Her Rugged Rancher

Dark color swept up his neck while the frown on his face deepened. And watching his reaction, Bella could only wonder if she’d gone crazy. The man clearly didn’t want her around. Any sensible woman would proudly lift her chin and walk away. But there was something in his eyes that made her stand her ground. A bleak, desperate look that called to her heart.

He blew out a long breath. “I wasn’t expecting you, that’s all.”

She stepped off the porch and walked over to him. “I apologize for showing up unannounced. But it’s a lovely afternoon and I was getting very tired of my own company.”

* * *

Then why didn’t she drive down to her brother’s house, where she could find plenty of company? Noah wanted to ask. Why didn’t she get on her horse, ride off and leave him alone?

If Noah was smart, he’d do more than ask her those questions. He’d tell her outright that he didn’t want her around here messing with his mind, making him feel things he didn’t want to feel. But he couldn’t bring himself to utter any of those things to her.

Just seeing her again was making his heart thump with foolish pleasure. Hearing her sweet voice was like the trickle of a cool stream to a man lost in the desert. He couldn’t forbid himself those pleasures. Even if they might eventually hurt him.

“Well, it just so happens I have enough food to share.” He gestured toward the open door. “If you’d like to go in, I’ll see about making another patty for the grill.”

“Thanks. I would like.”

Noah followed her inside the cabin and moved to one side as she stopped in the middle of the room to glance curiously around her. He could only wonder what she thought about the log walls, low-beamed ceiling and planked floor, much less the simple furnishings. But then, he’d not invited her up here for a visit, he thought. She’d invited herself.

“This is cozy. And so much cooler than outside,” she commented, then glanced at the short row of cabinets built into the east wall of the room. “Those are nice. Did you help build them?”

Did she actually believe he might be that talented? The idea very nearly made him smile, but he stopped himself short. What the hell was he doing? He didn’t smile at women. He didn’t even like them. Not after the hell Camilla had put him through.

“I helped measure and hammer a few nails, but not much more than that. When it comes to carpenter work I can do a few repair jobs, but nothing major.”

She said, “I made a little doghouse once with the help of my grandfather. It turned out pretty good, but the darned dog never would get in it. Probably because Grandmother kept letting him in the house.”

The main ranch yard of the J Bar S sat just across from Jett’s house. While Bella had lived there, Noah had often spotted her going to her car as she left for work in the mornings. And sometimes late in the evening as he’d dealt with barn chores, he’d seen her return. She would always be wearing dresses and high heels and carrying a leather briefcase. With that image fixed in his mind, it was hard enough to accept she was a competent horsewoman, much less imagine her using a hammer and nails.

“Sounds like your grandmother spoiled your project,” he said.

“Not really. My cats used it.”

He inclined his head in the direction of the windows. “I don’t get much sunlight in here. I’ll turn on a lamp.”

“Don’t bother on my account. I can see fine.”

Noah wasn’t having any trouble seeing, either. Yet he was having a problem deciding if the vision standing in his cabin was real or imagined. Other than Jett and a couple of the other ranch hands, he’d never had visitors up here. And bringing a woman home was definitely off-limits. How Bella had managed to be here was a different matter. But she was here just the same and for now he’d try to deal with the situation as best he could without being rude.

“Have a seat. The couch is a little hard. You might find the chair more comfortable.”

“Thanks, but I’ll sit later. Let me help you with the hamburger meat. I can make the patty.”

She followed him over to the kitchen area and though she stood a few steps away from him, Noah felt completely smothered by her presence.

“I’ll do it,” he told her. “You’re a guest.”

Laughing softly, she leaned her hip against the cabinet counter. Noah tried not to notice how her jeans hugged the ample curve of her hips and thighs and the way her blouse draped the thrust of her breasts. And even when he looked away, the image was still so strong in his mind it practically choked him.

“I’m not a guest,” she reasoned. “I’m just a neighbor who’s intruded on your privacy. But thanks for letting me.”

Why did she have to be so nice? Why couldn’t she be one of those spoiled, abrasive women that got on everyone’s nerves? Why couldn’t she be a woman who considered herself too good to come near his cabin, much less enter it? Then he wouldn’t be having this problem. He wouldn’t be wanting to throw caution to the wind and let himself simply enjoy her company. Instead, she was warm and sweet. And just having her near filled him with a hollow ache.

“Well, I don’t normally have company. Uninvited or otherwise,” he told her. “So my manners are a little rusty. I’m afraid you’ll have to overlook them.”

He glanced her way to see she was smiling and for a moment his gaze focused on her dark pink lips and white teeth. That mouth would taste as good as her voice sounded, he imagined.

“Who’s worried about manners? You and I are family,” she said. “Well, practically. You’ve been here on the ranch longer than I have. We just never had the opportunity to talk much. When I was still living with Jett, you would stop by, but never say a word to me. I’m glad you’re being much nicer today.”

He laid a portion of ground meat onto a piece of wax paper and smashed it flat. “A guy like me doesn’t have anything interesting to say to a lady like you.”

From the corner of his eye he watched her move a step closer. “Lady? I’ve not had a man call me that in a long time, Noah. Thank you.”

Her voice had taken on a husky note and the sound slipped over him like a warm blanket in the middle of a cold night.

“That’s hard to believe, Bella.”

She shrugged. “Not really. Men aren’t very chivalrous nowadays. At least, not the ones I cross paths with. Maybe that’s because of my profession. In the courtroom they see me as an adversary. Not a lady.”

“Jett says you worked hard to get your degree. He also says you’re good at your job.”

“Jett is obviously biased. But I can credit him for getting me in the law profession. When I was growing up, I never dreamed of being a lawyer. But after Marcus and I divorced the course of my life changed. Jett got me interested in being a paralegal and from there I guess you could say I caught the bug to be in the courtroom.”

Her gaze fell awkwardly to the floor and it suddenly dawned on Noah that every aspect of this woman’s life hadn’t been filled with success. She’d endured her own troubles with the opposite sex. And though he’d heard Jett label his ex-brother-in-law as a liar and a cheat, Noah had never questioned the man about Bella’s divorce or how it had affected her. It was none of his business. But that didn’t stop him from wondering how much she’d really loved the guy.

Or whether she was finally over him.

Chapter Three (#ulink_d00e7a4e-b945-5456-988c-84d71aba1264)

Clearing his throat, Noah said, “Excuse me, Bella, but I’d better take this out to the grill. It’s probably hot enough to put the burgers on now.”

“Sounds good,” she told him. “I’ll join you.”

She followed him out of the cabin and around to the back. Although there were only a few clumps of grass growing here and there over the sloping ground, he kept it neatly mown. For a makeshift patio, he’d put together four flat rocks. On one corner of the space, he’d erected a small charcoal grill atop a folding table.

A few steps away sat a lawn chair made of bent willow limbs and cushioned with a folded horse blanket. Near it lay a huge pine trunk that had fallen long before Noah had ever moved into the cabin. The smooth, weathered log made a playground for squirrels and chipmunks and a seat where he often drank his morning coffee.

While he positioned the patties on the hot grill, Bella ambled a few feet away where the forest opened up to a view of bald desert mountains in the distance.

“Are those mountains on Jett’s land?” she asked.

It surprised Noah to hear her call it Jett’s land. He’d always suspected that she was a partial owner in the ranch, but apparently he’d supposed wrong.

“No. They look close, but they’re at least ten miles away. Why do you ask?”

“Just curious. This is going to sound silly, but there are places on this ranch that I’ve never seen. Especially since Jett and Sassy bought the adjoining land a few years ago.”

“You obviously knew your way to the cabin,” he said.