“Move on. Be more cautious next time.” Sensing correctly that she was about to bolt, Josh grabbed her hand and held on tight as he warned in a soft, serious voice, “You’ll never be happy unless you let the past go, Patience. And that includes your memories and any lingering attachment to Alec Vaughn.”
“WHY SHOULD I TAKE your advice?” Patience asked, making no effort to hide her disdain as she moved to extricate her hand from his. She couldn’t believe Josh, a man she had just met, had the audacity to advise her on something so personal. “After all, when it comes right down to it,” she pointed out calmly, “I don’t know anything about you, either.”
Josh watched as she stood, then followed suit. “That can easily be remedied. Ask away.”
“Okay.” Patience paused to probe his eyes, then went into the kitchen. Seeing Tweedles’s milk dish was empty, she went to the refrigerator and got out a carton of milk. “Where are you from?”
“Prior to coming to the Silver Spur, I had a veterinary practice in Helena, Montana.”
Kneeling, she wiped out the dish with a damp paper towel and filled it again. Aware of Josh’s eyes upon her, cataloging her every move, she asked, “For how long?”
“One year.”
“And before that?” Patience closed the carton, stood lithely and put the milk away.
“I worked at an animal hospital emergency room in North Dakota for six months, spent nine months on a ranch in Green River, Wyoming, and worked at a zoo in St. Louis for fifteen months.”
“Have you worked anywhere else?”
“I was on another ranch in Utah for five months, another animal hospital—in Des Moines, Iowa—for twelve months. Before that, another veterinary practice, in Bloomington, Indiana, for seven months.”
Patience thought she’d had a hard time settling down since her breakup with Alec. She had lived in several big cities while she was getting her career off the ground, but she had nothing on Josh. “So that’s what Uncle Max meant in his will when he said it was time for you to stop drifting from place to place.”
“He made no secret of the fact he thought I should settle down here.” Josh opened the refrigerator and took out a single-serving bottle of orange juice. He uncapped the bottle and drank deeply, draining half of it in one gulp. Silence continued to reign between them. “Feel better now that you know more about me?” he asked finally, glancing around at the small but service-able old-fashioned kitchen.
Patience ran a hand along the glazed surface of the deep blue ceramic tile countertop. “Not necessarily. People who move around that much are either too footloose and fancy-free to ever make a permanent home in one place, or they’re hiding something.” She shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her jeans and, determined to keep their conversation on a light tone, asked in a deadpan voice, “Which is it with you?”
Josh braced his hips against the counter behind him and kept his eyes on hers. Clearly, he was not about to let her win this battle of wits. He volleyed a question right back. “Which do you think?”
Patience smiled, aware she hadn’t felt this vibrantly alive or intrigued with a man in ages. “I think you’re hiding something,” she dared softly after a moment, wondering if he would take the bait and reveal even more about himself.
His expression didn’t change, but for a moment he tensed at her goading remark and his eyes turned almost pewter. “What could I be hiding?” he asked calmly.
Until then, Patience wouldn’t have guessed he was hiding anything. But something about the way he reacted to her flip remark…something about the look in his eyes…had her thinking maybe she was more on target than she knew.
Acting a great deal more nonchalant than she felt, she opened a can of tuna for Tweedles and decided to set that out, too. All too aware of the way Josh was tracing her slender curves with his gaze, she moved about her task. When she had finished, she straightened and rinsed out the tin before dropping it into the recycling bin. “Just out of curiosity, how did you end up working for Uncle Max?”
“I came by looking for work a couple of months ago. We met and he hired me full-time on the spot.”
“It’s not like Uncle Max to hire people off the street.” Except for his attorney, Cisco Kidd, she amended to herself. Cisco was a different case entirely, Patience thought, because he had been rescued off the mean streets of Butte, Montana, when he was just sixteen.
Josh shrugged his broad shoulders carelessly as he drained the last of his juice and offered an explanation. “Max’s staff veterinarian was getting ready to retire. He needed someone. I fit the bill. It was just that simple.”
Nothing was that simple with Max, Patience knew. He had been as particular about who he hired as he had been about the horses he bought. No one had been more discriminating than Max. “Yet he knew your history. He knew you might quit?” Patience asked suspiciously. Max had not liked what he called short-timers. He had figured someone who planned to move on would not likely be as careful about the quality of his work as someone who planned to stay.
“He figured I might want to stay on permanently. If not, I promised to stick around and not leave him high and dry until he at least had time to find someone else.”
“So you left your veterinary practice in Helena just like that.” Patience found that, too, hard to believe.
“I found someone to take over for me.”
“I find this all very strange.”
“What can I say? I have a restless heart. And speaking of that restless heart, sometimes I just have to follow it.” Before Patience could step back out of range, he had taken her in his arms once again.
She meant to fight him, she really did, but the moment his lips touched hers she was lost in the delicious sensations. With a low groan of desire, he parted her lips and swept the inside of her mouth with his tongue, again and again, until her heart pounded and her knees went weak and a deep ache started low inside her. Unwilling to go further, unable to hold back, she clutched at the soft white fabric of his western shirt. This was wrong. All wrong. And yet it felt so right, so incredibly let’s-make-a-baby-this-instant right that she knew it had to end. “Josh—” She splayed her hands across the warm, solid wall of his chest. She couldn’t let herself get tricked into believing that any of this was real, that he wanted her for any reason other than to gain his fifty percent share of the horse ranch. Because his work history proved he was not a man who stayed anywhere for long.
“Hmm?” Josh’s lips left hers and forged a burning path across her cheek, down the nape of her neck, until it was all she could do to continue to resist.
“This is not a good idea,” Patience said in a strangled voice as he continued to cloak her in his arms. Not when she was feeling so vulnerable. She pushed harder.
He released her reluctantly. “I suppose you’re right.” He sighed. “I suppose we should get cleaned up first, get something to eat.” Patience didn’t like the unspoken assumption that they would continue kissing, or whatever, later. “How about get cleaned up and get something to eat, period,” she suggested firmly.
Josh snapped his fingers and humorously feigned distress. “Darn.” His eyes met hers and held. “No baby making tonight, hmm?”
“None,” Patience confirmed bluntly. She might be attracted to him. She might be his business partner one day and even be facing a short-lived but necessary marriage to him, all courtesy of Uncle Max. But she was not going to let him seduce her into making a baby with him until she’d had a chance to investigate his intentions toward her, the way she had never, and should have, investigated Alec’s. She had taken his advice—to be cautious when falling in love with someone—to heart.
Chapter Five
Dear Patience,
My family thinks kids are the key to happiness and they are pushing me to marry a man they approve of and have a baby, pronto. What should I do?
Sincerely,
Not Quite Ready Yet
Dear Not Quite Ready Yet,
Family is all-
important, but only you know when it’s time to marry and/or have your buckaroo. Tell your family to step out of the ring. This is your rodeo, no one else’s.
Looking Out for Your Best Interests,
Patience
43:12
“You didn’t tell me you had a dog,” Patience said a few minutes later when she came downstairs after her bath and found Josh accepting delivery of a lively, seventyfive-pound golden retriever with silky, buff blond hair and enormous, soft black eyes.
Josh shrugged as he took over the leash. “You didn’t ask. Thanks for bringing my gear over from the ranch manager’s cabin, Slim.”
“No problem, Josh. Let us know if you need anything else.” Tugging the brim of his hat lower over his brow, Slim turned and disappeared down the front steps.
Josh shut the front door. “Now what?” she asked, wondering if he had any more surprises up his sleeve.
“I guess we make introductions. Goldie, this is Patience,” Josh said, reversing the order of the introductions wryly. “Patience, Goldie.”
“Very funny.” Patience watched as Josh took the leash off his dog, who was busy sniffing out a red plaid dog cushion that had been set down on the hall floor next to Josh’s duffel bag. She had known her forty-eight hours with Josh would not be easy, but this turn of events could mean disaster. “What about Tweedles, my cat?”
“I haven’t seen her yet but I’m sure they’ll get along. If not, we’ll put them in separate rooms.” He paused, looking reluctant to leave her.
His glance ghosted over the emerald silk lounging pajamas and satin ballet slippers she’d slipped on, and the way she’d swept up her hair into a loose knot on the back of her head. Patience knew she looked pretty and sophisticated in a way that was a bit too much for a casual evening at home on the ranch. But then that was the point. To show this cowboy they were worlds apart, and always would be. Maybe that, more than anything, would help keep him at arm’s length. Lord knew she had to do something to keep him from kissing her again.
Patience swiveled away from Josh and shot a glance at Goldie, who had her red plaid cedar cushion clamped firmly between her jaws and was busy tugging it back toward the kitchen.
“Where’d you come up with a name like Tweedles, anyway?” Josh asked.
Patience felt Josh come up behind her, sensed the heat he radiated, even as she felt the warmth of his breath stirring her hair. It was a singularly luxuriant sensation, one she didn’t dare give in to.
Swallowing hard, she tugged at the single strand of pearls around her neck and swung around to facc him, a pleasant expression plastered on her face. “I didn’t,” she replied with more than necessary politeness. “Trace’s two boys did.” As she remembered how it had all come about, a trace of fondness crept into her voice and she related softly, “She was originally their kitten and they couldn’t decide whether she was Tweedledee or Tweedledum, so they finally decided on Tweedles. Unfortunately, it turned out Trace was allergic to cats. So Tweedles needed a new home.”
Josh shook his head sympathetically. “The poor kids must’ve been heartbroken.”
“Right.” Patience paused. She could have sworn, just by the way he looked at his pet and the rugged way in which he carried himself, that Josh was a dog lover through and through. It had been Alec who’d liked cats, because he’d had a kitten—the only house pet his father would allow—when he was a kid. She wet her suddenly dry lips. “You like cats?”
Josh shrugged, showing no emotion one way or another. “I love all animals. I’m a veterinarian, remember? Anyway, back to your story—” he prodded impatiently.
Aware she was digressing, Patience forced herself to get back on track. “Right. So I volunteered to adopt Tweedles, promised the kids they could visit her as much as they wanted, which they have, and Tweedles has been with me ever since.” Patience smiled again, thinking about how much having a pet had brightened up her life and taken an edge off the loneliness she sometimes felt.
“Which has been how long?”
“About four years. Speaking of which, I better find her.”
“Meantime, if it’s okay with you, I’m going up to have my turn at the shower,” Josh said.
“No problem.” As far as Patience was concerned, the more time they spent apart, but still under one roof, the better.
“And don’t let Goldie out alone, no matter how much she begs. She’s in heat.”
It was all she could do not to groan out loud. No doubt about it. The next forty-some hours were going to be extremely interesting. “That makes us just about even, then,” she said sweetly, knowing she wasn’t the only one who could bring on the surprises.
Josh paused in the act of unbuttoning his shirt and, edging closer, asked, “How come?”
Patience smiled. “’Cause my cat’s pregnant and due any day.”
“LOOKING FOR SOMETHING?” Cisco Kidd asked Patience as he headed up the front steps of the studio.
“Tweedles, my cat. She’s about to have kittens and I haven’t seen her since just before I left for Fort Benton this afternoon. She wanted out and I thought it would be okay. She’s never been one to go very far, and there’s a small pet door by the kitchen that she can use to get in and out all by herself. But now I’m wondering if it was such a good idea, letting her go out at all,” Patience finished worriedly.
“She wouldn’t go near the horses, would she?”
“No.” Patience frowned. “Not unless she was chasing down a mouse or something.”
“Want me to go and look for her?”
Again, Patience shook her head. “It probably wouldn’t do any good. She’s kind of shy around strangers. If she saw you coming she would just hide.” Patience leaned against the porch railing, being careful to follow her Uncle Max’s instructions and remain “under the same roof” as Josh. “If you see her, let me know.”
“Will do,” Cisco promised like the true friend he was.
“What brings you by?” Patience asked curiously. Though they talked often and had for years, she hadn’t expected to see him this evening.
“I’m sorry. I know it’s late, but I wanted to know how things were going.”
Knowing he was only looking out for her, Patience quickly filled him in. Cisco listened tranquilly. His expression turned to a frown as she concluded, “Anyway, I got to thinking maybe Josh was right. Maybe I should check out the men I get involved with more thoroughly before I get involved. And I might as well start with him.”
“I’ll check into Josh’s background for you.”
Patience homed in on his skepticism. “But you don’t expect to find anything, do you?”
Cisco tipped his Stetson back. “Max trusted Josh implicitly.”
“Don’t you find that strange? I mean, Josh had only been around a couple of months.” And yet Max had put him in his will!
“That tells you something, too. Max was never a man who was all that quick to trust newcomers, unless he had a strong feeling in his gut. He felt that way about me. He felt that way about Josh. I have to think his feelings were continually substantiated or I know he wouldn’t have done it.”
Patience set her chin stubbornly. “I still want you to look into his background for me, see if the work history he told me checks out. And I want to know why he left all those jobs. Was it the result of his restlessness, or was he forced out?”
Cisco studied her closely. “You’re really worried about this.”
“I learned not to trust my gut instincts after I got involved with Alec,” Patience whispered. “Because if I had done that, I never would have found myself in that awful situation…forced to take action.”
SHE HAD WALKED to the front of the church on shaking legs, her beautiful wedding gown swirling around her. She was thankful her brothers were there with her, flanking her on either side as she undertook the ordeal of having to make the announcement herself. She had never in her entire life felt more deeply hurt and humiliated than she did at that very second.
/> Her face hot with embarrassment, she forced herself to face the friends gathered in the pews and nervously cleared her throat. Worse than their shock was their pity, which was coming at her in great unspoken waves. “If I may have your attention, please,” she began, amazed her voice could be so cool and clear when her entire world was falling apart. “I have something to say.”
They waited while she wished desperately she could be anywhere else.
Temporarily losing her nerve, she looked at the vestibule doors of the church one last time, hoping against all reason to see Alec come bursting in. He didn’t.
Aware she was on the verge of either bolting or becoming completely hysterical, she took a deep breath. It would all be over in a minute. Her impending marriage. Her prospects for a happy life. She smiled, aware she was beginning to feel a little faint. “Odd, now that I’m up here, I really don’t know where to begin.”
Trace took her hand in his. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Patience, honey, you don’t have to do this.”
Tears stinging her eyes, she shook her head in the affirmative. Yes, she did have to do this. It was the only way to hang on to what little was left of her dignity. To choose any other way out would be cowardly. And if there was one thing she had never been, she told herself sternly, it was a coward.
Lifting her chin a little higher, she did her best to ignore all the pitying looks directed her way. Might as well get this over with. It damn well wasn’t going to get any easier. “I asked you all here to see me married today,” she began, looking her audience in the eye. “With the exception of my Uncle Max McKendrick, you were all delighted to show up and offer your heartiest congratulations and best wishes.” Patience snapped a rose out of her bouquet and crumpled it between her fingers. “I have to admit, I was furious with my Uncle Max for not believing I knew what I was doing when I said yes to Alec Vaughn’s proposal. But it seems he was right after all,” she told her audience through tightly gritted teeth. “Because I know now—” the tears were beginning to start again “—that Alec Vaughn is definitely not the man for me. If he were, he would have shown up here today. Maybe not exactly on time. Maybe not even to go through with the ceremony and marry me. But he would have at least shown up.”
The Ranch Stud Page 7