by Jeannie Watt
Madeline made a face, then glanced back up at Ty. “How do I know that’s the only one?”
“Alvin wouldn’t have stopped hunting if it wasn’t.”
Madeline eyed the open door, her hands moving higher on her upper arms as she contemplated going inside, but she didn’t move.
Ty sucked it up. “You can either sleep at my place on the sofa, or Alvin can stay here with you.”
She looked as torn as he felt.
“Is it really colder in your house than it is outside?” he asked. He’d figured that the heat in the morning and evening would be enough, since the place was well insulated. Otherwise he would have seen about the wood himself. He wasn’t going to let Madeline freeze to death.
“It seems like it when the power isn’t on. I only left the door open a crack, so I could nudge it open with my toe. I never dreamed a mouse would be lying in wait.”
“A crack is all it takes.”
Madeline shuddered again and he jerked his head in the direction of his house. “Come on.” He’d see that the wood was there by tomorrow, and she could spend tonight on his couch.
She shook her head. “I’ll stay here. With the dog.”
CHAPTER NINE
“ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT to stay here?” Ty asked.
Madeline was sure. She’d sleep in her car if she had to—the same car he’d told her to leave in. For two days she had stared jealously across the snowy expanse that separated Ty’s warmer, cleaner, furnished, internet-equipped house from hers, but after their meetings in his house and in the barn, she wasn’t going to encroach on his territory. She had her pride, even if indulging in Anne’s wine had chipped away some of it.Madeline thought of her great-grandmother—the odds she’d beaten, the hardships she’d endured. Eileen’s mother, the subject of the book Madeline was working on, wouldn’t have sought refuge in the house of a man she didn’t understand and wasn’t sure she respected—a man who made it no secret that he didn’t particularly like her. She would have sooner let mice run up and down her arms, and Madeline would do the same—even if the mental picture made her feel slightly ill.
Ty frowned. “Are you all right?”
“Rodent flashback,” she replied in a low voice. “Other than that, I’m fine and I’m cold. I’m going inside. Thank you for loaning me your dog.” Who was now glaring suspiciously at her.
She stepped inside the trailer. The dog stayed next to Ty and pressed his head against the man’s pant leg.
“Go with her,” Ty said to the collie, who stared up at him with big eyes.
“Go on.” Ty gestured to the door, and the collie slunk into the trailer, glancing over his shoulder as he crossed the threshold. Madeline was about to thank Ty when her gaze drifted down to his chest, illuminated in the beam of her flashlight. Where his jacket gaped open a fascinating smattering of dark hair covered an expanse of bare skin. He wasn’t wearing a shirt.
She met his eyes and was surprised to see him shift self-consciously. He’d noticed that she’d noticed. It was no big deal, but somehow… “Good night.” She quickly shut the door as he turned to leave, and leaned against it. What a night.
The dog padded over to the sofa and lay down, sensing that this was his post. Madeline shook out her sleeping bag—just in case—then slid back inside in short jerky motions, certain that at any moment her toes were going to encounter a squirming fur ball. But she would make it through the night without taking advantage of Ty’s grudging hospitality. If she had gone to his house, she wouldn’t have slept, anyway.
She preferred to spend her sleepless nights in her own territory.
A WARM WIND WAS BLOWING when Madeline opened the trailer door at five-thirty the next morning to release Alvin from purgatory. The collie shot out and raced for Ty’s house.
She stifled a yawn. Having the dog had helped her make it through the night, since he obviously hated mice, but it had taken a long time to relax enough to nod off. Then, after falling asleep, she would jerk back awake, thinking she heard or felt a mouse. Not exactly a restful way to spend the night, and if she didn’t get some coffee brewed soon, she was going to eat the crystals straight out of the jar.Madeline put the kettle on and sank into the kitchen chair, wrapping her blue wool coat snuggly around her as she waited for Ty and the heat—if he was going to turn it on for her this morning. He hadn’t yesterday. She would wait, see what happened.
It occurred to her that she had no breakfast, for obvious reasons. At that very moment the tainted cereal box was on her porch, likely being devoured by mice. She shuddered. She’d have to get some tongs and take that box to the trash barrels. She was tempted to swallow her pride and ask Ty to do it for her…but she wouldn’t.
The lights flickered on and Madeline glanced out the window. She’d missed Ty walking by, which rarely happened. The ranch was like an island with them the only two people on it. They were attuned to the each other’s movements, the better to avoid contact. Madeline liked to think that she met adversity head-on, but there was something about this situation, living alone with Ty, that was causing her to reconsider her approach.
It would be a relief to get off the island for a few hours today. Maybe the drive would help her gain much-needed perspective.
After the water boiled and she’d brewed a thermos full of coffee so she’d have extra for the drive to town, she headed for the shower, taking her time. She didn’t have to leave for another hour.
She’d just won the battle of the flatiron, and was sipping her second cup of coffee, when Ty returned from feeding.
He drove the tractor into the barn and Madeline checked her watch. Seven o’clock on the nose. Three hours until her appointment with the real-estate agent in Wesley. She’d purposely given the man no details, preferring to lay out the situation in person while she got a read on him.
Ty came out of the barn and rolled the big barn doors shut.
Come on, Ty. I have to leave.
Madeline didn’t want to go to her car until he was done feeding the animals in the pen nearest to where she was parked. She had deduced, from the very obvious physical evidence, that those animals were bulls, and he fed them by throwing hay into a manger every morning and evening. Apparently they could be kept together without fighting, and it was equally apparent that Ty did not want them mingling with the lady cows. Not yet, anyway.
Madeline drummed her fingers on the table as he followed the shoveled path to the small, tarp-covered stack of hay next to the pen. Maybe she would just suck it up and go to her car. He probably wouldn’t say a word to her, anyway. About the mouse. About the possibility that she’d flashed him… It seemed he wasn’t the only one to have bare-chest issues last night, but she hadn’t discovered that until several hours after he’d left when she’d gotten out of bed for a nervous trip to the bathroom.
Her cheeks warmed even though she’d convinced herself several times that morning that her pajama but tons had been done up when he was on her porch. She would have felt the cold if they hadn’t been.
She hoped.
What a night.
Ty gathered an armload of hay—almost a quarter of a bale—and trudged through the snow. After his third trip, and just as she was speculating as to whether he ever got tired of the daily routine of feeding, Ty suddenly went down, falling hard on his side in the snow. Hay scattered around him. Madeline jumped to her feet.
The collie was instantly at Ty’s side, poking at him with his nose. Ty tried to stand, but his knee buckled and down he went again.
Okay, it wasn’t a heart attack or seizure. It was his knee. She’d noticed him limping earlier that day as he walked past her trailer from the barn to the house.
So what now?
If she wasn’t at the ranch, and he definitely didn’t want her there, this was a situation he’d have to deal with on his own. And if she was the coldhearted bitch he seemed to think she was, she would let him handle it alone.
But, fortunately for him, Madeline wasn’t the kind of person
who could let someone suffer. Even if she kind of wanted to.
TY ALMOST HAD HIS GOOD leg under him when he heard Madeline’s trailer door open and close. He looked up just as his foot slipped on the ice beneath the snow again, and he tumbled down. Crap. He was soaking wet and he really wanted her to go back inside and mind her own business.
A few seconds later she stopped in front of him and held out a hand. She wasn’t wearing a coat, but she hadn’t been in any hurry to cross from her porch to where he lay struggling, next to the hay. Probably enjoying the show.He put his hand into hers, felt the surprising firmness of her grip through his glove. She planted her weight and he struggled to a standing position, balancing on one foot. “I can handle it from here,” he said gruffly. “Thanks.”
But Madeline refused to be dismissed. “Why don’t I just help you back to your house?” He opened his mouth, but she spoke before he could. “Listen, as entertaining as it is watching you roll around in the snow, I have an appointment, and you’d better take advantage of my offer now. It’s icy under the snow. You’ll never make it.”
True, but he hated to admit it. “Once I get my knee brace I’ll be fine.”
“Oh, yeah. Right as rain. I can see that,” Madeline said as she slipped under his arm and took firm hold of the back of his jacket. “It won’t kill you to accept some help. Consider it payback for last night.”
It might not kill him, but it was going to knock his pride around. She wasn’t going to take no for an answer, though, probably because it was payback for the night before, so he gave in and took a limping step forward with her support. Fortunately, Madeline didn’t buckle under his weight.
“Does this happen often?” she asked in a conversational tone through gritted teeth, obviously making an effort not to show how heavy he was as he took another step and then another.
“Twice since the accident.”
“Is this a residual injury?” Their eyes met in a way that made him extremely aware of how close she was.
“Yeah.” His only real injury. When he’d been thrown clear, he’d hit his head and twisted his knee. That was it.
Maybe this was his penance, having Skip’s sister here, haunting him.
When they reached the porch, he removed his arm from her shoulder as soon as he was able, wanting to break a contact that had felt more intimate than it should have. He balanced on his good leg. “Thanks.”
Madeline’s gaze was not particularly warm or friendly, which made it easier to brush aside whatever it was he’d been feeling.
“I appreciate it,” he muttered as he opened the door. Alvin preceded him inside. Madeline stayed where she was.
“I’m leaving for Wesley in a few minutes to see the real-estate agent. If you need anything for your knee, I’d be happy to get it.”
“No, thanks,” he said in a clipped voice. She’d done enough. More than enough.
“Can you make it into the house all right?”
“Yeah. I’m good.” But she still didn’t leave. She pushed her hands into her pockets.
“Since we’re even now, on the rescue front, I want to ask you a question.”
He eyed her suspiciously. “Yeah?”
“If you have nothing to hide, and I’m not saying you do,” she added, holding up her palms in a placating gesture, “then why do you hate having me here so much?”
“I never said I hated having you here.”
Her eyes narrowed. “But I’m getting the message in so many ways. Like now.”
That set him off. “What the hell do you expect, Maddie? You came here slinging accusations. No hello or anything, just ‘I’m here to find out how you’re screwing me over.’”
Madeline’s back stiffened. “Don’t call me Maddie. And yes, I had questions. Reasonable ones.”
“And I’ve given my answers.” He hopped on his good leg, reaching out for the doorjamb to balance himself. “Reasonable ones.”
“So we should have reached a truce, but for some reason we haven’t.” She tilted her head, ignoring that he was about to fall over. “Why is that?”
Ty gripped the doorjamb more tightly. He was in pain and he wanted her gone so he could deal with it. “Madeline, I don’t quite know how to say this, so I’m just going to say it. You remind me of things I want to forget.”
“Skip?” There was a husky note in her voice that kind of ripped at him.
“I don’t want to forget Skip,” he said gruffly. “But I think you can figure out the part I do want to forget, and I can’t do that while you’re here.”
“So I should leave so you can forget?” Her eyes narrowed even more. “Maybe you need to work through this issue rather than forgetting. Because like it or not, I’m here. For now.”
“And maybe,” he said in a deadly tone, “you can keep your need-to’s to yourself. I know what I need right now and I’m probably not going to get it for another few weeks. Three, to be exact.”
He hopped into the house on one foot, feeling stupid, and closed the door as she turned and crossed the porch without a backward glance.
Rescued by Madeline. Did it get any worse than that? He limped into the bedroom, and a few minutes later, as he was pulling the stiff brace up over his knee, heard her car drive by on her way to see Myron about selling the ranch.
Ty focused on the brace. He wasn’t in a position to have any say in what she did.
EVERY NERVE IN MADELINE’S body was humming from the contact with Ty by the time she got into her car and turned the key in the ignition. It was as if her body was saying, “Yes, please, I’ll have some of that,” while her brain was saying, “Are you crazy?”
Oh, yes. She had to sever the connection. This would never do. She couldn’t have a partner who openly resented her, who could barely say thank-you or meet her eyes—even when she was rescuing him. One she was beginning to find attractive in a purely physical way—who wouldn’t?—despite all the reasons not to.One who resented her because she reminded him of things he’d rather forget.
The ranch was going on the block. She was leaving. No more Ty Hopewell in her life. This situation was getting way too complex.
“HOO, BOY.” Myron Crenshaw stared across his desk at Madeline, all his enthusiasm gone. “The Lone Summit ranch. Yes.” He tidied up a stack of papers as he spoke, then smoothed a hand over what was left of his thinning hair. In another minute he’d be adjusting his rather colorful tie. Where did someone find a tie hand-painted with a cactus?
“Is that a problem?” Madeline asked pleasantly, while her stomached tightened into a hard little knot. She’d driven almost two hours to get to his office. Now it seemed she’d wasted her time.“I did handle the previous sale of that property.” Myron smiled self-consciously. “I think the property was listed for more than three years before your…brother?” Madeline nodded. “Before your brother and Ty bought the place.”
“Was there much interest? I mean, did anyone look at it during those years? Was the price too high or what?”
“The location was too isolated. Now, granted, we may be able to interest someone who doesn’t want to raise cattle, who simply wants a getaway, but the odds aren’t in your favor because there’s no power.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“It’s a beautiful piece of property, but with the lack of amenities… When the nearest town has a population of five hundred and the next nearest town a population of ten thousand, and there’s an hour drive between the two, and then another hour to—”
“I understand the shortcomings. Do you think you can sell the place?”
“I’ll certainly try,” he said with a burst of obviously false enthusiasm. “I do ask for an exclusive, though, when dealing with properties such as yours.”
“Three months?”
He laughed. “Remember, it took me three years last time.”
“You want an indefinite exclusive for a property you don’t think you can sell?”
“I didn’t say that.” He sounded indignant. “I sai
d it would take time. I don’t want to invest time and energy only to have the account pulled.”
Madeline gathered her purse and stood. “I’ll consider your proposition and get back to you.”
“I, uh, think you’ll find that I’m your best bet.” Myron also stood.
“Thank you.” And goodbye.
“I’m open until five,” Myron called helpfully as Madeline made for the door. She let herself out and stood for a moment on the freshly scraped and sanded sidewalk. Then she crossed the street to the café on the other side.
Three years.
She didn’t want to be Ty’s partner for three years. Not when she seemed unable to forget the way he’d felt as she’d hauled him to his house.
The man was solid muscle and a lot heavier than she’d expected. He seemed so lean that she’d assumed it’d be easy to get him across the icy yard, but it had taken all she had to keep her feet under her. It hadn’t helped that she’d been distracted by his warmth and a rather interesting mix of scents—hay, guy and…rosemary? Or maybe cedar. She hadn’t quite identified the spice, but it had been heady stuff when mixed with guy and hay.
Pheromones could be evil at times.
CHAPTER TEN
THE CAFÉ WAS WARM and the scent of freshly baked cinnamon rolls hit Madeline as soon as she walked inside. Silk poinsettia centerpieces decorated each table and small wreaths hung from the sides of the red vinyl booths. A Christmas tree in the corner had paper tags on it instead of ornaments. Heaps of presents lay beneath.
“Hi.” The waitress was at the booth almost before Madeline was seated.“Hi,” she echoed. “I’ll have a cinnamon roll and a cup of coffee.
“I like a woman who knows what she wants,” the woman said as she jotted down the order and tucked the book back into her apron. “I’ll be back in a sec.”