Faith in the Cowboy (Taming the Cowboy) (3 page)

“Hey, how did it go?” he asked, looking so good, his blond hair falling forward when he draped his hands over the steering wheel.

The smile he flashed gave her a burst of courage. “Fine. What did you do with your time?”

“I went to the outdoor mall down the street.”

That amused her enough to push her sorrow aside. “You went shopping?”

“I mostly went sitting in the outdoor restaurant watching people.”

“Watching pretty girls, you mean?” She didn’t know why the thought gave her a pang.

He grinned and looked over his shoulder to check for traffic before pulling onto the street. “There was that.” Once they were on the road, he glanced at her. “Want to get something to eat?”

“You said you just spent your time at a restaurant.”

“So I know it’s good, and you probably haven’t eaten.”

She hadn’t, but she hadn’t been in a restaurant in...she couldn’t remember the last time. She couldn’t justify the expense.

“Come on, looks like you could use a drink.”

“I—can’t.”

He gave another considering look as they stopped at the light. “Can’t? Or don’t want to?”

“Can’t.”

“Are you afraid of me, Teresa?”

“What? No.” She surprised herself at her honesty. She should be afraid of him. He was enormous and ran in front of bulls, for God’s sake.

“Then let’s go have a drink, have something to eat. You’re not in any hurry to get back.”

She drew in a breath. She should have Liam look at her car. She needed it for Monday morning, and if it needed a new battery or something, she had to take care of that.

Instead, she looked at the big man beside her, a man who wanted to spend time with her. “Okay,” she said, and felt like she’d just made the biggest decision of the year.

A few minutes later they were sitting at the same outdoor restaurant he said he’d just left. The waitresses recognized him and greeted him cheerfully.

Her, not so much.

“You want a beer or something?” he asked when they were seated.

“I’ll take a margarita.” She hadn’t had a margarita in a restaurant in eons, though Grace occasionally made them at home for movie night.

“What flavor?” the waitress asked, presenting a drink menu with options Teresa had never considered.

After a long period of deliberation, she closed the menu and looked up at the waitress. “I’d like a swirl.”

When the waitress walked away, Teresa looked shyly at West, who was grinning.

“What?”

“Nothing. A good compromise.”

She was definitely getting better at those. The waitress brought the drink just as the tightness in her shoulders became too much to bear. She wished she could be like West and just lounge there in a chair, watching the world go by in comfortable silence, not feel like she needed to carry on a conversation. The minute the waitress put the giant heavy glass in front of her—very pretty with its colors spiraling—she shoved her straw in it. She took a deep draw.

Flavors exploded on her tongue just before the cold hit her brain. She slapped a hand to her temple, as if that would stop the pain.

West covered her hand with his, his calluses rough on her skin, totally distracting her from the brain-freeze.

“Touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth. That’ll make it stop.”

Her eyes felt as if they would sink into the back of her head, so she squeezed them shut. The added bonus meant she wasn’t looking into his eyes, because she could feel the blush creeping up her throat. At least it was burning away the brain freeze.

She eased away from his touch, keeping her gaze on the margarita, and took another sip.

He chuckled. “Maybe you can go into the ring with the bulls. You don’t shy away from anything.”

“I’m a coward,” she said into her drink, dragging her straw along the side so that the spiraling colors became ripples.

“Why do you say that?”

She looked at him, not changing her posture. “I can’t even correct my own daughter. She’s seven, and I’m afraid to correct her, afraid she won’t love me anymore if I tell her what she’s doing is wrong, or rude.”

“What happened?” He sat back and picked up his bottle of beer.

She shook her head. “You don’t want to hear. I’m sorry I brought it up.” She took another sip and felt it hit the bottom of her empty stomach. Warmth started to spread through her veins.

“Tell me, Teresa.”

She waved a hand. “All we did was watch television. I wait all week to see her, and we sit in front of the television for four hours. Her grandmother sits there with us, watching us, watching me, making sure I feel uncomfortable with my own child. My child, who I should be able to tell to turn off the TV, who I should be able to tell she’s being selfish. But her grandmother encourages it, and it’s not my home, not my right.” She took a deep drink.

“You need to take her somewhere. Away from her grandmother. Just the two of you.”

“I’m not allowed. I have to have supervised visits.”

“What?” He shifted closer, arms on the table. “I can’t imagine you did something so serious that you’d need that.”

“I’m poor,” she said sharply, then lifted up her hand as if to erase the words. “That is, I didn’t have money for a lawyer until recently. I’m not—I’m not destitute or anything. Layla—Emily’s grandmother—just has more money than me, and could hire a lawyer, while all I could do was watch.”

“You have a lawyer now, don’t you? Get him to change your visitation requirements. Get Emily out of the house, away from her grandmother. You’ll both be happier.”

Teresa straightened when the waitress put her sandwich in front of her. “I have to do something. My daughter’s becoming a stranger.”

*****

Teresa couldn’t remember the last time she’d been relaxed, but on the drive back to the ranch, she felt like she was melting into the leather seats of the truck. West put on the radio and she found herself singing along.

He joined in, and wow, that sent a zing through her. He had a great voice, and something about a man that could sing, that
would
sing, made her giddy. Made parts of her body that had just been, well, body parts, electrify and come back to life.

The song was sexy as sin, too, about spending the night together, about skin and tangled sheets. She shouldn’t be singing it, but she loved this song, though the words had never meant anything before today.

What would he do if she leaned over and kissed him? Rubbed her hand over that wide chest to ease the itch in her palm, to feel his heat, to discover if he had chest hair?

She really wanted him to have chest hair.

Oh, God, why? Okay, she knew why. That margarita. And the fact that he was gorgeous. And nice. And had helped her into the truck. She could still feel the heat of his hands on her waist.

More, more, more, her body chanted.

She couldn’t attack him, not after he’d been so kind to her. But she couldn’t stop thinking about sliding her fingers through his hair, wondering if it was as soft as it looked. She grabbed onto her seatbelt to give her curious fingers something to do.

“You have a nice voice,” he said when the radio went to commercial.

“Thanks. I like to sing. I used to sing with Emily all the time. Not that song, though.” She flashed a smile when he glanced over, and wow, another zing. She liked those zings. A lot.

He changed the station, and she recognized a Luke Bryan song. She bounced in her seat and he released the dial with a smile when she started singing along, keeping up with the rapid-fire lyrics, ignoring that it was a song about a girl dancing to seduce a man. He joined in on the chorus, and she wondered if he was just singing, or if he was inviting her to perform for him.

No, she was just imagining things. Even if she wasn’t, she’d learned her lesson about the damage a charming man could do.

He pulled into the driveway of the ranch as the song ended, and the cab of the truck was decidedly warmer. She barely waited for him to stop the truck before she swung the door open and hopped out.

“Thank you, West, for everything. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She’d hide in her room until then.

“Teresa, wait.” He turned off the engine and opened his door as she closed hers. “Let me have your keys and I’ll look at your car.”

She turned to face him, still backing toward the house. “Thank you, but you’ve done enough.”

“You’re going to have to get it fixed before school Monday,” he pointed out. “Give me your keys. I’ll let you know what I find.”

Reality pushed through the mellow haze. She supposed that was true, but she didn’t want to ask it of him. Didn’t want to ask it of anyone. But someone did have to look at it. Not for the first time, she resolved to take an auto repair class. This time, no excuses.She stepped forward, drawing her keys from her front pocket.

“Thank you,” she said as she dropped them on the seat just out of his reach, and turned to hurry into the house.

*****

Teresa stood on the front porch for a moment, and looked at West’s dark RV. It was late—Lord, she had only meant to lie down for a moment before going back out to help him with her car. That had been three hours ago.

She pushed her hair back from her face and wondered if she was too late. He’d probably gone into town. It was Saturday night, after all, and he was a handsome single guy.

But no, there was his truck. So why were the lights off in his RV?

She stepped off the porch and caught movement out of the corner of her eye, near the barn. The flow of blond hair was a giveaway. She gathered her courage and headed toward the barn.

She stepped inside to see him at Liam’s horse’s stall, saddle in hand. The pretty red horse stuck her nose over the stall door to nudge West’s broad shoulder. West chuckled and rubbed her head before stepping into the stall. He patted her rump, and swung the saddle onto her back.

Teresa considered leaving. Clearly, he had a plan. But then he looked up and saw her. After the initial surprise flickered across his face, he smiled.

“Hey, Teresa.”

“Hey.” She shoved her hands in her front pockets, suddenly unsure. “You’ve gotten a lot done on the barn.”

“Yeah, so far. Liam wants five more stalls like this.” He tapped his fingers against the door of the stall. “And a tack room.”

“He thinks he’s going to have that many horses?”

West shrugged. “I guess he figured, build it while he has the money.”

Teresa had never had enough money to plan ahead like that. Must be nice. Also, all that extra work meant West would be around for a while.

“Want to go for a ride?” he asked, gesturing to the horse who was bobbing her head restlessly.

Teresa stepped back automatically. “I don’t know how to ride.”

“It’s okay.  You can ride with me.”

Heat at the idea of being so close to him ran through her and pooled between her legs. Sitting between his legs, feeling his hands on her. Dangerous.

But why had she come down here?

He finished saddling the horse, his movements sure, sexy, and he led the horse out of the stall. He mounted, then held a hand down to her. She considered a moment, then took it.

She put her foot over his on the stirrup. Once she hefted herself up, he hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her in front of him. With some effort, she swung her right leg over the horse’s neck, as West scooted back in the saddle to accommodate her.

Then she was snuggled in the cradle of his thighs, his big arms framing her as he held the reins.

“You okay?” he asked, his breath warm against her ear as he guided the horse out of the barn.

She nodded, every cell in her body attuned to him, resisting the urge to tuck her head under his chin, curl against his chest. “Where are we going?”

“Not far, just around Liam’s land. Been awhile since I’ve been on a horse. I was getting itchy.”

“Is this your saddle?”

“No, I didn’t bring mine. It’s Liam’s.” He lifted his hand and pushed her hair away from her neck. “You smell good.”

“I took a shower after my nap.” She twisted a little in the saddle before giving up, realizing she wouldn’t be able to look at him from this angle anyway. “I didn’t mean to—I meant to come out to help you with my car. What was wrong with it?”

He sighed and shifted his arms around her. “Nothing that can be fixed until I can get a part. I called around at some of the part places and they don’t have it in stock, and won’t be able to get it until mid-week.”

“What is it?”

“Your starter is fried.”

“They don’t have one at the parts store?”

“Not for that make and model.”

She knew, when she’d bought the vehicle off Craigslist, that she should get a car currently being manufactured, but the price had been too good to pass up. “I guess I can take a couple days off of work.” Though she really needed to save those days in case she had to go to court.

“I can take you.”

She huffed out an embarrassed laugh. “I am sure you didn’t come out here to be my personal chauffeur. Plus, it’ll take a ton of gas in that monster truck of yours. Maybe Grace will let me borrow her car.” God, she just wanted to be well-off enough that she could stop asking people for favors.

“Teresa. I offered. I’m up early anyway. It’s no big deal.”

She tried, really hard, to think of a reason he shouldn’t, other than he was already too attractive to her. Adding “nice guy” to the mix was damned irresistible. “I’ll—make you dinner one night, as a thank you.”

“Sounds nice.”

She felt the rumble of his words in his chest. For some reason his voice pitched lower for those two words.

“I’m going to take her to a lope,” he said, lifting the reins. “Tighten your knees.”

He brought his up behind hers to show her what he meant, and she felt the tensing of his strong thigh muscles against her legs. The sensation damn near had her melting off the horse. But before she could, he nudged the horse into a faster pace, first jarring her teeth with each step before easing into a rocking gait that had the scenery speeding past them, the wind blowing her hair against him. The sensation was—incredible, and surprised a laugh from her. He tightened his arms around her and she leaned into his chest, feeling the play of muscle against her back as he guided the horse in a looping circle around Liam’s five acres. Teresa barely felt the chill on her skin as they rode, West guiding the horse left and right, making Teresa laugh more as her stomach dipped.