Taming a Dark Horse

Nevada couldn’t believe the house had been built just for the sole purpose of extra housing for ranch workers. It was too beautiful and, in spite of its old age, had been kept in perfect condition. Someone had taken great pains to copy the big ranch house and rich details could be seen in the dark oak casings around the windows and doors, the expensive tiling on the floor, not to mention the nice furnishings.

The first moment she’d walked into the house, she’d felt some sort of strange connection, a feeling that made her wonder if she was experiencing what it felt like to go home. Which had been an odd reaction for Nevada. Since she’d been a very young child, she hadn’t ever felt like she had a home. At least, not like regular folks.

Even though she’d grown up in a house with two parents, it had been far from a normal home. Her mother and father had quarreled incessantly until their arguments had become out-and-out fights that included throwing fists and objects. Nevada had often hidden in the closet praying for the noise to stop and praying, too, that she would someday be able to escape the house that seemed to be filled with nothing but hate.

No. Nevada wasn’t exactly sure what a real home would feel like, but she was certain this old house might hold the answers.

Giving one last look over her shoulder, she left the room. Her medical bag was still in the car and she wanted to get Linc’s bandages changed before it was time for dinner. Something she was to cook, she supposed, since the closest restaurants or delis were at least twenty miles away. Nevada wasn’t exactly brilliant in the kitchen, but if necessary she could put something edible on the table.

Humming to herself, she stepped onto the porch and immediately spotted Linc sitting a few steps away in a wooden rocker. His felt hat was pulled down over his eyes, but the moment he heard her footsteps and the creaking of the screen door closing behind her, he pushed it back on his forehead and cocked an eye at her.

“What are you doing?”

The question seemed comical to her and she laughed softly. “Does it matter?”

He scooted up from his slumped position in the chair. “No. Since you’re going to be here for a while, I can’t start worrying whether you can take care of yourself or not.”

She walked over to him. “What do you mean, take care of myself?”

He shrugged one thick shoulder. “I just meant you surely have enough sense not to do silly things. Like walk out in the woods by yourself.”

Nevada frowned. “Why shouldn’t I walk in the woods?”

He let out a long sigh. “Bears for one thing. Another, you’d turn around once and be lost. The mountains and the basins begin to all look the same. You’d probably be to the Colorado border before you realized you were going north.”

Nevada had to admit she wasn’t necessarily good with directions and as for bears, one of those hairy creatures was the last thing she wanted to meet up with.

Smiling at him, she said, “You’re probably right about that. I have to take a map with me just to find my way around Santa Fe. But that doesn’t mean I can’t get out in the woods. You’ll be along to help me find the way.”

Linc’s mouth fell open. “Bullsh—”

He stopped abruptly before he released the last of the curse word and Nevada only smiled wider.

“What’s the matter now? You don’t like to take walks?” she asked.

Linc rolled his eyes. “I use my legs for a purpose. I walk all over the ranch yard. I don’t walk for a woman’s entertainment.”

“But you’re not working down at the ranch yard now,” she sweetly pointed out. “And if it’s safe to ask, just what do you do to entertain a woman? Can you sing or play the guitar?”

He scowled. “No and no.”

“Oh,” she said with feigned disappointment. “I thought all cowboys could do those two things.”

“Only on television,” he grumbled.

“Well, I’m sure you have some talents. And I’m bound to discover what they are before I leave here.”

“Don’t bet on that.”

Laughing softly, Nevada stepped off the porch and walked to her car. Once she had the medical bag out of the trunk, she carried it to the porch and motioned for Linc to follow her inside.

“What do you have there?” he asked suspiciously without making a move to do her bidding.

“My medical bag. And there’s not a thing in here that will hurt you. So get to your feet and come along.”

“I don’t need any medicine. I’ve already taken it for today,” he said as he managed to rise to his feet without the help of his arms or hands.

The man must have rock-hard abs, Nevada thought, to raise himself up with no help from his upper limbs. But she didn’t need to be thinking about Linc Ketchum’s abs or the whipcord strength of his body. She was here to nurse, not daydream.

“I’m not going to give you any medicine,” she assured him, then shot him a little smile that was a bit wicked. “I have other things I need to do to you.”

Eying her through narrowed lashes, Linc stopped in his tracks. “Whoa now,” he said firmly. “If you think I’m going to blindly follow your orders, you’re crazy, woman.”

Nevada lifted her gaze to the ceiling of the porch and hummed a bit of a song about suspicious minds.

Linc cursed under his breath. “I’m not suspicious. I just want to know what’s going on. It’s my body after all,” he practically barked.

Compassion filled Nevada’s soft heart and with a smile she walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Linc. I was only teasing you a little. It’s a proven fact that patients get well much faster if they laugh. You really need to loosen up and let loose with a few chuckles.”

“I don’t have anything to laugh about,” he grumbled.

Nevada tugged on his arm and urged him toward the door. “Of course you do.You can laugh at me. I won’t mind at all. Besides, I have a nice surprise for you.”

As Linc allowed her to lead him into the house and then the kitchen, he didn’t question her further. He was too busy noticing how it felt to have her arm wrapped around his, her hip and thigh softly brushing against him.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d touched a woman. Apparently he’d allowed too much time to pass since he’d gone on the prowl for a little female companionship. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be having such a strong reaction to Nevada Ortiz. Sexual starvation could be the only reason he was suddenly noticing the scent of her hair and wondering what she looked like beneath her clothes.

The two of them entered the kitchen and she pointed to the table. “Okay, sit down there while I get everything ready.”

Since he was in such a vulnerable condition, it was obvious he was going to have to trust this woman completely. And if Victoria thought so highly of her, she must be a good nurse, Linc told himself. But she didn’t look or act like any nurse he’d ever known. And he didn’t feel like any normal patient would feel whenever she touched him. But that was something he was going to have to get over. And fast.

With that resolution in his head, he eased down on the long bench and rested his bandaged arms and hands on the table. Like a colorful bird flitting happily from one limb to the next, she moved around the kitchen gathering scissors, towels, tape and a bowl of yellow goop that looked like the sulfur poultices he sometimes used on his horses’ cuts and wounds.

“Before I headed out here today,” she said as she sat down next to him, “I went by Dr. Olstead’s office to pick up my orders for you. He says it’s time for you to see that you still have fingers.”

Linc’s expression was a bit confused. “I’ve seen my fingers since they were burned. I know that they’re still there.”

“Yes. But this is going to last for more than just a few minutes,” she said, then smiled broadly at his perplexed expression. “Just wait and see.”

She picked up a pair of the small scissors that she’d pulled from the medical bag and began to cut through the bandage on his right arm. The white gauze was thickly wrapped and the instrument chewed slowly as Nevada guided it through the material.

While she carefully worked over his arm, Linc studied the shiny crown of her black hair and the dark crescent of long lashes shadowing her cheeks. There wasn’t anything about the woman that wasn’t fresh and young and lovely. Everything about her glowed like a star plucked from a night sky.

“You like being a nurse?” he asked in hopes that a little conversation would take his mind to more normal things.

“Very much,” she answered. “I like helping people.”

“Is your mother a nurse?”