The Reluctant Rancher (7 page)

Luke shrugged.
 
“
It happens, Hawk.
 
The bright lights, the big city.
 
It’s hard to keep the men entertained way out here.
”
 
He freed the posts with one final clip of the wire cutters and rose to his feet.
He
 
kept his voice low as he warned
his foreman.
“
Keep an eye on the guy
though
.
 
I don’t want any surprises.
 
And I’ll see about the strays.
”

He hoisted himself back into the saddle and rod
e
in the direction Hawk had mentioned.
Rounding up strays was a tiresome, time-consuming job;
one he usually didn’t volunteer for.
 
But today he had a lot of serious thinking to do.
 
For the first time in over two years, he felt like a man again.
 
A man with needs and desires.
 
Trouble was, he didn’t know what to do about it.

* * * * *

Several hours later, Luke halted in mid-stride upon entering the kitchen.
 
The room qualified as a disaster area.
 
Cans and boxes of food littered every available surface and pots and pans overflowed from the open cabinet doors.
 
But what stopped him in his tracks was the picture of Mary.

Even though no one, kind or otherwise, could call Mary a small woman, she was attractive.
 
A generous woman,
he could almost hear his grandfather
say, with enough curves and valleys to keep a man warm through a cold
Wyoming
winter. And he definitely had no problem with Mary’s size.
 
He
had dated all types of women –
tall wome
n, short women, small women,
large women.
 
In the dark they were all the same, a warm body and a pair of arms to hold you until the morning light.
 
Unfortunately, none of them could completel
y chase away the loneliness.

He stood for several more minutes, watching as she st
retched to reach the top shelf
of the high oak cabinets.
 
As she worked, she sang along with the count
r
y western tune on the radio, her soft voice filled the room.
 
Voluptuous hips swayed to the rhythm of the music, drawing Luke’s eyes.
 
The baggy sweats of that morning had been replaced with mid-thigh cotton shorts.
 
A long, oversized t-shirt slipped from one shoulder to reveal a large expanse of creamy skin.
 
A turquoise clip held her long flowing hair away from her face.
 
She looked young and carefree,
sexy enough to entice any man.

For just a moment his breathing increased and he forgot why he had returned to the house.
 
A sharp stab of pain in his forearm quickly reminded him.

He must have made some small sound alerting her to his presence for suddenly she swung around.
 
Immediately her eyes spied the blood soaked sleeve of his shirt and she flew to his side in a flash.
 
“
Oh, Luke,
”
she exclaimed.
 
“
What happened?
”

“
What the hell does it look like?
 
And just what do you think you’re doing?
”
 
Luke demanded.
 
With his good arm, he gestured at the mess around him.

“
I’m cleaning the house
.
 
Part of our bargain if you remember correctly,
”
she snapped back.
 
“
Now hold still and let me take a look at your arm.
”

Mary examined his wound, making soft purring noises in the back of her throat
.
It pulled at Luke’s heart, this show of concern.
 
It disturbed him, physically and mentally, that she could turn h
im inside out with just a touch.

He realized he’d poured himself into the ranch way too long and figured he needed to get back into the swing of things, start socializing, and find himself a woman who could fulfill his needs without any strings attached.
 
When women found out just how much money stood behind the Tanner name it was easy, too easy, to establish a mutually satisfying relationship.
 
But at the end of their time together, no hearts were broken, no dreams of white knights shattered.
 
He had gotten what he wanted and needed.
 
A couple of hours where the loneliness didn’t eat away at his soul like a cancer.
 
Only with his ex-wife had he allowed the hot flush of desire to evolve into something more.
 
And
look where that had gotten him.

“
I can take care of it myself.
 
First aid is a necessary fact of life on a ranch, Ms. Carter.
”
He removed his arm from her soft touch.
Infection presented a serious risk when you worked with animals and Luke insisted that even the slightest injury be taken seriously.
 
Even his own.
 
A rancher couldn’t afford to be laid up for even one day.

It had given him an
excuse to come back to the house.
 
He could just as easily had the bunkhouse cook, Rooster, patch him up.
 
The man had done it many times before.
 
Reluctantly Luke admitted to himself that he’d wanted to see Mary again.
 
He enjoyed her quick wit, even the stinging insults she threw his way.
 
But he also knew nothing could come of his fledging feelings.
 
Nothing.

Abruptly he stepped around her and headed to his bedroom.
 
He could feel Mary watching him as he walked away and knew she would be worrying her bottom lip with her pearly white teeth in concern.
 
She’d done it that first night on the ranch when she’d debated picking up her brief case and walking away.
Why he noticed such things, he didn’t understand.
 
Yet he found hi
mself
wanting to soothe her tortured lips with his own.

H
e looked down at his blood soaked sleeve and realized he’d refused her help a little too quickly.
 
It was going to hurt like the devil to remove his shirt.
 
And even if his male pride allowed him to ask, after the brusque way he left, he doubted she’d be too willing to assist him now.

“
Come into the bathroom.
”
 
Mary burst through the door without knocking and Luke allowed himself a fleeting smile as he
followed her into his bathroom.
 
Apparently her compassionate heart had gotten the better of her temper.

As soon as he entered the room, he knew he’d made a grave error.
He became aware of his size as he towered over her. She pulled his arm under a warm stream of water, forcing his hard frame against her soft curves and desire flowed through him like a molten river of lava.
 
He groaned silently as his body instinctively respo
nded to the feel of this woman.

“
What happened?
 
It looks like you had a fist fight with a briar thicket and lost.
”

“
I did,
”
Luke said through gritted teeth as she
worked
the fabric from the torn skin. “
An ungrateful mamma threw me into a thorn bush when I tried to rescue her precious baby.
”

Mary looked up at him, grimacing in sympathy.
 
“
I know this must hurt.
 
I’ll try to be as gentle as possible.
”

To distract himself from the pain and the feel of her lush body, he released the barrette holding her hair, and ran
the silken strands through his fingers.
“
You have beautiful hair,
”
he murmured.

“
As opposed to the rest of me?
”
she quipped
.
He heard her breath catch in the back of her throat as her hair caught on the pad of his work roughened palm.
 
It had been so long since he’d touched a woman.
 
Felt the softness.

“
That’s not what I meant,
”
he said
.
“
And you know it.
”

“
I do?
”
Her voice held a note of skepticism.

Luke narrowed his eyes.
 
“
Can’t you take a damn compliment like a normal woman?
”

Mary
’s shrug
caus
ed
the blouse to
slide further off her shoulder to
reveal
the satin strap of a peach colored bra.
 
“
Not many people, especially men, pay me compliments.
”

“
Well, they should.
 
You’re a
fine looking
woman.
”
 
His tone was
solemn but he sensed she still didn’t believe him.
 
Before he could say more, she stepped back
to inspect
 
her handy work.

“
There.
 
I think that does it.

Luke removed his soiled shirt and immediately regretted the action as soon as he saw the bright red flush that stained Mary’s cheeks. He hadn’t meant to embarrass her.

“
I’ll soak that later.
”
 
With jerky movements he threw the shirt in the claw-footed bathtub.
 
He started to leave but she stopped him.

“
Wait.
 
I need to clean the cuts.
”
 
He watched as she removed the first aid items from the medicine cabinet
.

“
This is going to sting,
”
she cautioned, holding his arm over the sink once again.
 
With a brief, sympathetic glance at his face, she poured antiseptic over the open cuts.

“
Hell, woman!
Are you trying to kill me?
”
 
He jerked his arm away, grabbing a clean towel fro
m the shelf.
 
Still swearing
, he left the bathroom and took a seat on the edge of the bed.
 
He removed the towel and took a good look at his injuries
for the first time.
 
Now
cleaned, some of the cuts looked downright nasty and a few probably needed stitches.

“Give me those.
”
He reached for the bandages Mary held in her hands. She’d followed him out, standing before him with a militant look in her gray eyes.

“
I’m
the nurse.
”
She batted away his hands and knelt between his legs. “
These probably need stitches, you know.
”

His
frowned at her suggestion, even
though he’d
thought the same thing himself. Her tone made him feel like a scolded child.

“
But then, you’re as bad as your grandfather.
 
It would take a two foot gore hole from a bull to get
 
either of you
 
to go to the doctor.
”

He smiled, watching her bent head.
 
With very little effort, he could see her in this room, in his bed, in the dark of the night, the moonlight turning her hair the color of deep, pure silver.
 
This time the desire he felt cut sharp and swift, like the blade of a knife.
He placed the towel strategically over the front of his jeans.