“Yesterday when we got the first warning, Dan contacted me. He sent some men to help and moved my cattle to his place for now. He’s down the road to the east—farther east than your ranch, as you know.”
“You had to move your livestock around my ranch, then, to get to him. When you move them back, let me know and you can cross my ranch.”
With the bandanna now around her neck, she smiled, a big smile that warmed him like sunshine and made his pulse jump.
“Thank you. It will be a lot quicker and easier to cross your land. The Sloans are very nice people,” she continued, and he tried to focus on what she was saying.
“They invited me to stay with them, but they already have his brother and his brother’s family, which includes five more kids. I didn’t want to impose on him, and I don’t want to impose on you.”
“No need. It’ll just be the two of us,” he said, and the minute the words were spoken, he felt his breath catch. He had answered matter-of-factly and impersonally, but it didn’t come out that way.
“...the two of us...”
The words echoed in his mind and sounded far more personal. What kind of chemistry did they have between them? He wouldn’t have thought any kind would be possible, but she stirred some responses in him as if she were sitting there flirting with him, which she wasn’t at all. Besides, she was as plain as a mud hen. The moment that thought came, he had a vivid memory of her face. He glanced at her again and looked into big, gorgeous green eyes with thick brown lashes and dark red hair. She wasn’t as plain as a mud hen at all—she just projected that image until he got up close. That realization shocked him, and he wanted to stop driving and turn and really look at her. He realized how ridiculous that would be. She was a Blake, and he’d better not forget that.
“Damn,” he said without realizing he had even spoken aloud until she turned abruptly to stare at him.
“Is something wrong?” she asked, sounding worried.
“Sorry. I was just thinking about the fire and your loss,” he lied.
“That’s nice of you,” she said. “I figured you might not really care, but it’s nice to know you do.”
He glanced at her again and was caught once more by those gorgeous green eyes. Quickly he turned back to his driving. “Damn,” he said again, this time under his breath.
They rode in silence for a while, and then he heard a slight sound from her. He glanced at her and saw that her hands were on her face and she was shaking. He checked the rearview mirror. They had put a big distance between themselves and the fire, so he slowed and cut the engine, turning to put his arm around her lightly.
“Claire, I’m sorry you lost your home,” he said, really meaning it, because that would be a devastating loss.
She turned to him, placing her head against his chest as she cried. For an instant she sobbed, but then she got control. With no tissues for her to wipe her face, he held out a clean bandanna. “Here, take this.”
She took it and just held it. “You just have an endless supply of bandannas?” she asked, trying to smile. But her smile vanished as she wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry. I feel stupid crying again. It’s just that I’ve lost everything. All my life I’ve been losing what I love,” she said so softly he could barely hear her. “I don’t ever want to fall in love, because I’d lose the person I love. I don’t even want to get real close to friends any longer. I’m glad I still have my ranch, but it’s going to be burned to a crisp.” She shook her head.
“Cry all you want,” he whispered. “You’ve lost your home. That’s big.” He tightened his arm around her, turning her to him and slipping his other arm around her for now, concentrating on consoling her.
But no matter how hard he tried to focus on those things, he couldn’t fight the awareness of her in his arms. She was soft, sweet-smelling, with lush curves. He liked holding her far too much. He didn’t want to look into her big, green eyes or at those rosy, full lips that were visible now. Again, he almost groaned aloud thinking about her.
He was taking her home with him. He’d already had her in his arms twice. That stunned him, because until today, they’d rarely acknowledged the other one’s existence. He didn’t know what she did or what she liked—he had never given two seconds worth of thoughts about her and he rarely had even seen her. This was all a first in his life—and not a welcome first.
He didn’t want to like holding her in his arms. He didn’t like wanting to kiss her, and he didn’t want to find her desirable.
Claire Blake was as off-limits as if she was poison to his system. So why was he holding her close? Why was he so aware of her?
He should let her go. He should get her out of his arms, out of his pickup and out of his life as fast as he could.
How could he do that now when he had invited her to come stay at his place? What was he going to do with her as his houseguest for the next few days?
Worse, how could he get through the night when all he wanted to do was kiss her?
Three
Her ranch burned. Her family home destroyed. Heirlooms passed down from generations gone. Treasured family pictures reduced to ashes.
Claire thought of all that loss and cried quietly. No matter how she tried to get her mind off her losses and get control of her emotions, she couldn’t. And then she became aware of Jake’s arms around her, strong and reassuring. She was being held closely against his rock-hard chest, something solid in her suddenly battered life. She tightened her arms around him, for just a moment yielding to the heady feeling that all was not lost and there was hope, however imaginary, that she was held tightly in the secure arms of a friend.
From the hour he was born, Jake Reed had been an enemy, just as she and all her family were his enemies. That feud had been drilled into her from the time she could toddle. As far back as she could remember in her childhood, she had heard how his family had rustled her family’s cattle, stolen their horses, tried to claim water rights in the area where the ranch boundaries met. She’d heard how early relatives had fought duels with his family members, waylaid them and attacked them, robbing them, how they had set fire to their land and their houses.
She had no idea how much was truth and how much was exaggeration fueled by anger and hatred, but she had been taught to dislike all Reeds—and that included him.
