by Judi Nolan
"We're putting up this fence." Jamie frowned. "But the darn thing just won't go."
"Okay, let's see what we can do then." Spencer leaned into the task, lifting and pushing the fence firmly into place, under Kate's harried direction.
Kate fumed as she stepped around him to secure it at ground level with metal stakes. "Show-off," she muttered close to his ear, before she moved quickly back out of reach.
"What did you say?" Supporting the brush with one hand, Spencer turned his head to stare at her mutinous face.
The single muttered word tempted him to reply in kind. Tempted him with all kinds of sensuous ideas. It was a dangerous and disturbing notion to be verbally sparring with her.
"You heard me." Kate's wary blue eyes held his.
Her heart flipped over and hitched to a halt. He was staring hard at her, but for the first time the intense expression in his eyes was completely unguarded. A deep shudder rippled through her senses. Her lower body tightened and began to hum with an awareness that frankly scared her half to death.
He was big and male and so gorgeous, and he smelled of fresh air and sunshine and pure unadulterated man—and she should be running a thousand miles in the opposite direction—instead she remained locked in place, neatly trapped in the heart stopping look in his blue eyes.
Her knees were threatening to give way and he was staring at her like she was some great new kind of edible treat he just had to have. She saw his tongue breach the seam of his lips to pass slowly over his open mouth. She wanted to follow that sensuous path with her own, make him aware of her and what his look was doing to her traitorous body.
She frowned, stifling a rueful groan as she tried very hard to remember the scents of Eric's body—but the stubborn memory refused to surface. The cluttered space in her mind that had once held all that Eric had meant and said to her—both good and awful—was suddenly blank. The complete emptiness startled her into voicing a short disturbed cry of chagrin.
"Are you all right?" Spencer straightened up slowly. "Have you hurt yourself?"
He saw the deep confusion surface in Kate's clear blue eyes. Her soft beauty shoved his heart into top gear. He fought to keep himself from responding to her; from giving in to the simple, almost overwhelming need to reach out and touch her. Compound every mistake and draw her closer to relearn every inch of her soft curves while he plundered her mouth.
To make her irrevocably his.
Spencer inhaled, shaking his head. Where the hell did that crazy idea come from?
He took a step back, aware it could never happen. Kate could never be his. She would be gone one day from their lives as soon as she got restless and realized what she was missing in this small backwater place. He couldn't become any more involved. Certainly not with a woman who didn't even respect the sanctity of marriage. But even mussed and dirty from her fruitless labors, she looked good enough to eat. Against his will, a fresh wave of desire surged through him on potent wings of fire.
Kate was staring at him as if she was only now seeing him for the first time. "No, I'm fine." A troubled frown haunted her small, neat features.
"We've made cookies." Jamie piped up, seemingly unaware of the strained atmosphere. "You want some?"
"How about we get cleaned up first." Kate shook her head as she stepped quickly away. "Then I'll make us coffee to go with the cookies."
Taking Jamie's hand she hurried the little boy towards the house, feeling Spencer's gaze on her back. The unguarded look in his eyes when she first turned towards him was nearly her undoing.
Spencer waited until they had gone into the house. He wasn't fit company right then. He released his pent-up breath in a rush. Those worn, butt hugging cut-offs fed into every one of the illicit fantasies that had been troubling his sleep now for days, leaving him feeling frustrated and on edge. He remembered the pert sway of Kate's hips as she walked away with his son. He almost envied the boy his innocent connection with her.
Almost. There was nothing innocent about his current state.
He discovered a crazy impulse to tell her everything. Lay it all out and watch her reactions. He pushed one hand around the back of his neck, easing the rigid set of his shoulders. This battle between his will and his senses was fast becoming an unequal one. As soon as they could leave he was heading home to take another long cold shower, several if he needed to. He shook his head as he gave up the struggle and went in search of cookies.
The simple task of eating and swallowing seemed almost beyond her as Kate made the coffee. She handed Jamie a glass of juice as the Stelanos men settled down at her breakfast bar.
"So are you still on for the horses?" Spencer questioned in a harsh voice as she pushed a plate of chocolate chip cookies across the bench-top.
Kate knew his brusque tone said he really wanted her to refuse the grudging invitation, but his son's bright look of anticipation and hope obviously drove him to question her wishes. Make her the heavy in this battle. Therefore she nodded quickly, against the dictates of the snippy little rational voice in the back of her mind that told her to say no and mean it this time. "Of course. I wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Fine." Spencer nodded his thanks for the mug of coffee Kate passed to him. He scooped up a handful of cookies and shared them with Jamie.
"I...what's entailed?" she questioned softly.
His darkened blue eyes lifted to study her closely. "A little gentle exercise and some mucking out. Nothing too hard for a beginner."
"Mucking out?" Kate frowned, still unsure of his abrupt mood.
"It's our regular Sunday job." Spencer took a long mouthful of coffee before he said, "You'll need to change into something more...more...um, serviceable."
"Serviceable, uh huh." Kate stared down at her crumpled clothing.
Did his tone imply he wanted her to wear something less revealing? Was it an issue with him? She looked up, but Spencer's expression was once again closed and unreadable. He didn't want her around him, his whole posture said starkly.
Spencer exhaled roughly as he watched her, contemplating the day ahead. To his mind, if Kate arrived dressed in those cut-offs she was going to end the day well and truly tumbled deep in the stable straw. With him.
His lips tightened. He held on fast to his need to maintain some distance. "You did say you wanted to help."
Did I say that? Kate nodded cautiously, remembering their stilted conversation from that first day at the medical centre. "I did say that, didn't I?" It seemed like a lifetime ago now.
"Well, then there's no time like the present." Spencer shrugged, reaching for another cookie. He dropped his gaze to his son and the boy giggled. Kate eyed them both with suspicion and wondered what else she was letting herself in for by agreeing.
After walking over to Spencer's place together, Kate found the stable work heavy going, but enjoyable. Now her tired muscles were beginning to ache. Surely now that the sun was going down they would call it quits. She longed for a bath and her bed.
"You can lead this one back to its stall and then we're done." Spencer handed Kate a heavy lead rope and walked away.
Kate frowned and looked up. There was a horse attached to the other end of the rope. A very large, impossibly tall horse. She snapped a glare after Spencer, but he'd already disappeared into the stable block leaving her stranded in the yard.
She frowned, looking back at her new charge. "Good horse," she cooed.
The animal stretched its neck and yawned. Kate stared at its teeth. They looked large, strong and menacing. The animal blew a grassy breath into her face.
"Okay, horse, let's go home." Kate tugged on the rope.
The animal didn't move. It stared at her with big, liquid brown eyes.
"Now, please." Kate pulled harder. The horse shook its head, ruffling its long mane. "Oh, come on." She leaned back, putting all her weight onto the rope, but nothing happened.
She clicked her tongue encouragingly. The animal stamped its right front hoof and shivered its glossy chestnut skin
against a circling fly. Not one other powerful muscle moved.
"Okay, have it your way." Kate gave up. "Stay out here all night."
She bit her lips together. Everything she owned ached. She was tired, hungry and she just wanted to go home. Her recent fight with the brush fence seemed tiny by comparison. That hot bath and a soft bed would be pure heaven right now and a very distant dream.
She heard a smothered snicker behind her. She turned her head. Jamie was standing behind her holding the lead rope of an equally huge animal. It dwarfed his small body.
Kate knew a moment of panic, but Jamie shrugged his unconcern.
"Not like that, Auntie Kate," he said, smiling gleefully. "Like this."
He turned and walked away, his back to the horse. The animal began to follow him like a lamb, dropping its huge head to push its velvet nose into the side of the boy's neck.
Jamie giggled as the horse blew a breath. "See, it's easy."
Kate stared after him. Easy, huh?
"Okay," she breathed. "You can do this."
She looked back at her own horse. It stared right back at her, a wicked gleam of intelligence in its dark eyes.
"If you want to eat tonight, horse, you won't play any more games with me." Having voiced her deep sense of frustration, Kate turned away.
She began to walk, expecting any second to be brought to a halt or be jerked onto her butt once she reached the end of the tether. Instead she heard and felt movement.
She looked over her shoulder in surprise. The horse had dropped its head, picking up its huge feet and putting them down, following her meekly.
She felt a sense of triumph out of all proportion with the task. She walked into the stables, her charge behind her, pushing her gently in the small of her back with its nose. She looked up to encounter Spencer's inquiring frown.
"What took you so long?" he asked.
"I had to find first gear," Kate told him cheekily. "I still have to pass my learner's permit in horse walking."
"You've never tended a thoroughbred before?" Spencer asked incredulously.
"I'm a confirmed city girl, remember?" Kate smirked. "Not too many horses in Chicago."
"Can you ride?" Jamie closed the stall door behind his own animal. He came to take Kate's lead rope.
Kate frowned at his question. "Never given it much thought," she admitted honestly.
"We could teach you." Jamie smiled gleefully.
Kate thought of the size and height of the animal she had just led into the stables. "Ah, no thanks." She shook her head.
"Coward," Spencer growled. "We keep riding horses that are more your size. And your speed."
She chose to ignore his comment. "I simply know my limitations, that's all," she said warily, her gaze lifting to his.
Something indefinable and dangerous lurked in the back of those sinfully beautiful eyes. Something she didn't want to acknowledge or name. His troubled look both confused and concerned her. He appeared to be about to try and say something again. Confide in her.
"I...it's getting late. I should be going." Backing up, she knew she really didn't want to hear whatever he wanted to say. It would cement another level of intimacy in her unwanted involvement with this man.
"Thanks for an interesting afternoon." She stepped further away from the temptation of his nearness.
Spencer's eyes tracked her movement. He said something low and savage in his own language that didn't sound at all complimentary. Kate put out a denying hand as he came closer, filling her personal space with his overwhelming presence.
"Look, Kate, I need to tell you something and I don't know how to—"
"No!" Kate's breath caught in her throat.
Not looking where she was putting her feet, she tripped over the edge of the channeling behind her. Something sharp cut across the open palm of her left hand as she fell to her knees. Kate couldn't suppress her gasp of shocked pain.
"What on earth have you done to yourself now?"
To her dismay, Spencer was beside her, sinking down onto his haunches right in front of her, filling every part of her vision and her wary senses. So much for the safety of distance!
"Running away again, Kate?" His question was roughly tolerant.
She sucked in a steadying breath. "No, just not looking where I'm going and tripping over my own two feet."
"That seems to be a habit with you, Dr. Martin." Somber blue eyes stared straight into hers. "I wasn't going to hurt you. We do need to talk, you and I."
"I know." This close Kate could see the tiny flecks of gold in his eyes. And her startled reflection. "It's just that I…" she trailed off, unable to explain.
"I understand, I shouldn't have said anything. I guess my timing is off again. That's never happened before." Spencer inhaled as he turned his head to instruct his son. "Jamie, go inside and fetch my bag. We'll be there in a minute. I think Kate just needs to catch her breath."
"Okay." His small face set and pale, Jamie shot off at top speed.
Kate grimaced. It wasn't her breath she needed to catch, it was her unwise heart. In that moment it seemed to be slipping out of her control and into this man's brusque keeping. Her jumbled thoughts tumbled over one another. Somehow she knew she must reclaim her foolish heart, before it was too late and she committed the unforgivable sin of falling deeply in love with yet another man who didn't want her.
Just like Eric, that annoyingly snippy little voice in the back of her mind told her, with a measure of smug certainty. Kate acknowledged the thought with a rueful sigh. No, Spencer is nothing like Eric.
She watched him move closer. Hemmed in between the stable wall and the open door to the horse stall, Kate had no place to go unless she wanted to push him over backwards. This close he made her vitally aware of the uncertain thudding of her heart; the sharpened tenor of her breathing. His warm scent filled her nostrils, jangled along her nerve endings. A chill shiver rippled through her.
"You okay?" He questioned softly. "You've gone very pale."
"Yes..." Kate nodded jerkily. "I'm fine. Or I will be soon."
She could see the laughter lines around his eyes. He was trying to coax her to laugh with him over her own silly predicament. Lessen the sizzling tension between them. She dropped her eyes to her injured hand. "I can take care of it myself."
"Stop being so stubborn. Let's take a look at the damage." Spencer's long fingers moved swiftly, turning her injured hand over before she could object, or think to resist him. The laceration across her palm was superficial, but jagged. Blood welled sluggishly from the wound.
"It doesn't look too bad." Kate frowned at the mess.
It gave her a necessary focus for her attention from the jean clad, muscular thighs hemming her in on either side, warming her chilled flesh with their closeness. "A simple careless mistake on my part. It's nothing."
She really did try to laugh it off and lighten the thudding pace of her heartbeat as she made to pull away, but, it was already a lost battle. Spencer restrained her without effort; his free hand snaring her wrist, keeping her still.
"Patching up mistakes is what I do. It certainly needs cleaning and maybe suturing. Put aside your pride and let me take care of it." He eased to his feet.
Kate was forced up with him. She felt the pain of her hand pounding through her veins, messing with her well developed sense of self preservation. She fought back.
"I am perfectly capable of looking after a simple cut myself, Dr. Stelanos."
"Spencer," he said, with harsh emphasis. "And, working one handed, you'll only make a hash of the suturing and the dressing. What would that do to your professional pride?"
Kate swallowed. It was already far too late to rescue her foolish pride and her errant heart. It seemed life wasn't going to allow her to keep her distance from Spencer and his small son. She tried to concentrate on the wound in her hand, but found she couldn't. Not with everything she ever wanted so close to her and yet forever so far away from her reach.
She
was very much afraid she was beginning to care too deeply about Spencer Stelanos and his opinion of her. And that wasn't right—or sensible—at all.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Spencer took her across the stable yard to the back door of the house where Jamie hovered anxiously.
"Fill the kettle and switch it on." Spencer instructed his small son as he pushed Kate down onto a stool at the kitchen table. "I think Kate could do with some hot tea."
"Okay." Jamie busied himself with the task.
Kate shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I'm really sorry about this."
"About what?" Spencer's eyes darkened with something quite different from his previous laughter. "Being the patient doesn't come easy to you, does it, Kate?"
He pulled on medical gloves and took her small hand in his, cleaning her flesh wound with long smooth strokes, probing it gently for further damage. Kate caught her breath.
"Sorry, did I hurt you? Wiggle your fingers," Spencer instructed quietly.
Catching her bottom lip between her teeth, Kate did as she was bid.
"Make a fist. Good. You're lucky. It's only a superficial cut. But, if you get any stiffness or loss of function in the next few days I want you to tell me immediately, okay?"
"Very well." Kate swallowed and nodded sharply.
"Good girl. Now, keep your hand there while I finish cleaning it, and then I'll stitch it."
Caught up in confusion Kate managed to hold onto her composure and did as she was ordered. She'd never felt so useless.
She watched wordlessly as he pulled a suture pack from his open bag, opened it and filled a syringe with the anesthetic. After swabbing her skin, Spencer inserted the needle into her flesh with ease. Kate bit her inner lip as he readied a suture needle for stitching.
Before he began, he lifted his eyes and smiled at her. It was a genuine smile, brimming with complete understanding. Kate felt her breathing contract, her heart thumping heavily against the cage of her ribs.
Suddenly this very familiar task that she had performed more than a thousand times seemed painfully unfamiliar. To her dismay her outstretched hand began to tremble. She inhaled a steadying breath. Don't be ridiculous. It would soon be over and she would be free to leave. But, the trembling didn't stop.