“I’m fine,” she argued. “How many trees can possibly—”
Another tree cracked and crashed in the woods nearby.
She blinked at him. “This must be the storm of the century.”
“Put your clothes on,” he told her. There was no way he was leaving her up here.
She glanced down at her body, seeming to suddenly remember what she was wearing. She quickly folded her arms across her breasts.
“I’m not looking,” he lied. “Now, let’s get downstairs.” He wanted a sturdy story between them and any falling debris.
Mandy crossed the room and struggled into her jeans, slipping her arms into her shirtsleeves.
Caleb tried mightily not to watch, but he couldn’t stop himself from taking a few surreptitious glances.
“Should we call the office?” she asked.
“I think they’ve long since closed. And I’m pretty sure they know the property’s getting wind damage. Nobody should go out in this.”
“I guess staying here is the safest,” she agreed, tucking her messy hair behind her ears as she bent to put on her boots.
She turned then, and she seemed to realize for the first time that he was nearly naked.
“I rushed up here,” he defended. “I thought you might be hurt.”
Her mouth tightened into a smirk. “You’re a knight in shining…boxers?”
He crossed to the door and pulled it open. “You can’t embarrass me.”
She moved toward him. “Not modest?”
“Not at all. You can see me naked any old time you want.”
“Pass,” she tossed over her shoulder, striding out into the rain.
He shut the door tight, double-checking it before he followed her downstairs. Rain splattered against his hair, wind chilling his wet skin, while the lightning and thunder continued to crack through the black sky.
In his own suite, he lit a couple of the decorative candles, dried off with a towel and switched his wet boxers for his damp jeans. Going commando under his jeans wasn’t the most comfortable feeling in the world, but his options were limited.
She stood in the middle of the room, hands on her hips. “I suppose you’ll want the bed.”
He flipped back the comforter and stretched out. The love seat would barely fit a ten-year-old. “You’re welcome to share,” he told her.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“As opposed to one of us staying awake all night? It’s a big bed, Mandy.”
“Can I trust you?”
He rolled his eyes. “Trust me to do what? Not to attack you while you sleep?” He leaned over and pulled back the opposite edge of the covers. “Give me a break, Mandy.”
The thunder rumbled as she took a single, hesitant step forward, looking decidedly uncertain. Not that he blamed her. Despite his bold words, it was going to be a challenge to keep his hands to himself.
“Can I trust you?” he countered, hoping to keep things light.
“Ha. I’m still mad at you.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m not hot,” he goaded.
In response, she marched defiantly to the bed. “You’re not that hot.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
She stuck her nose in the air, turned her back and plunked down on the edge of the bed, tugging off her boots and dropping them to the wooden floor. Her socks followed. Then her hand went to the snap of her jeans, and he heard the zipper pull down, and she shimmied out of them.
Okay, he was a gentleman, and he was proud of his self-control. But, good grief. Was the woman insane?
Six
An insistent, intermittent buzzing dragged Mandy from the depths of a deep sleep. She was comfortable, toasty warm, and she sincerely hoped it wasn’t time to get up yet.
As consciousness returned, she felt Caleb shift against her. She knew she should recoil in shock at having cuddled up to him while she slept. But his big body felt so good against her own, that she decided to pretend she was asleep for a few more seconds.
The buzzing stopped, and his deep, husky voice penetrated the darkness. “Yeah?”
He didn’t pull away, either, and she let herself sink into the forbidden sensations. She’d kept her blouse on, while he was wearing his blue jeans, so there was no danger of intimate skin contact. Still, her belly was snuggled up to his hip, her breast against his arm and her calf against his.
“Anybody hurt?” His voice sounded stronger, and her brain engaged more thoroughly on his words. “Good. So, how bad is it?”
She heard the rustle as he swiped a hand across his forehead, into his hairline, and she could picture him blinking his eyes open in the darkness.
“Tell her to call Orson Mallek. He can source the parts worldwide.” Caleb shifted, his arm grazing her nipple, and it was all she could do not to gasp in reaction. “A week will cripple us,” he said. “Tell them forty-eight hours max.”
Arousal invaded her system, hijacking reason. The urge to wrap herself around Caleb and give in to her desires, to hell with the consequences, was quickly gaining traction in her brain.
“Colorado,” he said into the phone.
She felt him shift, and knew he was squinting at her in the dim light, probably wondering if she was awake or asleep. It was getting to the point of unreasonable that she could have slept through the conversation.
It was time to put up or shut up.
Grabbing a final scarp of sanity, she drew away, shifting onto her back, putting some space between them.
“Call me when you know something. Thanks.”
“Something wrong?” she asked sleepily, hoping against hope he’d buy that she’d only just woken up.
“A breakdown in the chassis plant.”
“Is it serious?”
“Depends on how long it takes to repair.” He moved to his side, propping on an elbow, facing her in the predawn glow. “We can go a couple of days before we have to start cutting back shifts. After a week, we’re looking at temporary layoffs. I hate to have to do that.”
She found herself curious. “How many people work for your company?”
“In that plant, a few hundred.”
“Overall?”
“I don’t know. Thousands, anyway.”
“You have thousands of people working for you?” It defied Mandy’s imagination.
“Not directly.” He chuckled.
“Nobody works for me.”
“And you don’t work for anyone else, either. It’s a whole lot simpler that way.”
“Technically, I work for my dad. Though,” she allowed, “that’s definitely going to change for a while.”
“Who’ll take over the ranch?” Caleb asked, laying his head back down on the pillow. “Is Seth the heir apparent?”
Mandy thought about it. “It’s hard to say. Especially with his mayor campaign coming up. Travis’s the most hands-on of us all, but he’s more of a day to day, roll up his sleeves guy. Seth definitely takes the strategic view, but he’s not out on the range very often these days. Abigail’s the organized one. She knows pretty much everything about everything.”
“And you?” Caleb asked. “What’s your strength?”
“I don’t know. Diplomacy, maybe.”
He chuckled. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“Hey,” she protested. “People like me. I broker compromises all the time.”
“Not for me, you didn’t.”
“Jury’s still out on that one. I predict that someday you’ll be thanking me for my role last night.”
“I wouldn’t hold your breath.”
“My point is—” she fought the urge to engage further in a debate with him about selling the ranch “—we all have different strengths.”
“What about your other sister, the little one?”
“Katrina?”
“I haven’t seen her yet.”
Mandy resettled herself, bending one knee, which brushed up against Caleb’s thigh. She let it rest there, p
retending she didn’t realize she was touching him. “That’s right. You left before it happened.”
“What happened?” There was concern in his voice.
“Nothing bad,” Mandy hastily put in. “Katrina attended a fine arts boarding school in New York City. She’s still in New York. A principle dancer with Liberty Ballet Company.”
“Seriously?”
“I’m serious. She loves it. Then again, she always did hate the ranch.”
His tone turned contemplative. “So, Lyndon Valley produced more than one city dweller.”
“You two would probably have a lot in common.” Mandy kept her voice flip, careful not to betray her disquiet at the thought of Caleb and Katrina. She wasn’t jealous of her baby sister. She’d never cared about being glamorous before, and she wasn’t about to start now.
“What about you?” Caleb asked. “Do you like the ranch, living and working so closely with your family?”
“Absolutely.” Mandy couldn’t imagine any other life. She loved the quiet, the simplicity, the slower pace and the wide-open spaces.
“What about when you get married?”
“Nobody’s asked me yet.”
“You plan to raise your children on the ranch?”
“I do.” She nodded with conviction. “Kids need fresh air, hard work, a sense of responsibility and purpose.”
Caleb was silent for a long moment.
“What about you?” Mandy asked. “You plan to raise your children in a high-rise apartment?”
He stretched onto his back, lacing his fingers behind his head. “That’s a very long way off.”
“But you do plan to have children one day.”
“I don’t know.” He sighed. “I didn’t have much of a role model for a father.”
“You’re nothing like he was.”
“I’m nothing like your father, either.” He turned to look at her. “He’s a fantastic family man. I’m better at business, focused, driven and narcissistic.”
“You cared that you might have to lay people off just now,” she pointed out. “That isn’t narcissistic behavior. It is empathetic, compassionate behavior.”
He turned toward her again, his thigh coming fully up against hers, his midnight-blue gaze capturing hers in the gathering dawn. “You comfortable behind those rose-colored glasses?”
“You cared, Caleb.”
“I’m not the devil incarnate. But that doesn’t mean I should be raising children.”
“What do you want to do? With your future?”
“I’ve been thinking in two- or three-month increments for an awful long time now.”
“Okay,” she allowed. “Where do you want to be in three months?”
His gaze softened on hers, and he reached out to smooth back a lock of her hair. “I can tell you where I want to be in five minutes.”
Her chest hitched, and her lungs tightened around an indrawn breath. His finger traced down the curve of her cheek, along her neck, to trace the vee of her blouse. Her pulse jumped and prickly heat formed on her skin.
“You took off your jeans,” he told her in a husky voice. “Why did you take off your jeans?”
“They’re uncomfortable to sleep in.”
“I thought it was to make me crazy.”
She shook her head. “You kept your pants on, I figured we were safe enough.”
His mouth curved in a small smile. “Since you cuddle in your sleep?”
“I never knew I did that.” She felt as though she could fall forever into the depths of his sexy eyes. “I’ve never slept with a man before.”
“No way.”
“I was in a girls dorm in college.”
His hand dropped away, and his expression turned guarded. “You’re not…”
“A virgin?” She couldn’t help but laugh at the guilt on his face. “Didn’t I just tell you I went to college?”
“You scare me, Mandy.”
She sobered, unfamiliar feelings bubbling to life inside her. She might not be a virgin, but her experience was with swaggering eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds. They were about as different from Caleb as a person could get.
“You scare me, too,” she told him on a whisper.
“Scaring you is the last thing I want to do.”
She nodded, and he slowly leaned in to kiss her.
His lips were firm but soft, confident as they slanted across hers. They parted, hot and delicious. And he pressed her back into the pillow, one arm snaking around the small of her back, pulling her up against him.
A surge of desire swelled inside her. Her back instinctively arched, and she parted her own lips, opening to his tongue, savoring the intense flavor of his passion. Her arms went around his neck, anchoring her, while her breasts rubbed against his chest. Her nipples went hard, tight, intensely sensitive.
He groaned, sliding his hand down her hip, over her silky panties, down her bare thigh. His kisses wandered along the crook of her neck, circling her ear, separating her blouse to kiss his way to the tip of her shoulder.
She pressed her lips against his neck, drawing his skin into the heat of her mouth, tasting salt and dried rainwater. His hand convulsed on her bottom, voice going hoarse. “You’re killing me, Mandy.”
“Is that good?” It felt good from her side. Very, very good.
He kissed her shoulder, kissed her neck, kissed her mouth, dragging her pelvis tight against his. “You need to tell me yes or no.”
She opened her mouth to say yes.
But he pulled back, and his sober expression stopped her.
“I…” She suddenly hesitated. This wasn’t college. This was far more complicated than college.
“We step over this cliff,” he warned her in an undertone, “we can’t come back again.”
She struggled to interpret his words. “Are you saying no?” she asked in a small voice.
When he didn’t answer, her stomach clenched tight. Was she being swept along on this tidal wave alone? How humiliating. She stiffened.
When he finally answered, his voice was controlled and compassionate. “I’m saying you’re not the kind of woman I usually date. You need to think about this.”
She pulled back farther, feeling as if she’d been doused in cold water. She hardened her tone. “Excellent suggestion.”
Without giving him a chance to say anything more, she flounced out of the bed and snagged her jeans from the floor. “In fact, now that you mention it, breakfast is probably a much better idea.”
She strode her way toward the bathroom, hoping against hope the light was too dim for him to get a good view of her scantily clad rear end.
Feet apart, wearing the brand-new pair of steel-toed boots he’d purchased at the Lyndon shopping mall, Caleb chainsawed his way through the third fallen tree on Bainbridge Avenue. The physical work felt good, and tearing trees apart gave him an outlet for his sexual frustration.
Lyndon was a mess this morning. Mandy hadn’t been far off when she’d guessed last night was the storm of the century. The wind, rain—and even hail in some places—had taken down trees, damaged buildings and sent several people to the hospital. Fortunately, no one had serious injuries.
Mandy was on the clearing crew a few hundred yards down the road. Hands protected by leather gloves, with about a dozen other people, she was hauling branches and sections of tree trunk to waiting pickup trucks. Though Caleb’s gaze strayed to her over and over again, he told himself that this morning had been for the best. If she wasn’t ready, she wasn’t ready. And he wasn’t going to push her into something she’d regret.
In other parts of town, Caleb knew many other crews were working, while construction experts, carpenters and engineers assessed the damage to buildings and other town infrastructure.
His phone buzzed in his breast pocket, and he shut down the chain saw, setting it on the ground by his feet. He stripped off his leather gloves, releasing the pocket button and fumbling his way into the deep pocket to address the persistent buz
zing.
“Terrell here,” he barked shortly.
“Caleb? It’s Seth.”
“Oh, hey, Seth.” Caleb swiped back his sweaty hair. “Everything all right with your dad?”
“Better and better. They’re going to start some physical and speech therapies in a few days.”
“That’s great news.”
“Agreed. Listen, have you seen any of the storm coverage? It’s all about how bad Lyndon got hit last night.”
“We’re in the thick of it,” Caleb replied, glancing around once more at the destruction. “Mandy and I are still in town.”
Seth’s tone turned worried. “Is she okay?”
“She’s a hundred percent. We’re helping out with the cleanup.”
“Good. That’s a relief. Listen, the cleanup is what I wanted to talk to you about. As the president of Active Equipment, is there a possibility of you making a donation to the town? Maybe a couple of loaders.”
“Absolutely,” Caleb responded, wondering why he hadn’t thought of it himself. “Let me see which dealers are closest, and how quickly they can respond.”
“That would be terrific.”
“Hey, no problem. They can use all the help they can get here.”
“And…uh…Caleb?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you be comfortable with me making the public announcement? I don’t want to steal your PR or anything.”
Caleb got it. “But it wouldn’t hurt your mayoralty campaign any to be the front man on this?”
“Exactly.”
“Hey, go for it,” said Caleb. “It was your idea. You deserve the credit.”
“Thanks.” Seth’s tone was heartfelt.
“Happy to help out. Are you coming into town?”
“I’m going to try. But it may take a while. The airport’s closed.”
“Wow.” Caleb was surprised to learn about the airport. “I’m working on Bainbridge. This thing must have hit the entire town.”
“Get to a television when you can. They’ve got aerials.”
“I’m on the business end of a chain saw for the moment. And I think power’s out all over the place.”
“Mandy’s okay?” Seth confirmed.
“She’s a trouper,” said Caleb, his gaze going to where she struggled with a section of tree trunk that had to be thirty-six inches across. To his astonishment, she smiled while she worked, obviously making a joke to the man beside her.
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