But maybe a fling with Jake could. She allowed herself to picture what that might be like-two consecutive weeks tangled up in the covers with a sexy cowboy. Fourteen nights of unbridled lust and pleasure.
She could use some unbridled lust and pleasure. In fact, she could use it a lot.
A smile twitched her lips as she descended the stairs with Fila and Mila, her stomach growling as the aroma of another of Autumn's amazing dinners caught her nose. She was a big girl-she could have a fling with a sexy cowboy whenever she wanted.
Holt's preposterous deal simply gave her a good excuse to do the very thing she'd dreamed about: tumble into bed with Jake long enough to get him out of her system before she settled down to classes.
When Jake arrived at the Cruz Big House, a fire danced in the hearth, tables were set up for cards, and an enormous Christmas tree stood near the large floor-to-ceiling windows. Just like at his parents' house, the entire space was decorated with figurines, fir boughs and glittering lights. Autumn, setting appetizers out on the counter that separated the kitchen area from the rest of the great room, looked in her element. Ethan was one lucky man to have found her.
Jake frowned and his shoulders tightened at the thought of his earlier conversation with his father. Marry within the month-as if it was that simple. It was ludicrous.
It was just like Holt.
Sometimes he wished he could escape the ranch-to get a taste of the wider world and the knowledge it had to offer. He knew he would have done well at college and if he had gone he would have liked to study modern ranching techniques in a wider context along with land management and environmental studies. The world was changing fast. People were far more aware of how their food reached the table and the impact ranching and farming could have on the state of their environment. His father dismissed all of that as liberal nonsense, but Jake felt otherwise. He felt like a steward of the ranch. Everything from the soil to the cattle to the people who lived on his family's land was affected by the decisions he made. Shouldn't he know everything there was to know about it?
It galled him his father and brothers didn't support his interests. What kind of family went out of its way to clip the intellectual wings of its own members?
The Matheson kind, apparently.
When he spotted Hannah across the room deep in conversation with Ethan and Jamie, looking up at the two tall cowboys and laughing at something Jamie said, Jake's heart rate increased. Her white-blond hair lay in angelic waves about her shoulders. Dressed casually in jeans and a soft sweater, she looked feminine and sweet, and his fingers suddenly itched to touch her. Maybe do a whole lot more than that.
He wouldn't lie-Hannah was gorgeous, which is why he'd taken her to that break room at Bella and Evan's wedding. But she was smart as a whip in addition to being beautiful. She was curious, too-the sexiest trait there ever was in a woman, to his way of thinking. She'd caught his attention at Ethan and Autumn's poker nights, first because of her angelic looks, but afterward because of her ability to converse with him. Unlike most people, she enjoyed talking about the future of ranching, and about a hundred other topics, as well. So far they'd only chatted for a few minutes here and there, mostly when she came to see Gladys. Still, they could leap from bison to the history of Montana to the strangest thing they'd each ever eaten, to whether or not there was other intelligent life in the Universe in the course of only a short conversation. He looked forward to each meeting, knowing her insatiable thirst for knowledge would have led her to find some new and interesting fact she could share with him. He'd never had anyone in his life quite like Hannah. He was blessed with good friends and a solid family-he couldn't complain. But he'd lacked this meeting of the minds.
He'd been ready to ask her out this morning until his father appeared to ruin the moment. He'd been pretty sure she would say yes, too, judging by the fact she didn't move her hand away when he touched it. That touch had fired him up more than he wanted to admit. For the first time, he'd wanted to take things slowly with a woman, because Hannah was so special. If he blew things with her, he wouldn't just lose a pretty companion-he'd lose a true friend. He didn't think he could stand that.
Now his father was forcing his hand, and he hoped that wouldn't ruin everything. With only thirty days to marry her, he barely had time for wooing. How could he speed things up when they hadn't even gone on a date?
While he wanted to go straight to Hannah, he made his way to the kitchen first, grabbed a couple of Autumn's appetizers and found a beer in the fridge. There he met Rob, whose shoulder was still bandaged from the gunshot wound he'd taken a few weeks back. That had been one hell of a night-a real shootout with would-be terrorists in the woods down the road from here. Luckily Rob's wound was the worst of them. Jamie's hip had already healed, as had Fila's arm. The bad guys had been rounded up and taken away by the Feds. Peace had been restored to Chance Creek, for which he was grateful.
He worked through the room from guest to guest, exchanging greetings and news. He finally got to Hannah just as Ethan and Jamie headed back to the kitchen for another beer.
He smiled at her. "Hey, Hannah. Sorry I had to take off in such a rush this morning."
"It wasn't your fault. Work never ends on a ranch, right? I talked to your dad after you left, though."
Uh oh. "What did he say?"
Hannah shrugged, but her cheeks grew pink. Jake's heart sunk. His father was capable of all kinds of breaches of etiquette. At least she was still speaking to him.
"I get the feeling he'd rather not keep Gladys around much longer."
"Don't mind him." Jake was worried, though. If Holt kicked him out, he'd probably demand they remove Gladys from the ranch. It figured the old man would urge him to get married, then screw up his chances with the one woman he wanted to spend his life with.
"Holt's more bark than bite," he said, then clenched his jaw at the lie. Holt barked like a pit bull and attacked like one, too, if he felt provoked.
"I don't know. I'm taking what he said pretty seriously."
"I'll work on him," he promised her. "Meanwhile, there's something I've wanted to ask you. Would you … "
"Hey, everybody. Pick a table and sit down. We're about ready to get started," Ethan called.
Morgan, passing by, smiled at them and gestured toward the card tables. "Come on, guys. You heard the man."
"We'll be right there." Hannah turned back to him. "What were you saying, Jake?"
But with Morgan watching he couldn't ask her out. "Nothing. We'll talk later."
‡
Chapter Three
Jake had been seconds from asking her on a date. She was sure of it. So why wouldn't everyone back off and give him the chance?
Not that she'd say yes.
Or maybe she would but she wouldn't get serious with him.
Unless you called a fourteen night stand serious.
Which she had no doubt it would be.
Hannah moved quickly to a table to cover her confusion and sat next to Morgan. The rest of the players took their places at the tables with much jostling and joking. When Jake slipped into the chair on the other side of her, she figured she hadn't been hallucinating about his attentions. Interesting.
Interesting in a fling way, she reminded herself. That's all she could afford right now-no heartfelt romances, not even with Jake. Especially with Jake, who could wrap her around his little finger without even trying. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye as he joked with Ethan. He was muscular, confident, his legs taking up way too much space under the table. His thigh brushed against hers from time to time, igniting the longing she'd felt ever since their time in the break room. She would not fall in love with Jake. But couldn't she have a little fun with him before school started at the end of January?
Ethan dealt the first hand of Hold'em and she forced her concentration onto her cards. She was a lousy player and lost money every week at these tables, but the stakes weren't that high and by tradition the winner donated half the proceeds to the kitty for the next weeks' drinks and munchies. Since she'd spend more by far at the local bar if she went out for a night of drinking and dancing, she figured it was a small price to pay for the good food and company.
Jake surveyed his opponents around the table. He must have already looked at his cards, figured his odds and moved on to size up the competition. She'd seen him take the pot many times. Hannah sighed. She'd even gone online to learn more about winning this game, but the truth was the odds and calculations didn't interest her. She came for the chatter and friendship.