Only By Your Touch (13 page)

“I wanted to speak with you about that. About him coming up here, I mean. He neglected to ask permission.”

“He didn’t stay long. It really wasn’t an imposition, if that’s your worry.”

“There’s that, too, I suppose. But that isn’t my main concern.” She swallowed and tugged nervously at the hem of the T-shirt. “If he should show up again, would you please call me? I really don’t want him coming up here alone.”

Ben felt as if he’d been sucker punched. Just that quickly, he was pissed. Where, exactly, did she get off? He hadn’t blamed her that first day for being afraid for her child. She hadn’t known him then. But she did now, and he’d given her no reason to fear that he might harm her boy.

“I’ll do you one better. When you leave, I’ll send the pup home with you. That way, Jeremy won’t have a reason to come up here again. End of problem.”

She flashed him a startled look. “But I thought you said that would be risky for the puppy.”

“I was under the impression I was helping someone who appreciated it. May I point out that I’m giving your dog round-the-clock medical care, free of charge? It’s pretty damned rude to accept the favor and then insult me.”

Looking bewildered, she said, “Insult you?”

“How else should I feel when you imply that I might hurt your kid?”

Her expression turned incredulous. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“Whoa. Back up. I’m afraid we’re getting our wires crossed. I just—”

“My wires aren’t crossed. I understand
exactly
what your concerns are, Ms. Evans. Ben Longtree, the crazy man who murders hapless hunters when they trespass onto his land. One small boy should be a cinch.”

She held up a hand. “Wait just a second. That isn’t—I wasn’t—”

“You weren’t what?”

She moistened her lips. “It’s true that I have concerns about some of those rumors. I won’t deny that. Nor will I pretend I wasn’t alarmed when he came up here that first morning. But in all fairness to me, what mother wouldn’t be? I still know very little about you. Even so, I never for an instant meant to imply that you might harm him, and that isn’t the reason I don’t want him coming up here alone.”

An ache spread through Ben’s chest, which only made him angrier. He didn’t want to care what people thought of him—especially her. And he sure as hell wouldn’t allow it to hurt. “Right. We’re having soup for lunch. Would you and Jeremy care to stay? I’ve picked out all the finger bones.”

All the color washed from her face. “You know, Ben, there’s such a thing as being a little too sensitive.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. My son has a severe breathing problem. He shouldn’t be riding his bike up that steep hill.”

An awful sinking sensation assailed Ben’s stomach.

“He has asthma. I won’t get into the details, but sometimes the attacks come on suddenly and for no apparent reason. Along with a host of other things, overtaxing himself physically seems to bring them on.”

Ben had seen Jeremy have an attack, and now he felt like hell for jumping down her throat. Just looking into her eyes told him that she was telling the truth. While she might have a few concerns about his character—perhaps even more than a few—her main reason for being so protective of the child had little to do with him.

“The road up here is really dusty,” she went on, “and it’s extremely steep. I don’t want him riding up here because I’m afraid he’ll collapse. Most times, he recovers on his own, but once I had to call an ambulance.” She fixed him with an imploring look. “I honestly believed he might die. It was horrible. I can’t take a chance that it might happen again when he’s all alone.”

No, of course she couldn’t. Ben had acted like a jackass a few times in his life, but this took the cake. Resting his hands on his hips, he bent his head. “I jumped to conclusions, I guess.”

“Yes, you did.”

“I just thought—well, it’s obvious what I thought.”

“Ben?”

He brought his head up. “What?”

“You don’t need to apologize.” Her soft mouth curved into a smile. “Can we just back up and start over?”

“Since I’m the one with my foot in my mouth, I won’t argue with that.”

She laughed, a light, musical sound that moved over him like sunlight. “I haven’t completely discounted all the rumors about you,” she said candidly, “but I can say I think a number of them are preposterous. I don’t believe that you killed those hunters, for starters. And, in my opinion, the theory that you fed the evidence to your animals is the product of twisted minds. People repeating that poppycock need to get a life.”

Ben searched her small face, wishing she could discount all the stories with as much certainty. Even as the thought took root, though, he knew it was unrealistic. To feel certain none of those stories were true, she’d need to know him a lot better than she did now. “My sentiments exactly.”

“There, you see? We’re on the same page.” She touched his arm. “I’m sorry for not making myself clear. I can see how you might have taken it wrong. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

His voice grated like sandpaper as he said, “I guess this should be a lesson to me not to jump to conclusions.”

Her fingertips seared his skin through the sleeve of his shirt, and low in his guts, desire knotted like a fist. As though she sensed that, she quickly drew her hand away, looking a little startled. Wide with wariness, her eyes flicked to his. She ran the tip of her tongue across her bottom lip.

“Well.” She tugged on the T-shirt and laughed again. The sound had a shrill edge. “Is that invitation to lunch still open? I’ve never had hunter soup.”

She might have carried off the attempt at humor if her voice hadn’t twanged with nervousness. Ben watched her fidget, wishing he could smooth over the moment, but he was as uneasy as she was.
Not good.

“I’m fresh out of hunter soup. Pizza’s on the menu today.”

“Darn. Just my luck.”

She was so pretty that Ben couldn’t stop staring at her face. It was heart-shaped, he realized, curving gently to a pointy chin. Sunlight slanting through the doorway ignited the fine overlay of downy hair on her cheeks, making her look as if she’d been sprinkled with gold dust. The scent she wore, a musky floral, drifted to his nostrils and made him want to lean closer to get a better whiff.

The attraction arced between them like a high-voltage force field. Searching his dark face, Chloe knew he felt it, too. If they had been alone, that smoldering heat in his eyes would have had her nerves leaping. Who was she kidding? Her nerves were leaping now.

She took a deep breath and glanced over her shoulder. “Shall we? My son’s going to think we got lost.”

He gestured for her to go ahead of him. She could feel his eyes on her back as she moved toward the kitchen. She let her arms dangle loosely at her sides. Then she hugged her waist. Then she let her arms hang again. She felt like an elephant walking on ice.

In a strange way, it felt good, she realized.
Exciting
. It had been a long time since a man had had this effect on her. She felt alive, and young, and—well, pretty. She supposed any woman appreciated that feeling.

As she stepped from the entry hall, Chloe came to such an abrupt stop that Ben’s chest collided with her shoulder blades.

“Oh,” was all she could think to say as she took in the fabulous view of the mountains afforded by the floor-to-ceiling windows at the east side of the house. She’d been so upset and worried about Jeremy during
her last visit that she’d failed to really look at it. “How lovely.”

Ben moved to stand beside her. “Like it?”

“What’s not to like?” The view was panoramic, with a 180-degree expanse of mountains laid out before her. Chloe’s attention was caught by a craggy summit still dusted with snow. “Is that Shoshone Peak over to the left?”

“Yes.” He touched her elbow. “We’ll go out on the deck later so you can really enjoy it.”

His touch made her nerves hum. She was acutely aware of him looming beside her. The top of her head didn’t clear his shoulder. She needed to get away from him, she thought stupidly. And once she did, she needed to stay away.

To distract herself, Chloe gave the house a sweeping glance, paying attention to detail. Broad expanses of terra cotta stretched to the living room on the right and to the family room on the left, with inlaid teal carpet striking a pleasant contrast. Massive river-rock fireplaces were the focal points of each end wall, the faces reaching to the peak of the cathedral ceiling. A large gourmet kitchen divided the two sitting areas, light maple cabinetry complementing the sunny brightness of the adjoining living areas and the sunroom beyond.

As they entered the kitchen, the owl with the injured leg blinked at Chloe from the bar. The membranes over its eyes narrowed to slits and then opened wide.

Over the top of the bar, she could see Nan Longtree ensconced on a rocker in the adjoining family room, happily preoccupied with what looked like a crochet project, Diablo and Methuselah lying at her feet. When Chloe said hello, the older woman didn’t glance up.

Ben pitched his voice low for Chloe’s ears alone. “She’s off in La-La Land today.”

Chloe rubbed her hands on her jeans. “You don’t need to explain. I understand.”

“I just don’t want you to think she’s ignoring you on purpose.” He frowned as he studied his mother, his eyes a blaze of blue in his dark face. “She wouldn’t want that, either.”

The affection in his voice touched Chloe. No man who cared so deeply for his mother could be a bad person, surely. If the day ever came that she grew ill, Chloe hoped Jeremy would be as patient—and as loyal.

Stepping away to put some much-needed distance between them, Chloe scanned the kitchen. “You were about to fix lunch. Please, don’t let us interrupt. Jeremy and I will say our hellos to Rowdy and get out of your hair.”

“No rush.”

The faint scent of fresh bread dough drifted to Chloe’s nose. She was surprised. When Ben had said pizza was on the menu, she’d envisioned the ready-to-bake kind.

“I don’t know how you manage,” she said, and she honestly didn’t. “With your mom and all the animals to take care of, I mean. When do you find time to work?”

“I don’t get much sleep.” He flashed her a lazy grin that did strange things to her pulse rate. “Lately, I seem to spend most of my time cooking or taking care of critters.”

He stepped over to the work island and pushed the skillet onto a back burner, an unnecessary movement that told her he was as tense as she was. She stepped around him to crouch with Jeremy beside Rowdy’s box. The puppy lifted his head and listlessly wagged his tail.

“I can’t believe how much better he looks,” she observed. The tail thumping picked up speed as she ran her hand over the dog’s yellow fur. “I can tell just by looking at his eyes that he feels better.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Thank you, Ben. You’ve performed a miracle.”

“That’s nothing compared to the miracle I can perform with pizza. Why don’t you and Jeremy stay to eat? Why go home and fix something? I’ll just put you to work here, and we’ll all chow down together.”

Chloe was about to refuse when Jeremy piped in. “Please, Mom? Can we stay? Please?”

Ben sweetened the invitation with another one of those grins that she was quickly coming to believe should have a Richter-scale rating.

“Let me make amends for my behavior at the door,” he said huskily. “I really do make a mean vegetarian pizza.”

Chloe just wanted out of there, the faster the better. “I, um—”

“Please,” he persisted. “I’d really love the company. It gets lonely up here on my ridge. Besides, it’ll give Jeremy more time with his puppy.”

“Please, Mommy? I wanna be with Rowdy. You don’t have to work today.”

Pushing to her feet, Chloe heard herself say, “Only if you actually put me to work.”

Ben inclined his head at the sink. “You’re on. Wash up. I’ll let you rinse the vegetables. That’s the job I hate most.”

Within seconds, Chloe stood at the sink, wondering how she had gotten talked into this. Maybe Bobby Lee’s accusation hadn’t been so far off the mark as she liked to think. Did she have a thing for Ben?

Her hands began to ache as she rinsed the leaves of baby spinach. Behind her, Ben was sautéing garlic
and onions in the large skillet. The smells made her salivate.

And so did the man.

This was madness. She’d never been one of those women who was drawn to danger. So why was she so attracted to him? He’d killed someone, for God’s sake. How did she know that some little thing wouldn’t set him off?

He came up beside her to rinse his hands. His hard arm rubbed against hers as he turned his wrists under the faucet. She stared at his wide, callused palms and work-hardened knuckles. With one swing of his fist, he could knock her flat. She should never have come here. She should have been firm with Jeremy and threatened him with severe repercussions if he disobeyed her again.

“This water is like ice,” he said. “Artesian. Even in the dead of summer, it’s cold. If it’s making your hands hurt, adjust the temp.”

Chloe could no longer feel her hands. “I’m fine.”

He grasped her fingers in his. The warmth of his grip felt wonderful. She looked up into his blue eyes and couldn’t look away. Her blood slogged in her veins, each push of her laboring heart making a loud swish in her temples.