To Court a Cowgirl (24 page)

“Allie...”

She stepped into him then, wrapped her arms around him and pressed her cheek against his chest. The tears came before she could stop them, spilling down her face and soaking Jason's shirt. His arms closed around her, holding her to him until the tears slowed, then stopped.

“I don't usually cry,” she muttered against his shirt.

“You don't usually lose a ranch.”

“True.” Allie let out a long shuddering breath. She felt drained. More than drained. And she had to look like hell, all grimy and smoky, but she didn't care, because Jason didn't seem to care. He was there for her, and despite feeling disoriented and exhausted and all cried out, she realized that that was huge—not that he was there for her, but that she could
accept
him being there for her.

She stepped back away from him then, keeping her hands at his waist as she met his gaze and realized just how much she loved him.

“Do you want to eat?”

She almost laughed at the incongruity of their thought paths. “No, but I'm tired of smelling like smoke.” And her face was sticky from tears. “I need a shower in the worst way.”

“Okay. You shower. I'll light that pretend fire over there.” He pointed at the propane fire place flanked by the leather sofas. “When you're done, we'll sit and watch the fire and not talk.”

“Not talk?”

He shook his head. “We'll just hang out.”

“What if I want to talk?”

“Later.”

“Are you giving me orders?” she asked mildly.

One corner of his mouth twitched. “As if you'd let me get away with that.” He smiled and gave her a gentle nudge toward the hall leading out of the great room. “Give a yell if you need anything.”

True to his word, Jason had the fire lit when she came out of the bathroom wearing her sister's robe and then they snuggled silently on the sofa. Not talking felt good. They'd talk later.

* * *

A
LLIE
WOKE
UP
in Jason's arms. She raised her head to look at him and he smiled down at her. Satisfied that all was well, she nestled her cheek against his chest as he slowly stroked her hair. “How long was I out?”

“About an hour,” he said.

Her eyes were drifting shut again, but she didn't want to sleep. “Is silent time over?” she asked.

He laughed softly. “Yeah.”

“How long can you stay?”

“A couple days...and then pretty much forever.” Her head jerked up, and when she met his eyes, she saw a hint of uncertainty there. “I...uh... I want to help you rebuild.”

“Are you quitting your job?”

“Yeah.”

“The job that's going to help you build your career?”

“I'm changing careers.”

“Not because of me, you aren't.”

“Because of us,” he said gently. “You. Me. Us.” He tilted her chin up and kissed her, ending the kiss before it got away from them. “I don't belong there, Allie. Maybe I would have if I'd taken the job right after I walked off the field for the last time. Before I came home. Before I met you.”

“You're saying you belong here?”

“I belong where you are. And yeah. I belong here. I like it here.”

The sincerity in his expression as he stated the simple words made Allie's heart swell.

“Maybe you can get us a deal on materials.”

“Maybe.”

“It'd be nice to have a house big enough for everyone to have their own bedroom when we got together for Christmas.”

“Five bedroom?”

“Pipe dream?”

“Totally doable.”

She wrapped her arms around him more tightly. “I love you, you know.”

“Good thing because you've changed my life, my career, my everything.” He kissed her again, and as Allie splayed her fingers across his broad chest, felt his heart beating low and slow beneath her palm, she knew that she'd found where she belonged. With him, wherever that might be. And the best part was that it didn't scare her to need him. Not anymore.

“Before we get carried away here,” she said huskily, “and trust me, I have every intention of getting carried away, I want you to know that I love having you in my future.”

Jason pulled her the rest of the way onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her. “In that case, babe, why don't we settle in and make some plans?”

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from LOVE ON HER TERMS by Jennifer Lohmann.

Get rewarded every time you buy a Harlequin ebook!
Click
here
to Join Harlequin My Rewards
http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010003

Get rewarded every time you buy a Harlequin ebook!

Do you want to earn
Free Books
and More?
Join
Harlequin My Rewards
points program and earn points every time you shop.

You can redeem your points to get more of what you love:

Free books
Exclusive gifts and contests
Book recommendations tailored to your reading preferences

Earn
2000 points
instantly when you join—getting you closer to redeeming your first free book.

Don't miss out. Reward the book lover in you!

Click
here
to sign up
Or visit us online to sign up at

http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010001

We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Superromance.

You want romance plus a bigger story!
Harlequin Superromance
stories are filled with powerful relationships that deliver a strong emotional punch and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Enjoy four Harlequin Superromance stories every month!

Connect with us on
Harlequin.com
for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!

Other ways to keep in touch:

Harlequin.com/newsletters
Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
HarlequinBlog.com

Love on Her Terms

by Jennifer Lohmann

CHAPTER ONE

T
HE
SOUND
OF
a heavy vehicle pulling into the driveway next door broke Levi Pardo's concentration, forcing him to look up from the newspaper spread out on the kitchen table. A small, ridiculously young-looking woman was hopping out of the driver's seat of a truck onto the narrow strip of grass between her driveway and his property. She'd parked too close to the lawn, which didn't surprise him. He was amazed she could see over the dash and touch the pedals at the same time.

He looked back down at the horoscope he'd been reading, some bullshit about expressing what you're feeling or else suffer the consequences. He didn't believe in astrology and found the
Missoulian
's particularly annoying, but he still read two signs, Taurus and Cancer, every day. Habit, after years of marriage. Even if Kimmie wasn't around to care.

The woman moving in next door sure had a lot of energy, he thought, taking a sip of lukewarm, slightly oily coffee. He preferred to drink his coffee with flavored creamer, but he'd run out two days ago and hadn't yet made it to the store. Through his kitchen windows he saw the woman bound to the back of the truck and, with more power than he expected from someone so small, throw the door up and open. When a car drove up and parked along the curb, the woman leaped across the lawn like a pronghorn to greet her new arrivals.

Levi needed another sip of caffeine just to keep up with her. Maybe the process of unloading everything from the back of the truck would slow her down.

He shifted his chair over a couple of inches for a better angle. The house next door had been empty for almost two years and, as far as he knew, was as run-down on the inside as it was on the outside. It had good bones, though.

So did she, he thought, as the woman turned her head and faced his window. Long, dark bangs and a fringe of hair around her chin framed high cheekbones, a sharply pointed chin and a nose that looked like something out of a marble statue in those travel books about Greece that Kimmie used to bring home, back when she was feeling good and planning their adventures. Before he'd seen his neighbor's face full-on, he would have described her as cute. Short women were cute. Now
beautiful
was the only appropriate adjective.

Levi shook that thought out of his mind and turned back to his morning paper. He was about as interested in short women as he was in astrology.

* * *

T
WO
HOURS
LATER
Levi wiped down the kitchen counter, and, with the drape of a washcloth over the faucet, the second part of his Sunday ritual was done. Paper, first. Clean the house, second. It was midsummer, so he still had outdoor chores to do. He put sunscreen on his face and neck, covered his hair with a ratty Broncos cap, shoved his sunglasses on and went out to his garage for the lawn mower.

His ancient lawn mower, more Frankenstein's monster than anything resembling the machines currently lining the entrances of home-improvement stores, clanged as he pushed it down the driveway.

Even with his sunglasses and ball cap, he had to squint against the harsh sun.

He was leaning over to start the mower when voices caught his attention.

“I just don't get why you had to move
here
, of all places,” an older woman's voice said, loudly enough that Levi could hear her, even though he couldn't see anyone when he looked around. He could picture the woman inspecting the neighborhood of old bungalows in varying states of repair with her hands on her hips and a slight sneer on her lips.

Though Levi couldn't understand what there was in this neighborhood to sneer at.

“Because the University of Montana offered me a job.” A younger woman's voice this time, probably the bubbling one he'd seen driving the moving truck.

“So did the University of Richmond. If you had accepted their offer, you'd be near home.” The older woman's voice again. Maybe the woman's mother. They must have been standing just on the other side of the moving truck.

Levi let go of the lawn mower's pull cord and folded his arms, giving in to the eavesdropping. He wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to get to know his neighbor, without the burden of going over and introducing himself.

“Which is exactly why I accepted the Montana job,” the woman said, too bright and cheery for someone who was arguing with her mother. “Montana. Just the word conjures up adventure. Moose. Grizzly bears. Cowboys.”

“Referring to grizzly bears as an adventure doesn't make me feel any more confident about your decision. Grizzly bears kill people,” the older woman said.

“So does sitting, but you didn't offer to drive the U-Haul while I rode a bicycle alongside,” the younger woman said smartly, while Levi bit back a smile.

“Don't talk back to your mother,” a man said, a snap to his voice, which softened when he spoke again. “She's worried about you is all. We both are. If something were to happen, you'll be so far from home.”

“Franklin married the most organized and efficient woman on earth. If something happens to either of you, she'll have flowers delivered to your room before you even get to the hospital.” A laugh underpinned the woman's voice, though her humor had a sharp edge. Hidden, like the lid on a can of chili opened with a rusty can opener—familiar and domestic and safe, until you sliced a finger because you weren't paying attention.

“You know it's not
us
your mother is worried about,” the man said, the sharpness of his voice less concealed than his daughter's. He sounded as if he'd cut himself on that can of humor before. “If something were to happen to you...”

“This is Montana, Mom, not the jungles of the Amazon. I'll be fine. Promise. There are good hospitals here. And my health has been good for years.”

Levi shook his head. He shouldn't be eavesdropping, especially not on conversations involving hospitals. Resolving to return to his decision that he wasn't interested in short women, he gripped the pull cord and yanked until the ancient motor turned over, drowning out the conversation next door.

* * *

T
HE
PROBLEM
, L
EVI
THOUGHT
, as he slipped a Pardo and Saupp Construction T-shirt over his head while looking out the window at the house next door, was that his new neighbor was always outside. It was hard to ignore a woman who seemed to think every beverage should be drunk on her front porch.

This evening, as she had for the past two weeks, she sat in the rocking chair with her feet up on the railing and a coffee cup in hand. The hems of her loose cotton shorts gapped. If he were at a different angle, he could follow the line of her skin down to her panties. She had nice legs. Not overly long, but shapely. He had no interest in women with thin legs.

She set her cup down and stretched her hands over her head. Her shirt lifted, and a little line of skin appeared between the elastic waistband of her plaid shorts and the bottom of her T-shirt. It was the type of movement he imagined her doing first thing in the morning, as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and welcomed the day. Intimate. Personal.

And he was staring out his window at her like a creep.

Levi jerked at the hem of his shirt, as if the movement could do anything to erase the image of his young neighbor with hair mussed by a long day. Not that that particular mental image was so bad, but he also imagined his hand slipping under the back of her shirt, her skin warm and soft on his cool palm and a glimpse of her face as she looked over her shoulder and smiled at him.

He reached up and closed the blinds.

He had to pick up his niece for soccer practice. Since he'd taken over coaching her youth soccer team two years ago, watching those girls tear up the field, fight, celebrate, fail and succeed had become the highlight of his fall. Solstice, his niece, seemed to have grown another three inches over the summer and would be all limbs. Helping her figure out how to manage all the new length in her arms and legs was a challenge he looked forward to.

* * *

T
HE
NEXT
F
RIDAY
, Levi climbed into his truck and looked next door with resignation. If he didn't want to watch his neighbor move about his life, he had to learn to ignore her better. That and keep his kitchen blinds closed. Actually, all the blinds on this side of the house. Today she had come home from work, disappeared only long enough to change into shorts and grab a glass of what looked like iced tea. Now the ice in her tea was melting as it sat in the sun on her front porch while she was elbow deep in soil, shoving mums into the dirt. When she leaned forward, she stretched like a cat, her back long and her ass high in the air.

God, he definitely had to learn how
not
to watch her, because he didn't want to shutter his entire house. He
liked
the sunlight coming in through the windows, especially the afternoon summer sun. The big, south-facing windows were one of the reasons he'd bought this house.

He shoved the gearshift into Reverse, looked over his shoulder with barely a glance at his neighbor's ass, backed out of the driveway and sped down the street.

* * *

“Y
OU
'
RE
LATE
,” D
ENNIS
SAID
, lifting up his eyebrow and his phone at the same time. Both pointed comments on the time.

“Barely.” Levi slid into the booth and motioned to Mary for a beer. The two of them had been coming to O'Reilly's and sitting in this booth every Friday night for three years. The first six months, she'd come over to ask what beer he wanted. He'd said “whatever” enough times that she brought over whatever she or Brian, the bar's owner, felt like bringing to him. Sometimes he drank the entire beer and sometimes only a sip or two.

A little adventure, in his otherwise boring life.

A safer adventure than watching his neighbor.

Dennis coughed, a bad one that collapsed his shoulders in on his ears and shook the table. The kind of cough that would have his sister rushing to her husband to see what was wrong and Dennis struggling to both catch his breath and shake off Brook.

If he and Dennis were being honest with themselves, a surprise beer was probably the only adventure either of them needed, since the mine accident. And Dennis didn't even seem to need that. He always got the same bottle of Bud Light with a Jameson chaser. Had for years. Since before Missoula. Since before everything.

“You ain't been late since the day you were born,” Dennis said, his bottle resting against his bottom lip. “And this ain't a big city, so you can't blame traffic.”

“I've got a new neighbor.”

Levi hadn't meant the comment by way of explanation, but he could tell by how Dennis lifted his eyebrows that it was the way his brother-in-law took the information. “He park in your driveway?”

“No. My neighbor's not why I'm late,” he said, though he didn't have a better explanation for his tardiness, because “No matter how close I am to my new neighbor, I want to take at least one step closer, so it took me a while to drive away” would sound pretty stupid.

“Why'd you mention it, then?”

She was on his mind. “I'm not used to having a neighbor. It's distracting.”

“So, not a sixty-year-old with a gut. You wouldn't be distracted by that.”

“Ha!” Levi rubbed his own stomach. It was still flat but, at the age of thirty-seven, he was starting to think more about carrots and less about French fries and beer. “We'll both be lucky not to be that in twenty years.”

“
I'll
be lucky to be that in twenty years.” Dennis took a long pull on his beer, draining the bottle and signaling for another one. It was going to be one of those nights. Levi and the dishwasher would be hefting Dennis into the passenger seat of Levi's truck, and sometime around noon tomorrow, Dennis would text him for a ride back to get his car because Brook refused. And Brook would be texting him about letting Dennis get that drunk, because not only did she still think it was her job to monitor Levi's behavior, but she considered it Levi's job to monitor Dennis's behavior.

His sister had gotten taller over the years, but inside she was still a bossy twelve-year-old playing Mom while their dad worked in the mines.

But neither Levi nor Dennis would drive home drunk, so that was progress since their reckless younger years. At least they'd learned
something
.

Proof that stupidity wasn't guaranteed to kill you young.

“So, you gonna introduce yourself to this
distracting
neighbor?” Dennis asked, his second bottle of beer already half-gone. At least the whiskey was untouched.

“What for? To get roped into helping her with home renovations?” Levi shrugged. “That house needs a lot of work, and I'm already too busy as it is.”

“So, she's cute.”

“She's a child,” he said, yanking his mind away from her legs and her nose and her ass and everything else about her he'd tried not to admire over the past couple of weeks.

“She bought a house, so I'm guessing she's at least twenty-five. Hmm. Might be more than cute—hot, even.”

Levi shook his head. “It doesn't matter. I don't have time. Or interest. I've been married already. You should know. You were my best man.”

Dennis shrugged. “Only 'cause no one else would do it.”

A couple of beers between them helped them both laugh at the joke. At the time of Levi's actual wedding, Dennis—and everyone else—had been dead set against it. Kimmie had been too young, the chorus of noes said. And Dennis had only served as best man because Kimmie had cried when he'd refused. And then everyone had been mad at Levi for making her cry. No one had noticed at that time that his entire goal in his marriage had been to keep Kimmie happy.