Home Is Where Hank Is (Cowboys To The Rescue 1) (15 page)

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Authors: Martha Shields

Tags: #Contemporary, #Romance, #Fiction, #Forever Love, #Adult, #Bachelor, #Single Woman, #Sensual, #Hearts Desire, #Harlequin Treasury, #Series, #Cowboys, #Rescue, #Family Life, #Western, #Rancher, #Rodeo, #Teenage Sister, #Caretaker, #Household, #Manage, #Persuade, #Reconcile, #Relationships, #Marriage Minded, #General Romance, #Silhouette, #1990's

BOOK: Home Is Where Hank Is (Cowboys To The Rescue 1)
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“But this is the first time you’ve competed in eight years, right?”
“Yep.”
“Why? Claire said there were lots of men who do it part-time. If you love it so much, why didn’t you continue to compete on a regional level?”
“There are lots of reasons,” he told her. “I had to bring the ranch out of debt. I had Travis and Claire to raise. Those things took all the time I had. But mostly it was because, well... There’s an old saying that goes, ‘If you aren’t the lead steer, the view never changes.’ If I couldn’t have it all, I didn’t want any of it. I was headed for a national championship. How could I go back to being a local yokel?”
“But you competed today, and you won. You can’t tell me that doesn’t feel good. I can see it all over your face.”
He couldn’t keep from grinning. “It felt great, just like I remembered.”
“You should enter more rodeos, then.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been thinking about doing just that.”
“You should,” she said without hesitation. “You obviously love it or you wouldn’t spend so much time practicing at home. And you even get paid for it. Most men can’t say that about their hobbies.”
Hank felt a twinge of guilt. Alex didn’t understand that rodeoing was going to be more than his hobby. A few months from now it would be his full-time job. But there was no reason to tell her. She wouldn’t understand why a man would voluntarily turn himself into a rambling rodeo hand. The security of home meant too much to her. Besides, he didn’t want to talk about that tonight. He felt too good. He wanted to concentrate on the woman looking at him like he was the only man in the room.
The local band began a slow number. Determined to push reality away for a few more hours, Hank took Alex’s half-finished drink from her hand, placed it on a nearby table beside his and led her onto the dance floor. He drew her into his arms and settled her close against him.
He rested his chin on top of her head as they swayed gently to the music—warmth against warmth, heartbeats in tune. He couldn’t have Alex long, but he had her now. For the moment that was good enough.
 
“Alex. Darlin’, we’re home. Wake up.”
Shaken gently from her sleep, Alex woke to find herself sprawled across the truck seat. She rose groggily to her elbow and looked around. Her eyes came to rest on Hank’s dark form standing in the open door. “I fell asleep?”
“Yep. You used my shoulder for a pillow. Claire used yours.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
“I enjoyed having you snuggle against me. Even if you weren’t aware of it, I sure as hell was.”
Alex straightened and pushed the hair from her face. “Where’s Claire?”
“She woke when we got home and went on up to bed.”
“Oh. What time is it?”
“Let’s see, we left Lander around midnight. It’s about three, I guess.”
Alex frowned and tried to shake the grogginess from her mind. “I thought the drive was just a couple of hours.”
“It is. While you were snoozing, I stabled my roping horse and swept out the trailer.”
“You should’ve wakened me.”
“Then you’d have gone in and I wouldn’t have collected my rain check.” Hank climbed in the cab and closed the door.
Alarm made her head clear instantly. “What are you doing?”
“If you’re not coming out, I’m coming in.” He gathered her in his arms and bent his head toward hers.
She stopped him with a hand against his chest. “You asked before you kissed me last time.”
“Are you going to make me ask every single time?”
She lifted her chin. “Maybe you’d better, so things don’t get out of hand.”
He sighed, then asked, “Can I kiss you, Alex?”
She shook her head with a playful smile. “Not yet.”
“When? I’ve been dying to kiss you again all day.”
Knowing he wanted her as badly as she wanted him made shivers of desire race one another across her skin. But she had to keep things light, and as calm as possible. “This was a date, right?”
“Right.”
“Then we have to do things properly. This is where I tell you I had a wonderful time.”
“I had a great time, too. Can I kiss you now?”
“Not yet. This is where you ask if you can call me again sometime. Although in our case, I don’t know exactly what you’d say. Since there’s only one phone in the house—”
He put a finger over her lips. “This is where I ask you if you’d like to go riding with me tomorrow. Maybe a picnic by the river.”
“You mean a real ride? Not going round and round the corral a hundred times like I’ve been doing for the past week?”
“Yeah. I’d like to show you the ranch before...”
“Before I leave,” she finished.
“We’ll talk about that some other time.”
“All right. Well then, this must be where I say ‘I’d love to.”’
“Can I kiss you now?”
“Not yet. We haven’t set a time. Not too early, please. As late as it is now, I’ll want to sleep for a few hours at least.”
Hank leaned his forehead against hers. “Woman, you’re killing me. How about eleven? I’ve got some chores to take care of first.”
“And I’ll need to fix a lunch.”
“How about eleven?”
“Eleven is perfect.”
“Now?”
Alex slipped her arms around his neck. “Now.”
With a growl coming from deep in his throat, his lips descended on hers.
Chapter Eight
S
everal days later Hank lay stretched out on a quilt spread beneath a stand of aspens by the Wind River, his head in Alex’s lap. She gently removed his hat and ran her fingers through his thick dark hair.
“Mmm, that feels good.”
“I thought you were asleep.”
He cracked one eye open. “Planning some hanky-panky?”
“Maybe.”
One instant Alex leaned against an aspen, then next she was flat on her back, gazing up into eyes that were the same color as the sky. “Gracious!”
He grinned. “Thought I’d better keep an eye on you, just in case.”
Alex slid her arms around his neck. “Is that all you’re going to do?”
The cool blue eyes suddenly turned hot. “Darlin’, I’ll do anything you want me to, as long as you want me to do it. Just say the word.”
“Anything?”
“You name it.”
“Would you swim to the North Pole to get me a block of ice? Would you fly to Paris to buy me an ounce of perfume?”
“Yes.”
He said it so seriously, she had to laugh. “Liar.”
He shook his head. “I’d go because I know you wouldn’t send me on a whim. If you had to have Arctic ice, I know it would be for a damn good reason.”
She ran her fingertips over the chiseled planes of his cheek. “How do you know that?”
“I’ve tried to buy you things right here in Wyoming, but you refused.”
“I did not need the necklace you tried to buy me in Dubois. Or the earrings.”
“You didn’t want them because you thought I was trying to buy my way into your...affections.”
“Weren’t you?”
“I just wanted to give you something to...” His eyes clouded over.
“Remem—”
“Shhh!” He winced at the harsh sound and softened his voice. He shifted to his side, one arm supporting his upper body, the other wrapped around her waist. “Don’t say it.”
Alex’s heart performed a somersault in her chest. “You really do have a problem talking about things, don’t you? Not talking about it doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen.”
“I know. But we agreed to enjoy the time we have together. How can we enjoy it if we’re constantly talking about you leaving?”
She sighed, conceding him the point. She knew she was going to pay for the intense happiness she felt today with equally intense pain, but she’d adopted Hank’s philosophy wholeheartedly. She’d rather be sorry for spending this time with Hank, than be sorry for not spending it with him. His arms felt too good for her to worry about it now.
He watched his finger trace a path along her jaw. “I wish...”
“What do you wish?” she whispered, almost afraid to know.
His frown deepened. “I wish we had more time. I wish...I think you know what I wish, but we both know it can’t happen.”
It could, she knew, but only if she was willing to let go of her dream. Was she?
Not unless she was absolutely, positively certain that what she and Hank shared was real, would last. She didn’t want a home for a few months or a few years. She’d been there, done that. She wanted something that would last the rest of her life.
Was this love that consumed her whenever she was around this man? She’d never been in love, so she didn’t know. She only knew that when she was in Hank’s arms, like now, she felt like she could fly to the stars. When his lips were on hers, the plan she’d thought out so carefully, been so determined to see through, seemed unimportant.
Confused, she tightened her arms around Hank’s neck. “You’re right. Let’s don’t talk about it now. Kiss me.”
He lifted a brow. “Are you giving me prior approval?”
“I’m giving you an order. Please hurry.”
With a deep-throated chuckle, he pressed his lips to hers. His salty-sweet taste overpowered her other senses momentarily, filling her with his flavor. She wanted to hold on to him forever.
His lips left her mouth, searing a path over to her ear. His tongue dipped inside, then he whispered, “I want to touch your breasts.”
She felt her nipples tighten just at the thought. This was a new step in their relationship. Did she dare take it?
“I won’t hurt you.”
Alex took his hand from her waist and guided it upward. She wasn’t bold enough to actually place it on her breast, but he got the message. His hand continued up and tenderly took the weight of one breast in his hand.
She gasped and called his name.
“I’m here, darlin’. You okay?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Does that feel good?”
She opened her eyes to find him watching her face intently. “Yes.”
“Damn! It feels good to me, too.”
He ran his thumb across her nipple. Her body tried to jump out of its skin.
He lowered his head to her chest. His hot breath covered one peak. Her hips ground up against the leg he’d laid over them.
He groaned loudly and his teeth plucked at the top button of her blouse. “I want to taste you.”
She wanted his lips on hers, too. She tried to pull his head up so their lips could meet.
His head lifted, but instead of kissing her, he looked down with eyes that scorched every place they touched. “Can I get rid of your shirt and bra?”
Her skin tingled all over in anticipation of his hot mouth sliding over her, everywhere. Her hands ached with the longing to rip her blouse open and bare herself like a sacrifice, but instead she curled them into fists.
Tears of frustration stung her eyes. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
He froze. “Do you think I’m going to hurt you?”
She shook her head.
“Do you think that once I get you undressed, I won’t stop?”
Her eyes fell to his throat. “Maybe.”
He forced her chin up. “You don’t trust me.”
She swallowed miserably. “I don’t trust myself. If we make love, I don’t think I’ll be able to leave.”
Hank’s eyes burned into hers for a long moment. “I could tell you I’d stop before we went that far, but I’m not sure I could.”
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly.
“No.” He placed a finger over her lips. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. You’re right.”
“I know you’re frustrated.”
“And you’re not?”
She smiled. “You mean you can’t tell?”
His eyes drifted down her body, lingering on her swollen lips and tight nipples she was certain showed through her blouse.
He groaned, then suddenly stood and reached a hand for hers.
She let him draw her to her feet. “What is it?”
“I’m leading us away from temptation.” He bent to place a quick kiss on her lips. “You pack up the picnic basket. I’ll get the horses.”
 
Hank was halfway up the stairs when he heard Claire’s door open. Two seconds later, Alex appeared on the landing.
When she saw him, she started. “I thought you were gone.”
He shook his head and continued up the stairs. “I got my horse saddled, then remembered I had to make a phone call.” When he came even with Alex, he noticed her frown. “What’s wrong?”
“Claire’s not going to school. She’s—” Alex glanced at Claire’s door and lowered her voice. “She has cramps so bad she can’t get out of bed.”
“Okay.” He leaned forward to give her a kiss.
She jerked back. “I can’t believe you’re being so callous. She needs to see a doctor, Hank. Soon.”
His brow furrowed. “What do you mean? She’s like this every month. That’s not normal?”
His concern must’ve been evident because she relaxed her combative stance. “Of course it’s not normal. Not cramps this bad.”
“Yours aren’t?”
Her cheeks reddened at the intimate subject, but she didn’t back down. “They’re uncomfortable, but not incapacitating. Don’t you know anything about women’s problems?”
He frowned. “Not really. I’ve never really been around women. I mean, I’ve been around women, but not day in and day out, except for Claire.”
“The other cooks weren’t concerned?”
“Claire hasn’t been this bad except the past year. The last cook, Mrs. Johnson, thought she was faking to get out of school.”
“Yeah, right. Claire’s having so much fun in there. If Mrs. Johnson were here, I’d give her a piece of my mind.”
Hank ran a hand back through his hair. “It’s my fault. I should’ve paid closer attention. But Claire didn’t say she needed to see a doctor.”
“Claire doesn’t know what’s normal any more than you do, Hank. She’s still a girl in many ways. She’s never had a woman around interested in her enough to teach her how to be one.”
He lifted a hand to her cheek. “Until now.”
Alex’s breath caught, and she stared up at him. In that endless moment Hank knew this was more than a physical attraction. He needed this woman as much as he wanted her—and he wanted her so bad it kept him awake at night. In the few short weeks she’d been at the Garden, she’d turned this old house into a home and the Edens into a family.
How could he let her go?
Suddenly Alex spun away from him.
Reflex made him catch her arm. “Where are you going?”
She refused to look at him. “Downstairs to get the heating pad and some aspirin for Claire.”
“Alex, look at me.”
His quiet voice compelled her to turn. Her eyes held misery and confusion and regret.
A band of steel tightened around Hank’s chest, making it difficult to breathe. He didn’t have a choice. He had to let her go—for her sake as well as his.
“Thanks for caring.” He released her and turned. Knocking softly on Claire’s door, he pushed it open and went inside.
 
“Now I had me a horse once that used every trick in the horse book to get out of work,” Jed told the small group gathered on the porch. “When I’d sashay into the corral with a bridle in my hand, he’d run away or walk away or skip away or jump away. He tried to hide in a corner or behind another horse. He’d stamp and snort and buck. When I finally did catch him, he’d hold his head so high I needed a stepladder just to set the bit.”
Alex chuckled at the description and wrapped her jacket closer around her. The temperature would dip well below freezing tonight, even though it was nearly April. But the three ranch hands were keeping the air on the back porch warm by expending a lot of hot air—their favorite evening pastime.
“Hell, that ain’t nothing,” Buck said. “I once had a mare so stupid, she thought she could hide behind a tree. When I went to the pasture to call her, she ran over to this scrawny little pine tree and hid her head. There’d be this skinny tree, a horse nose sticking out one side and a huge horse body sticking out the other. I reckon she thought if she couldn’t see me, I couldn’t see her.”
“Hey, boss,” Derek said suddenly. “Everything shaping up for the trail drive Thursday?”
All eyes turned to the screen door.
Hank stood as a silhouette against the light. He pushed the door open and settled beside Alex on the swing. He drew her against his side casually, as if he’d been doing it for years. “Things are coming along. I’ve done all I can do tonight. Did you and Jed get that tack mended?”
That led the discussion away from the stupidity of horses to the trail drive that was still three days away, which led to reminiscences of past trail drives.
Warmth stole over Alex as she listened to the men talk, and the heat didn’t all come from the man pressed against her. It came from the family that surrounded her. Even though these ranch hands weren’t related to the Edens, Hank treated each one like a brother. And though Hank certainly didn’t treat Alex like a sister, this extended family had opened up enough to include her.
To communicate her gratitude to the man responsible, Alex slipped a hand onto Hank’s jeans-clad thigh and gave a gentle squeeze as he answered a question Buck asked.
Hank cut off his thought in mid-sentence. He turned his head just a shade more toward her and flexed his arm to draw her a hair closer. Then he went on talking as if nothing happened. The men probably saw no difference in their position, but Alex felt the subtle changes.
Emotion washed over her like a tidal wave. She felt like she’d been swept away, but at the same time felt like she was cradled in warm water. Either way, she was unable to breathe.
She loved Hank. The certainty was so strong, it made her head swim. She wanted to wrap her arms around this man—her man—and never let go. She wanted to crawl inside of him so he could keep her safe and warm. She wanted to grant his every wish, feed his every hunger, satisfy his every desire.
She wanted to tell him her feelings, to stand up and blurt it out so the whole world could hear.
Alex Miller loves Hank Eden!

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