Page 28 of A Rancher's Heart
“Don’t be late tomorrow morning,” Caleb ordered.
“I hear old people need lots of sleep,” Dustin quipped back. “You’d better go to bed soon or you’ll be the one who’s late.”
Cocky bastard slipped out the door before Caleb could find something to throw.
Tamara laughed. “Little siblings are annoying.”
“Yes.”
She wrapped her hands around her knees, pulling upright and changing the topic. “You caught the little cryfest of Sasha’s today?”
Seemed they were going to dive right in and talk. Caleb straightened up and adjusted his mindset. “She was faking it. I figure you knew that, but just so you know, I knew it too. But she is worried.”
“She’s got a stranger in her house. I don’t blame her.” Tamara hesitated. “I told her she’s not allowed to answer for Emma. That’s what set her off.”
Oh. Caleb let that rattle around in his brain. “I see.”
“I’m not going to force Emma to talk,” Tamara rushed on. “But if everyone answers for her then—”
“You don’t need to explain.” Another wave of frustration hit him hard. He was sostupid. He should have thought of that earlier. Not that he wanted to push Emma to talk more, but in a way, it was lazy of them to have let Sasha run wild.
Tamara was examining him closely. “Is that a ‘you don’t need to explain because you’re right’, or because you think I’m wrong? You need to give me a few more clues, because I can’t read your expression.”
He sighed. “You’re right.”
Her head tilted, concern skittering across her face. “You okay?”
Caleb shoved aside his worries and nodded, trying to look more cheerful. He was afraid it probably looked as if he was constipated, but what the hell. It was the best he could do. “How about you? Other than the crying, how was your first day? You okay so far?”
She eyed him for a moment as if she might challenge his rapid change of topic. Then a soft sigh escaped and she eased back on the couch. “Pretty good. I’ll ask if I have troubles.”
Tamara pulled a notebook off the table and began writing. Silence fell, the conversation ended as abruptly as it had begun.
Caleb took a book from the basket beside his chair and tried to get into it, but having another person in the room…
Be honest. Having another person in the room who wasn’t one of his brothers, or his best friend Josiah Ryder, was potent.
He was aware of every move she made.
The top of her pen worked in smooth motions, a little crease forming between her brows as she concentrated on her task. Her legs were bent halfway, tilted against the couch, her notebook balanced in her lap.
He alternated between trying to read his book and letting his gaze slide over the blurry words back to her body.
She’d taken the elastic from her hair and the heavy dark-brown mass held a hint of a curl as it lay over her shoulders. As if she’d been in the sun for a while, her cheeks had a rosy hew, lips soft and shiny. Her shirt clung to the curve of her breasts, shifting with every breath.
For some stupid reason his eyes kept being drawn to her feet. She was wrapped up from head to toe in jeans and flannel, and he couldn’t take his eyes off the fuzzy socks she wore.
They were white with pink polka dots, and they matched her glasses. She rubbed her feet together, and suddenly everything inside him was tight for a whole new reason.
Damn it, he was turned on as if he’d been watching porn, and all she’d done was innocently wiggle.
When she pulled the throw off the back of the couch, he finally got it. “Cold?”
She shook herself, as if surprised to see him in the easy chair. “A little. This time of year it’s tough to know from one minute to the next what the temperature’s going to be.”
“I can light the fire,” he offered.
Why the hell did his brain have to feed him images of her naked skin highlighted by firelight glow?
Her gaze drifted to the clock on the wall. “Maybe tomorrow. I probably should head to bed. It’s been a longer day than I’m used to.”
She gathered her things and stood. Caleb rose as well, and suddenly they were both standing there, looking at each other. That sense of…somethingstruck again.
“Well, good night,” Tamara announced. Then she walked away quickly.
Walked? No, she damn near ran from the room.
Caleb sat alone in the growing silence with far too many thoughts and needs he knew had to go unanswered.
