Chapter Four #2
“Great. I’ll pick you up at six. We’ll have a good time dancing.”
She heard a motor. “I think I hear you approaching.”
“You do. Stay where you are.”
“See you in seconds,” she said, and broke the connection. Amused, she pulled on leather gloves and parted strands of barbed wire that formed the fence that divided their property. She had been climbing through or over barbed wire since she was little. She straightened to watch him approach.
He drove up in a red pickup, stopped and jumped down. As he came into view, she saw that he wore a light blue long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up, tight jeans, boots and a black broad-brimmed hat.
She knew she was going against good sense getting involved any more deeply with Tony. So why did her entire body tingle at the sight of him?
“You look great,” Tony said as he approached her and reached out to tug her braid. “I never realized how good you look in jeans.”
She laughed. “Until last weekend, I never realized you could look at me without getting annoyed.”
Grinning, his gaze roamed down her legs again and every inch of her felt his eyes on her.
“Oh, darlin’, those jeans do fit you. I just should have taken a second look.
” He looked into her eyes and her breath caught.
How could he cause such a reaction in her now?
She had known him all her life and until last weekend she’d never once had this kind of response to him just saying hello.
“I’m glad you said yes to tomorrow night,” he said, the amusement fading from his expression.
Her smile vanished when his did. “Tony, we’re probably doing something we shouldn’t. You and I have no future with each other in a social way.”
He didn’t argue with her and, instead, continued to stare at her. He shrugged and stepped closer to run his finger along her cheek. The feathery touch sizzled and she had to draw a deep breath and resist walking into his arms.
“It’s just a fun Friday night, Lindsay. Surely we can do that just one more time.”
She knew the more time she spent with him, the more she could get hurt.
Tony would not change, and neither would she.
At the next problem to come up between them, he would be telling her what to do and she would be angry with him all over again.
She needed to stay rooted in reality for the good of her ranch, because she couldn’t afford to be sidetracked by him.
“Come on,” he urged. “We’ll have a good time dancing. Marty’s on Friday night is fun.”
“Until the fights break out.”
“That doesn’t happen often and if it does, we’ll get out of there. I have no intention of spending any part of my night in a brawl.”
“So it’s two-stepping and eating.”
He caught her braid in his hand again as he gazed into her eyes. “Plus some kissing.”
She drew a deep breath, wanting him to lean closer and kiss her now yet knowing at the same time that she shouldn’t want any such thing.
His phone rang and he looked at it. “I have to go, so let’s look at the pumps another time.
I have an appointment, but I thought as long as I was close, I’d come say hello.
Tomorrow night can’t come soon enough.” He looked at her as if he still had something he wanted to say.
Silence settled between them and she wondered what it was and what was keeping him from saying it.
“I’ve missed being with you,” he finally said. He placed his hands on her shoulders, and an odd expression came over his face. “You seem shorter.”
She laughed. “I am. I’m not in my high heels like last weekend.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said, still staring at her. “But you weren’t always wearing heels last weekend,” he added in a low voice. “Oh, dang,” he said, on a ragged exhale. “I shouldn’t, but I’m going to anyway.” Pulling her closer, he kissed her.
Her heart thudded and she couldn’t catch her breath. His kiss was thorough and sexy, making her heart race. And she responded to it instantly.
When he released her, he was breathing hard.
“I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow night at six.
Leave your hair down so I can see if it looks as good as I think it did last weekend.
” As she laughed, he grinned while he placed his hands on her waist to pick her up and set her on the other side of the fence.
She remembered how easily he’d carried her in his arms Saturday night.
He went back to his pickup in long strides, climbed in, waved and drove away.
Her lips still tingled as she stood there staring after him in a daze. “I should have said no,” she whispered to herself. “I should not be going out with him. He’s still Tony, all alpha male, a man I’ve always fought with.”
Each hour she spent with him only meant more trouble.
She knew that as well as she knew her own name.
But she’d already accepted, and besides, it was just dinner and dancing, in a place with lots of people.
And talking about water. Far from romantic.
She wasn’t going back to his ranch afterward.
Their evening together would be meaningless.
So why couldn’t she wait for tomorrow night?
Lindsay studied herself in the mirror while her two Australian shepherd dogs lay nearby on the floor.
It was ten to six; Tony would be here any minute.
Time for a last check in the mirror. She’d brushed her hair, curled it slightly in long, spiral curls and finally tied it behind her head with a blue silk scarf.
She wore a black Resistol, a denim blouse with bling, washed jeans with bling on the hip pockets and her fancy black hand-tooled boots.
She turned to her dogs and each raised his head.
“I promise you, Tony Milan will not be invited inside tonight. When he comes to the door, don’t bark at him and don’t bite him.”
Both animals thumped their tails as she patted their heads and left the room. The dogs followed her to the front room, where she could watch the drive.
In minutes she heard Tony’s pickup approach the house.
Hurrying to the door, she turned to tell the dogs to sit.
As soon as they did, she opened the door.
The sight of Tony took her breath away, just as it had when she had seen him yesterday.
His black hat, long-sleeved black Western shirt, tight jeans and black boots made him look 100 percent gorgeous cowboy.
She kept a smile on her face as he approached, even as she silently reassured herself there was no way an attraction between them could possibly develop into anything meaningful.
With Tony that was impossible and she was certain he felt the same way.
As the dogs barked, she gave them commands that caused them to stop, and they came forward quietly to meet Tony, who patted their heads.
“Hi, cowboy,” she said.
“Oh, yeah, you don’t go out with cowboys. Well, consider this a business dinner,” he said, his eyes twinkling.
“Of course. And business kisses.”
“Who said one word about kisses?” he asked, his voice lowering a notch as he placed his hand on the jamb over her head. While she looked up at him, her pulse raced.
“I thought there might be a few kisses as well as dinner.”
“We could just skip dinner and go inside and you can show me your bedroom.”
She smiled and tapped his chest. “What finesse. I think not. You promised dancing and barbecue.”
“Whatever the beautiful lady wants,” he said, sounding serious, as if he had stopped joking and flirting. She wanted to step into his arms and kiss him. Then she remembered Tony had broken more than a couple of hearts with his “love ’em and leave ’em” ways.
“Let me turn on the alarm, lock up and we can go,” she said in a breathless voice that she hoped he wouldn’t notice.
“Sure thing.” As she moved back, his eyes raked her body. “Each time I see you, you look fantastic.”
“Thank you.” She said goodbye to the dogs, who now sat near his feet. “You must have a way with dogs. They don’t usually take to strangers.”
“Women, children and dogs,” Tony said.
“I suppose I have to agree on the women and dogs because that’s definitely proven. I don’t know about children.”
“They love me, too,” he said with humor in his voice. “Ask your nephew, Scotty.”
Smiling, she switched on the alarm and stepped out with him, hearing the lock click.
He linked her arm in his and they walked to his red pickup.
“Allow me,” he said as he held the door for her. She climbed in, aware of his constant scrutiny.
“I do love tight jeans,” he said, closing the door behind her.
Laughing, she watched him walk around the pickup, feeling excitement mount as she looked forward to being with him again.
“Some of my family has called me to ask about our evening. My guess is that yours has called you,” she said, turning toward him as much as her seat belt allowed. She could hardly believe she was sitting here next to him. Her anticipation of this night with him had built all day.
There still was no danger of it becoming a habit for either of them, just one more night—only a few hours of dancing and talking and, maybe, kisses at her door. As they turned on the road toward the county highway, she gripped his arm. “Tony, look over there in the trees. That’s a wolf.”
Tony followed the direction of her hand and looked toward a stand of scrub oaks. He didn’t see any animal. “I don’t see anything and there are no wolves in Texas.”
“There’s one on my ranch. Look.”
She was insistent, so he slowed and backed up, stretching his arm over the back of the seat as he reversed the car around the curve. He saw a furry gray animal at the edge of the trees.
“That has to be a coyote,” he said. “It looks like a wolf, but it’s not. There aren’t any in Texas.”
“It’s too big and furry to be a coyote,” she said. As they watched, the animal turned and disappeared into the darkness of the trees.
“That animal didn’t really look like a dog,” Tony said, putting the car in gear and continuing to drive. “Well, we’ve always got wild animals around here. My money’s on a coyote.”