The Rancher's Bride Page 7

  “No. But I’m glad you did,” he said softly.

  Her eyes fluttered open just in time to see his face drawing near. Her mouth opened in surprise but she didn’t have time to get the word no past her lips. Suddenly he was kissing her. Again.

  Rose couldn’t help herself. She clung to him, tasted him, then sighed when he finally lifted his head and gently trailed his finger down her cheek.

  “Good night, Rose.”

  Too shaken to speak, Rose watched him disappear into the darkness.

  “Good night, Harlan,” she whispered brokenly.

  Chapter Five

  A few moments later Rose pulled herself together and went into the house. All was quiet as she walked through the dark living room, then down the hallway toward her bedroom.

  “Rose?”

  The whispered sound of her name had Rose pausing, then glancing in the open doorway of the nursery. A soft night-light illuminated Chloe’s silhouette.

  “Yes, it’s me. Are they both asleep?” she asked as she tiptoed into the twins’ room.

  Chloe turned away from the white wooden cribs. “I just put them down. I think they crawled across the living room thirty times before they finally wore down.”

  “They like being mobile,” Rose said with a weary smile. “Just wait until they start walking.”

  Chloe chuckled softly. “Look out, Aunt Kitty. She’ll probably drop ten pounds.”

  “By then I expect we’ll have to hire someone to help her. Aunt Kitty might be young and agile for her sixty-two years, but chasing after two toddlers would be hard on a woman of any age.”

  Chloe glanced over her shoulder at the sleeping babies. “I know. I just hope by then we can come up with the money for extra help.” She looked back at her sister. “Speaking of help, where have you been?”

  Out on the porch kissing our neighbor, Rose thought wildly. Aloud she said, “Harlan just brought me home. It was dark by the time we finished moving the cattle. And then his daughter wanted me to stay and eat pizza.”

  Chloe’s brows shot up. “And you did?”

  Rose took Chloe by the shoulder and guided her out of the nursery. “It would have been unneighborly to have refused, don’t you think?”

  She headed down the hallway to her bedroom and Chloe walked along with her.

  “I don’t know about that. But it surprises me that you stayed to have supper with someone you hardly know. Especially when you told me last night that Harlan—what was it?” She thoughtfully tapped a finger against her chin. “He bothered you.”

  Rose spread her hands in a helpless gesture. “Well, he does bother me.” Dear Lord, he did more than bother her, she thought, he’d taken total control of her senses. “But Emily was a big help moving the cattle today and she practically begged me to stay and eat.”

  “Hmm,” Chloe mused aloud, “you must like the girl.”

  Rose entered her bedroom with Chloe still close on her heels. “I do. Her mother has been dead since she was a little thing and it’s just been her and her daddy ever since.”

  “How sad for her.”

  “Very.”

  “And sad for Mr. Hamilton, too,” Chloe added.

  Rose tossed her hat onto a stuffed armchair, then in spite of her dusty clothes and boots, sank wearily onto the bed. “Losing a spouse would be more than sad.”

  “I wonder why he’s never married again? I’m sure there’re plenty of women out there who’d jump at the chance to be his wife.”

  Rose shot her sister an annoyed look. “What makes you say that? You don’t even know the man.”

  “I’ve seen him around before. He’s quite a man.”

  “You know that just by looking at him?” Rose asked dryly.

  “I talked to the man once when he was visiting Daddy. He’s mighty easy on the eyes and he has one of those drawls that give you goose bumps on the inside.”

  So Rose wasn’t by herself when it came to being affected by Harlan Hamilton’s charms, she thought. “So why didn’t you flirt with him? He might have decided to change his single status.”

  Chloe’s mouth fell open. “Rose! I can’t believe you said that to me!”

  Rose couldn’t believe it, either. But she hadn’t been herself these past two days. Maybe the drought and heat and work had all finally gotten to her. She had to think that’s all it was.

  Lying back against the pillows, Rose closed her eyes. “Why? You just said the man was very attractive. And you’re young and beautiful and single.”

  Groaning, Chloe sat down on the edge of the bed. “My horses don’t allow me any time for romance. And even if I wasn’t busy with them, I’m not so sure I could get interested in any man. Not after the things Daddy did to mother and us. Anyway,” she added with a dismissive wave of her hand, “Mr. Hamilton is probably ten years my senior.”

  Rose opened her eyes. “I told Harlan about Daddy and the twins.”

  For a second time Chloe’s jaw dropped with shock. “You told him! All of it?”

  Rose nodded. “I felt we owed it to him. He lent Daddy all that money. And you and I both know what he did with it. Every cent was given to Belinda Waller.”

  “That’s true enough,” Chloe agreed with a grimace. “But I can’t imagine you sharing such a private thing with Harlan Hamilton.”

  “Whether we like it or not, the man is a part of our lives now, Chloe. At least until we’re able to pay him back. But aside from all that, his daughter Emily is going to be coming over here to the ranch from time to time. She needed to know and understand how the twins came to be here with us.”

  Chloe’s brows shot up. “His daughter is going to be coming here? Why?”

  “She plans on helping me with whatever I need to get done.”

  “You can’t pay her!”

  A wan little smile curved Rose’s lips. “She doesn’t want pay. She wants companionship. I hope you’ll be nice to her.”

  Chloe appeared properly offended by her sister’s remark. “I’m nice to everyone.”

  Rose gave her younger sister a skeptical glance.

  “Okay, almost everyone,” Chloe conceded, then pressed her hand over Rose’s. “It’s getting late and you look beat. Would you like me to run you a bath?”

  “I don’t know that I have enough strength for a bath. I think I’ll do well just to get these clothes off.”

  “Oh Rose,” Chloe scolded, “you can’t keep this up. You can’t do the work of five or six men. It’s killing you!”

  Rose gave her sister a weary, lopsided smile. “Look who’s talking.”

  Chloe shook her head. “My work is confined to the stable. You’re trying to oversee thousands of acres!”

  “And you’re trying to help Aunt Kitty with the twins. Believe me, Chloe, it all equals out. Besides, today was out of the ordinary.”

  “Yeah, thanks to Mr. Hamilton.” She got up from the bed and reached for Rose’s boots. As she tugged them off she said, “I hope this keeps the man satisfied for a while. But I’m afraid he’s eventually going to want more from us Murdocks than just water for his cattle.”

  Rose sighed and wiggled her bare toes. “If he does, we’ll just have to try to give it to him. I don’t know what else we could do.”

  Chloe snorted. “I’ll tell you something, Rose, I’ll be damn glad when we get ourselves out of this mess. I don’t like being at the mercy of any man’s whims. When it all boils down to the bottom of the pot, a man is going to take care of his wants first and to hell with anybody else.”

  Rose made a tsking noise with her tongue. “You’re becoming jaded, Chloe.”

  “I’ve got a right to.” She sniffed as she gave the belt on her bathrobe a hard jerk. “Just like you’ve got a right to despise men. After what Peter did to you, it’s a wonder you didn’t want to go into a convent!”

  “Dear Lord, Chloe, I have enough on my mind without you bringing him up.”

  Chloe heaved out a breath, then shook her head with regret “You’re right.
I’m sorry, Rose. It’s just that I get so angry when I think about everything that’s happened.” Her expression softening, she bent down and kissed her sister’s cheek. “Let’s go to bed and try to forget about all of it. At least for tonight.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m going to do. Good night, sis.

  * * *

  More than an hour later Rose lay in her bed, exhausted yet still wide awake. No matter how hard she tried to quiet her mind, it continued to spin. And it was all Harlan’s fault. He should have never kissed her in the first place, much less a second time!

  Her fingers drifted to her lips as the taste of him lingered in her thoughts. After all these years, she’d never dreamed that a man’s kiss or touch would affect her like this. She was frigid and had been ever since her one and only engagement had ended eight years ago.

  She’d met Peter during her second year of college at Eastern New Mexico State. He’d been blond and good-looking. Flirty and outgoing. The exact opposite of Rose’s quiet personality. She supposed the difference was what had first attracted her to him. Yet beneath his looks and personality, he’d been a dedicated student working toward a degree in medicine. In short, he’d been everything a young woman looked for in a fiancé and for a while Rose was blissfully dreaming of their future together.

  With a little groan, she raised herself up in the bed and pushed her fingers through her tangled hair. She didn’t want to think about the pain she’d endured at Peter’s hands. But tonight she couldn’t seem to turn off her memories or the old fears that had stayed with her all these years.

  She supposed in some ways, she still blamed herself for their tragic breakup. Peter had wanted sex from her and she’d been too young and innocent to give in before their marriage. The more he’d demanded, the more she’d resisted until it finally reached a point where their relationship was nothing but one big fight about sex.

  The night Rose finally told Peter it was over between them, he’d gone into a rage. Once it was all over she’d been badly beaten and very nearly raped. The experience had frozen her, robbed her of her dreams of a loving husband and children.

  But now Harlan had come along and kissed her as though it had been a perfectly normal thing to do. And she’d responded as though she was a perfectly normal woman. But she wasn’t. She had to remember that. She had to remember she would never be a lover, a wife, a mother.

  For the first time in weeks, Rose slept late the next morning. Although for most people, six-thirty would still be regarded as early, she considered it horribly lazy to lie in bed until after daylight.

  She’d just showered and dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a pale blue shirt when she heard unfamiliar voices coming from the kitchen.

  Quickly tying her hair back with a blue scarf, she hurried from her bedroom. Once she reached the open doorway to the kitchen, she came to an abrupt halt.

  Harlan and Emily were sitting at the breakfast table and from the looks of things, Kitty had already served him a cup of coffee and a slice of cherry pie.

  “Oh, there you are, Rose,” the older woman said as she spotted her niece. “I was just about to call you and let you know we have company this morning.”

  “You shouldn’t consider us company, Kitty,” Harlan said as easily as if he’d known her for years.

  Kitty smiled at him. “Then I’ll call you neighbors.”

  His attention turned to Rose and a flush of heat filled her cheeks as she returned his gaze. She’d thought about the man half the night. To see him this morning, his face freshly shaven, his dark hair gleaming damply against his head was very disconcerting.

  “Good morning, Rose.”

  She nodded a greeting to him, then turned to Emily. “Good morning, Emily. You’re up early.”

  “I wanted to come with Daddy when he dropped off your horse. Will it be all right if I stay and help you today?”

  “Emily,” Harlan said to his daughter, “give Rose a chance to catch her breath. As tired as she was last night, she’s probably not going to do any work today.”

  Kitty laughed with disbelief. “Rose not work? That’ll be the day!”

  Ignoring her aunt’s comment, Rose took a seat across from Emily. “Of course it will be all right for you to stay. I have a pen of heifers that need to be tagged and vaccinated.”

  “And then what?” Emily asked eagerly.

  Rose smiled at the girl’s enthusiasm. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll find plenty to do,” she said, then darted a look at Harlan. She could see appreciation in his eyes and it filled her with a strange warmness. He obviously wanted his daughter to be happy and that in itself endeared the man to her.

  “Are you going to eat breakfast now, Rose?” Kitty asked as she walked over to the cookstove. “I’ve got plenty of pancake batter left.”

  Before Rose could reply, two loud wails sounded from the nursery down the hall.

  “The twins are awake,” Kitty stated the obvious. “Would you go get them, Rose, while I make your breakfast?”

  Rose excused herself and hurried down to the nursery. After quickly changing both babies’ wet diapers, she tucked Adam in the crook of her arm, then circled her other arm securely around Anna.

  A few moments later when she entered the kitchen carrying both babies, Emily squealed with delight. “Oh, Daddy, look! Look how cute they are!”

  The babies did resemble Rose and her sisters. And as Harlan gazed at the three of them, it was easy for him to imagine Rose as a mother, a baby of her own cradled in her arms. She was meant to love a man, a child. He could easily see that about her. But apparently she couldn’t see it herself.

  “May I hold one, Rose? I’ll be really careful!” Emily very nearly begged.

  “Sure you may. I’ll let you hold Anna. She’s not quite as rowdy as her brother, Adam.”

  Rose gently eased the baby girl down onto Emily’s lap. Anna immediately looked up at the teenager, then let out a loud, cooing laugh which prompted a giggle from Emily.

  “Why don’t you give rowdy Adam to me?” Harlan spoke up. “It’s been a long time since I’ve held a baby, but I think I can handle him.”

  Trying not to appear surprised, Rose handed Adam over to him. And as she watched him stand the baby up against his broad chest, it was easy to see he hadn’t forgotten how to be a daddy to an infant.

  “Here you go, honey,” Kitty said to Rose as she plunked down a plate of hot pancakes. “You’d better eat them while we’ve got two baby-sitters.”

  Rose murmured her thanks then took a seat and dug into her breakfast.

  Across the table Emily gushed over the twins. “Gosh, they look so much alike! Do they cry a lot? Are they big enough to eat food?”

  “They don’t cry too much,” Kitty answered as she pushed a cup of coffee at Rose, then sat down with a mug of her own.

  “I imagine they can eat soft things,” Harlan told his daughter, then with the tip of his forefinger explored Adam’s gums. The baby immediately chomped down and Harlan let out a husky laugh. “Yeah, feels like he’s got a couple of teeth.”

  Emily darted a curious look at her father. “I didn’t know you knew anything about babies, Daddy.”

  He chuckled again. “I know you consider yourself grown-up now. But you were once my baby.”

  His baby. Rose didn’t know why those two words should sound so sweet to her. But they did. She could easily imagine Harlan with another baby. A brother or sister to Emily. Had he ever longed for another child? she wondered. Did he ever want to be that close to another woman again?

  Rose mentally shook herself. What was she doing? What was she thinking? The first evening she’d met Harlan he’d made it quite clear he never wanted to get married again. But making love to a woman didn’t necessarily always mean marrying her, she thought. Peter had certainly taught her that much. Then her father had come along and reiterated the fact.

  “This little guy is going to be stocky like Tomas,” Harlan commented, as he balanced the boy on his
thigh.

  Kitty swiftly glanced at him. “You know Tomas is the twins’ father?”

  He nodded. “Rose told me.”

  “Did the mother really leave them on the porch?” Emily asked. “How could she do that?”

  “We don’t know who left them for sure, honey,” Kitty answered. “The sheriff hasn’t been able to find her. When he does maybe we’ll get some answers.”

  “Well,” Harlan said as he rose to his feet. “Thank you for the pie, Kitty. I guess I’d better turn this fella over to you and head on to town.” He handed the baby to Kitty, then walked to the door.

  Rose kept her eyes firmly on her plate and told herself not to be disappointed that he was leaving. She had work to do. She couldn’t spend her time visiting with Harlan. It was crazy of her to even want to.

  “Rose, if you’ll tell me where to put your horse, I’ll unload him from the trailer.”

  There were three bites left on her plate. She took one more, then stood. “I’ll show you.”

  “When are you coming back to get me, Daddy?” Emily asked him.

  “Whenever Rose tells me.”

  Rose looked from father to daughter and back again. “I’ll drive Emily home later this evening,” she told him.

  From the corner of her eye, Rose could see Kitty raise her brows. No doubt her aunt was wondering what was going on with her and the Hamiltons. But there wasn’t anything going on. Not really, she argued with herself. She was simply trying to help a lonely teenage girl. And her father. That was all.

  “Okay! I’ll see you later, Daddy.” Emily blew him a kiss over Anna’s bright curly head.

  Harlan waved goodbye to his daughter, then went on out the door. Rose followed and the two of them walked slowly through the courtyard. The morning was warm, the sky vibrant blue with not one cloud to be found. Kitty had already turned a sprinkler on the geraniums and marigolds, bordering the walkway. The lack of rain was unusual for this time of the year. But then these past few months of Rose’s life had been very unusual. A searing drought was merely one more thing to add to her list of problems.

  “I’m afraid you’ve started something,” Harlan said. “Emily is going to want to come over here every day.”