Taming a Dark Horse

“Yes, I did. But I didn’t have any idea you’d be asking something like this. I don’t even know your cousin! And I’d practically be living with the man!”

“You would be living with him,” Victoria corrected. “He can’t be left alone. He can’t use his hands in any way. Not yet. So you can imagine how much care he’s going to need.”

“Yes, I can imagine.” Nevada felt awful for Linc Ketchum. Even though she’d never met the man, she understood the pain and suffering he must be going through. She’d attended to many burn patients over her years of nursing and she understood the care he would need. But she didn’t really want to leave her home for two or three weeks. And living with a man? Well, she’d always been adventurous but that was taking it a bit too far.

“But I really don’t think I’m the nurse you need.”

“You’re exactly the nurse Linc needs. These injuries haven’t just disabled him physically, they’ve tugged him down emotionally. Normally, Linc is a gentle, easygoing man. Everyone admires and loves him. But this morning he actually cussed at Ross. He needs to get his mind off the fire and off his confinement. If anyone can do that, you can.”

Nevada let out an incredulous laugh. “How? By playing dominos or poker with the man? Victoria, I don’t know anything about him. I wouldn’t even know how to talk to him.”

Smiling, Victoria said, “You? Not know how to talk to a man? Come on, my dear, that sort of thing comes to you naturally.”

“That’s another thing. I have a life here in town. How could I go out on dates if I’m stuck on the T Bar K? You know that I have boyfriends. They won’t understand.”

“If that’s the case, you don’t need them.”

A long sigh slipped past Nevada’s lips. She’d tried, but she could see there was no talking Victoria out of this. “You really mean this, don’t you?”

“Nevada. I can’t think of anyone better,” she said with a soft voice. “No one else would suit Linc. He’s a man who needs gentle care.”

Nevada studied Victoria’s face and could easily see the signs of worry etching her eyes and mouth. “You love your cousin very much, don’t you?”

Victoria nodded. “I always have. Linc is special—to all of us. He’s like our brother. And yet he’s always wanted to remain independent. I don’t know why. But he’s a strong, compassionate man and it makes me want to sob when I see him like he is now.”

Feeling her eyes grow misty, Nevada walked around the desk and place a hand on Victoria’s slender shoulder. “Don’t worry. You should know I’ll take on the job. I can’t say no to you even when I want to.”

Victoria looked up at her gratefully. “Don’t do this just for me, Nevada. Do it for Linc. Okay?”

Uneasiness rippled through Nevada and made her hesitate. But only for a moment and then she smiled. “All right. I’ll do this for Linc.”

Chapter Two

He was sitting on the porch of his father’s old house when a little white sports car covered with the red dust of T Bar K land pulled to a stop a few feet from the rail fence that enclosed the house and yard, a yard which was little more than a patch of raw mountain land filled with boulders, pine trees and sagebrush.

Rising slowly from his chair, Linc ambled toward the fence as his squinted eyes tried to make out the person behind the dusty windshield. And as he waited for the nurse to climb out of the vehicle he told himself it didn’t matter what sort of person this woman was just so long as she stayed out of his hair as much as possible.

The door to the car finally swung open and Linc caught the glimpse of jeans-clad legs and long, raven-black hair being blown by the evening breeze.

He watched her catch her flyaway hair with a brown hand as she turned to greet him.

“Hello,” she called cheerfully. “I guess you must be Linc.”

Dear God, what had Victoria done to him, he wondered. This woman wasn’t a nurse. She couldn’t be. She was very young and looked more like a sexy siren than a caregiver. Her petite body had more curves than the mountain road leading up to the house and her face was full of dimples, sparkling brown eyes and lips the color of a ripe cherry. This was not the sort of woman he needed sleeping across the hall from him.

“That would be me,” he replied, while wondering how he could tell her to go home and still be polite about it.

She walked up to him and smiled. “I’d offer you my hand. But since you can’t take it, I’ll just say I’m glad to be here.”

Topping her jeans was a red jersey shirt that had slipped down on one shoulder. On her small feet were wedge sandals tall enough to break her ankles. Linc couldn’t prevent his gaze from climbing up from her painted toenails to the top of her head and back down again. “Where did Victoria find you?” he asked rudely.

The blunt question lifted Victoria’s delicate black brows. “Well, not out of a hole if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m her nurse. I figured you knew that. Haven’t you ever been to Victoria’s clinic?”

He shook his head while hating the fact that she was making him feel downright stupid. “I don’t ever need to be doctored.” He frowned as his gaze focused on his bandaged hands. “At least, not until the fire.”

“Well, you must be very lucky,” Nevada said while her eyes took in the sight of Victoria’s cousin.

He practically glowered at her and lifted the thick white bandages directly in front of her face.

“Lucky? You call this lucky?”

Unaffected by his sarcasm, she nodded. “If you’ve lived all these years without needing a doctor’s care, you’re a very fortunate man, Linc Ketchum. And as for those—” she inclined her head toward his burns, “better your hands than your whole body being toasted.”

She was right and he knew it, but that didn’t make him feel any better. Still, he thanked God that he’d gotten out of the fire before it had consumed him.

“Yeah,” he said, then walking around her, he peered into the car’s back seat. It was piled with enough luggage to fill two closets. His jaw tightened. “It looks like you’ve come to stay.”

Turning slightly toward him, Nevada frowned. “Of course I’ve come to stay. You need someone here with you at all times.”

He drew in a bracing breath then blew it out. “Well, I don’t want to sound rude, but I don’t think you’re gonna be that person.”

She whirled completely around to stare at him. “What?”

He shrugged as a sheepish expression stole over his lean face. Normally he went to great lengths to handle people gently, the same way he handled his horses. But this firebrand standing in front of him was scratching his hackles in the wrong direction.

“I said I don’t think you’re the right person to stay with me.”

Nevada’s eyes narrowed as her hands came to rest on either side of her waist. “You don’t, huh? Well, just what sort of person would you like to have staying with you?” she asked in a voice that dripped sweetness.

“None! Damn it. I can get along without anybody’s help. And I have no idea why Victoria sent you up here! I don’t even believe you’re a nurse!”

Nevada folded her arms against her breasts. This outburst from her patient wasn’t too big a surprise. Victoria had already warned her that since the fire Linc had been on a rampage. And she’d heard a long time ago that the man was a recluse. She’d asked Victoria about the hearsay and the doctor had confirmed it as true, saying she couldn’t remember the last time Linc Ketchum had ever stepped foot off the T Bar K. Poor man, Nevada thought. He really needed her help.

“Why not?” she asked simply.

He stepped closer and it was then that Nevada allowed herself to really look at him. When she’d first driven up, she’d gotten the impression of long legs, muscles and shoulders broad enough to carry her weight twice over. Now she could study his face close up and as far as she was concerned it was a work of pure art.

A Roman nose, square jaw and chin, and dark-green eyes set beneath a pair of black brows. At the moment he was wearing a cowboy hat the color of creamed coffee, but she could see the hair next to it was slightly darker and curled against his head in a touch-me-please way. Victoria had told her that Linc was thirty-eight and all Nevada could think at the moment was what a hunk of a man Linc Ketchum had grown into in those thirty-eight years.

“Because you don’t look like a nurse. Or sound like one, either,” he answered.

Nevada couldn’t help but laugh. “Really? I guess you must be an expert on nurses?”

He grimaced. “No. But—”

Nevada stepped forward and put her hand on his shoulder. It was warm, rock-hard and caused her skin to sizzle.

“Listen, Linc. Victoria tried to find a nurse other than me. She couldn’t. No one was willing to come all the way out here and stay for two weeks.”