially ended.

  “Where’s our bedrolls?” he asked when he finished loading the supplies.

  Alex pointed to the porch. “On the swing.”

  He took the steps two at a time and retrieved two canvas rolls wrapped around foam pads, wool blankets, sheets and clothes. He didn’t ask which one was his, just tied one behind each saddle. Then he unlooped the lead on the pack horse and tied it to a ring on the back of Julie’s saddle. The pack horse would be Alex’s responsibility during the drive.

  His eyes roamed over their gear as he made his way around Julie. Finally he faced her. “Ready?”

  Alex took one last look at the house. Even through the dim light, she saw movement in her bedroom window.

  Sugar. Tonight would be the first time they slept apart since she found him four years ago.

  Hank’s arm curled around her waist, and he pulled her against his side. “The house will get along without you for one night.”

  She looked at him, startled. She didn’t realize he’d noticed how much she loved the old house that had come alive under her care. Of course she would miss it. Though she knew it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, she’d already begun to think of it as home.

  She ran a hand over the bristle on Hank’s face. He hadn’t shaved that morning. She stretched up on her toes and kissed him. “I’m ready.”

  She guided the split reins back over Julie’s head, then crossed them over the saddle horn. With her knee against her chest, she placed her left toe into the stirrup. As she hopped, preparing to spring into the saddle, she felt two strong hands circle her waist and half lift her into it. “I wish that just once, you’d let me mount by myself. How do you know if I’m even able to?”

  Hank ducked under Julie’s nose, grabbed the reins of his own horse, then sprang easily into the saddle. “There’ll be enough men around to help if you have to remount.”

  “What if there aren’t?”

  “There will be. If there aren’t, I’ll have somebody’s hide.” With that, he turned his horse away from the house.

  Alex sighed audibly. At times like these she agreed with Claire—cowboys could use a little less testosterone. She wasn’t about to tell Hank she’d been practicing on her own, during the day when he wasn’t there. For her own peace of mind, she had to be certain she could saddle, mount, dismount and unsaddle a horse all by herself. Let him think she was a frail flower. Most of the time she liked the way he treated her. His tender care was something she could definitely get used to.

  Hank’s weary feet found the worn path by rote. Eden cattle drives had camped at this spot for nearly a hundred years. Two-thirds of the way to the spring pastures, it was the perfect spot, with a year-round creek running through a plateau surrounded by pines. He knew it as well as he knew the creases in his boots.

  Ahead, the dull glow of the campfire beckoned. He was the last cowboy on the first guard to head in. He didn’t need a watch to tell him it was several hours after midnight. Casey, one of the married hands, and Jed probably beat him to bed by at least half an hour. He was looking forward to his own bedroll. It had been a tiring day.

  Hank’s long strides quickly brought him to the low circle of light surrounding the campfire. He wasn’t surprised to see it built up. Casey or Jed would’ve taken care of that before turning in.

  Against the circle of logs surrounding the area—felled decades ago to act as both benches and heat trap—lay an assortment of bodies wrapped in blankets. Which one was Alex?

  Then he spied her, and a curse tore from his throat. Instead of being cozily snuggled in her bedroll, she leaned against a log on the opposite side of the fire, fast asleep, chin on her chest.

  He started around the fire, then saw a pot still on the grate over the flames. Grabbing the tongs on one rock supporting the grate, he pulled the pot off the fire. It felt half full. She’d evidently stayed up to make coffee for the second watch, then waited for him.

  She was shivering in the night air, and he saw her tighten her arms around her body. He was going to give her hell in the morning, but for now he had to get her warm.

  Their tightly wrapped bedrolls lay beside her. He unbuckled the leather belts keeping them together and laid them side by side between the log and the fire. On second thought, he rearranged the sheets and blankets to make one big bed instead of two smaller ones. They’d both get warm faster if they shared body heat. She’d probably shoot him in the morning, but he’d worry about it then. They couldn’t do anything, anyway, with so many people around. He just wanted to hold her.

  His task done, he bent down and lifted her in his arms.

  She startled awake with a gasp. Her eyes searched wildly until they fell on him. She relaxed and smiled sleepily. “Hank.”

  “Why aren’t you in bed?”

  She yawned and stretched. “Hmm?”

  “You should’ve been in bed hours ago. The hands can make their own damn coffee.”

  “I just—” she yawned again “—wanted to see you.” Her head lolled against his shoulder. She rubbed her cheek against the rough denim of his jacket and snuggled deeper into his arms.

  Emotion stampeded through Hank as he knelt on the blankets and laid her down gently.

  She just wanted to see him.

  He was glad she was asleep. If she’d been awake, there’s no way he’d be able to yell at her for nearly freezing to death. He’d be too busy kissing her.

  He pulled off her jacket and tugged off her boots, then settled her between the blankets. After performing the same services for himself, he slid in beside her. He pushed a strand of hair off her cheek, then placed a kiss on it.

  “You’re the damnedest woman I’ve ever known. What the hell am I going to do with you? Or without you?”

  Chapter Nine

  Alex snuggled deeper into the warmth. It couldn’t possibly be time to get up. Dimly aware of movement around the campfire, she turned on her side away from
the fire and hit her nose on a hard, unmoving wall.

  Surprise cleared her head and she instinctively pulled back. Her eyes popped open, but she could only see a dark shape close beside her. Hank. She would know him if she were blind—by his smell and the warmth of his arms.

  So what woke her? The tales of grizzly bears that had kept her awake, waiting for Hank, spun through her head. Moving slowly, she peered over her shoulder, then relaxed. Just Casey building up the fire.

  The arm Hank had draped over her eased around to her back, bringing her attention to the man in her arms. She whispered, “Are you awake?”

  He leaned forward to place a kiss on her temple. “No.”

  “What are you doing in my bedroll?” she asked quietly.

  “When I came in from my watch last night, you were shivering beside it.” He brushed a strand of hair from her face. “Remind me later to give you a lecture on the dangers of hypothermia.”

  She shuddered and crept a little closer. “I couldn’t go to sleep. Derek and Buck told me about the grizzly bears that roam the mountains. I wanted to keep the fire going and...and...”

  “And what?”

  “And wait for you,” she said, glad the darkness hid her hot cheeks.

  “So I could keep the monsters away?” he asked softly.

  Alex buried her head under his chin and moaned. “That sounds childish, doesn’t it? I wasn’t thinking about it that way. I just...”

  “Yes?”

  “I just feel safer when you’re around.”

  He gathered her closer and lifted her mouth for his kiss—warm, deep.

  When he pulled away, she sighed. “I suppose I should get up and start breakfast. It’s near dawn, isn’t it?”

  “Another hour, probably.”

  “You said last night you need to have the herd moving by first light.”

  “Yep.”

  “Then...” She tried to sit up, but he held her down.

  “Just a few more minutes,” he breathed.

  Alex glanced over her shoulder. “What will your men think when they see us sleeping together?”