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Thoughts of his vow to stay focused kept him up later that night as he tossed and turned in bed. They’d driven through and grabbed fast food to eat back at the ranch. The dogs were thrilled to see them and most of their supper conversation had been about them. He’d eaten quickly and told Kaylee he was tired and planned to get his chores done and turn in early.
He was jumpy and needed to get out of the house. And away from her. He was too hyper-aware of everything about her, and of all the feelings stirring inside him when she was around. Stirrings that felt like desire and want and need. He’d tossed his trash and headed outside to do his chores and burn off that energy.
When he came back inside, he saw she’d done the dishes from earlier in the day and was already in her room with the door closed.
Good. He was glad he hadn’t had to face her, to make conversation. So why had he paused in the hallway and stood outside her door for close to a minute listening to her movements inside and contemplating knocking, just to check on her?
He’d finally dragged himself to bed where he’d tried to put thoughts of the writer down the hall out of his mind.
What was she doing in her room?
It was late, but he’d noticed the light was still visible under her door when he’d gotten up and gone into the kitchen to rummage for a snack. He wasn’t hungry. Not for anything he could find in the cupboards of his kitchen, anyway.
His eye caught on the bologna in the fridge, and he had to smile at his failed attempt to scare Kaylee away with mundane chores and Western grub. The woman seemed to jump into all his schemes with both feet and a smile on her face.
Maybe he needed to change his tactics. Instead of trying to shoo her off the ranch with unpleasant things, maybe he needed to give her what she wanted. If he showed hermoreranch stuff, she’d get the research information she needed and be able to leave sooner. Maybe if he introduced her to a few more animals and got her on a horse, she’d be satisfied and not feel like she had to stay the whole week.
Yes, this could work, he thought as he headed back to bed and tried to ignore the stone that just settled in his stomach at the idea of her leaving at all.
The next morning Kaylee was bleary-eyed as she crawled out of bed. She’d been up too late working on her manuscript. Ideas for several new scenes with Sassy and Duke had struck her the night before and the words had flown from her fingertips.
It had felt different, though. She could already tell the contrast in her writing as she set the scene, layering in the warm dry scents of earth and hay in the barn, the soft swirl of hair on a calf’s forehead, and the far-off sound of a tractor in the background. But it wasn’t just the new added textures of the ranch life. She’d also written a kissing scene the night before that crackled with tension and had her opening a window in her bedroom to let in the night air to cool her heated skin.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d written with such passion—with both the quickness of her thoughts, and the subject on the page. Her characters came alive in her imagination, as if she really were Sassy Scott. And it wasn’t hard to imagine who she was thinking of as the handsome Duke Ramsey. Her own heart raced as she filled the pages with her thoughts and feelings…er…Sassy’s thoughts and feelings.
Although it was easy to get caught up in the fantasy. The soft whisper of denim as Luke…dang it…Duke’shand reached for Sassy’s. The tentative touches and stolen glances. The rush of desire when the hero’s lips finally found the heroine’s.
It was no wonder that when she finally fell into bed, her dreams were filled with images of her and Luke playing out the same scenes.
But those dreams were pushed aside the next morning as a stream of sunlight covered her bed, and the only kisses she was getting were slobbery ones from Gladys.
She quickly took a shower, then dressed in jeans, one of the short-sleeved shirts she’d bought, and her new boots. Trying to convince herself she was ready for whatever Luke threw at her today, she strode down the hall to the kitchen in search of caffeine and the cowboy.
But instead of finding Luke, she found a note on the counter stating he’d be back soon and that he’d left a pan of scrambled eggs and sausage warming in the oven for her.
Just as well. Her mind was still racing, as it often did in the morning with thoughts for the new book, and she wanted to get some of it down while it was still fresh. She grabbed a notebook and pen then filled a plate and poured a cup of coffee for herself and took them out to the front porch.
Inhaling a deep breath, she took in the view of the mountains and the still soft sounds of the morning on the ranch. The faint clucking of the chickens, the gentle lap of the pond, and the low whinny of a horse from the pasture. It was beautiful.
The air felt different here. And so did she. Something about being on the ranch was filling an empty place inside her. Maybe a place she didn’t even know was there. Not until she got here and found the missing pieces to fill it with.
She opened her notebook, and her pen flew. She absently shoveled scrambled eggs into her mouth as she tried to capture the thoughts and feelings of waking up to a morning on the ranch.
She’d filled several pages and had just popped the last link of sausage into her mouth when she heard the sound of Luke’s truck and looked up to see him coming down the driveway. He was pulling a small white trailer behind the truck.
Taking her dishes into the sink, she snuck one more bite of scrambled eggs and a quick glance at herself in the mirror before heading back out to meet Luke. “What’s in the trailer?” she asked as she approached the truck.
A mischievous grin beamed from his face as he led her toward the doors of the trailer. “I got to thinking about you last night and your fear of horses, and I came up with an idea.”
“Oh,” was all she could say, still stuck on the part where he said he’d been thinking about her the night before.
He’d seemed a little cool after they’d left the hospital the night before, and they hadn’t shared their usual easy conversation at supper. She’d figured it had to do with the memories being at the hospital dragged up, and hoped it wasn’t her that had made him broody and sullen as he’d headed out for his nightly chores.
His mood obviously hadn’t dampened her writing or her thoughts about him sleeping just down the hall from her, but the notion that he had been thinking about her sent little tingles of nerves shooting across her skin. That and the roguish grin he was flashing her way.
“You know how they say you have to take small steps before you can run?” He opened the back end of the trailer with a flourish. “Well, I figured you could start with a small horse then graduate to a bigger one.”
She gasped as she peered into the trailer at the cutest little horse she’d ever seen. It had a brown coat, a thick tawny-colored mane, and a hot pink daisy tucked jauntily behind its ear. “Oh my gosh. It’s adorable.”
