License to Love (9 page)

She stood by the window that faced down the road, toward
Brent’s house even though she couldn’t see it from here.

After glancing around the cabin, she went outside for a
walk. It was eleven, and she saw Dale and Ivan working on the fence Brent was
adding to section off the pasture.

She needed to talk to them more, without Brent around, and
get to know them. What better way to befriend two men than with food? She
headed inside to fix something. Twenty minutes later, she brought them hot
drinks and sandwiches and hung around to hear their rodeo stories.

Halfway through Dale’s recounting of the time he broke four
ribs, she heard Brent’s giant truck hauling down the gravel road. She knew she
wouldn’t get out of there in time without being rude, and that would undo her
efforts with the men.

He pulled the truck up by his house and headed their way.
Why should she avoid him? She’d never felt so safe with anyone else.

She watched him walk, watched his long jean-clad legs. He
was dependable about those jeans. Every day she got to drool over him in them.

Teasing aside, he was patient. He gave great massages.
Cooked her a wonderful dinner. And every time, he walked her home without
making a move. Until that kiss.

She met his gaze, wondering if he could tell what she was
thinking about.

“So this is what I miss when I head into town for a day?”

“You should take off more often.” Ivan grinned over his
sandwich.

Brent gave her a look.

“I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. You weren’t here
handing out chores.” She tried for the light tone that their teasing had
carried before, but when her gaze met his, she could tell he wouldn’t see her
as an annoying city girl ever again.

Dale and Ivan both seemed to miss his lack of response and
jumped knee-deep into conversation about getting the fence finished before the
rain came back.

“Thanks for lunch, Missy,” Dale said as the two men headed
back to work.

“Seems they like you.”

“I try.” She picked up the tray and mugs.

“Listen, you don’t need me telling you what to do. If you
want to join them, go ahead. Or go for a ride. Feed the horses. You haven’t
gone into town that much, and it’s beautiful this time of year with the festive
decorations coming out.”

“Are you tired of bossing me around?” She gave him a grin,
but he saw through it.

“You don’t need bossing around.” He tipped his hat and
turned to leave.

Just like that? She watched him go, sinking inside. Why
wasn’t she happy that he listened to her? First time she’d ever gotten a man to
do what she wanted, and it didn’t want to make her dance around. Darn him!

She took the dishes back to the house before she headed down
to the stables. If she’d learned anything, it was how to muck out a stall, so
she took on the dirty job with a vengeance.

Did he think she wanted space? Yeah, she’d asked to be
friends, but that meant she still wanted to spend time around him.

She needed him.

Where did that come from? She didn’t need anyone.

* * * *

Look at that. Her hair flying and dancing with the horse’s
gait, Missy rode Speckle with an ease that usually came with years of riding.
The smile, too, went with a deep love of horses and joy of riding.

Maybe she hadn’t grown up in the lifestyle, but it suited
her. And he’d never seen anyone look as good as she did on a horse. Relaxed, in
rhythm and graceful.

She’d been all over the property lately, and he hoped it was
to look for him. He stepped away from the corner of the stables and raised a
hand. She turned Speckle and trotted up, a cautious smile on her face.

“Brent.” She wore that burgundy sweater that made him want
to touch her. While its color put a rose tone to her skin, it clung to her in
all the right places.

“Howdy, stranger.” Brent almost grinned when he thought of
what his friends would say about him using reverse psychology.

Missy didn’t want him to push her or ask about her past, so
he wouldn’t. His quiet, steady way would win her over. Not that his emotions
about her felt quiet in any way. Working with her day after day made them
louder and louder, harder to control.

“Taking her in?” he asked, shoving his hands into his coat
pockets to keep them warm.

“Yeah. What are you up to?” She swung down and led Speckle
into the stable yard.

“Just hanging around,” he said, keeping it vague, and
managed to keep the grin off his face as he walked in with her. She didn’t need
to know how glad he was to see her again.

She looked amazing as she fed and brushed the horse. So
natural and caring. When she led Speckle back into her stall, the rain suddenly
came down hard enough to make a thundering sound through the stable roof.

“I was thinking about my brother,” she said as she moved on
to pet a different horse. He busied himself by bringing hay over.

“I’ve done some of that lately too.” He kept his tone light,
but those weren’t words with a light meaning.

“Do you miss him?” she asked, then answered herself. “Of
course you do. I’m sorry if it’s hard having me here, instead of him.”

He stopped to look at her. “Listen, the circumstances aren’t
great, but I’m glad you’re here.”

“You are?” She turned this time, and her eyes had that same
lost look he’d seen the first time they spoke. “I wish I'd gotten my priorities
straight and come for a visit sooner. He invited me. I guess you don’t know
that since he didn’t even tell you about me.” She turned back to her work.

“Missy, he didn’t tell me about the rest of his life. That’s
how men are. He didn’t know much about me before we became friends. Even when
Kathryn left, he didn’t ask me to explain.”

“Kathryn?”

Shoot, he’d just blown the mood, and now he had to explain.
“She’s the reason I have that house. She was a part of this when it started,
but she took off after two months. I guess that’s why I thought you’d see life
on a ranch and head back to the city.”

“One woman, all women, huh? I’ve made the same mistake about
men.” She flicked a look over at him, and he decided to take that as an apology
for her turning him out the other day. He’d heard enough to know her old boss
had taken advantage of her.

“So are you heading anywhere for Thanksgiving?”

She looked surprised at the change in subject, but didn’t
call him on it.

“I don’t do much for any holiday. Maybe watch football.”

Was he supposed to laugh at that? He’d never heard of a
woman who didn’t celebrate the holidays. Without any reason to, he had been
picturing the holidays with all of them there. Maybe he’d been daydreaming
about Christmas magic too much. “I wasn’t sure if you have family in the area.” 

“I don’t have family anywhere, not anymore.” She moved on to
a new horse and began to brush, as if this wasn’t a heavy conversation. But it
wasn’t the weather and it did matter.

“I guess I forgot to tell you.” He started talking while he
thought it through. “If you’re here on the ranch, you have to celebrate with
us.”

“That’s a ranch rule?”

“Yup. Dale and Ivan and me, we all thought maybe we could
get the little woman to cook for us.”

She whipped around and threw hay at him. “So that’s what
this is about?”

“Well, we’ll all pitch in. Isn’t that the true spirit of
Thanksgiving? We can cook at my house. Watch the game. Drink some beer. It’ll
be fun.”

A smile brightened her face, warming her eyes as well. It
was the first real smile he’d seen on her since before they’d kissed, and that
was something he shouldn’t be thinking about. If he wanted her to feel
comfortable about joining them, he needed to be a friend.

“Well . . .” she said, biting her lip. Keeping his gaze off
her mouth, he decided he could be a gentleman for a day. Not think about her
lips, or brown eyes, or that petite body.

“Make that a yes, and I’ll buy the turkey and everything to
go with it.”

She smiled. He had her. Or so he thought. Maybe she had him.

Chapter Six

At the rumble outside at eight in the morning, Missy went to
the window and found Brent turning off his truck and stepping out. Why did the
man have to be so breathtaking? So cool and hot at the same time?

She opened the door to crispy, cold air and a tall handsome
man. “That’s an awful big alarm clock.”

“Weren’t you up?”

“Yeah, I was.” Barely. She’d just finished breakfast.
“What’s up?”

There had to be a reason he had his truck here. He nudged
his hat back and walked up the steps. “If it’s okay with you, I’ll haul off
some of this junk.”

“Oh.” They both knew the junk meant Ben’s things, but she
could see in his face that he needed to keep it light if he was going to do
this. “That’d be fine. I put everything I don't need in his bedroom.”

“Mind if I look through it?”

She wanted to wrap her arms around him as she sensed his
pain. “Of course. You don’t have to ask me that.”

They’d talked about what to do with Ben’s things in passing,
but she hadn’t rushed him on it. He checked what there was and they both
carried things out to the truck. She came back from one trip and found Brent
sitting on the floor to look through a box of pictures. Leaving quietly, she
waited in the living room. She suspected he was keeping some things and taking
others to donate or throw away. It had to be hard to sort through his friend’s
things. She had looked at some of his pictures and different things, trying to
get to know Ben better. They could have been good friends, but there had been
some hard emotions to work through concerning her father. She would probably
have that to work through for a long time, but she didn’t hold anything against
Ben. She only wished they had more time.

Twenty minutes passed before he carried the box out. She
didn’t plan to say anything about it, but he stopped beside her.

“You might want to keep that one.” He handed her a picture.

It showed her standing beside Ben, both with uncertain
smiles on their faces.

“Thanks . . . this is when we met. We didn’t know what to
think of each other.”

Her emotions seemed in check till she heard her shaky
breathing. His arms came around her in that instant and she didn’t debate this
time before falling into his arms.

His breath came out shaky, too. He needed her comfort. She
cried for a brother she hardly knew while he mourned a friend. Thank heaven he
never pointed that out, not since the first day.

Those thoughts dropped from her mind when she smelled his
freshness from a shower, the soapy smell of his skin. His well-toned body felt
strong against her. Minutes slipped by and she didn’t care, not with her eyes
closed and their hearts beating against each other.

“Well, I should get going. I’ll be back, though.”

* * * *

Three hours later, Brent backed his truck up to Missy’s
steps to unload the bed he’d bought. Missy still hadn’t gone into Ben’s room,
so he wanted to get her a new bed. Maybe that would help. Finding it hadn’t
taken three hours, but he’d needed some time to think about what he’d found in
Ben’s things.

He turned off the truck’s engine and looked down at the
papers in the seat beside him.

A will. His messy, unorganized friend had started a will.
Since it was hand written, and not notarized, it might not stand up legally,
but it had been Ben’s wishes just the same. Now what would he do with it?

If Missy read it, she might leave.

The front door of the house creaked and he stuffed the
papers in his glove compartment. Hitching an arm out the window, he watched her
walk down the steps. “I brought you something.”

She looked in the back of the truck for a minute, thinking
he guessed, before turning to him.

“You didn’t have to do this.” She pulled on her red coat. He
stepped out and met her at the back of the truck.

“I wanted to.” The wind caught her hair and whipped it in
her face. He watched the silky strands feather on the breeze, then pushed aside
his fascination with her hair to answer, “It’s overdue. I shouldn’t have left
you with all of Ben’s things.”

He knew Ben had been her brother, but since she hadn’t known
him all that well, this was his responsibility.

“I’ll pay you back.”

“No need.” He gave a sad smile while looking into her eyes.
After a quiet minute, he lowered the tailgate and they carried the mattress
inside together.

They worked well together, whether caring for the horses or
moving furniture.

Just imagine what they could do... together... in the
bedroom.

He stood back, looking at the bed, all ready with the
mattresses on it. They were alone in her bedroom, and his mind wouldn’t behave.

“Brent?” Missy asked, her voice soft and shy. Biting his
tongue, he hoped she hadn’t caught the look in his face as he imagined them
naked together on the new mattress.

Turning, she looked unsure of herself with a little smile
tugging at her lips. He lost the power to think as he looked at her, those lips
and big brown eyes full of questions.

“I haven’t been horseback riding on the beach yet,” she
said.

“No?” he asked, wanting to stare at her all day, but he
noticed her smile fade. Oh, yeah, time to answer the question. “Sure, we can
go. Is now okay?”

She flashed him a relieved smile. “We could pack a lunch,”
she suggested.

Hiding his own smile, he said, “I’ll fix it.”

When he teased her, her unease seemed to melt and she nudged
his arm. They left her bedroom, grabbed their coats, and headed for his house.

This being friendly worked out pretty well, except for when
his imagination put together different scenarios of how he could get her
clothes off.