To Tempt a Wilde (9 page)

She ran a tired hand through her hair, forcing a smile onto her face, her heart now racing so hard she was afraid he could hear it from across the room.

The look on his face as his dark eyes went from her to the dresser and back sent a wave of fear to course over her.

With her newfound knowledge of him, in his eyes she also saw proof that he had been the one behind her father's death.

 

A frown creased Nate's forehead as he felt the tremor go through her body. This time it wasn't from his touch.

Nate brought her into his arms, her back to his chest, and pulled her close before lightly resting his head against hers.

A
lthea's laughter rang out when the cows continued to crowd in on her as she tried to cut the large bale of hay. She glanced over at one of the ranch hands standing nearby cutting his own bale, and he gave a shrug of his shoulders.

“Goes with the territory, I guess,” she said, laughing, and the foreman, along with several of the other men, laughed along with her.

She'd spent
the morning with Nate's foreman, cutting the string that tied the large bales of hay. She'd then helped to break up the large, round bales and spread them so the cows could graze.

After she fed the first pasture and the hungry animals had all gathered, bumping against her in their eagerness for chow time, she'd soon learned to move fast around the hungry cows.

After breaking up the bales, by
hand or pitchfork, the
cows were more often than not too impatient to wait and eagerly tried to get to the food before dinner was ready to be served, to her amusement.

She wiped away at the beads of sweat that peppered her forehead, looking up into the midday sun.

She'd woken after the amazing night she'd spent with Nate and found herself alone in the bed.

Althea had raised frantic eyes to
her alarm clock, and when she'd noted it was several hours past the time she normally woke, she'd jumped from the bed and quickly showered and dressed.

She'd turned to leave the bedroom when she spotted a slip of paper that had fallen on the floor, next to the side of the bed where he'd slept.

After bending down to retrieve the note she rose, reading it as she did.

In a bold, masculine sprawl
was a short, to-the-point message:
Didn't want to wake you. Sleep in. Don't worry about working today.—Nate

And that was it. And he'd signed his name, as though she wouldn't be able to figure out it was from him.

Really, what had she expected? A love note with flowers and hearts drawn over the scrap of paper?

She laughed softly and shook her head. “Not hardly.”

Nonetheless, she'd tucked the
note into one of the back pockets of her jeans, grabbed a bagel and carton of juice from the refrigerator, and after locking up, left the cottage, pondering the short, cryptic note.

Did he think that because she'd slept with him she wanted…expected…special consideration?

Scratch that, sleeping was the least of their activities
throughout the long night, Althea thought, feeling heat flood her
face as she thought of the many, many things they'd done that hadn't included sleep.

It had been so long since she'd felt like she had last night, so long since she'd enjoyed being with a man, making love, no other thoughts invading her mind. It had been even longer since she'd allow herself to just let go and enjoy.

After finding the foreman she'd found out that Nate and his brothers had gone
out to one of the northern pastures to move cattle. One part of her had been disappointed, but the other part had been relieved, not sure how to face him “the morning after.”

She'd found Lilly in the kitchen after following the guidance of one of the ranch hands. Thinking she'd be trailing after the same man who she'd been reporting to for her daily chores, he'd told her she was to go to the
main house instead.

Lilly had then informed her that Nate had given instructions for her to take care of Althea, for her to help in the kitchen if she wanted.

Although the older woman had given her the information in a matter-of-fact tone, Althea had picked up on the side glances she'd cast her way as she swiftly whipped the cake batter and poured it into the greased baking pan, along with the
glimmer of curiosity in her dark brown eyes.

“Take care of me?”

Lilly dusted her hands down the sides of her ample, apron-covered hips and lifted the large pan to place the cake inside the oversize oven.

She'd then turned to Althea. Although she gave
Althea a considering look, she simply nodded her head. “That about sums it up.”

At that, Althea felt the tips of her ears burn. Mumbling a thank-you,
she'd left the house and sought out the foreman. She'd become used to working the ranch, and although she enjoyed Lilly's company, she preferred working outside with the others, as she'd done the entire time she'd lived there.

Now, as she finished with the last bale, she reached up again to wipe the sweat away from her forehead, a satisfied smile on her face.

As usual, although the work had
been hard, it had been immensely satisfying. Glancing around at the others as they worked, Althea was struck by the sense of family she felt around the men. Although most had been with the ranch for years, even those who were recent employees exhibited the same sense of pride and commitment to the ranch as those who'd worked there much longer.

Which said a lot for the men who owned and operated
the ranch. Nate and his brothers were a breed apart.

She'd learned they had come together on the ranch as young boys, that the owner, Clint Wilde, had been a loner, living out on the ranch alone with the exception of those who'd worked for him.

Clint had never married, as far as the others knew, and when asked by the director of a local boys' home if he was interested in a new program that would
place the boys in area homes in exchange for them working and learning about ranching, the gruff rancher had agreed.

Eventually he'd adopted them. After he died, he left
the entire two hundred acres, along with everything else he had, to his adopted sons.

She glanced around again at the working men.

Realizing they were all caught up in work, she was about to pick up the bale of hay when several
of the hungry animals began to crowd her again.

Laughing along with the others she hopped away, avoiding their hungry cries and nudges. She quickly broke up the hay, her laughter ringing out along with the others.

 

Nate observed Althea with the cows, her antics trying to dodge the hungry animals making everyone around her laugh, including himself.

He hadn't thought she'd be awake, much less
working, after the night they'd shared.

He'd woken before dawn and had turned to her, ready to pick up where they'd left off, before realizing she still slept.

He'd trailed his hands over her body, moving the sheet they'd used to cover themselves away so that he could cup one of her breasts lightly in his palm. She'd softly sighed and moved closer to him, her firm bottom nestling snugly against
his groin.

After spending an entire night making love to her, it still hadn't been enough. He'd moved his other hand around so that he cupped both breasts, lightly toying with her nipples until they spiked against his hand. He held back a groan.

Even in sleep she responded to him.

The faint shadows beneath her long lashes prevented him from waking her and starting over, making love to
her until
neither one of them knew where one left off and the other began. Damn.

With a deep sigh, he'd carefully untangled himself from her, and deciding not to wake her with a shower, dressed.

Walking slowly back toward the bed, he'd stared down at her, one side of his mouth hitching upward. She'd turned in her sleep after he'd gotten up and now held the pillow he'd laid his head on hugged against her,
her face buried against it.

Reluctantly he'd turned away, found a piece of paper and pen in the nightstand drawer and written her a note. Before he could change his mind, he turned and left.

Her laughter brought him back to the present. As she hopped around the nudging cows, his eyes narrowed to slits when he noticed he wasn't the only one entranced with her. Several of his men had stopped working
just to watch her antics, grins of appreciation on all their faces.

When his foreman gave several of the men watching stern looks, telling them without words to keep working, the knot of jealousy loosened and he relaxed, the scowl on his face easing away as he leaned on the railing to continue his perusal of her.

He was so caught up enjoying the show he hadn't realized his brothers had joined
him until Holt slapped him on the back.

“Thought we'd find you here.”

“Meaning?” he scowled, pulling his gaze away from her.

Holt shrugged a big shoulder. “No hidden meaning,
big brother…heard Althea was here, ergo…” He allowed the sentence to dangle.

Nate squashed the desire to knock the obnoxious grin from Holt's face and instead deftly changed the subject.

“Everything set for roundup this
weekend?” he asked, turning to Shilah.

“Yeah, got most of the men ready,” he said, and for a short time the men discussed the upcoming event until again Althea drew Nate's attention away from his brothers.

“So…when are you going to tell us what's really going on between you two?”

Before he could speak, Shilah, normally the less…intrusive of the two, piped in, “Give him a break, Holt. The man's
got a right to his privacy. None of our business what, or if, anything's going on between him and Althea.” It was more the humor lurking than what he said that pissed Nate off.

Nate ignored his brothers' taunts, turned away and continued to watch Althea.

He and his brothers had spent the morning moving livestock from two different pastures, and in that time his mind had been on Althea and the
night they'd spent together.

A night that still burned hot in his mind. Images of her long brown legs wrapped around him as he stroked inside her body, her sweet mindless little mewls of satisfaction and the stamp of satisfaction on her face had all played hell with his attention the entire day.

He'd missed the looks his brothers had given him
and each other, his mind split between the job at
hand and Althea.

Long after she'd drifted off to sleep, Nate had stayed awake, looking down at her, wanting all the pieces of the complex puzzle that made her.

The information she'd given, although succinct, had given him clues that had only added to her mystery.

Who was she, really?

As she slept, he'd gotten up once and gone into her bathroom. After using the facilities, he'd gone to the
pedestal-style sink to wash his hands and spied a small black bag. Indecision filled him.

He hadn't wanted to go through her things, yet curiosity about her overrode the knowledge that prying through her things wasn't cool.

He decided to hell with being cool. He lifted the bag and peered inside.

Her wallet was there, and he stopped, feeling guilty. Prying wasn't his style, and neither did he
appreciate it in others.

Besides, he'd rather she be the one to tell him who she was instead of learning this way. He wanted her to trust him enough to do that.

He'd returned to bed and found her in the same position, with his pillow hugged to her chest. He gently moved the pillow and repositioned himself so that it was his body she curled around instead.

When she placed her hand on his chest,
Nate had lifted it, turned her hand over, again caressing the calluses on them. She was complex, he'd thought, a frown bisecting his brows.

A woman who obviously was no stranger to hard work. Yet one who painted her toenails bright pink.

And then there was her wallet. Although he hadn't opened it, the designer label of both it and the matching purse hadn't made sense to Nate. He had seen no
other evidence during the weeks she'd spent at the ranch that she was the type of woman who would pay that much for a simple accessory. But it was obvious that she was used to the finer things in life.

Nate was picking up on the small inconsistencies, ones that alone didn't mean much but together were beginning to paint a picture of a woman whose past held more than a few secrets. Yet she had
given it all up and chosen to move from place to place. Why?

More important, why did he care? She was just a momentary distraction. He ignored the instant inner mocking voice that called him a liar.

“Hey, boss, you want me to get the new hand settled in the barracks?”

Nate's attention was drawn from watching Althea's antics with the cows when his foreman approached. His brothers had given up
on riling him and left moments before.

“He got all his paperwork in? Everything check out okay?” Nate asked absently, his mind still on Althea. Jake Stone had been the foreman for over ten years, and Nate as well as his brothers had learned to trust his judgment on anything to do with the ranch, including hiring.

Jake was only a year older than he was, had grown up around the ranch from the
time his father was the foreman, taking over the job when his father retired. He
knew the Wyoming Wilde and its operation as well as Nate and his brothers.

“Hmm, yeah, just about,” he answered, and paused. Nate glanced up and saw his sandy brows knotted.

“What's up?” he asked.

“It's just something about this one that seems a bit odd to me.”

“Yeah? In what way?”

“On paper he checks out good
and all. Top-notch references across the board. In fact almost too damn good. But when he came by today to sign the paperwork…I don't know. Just seemed odd, is all. Now, I know looks ain't everything, but he sure as hell didn't look as though he'd ever done a hard day's work in his life.” The cowboy took off his hat and ran his hands through his dampened, short blond hair, spiking it over his head,
before placing his hat back.

“I can't see him getting his hands dirty, with the way they looked, much less riding a bronco. 'Less it was one of those mechanical ones at the Laredo,” he finished, referring to one of the more popular country-and-western bars in Landers.

“Hold on…he rode
bronco?
”

The foreman shrugged his broad shoulders. “Hell, that's what it said on his résumé. According to his
résumé, he's done everything from milking cows and branding to a stint riding bulls.”