The Cowboy's Temptation (14 page)

She watched as he grabbed his hat and rushed out of the kitchen, following behind the other ranch hand. From the window, she noticed that they were walking faster than usual and her concern grew. Was there a problem with the birth? Shouldn’t they call a vet? Elissa pushed herself away from the window and concentrated on something else. She cleaned the kitchen and scoured through the cookbooks, looking for something interesting to cook for dinner that night. She definitely wasn’t leaving anything for that obnoxious man, she told herself.

She made a list of the ingredients she would need and headed into town, ignoring her instinct to head down to the barn and find out what was wrong.

 

Elissa drove back to the ranch and unloaded her groceries. She looked out at the barn and wondered if everything was okay with the new foal.

Making a decision, she put all the groceries away and then slipped out the side of the house, wanting to check on the foal. She’d never seen a newborn horse before. Were they really able to stand as soon as they were born? Could she sneak into the back of the barn and not be noticed?

Elissa made her way to the barn and slipped through the side door. She knew something was wrong as soon as she entered the musky smelling area. Sure enough, Jake was bent over the horse’s back and was moving his hands along the side of the horse’s flanks. The horse, obviously Lucy, was laying on her side and groaning with deep breaths coming out every few moments. Several ranch hands were working around the pained horse and another person she’d never seen before, she assumed was a vet, was listening to the horse’s heartbeat.

“Jake, she’ll be okay. Just give her some time. This is a natural course and will just take a few hours,” he said. The man packed up his instruments and left the barn, patting the horse’s neck as he left.

Jake waited until he was gone and then shook his head. “Okay, Lucy. It looks like this is going to be up to you and me. We’ll get through this together,” he soothed the horse.

Elissa watched for hours as Jake talked the horse through her painful contractions. She was horrified at first when Jake checked the horse’s womb but realized that there was no other way to gauge the progress. She’d seen Ronny’s obstetrician do the same thing so Elissa relaxed slightly when he checked the horse again about an hour later.

Sometime in the late afternoon, Elissa slipped back out of the barn and went back up to the house. She made a mountain of sandwiches and several pots of coffee then brought it all down to the barn. There were about six men who were all helping the horse drop the foal and none had left for any reason through the whole ordeal.

Jake didn’t look up when she deposited the stack of sandwiches but the other men smiled gratefully to her as they attacked the stack and took long drinks of the hot coffee. Elissa sat down on a stack of hay and tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. Two hours later, things really came to a head.

“Get Mike back out here,” Jake called out to no one in particular but one of the helpers immediately got on the phone and called the vet. “This lady’s breach,” he groaned and soothed the horse through another contraction.

“Jake, I don’t think there’s time to get Mike back out here. I think she’s going to go through it in the next few minutes or she’s not going to make it,” a hand by the name of Jim said.

“I know,” Jake said and checked the horse’s progress again.

 

“Okay, Lucy. Are you ready for this?” The horse snorted and then groaned, her eyes moving back into her head.

Jake positioned himself at the rear of the animal and felt her flank. Once he found what he was looking for, he reached into the animal’s womb and nodded again. “Okay, I have the foot,” he said. He put one hand on the horse’s stomach and waited. “Lucy, just breathe,” he soothed. “We’ll wait until the next contraction and work together.” Jake’s deep voice seemed to be helping the exhausted mare who simply laid her head down on the hay. A moment later, her head was back up and another groan was emitted. At the same time, Jake pulled with all his strength.

Elissa didn’t understand what was happening but within five minutes, a tiny hoof appeared in Jake’s hands. “Okay, Lucy. We’re almost there. Just keep pushing,” he said. Fifteen minutes later, a small and incredibly unsteady foal slid messily out of her mother’s body. There was a whole lot of mess and blood but the tiny foal immediately stood up and shook her head. Once she opened her eyes, she stared around, took one step then toppled down again, right near her mother who carefully licked the head, then laid back down. The mare was obviously exhausted to the point of not being able to care for the little foal and Elissa’s heart went out to the two of them.

Jake looked up and saw Elissa for the first time that day. He’d known she was there, had sensed her coming and going but had focused all his energy on the mare and making sure she would survive. Now he looked up and noticed the tears streaming down her face. He walked over to her, careful not to touch her with his messy hands. Bending down, he looked into her eyes. “What’s wrong, Elissa?” he asked softly, wishing he could take her into his arms and comfort her. He didn’t though, knowing she would probably be horrified at the mess of his shirt and jeans.

A half second later, Elissa threw her arms around him and let go of her tears. “Oh, Jake how wonderful!” she cried. “She’s beautiful and you helped her. Thank you!” she said, her shoulders shaking with the weight of the emotions she was feeling.

Jake was stunned. She was thanking him? For what? He stood up and didn’t care what she was talking about. Elissa flying into his arms, holding him with those soft arms was too much for any man to handle. He closed his arms around her back and just held her there. Once the flood of tears subsided, he pulled back and looked down at her. “You’re a mess now.”

Elissa glanced down at her shirt front but dismissed the mess that had transferred from his clothes to hers. “What’s wrong with the little guy?” she asked, glancing behind Jake to view the foal again.

Jake turned as well but didn’t take his arms away. She was letting him touch her and he was like a starving man to a buffet. He didn’t want to break the contact. “She’s hungry,” Jake said. “Want to feed her?” he asked.

Elissa looked from the mother to the foal and nodded. “Shouldn’t the mom do that?” she asked tentatively. Elissa didn’t want to show her ignorance but couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the little horse.

“She’s too exhausted. Most birthings don’t take this long. She’s been up for the past few nights with pains.”

 

Elissa took the bottle with the warm milk and long nipple that Jim handed to her. “Can I really?” she asked, the excitement already in her eyes.

 

“Sure. Go for it,” Jake said, feeling wonderful all of a sudden.

Elissa bent down and approached the skittish foal. As soon as the foal smelled the milk, she toddled over to Elissa and immediately started sucking on the offered bottle. Elissa laughed and stroked the side of the foal’s neck that was now clean. It was very soft and the foal didn’t even glance her way, too intent on getting her first drink of milk.

Jake walked over to the barn’s sink and scrubbed his hands. He needed a shower and probably a long nap, but he felt too good. He looked down at the exotic beauty kneeling in front of a newborn foal and shook his head. He never would have imagined that Elissa would like the sight of a birth. They were messy and painful. But she’d cried tears of joy.

Elissa definitely was not the woman he’d originally thought she was.

Jake sat down on the bale of hay she’d been sitting on for the past few hours and grabbed a sandwich and a cup of coffee. He couldn’t see her face anymore but he enjoyed the view of her backside just as much. The other ranch hands were cleaning up the area, joking about the next task and what needed to be done to help the mare get her strength back. Jake listened to the sounds around him and wondered if Elissa ever thought she might like this life long term.

Who was he kidding? She was a city girl, he reminded himself.

As soon as those words formed in his mind, he stopped himself. He was reminded of all the things he’d assumed since she arrived and he let the thought that maybe she didn’t like her old life quite as much as he might have thought she did. She certainly looked to be thriving now. Gone were the dark circles and sadness from her eyes he’d seen when he’d picked her up at the airport. She’d gained weight in all the right places and her skin now glowed with health whereas before, she was pale and her skin looked like paste with the stress that was on her shoulders.

Jake munched on the sandwich and considered the idea of something more. He wasn’t sure how much convincing he might need to do. Was he up to the challenge? The thought was appealing.

What could he lose, he thought to himself? A few hours of enjoyment with a beautiful woman? A man could die happy just staring at those pretty blue eyes of hers.

Jake just sat back, relaxing his tired back against the walls of the stall behind him as he watched Elissa feed the new foal. He enjoyed listening to her laughter and wondered if she knew how well she fit into this world. She looked so happy, how could she even consider heading back to New York?

Jake made the decision. He was going to show her that she was better off here.

The foal eventually settled down, curling up next to her mother now that it had a full belly of milk. Elissa leaned back on her heels and stared back at Jake. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” She asked.

“Yep,” Jake replied, staring at Elissa’s dark head and sexy body.

 

Elissa sighed and stood up. “I guess I’d better get back to helping Ronny,” Elissa said, wiping the dirt from her hands. “She’s probably feeling abandoned by now.”

“Walk with me back to the house. I think we both need a shower, then you can go talk to Ronny,” he said. He threw an arm around her shoulder and guided her out of the barn toward the house.

“Have you ever thought about having kids?” he asked, the dim light from the setting sun hiding his eyes.

Elissa glanced quickly up but she couldn’t tell how serious the question was. She looked at the sunset and sighed wistfully. “Of course, in the few spare moments of my old life,” she said.

“Old life?” he questioned.

Elissa stiffened. She hadn’t meant to reveal so much about her current feelings. She’d been toying with an idea but hadn’t worked out the details yet. “Sure. I’ve changed in the past two weeks. I don’t think I can go back to New York and work like I used to. I’m just not interested in that anymore.”

“What do you plan on doing?” he asked, trying not to let her see how important her answer was to him.

 

“I don’t know. I’ll look for another job, I suppose,” she lied. She had no

intention of ever going back to New York except to clear up her old life and close it down. She had no idea what she was going to do, but whatever her future held for her, it definitely didn’t include New York and the financial district. It was too cut throat and manipulative.
“And kids?”

Elissa couldn’t answer that. She wanted to tell him that she’d consider kids only if he’d consider being their father, but she knew he didn’t feel that way about her. She was just the obnoxious woman that he had to teach how to do everything that didn’t include a computer screen and financials.

They walked up to the house and Elissa slipped out of his arms. “Thanks for today. I’m sorry if I got in the way at all,” and she rushed up the stairs without another word.

Elissa tore off her clothes and stepped into the hot, steaming water of the shower. She thought about the idea she’d been toying with. Could it work? She ran some numbers through her mind. She had the sale of her condominium. That would finance her start here. She knew she didn’t really need to work. She had so much money saved up, if she lived frugally, she could make it without any extra income. She also knew how to invest her money and could make a living off of her investments.

She’d been toying with the idea of starting a small consulting business, right here in Texas. Could she do it? Could she pack up everything she’d known and move out here to the wilderness?

Absolutely, she thought. There was nothing waiting for her back in New York except for some very angry, shallow men.

Elissa changed into a pair of stretch pants and a tee-shirt, then headed downstairs to make something for dinner. It was almost six o’clock so she’d wager that Ronny had already eaten.

Surveying the supplies in the pantry and refrigerator, she wondered if Jake would be hungry. Taking out a box of pasta, she decided to make some spaghetti. If he wasn’t hungry, he could just put it in the refrigerator for another meal.

Elissa turned on the stereo to the country music station, then put a pot of water on the stove to boil. She was chopping up vegetables and tossing them into a pan for the sauce and dancing around the kitchen. She loved the rock-a-billy tune and started humming to the chorus, amazed that she already knew the words to the song after only two weeks out of New York.

After the sauce was set up on the stove to simmer, she put the pasta noodles in, then dug through the contents of the refrigerator once again for salad ingredients. She bounced to the beat of the music and bumped her hip against the refrigerator door to close it, then bounced back to the counter to deposit her vegetable treasure.

“Darlin’ do you have any idea what you do to my blood pressure?” Jake asked, walking up to the counter and stealing a baby carrot. He had been in the middle of buttoning a shirt but stopped with four buttons still undone, revealing his muscular chest with its light, sprinkling of hair.

Elissa jumped and almost dropped a tomato onto the floor. “Jake!” she yelped. “How long have you been here?” she asked.

“Long enough to know that you’re sexy as all get out,” he said and pulled her into his arms. Without another word, he kissed her, thoroughly ravishing her lips with his. When the kiss was over, he released her, leaving her breathless and confused.

“What do you want me to do to help?” he asked and stole another carrot.

 

Elissa blinked and looked up at his smiling features. “Help?” she asked, still holding the tomato in each of her hands.