Dark Horse: Bad Boy Cowboy Romance (6 page)

Still, I made sure to toss my hair back haughtily over my shoulder and snort a bit at him as I passed him, leading him up to the farmhouse. That would show him that I was not yet mollified, no matter how much he apologized. The nerve of the man, thinking that I'd just offer my body up to him like that!

Inside, I kept the frosty tone in my voice as I pointed out the bathroom and the guest bedroom located up the stairs, at the opposite end of the hall from my own master bedroom. To his credit, Lance didn't say anything to rock the boat, but simply nodded as I pointed out anything that he might need.

"And if you need to use the shower, well, it can be kind of temperamental in terms of hot versus cold water," I finished, aware that I was running out of words to say. "I guess that's about everything. Any questions?"

Lance just shook his head. "If it's all right, I think I'm going to hit the bed right away," he replied. "I can barely keep my eyes open."

I nodded. Now that he mentioned it, I felt the same way. "Sure thing," I said. "Well, er, have a good night. And thanks for helping me out there, I guess."

If the man had made any sort of comment about how it was nothing, or his duty, I would have felt justified in hating him. But instead, Lance just nodded without saying a word, glanced at my eyes for a split second, and then ducked into his bedroom.

I stood outside the man's bedroom for a moment longer, trying to think through the tangle of sleepy half-conscious thoughts in my head. Was I being too hard on the man? After all, he had jumped in with no prompting to save me from getting trampled by Merlot's hooves.

But on the other hand, I pointed out to myself, I didn't know anything about him, aside from his name - and even that, Lance Umbral, could be fake. I didn't know who he was, what he did as a job, or how he truly was as a person. I shouldn't let myself be too overly trusting, I told myself. That's a great way to have someone take advantage of me.

After another minute, I finally came to a decision. Go to bed, I said to myself. I can figure out what to do next in the morning - assuming that Lance is even still around.

He probably won't be, I went on as I crawled into the wonderfully soft warmth of my sheets, pulling them around me into a little cocoon. He'll probably head out first thing in the morning, and I won't have to worry about dealing with him any longer. I'm blowing this whole thing out of proportion.

Gosh, these pillows and blankets feel amazing.

And with that, I slipped off into comfortable, dreamless sleep.

*

I opened my eyes to solid whiteness and soft, enveloping warmth.

I fought my way up from the blankets that had wrapped around me, yawning and stretching out my hands as I felt my consciousness slowly returning. I glanced down at myself in confusion. Why did my hair feel like a matted mess, as if I'd fallen asleep right after a shower?

It wasn't until I'd struggled up to a sitting position that I remembered what had happened the night before. I'd gone out riding, had been thrown from Merlot, and then that man had appeared out of nowhere to save me.

Lance! I sat up a bit straighter in bed, craning my senses. Had he left already?

I couldn't hear any noise - but my nose wrinkled a little as I caught a strange scent drifting in from the crack under my door. It smelled like-

Breakfast!

I jumped up from bed, making it halfway to the door before I glanced down at myself and realized that I was totally naked! I'd stripped off all of my wet clothes the night before, dumping them all in the growing pile of dirty laundry on my floor as I climbed into bed. I hadn't had enough energy left to even hunt for wherever I'd discarded my pajamas before crawling into the sheets and falling asleep.

Quickly, I grabbed a tee shirt and a pair of boxers, pulling them on. I glanced down at myself, and then on second thought, added in a nightgown that reached down to just above my knees. No need to worry about any nipple popping out through the tee shirt fabric, I thought approvingly to myself.

Once dressed, I headed out of my room, following that intoxicatingly tasty smelling scent with my nose.

The smell led me downstairs, into the kitchen. For a second, I didn't recognize the man standing at my stove, facing away from me and casually tossing a pan full of something smelling absolutely amazing. The man wore a pair of jeans but no shirt, and I could see all of the muscles in his back rippling as he hefted the pan.

Damn, I couldn't help thinking to myself as I watched the man cook, unaware of my presence. Broad shoulders, clearly in great shape - he looks great!

A second later, I shook myself. Knock it off! He's definitely not your fiancé, and you shouldn't be checking out another man like this!

Then again, I reminded myself, I still caught Marsden occasionally watching a woman walk by with a low-cut top or a lot of leg showing. It was probably still okay to look, as long as I didn't actually do anything to act on it.

Having convinced myself, I spent another couple moments admiring the man's muscles and figure as he cooked. Whatever he was doing, it smelled amazing. Man, I ought to get someone to come cook for me more often like this!

Chapter nine

There was a man in my kitchen cooking! I couldn't get over the strangeness of this. It definitely wasn't Marsden, I thought to myself. My fiancé tended to live off of pizza and takeout if I let him. I wasn't a cook either, but I at least tried my hand at a few basic dishes that were supposedly more healthy than just frozen pizzas.

I cleared my throat after another second. I didn't want the man to turn around and catch me staring at him, did I? "Er, Lance?" I spoke aloud.

The man twitched for a moment, as if he'd forgotten that this wasn't his house, but when he turned around to me, I could see a little smile gracing his normally stern face. "Morning, Gilly," he greeted me, bringing the pan full of food with him.

He'd managed to find my plates in one of the cupboards, and he doled out the mixture from the skillet onto the two plates, splitting it equally. "You don't have much in terms of food around," he commented as he used a spoon to scrape out the cubes of whatever he'd been cooking. "I found some potatoes, but I kind of had to cut around some of the moldy parts of your vegetables in the fridge."

I stared down at the delicious smelling food on the plate. "Yeah, I'm not a big cook. What is this?"

"Potato scramble with some zucchini and red pepper flakes," Lance replied, dropping the empty pan into the sink and then reaching back for a pot still on the stove. "Hold on, it's going to have a poached egg on top."

I watched, my mouth hanging slightly open, as the man lifted the lid off of the pot and ladled a couple of cooked eggs out of the water inside. "Poached?" I repeated blankly, watching the egg's white quiver a little as he carefully set it down on top of the hash.

Lance nodded - and then laughed as he caught sight of my expression. "You really weren't kidding when you said that you don't cook much, were you?" he asked. "It's basically like a soft-boiled egg. You cut into it, and the yolk runs into the scramble underneath."

He pulled open one of the drawers of my kitchen and fished out a couple of forks, passing one over to me. "Here, try it."

Feeling a bit like I was experimenting with some new cuisine, I took the offered fork and, tilting it sideways, pushed it down gingerly into the soft egg on top of the still-steaming cubes of potato. Sure enough, the fork sank smoothly through the egg white and, as soon as it pierced the yolk, the golden liquid of the egg yolk flowed out and over the scrambled hash beneath. I let out a little cry of surprise.

Lance was still watching me and smiling. "Go on, taste it," he encouraged, lifting up his own plate and piercing the yolk of his egg.

I felt a little unsure as I took a bite, but it smelled delicious, so why doubt the taste? And sure enough, despite the heat, it did taste amazing! The egg was thick and buttery, the potatoes were steaming and salty, and that vegetable - zucchini? - added a little bit of crunch. When I swallowed, I felt a little bit of heat in the aftertaste. That must have been that pepper stuff that Lance had mentioned.

"So? How is it?" he asked as I swallowed that bite.

I already had my fork down reaching for another bite. "It's great!" I exclaimed, not caring about the rudeness of talking with a full mouth. "You should make this all the time!"

I blushed a little after a second, as I realized what I'd just suggested. Lance didn't say anything, at least, but the man busied himself with his own food, and for a few seconds the only sound in the kitchen was the clinking of our forks.

"Listen, I'll be heading out after I finish cleaning up from cooking," the man spoke up after another minute. "I don't want to be any trouble."

"No, that's okay! No rush!" I burst out, forcing myself to put down my fork for a moment before I shoveled the rest of the food into my mouth like a pig. Where were my manners? "In fact, you don't have to leave until you're ready." I racked my brain for some reason for him to stick around. "Did you, um, take a shower yet?"

"What, do I smell?" Lance grinned after a moment, trying to show that this was a joke. The smile looked a little strange on his otherwise stern face. "No, I showered already. I had to leave my shirt out to let it dry off a bit, so that's why I'm not fully dressed." He gestured down at himself.

"Well, where are you going to go?" I pressed. A little part of me wondered why I was pushing so hard, but I did have to admit that I wouldn't mind having a little company around my house, at least for a little longer.

Lance set down his plate, frowning slightly. "Honestly, I don't really have any destination in mind," he admitted. "I'm just sort of making my way, seeing where I end up. Shadow and I don't need much, just some open country to explore."

"Well, then, why don't you stick around a bit here?" I burst out. "You could certainly help me with some stuff around the house and the rest of the property! And in exchange, you could stick around and keep putting that spare bedroom to use."

The man wiggled his fork at me. "You just want someone to cook you more breakfast, don't you?" he teased.

"Well, maybe," I admitted. A little part of me was shrieking at the offer I'd just made, but I forced myself not to listen to that part of my brain for the moment. "Come on - you can take off whenever you want, but I could use the help. And my letting you stay here would be a way for me to say thank you for helping me out the other night."

He hesitated a little longer, but then crossed his arms. "What exactly do you need help with around here?" he asked.

I quickly racked my mind for some excuse. "Well, the faucet leaks," I started, pointing over at the kitchen sink. "And there's always more work to be done with the property's exterior fence. And I've been meaning to clear out some of the brush around here, but I just can't do it all on my own, and I can't afford right now to hire laborers to come in and do it. If you stick around, though, I'll make sure that Shadow gets fed, just like Merlot."

"So you want me to take care of your odd jobs for you."

"In exchange for free room and board!" I added quickly. "Or, at least, free room. I'll pay for the food, but you might need to cook it."

Lance leaned back against the counter for a minute, his arms still crossed across his bare chest, just below his nipples. I tried not to notice how a little trail of hair led down the middle of his chest, down to his belly button, running over the textured surface of his abdominal muscles.

"I suppose that I could stick around for a few days, at least," he finally allowed. "But your fiancé isn't going to have a problem with this?"

"Who, Marsden?" To be honest, I hadn't even considered the question. "Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine with it. It's not as if you're sleeping in my bed, after all!" I gave a little chuckle to show that this was a joke.

Actually, Marsden would probably raise a fuss over the whole thing. He wasn't a fan of me living out here on my own in the first place. Even though I could say that I was letting Lance stay around so that he could keep an eye out and protect me, I couldn't see my fiancé feeling any better about the situation.

But then again, Marsden didn't own me, and I could make my own decisions. And right now, my decision was to let Lance stick around and help me out with fixing some of the problems around my house. Decision made.

Lance was speaking again. I quickly pulled my attention back front and center.

"Well, if I'm staying, you'll need to pick up some stuff," he was saying. "I'll make you a shopping list, but you're going to need some food, for one thing."

"What do you mean? I've got plenty of peanut butter and jelly," I pointed out.

I saw the man roll his eyes at me! "Peanut butter and jelly isn't a meal," he groaned. "Listen, I'll handle the cooking. Obviously it's not your strong suit. But if I'm going to stay, we're going to eat some real food."

I thought about arguing that peanut butter and jelly was most definitely real food - it certainly kept me going just fine! - but decided not to press the issue. "I'll grab you the spare set of my keys, so that if you need to go into town to get any supplies, you can," I replied to him. "And I'll see about making a list of some of the things around here that could use some work, to keep you busy."