Page 38 of Rainwater
“Yeah, I guess I did. I said it, didn’t I?” He growled his answer, angry for being a fool and not getting on that bus.
“Good then, Mr. Rainwater, get your backside in this truck. We’ve got a lot of work to do,” she ordered solemnly.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied. Another smile spread across his face, and he settled himself next to Ellie on the passenger side. The apprehension was gone, replaced by the unexpected feeling of going home.
They rode in silence for a few miles, over terrain that was dusty and dull brown.
“Jennifer?” Corey broke the silence.
“Yes.”
“What’s with that mare you have corralled? I never see her doing anything but lounge around. Are you going to breed her?” he asked casually, not looking at Ellie.
“No. I hadn’t planned on it. I was at an auction and the man who was auctioning her was beating her. Had been for a while. I bought her on the spot. I can’t abide the beating of animals. It’s too bad she’s wild. She looks like she would be a sensitive little thing.”
“Would you mind if I try to gentle her?” He felt Ellie stiffen next to him. She lifted her face to him, and he would have gladly pulled down the moon, the sun and the stars to get her to look at him like that again. Hero worship, pure and simple.
“Why?” Jennifer asked, interrupting his thoughts.
He cleared his throat and gave Ellie a conspiratorial wink that brought the foxy look back to her face, a shrewd gleam to her eye. He chuckled a little and Jennifer gave him a sidelong glance.
“Well, I think she’d make a champion barrel racer.”
“Oh, you do?” Jennifer said knowingly, glancing at Ellie, who was staring out the windshield as if she wasn’t hanging on every word.
“Yeah. I’m really good with horses. At least you’ll have a working animal instead of one not pulling its weight. The mare has potential, Jennifer. A lot of potential,” he said softly.
The softness of his words was like a gentle caress against her body. God, the man didn’t even have to raise his voice to make a point. She couldn’t’ seem to refuse him anything. “I guess it couldn’t hurt. But, Miss Eleanor Jean Horn, before you try to get on her back, I want Corey’s word that it’s safe.”
Ellie seemed to burst at the seams. “I promise, Mom. I’ll wait until Corey says so.” She looked at Corey and smiled and Corey was lost.
“That brings up another problem. I’ll need a horse,” Corey said.
“Take your pick in the stables.”
When the truck pulled up to the house, Corey let Ellie out. To Jennifer, he said quietly, “Can I talk with you for a minute?”
“Sure.” She turned to her daughter. “Ellie, go ahead up. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Corey came around to the driver’s side and leaned his forearms on the edge of her door. Glancing down, he scuffed his boot on the ground. Then he looked up and pinned her with a look that could freeze fire.
“I think it would be best if we…if we weren’t intimate again.”
Jennifer’s hands tightened on the wheel. “Oh. It was that bad?”
He reacted on instinct, jerking open the door and pinning Jennifer between his body and the rigid steel of the truck. When his face was inches from hers, he said, “I’m going to say this just once. You were amazing. Responsive, hot, wonderful.” He couldn’t resist, his mouth brushed hers. “I just can’t give you false hope that I’ll stay on very long, and to be frank, Jennifer, the thought of making love with you, then walking away makes my stomach knot up.”
“Then—”
He never let her finish. “No, Jennifer, I can’t stay. I can’t be what you want me to be, ever. It wouldn’t be fair to you.”
“Corey, are you running because of the goring? Are you ashamed?”
He stiffened, then met her eyes squarely. “That doesn’t begin to touch how I feel. I don’t want to discuss this with you, Jennifer.”
“But what if I want you? What if I don’t care about what’s going to happen in the future?”
“I care, darlin’.” He caressed her face with the tips of his fingers. “I care very much. You aren’t a one-night stand woman, and you broke a rule for me, didn’t you?”
