Chase 'n' Ana (4 page)

“It is,” she said and turned away to hide a grin. For someone who had agonized

over her decision all night, she was feeling remarkably cheerful today. She was by

nature an optimistic, take-it-as-it-comes kind of person. But she thought her today’s

high spirits were connected with the dream she’d had of her grandfather.

Her grandfather had been dead for ten years. He died doing what he loved. Riding

a bull. He was working with some young aspiring riders and was thrown and

trampled. Ana thought it was a horrible way to die, but something told her that her

grandfather wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Just before waking, she dreamed about being at his home in the mountains of North

Carolina. It was dawn. Light was just beginning to filter down through the canopy of

trees as they followed a deer path. He stopped and turned to her. “You don’t need me

to show you the way anymore, Little Cat. You can follow a trail as well as I, and your

heart will tell you when you’ve lost your way. It’s time for you to trust yourself to know

the wise course and to stand on your own.”

“But I don’t want to,” she replied. “I make bad choices, Grandfather. I trust the

wrong people and end up getting disappointed and hurt.”

“True disappointment and hurt comes from mistrust, Ana. When you cut yourself

off from your own spirit and give less than what you are capable of giving, you become

a person who not only forgets how to trust, but you become unworthy of the trust of

others. Better to have given freely and be disappointed than refuse to give and miss

what might be the greatest joy in life.”

“Maybe.” She knew he was right. She couldn’t let one bad apple spoil the bunch, as

her mother was fond of saying. “But it’s hard to get rid of the fear.”

“Fear is good, Ana. It keeps our senses sharp. But being a victim to fear is living a

coward’s life. You must give in to it—urge it to come and when it does, feel it pass

through you. And when it has passed, look around and realize that the fear is gone but

you are still standing. Then that fear can never again control you, for you have realized

that fear itself is not the enemy.”

Ana went to him and wrapped her arms around him, pressing the side of her face

against his broad chest. “Why can’t there be someone like you out there for me?

Someone wise and strong. Someone who will love me for me, and not for who they

want me to be?”

“Who says there isn’t, Little Cat? Now come, it’s time for us to part. Give your old

grandfather a smile.”

Ana drew back to look up at him. He kissed her on the forehead and then she woke.

Now she thought about the dream and wondered if it was nothing more than her

own mind conjuring things that she would find comfort in, or if it was more. And how

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Ciana Stone

did a cowboy who seemed conjured from her dreams fit into the picture. Thoughtfully,

she looked over at Chase.

Chase was lost in thoughts of his own. Thoughts regarding Ana and the situation

he found himself in. He glanced over at her, surprised to find her watching him. For a

moment their eyes locked, then Chase looked away. Something about Ana unnerved

him and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what. Sure, she could give him a hardon with a look, but that was just hormones talking. He’d met plenty of women who

turned him on and never once had he not failed to lose the thrill once he’d slept with

them. He figured it would be the same with Ana. If he had her just once then her ability

to give him a rock-hard dick with a bat of her golden eyes would disappear.

No, he decided. It wasn’t the sex thing that perplexed him. It was something else.

He’d figure it out sooner or later. Right now he had to think about the plans he’d made

to house Ana while she recuperated.

He’d shot off his mouth before he’d considered what he was saying when he

offered to put her up. One thing he’d learned way back was to never bring a date home.

Not that Ana was a date, but the principle still applied.

Chase had been fortunate enough to be born into a family of prestige and wealth.

That fortune carried a price, however. There were a lot of females who fell more in love

with the idea of money than the man, and Chase had long ago had his fill of that kind of

woman. To prevent repeat performances, he’d made a practice of not letting on who his

family was, and never, never took a woman to his family home. If he ever found a

woman who truly wanted him for who he was and not who his family was then he’d

introduce them to the family. Until then, he was just a simple rodeo cowboy with a few

horses.

He owned a spread adjacent to the Circle R, his family’s sprawling ranch, and that’s

where he spent a good deal of his time. The Circle R covered more than 30,000 acres of

the mountains of Graham County. Bordered to the west by Aravaipa Canyon

Wilderness, to the east by national forests, and to the north by the San Carlos Indian

reservation, it was a land rich with diverse wildlife. Black bear, deer, desert bighorn

sheep, bobcat, mountain lions, javelina and coatimundi were just a sampling of the

animals Chase had seen while growing up on the Circle R.

Chase inherited his land from his mother’s family. It comprised only five thousand

acres, but was unique in that it bordered a historic ghost town.

He figured he must have inherited more from his mother than he realized. From

what Clara, the housekeeper who raised him at the Circle R had told him, Charity

Hawks had never been comfortable at the Big House, as she called it. Charity would

rather have been in a pair of horse-shit-stained jeans and boots, training a new horse

than be inside having tea with the society folks.

Chase was the same. He could clean up pretty good when the situation demanded,

but if he could get out of being gussied up then all the better.

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Chase ‘n’ Ana

He cut a look over at Ana. She had adjusted so that Cody could stand across her lap

and both of them had their heads hung out the window. Ana’s eyes were closed, her

face tilted up, the wind whipping her long hair like strands of black silk.

A twinge in his gut made Chase turn away. The last thing he needed was to let

himself get worked up over this woman. He didn’t know the first thing about her and

he made it a policy to measure his passion with a strong dose of caution.

Ana looped her arm around Cody’s thick neck and looked out over the unfamiliar

landscape. Arizona was about a different as it came from her home in the mountains of

North Carolina. Accustomed to a preponderance of lush green and towering trees, it

made the scenery seem almost alien. But it was not the vacant desert she had expected.

Mountainous and rough, there was a beauty to it that called to her and she longed to

get out and touch the earth, feel its energy and explore the area.

She spotted Fergi and grinned. “Look, Cody,” she whispered to the dog and

pointed at the hawk paralleling their course from several hundred feet above them.

“That’s Fergi. You’ll love her. Only never, never, never try to lick her.”

Cody barked in acknowledgement and Ana laughed and hugged him.

When the truck slowed, she pulled her head back inside the cab to look across

Chase to the opposite side of the road. A lone road turned to the left, winding through

the brush and disappearing into a bend at a thick stand of trees. As they turned onto the

road, Cody barked once and started prancing on the seat. Ana laughed at his excitement

and hugged him, a little excited herself to get her first look at their destination.

Chase suppressed a grin. Ana looked about as excited as Cody. She was leaning

forward in the seat, her neck stretched up as if to give herself a better view of what was

around the next turn. He kept an eye on her as they rounded a bend in the road and the

house came into view.

Her eyes widened and a big smile took shape on her face. The moment the truck

came to a stop she was out the door, Cody one step behind, jumping around her

excitedly as she turned ‘round and ‘round, her eyes raking over everything in sight.

“It’s so beautiful!” she exclaimed, continuing to move and look. “You’re so lucky. Is

that yours? The barn back there, behind the house? Oh my! Are those horses yours?”

Before Chase had a chance to answer, she was headed toward the fence. “Oh, you

beautiful boy.” She reached the fence and extended her hand to Nightmare, a threeyear-old stallion no one had yet been able to break.

“Ana, no!” Chase raced after her. One thing Nightmare was not, was friendly. He’d

as soon bite your hand off as breathe.

“What?” She had already climbed up on the bottom rung of the fence and swung

her leg over the top rail with her hand on Nightmare’s nose.

Chase stopped dead in his tracks. “Uh, just be careful.”

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Ciana Stone

“I’m not an invalid, silly.” She dismissed the warning and turned her attention back

to Nightmare. “You beautiful boy,” she crooned, lifting his head up to breathe into his

face. “I wish I had something to give you.” She stroked him then turned to Chase. “Do

you think I could feed him something sometime? What are his favorites? Apples? My

grandfather used to have a horse a lot like this that couldn’t get enough apples. He’d eat

it out of your mouth if you weren’t careful. What’s this guy’s name? Do you ride him?

Do you think I could?”

Chase laughed, wondering if Ana ever asked just one question. “First off, his name

is Nightmare and—”

“Nightmare?” she blurted indignantly. “What a horrible thing to do to a being as

magnificent as this! That’s just mean. You could give him a complex or something.” She

turned back to the horse. “Don’t worry. I’m not calling you that. I’ll call you…ummmm,

let’s see…I’ll call you Zephyros. That’s the West Wind god in Greek mythology. Now I

know you’re not Greek, but we are sort of in the West and I bet you’re fast as the wind.

So what do you think? Zephyros?”

Ana waited patiently for the horse to give her a sign. When he did not move she

scrunched up her nose and pursed her lips, her brows drawing together. After a

moment she smiled. “Okay, then how about West Wind? Does that sound good?”

Chase nearly fainted when Nightmare tossed his head and whinnied. Ana grinned

and leaned out from the rail to put her arms around the horse’s neck and hug him.

Chase was sure she was going to fall off the rail and leapt over to put his hands on her

waist to steady her. When he did, Nightmare jerked and pranced. Ana was thrown off

balance and would have gone face first into the corral if Chase hadn’t wrapped one arm

around her slim waist and pulled her to him, cupping his free arm beneath her legs as

she swung off the fence to him.

“Youch!” she yelped at the pressure of his arm around her back and his hand

gripping her at the ribs.

“Sorry.” He went to set her down and she kind of slithered down his body in this

fluid, sinuous way that made the blood rush out of his head and straight to his dick.

With one arm still up around his neck, her breasts flattened out against his chest and

her head tilted back to look up at him, it was enough to tempt a priest. Which he was

not.

Ana saw the darkness in Chase’s eyes intensify and felt his body go rigid against

her, and for a moment it was all she could do not to pull his head down to her so she

could taste those full lips. But the look that came on his face spoke of thunderclouds,

and wariness joined the desire, battling for control. Unsure whether to jump him or run

from him, she compromised and took a step back.

“Why don’t we get you settled, then I can show you around,” Chase suggested,

ending the moment.

“Sure,” Ana agreed gratefully.

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Chase ‘n’ Ana

He got her things from the truck and led her to the house. She was stunned when

she walked inside. She had been expecting something very bachelor, not the homey,

comfortable surroundings that met her eyes. The only thing that seemed to be missing

was family photos. Nowhere she looked did she see a single picture.

Thinking that he just wasn’t into that sort of thing, she let him give her a tour of the

house. Aside from the living area, or den, as he called it, there was a kitchen with a

small dinette area, a laundry room off to one side of the kitchen, two bedrooms and one

bathroom.

Chase gestured for her to enter one of the bedrooms and he followed, putting her

duffel bag down on the quilt-covered bed and placing the two other bags on the floor.

Ana looked around and wondered who had selected the furniture for this room. It had

a woman’s feel to it. That was the only way she could explain it. It felt like the room was

filled with things that had belonged to and been important to a woman.

She dismissed the idea as Chase spoke. “So, do you want to take a nap or lie down

and rest? The doctor said you should go easy on those ribs for a few weeks, and the

same thing goes for your right leg.”

“Nope, I’m fine. But if you have things to do don’t let me get in the way. Just tell me

what you want me to do and then you can go on about your business.”

Chase’s mind had filled with all sorts of tantalizing images the moment she said