Con: Melanie.
“It won’t be an issue for anyone?”
“I said it wouldn’t.” And that’s all that matters, his tone implied.
Straightening her shoulders, Sarah gave herself a pep talk. I’m not going to let a grumpy housekeeper ruin the fact that I’m in freakin’ Texas on a horse ranch with a gorgeous man who is asking me to stay. “Okay, I’ll do you . . . I mean, it. I mean, I’ll do it and stay here with you. On the ranch. In the spare room. Like last night.” A flush of embarrassment heated her cheeks.
The corners of his eyes crinkled ever so slightly. He’s laughing at me again.
Hands on hip, Sarah said, “It’s not nice to laugh at people.”
His expression darkened and his tone held both a warning and a tinge of regret. “I’m not a nice man.”
She stepped off the porch to stand in front of him. He was a good foot or so taller than her, so she had to tip her head back a bit to see his face. Standing so close, she searched his face and was moved by a pain she sensed within him. In those freakin’ save-me sad eyes.
Like animals, injured people could be dangerous. She’d seen her parents’ marriage take a dark turn after the death of her youngest brother. Something that should have brought people together—loss—had turned her happy family temporarily against each other in a way they had never fully healed from. There had been a time when she and her family had been close, but that was a different life, when they were different people.
Something awful had happened to the man who stood before her. She’d bet her life on it. And whatever it was, he hadn’t healed from it either. Beyond any attraction she joked about in her mind, this connection to him touched her heart, overshadowing any self-consciousness she felt or second thoughts about her decision.
Sarah reached out, took his hand in hers, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. She smiled up at him sympathetically and said, “I don’t believe that.”
He looked down at their hands and met her eyes with that guarded expression she was getting accustomed to. Just when she thought he was about to pull away, his hand shifted and his fingers laced with hers.
They stood there, saying nothing, the intensity of their connection building until everything around them disappeared.
Don’t trust her.
No one is that fucking sweet, that innocent. Just because her hand is as soft as velvet doesn’t mean she’s incapable of deception. A woman could rehearse those wide-eyed expressions. Which scenario is more likely? That a beautiful, loving woman got lost and ended up in my shower purely by accident and then conveniently had a reason to stay? Or that she planned this entire scenario and is either a reporter or on the payroll of one?
Optimism is best reserved for fools.
So why hold her hand? Why invite her to stay another day? He couldn’t justify either any more than he could stop his heart from thudding wildly in his chest when she touched him. He wished it were a simple itch a night of sex would cure, but in his near-thirty years he’d never felt anything close to this.
“You probably want to check on your horse,” he said, needing to break free of whatever web of fascination she was spinning around him.
Her hand shifted as if she were preparing to pull away. His hold on hers tightened instinctively and she smiled. Damn. I don’t know if I do care if she’s a liar. A night with her would be worth whatever she found here to write about.
Idiot.
He dropped her hand with determination. It did matter. He’d protected his privacy for far too long to piss it away because some damn woman thought she could play him. “Well, you know where he is. David will show you around the barn if you need anything. His office is in the main aisle to the left.”
The momentary confusion on her face was almost comically kissable. Her chin lifted in defiance and she said, “Thank you.” But in a tone that didn’t sound at all grateful.
A stronger man wouldn’t have stood and enjoyed watching her cute, jean-clad ass strut angrily down the driveway to the barn. Tony barely blinked.
“A woman like that would never be happy here,” Melanie said from behind the screen door of the porch.
I know.
“Is she leaving today?” she asked.
Tony shook his head, but didn’t turn away from watching Sarah. She stopped at the entrance, looked over her shoulder at him briefly, then disappeared into the barn.
“Don’t suppose you’d welcome my opinion?”
With a brief shake of his head, Tony turned, strode up the steps, stepped around Melanie who was holding the door open for him, and headed up the main staircase. It was time he found out what his little blonde was hiding.