Code Name: Cowboy

by Carla Cassidy

  Beneath the scent of strawbemes, he could smell Alice...the slightly spicy, mysterious scent he’d noticed before. He hadn’t considered the ramifications of sharing a bathroom.

  As he picked up the soap and lathered himself, his mind instantly conjured up an image of his new housekeeper doing the same. He could easily imagine Alice with her head thrown back as she smoothed the soap across her breasts, over her slender torso and down...he plunged his head beneath the spray as he grabbed the faucet for more cold water.

  His sister, Elena, had been trying to fix him up with every single woman in town for the past month. Maybe it was time he take her up on the offers. Man was not made to live alone, without the comfort of an occasional roll in the hay.

  He certainly didn’t want an emotional commitment of any kind...just a lusty release of animal instincts with a woman who knew his rules. No commitment. No promises. He’d been there...done that...and never intended to do it again.

  He stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. He dried off, then wrapped the towel around his waist and peered into the mirror. An unsmiling face reflected back at him. An unsmiling face desperately in need of a shave. He lathered efficiently, wishing he were one of those men who only had to shave once every couple of days.

  He placed the shaving cream back in the medicine cabinet and quickly and methodically shaved. He placed his razor back on the medicine cabinet shelf, then sluiced his face with cold water.

  A scream split the silence of the night.

  Cameron jumped and tore from the bathroom. He collided in the hallway with Alice, her palms hitting his chest, his hands grabbing her shoulders.

  In the spill of light from the bathroom, she looked like a wide-eyed wraith in a floor-length white silk nightgown that revealed rather than concealed her figure. Her skin was warm and soft beneath his hands. Too warm. Too soft. He released her at the same time she pulled back her hands from him as if burned.

  Another scream pierced the air and a renewed burst of adrenaline fired through Cameron. “She’s having a nightmare,” Alice said as she flew past him and into Rebecca’s room.

  “It’s all right, sweetie. Mommy is here.”

  Cameron stood outside the bedroom, listening to the sounds of mother soothing daughter. Choked sobs came from Rebecca, but she quieted quickly beneath the calming voice and touch of her mother. The adrenaline that had shot through him at the scream slowly ebbed away.

  He glanced into the room. A night-light burned in a wall socket, illuminating the area around the bed. Alice sat on the edge of the bed, her daughter wrapped in her arms. She rocked back and forth, her lips whispering softly into Rebecca’s ear.

  She looked up and saw him. Gently, she placed Rebecca back beneath the blankets and joined him in the hallway. “I apologize. Sometimes she has bad dreams.” She frowned worriedly. “I can’t promise it won’t happen again.”

  “Nobody can control bad dreams.” Cameron knew all about nightmares. They were unwelcome, but familiar visitors to his sleep.

  “She should sleep the rest of the night through. When she has the nightmare, it usually only comes once that night.”

  He nodded, trying not to notice how her breasts thrust against the silk material, how the pale gown did little to hide the rosy circles that surrounded her nipples.

  Her gaze swept down the length of him and her cheeks reddened. The intimacy of their nearnakedness suddenly slapped Cameron upside the head. His bare skin prickled in answer to her gaze and he felt himself responding as if she’d reached out and touched him.

  When she looked up at him, her eyes had darkened and the color in her cheeks intensified.

  “I’m sorry we bothered you,” she mumbled as she backed away from him and toward her bedroom. “Good night.” She whirled around and disappeared into her room.

  Air expelled from Cameron’s lungs on a sigh of renewed irritation. He entered his own bedroom and closed the door, as if the wooden barrier could bar all thoughts of her as well.

  Damn, but her skin had been warm, soft and sweetly scented. He’d nearly forgotten the scent of a woman, the feel of female flesh. He cursed beneath his breath, shoving her mental image away.

  He shut off his light, dropped the towel by the side of his bed and crawled in beneath the blankets. What in the hell could a six-year-old have nightmares about? Rebecca should be dreaming of sugarplums and fairies, of sunshine and laughter. What would possibly cause a little girl to scream in such terror in the middle of the night?

  He didn’t want to know.

  He didn’t want to know anything about Alice Burwell and her daughter. All he wanted from Alice was a clean house and warm meals.

  He didn’t want to feel desire or passion. Those emotions always got mixed up inside him with rage. And he didn’t want rage back in his life. He’d finally let it go, healed some of the wounds that had nearly destroyed him.

  Tomorrow he’d figure out exactly how to deal with Alice Burwell on a strictly nonpersonal level. He’d either figure it out...or he’d fire her.

  Chapter 3

  A broad chest sprinkled with dark curly hairs. Warm skin covered sinewy muscles that grew taut beneath her fingertips. A towel slung low beneath a lean stomach...a towel clinging to slender hips.

  Alicia’s heart pounded rapidly as she reached out to untuck the towel from around his waist and as the towel slid to the floor, she woke up. She remained unmoving for a long moment, the erotic dream sending crashing waves of heat through her body.

  She knew whose chest it had been, remembered vividly how he had looked in the semidarkness of the hallway, the white towel stark against his dark skin. She remained still for another moment, waiting for her heartbeat to slow to a more normal pace.

  Feeling more in control, she rolled over and turned off the alarm, scant seconds before it was to ring. Her room was still dark. Even the sun wasn’t up at quarter to five.

  Despite the disturbing dream, she felt surprisingly well rested when she pulled herself from the warm bed. At least she hadn’t dreamed of Broderick. Too many nights her sleep had been haunted with nightmares of her father-in-law stealing her daughter away from her.

  After dressing, she went into the bathroom, where she knew Cameron had recently been. The room smelled of freshly used soap and shaving cream, a masculine scent that stirred memories of her days of marriage to Robert.

  As she looked in the mirror, a stranger returned her gaze. She raised her brush to hair that didn’t belong to her. She’d cut and dyed it in an effort to make it more difficult for Broderick or any of his minions to find her.

  She looked nothing like the pale blond Dallas society darling she’d once been. She wasn’t that woman any longer. She was now a housekeeper to a handsome man who’d stepped into her dreams.

  Foolishness. It had been that moment of forced intimacy in the hall the night before that had prompted the silly dream.

  Leaving the bathroom she made a mental note to always keep her robe at the foot of the bed. She didn’t want to be caught again in the hallway halfnaked beneath Cameron Gallagher’s dark gaze.

  In the kitchen, she started a pot of coffee and got busy preparing breakfast. Within minutes the delicious scent of sausage filled the room. With the sausage browned and biscuits in the oven, Alicia poured herself a cup of coffee and sank into a chair at the table.

  Rebecca rarely got up before seven-thirty or eight. After Cameron’s breakfast, Alicia would start scrubbing down the kitchen. She’d started cleaning in here the night before when she’d made supper, but there was still plenty to be done.

  The physical activity of scrubbing and polishing would be good for her. It would keep her thoughts away from Broderick, away from the threat he and his wife posed to her. Hopefully for just a little while she’d forget that Broderick and Ruth wanted her daughter, and had the money and the power to possibly achieve such a goal.

  It would also use up some of the restless energy that filled her each time she thought of Cameron.<
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  She frowned. She needed to find out about school for Rebecca. It was important that Rebecca get started as soon as possible so she didn’t fall too far behind.

  Cameron appeared in the doorway, startling Alicia who jumped out of the chair. “Sit...relax,” he commanded. She sat back down as he poured himself a cup of coffee, then joined her at the table.

  Tension rippled through her as he eyed her curiously. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Fine. Thank you.” She frowned and wrapped her fingers around her cup. “I’m sorry we disturbed you last night.”

  He waved a hand dismissively and took a sip of his coffee, his eyes lingering on her curiously. He frowned, looked down at his cup, then back at her, the curiosity more intense. “When did your husband pass away?” he asked, the abruptness of the personal question startling her.

  “A year ago.” The tension inside her grew. She hoped he didn’t plan on digging too deeply into her life. There were things she couldn’t tell him...couldn’t tell anyone. She would do nothing to place herself and Rebecca at risk.

  “Is that when your daughter started having nightmares?”

  Alicia nodded. “We’ve had a difficult time. His death was unexpected, and we weren’t prepared financially for anything like that happening.”

  “No life insurance?”

  She shook her head, unable to actually verbalize the lie.

  “No family to help you out?”

  Again she shook her head, piling lie upon lie with the gesture. “None. My husband was an adopted, only child, and I’m estranged from my mother and father.”

  He eyed her curiously, but didn’t pursue the topic. “What brought you to Mustang?”

  His eyes were so intent...as if he saw through her and recognized her lies. She felt the pink of a blush staining her cheeks. “Cowboys,” she answered, pleased that at least this was partially true. “Rebecca wanted to go where there were cowboys. Montana seemed the place to come.”

  She hesitated a moment, then added to her web of lies. “We had no particular place to go.... Mustang seemed as good a town as any in which to start over.”

  His gaze was still far too curious for her comfort. “Starting over...most people just continue with their lives. They don’t usually feel the need to start over.”

  She shrugged with forced nonchalance. “We did.”

  He grunted, a noncommittal noise that gave away nothing of his thoughts. He took another sip of his coffee and she breathed a sigh of relief as his gaze slid away from her.

  “So, what exactly makes your daughter have nightmares?”

  Alicia blinked at the unexpectedness of the question. “Who knows?” She forced a light laugh. “She misses her father. I don’t know...all children have nightmares.” She stood and checked the biscuits in the oven. Seeing they were browned, she pulled them out and set them on the counter. “You ready for breakfast?”

  “Sure.”

  It took her only minutes to fry eggs, add the sausage and biscuits to his plate and set it in front of him. As he ate, she scrubbed down the stove top, her gaze constantly drawn to him.

  Rebecca would be pleased with the way he looked this morning. Clad in a pair of worn jeans, a pair of scuffed boots and a worn denim shirt, he looked every inch a cowboy. All he lacked was his hat, which she knew he’d toss on his head as he walked out the door to do morning chores.

  She waited until he was finished eating before asking him about the local grade school. “You said I will have Wednesdays and Sundays off. I thought I’d see about enrolling Rebecca in school on Wednesday,” she said.

  “Take this afternoon and get it done. No sense in putting it off a couple of days. Mustang only has two schools. One for kindergarten through eighth grade and the other for nine through twelve.”

  “Thank you. If I’m off this afternoon to take care of it, I’ll work on Wednesday to make up for the time.”

  “Fine.” Again his eyes played on her intently, as if he wanted to ask her something...tell her something. Abruptly he shoved away from the table and stood. “I’ve got chores to attend to.” His tone was curt, clipped, as if he blamed her for somehow keeping him from his morning tasks. “I’ll be back around noon for lunch.” He grabbed his hat, placed it strategically on his head and left through the backdoor.

  Alicia’s breath seeped out of her, an escape of pent-up anxiety. She had no idea exactly what it was about him that made her feel so tightly wound. Maybe it was the intensity of his dark eyes...or the blatant sensuality he exuded seemingly without selfawareness.

  Despite the fact she’d been married and had borne a daughter, Alicia was a stranger to lust. Although when she’d married Robert years ago, she’d believed herself to be desperately in love with him, in the last several months since his death, and in the process of her grieving, she’d recognized that her supposed love for Robert had been something else altogether.

  Irritated by the thoughts taking her back to the past, more aggravated with her crazy feelings where her new employer was concerned, Alicia grabbed Cameron’s plate off the table and carried it to the sink.

  As she cleaned up the mess, she thought of that moment in the hallway last night. Cameron’s gaze had drifted down the length of her and in his eyes she thought she saw a spark of hunger. It had terrified her.

  She wasn’t even sure she liked the man and yet his gaze had the power to shoot desire through her veins. Maybe this job wasn’t such a good idea after all.

  While she waited for Rebecca to wake up, Alicia wandered around the house, making mental notes of what needed to be done where. There wasn’t a room in the house that didn’t need a good dusting and floor scrubbing. Cobwebs hung in corners, windows begged for an ammonia wash and curtains hung limp and dusty from neglect.

  She easily found Cameron’s bedroom down the hall from her own. His bed was unmade and the area retained the evocative scent of him. The room was devoid of personal items other than a row of toiletries on the top of the dresser. It held no more personality than the spare room he’d given to Alicia.

  No family photos, no mementoes from a lover or an ex-wife, there was nothing to attest to what kind of man he was. Odd. Alicia, in her desperate flee from her home, had managed to grab a few personal items that had little monetary value but enormous sentimentality.

  She’d just finished making Cameron’s bed and dusting his room when Rebecca appeared in the doorway. Clad in a long green nightgown, her eyelids still droopy with sleep, she looked like a little elf just awakened from a catnap.

  “Good morning, sweetheart,” Alicia said as she stepped out of Cameron’s bedroom and pulled her daughter into her arms.

  “Mornin’,” Rebecca replied as she rubbed one eye with a closed fist. “I woke up and didn’t know where we were. Then I remembered we were here with Mr. Lallager and the swing and the horses and the tree house.” She gave her mother a sweet smile. “Can I go outside and play?”

  Alicia shook her head. “First, breakfast. Then we’ll see about playing outside.” Alicia’s heart expanded as she saw Rebecca’s enthusiasm...a trait that had been ominously absent in the child for the last several months.

  “How about a big bowl of oatmeal?” Alicia suggested as they walked down the stairs toward the kitchen.

  “With raisins?”

  “I’ll have to see if Mr. Gallagher has any raisins.”

  There were no raisins to be found in the cupboards, but Rebecca was just as happy with a spoonful of honey added to the hot breakfast cereal.

  After eating, Rebecca went up to her room and dressed, then once again asked to go outside. Alicia hesitated before answering. She didn’t want Rebecca bothering Cameron, but knew this was probably going to be one of the last nice days left before winter arrived.

  Despite the fact that it had somehow been Rebecca who had won the job for her, Cameron didn’t appear to be the kind of man who would abide a child’s presence and prattle for long.

  “Okay,” she finally said. “You
may go to the swing and play...but no place else. And if you see Mr. Gallagher, don’t bother him,” she finished sternly.

  “I won’t,” Rebecca agreed, already running for the backdoor. Alicia caught up with her long enough to zip her jacket and give her a kiss on the cheek.

  The moment Rebecca flew out the door, Alicia moved to the kitchen window, pleased that from this vantage point she could see the corral and the swing that dangled from the tree. Rebecca appeared, the sun glistening on her pale hair as she clambered into the swing and pumped her little legs to make it move.

  As always, Alicia’s heart swelled as she gazed at her little girl. No matter what price she had paid, what price she would continue to pay, Rebecca was the best thing that had ever happened to her. The little girl embodied the best of Robert and the best of Alicia.

  Satisfied that her daughter was happily occupied for the moment, Alicia got back to work.

  It was difficult to fire a good cook. After all, good food was the way to a man’s heart, right? Cameron stood in the barn, eyeing the sagging hayloft, his thoughts on Alice Burwell.

  He’d awakened with every intention of telling her she had to go...that she just wasn’t what he wanted in a housekeeper. But with the scent of sausage and oven-baked biscuits wafting in the air, and Alice looking so damned eager to please, he hadn’t been able to follow through on his plan.

  Besides, the idea of her and the kid living in their car bothered him. What kind of man died and left his family so destitute? What kind of life had they had before her husband died? He shoved away these questions, irritated with his sudden burst of curiosity. He hadn’t been curious about anything or anyone for a long time and the sudden interest felt alien and unwelcome.

  He left the barn, making a mental note to have a couple of the men see what they could do to shore up the loft. Eventually he’d like to use it to store hay for the winter. At the moment his hay bales were stored in the oversize garage.

  Outside the morning sun warmed his shoulders as he walked toward the corral. The wild horse snorted as if to protest his appearance. Cameron leaned against the railing, watching the magnificent beast dance within the enclosed space. Her head was held high as her nostrils flared a warning.