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“And I suppose I shouldn’t put all the blame on Ty, much as I’d like to. Sally was at fault, too.”
A smile brightened Cal’s face. “Oh, I think Sally’s a marvelous girl.”
Louise clucked her tongue unhappily. “She has a mischievous streak a mile wide. One your brother was perfectly willing to take advantage of, I might add.”
The frown returned to Caleb’s face. “Please don’t blame her too much, Miss Livingston, or me—I mean, my brother—either. People can’t always control their reason when they’re in love.”
It was practically the same little speech Toby had given her! “Are you telling me that Ty is in love with my sister?”
“Oh, desperately!”
She shook her head. “I’ve been here an entire day and he hasn’t even bothered to ask after her health.”
“That’s because…” Caleb bit his lip, appearing to search for a plausible reason for yet another of his brother’s shortcomings. “Because he’s so much in love with her that he can’t bear to say her name.”
“I can’t believe it,” Louise said. Somehow, it was much easier to think of the man as a heartless seducer than a lovelorn swain.
“He’s been out of spirits ever since you came calling last week,” Cal said. His words had a ring of authenticity. “At night I can hear him pacing the floor.”
She thought of Sally’s incessant hums, then shook her head.
“It’s no wonder you can hear him, with the way he clumps around in those boots!” Yet the picture Cal was painting in her mind disturbed her. It would make sense that a man in love would lose sleep. Even her own thoughts had been keeping her awake lately, and she certainly couldn’t claim to be in love.
She frowned. Could Ty actually be pining for her sister?
Since her first encounter with the man, she had simply assumed that Ty had been using Sally, dallying with her young, vulnerable heart. And he’d led her to believe this was the case. But perhaps this had just been more of his bravado. Maybe she was keeping apart two people who were desperately in love.
Spoiler wasn’t a role she relished. Though she had never been in love herself, and never expected to be, she had always known that someday Sally would find a husband. She looked forward to that day—and to being an aunt, too. Never, never had she meant to prevent her sister from finding happiness. She’d only hoped that Sally would be selective in her choice of mates.
But judging from what she had seen of the house, its contents and the grounds, Ty Saunders did not live in barbaric circumstances, and would have little trouble supporting a wife. And according to Cal, his disposition was only disagreeable because of his pining away for Sally. And perhaps she was letting her own prejudices stand in Sally’s way. Some women preferred the, well, rustic type. If Ty truly loved Sally, the match wouldn’t be the terrible disaster that Louise had concluded at first that it would be.
It would only be a small disaster.
If Ty actually loved Sally.
Ty frowned as he paced outside the house, the ash of his cigar glowing red in the darkness. Usually he enjoyed evenings—the peacefulness of night sounds, the satisfaction of having completed another day’s work, the prospect of a long night’s slumber. But tonight he savored none of those things. Instead, all he could think of was that woman. Louise.
It hadn’t been difficult to pretend to be in a bad mood all day. Just looking at her did something to him. Irritated him, he guessed. He couldn’t get his work done. He couldn’t concentrate. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to get any sleep.
He let out a groaning sigh, then chomped down on his cigar. They were one of the few items he bought at the Livingston Mercantile. Did Louise realize that? Did she know how much this customer of hers had secretly enjoyed going into town all these months?
He’d never really given it much thought before now. But in the week since she’d galloped up his hill, he’d done little besides dwell on every moment they’d spent together over the years. Always, he had admired her, both for her looks and her sharp mind. And on occasions like that church social, he’d longed to tell her how much he wanted to see her more often, for something more than cigars.
But a few quick rebuffs had cleared all thought of doing any such thing out of his mind. How could you approach a woman who clearly had her own ideas about how she was going to run her life? The answer was, you couldn’t. Not unless you were prepared to be rejected, just as she had rejected the idea of her sister falling in love with a Saunders. The idea still got him steamed.
He couldn’t wait for this week of torture to be over. Hopefully, Cal and Sally would get married soon, take the house and land, and Ty could move somewhere far away and begin anew. Someplace that didn’t have a gorgeous headstrong female running the show.
As if in answer to his thoughts, the front door opened and Louise appeared, alone. She lingered for a moment on the porch, probably expecting that he would come keep her company.
She could just forget about that. He wasn’t making any friendly overtures.
After silently watching him for several minutes, she came down the steps and approached him, a tentative smile on her lips. “It’s a lovely evening, isn’t it?”
Her innocuous question—along with that smile—immediately put him on guard. “I was just about to go in,” he said tightly.
“Oh.”
He felt rooted to the spot where they stood, only a few feet separating them. She was wearing a dark-colored dress, which only made her lovely face stand out in higher relief, framed by her thick brown hair piled high atop her head. As the moonlight touched her creamy skin, the vision of her nearly took his breath away.
He looked toward the pasture rolling unseen down below in the darkness, feeling an uncomfortable tightness in his gut. “I’d think you’d be tired,” he said tersely.
“Not at all.”
He frowned. “We’ll have to find more for you to do tomorrow,” he said.
“Absolutely,” she agreed with gusto. “Otherwise, I’ll feel useless.”
Ty rolled his eyes. He should have known that Little Miss Busy-Busy would want more of a challenge than simple house chores. By the end of her week she would probably be ready for a cattle drive! “If I could convince Caleb to stop coddling you, that might make your days a little less useless.”
He looked over and noted with satisfaction that her chin jutted out in that stubborn way of hers. Nevertheless, she kept her tone even as she replied, “Don’t blame Cal.”
“Oh, so it’s ‘Cal’ already?”
Her fists balled at her sides, and he felt a surge of excitement upon seeing the spark in her eye. “I believe your brother was attempting to create a good impression for me, since you seemed determined not even to try.”
“Don’t see why he bothered.”
She let out a huff of frustration. “For you, you stupid lug!”
“Obviously he did wonders reversing your low opinion of me,” Ty said wryly, enjoying the passion in her eyes when she became wrapped up in an argument.
“You can’t even understand your brother’s noble intentions.”
“Oh, I can’t?” Ty asked, puffing on his cigar.
She waved a cloud of smoke away from her face. “Do you know he nearly had me convinced that deep down you’re actually a sentimental man?”
Ty barked out a laugh.
“Cal said that beneath that gruff exterior you were just a sad soul, pining for love.”
Ty leaned close, his lips turning up into a suggestive grin. “Oh, I’ll admit to pining for love as much as the next man.”
“You don’t have an honorable intention inside you,” she asserted with disgust.
He waggled his brows together. “No, but I’m full to the brim with dishonorable ones.”
“That I can believe! Never once today have you mentioned poor Sally.”
“She’s a pretty little thing,” he told her with a negligent shrug. “She’ll find someone else, maybe even someone you can approve of. I hear there are a few unmarried princes left over in Europe.”
“My sister is not a thing,” she lectured angrily. “She’s a young woman with a vulnerable heart.”
“Unfortunately, my heart is invulnerable.”
“I’ve never met anyone so callous in my life!”
“I’m callous?” Ty asked. “What about you? You’re the one who told your lovesick sister she couldn’t be seen with the likes of me.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “And apparently I was right to do so!”
Ty looked into her lively eyes and couldn’t help smiling. In spite of himself, he liked her pluck. He was even beginning to admire the way her pointy chin stuck out so stubbornly.
Caleb had done a good job of softening her today, and now Ty had performed equally well in riling her. But he was too tempted by the opportunity the moonlight and melodic night sounds presented to let Miss Livingston storm inside just yet.
Maybe he was just too tempted by Louise, period.
Either way, he knew just what to do to make her livid, and confirm her good opinion of Caleb’s character.
“You know,” he said, calculating his words to have the most infuriating effect, “I think you might be jealous of your sister.”
Her face turned the color of a Mexican pepper. “Jealous!”
“Come now,” he said, taking another step toward her. “Don’t think I’ve missed those little looks you’ve given me when I come into the store.”
Louise’s full red lips parted in horror. She took a step backward, then swallowed in a gulp of air. “Looks?”
“It’s understandable, you know,” he assured her in a low, purring voice. “An older woman like yourself…alone…around all those men.”
She let out a muffled shriek. “How dare you even suggest—and I’m not old. I’m twenty-three!”
He slipped an arm around her shoulders and hauled her against his chest. Her body was as rigid as an old creaky board, and her breathing came in shallow gulps.
“Then maybe all you lack is a little experience,” he said, tossing aside his cigar and then dipping down to taste her lips.
She gasped in surprise and pressed her palms flat against his chest to push him away. Only the push never came. Ty pulled her more tightly against him and moved his mouth against her lips teasingly, testing her response. Her body remained still, both unyielding and unprotesting, as if in anticipation of what his next move would be.
Unable to resist, he deepened the kiss, tasting her sweet mouth with his tongue. At the same time, he drank in her delicate, clean, soapy scent, and ran a hand up to feel the luxurious thickness of her hair. She moaned, and he suddenly realized what a sweet, tantalizing trap he’d fallen into. It had been too long since he’d held a woman in his arms. In fact, the last time had been when he’d held this woman in his arms. His body was as tightly wound as a steel coil. He wanted her.
And yet he had succeeded in making himself the last man on earth she would want.
With a silent groan of regret, he lifted his head, putting an abrupt end to their kiss. His hands dropped to his sides, and he took a short step back.
Her round, unblinking eyes looked dazed at first, then sparked with indignation. “How dare you!” she cried, heat visibly flooding her cheeks even in the moonlight. “Let go of me!”
“I did.”
She looked down in dismay at her freed limbs. Her embarrassment at this discovery only added fuel to her ire. “That was the most despicable thing you’ve done yet!”
He couldn’t help but smile. “Letting go of you?”
“Kissing me!” she cried.
“You seemed to enjoy it,” he told her, assuming an air of arrogance while at the same time attempting to discern whether there was any truth to his words. “Leastwise, you didn’t kick up much of a fuss.”
“I was in shock!”
“A lot of women say that,” he said, posturing proudly. “It just takes a certain prowess.”
Her eyes narrowed and her fists rested on her hips. “Tyrone Saunders, you’re lower than low. I’m leaving here tomorrow and I never want to lay eyes on your hide again.”
“We had a bargain,” he warned her. “A week, remember?”
“You can’t expect me to stay here now!”
“I would expect that you would be a little less forward during the rest of your stay, as befits a woman of your superlative breeding.”
“Less forward? Me?”
He shot her an innocent glance. “I was out here minding my own business, enjoying my solitary stroll with only my cigar for company.”
“A smelly old cigar is about all the company you’re fit for!” she said angrily. “You can rest assured that I won’t throw myself at you again!”
She twirled and stormed to the house, coming just short of slamming the door behind her.
He should have been smiling, but he couldn’t. Though the encounter had been a triumph in terms of making Louise think he was a boorish lout, he’d hit upon a disturbing discovery while kissing her. His heart wasn’t so invulnerable after all.
At least, not to one particular woman.
Chapter Five (#ulink_d1ec82e3-00e5-5621-a8b0-8131a7c9fe70)
“What is all this for?” Louise asked.
In the short amount of time it had taken her to feed the chickens and gather the few eggs available, Caleb had transformed the kitchen from its post-breakfast mess to a sparkling clean place to take a bath. The table had been pushed back, and in its place was a large washtub, half-filled.
“I thought you might like a bath,” Caleb announced as she stood staring in wonder at the light fog created by the steam from the water he had been heating on the stove.
“A bath? At nine in the morning? The idea’s too decadent even to consider.”
There was no masking the disappointment on Cal’s face. “I thought after all the work you’d done for us…”
“Work!” she cried, nearly dropping her egg basket. “You’ve hardly allowed me to get myself dirty enough to need a bath!”
“Why, that’s crazy,” Caleb said as he tested the heating water on the stove with his finger. Deciding it was ready, he hauled it over to the tub and poured it in. “Didn’t you practically cook dinner single-handed last night?”
She had single-handedly warmed up the remains of the feast Caleb had prepared the night before. But he had prepared the fresh corn bread, and done most of the scrubbing up afterward, refusing to let her lift a finger. In fact, this bath seemed just another way for Caleb to show that he intended to wait on her hand and foot. Which made her wonder what the purpose in dragging her all the way out here was.
“Caleb, I couldn’t,” she insisted. “There’s so much else I could be doing.”
