Jake (Men of Clifton Montana Book 1) (4 page)

Stan started to
shake his head.

Becca stepped
closer to him held out her hand, and wiggled her fingers.
“Keys,
please.
I’ll take the truck.” She nodded toward the big red Silverado
with 4X4 on the side of it.

“It’s going to snow
anytime now, and it will get bad before you get back,” Stan warned her.

Becca wiggled her
fingers again. When Stan sighed, she bit back a smile. He dropped the keys in
her hand. She ran quickly into the house to get her purse. When she came back
out, all four men were standing at the corral watching her as she walked to the
truck. Over her shoulder, she shouted to them. “See, its four wheel drive. I’ll
be fine.”

Hopping into the
truck, Becca giggled at the looks on their faces. They looked as if they’d
never see her again. Did they think, because she didn’t have a penis between
her legs she couldn’t drive a truck? Still laughing, she took off down the
driveway and entered the address Stan had given her into the GPS.

As Becca drove the
large truck down the two-lane road of the town, her gaze swept over the old
buildings on each side. The brick buildings, with sidewalks in front of them,
looked like something from the late 1800s. If she hadn’t known better, she
would’ve thought she’d gone back in time. At any moment, she expected to see
gunslingers step onto the blacktop street. She spotted the feed store and
pulled into the parking lot. When she hopped down from the truck, several
people looked at her. No one smiled.

O-kay.
This was going to be
harder than she thought.

Cowboys stood on
the platform talking while others loaded their trucks with feed or other needed
items. Becca opened the door and stepped inside the store. Her eyes ran around
the large room until she spotted the counter. The store, filled with cowboy
boots, hats, shirts, along with animal feed, and batteries for machinery of
every kind, also seemed like a step back in time. The scuffed hardwood floors
were well worn and the walls had old advertisements hanging on them. All of
these things, coupled with the smells of leather and feed, made the store most welcoming.

A beautiful
blonde-haired woman stood behind the counter with a smile on her face. She
looked to be in her late twenties. Her long hair was up in a ponytail and her
bright blue eyes sparkled with humor.

Wait a minute!
She was smiling.
At her.

Becca shyly
returned the smile and walked toward her.

“Hi. You must be
Hattie’s granddaughter,” the woman greeted her.

“I am, but aren’t
you afraid of being burned at the stake for talking to me?”

The woman laughed. “They’ll
get over it.” She stuck her hand out. “I’m Emma Conner. It’s nice to meet you.”

Becca shook her
hand and grinned. “Becca Daniels. It’s really nice to meet you, Emma.”

Emma waved her
hand. “Trust me, eventually the town will get past it. We all loved Hattie. I’m
so sorry about her passing.”

“I wish I’d known
her.” Becca blinked back tears.

Emma gasped. “You
didn’t know Hattie?”

“No. My father
never told me about her. That’s why I never came to visit,” Becca explained
with a shrug. “I just didn’t know.”

“That explains why
we never saw you. Hattie rarely mentioned you.”

Becca and Emma both
seemed lost in their thoughts when the door opened. A tall man stepped inside.
Becca noticed Emma stiffen, blush, and look everywhere but at the man who’d
entered.

Becca checked him
out as he glanced toward Emma. He nodded at Becca, and then continued toward
the back of the store. Becca looked to Emma. “Who’s that? He’s gorgeous.”

Emma cleared her
throat. “Gabe Stone, the bane of my existence.” She took a deep breath. “Unfortunately,
the man doesn’t even know I exist.”

“Seriously?
His eyes went right to you as soon as he came in.”

Emma rolled her
eyes. “He wasn’t expecting me to be here. Gabe tries to come in here when he
thinks I’m not working. My dad owns the store and I just help out once in a
while.”

“Did you say Stone?”
At Emma’s nod, Becca asked the next obvious question. “Is he related to Jake
Stone?”

“He’s Jake’s
younger brother. The youngest is Wyatt. Jake’s thirty-five, Gabe is
thirty-four, and Wyatt is thirty-two. All gorgeous and all single,” Emma answered
with a dreamy sigh.

Well, that was
certainly true as far as two of them went. Becca had never been into cowboys
but the Stone men could assuredly change her mind. Shaking her head as if to
clear thoughts of the men from her mind, she placed her order with Emma and
after agreeing to get together for lunch, she walked outside to find snow
coming down heavily. She walked over to her truck and waited as a young man came
out carrying the salt block she’d ordered. As the snow came down harder, she
knew she would have to get back to the ranch and put off her shopping for
another day.

“Better get home,
ma’am. This is going to get bad, pretty quick,” the young man told her.

Becca thanked him
and was about to get into her truck when Gabe Stone came outside. He started
past her to his truck, but then turned back toward her.

“You’re Hattie’s
granddaughter?”

“Yes.” Becca
straightened her shoulders and prepared for a confrontation.

“I’m Gabe Stone.”
He stuck his hand out. She took it. “I’ll follow you to the ranch.” Becca
started to object. “I’m going that way, I live down the road from there. This
is mixing with ice. I’d feel better.”

Becca opened her
mouth and then closed it. Shrugging, she smiled at him. “I’m Becca Daniels, and
thank you.”

Gabe smiled back at
her. He looked like his older brother, only Gabe had a mustache, one that would
put Tom Selleck’s to shame. He also had brown eyes and towered over her. He
really was gorgeous. Then she realized he was saying something to her.

Shit! Snap out of it, Becca!

“I’m sorry?”

“I said, just take
it easy. I’ll be right behind you,” Gabe told her.

Becca felt her
cheeks turn red. She nodded and hopped up into the truck.

“Good Lord, Becca. Get
a grip. You’ve seen gorgeous men before,” she mumbled as she pulled out of the parking
lot.

True to his word,
Gabe was right behind her all the way. As Becca drove the truck slowly, she
could hear the ice pinging off the roof. Snow didn’t bother her, but ice was
something altogether different. Nothing, not even four-wheel drive, was good in
it. She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally spotted her driveway.

Gabe blew the horn
as he drove on by and waved. Becca waved back and soon pulled up to the barn.
She saw Stan coming out of it. He was alone.

“I was beginning to
worry,” he told her.

“It’s getting bad
out there. Gabe Stone followed me home.”

Stan took the salt block
out of the back of the truck. “Gabe’s a good man, just like his brothers. I’m
glad he followed you.”

“Where is everyone,
Stan?” There was no way she was agreeing with him about Jake Stone being a good
man.

“Oh, I sent the men
home. They need to be with their families in this kind of weather, not stuck
here on the ranch.”

“Don’t you need to
be with your family, too?” Becca followed him into the barn.

Stan grinned. “I
don’t have any family anymore. My wife, Cheryl, died two years ago from cancer.
We never had children. I live in a little house behind the barn. Hattie had it
built for us about ten years ago. Glad she did, since I take care of everything
around here.”

Becca smiled at
him. “She must have been a nice woman, my grandmother.”

Stan laughed. “That
she was. That she was.” Then he sobered. “You would’ve loved her, Ms. Daniels.”

“Becca, please, and
I’m sure I would have. Have a good evening, Stan.”

“I will. You, too,
and if you need me, my number is by the kitchen phone.” He tipped his hat at
her. “Goodnight.”

The dark sky made
it seem later in the evening than it actually was. Becca warmed herself some
soup and decided to watch television while the snow continued to blanket the
ground. The house seemed so quiet. Becca turned up the sound, trying to make
some noise echo through the solitude.

After eating, she
decided to go upstairs and take a bath in that huge claw foot tub she’d been
dying to try out. She poured bubble bath under the faucet and watched as the
bubbles filled the tub. After undressing, she tied her long hair up on her
head, stepped into the tub, and slowly slid down into the hot water. Becca let
out a groan of appreciation, laid her head back, and closed her eyes. The
bubbles were up to her chin and it felt like heaven.

She wasn’t sure how
long she’d been in the tub when she heard a man clear his throat. She turned
her head toward the sound and found Jake Stone leaning against the doorjamb
with his arms folded across his broad chest and his booted feet crossed at the
ankles. His hat sat low on his forehead.

Becca gasped and
stopped herself just in time from sitting straight up.

“What are you doing
here?” she challenged. Every inch of her body was instantly on alert, aroused
and clamoring for things she wouldn’t even admit to.
 

He raised an
eyebrow. “Watching you take a bath?”

“Get out of here,
Stone,” Becca shouted at him. Her heart was pounding, and her knees wouldn’t
have held her up if she stood. Even worse, her nipples were hardening into
tight peaks beneath the now fading froth.

“Come on now, Red.
Is that any way to be?” He smiled and for the first time, she noticed dimples
appear deep in his cheeks. He ran his eyes over her from the top of her hair
and down to the bubbles. She sank lower.

“How did you get
in? I locked the door.” Becca held on to the side of the tub with an iron grip.
She was afraid if she didn’t, she’d either beckon him to join her or rise from
the water like Venus rising from the sea.

He shrugged. “I
have a key. Hattie gave it to me years ago.”

“Well, you can
leave it on the kitchen counter on your way out.” The very audacity of the man
was sexy. Hell, everything about him was sexy.

“I don’t think so,
Red. In fact, as bad as the snow is, I’ll probably be spending the night.” He
still hadn’t moved.

His words caused
her to jerk in the tub, sending a splash of water over the side. What did he
mean? “Over my dead body, Stone,” Becca exclaimed wishing she were wearing more
than bubbles.

He chuckled and as
much as she hated admitting it, his husky low voice turned her on. “I did knock
but when you didn’t answer, I opened the door and called your name. When you
still didn’t answer, I came looking for you and look what I found.
You.
In the tub.”
He straightened
up. “Can I get you a towel?” Jake reached for the fluffy white towel hanging by
the tub.

“Don’t you dare, get
out,” she squealed as she threw a wet washcloth at him. It landed two feet in
front of his boots.

He laughed as he
walked away. “You throw like a girl…I’ll be downstairs.” He turned back toward
her. “Hurry up or I’ll think you
do
want me to get that towel for you.”

When Becca was sure
he was gone, she jumped out of the tub and dried off as quickly as she could
then ran to her bedroom. “I can’t believe he did that,” she grumbled. “Who in
the hell does he think he is?” She pulled on sweatpants, a T-shirt, and big
wool socks. A few minutes later, she entered the kitchen to find him sitting at
the table with a cup of coffee.

“Gee Stone, make
yourself at home, why don’t you?” Her sarcasm could use a bit of polish. Becca
stood there watching him. She didn’t know if she was angry or excited, it was
hard to tell. Gripping her hands into tight fists, the nails bit into her own
palms.
 

He saluted her with
his cup. “Don’t mind if I do.” He set the cup down and looked at her. “I came
over to build a fire for you. Bad person that I am, I thought if the power goes
out, you could stay in the living room with the pocket doors closed and stay
warm.”

Trying to remain
calm, Becca spun around and stared at him. “What the hell are pocket doors?”

“Jesus, Red. You’ve
led a sheltered life. They’re doors inside a doorjamb that pull closed.”

“Did you say the
power could go out?” Her words were a little too loud and a little panicky
sounding. Becca was sure he was laughing at her because he held his coffee cup
in front of his mouth.

“Power goes out
when we have bad storms and this one is going to be bad.”

Realizing he came
over to build a fire for her made her feel like a fool. He was here to make
sure she stayed warm and all she’d done was jump all over him.
 
“Oh, well, um…thank you.” It was hard
not to stare at him, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing
she was attracted to him.

“I bet that hurt,
didn’t it?” He grinned, showing even white teeth. Becca stuck her tongue out at
him.
“Careful, Red.
I may take you up on that.”

“In
your dreams, Stone.”
It was hard not to smile. She knew he was teasing
her, but she liked it. Damn, she liked him.

“Every
night, darlin’… every night.”

He stood and put
his cup in the sink then headed out the door. Was he leaving?

She was about to
walk over to the door to check when it flew back open and he walked in carrying
an armful of logs. Without a word or a glance her way, he headed for the living
room with Becca following right in behind him. She watched as he dropped the
logs on the hearth, and then proceeded to make a fire for her. He crouched
down, added some kindling, lit the pile, and almost like magic flames came to
life. The blue and orange licks of fire crackled as they grew in strength.