Last Chance Texas, page 4
“That’s a bit of an exaggeration, Nathan. Marfa’s twenty minutes from here.”
He laughed at the remark.
As she continued listening to his humorous tales about life on the farm with a houseful of children, she suddenly regretted being an only child.
“How about you, Kelsey? Brothers? Sisters?”
“Nope. Just me.”
There really wasn’t much to tell-particularly when you were an only child, and a very lonely one at that.
“I’m talking way too much, Kelsey. Sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. I like hearing about your family.”
When he smiled at the remark, she studied him, especially that dimple on the lower rim of his right cheek. Interesting. Just the right one. She watched him laugh, noting the way his eyes crinkled at the corners.
He stopped talking and quickly bowed his head, a look of embarrassment sweeping across his face. “I don’t know what’s come over me. I’m typically a man of few words.”
She knew, of course, exactly why he’d been so upfront with her. Kelsey had a knack for getting even the most introverted person to open up. At least, that’s what all her friends told her.
“Okay, I’ve talked you to death, Kelsey. Your turn.”
But when she saw Meredith walking toward them, she realized her time with Nathan was about to end.
“Well, it looks as though the bus is about to leave. It’s probably just about time for the first poetry event to begin.”
When she stood up, Nathan jumped to his feet. He stared at her intently, his steely eyes penetrating her. He cleared his throat and spoke, his voice faltering as though he was uncertain of himself. “Any chance I could get your phone number?”
The comment caught her by surprise.
He reached into his pocket, pulling out a business card. “You could write it on the back of this.”
Flattered he wanted to see her again, she quickly scribbled down the number and handed it back to him.
As he studied the number for several seconds, his eyebrows arched slightly, Kelsey considered he might be contemplating his next move. She didn’t know the guy all that well, but she suspected he wasn’t particularly good at this.
Staring directly into her eyes, he reached for her hand. Between the way he was touching her and the husky tone in his voice, she felt a rush of disappointment that they’d be parting ways. He’d asked for her number, but that didn’t really mean he’d call her.
“Know what I was thinking?”
“No.” Her voice felt thick as she waited for him to continue. She almost hoped they weren’t on the same wave length because if they were, she was in trouble.
“I’ve got a couple of horses I need to inoculate. I was thinking since you’re a nurse, you could go on rounds with me.” When he smiled at his own remark, she realized the man was probably incapable of thinking up clever things to say to women.
There was, of course, no reason on the planet a nurse could be of any use to a man who worked with large animals. He definitely wasn’t very smooth. And yet, on some level, that made him all the more appealing.
“I don’t know . . .”
“I do.” His steely eyes bore through her as he waited for her to accept his invitation. “I think you should take me up on my offer, Kelsey. What do ya say?”
She was going out on a limb here, and she suspected Nathan knew it. Something was happening here-there was a connection she couldn’t explain. If she agreed to spend the rest of the day with him, no telling what would happen. She liked him that much.
“How about it, Kelsey? Will you come with me?”
She swallowed several times, the thickness in her throat returning. A full minute passed before she gave him her answer.
~ ~ ~
When Nathan backed his truck out of the parking lot of the chuckwagon, Kelsey glanced over at him before quickly looking away. Given the fact she’d hemmed and hawed about accompanying him on morning rounds, it’d surprised him when she’d finally agreed to go.
He’d driven half a mile before he got up the nerve to tell her. “We need to stop by the house for a minute. The meds for the horses are in the fridge. I need them before we head over to the Randall place. Hope this doesn’t throw you off schedule.”
“No, no, that’s fine.” While Kelsey had initially seemed more than willing to accompany him earlier, her quiet demeanor led him to conclude she might be having misgivings. While he hadn’t exactly forced her to go with him, it was growing more apparent she might be having second thoughts.
By the time they pulled into his driveway, he realized this could prove to be a long morning. For a woman who’d been so attentive to what he’d told her during breakfast, Kelsey seemed distant now as she continued staring out the truck window.
He brought the vehicle to a stop and quickly unlatched his door. The meds were in his office-Mimi’s old trailer. He wouldn’t invite Kelsey in. That would really scare her off.
Besides, if he went into the clinic alone, it would give him a chance to clear his head. To decide exactly when the right moment would be to tell her that Mimi’s property was staring her right in the face.
Could it really be possible she didn’t know?
Maybe she wouldn’t even want the damn property. Things were getting complicated, and the attraction he felt for her wasn’t exactly helping matters.
Still, if she fought him for the property, he’d never give it to her. Not in a million years. People came and went. But not land. Land you had forever.
“Mind if I come in with you?” Her request startled him and before he could come up with a valid reason not to invite her inside, she’d begun opening her truck door.
He raced around to the passenger’s side to help Kelsey out. As she slid out of the seat, he reached for her. In his haste to guide her, his hands brushed up against her breasts.
Their eyes locked for several seconds as he heard himself exhale. “Sorry.”
She quickly hurried toward his office, as though afraid he might try something.
“Go ahead in. It’s open,” he hollered.
By the time he’d said it, she was already inside. He followed her, wondering what she’d think of his rustic looking office.
She’d stopped dead in her tracks and was staring at several animal heads he’d mounted to the walls. Glancing about, he scanned the office, hoping she wouldn’t notice the dust accumulating on the certificates hanging haphazardly about his office. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d cleaned the place. But up until now, it really hadn’t mattered.
“Oh, Nathan. It’s awesome!”
To him the office was a typical vet clinic-cages strewn about, metal examining tables, the usual. Plus the dust, of course. But Kelsey appeared almost intrigued by it all as she canvassed the area.
When he heard the kittens in the next room mewing, he wondered if Kelsey was an animal lover.
“You have kittens?” Before he could stop her, she’d charged into the kennel area.
Without waiting for him, she opened the cage. When two kittens nearly tumbled out, she gasped.
She was kneeling down now, cooing at what was left of the litter. Turning to face him, she spoke. “Oh, they’re precious.”
When he smiled, she reached for the tiny calico. Lifting it gently into the air, she scrunched up her face, talking in that baby tone generally reserved for newborns. “Oh, you are just such a little cutie pie.”
He caught himself gaping at how low her jeans were cut, and quickly looked away. But just for a second. From this angle she looked absolutely perfect. Perfect derriere, hour glass waist, and of course, those perfectly rounded breasts he’d brushed up against.
He had no right to look at her this way. He barely knew her. Still, he couldn’t help himself.
As she continued playing with the kitten, he decided to go get the meds. “Well, I’ll just leave the two of you alone. I need to grab the meds.”
After he said it, Kelsey laughed. He’d remember her laugh for a long time. It had a lilt to it that invited you to laugh right along with her. Most called it an infectious laugh. But then, everything about Kelsey was infectious.
Several minutes later, she joined him in the waiting room. “Are you boarding the kittens?” The comment reminded him of many he’d heard over the years. It was almost like a remark a child might use when preparing to ask their parents for a pet.
“They’re strays. I’ll sell them to the highest bidder.”
Although the remark was pretty lame, she smiled.
“Well, I may just take you up on that. You know, you really should name the calico. You should call her Carly. She looks like a Carly.”
He shrugged, uncertain why the calico resembled someone named Carly. “We should probably get going.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right.”
“I’m really glad you’re here, Kelsey.”
“Me too.” Her voice was barely a whisper as she stood quietly, her arms at her sides.
On impulse, he placed both his hands on her shoulders.
“Like you said, Nathan, we’d probably better get going.” Her deep colored eyes held a haunting look now, and he hoped he wasn’t scaring her off. She appeared so vulnerable it took his breath away.
He thought of the old cartoons he’d watched as a child. The one with temptation rearing its ugly head while an angel stood on the one side of you; the devil dressed in red donning a pitchfork on the other.
Common sense told him he was pressing his luck, backing her into a corner like this, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. When he tightened his grip on her, she shuddered.
Before he even realized what he was doing, he’d begun lifting her up onto the metal table.
As her luminous, dark eyes gazed into his, he tried to decide if she was on board with this or scared to death. He’d never been an expert at reading women, particularly ones he was so attracted to. He could feel his palms sweating as he tried to decide whether or not she wanted him to kiss her.
When she parted her legs, he moved closer. Beneath her sweater he could see her nipples harden. She smiled weakly, an indication she wasn’t trying to stop him.
He moved slowly. It’d been awhile.
Leaning into her, he kissed her slowly, and she responded just as he’d hoped. As she opened her mouth, he gently slid his tongue inside.
He inhaled the sweetness of her breath as they kissed, first tentatively, and then deliberately. She uttered something he couldn’t understand and when she began running her hands up and down his back, he felt himself grow hard with desire.
“Wanna come into the house for a while?” He was careful not to use the term bedroom.
After he said it, her eyes pooled. “Yes.”
As she jumped from the table, he caught her, wrapping his arms about her as tightly as humanly possible.
~ ~ ~
Kelsey wrapped her arms about Nathan’s neck as he pressed his mouth against her throat, murmuring something she couldn’t quite make out. The heat of his mouth left her breathless as she tried to decide whether or not to slow things down. But as much as she wanted Nathan Wainwright to drag her upstairs to his bed and have his way with her, she decided that didn’t generally end well for her.
And truthfully, Nathan didn’t seem the type to engage in a one night stand. Although, judging by how enamored he seemed to be at the prospect of bedding her, she could be wrong.
“Something wrong?” He pulled away suddenly and stared at her, his eyes searching hers. “Kelsey, if you don’t want to do this . . .”
“It isn’t that.” She was lying, of course. It was exactly that.
Her original intention had been to attend the poetry gathering with Meredith and Rachel and then meet with the real estate developer she’d spoken to about Mimi’s property.
She’d taken a one hundred eighty degree turn and instead of sticking with her initial plan, she’d ditched the girls and was making out with a guy she’d known less than twenty-four hours. Deviating so far from her initial plan wasn’t sitting well with her. It was already Friday. They’d be heading back to Dallas on Sunday and so far, she hadn’t accomplished anything she set out to.
Nathan’s face looked pinched as he backed away from her. “You’re not on board with this, are you?”
As she glanced about his office, she focused on the veterinary license hanging on the wall she struggled to think of a way to avoid hurting him. She didn’t want to do this. But judging by how aroused Nathan had become, he definitely did.
“Nathan, we barely know each other.”
He exhaled sharply, and released his grip. His breathing which had grown ragged slowly began returning to normal, and judging by the look of bewilderment in those enormous, gray eyes of his, she suspected she’d confused him. As he closed his eyes, she struggled to think of how she could possibly avoid hurting him.
“You’re right, Kelsey, we just met. I came back here to get the vials for the horses, and that’s what I should have done. I’m sorry for getting so distracted.” His breathing continued to be labored, and she decided it took great willpower on his part to behave himself.
She expected Nathan to be indignant that she let him get this far and then ended up pushing him away. But that didn’t happen. Instead, he was placing the blame squarely on himself, assuming full responsibility.
“It’s okay.”
“Although, you tend to make a guy forget about what he set out to do.” Nathan laughed after he said it, and she found it odd he spoke about himself in third person now. Maybe things were moving too fast for him as well.
As much as it frustrated her, on some level, it came as a relief that he considered himself equally at fault for the two of them nearly ending up in bed together.
The sea of emotion she felt for him rumbled up inside her. Confused as hell. That’s what she was. Confused as hell.
There. It had a name. Confusion.
When she heard the calico mew in the background, her heart softened. She wondered how many strays Nathan took in. As men went, Nathan Wainwright seemed like a pretty decent guy. But truth be told, she barely knew him. And despite the attraction she felt for him, she made the decision to avoid getting into another relationship. She’d have this baby alone. Just like she’d planned.
Walking over to the fridge, Nathan reached for several vials and stuffed them into the pockets of his jeans. He quickly turned to face her, his deep gray eyes searching her. “We should get going. I told Irene Randall we’d be over around eleven.”
We. That meant he expected Kelsey to keep her promise and go with him on morning rounds.
Her head pounded as she tried to think of a gracious way to turn him down. But the truth was she didn’t want to. Not really. As he stood facing her, fists knotted, she realized she could come up with a host of reasons not to go with him.
But as she thought back to the gentleness of his kisses, the heat of his breath against her throat, and the musky lingering smell of his aftershave, she decided to follow her heart. It generally got her into trouble, but her visit to Alpine would be but a distant memory after the weekend. And really, in the scheme of things, what could possibly happen in a weekend?
Against her better judgment, Kelsey nodded and followed him as he headed outside toward his truck.
Chapter 4
Kelsey sat in the front seat of Nathan’s truck, twisting several strands of her hair as they barreled across the countryside toward the Randall farm. She hadn’t the heart to turn him down, and frankly, she wasn’t certain she wanted to. As he gripped the steering wheel tightly, she caught herself staring at the muscles in his forearms.
When he glanced over at her, his gray eyes held a glint. She quickly turned away, embarrassed she’d been staring.
Aware she’d spent far too much time thinking about a man she’d just met, Kelsey reminded her for the umpteenth time that she’d come to claim the land. The land that would get her that baby she wanted. That’s all that mattered.
He leaned forward, cranking the radio up a notch, and the sound of country music penetrated the air waves. They’d driven several miles when he said, “I can switch the station if you’d like.”
The guy wasn’t exactly a natural when it came to carrying on a conversation. Although he’d overwhelmed her with information about his family when they were at the chuckwagon, he now seemed to be struggling to hold down a conversation. Of course, given the fact the two of them had pawed at one another like love-sick teenagers less than an hour ago, small wonder things were awkward.
“No, no. I’m fine with country music. I actually kind of like it.”
“We’re almost there. It’s just down the road.” As the truck pitched wildly about, Nathan tried to maneuver it across the array of potholes.
“Sorry for the rough ride,” his said. His voice shook as the truck bounced around.
She looked outside at the barren landscape, wondering what people this far from civilization did to amuse themselves. Alpine had an array of shops and restaurants, but once you got outside the city limits, things looked pretty bare. The antelopes grazing inside the rusted, broken down pasture fences brought a song to mind she’d heard as a child about the deer and the antelope playing. She suspected everyone out in these parts probably knew the song by heart.
