“Why don’t you take Miss Sanders out to the barn,” Maude suggested to Alan after the mid-afternoon lunch, “and show her that calf Christina’s been helping the foreman to nurse.”
“Please call me Lisa.” Lisa already liked Maude and felt only approval from the grandmotherly housekeeper. Approval was more important to her now than it used to be—especially Alan’s approval. She was pleased that Maude was willing to include her in the happenings on the ranch.
“Lisa might not want anything to do with the calf.” Alan seemed to be giving her an out if she wanted it.
“I’ve never been around cows, but I do like animals,” she assured them both. “Do you feed it with a bottle?”
“Sure do.” Maude took one from the refrigerator and warmed it under the hot spigot.
“Do you want to come along?” Alan asked Brian with a grin.
“I think I’ll pass. There are some properties I want to research on the Internet and some calls I need to make. You two go ahead.”
Lisa and Alan didn’t speak as they crossed to the barn, though she sneaked peeks at him as they walked. He had a loose athletic gait that had her almost running to keep up. Though he’d captured her attention, she couldn’t help taking in everything about her new surroundings—the firs in the distance, the shady cottonwoods, the golden fields absolutely everywhere. There were scents of leaves and pine needles and animals and fresh cold air.
When they passed through the corral gate, Lisa saw a black horse with a white forelock poke its head out of a stall. She smiled. But as soon as she thought about her one other encounter with horses, her smile faded.
After Timothy had been kidnapped by the black market baby ring soon after he was born, she and Brian and Carrie had spent days and nights sitting by the phone, creating flyers, constantly checking with the police department and the FBI. It had been an awful time. One afternoon Brian had convinced her and Carrie to go with him to a friend’s house, horseback riding. That day Lisa had hardly known what she was doing. Her thoughts had been elsewhere—with the baby who was no longer hers, wondering what was happening to him, where the kidnapper might be holding him. She’d still been connected to him. Whenever she thought about that awful time, she tried to focus on the day Timothy was found—the moment he’d been returned to Carrie’s arms—rather than the rest of it.
Why was she thinking about this now? Because she’d met a man who awakened dreams again? She told herself she didn’t deserve those dreams, at least not yet.
The immense building sat on a hill. They entered the bottom portion, which was devoted to the animals. When she stepped into the barn, Lisa felt she was entering a foreign land. As Alan took her elbow and pointed to the stall housing the calf, she guessed sometimes romantic dreams didn’t—couldn’t—wait. Still…when she fell in love, she wanted it to be forever. How could Alan be interested in her when he didn’t really know anything about her? Not the things that mattered, anyway.
A man like him, who could have any woman in the world…
She could feel the heat of his fingers through her denim jacket. When she looked up at him, she thought about the fairy tales her mom had read to her when Lisa’s world had been normal and safe.
“Christina named the calf Chocolate Ripple because of her color. She calls her Choco for short.”
The calf brayed and stared at Lisa with big, liquid brown eyes.
“She’s adorable!”
“Maybe,” Alan agreed with a wry expression. “But as I have to remind Christina, she’s not a pet. We’re just taking care of her like her momma would until she can go out and run with the other calves.” He handed Lisa the bottle. “Do you want to try it?”
“Sure.”
Alan opened the door to the stall and they stepped inside. The smell of hay and animals was strong, but Lisa realized she liked the earthiness of it. The calf eyed Lisa and stood perfectly still while she came closer.
“Hi there, baby,” Lisa crooned. “Do you want some of this?”
Lisa had no sooner held up the bottle than the calf latched on to it and started drinking enthusiastically. Lisa laughed and petted her. “I don’t know, Alan. If your daughter’s taking care of her, she might become attached.”
“She can’t take her along to college.”
“No, I guess not.” Lisa continued stroking the animal while the calf sucked.
“Why weren’t you afraid of her?” Alan asked, an interested expression on his face.
Lisa glanced over at him. He was leaning against the railing, elbows hitched over the top plank, assessing her.
“Why would I be afraid? Just look at her.”
“Cows can be ornery.”
“So can people.”
At that, Alan straightened, taking a step closer. “That’s one way of looking at the world, I guess.”
“How do you look at it?” She wanted to know so much about him.
“Until somebody steps on my toes, I give them a chance.”
Since her parents died, she’d become defensive and mistrustful. Even now she trusted only Carrie and Brian and a couple of close friends. On the streets she’d had to rely on her instincts. “I try to prevent somebody from stepping on my toes.”
“And just how do you do that?”
“I’ve developed a kind of radar. I don’t take much on face value and I go by the vibes I feel underneath.”
As the calf finished with the bottle, Lisa put her arm around her neck and petted her. “Don’t you go on instinct to know who to do business with or not?”
“I suppose I do. I never thought about it like that.”
Lisa remembered the vibes she’d gotten from Brian the first time she’d met him. He’d disapproved of everything about her. Yet because of Carrie, he’d given her a chance, and Lisa had come to realize he might be a bit rigid at times and not always open to new and different things, but when he cared, he cared. She was getting the feeling that Alan’s bonds were deep and strong, too, especially those with his daughter, his brother and with Maude.
“I bet it’s hard for you to leave the Lazy B when you fly off to make deals.”
“You bet right. My life is here.”
“Did you live here when you were married?” She knew the question was personal, but she couldn’t learn anything about him if she didn’t ask.
A closed look swept across Alan’s face, but then he nodded. “Yes, we lived here.”
Suddenly there were years of experience in Alan’s eyes—experience of things she’d never know. He’d been married for ten years. He’d raised a daughter. He’d flown around the country, becoming familiar with places she’d probably only dream of seeing. Yet she sensed deep-down kindness in him. More than that, she felt the sharp edge of an attraction she’d never known before. It was more elemental than picking a guy with a great smile and a terrific body. It was scorching and stirring and downright terrifying when she admitted it was there.
They were attracted to each other. But could there be more?
She shivered. She’d left the house so quickly, she hadn’t picked up her coat. Her mind had been on Alan, not the colder Texas weather. As she shivered again, Alan noticed.
“Come on,” he said, leading her out of the stall. “Before I give you any more of the tour, you need to get warm.”
She followed him into the tack room, where he took a plaid flannel jacket from a hook. “I keep this out here. Sometimes I come out to the barn intending to spend only a few minutes, and end up staying longer.”
He held it for her as she slipped first one arm in and then the other. It smelled of saddle leather and of men’s aftershave, the same scent that Alan was wearing.
The collar caught under her hair, and he straightened it, his fingers sliding through her locks in the process. “It’s mighty big, but it will do.”
She felt warmer already. But that probably wasn’t because of the flannel jacket so much as standing close to Alan, looking up at his craggy face, staring into his too blue eyes.
“Damn it, Lisa, don’t look at me like that,” he practically growled.
“Like what?”
“Like you’re as curious about me as I am about you.”
“Curious?” she asked, her voice thready.
“You know those vibes you were talking about?”
She nodded.
“I’m feeling them from you. Vibes that are telling me to do one thing while I know damn well I should do another. If you were a few years older—”
She cut him off angrily. “And exactly what difference would a few years make? You’re acting as if I don’t know the score. I’m twenty-one, I can vote, drink and kiss any man I want.”
His hands rested on her shoulders now. “A kiss could start something neither of us are ready for.”
“Or it could prove there’s nothing for either of us to worry about. You know—all smoke and no fire.”
“Lisa.” Her name was a protest…a warning.
She could back away now while she still had the chance.
But she didn’t want to back away. She wanted to feel Alan’s lips on hers. She wanted to experience his kiss and discover whether the excitement between them was real or imagined, something fleeting or something that could last.
From the moment Alan’s lips brushed against hers, her whole body tingled. More was all she could think of—more of the exquisite sensations, more of inhaling Alan’s scent, more of experiencing a real kiss for the first time in her life. Oh, sure, she’d been kissed before. But she’d never felt like this, never felt as if she were going to explode, never felt as if this man had the power to propel her into a universe she’d never known. Maybe that was the crux of it. In the past she’d only kissed boys.
She could tell he was holding back and giving her plenty of chances to back away. She wasn’t going anywhere. Her tongue touched the seam of his lips and he groaned, wrapping his arms around her. It was odd, but in the midst of the maelstrom of erotic sensations, in the midst of his tongue tasting hers, she felt safe and protected within the circle of his strong arms. No matter what happened, he wouldn’t let her fall or get lost or drown in something she didn’t understand.
He delved into her mouth, exploring, and she explored him. She tasted the faint trace of coffee he’d had with lunch. When his hands passed up and down her back, pulling her closer, she pushed into him, having forgotten what man-and-woman contact felt like. It had been so long since she’d been with Thad, so long since she’d let a man get this close. Thad had been a boy, intent on pleasure. Alan…Alan was intent on giving her pleasure, as well as taking his. He was on a mission of discovery, as was she, and the give and take was equal. As his belt buckle pressed into her stomach, she felt the hardness of him, the arousal that gave her power and confidence as a woman.
The sound of the barn door opening broke the moment. Female voices lifted to the rafters and floated down the walkway between the stalls.
Alan responded first, breaking away from her, swearing, muttering something like “old enough to know better.” Then he used his shirt cuff to rub lipstick from his lips, and in the next moment was smoothing smeared lipstick from below hers.
His thumb traced under her bottom lip again. “That’ll have to do.”
He called out the door of the tack room. “We’re in here.” Obviously, he’d recognized the voices.
A moment later, a tall redhead about Alan’s age stood in the doorway, next to a striking teenager whose hair was more brown than red, curly and shoulder length. Freckles ran across her nose and cheeks, and her blue eyes were almost as spellbinding as Alan’s.
The woman examined Lisa quickly but thoroughly, then glanced at Alan. “Maude said you were out here.”
Christina was in Alan’s arms, hugging him. “It seems like forever since I’ve seen you.”
“It’s been less than two weeks.” He grinned, hugging her back. “It’s not as if I don’t talk to you almost every day.”
His daughter released him and wrinkled her nose. “I know. I guess in the fall I’ll have to make the most of talking to you, because it will definitely be a while between visits.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I decided to go to the University of Illinois.”
“That means animal sciences rather than premed?”
Christina nodded her head and his ex-wife just looked unhappy.
Feeling as if she’d fallen into the midst of a family dispute, Lisa wanted to slide away and make her exit. There was no way to gracefully do that.
“We can discuss this later,” Alan said. “Let me introduce you to…a colleague. Lisa Sanders, meet my daughter, Christina, and her mother, Sherri.”
Lisa extended her hand to the ex-wife.
Sherri shook it quickly. “A colleague?”
“I work with Summers Development in Portland.” Lisa turned to Christina. When she extended her hand, Alan’s daughter smiled at her and squeezed it more than shook it.
She seemed to appraise Lisa with interest and then she grinned. “Are you working on the golf resort?”
Apparently Christina kept up with what her father was doing. “Yes, I am. Today your dad is giving me a tour of the ranch. And I fed Choco.”
“Isn’t she just too adorable? Dad says I can’t make her a pet, but maybe I can convince him otherwise.”
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Alan warned her. “Don’t even think you’re going to get Lisa on your side.”
“I think she’s adorable, too,” Lisa said in an aside to his daughter. “Maybe she can be a mascot for one of the horses and stay in the barn.”
“That calf is not a goat or a dog,” Alan protested firmly.
When Lisa and Christina laughed, he shook his head. “Oh, great. Two of you pulling my leg.”
“We can’t stay,” Sherri said stiffly. “Christina and I are going shopping for a dress for the Valentine’s Day dance at school. Since we can’t go tomorrow,” she added.
“Are we still going to look for a car tomorrow?” Christina asked Alan.
“We sure are. If your mom brings you out again after school, we’ll have the rest of the evening. Are you coming along?” he asked Sherri.
“No. I have a community theater meeting tomorrow night. Besides, it’s a father-daughter thing. You two would outvote me, anyway. I’m going to go get that recipe for a taco casserole from Maude. I’ll meet you at the car in about fifteen minutes, honey, okay?”
“Sure, Mom.”
Sherri gave Alan and Lisa one last look, then turned and left.
Christina fairly ran to the calf’s stall. “I want to spend a few minutes with Choco. Lisa, why don’t you come with me? You can tell me where you’re from and how you got into real estate.”
Lisa wasn’t sure exactly what she should do, but Christina seemed to want to talk to her, so she followed her down the walkway. She could feel Alan’s gaze on her. Soon, however, they were inside the stall, cooing over the calf, and Alan had gone to the tack room.
Lowering her voice, Christina asked, “Were you and Dad making out before Mom and I came in?”
Caught off guard, Lisa was at a total loss for words.
“It’s okay. Mom probably didn’t notice. But Dad has lipstick on his cuff and you’ve got a smear above your lip—just a little one.”
This conversation could go one of two ways, depending on Christina. Cautiously Lisa replied, “Your dad and I just met a week ago.”
“I saw the way he looks at you. He likes you!”
“Christina, I’m not sure we should be discussing this.”
Alan’s daughter looked her straight in the eye. “It’s okay, you know, if you and Dad have a thing going. In fact, I think it’s cool. He needs someone to shake up his world a little.”
When Lisa glanced down the walkway, she saw Alan was still moving around in the tack room. “I’m sure he dates.”
“Not seriously.”
Something must have shown in Lisa’s expression.
“Oh, I don’t mean he doesn’t want to date seriously, but nothing seems to work out. It’s like he picks women who don’t like the same things he does or don’t care about ranches or don’t like animals.”
“You think he sabotages himself?”
“I don’t know if it’s that. Maybe the only women he’s around are his age, professional, set in their ways.”
“You notice a lot.”
“He’s my dad.”
Yes, he was, and Lisa had to be extra careful what she said and what she did. “Your dad and I hardly know each other, Christina.”
The teenager scratched Choco between the ears. “But you were kissing.”
Lisa felt her face go pink and admitted, “It was the first time, so please don’t get the idea that something’s going on when it isn’t.”
Alan’s daughter gave her that smile again. “You’re from Portland?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Dad bought a condo so he could spend more time there. If you’re working on this deal together, you’ll probably be seeing a lot of each other.”
“I’m not his equal. I mean,” she hurriedly explained, “I’m Brian Summers’s assistant, so I’m acting as Alan’s assistant, too. That’s all.”
A car horn beeped twice.
“That’s Mom.” Christina sighed with a roll of her eyes. “She wants to do this mother-daughter bonding thing over finding a dress. I already know which one I want. I just have to point her in the right direction and convince her it’s right for me.”
Lisa smiled. Christina obviously knew her parents well and played them when she could. “Do you already know what kind of car you want, too?”
“I’m open to suggestions on that, and I know Dad will have a few. You’ll be here tomorrow night, right?”
“I think we’re going to be here a few days.”
“Great. Why don’t you come along with Dad and me?”
“Oh, I don’t know…”
“Hey, Dad,” Christina yelled into the tack room.
Alan came out with a saddle in his arms. “Are you leaving?”
“Yeah, but I want Lisa to come along tomorrow night when we look at cars. Can she?”
If Alan was surprised, he didn’t show it. “I suppose she can.” He glanced at Lisa. “Do you know anything about cars?”
It just so happened that she did. “A friend of mine owns a motorcycle shop. I’ve watched him work. He likes to tinker with cars, too, so I’ve learned a few things.”
Looking impressed, Christina responded, “See, Dad? She’ll be an asset!” The teenager put her hand on Lisa’s arm. “Please come. Don’t think you’re horning in, because you’re not. It will help me to have another opinion.”
Before Lisa could respond, Christina was hugging her father again, then flying out the door.
The silence in the barn seemed to pound in Lisa’s ears.
“Let’s go for a ride,” Alan suggested.
Lisa quickly swiveled around to look at him. “A ride?”
“I’ll saddle up two horses. Blue Bonnet’s gentle. You’ll like her.”
That was the last thing she’d expected, out of all the things he could have said. “We should talk.”
“No. Let’s give everything time to settle, then we’ll talk.”
“Won’t Brian wonder where we are?”
Hoisting the saddle onto the top plank of the stall, he took his cell phone from his pocket and pressed a button. “I’ll call over to Maude. She’ll let him know. When he’s making business calls, he forgets about everything else. He won’t miss us for a little while.”
Lisa wasn’t so sure about that. Yes, when Brian got engrossed in business, he had tunnel vision. But he didn’t miss much of anything. She knew that from experience. Still, climbing onto a horse and actually riding with Alan would be unforgettable, something she could tuck away in her closet of memories.
“I’d like to go riding. Don’t you need a coat?”
“There’s a closet in the tack room. I’ll find something for both of us.” He nodded to the jacket he’d given her. “That won’t be enough if the wind picks up.”
Fifteen minutes later, Lisa was wearing someone’s down jacket. It was way too big for her. Alan had found a sweatshirt for himself and buttoned an insulated vest on top. He’d also given Lisa a hat that was as hard as a helmet, with a chin strap. She felt a bit foolish wearing it.
“You’re sure I need this?” she asked him as he stood beside her, ready to help her up onto the horse.
“You haven’t had much experience riding. Better to be safe than sorry. Come on, put your foot in my hands and I’ll give you a boost up, then I’ll adjust your stirrups.”
She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “I can’t just step into your hands—”
“Sure, you can. Hold on to the pommel and I’ll have you in the saddle before you know it. Unless you want me to pick you up and put you there myself.”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea.” She could still feel the reverberations from their kiss whenever she thought about it.
“Come on then,” he coaxed with a grin.
Feeling foolish, she took hold of the saddle horn and put her foot into his hands. Seconds later, she was atop Blue Bonnet, looking down at a man who could make her heart gallop without even trying.
“I like your daughter,” she said simply.
“I think she liked you. She wouldn’t have invited you to come along tomorrow night if she hadn’t.”
“But I don’t have to go if that makes you uncomfortable—”
“Makes me uncomfortable? I’ve been uncomfortable since the minute I set eyes on you.”
“Then why did you ask me to go riding?” He had kissed her, although she’d kissed him back. He was the one who had followed her to her apartment. He had come to her interview with Carrie. “If I make you so uncomfortable, maybe I should just go back to the house and help Brian with his calls. I’m sure there’s something I can do.”
Alan’s hand was on her leg, as if that would keep her in the saddle. “Whoa, there. That didn’t come out right. Lisa, I sure as shooting don’t know what to do about you. That kiss confirmed my worst suspicions. We’re dynamite together. How are we going to work together with that between us?”
“I can be professional. I can put it out of my mind.”
He raised his brows.
“We’re adults, Alan. We can do anything we have to.”
“I feel a hell of a lot more adult than you are.”
“Will you stop with the age thing? Whether you’re twenty-eight or thirty-eight or fifty-eight, I don’t want to get involved any more than you do.”
“You’d date a man who’s fifty-eight?”
She breathed out a sigh of frustration. “No. I know we’re in different places in our lives. I know you probably just want to have a good time with women. No strings.”
“Did I say that?”
“No, but you’ve been divorced for seven years and haven’t gotten serious with anyone.”
“And how do you know that?”
“Christina told me.”
“In a five minute conversation?” He seemed genuinely unnerved.
“It…came up.”
Taking his hand from her leg, he shook his head. “That’s it. We’re going for that ride. No more talking. No more discussing. No more kissing. We’ll get some perspective if we have to ride from here into the next county.”
After that pronouncement, he mounted his horse and turned the gelding toward the open corral gate.
Lisa followed him, convinced a ride from here all the way to Portland wouldn’t give them perspective. His kiss had moved her like she’d never been moved before. If her kiss had done anywhere near that to him, then neither of them would be able to think straight if it happened again.
If it happened again.
They hadn’t discussed anything, nor had they cleared their heads. At least that was Alan’s estimation of their ride. Lisa might not have had much experience on horses, but she was a natural rider. He hadn’t had to give her much instruction.
He’d loved watching her as she caught a glimpse of things she’d never seen before, as she’d felt the exhilaration of being on the back of a horse, the wind moving by her. She hadn’t wanted to simply walk or even trot. She’d wanted to go faster. He’d been unsure about letting her at first, but then he’d given her the go-ahead and he’d watched as she’d raced across the meadow.
She was going to be sore in the morning.
At the corral, one of the hands would have taken the horses, but Alan asked Lisa, “Do you want to go up to the house or do you want to help me groom them?”
“I’d like to help groom them. Just tell me what to do.”
Her enthusiasm was one of the things about her that got to him. She was almost fearless, and he wondered if that came with her youth. Yet he had the feeling part of her had always been, and would always be fearless.
“I can attach Blue in the walkway if you don’t want to be confined in her stall with her.”
“She’ll probably be more at home in her stall. I know to stay away from her feet.”
Yep, fearless and in tune with animals, from what he could see.
When he handed Lisa the grooming brush, even though the stall gate separated them, their fingers touched, and all the memories and sensations from their kiss came rushing back. He quickly entered his horse’s stall and began the rubdown process.
Twenty minutes later, they were both finished and putting away the brushes in the tack room. Lisa took off the coat he had given her to wear, and he stowed it in the closet. All of a sudden he heard a small cry, and then saw distress on her face.
“What’s wrong?”
“My locket. It’s not around my neck. I can’t lose it.”
He took her by the arm. “Hold on, we’ll find it.”
“But what if I lost it while I was riding?”
“And what if you didn’t? Come on. Look around and then check Blue’s stall.”
A search of the barn where they’d come and gone provided no clue. The shiny gold necklace didn’t twinkle up at them. Alan could see Lisa was upset. That locket meant the world to her and he wanted to know why. Just because it was an antique? Because Carrie had given it to her?
He took Blue out of her stall once more and tied her in the walkway. Then he took a pitchfork and carefully sifted through the hay, realizing how easily the chain could get caught up in it. This was worse than searching for a needle in a haystack.
All at once, Lisa pointed to a corner of the stall. “There. I think I see something. A flash of gold.”
He couldn’t see a damn thing. He tried feeling instead of looking, and his fingers brushed a smooth, hard object. Grasping it, he saw her locket nestled in his hand.
“I’ve got it.” He felt jubilant, as if he should win some great prize.
But Lisa didn’t look relieved. She looked…scared.
Quickly she snatched it from his hand. “Thank you. This really means a lot to me. I’m going to take it up to the house and make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Then she was leaving the barn with her secrets, and Alan wondered if he’d ever learn what they were.
As he led Blue back into her stall, the barn door opened and shut again. Maybe Lisa had returned?
But when he looked over the horse’s rump, he saw Brian coming toward him, and his expression was very serious.
“I think we should have a talk.”
“About the phone calls you made?” Maybe Brian had run into trouble with some of the investors. Money could be pulled out as easily as promised.
“No, I want to talk to you about Lisa.”
Alan guessed he knew what was coming. He also guessed he wasn’t going to like it.