Page 27 of Rainwater
“Get the hell out of town, chief. That’s what it would take,” Jay snarled.
“I’ve got your promise, Butler?” Corey reinforced his words by tightening his hands in Jay’s shirt, shaking him hard once.
Jay swallowed and shifted his eyes from Corey’s, his pale complexion turning blotchy red. “Yeah,” he growled. “That’s what it would take.”
“Done. I’m leaving on the next bus out of town. Keep your promise, Butler, or all bets are off and you’ll have me to deal with. Are we on the same wavelength?”
“Why don’t you take your threats and stuff—” Jay stopped short when Corey’s expression went dangerously still. Jay’s face turned sullen and resigned. “We’re on the same wavelength.”
“Wise decision,” Corey said, and turned away, leaving as quietly as he’d come.
He never saw the murderous look in Jay’s eyes, or the evil smile.
Chapter
Six
It was dark outside the next day when Corey finally made it back to the foreman’s cottage. He’d had two full days of activity, including roping, wrestling and inoculating the new calves. He’d also untangled three bulls that had been caught in some leftover barbed wire some reckless ranch hand had left lying about. All in all, he’d used muscles he’d forgotten he had.
Jennifer had been right, it was like a small house. The three spacious bedrooms and one bath were on the upper level, while another bath, kitchen, den, living room, dining room and laundry room were downstairs. He couldn’t spend another night in her warm cozy house in her sweet-smelling bed, imagining Jennifer wrapped around him. They had fought about it, but he wouldn’t budge. He’d picked up his clean wash and exited to the bunkhouse. Jennifer had given up.
Painfully, he pulled off his boots and dropped them to the floor, then he went into the bathroom and washed the dirt off his face, gingerly cleaning around the almost healed scrape on his face.
He raised his head and looked up, trying to avoid his own eyes in the mirror, something he’d been doing for months now. Ever since he had gotten out of the hospital, the vague anxietyhad plagued him. Followed by the paralyzing fear when he’d even tried to go near a rodeo again. His outlet for his pain was gone. Now all he could do to assuage his torment was to keep moving. Never to stop or it would swallow him whole.
How could he go on with his life if he couldn’t even look at himself in the mirror? What would he have to offer Jennifer? Hell, where had that thought come from? He couldn’t stay. He wasn’t a fool. He knew what he saw in her eyes. He couldn’t be that man.
He had thought when he was a child, if only he could be good enough, his father would love him again. Show him how to draw and sketch. Put his big hand on his head to ruffle his hair as he used to do instead of drawing those hands into fists to hurt him. He wanted to be whatever Jennifer needed because she was all he would ever need.
Walking from the small bathroom to his saddlebags, he searched around for the aspirin he thought he had packed before he left the house. But he couldn’t seem to find the tablets. His hip was aching so bad he didn’t think he could sleep.
He wasn’t used to the activity he’d gotten today. His whole body ached and throbbed, but the exquisite pain to block out all the other pain was coming from his battered soul.
He went to the open door of the cottage, looked up at the house and saw a light on in the kitchen. “Damn,” he whispered to himself. Was she awake?
Before he could even think that what he was doing wasn’t smart, he was at her back door knocking softly. He needed to apologize for his actions in the barn yesterday. He’d acted like a complete idiot. And he needed to find out when the next bus left town.
Jennifer wasin the kitchen making coffee because she couldn’t sleep. The kiss in the barn still haunted her. That wild ride brought back memories of how excited she had been about life and it reminded her now how bitter she had become. Where had the joy gone? The pure sweet magic of just being alive. Had Sonny taken that away from her? Had her responsibilities so paralyzed her that she couldn’t enjoy just being alive? Those revelations had shaken her. She didn’t know she had such a depth of feeling inside her. Never knew she could respond so forcefully to a man the way she had responded to Corey. Never knew she could hurt this bad. Shouldn’t she reach out and grab that bit of intensity? Was she a fool? She’d be a fool to let him walk out of her life without once knowing his touch. She shivered in the flimsy robe she wore, her nipples puckering against the fabric. Her body felt intensely alive and throbbing.
She closed her eyes to better concentrate on how his hard, demanding mouth had felt against hers, the almost desperate way he’d held her, as if he needed something from her. Something more than the pressing of lips and bodies. Something more than physical, something elusive and tantalizingly close.
Reckless magic.
She could almost reach out and touch it. She couldn’t stop thinking about Corey. How he had looked, the pain in his voice when he believed she had rejected him.
The knock on the door jolted her out of her thoughts. She’d been staring into space while the water overflowed the glass pot she’d been filling. She turned off the tap, disgusted with herself.
Setting the carafe down, she went to the door, holding her breath, praying it was him. Her prayer was answered. His broadshoulders filled her doorway. She could only think of how those thick muscles had felt beneath her hands, the warmth of his skin against her sensitive palms. “Corey,” she breathed, unable to keep the need she felt out of her voice.
“I was wondering if you had some aspirin. I’m a little achy. I haven’t been on a horse since I got out of the hospital.”
Out of the hospital?She repeated the words to herself as she turned her body so that he could get past. Why had he been in the hospital? “Just another reason you shouldn’t be on a horse. So don’t expect any sympathy from me. Well, why don’t you come in?” Regardless of his pain, she couldn’t get it out of her head how he had looked straddling that big bay while he roped calves. He’d handled him gracefully, making hard grueling work look like artistry.
He raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure you want me to come in?”
“Don’t be silly. Of course you can come in. I’m making coffee, if you’re interested.”
“That sounds good.”
