Page 29 of The Texas Cowboy's Lady

“It would be wise to end this call at this point.”

“Why? It’s just getting interesting. This is a perfect opportunity for you.”

“Opportunity? Don’t push your luck, little brother.”

“Opportunity for you both to bury the hatchet, and not in each other.”

“I’m pretty sure that the hatchet in my back is already there to stay. But thanks for the advice.”

He heard Beaudry exhale a low, exasperated breath on the other end. “I’d say it was a perfect time, given the fact you are still hung up on the lady and you and she have time to pass, so why not make the most of it? But then again, I forgot your pigheaded stubborn streak for a minute.”

“I’m going to end this call right now. Just send out a couple guys to bring the truck back to the barns after this clears. We’ll hope to make it back in before dark. At least, I made the delivery to the camp before it hit. The boys can pull from here tomorrow for the next feeding down at the loading corrals. Goodbye.”

Blasted brother of mine.Jaxson mumbled the words as he slid the phone back inside his jeans pocket. Beaudry wouldn’t give it a rest. Things were more complicated. There were other things, other people in the mix.

Then his mind switched back to the moments in the truck earlier when Laurel was clearly uncomfortable sitting so close to him over the bumpy road. Could he help it if the road was rough, and she kept getting thrown against his body? Well, maybe he might have gone slower and not purposely made a few more sharp turns than necessary along the way. But did he feel sorry about that?Nope, not even a little bit.Might that have stirred an ember or two for her?

Well, it had stirred much more in his case, causing some discomfort beneath the zipper of his jeans and maybe some pitched breathing and an itch to want to reach out and touch the bare skin of her arm, inviting his fingers to linger and not jerk away.Darn Beaudry.He just had to stir the pot. The rain had cooled the air and the wind was kicking up again, bringing gooseflesh along his arms.

Jaxson made the quick decision, and he dashed across the open ground, being pelted with larger drops until he reached the inside of the barn. Reaching inside the cab of the truck, he found his shirt and shrugged it on, not bothering to button it at the moment. He shut the door and looked back across the open expanse at the cabin where Laurel was probably pacing the floor and watching the hands on her expensive gold watch click away her work time being wasted out here in the middle of Nowhere, Texas.

What was she doing? What was she thinking? How did she think she and Sean meshed as partners? Maybe they did as business partners, but as a married couple? They were poles apart. He couldn’t see it. Maybe he was jealous.No maybe about it, you idiot.

Now his inner voice was even calling him names. And he probably deserved it. But why did she have to come back and stir things up again? Except he might have to admit that thosethings, those feelings had never settled at all. They had just been dormant, waiting for the spark to return to bring them back to life. Who had he been fooling? Obviously, no one but himself, judging from the comments of his family since her arrival. And the traitorous way his body and feelings had left him high and dry when he needed self-control the most.

He’d thought Arabella might be the answer. She was perfect for him. She wanted to stay right there in Texas, build a family, and she had made it clear that she would be quite willing to do it all with him. Any man would be one lucky fool to have a woman like that want him and his life. He had searched out a likely site that might be a good place to build a house for a family. It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried to move forward.

But with all of that, there was that one thing lacking—that particular spark that always filled him with warmth and fire and so much more he was at a loss to put into words. And it only came to life when Laurel Burkitt set foot in his world. She would forever bethe one. And he would always be the fool for pining away after something he would never be able to keep from slipping through his fingers. She said she was staying this time. But how many times had she left before? And how often did her words cycle through his memory when she had told him that she could never be content to be a rancher’s wife? How much clearer did she have to make it? She was a lady who had risen above his world.

He kicked the truck tire beside him. Being a lovesick fool had never appealed to him. He was tougher than that, and he shook his head at those idiots that he knew had suffered the pangs of some ill-requited affair. No way was any woman going to tie him up in knots like that.

Yet, one had done it, and she always would. That truth hit him like the blast of colder air that blew through the open doors of the barn at the same time. A shiver ran down his spine. It woke him up from thoughts that would do no good. The rumble of thunder meant another onslaught was coming, and he bowed his head, hand holding his hat on against the swirls of wind and ran back toward the cabin and the woman who waited inside.

Jaxson stepped inside and then he stopped. There wasn’t any woman pacing back and forth in an agitated state. First of all, there was an aroma coming from the kitchen area. He faintly recognized it, but then his gaze was caught by the fire that was beginning to blaze nicely inside the stone fireplace across the room. A kerosene lamp sent a warming glow from the center of the oblong wooden table that separated the kitchen and living room areas. And the pacing woman? She had her back to him, humming an old Patsy Cline standard while plating something that looked like food.

She turned with a large plate in her hands. “Are we heating the outdoors now?”

He realized that the door was still open behind him and shut it. He continued to stand in the same spot.

“Is something wrong?”

“I was just thinking I should go back outside and come in again. I might have stepped into something likeThe Twilight Zone. It’s confusing.”

Her blue gaze narrowed on him as she moved to set the plate on the table. “I know I will regret this question, but then you need to think long before you answer it as well. Why do you think you are inThe Twilight Zone?”

“You aren’t pacing, looking at your watch, but you are actually cooking—on a woodstove of all things. And you built a fire.”

“Told you to think before you spoke. You seem to be shocked that I know how to do that with wood and a match or that I am willing to do the most mundane things people do every day. I’m not a hothouse flower on a shelf. I cook and wash dishes. I mop floors and I even like scrubbing tiles in a shower. I do some of my best screenwriting in my head while cleaning windows. I have a couple of gold statuettes on my desk, not because I’m an egomaniac, but because they remind me that I earned them with a lot of angst and doubts in myself and too much listening to voices of others along the way that made me have those doubts.”

She paused, seating herself at the table. “Now this is just a plate of nachos with things I found in the pantry. I didn’t know how long we would be here, but I can assure you, if need be, I can whip up a few more courses to go along with this appetizer. So dig in before they get cold.”

Jaxson took the bench across from her and tasted one of the cheese-covered tortilla triangles.

“This is really good. What’s the flavor under the cheese?” It was yet another surprise she had in store for him.

“I found some summer sausage rolls and heated some of that and crumbled it and added a few jalapenos. It isn’t the normal recipe, but one has to make do with what one finds in a strange kitchen.” By that time, Jaxson was on his fourth nacho. In the glow of the lamp, Laurel’s skin glowed golden, and the highlights in her hair were gleaming. He was struck again by her beauty, which could transform from sultry to natural country girl in a heartbeat.

“I was one of those voices you mentioned, wasn’t I? You took my words to heart and let them eat at you and your self-esteem. No wonder I don’t rank very high on the list of people who you can’t seem to spend five minutes around without doing battle. I’m sorry.”

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