Page 21 of The Forbidden Texan
When they drove up to the house, painters were at work, trucks lined the drive and gardeners were digging new beds for flowers. There were men putting up wrought-iron fence sections to enclose a yard around the house.
Emily had done what she wanted with the house because Jake had insisted care and price didn’t matter.
“You’ll be getting bills for furniture, both indoor and outdoor, as well as all the other things that were necessary to get us set up here,” she told him as they came to a stop. “I’ve hired a decorator for later and I’ll work with her.”
“That’s fine. When this ranch is in shape, I’ll probably live at my JR Ranch in the Hill Country and continue to let the man Thane hired run this ranch. When I’m not here, I’ll just have a skeleton crew take care of the house.”
“It’s a lot of expense for an empty house.”
He shook his head. “The ranch will pay for it. This is a very good ranch, with good men hired by Thane and water and mineral rights.”
Jake held the door for her and brought her things inside.
Their job was about to begin in earnest.
* * *
Jake spent the morning and into the afternoon going through old legal documents, newspapers, letters, receipts, some papers dating back to the late 1800s. He sat at his new desk with a table beside him that was covered in papers, also near him was a trash barrel piled high with letters and newspapers. Close at hand was an open trunk filled with more papers.
He found several letters with sweeping penmanship by Thane’s great-grandmother and more letters written by one of Thane’s great-grandfathers.
Jake looked up when Emily knocked and entered.
“You’re frowning. Are you having difficulties in here?” she asked as she sat in a chair facing him.
Momentarily he forgot the letter as his gaze swept over her. She wore her usual plain garb of loose-fitting jeans and a sweatshirt. She shouldn’t have made his pulse jump and made him forget what he was doing, but she did. She made him forget everything except the kisses they’d shared. Her tempting mouth was rosy and as he looked at her full lips, he remembered kissing her. Sizzling kisses that shook him to the core. How could Emily, his employee, of all the women on earth, be the sexiest kisser in his life? He didn’t want that discovery. He didn’t want it at all, but every time he saw her, he wanted to kiss her again. She had muddled his life and caused problems he had never before encountered.
He remembered the letter he held and handed it to her. “I found a letter by Thane’s great-grandfather. It was in answer to a man he owed money to and his great-grandfather wouldn’t pay it back. The man threatened to kill him. That didn’t happen, but it makes me wonder what Thane’s great-grandfather did. Reading the letter, I got the feeling it was not an idle threat.”
“‘Either I get my money back or one of us dies,’” she read aloud.
“It wasn’t Thane’s great-grandfather who died. At least, that’s not how he died. I’ve heard Thane tell that his great-great-grandfather killed a guy in a duel.”
“Thane’s family is quite nice and he turned out all right. Toss the letter and forget it.”
“Probably a good idea.” Jake looked at her intently and stood to walk around the desk to place his hands on the arms of her chair and lean close. He caught a scent of flowers as he looked into her big brown eyes. Her lips had parted and he heard her take a deep breath. “There are moments when I want to toss this employer-employee relationship right out the window and be just a man and a woman who are friends,” he said in a husky voice.
“We can be friends,” she whispered, shaking her head, “but we need to hang on to that employer-employee relationship. I don’t want to end this job with a broken heart.”
“A few fun kisses won’t break your heart and you’re too smart to fall in love with me,” he said in a husky voice as he tightened his grip on the chair arms to keep from wrapping his arms around her and pulling her up against him. He placed one hand on her throat. “Your pulse is pounding as fast as mine. I think you want to kiss as much as I do.”
“Maybe so, but I’m not going to complicate my life and every kiss makes me want to kiss you even more than I did so you back off.”
“That’s not the way to tell me to back off. Ahh, Emily—”
“Move away, Jake, and get a grip on common sense.”
“Common sense isn’t what I want to grab.”
“You do it, anyway,” she said.
He knew she was right. “Whatever the lady wants—” He stepped away.
“You go back behind your desk and I’ll go back to what I was doing.”
Nodding, he turned to walk to the other side of his desk. “There are just moments when I forget the employer-employee relationship we have.”
“Read the old letters and maybe you’ll forget all about everything else.”
