Alexander Ranch (17 page)

“I know,” she snorted trying to contain her amusement, “I wasn’t laughing about what happened, just the way you told it. You should see your face.”

I saw her holding back a chuckle and turned and walked away.

“Ok, Ok,” she followed behind me and then gently grabbed my arm to stop me, “I’m sorry.”

I just looked at her and watched her face twitch as she tried not to laugh. I was mortified.

“I really am sorry for laughing. Clearly, this is upsetting to you,” She said still smiling but her face had taken on an empathetic expression.

“Yes it is,” I hissed through clenched teeth. She looked puzzled.

“Why? I mean is it just because people keep walking in on you two or is there something more?” She wasn’t smiling now.

“Yes, there’s more,” I replied but then thought better of saying more. How could I talk to her about this? Jordan was part of her family. But, couldn’t she see the problem with this? “Are you telling me you don’t see any problems with this – Jordan and I?”

“Well, that depends,” She said, cautious now, “What exactly do
you
see as the problem?”

“Isn’t it obvious? He could kill me in a matter of seconds and I have no chance of defending myself.”

Her eyes went wide with surprise, “Jordan would never hurt you.”

“You even said so yourself,” I retorted.

“No, I said he was afraid of hurting you.”

“Then why did you ask me if I was feeling weak or pain or whatever this morning when he kissed me?”

“Because, he’d already put my theory to the test by kissing you. And, just as I told him he wouldn’t hurt you under any circumstances, he didn’t.”

“He told me himself that he was concerned with hurting me, Daisy.”

She sighed losing her defensiveness, “Yes, he has been concerned with that. And, we have all told him that he wouldn’t hurt you or anyone else.”

“What do you mean? You’ve all discussed it? Discussed us?” I squeaked, my agitation rising. Had he been discussing me with them?

“He was concerned in the beginning with being assigned to protect you,” she hurried on to reassure me, “That’s all I’ve ever discussed with him, protecting you. He never works very close with regular humans, though he has protected them before. We didn’t know why he was so objectionable to protecting you at first.”

“What about if he was mad and lost his temper.”

“Jordan is not an abuser. He would never strike a woman. Well, at least not a regular mortal one that wasn’t trying to kill him,” she amended.

“How do you know if he would hurt me if he doesn’t even know himself?” I shot back.

“Because I know. Jordan has only seen the results of the interactions between drainers who have no care at all for the people they come in contact with and the result of their carnage. Those people seek out people to drain. He is nothing like them.”

I busied myself pulling down tack for Cervantes, avoiding her assessing gaze. She continued, “So, is that your only objection to whatever is going on between you and Jordan?”

“No, it’s not,” was my clipped reply. I didn’t want to talk about this anymore. I needed to think.

To my surprise she didn’t say anything else. I’d half expected her to ask for further explanation. I was relieved that she seemed to understand that, whatever my objections were, I should be discussing them with Jordan. Or, maybe she just felt like she’d pushed me far enough. Whatever her reason, she seemed to know to back off.

I worked the rest of the day with Daisy. We made our rounds checking on all the animals. I spent some time with the puppies that one of the dogs had delivered about four weeks ago. They were moving around and awkwardly attacking each other in play. They nuzzled into my neck, when I picked them up and placed them on my shoulder, and made little yelping sounds.

By the end of the day, I was dirty, tired and smelled like most of the animals on the farm. Daisy decided that we should quit a little early so we would both have time to clean up in time for me to get home to greet my brother. Because my brother couldn’t know what was going on, Daisy filled me in on our cover story.

She was coming home with me to hang out. Apparently, Jordan and Ethan had made sure that my brother got from the airport to our house safely, without Blake finding out of course. Ethan would then swing by to pick up Daisy later that evening since she’d come home with me. No one asked me for my input. But, it sounded like a decent enough plan so I didn’t
object. Now I knew why Daisy had driven my car today. It would have been strange for me to be gone with my car still sitting in the drive when my brother arrived. It would have been equally odd for a strange car to be sitting there.

Chapter 22

Daisy, showered and dressed in her standard jeans and women’s t-shirt and came bouncing into the dining area where I’d been waiting.

“Ready to go?”

“I’ve been ready,” I drawled, “I can’t wait to get to some soap and water.”

“Well, you could have showered here you know
.” She stuck her tongue out at me and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Did you really just stick your tongue out at me?”

“Yep.”

I shook my head. Daisy was like the sister I never had.

My brother met us at the door when we arrived.

“Hey,” he said moving to hug me and then stepping back with a scrunched up nose. “I would hug you, but you stink.”

“I know. Let me take a quick shower and then we can hug,” I laughed as he tapped my nose. Then he looked over my head and saw Daisy.

“You must be Daisy.” He extended a hand to her. “I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

He released her hand and stepped back to let her in, then turned back to me, “She smells better than you do.”

“Ha, ha. She’s had a shower,” I tossed over my shoulder as I headed to my room. I quickly stripped off my dirty clothes and threw them into the hamper. I tried not to linger under the spray of the shower, but it felt so good. I toweled off and then threw on my requisite jeans and women’s t-shirt. If Daisy and I had nothing else in common we had this. We both loved our jeans and t-shirts. Though, if I were staying in, I would be even more comfortable in some of my brother’s gym shorts.

When I returned to the living room Daisy and Blake were chatting about the farm. They both looked up at me when I entered.

“I was just telling Daisy here, I want to take you out to dinner if you are up to it. Daisy agreed to come.”

“Sorry, I didn’t tell you I was bringing company home. You don’t mind taking both of us?”

“Not at all. What man would miss the opportunity to take two lovely ladies out to dinner? Daisy’s already said yes, as long as you are up to going.”

I rolled my eyes at his “lovely ladies” comment, but Daisy actually looked charmed. Interesting. B
lake spoke again before I could ponder it further however.

“Well?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“What do you have a taste for?” he asked.

“Whatever you want. I’m starving.”

We had a wonderful evening. Daisy and Blake talked as if they’d known each other forever. I realized the three of us talked and enjoyed each other as easily as she, Ethan and I did.

When we returned to the house, Ethan and Jordan were there waiting for us.

“Hey, Ethan. I hope you guys weren’t waiting long,” Daisy called out as they met us on the front porch.

I waved and tried to appear unruffled. I hadn’t seen Jordan since Ethan had walked in on us lip locked that morning. Daisy introduced her cousin and brother in law and Blake invited everyone in. They stayed and chatted for a few minutes and then Daisy declared she was tired and it was time to go.

“Let me know if you have any free time tomorrow. If so, we can go shopping or to lunch,” she said as Blake and I walked them to the door.

“I’m not sure what Blake has planned – ” I began.

“I’m planning on grabbing a pick-up game at the gym and running a few errands. So, don’t worry about me,” Blake assured me, “You ladies enjoy the day. I’ll catch up with you in the evening, Lela.”

“Ok, sounds good,” I told Daisy. We said our goodbyes and they departed.

“I like your friends, they seem nice,” Blake said closing the front door.

“They are really nice,” I smiled.

“I’d heard of the Alexanders and their plush ranch, but I’d never met any of them.”

“I know, right? Who’d have thought they were so down to earth and normal. You hear so much about the ranch, you get the impression of stuffy pompousness. But, they are just really nice people.”

“Yea. I especially like Daisy,” he gave me an exaggerated wink.

“I just bet you do,” I admonished, shaking a finger at him, “No breaking the rules, unless you want me to.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” his eyes narrowed and the smile vanished.

“Goodnight,” I said with a sly smile and sauntered out of the room. I opened the door and let out a yelp of surprise when I saw a figure sitting in my vanity chair.

“You alright?” My brother called from the living room. I could hear him getting up to come and investigate.

“I’m fine. Sorry, I thought I saw a spider,” I yelled back and heard him chuckle and settle back down in the chair as I closed my door. Then, I turned to face Jordan. He was looking at me with one eyebrow raised.

“I assume you are actually afraid of spiders since he believed you’d let out a yelp like that overseeing one.”

“Yes, I am,” I whispered back, “What are you doing here?”

“You didn’t think we’d leave you alone did you?”

“Well, no. But, I didn’t expect to find you in my room.”

“Well, where else could I be and not let your brother know I’m here?”

“You don’t plan to stay in here all night do you?” My voice rose to a squeak.

“Well, I guess we could figure something else out if that bothers you,” he stated calmly. “But, if you don’t keep your voice down you’ll have to explain who you’re talking to.”

I sat down heavily on my bed and just looked at him. It seemed every time I turned around my life got more and more complicated. Now, I was hiding a man in my bedroom.

“So what’s the rule?” Jordan asked.

“What rule?”

“The rule you told your brother not to break.”

“Oh,” I said. “He made up this rule that none of his friends could date me. He made them swear when we were kids. But, he didn’t trust his friends so he made me promise him I would never date any of his friends.”

“Ah, that rule.”

I nodded.

“I take it you made him promise you the same thing?”

“Of course.”

“Of course,” he repeated snickering. “Well, I’m glad I’m not his friend.”

“About that,” I said hesitantly, not wanting to broach the subject, but knowing it had to be addressed. I’d never shied away from dealing with what needed to be dealt with before.

“Yes?”

“Jordan we need to talk.”

“About the kiss this morning?”

“About the kisses,” I corrected.

“I figured you would over think it.”

“Over think it? Jordan I was quite serious when I said I don’t think I am ready for this.”

“Lela, it was a joke. And, I was also serious but, I still can’t seem to help myself,” he said, sounding so matter of fact I wanted to hit him.

“You’re not taking this seriously,” I was clinching my teeth again.

“I am,” he said holding up his hands as if to ward of my growing frustration and irritation. “Really, I am. It’s just that I am so relieved.”

“Relieved about what?”

“Relieved that my worries about hurting you were all in vain. As I’ve said, I’ve never been attracted to a regular human before. And, from all the stories I’d heard…well, I just wasn’t sure that the temptation wouldn’t be too great. It’s rather dizzying the relief I feel. And, without the fear of hurting you in the way, well, there’s more room for all of the other things I feel to make themselves known.”

“Well, when you put it that way, I guess I am relieved too about the not hurting me part,” I agreed.

“But, I’m guessing you objected to more than just the danger I might have presented to you?” His face was unreadable now.

“Well, yes, I do have additional objections,” I was trying not to fidget now.

“May I ask what they are?”

“As I have already said, I’m not sure I am ready for this. I’m comfortable with my life and by myself. I’m not sure I can be involved right now.”

“Involved with anyone or just me?”

“Anyone, Jordan. I have no objections to you personally.”

“So, there’s no one else?”

“Like who?” I frowned. I mean really who else would there be. They’d been watching me twenty-four seven for the last couple of weeks. Didn’t he think that he’d have seen him by now if I’d had some mystery boyfriend or something?