Ginger left Nate alone for the afternoon on Sunday, telling herself she couldn’t glue herself to his side just because she found him handsome. She’d seen a glint in his eye a couple of times, but she had no idea what it meant. In her experience, ex-cons could lie like it was breathing, and she had all the proof she needed of that in her past.
So she’d made herself scarce while Emma and Jess went over the babysitting with him, while Spencer ordered pizza for the cowboys in the East Annex, and while Nate took Connor down the dirt path behind the huge homestead and out onto the ranch. She’d watched them for a few minutes, ducking down behind the counter when Nate turned and looked back toward the house, as if he could sense her eyes on his broad shoulders.
Monday morning, she arrived at the East Annex at nine o’clock, already having put in three hours out on the ranch. Nate wore a pair of the jeans she’d bought with the money from the BOP, as well as one of the T-shirts, this one in a dark gray that made him seem stormy and sexy at the same time. She’d been right, and the shirt didn’t fit well around his shoulders. But she wasn’t going to embarrass herself again, and she said nothing.
Jill arrived to take Connor for the morning, and the boy skipped happily with her across the back deck and down the steps to the yard, Ursula going with them. “I think she likes Connor more than Spencer,” Ginger said, still watching them.
“That’s because Connor lets that beast lick his face,” Nate said, and Ginger burst out laughing.
Nate chuckled with her, and their eyes met in that same magnetic power they had before. She wondered if he’d laughed a lot in prison, but she felt like she already knew the answer to that question, so she didn’t ask it.
“Ready?” she asked instead, clearing her throat afterward.
“Yes,” he said. “I found my personal ID, so I think I’m good.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his old driver’s license. He had nothing else, and Ginger had known he wouldn’t. She’d just forgotten she needed to schedule a few days of errands so her ex-cons could get their lives settled before they started on the ranch. She was simply desperate for the manpower, and she’d been hoping Nate could start that day.
“Is that still good?” Ginger asked. She hadn’t looked at any of his personal effects.
“Yes,” he said. “I have a couple of months until my birthday.”
Ginger’s extreme curiosity got the best of her. “And then you’ll be…?”
“Thirty-six,” he said, his expression turning cold for a moment. Just as quickly, he thawed again. “And I know better than to ask a lady her age.” He gave her what she would classify as a flirty smile. Maybe sly. Whatever it was, it held some heat behind it.
Ginger felt that heat rise through her whole body, and she turned away from him. “I don’t mind.” She wanted to share a few things with him. She told herself she didn’t have to date him or kiss him if he knew how old she was. “I’m already thirty-six.”
“How long have you been running this place?” he asked from behind her as they walked toward the front door.
“Oh, about six years now,” she said. “I’m the oldest child in my family, and my father sustained an injury, so.” She shrugged. “I’ve always wanted the ranch, and now I have it.” She flashed him a smile as she opened the door. He held it for her, and she went through first. She couldn’t help thinking about the time she’d almost lost the ranch, but she wasn’t going to detail that for Nate. Not right now.
Not ever, she told herself firmly. If she was talking about Hyrum Charles—her last boyfriend, as well as the last man she’d taken from the BOP into the RRC program—that meant she was talking about her past relationships. And she only did that with a potential boyfriend—or a man who’d already become her boyfriend.
Nate wasn’t going to be either. Nope, nope, she told herself. Not happening.
She had about five hundred things to get done that day, so she drove a little fast on the way into town. Nate directed her to the bank he wanted, and Ginger stared at the steel and glass building. “You bank here?”
“Ward does,” Nate said without any inflection in his voice. Ginger tossed a look in his direction to see if speaking his brother’s name bothered him. It didn’t seem to. “Do you come in, or wait here…?”
“I’ll come in,” she said. “Don’t worry, I’ll sit clear across the room.” That way, she could observe him better, and he wouldn’t know. Ginger couldn’t believe her hormones were betraying her so badly. No wonder she’d never agreed to another inmate.
She recited to herself all the work around the ranch that needed to be done, and how with Nate, she could get caught up faster. New fields to plow for next year.
Six more bird blinds to be built.
A waiting list for horseback riding lessons. With Nate, she could register everyone on the list and make a lot more money.
The fact was, she needed him. Just not in a romantic way. But as he reached the door and opened it, stepping back to let her go in first, Ginger had the thought that he was the most polite ex-con she’d ever met.
Everything about Nate wasn’t what she’d expected based on her past experience with Hyrum, and her mind betrayed her by thinking, Maybe we can get to know him. Maybe we can hold his hand. Maybe we can kiss him…
She cut off the thoughts there, because they were already too dangerous. “I’ll be right here,” she said, plunking herself down in a plush chair just inside the lobby, near the door they’d come in. She didn’t think Nate would make a run for it, though there was another door on the far side of the bank.
He proceeded over to a desk and started speaking with a man, who took him up the steps and into a fancy office where Ginger could see through the walls of glass. The two of them sat down at an oversize desk and started talking.
She just watched, but grew bored of that very quickly. Nate took an enormous amount of time at the bank, and by the time he came downstairs, he was tucking a couple of cards into a brand-new wallet. Ginger gaped at him. Since when did banks give out genuine leather wallets?
She rose, her back protesting at her long lapse in movement. “All good?”
“Yes,” he said. “Sorry that took so long.”
She waved off the apology and asked, “Where to next?”
“Connor and I need some clothes,” he said. “And toiletries. And groceries.” He cut a look at her out of the corner of his eye. “Can you take me somewhere to do all of that at once?”
“Let’s try the department store over on Wall,” she said. “It has a grocer right next door.”
“Great.”
She drove, and Nate rode along. He wasn’t a particularly chatty man, and the silence was driving Ginger insane. But all the questions she wanted to ask seemed inappropriate, so she kept her mouth shut too.
By the time he finished shopping for everything, lunchtime had come and gone. Her stomach growled as he loaded bags of cereal and granola bars and eggs into the back of her truck.
“I heard that,” he said, grinning at her. “Do you have time for lunch?”
No, Ginger really didn’t have time for lunch. She supposed no one had called or texted her with an emergency yet, and she might as well enjoy her time off the ranch. “Okay,” she said, looking around. They were right downtown in Sweet Water Falls, and they had their pick of at least a dozen places. “What do you like?”
“Ginger,” he said, his voice made of magic and warm honey. “I’ve been eating prison food for almost five years. Everything here has to be better than that.”
She turned toward him and met his eye. He smiled, and his whole countenance transformed with that simple gesture. Ginger felt like someone had poured cement in her veins, because she couldn’t move.
Her mind raced, though, and all she could think about was being this man’s girlfriend.
“I would like some amazing pizza,” he said, glancing around, his gaze coming back to hers a moment later. “Do you think that’s possible?”
“Yes,” she said dumbly. She gave herself a mental shake and blinked her way out of the heated trance she’d fallen into. “There’s a great place just around the corner called Papa Bear’s.”
“Oh, wow.” He chuckled and gestured for him to lead the way. “Close enough for us to walk?”
“Yes,” she said, already moving. Maybe a walk would clear her head, though Papa Bear’s was literally five minutes away.
“So tell me,” Nate said after he’d matched her stride with his. “Are there other rules around the ranch I need to know about?”
“Other rules?”
“Yeah, you know, like where I can put my groceries in the house. Those shelves were all labeled.”
“Oh, well, that’s because Jack’s crazy.” She giggled, actually mortified at the sound. She tried to suck it back in and ended up choking. As she coughed, Nate just grinned, almost like he knew the effect he held over women.
He hadn’t lost everything in prison, that was for dang sure.
“Who’s Jack?”
“He lives downstairs,” she said. “He’s an amazing cowboy, but he has a little bit of an issue with OCD. Likes things a certain way. He’ll have some shelves labeled for you by the time we get back, or I’ll treat you to lunch again.”
“I don’t need you to treat me this time,” he said.
“No?” She looked at him. “I suppose Ward did leave you everything.”
“That’s still being worked out with the lawyers,” he said. “I have money from…before.”
“Oh.” Surprise darted through Ginger, and she nearly fell down when Nate put his hand softly on the small of her back and said, “I think it’s down there.”
She’d been preparing to cross the street, but he was right. Papa Bear’s was to their left, just beyond the grocery store where he’d seemingly bought everything he wanted. Ginger’s skin sparked, sending electricity up her back, across her shoulders, and down her arms.
“Anything else I need to know?” he asked. “You know, cowboys to avoid. How to make sure I’m safe when I go out on the ranch. That kind of thing.”
“Nate,” she said, coming back to the present, though she still felt like shivering from his touch. “You’re not in prison anymore. You’re safe at Hope Eternal Ranch.”
“You don’t have farm equipment that could cause some damage?”
“Sure,” she said. “But you won’t be using it.”
“I have no idea how to work with horses,” he said. “And believe it or not, there were no riding lessons in River Bay.” He gave her a smile that seemed too tight around the edges. “Lots of other classes, but not that one.”
“You’re smart,” she said, deciding that was a compliment and not a flirtation device. “I think you’ll pick it all up quickly.” She turned to go inside the pizza parlor, adding, “Now, there’s this white pizza that is simply amazing that I think you’ll like. Have you had white pizza?”
“Yes,” he said. “But not for a long, long time.”
Ginger ate way too much at Papa Bear’s, where the furniture was as big as the pizza. She carried half of their meal in a box while they walked back to the truck. They’d had an enjoyable lunch, making small talk about her family, and his, and the people who worked around the ranch.
He hadn’t met all of them yet, but he claimed to be looking forward to it. She turned up the radio on the truck, and started thinking about an afternoon nap instead of going out to the stables to check on the riding program.
A new batch of riders was starting that day, and Ginger really needed to be out there at three-thirty to make sure everyone got checked in and had a good experience. So she’d go, even if she did just want to lie down for a little while.
She knew she felt like that because she’d eaten too much, and a brisk walk around the ranch to help prep for the class would settle her stomach.
She pulled into the garage closest to the West Wing and killed the engine, ready to get going. Nate, however, didn’t move.
“You okay?” she asked, and he turned his attention to her.
“I wanted to ask you one more thing,” he said.
Ginger draped one arm over the steering wheel. “Shoot.”
“It’s about the rules here at the ranch.”
She grinned at him, at the way he stayed so serious. “Didn’t I say there weren’t really rules?”
“That’s not true, though,” he said. “For example, I can’t just come over to the West Wing whenever I want.”
“Well, that’s true.” She reached for the pizza box on the seat between them. “So what’s your question?”
“It’s about dating,” he said.
Ginger froze, her fingers curled around the cardboard. “Dating?”
“Yeah.” Nate cleared his throat. “Is that allowed? You know, for me?”
“Well, I mean.” She blew out her breath. “You can’t leave the ranch, so I suppose if your date is okay coming here or whatever, then yeah, you can date.”
“What if I wanted to date someone who works at the ranch?”
Her eyebrows shot toward the sky. “Here? At the ranch?” She narrowed her eyes at him.
“Yeah,” he said, finally tearing his gaze from hers. “Someone here at the ranch. Can cowboys date the women in the West Wing?”
Ginger needed to get out of this truck immediately. Her skin itched now, and she wondered who had caught his eye. Probably Michelle. All men liked Michelle. She had the curves they wanted, with the long legs and the flat stomach. Ginger didn’t have curves, which made buying jeans really hard, for the record.
“I mean…I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Nate watched the door that led into the West Wing, as if the woman he desired would walk through it at any moment. “So there’s no rule against it?”
“No,” Ginger said dumbly, though her heart beat with the reverberations and sound of a gong through her whole body. She should’ve told him there was a rule against cowboys dating the women out here. Then she wouldn’t have to watch him go out with one of her friends.
In that moment, Ginger recognized and acknowledged that she had a crush on this man. Horror filled her, laced with excitement. She hadn’t been out with a man in years. Years and years, if she were being honest.
No one since Hyrum, in fact.
And she couldn’t get involved with another prisoner. Could she?
“Great,” Nate said. “Do you want to have dinner with me sometime?” He looked at her again, and Ginger’s eyes widened.
Her fingers scrabbled for the door handle, finding it after only a moment. She yanked, and the door opened. She practically jumped from the truck with the words, “I’ll be right back,” and strode out of the garage as quickly as her long legs could take her.
She didn’t remember breathing, so by the time she made it across the dirt lane to the small shed there, her lungs felt like they’d been set on fire. She hurried through the door and closed it, leaning against it and sucking at the air.
Had Nate just asked her out?
And worse, had she run away from him afterward? A moan started somewhere in the bottom of Ginger’s boots and worked its way up, tearing through her insides before it came out of her mouth.
And the worst part? She wanted to say yes, she’d love to have dinner with him. She slid down the door until she met the ground, and she stared straight ahead, trying to decide what to do.
Last time she’d allowed herself to fall for an ex-con, he’d stolen from her, broken her heart, and almost managed to get the ranch in his name.
Would the consequences of a relationship with Nate be worse?
Ginger didn’t want to find out. At the same time, she really did. Since she was now at war with herself, she simply continued to stare, hoping an answer to this new dilemma would present itself inside the shed.