Love Unspoken (2 page)

Music
. Her fingers scrambled for satellite radio button.
An eighties song blared through the speakers, one she didn’t recognize but was
ever thankful for. It dulled the echo of silence and misplaced longing that was
threatening to surface in her heart. Eighties music was her best friend today.
With the music on, her guilt in ignoring him was assuaged. She cranked up the
bass and hit the gas.

****

He was making her uncomfortable. And it wasn’t in the good way a
woman felt when in the presence of a man she found attractive. That much about
women he knew. Cole studied Noelle as she drove. His groin tightened with
excitement. She was breathtakingly beautiful. Had to be the prettiest black
girl he’d ever seen.

His forehead creased. No, that wasn’t right. Noelle
was
the
prettiest girl he’d ever laid eyes on. Her race had nothing to do with it,
although he couldn’t help but admire the way her cinnamon colored skin glowed
under the sunrays. It was silly and he’d never admit it to anyone, but looking
at her made him feel warm. His fingers ached to reach out and touch her skin to
see if it felt as smooth and silky as it looked. He didn’t care where he
touched her. Legs, arms, her stunning round face with those high, almost regal
cheekbones, it didn’t matter.

He curled his fingers into a fist to keep from doing just that
and have her scream in holy terror.
Best if I stop looking at her.
He
turned toward the window, still thinking of her. Aside from her appearance, he
knew nothing about her, or at least anything that was the truth and not drunken
tirades of a few angry cowboys, strapped for a woman to bed and cash to fill
their pockets who thought of Noelle as an easy target.

“Bitch looks like she hasn’t been laid in years,”
he’d
heard one of them mumble. Noelle had been on the ranch that day, performing one
of her routine sales visits, wearing an expensive business attire, button nose
up in the air and doe-shaped eyes straight ahead. That had been more than a year
ago, however, and the first time he’d laid eyes on her. Naturally, she hadn’t
noticed him working alongside the foreman to shoe the horses.

He continued to watch her. Slender manicured fingers turned the
steering wheel with a grace that was almost laughable, considering it was just
a fucking car. But that was her. From what he’d seen of Noelle in the past year
and a half of working on the land next to her family’s, she was utter
perfection and out of the question for him, even if she wasn’t opposed to being
with someone outside of her race. His friend Beau would have a better chance of
being with her than anyone else. He curled his fists. Damn, he hated the
thought of the ranch foreman or any other man pursuing Noelle when he’d already
been deemed unfit to enter the competition.

“I’m going to stop by the southern border, all right?”

Her raspy voice brought him to the present. Cole jerked his head.
The southern border was on the opposite end, hidden from her home, compromising
mostly of brushes and trees. It was rare the days that anyone was sent to work
on this portion of the ranch. Meaning, Noelle didn’t want anyone to see them
together.

The car rolled to a sleek stop parallel to a bank surrounded by
barbed wire fencing, the same fencing that spanned the entire two thousand
acres.

He climbed out, fully expecting her to speed away before he had a
chance to close the door. Instead, Noelle dipped her head to look out at him.
“Hey, cowboy. No more suicide attempts for the day, agreed?”

He stared at her and she raised an eyebrow for emphasis then
offered the faintest hint of a smile. Just barely… but those plump wide lips
did move.

Moments later she was speeding down the asphalt, particles of
dust kicking up behind the yellow Corvette.

What a way to turn the day around.
Hell, his entire week.
This morning he’d gotten up, annoyed and disappointed that his truck had
decided to act out despite spending the few hours he had to spare working on
it. Chalking it up to bad luck, he’d taken it in today and wrote the expense
off, as a couple of hundred dollars less he had to send home to his parents.

Cole scrubbed a hand to his jaw at the thought of the ranch his
parents and brother were struggling to hold on to. If he hadn’t left and found
work on Somerset Ranch, the homestead would have fallen apart by now and his
family would no longer have a place to call home.

He pushed those thoughts aside as best as he could. He was going
home this weekend and would have the entire two days to worry about the future
of the Tumbling Y. By the time he reached the tack room and pulled down his
saddle and rope, a couple of the other hands were gathered outside unloading
bags of feed from a truck.

The foreman stepped through the arched doorway and stared at him
in astonishment. “That was fast. I thought you said it was gonna take a few
hours to get your pickup. Slow day at the shop?”

Cole eyed his friend. The two of them had hit it off since his
first day on the job. Beau Henderson was the only person in town who understood
him. The foreman had a close relative who was also speech impaired. He and his
entire family had learned sign language from an early age to communicate with
the relative.

“I left it there. It’s taking much longer than I thought.”

 Beau let out a whistle. “You must be fucking Speedy Gonzalez to
make it back here so fast. I thought all the guys were too busy to give you a
ride back.”

Cole chuckled and shook his head. “
No. Someone gave me a
lift.”
No need to mention who it was. He could already see the little
tigress pouncing all over him if he let it slip she’d given him a ride. Hmm,
not that it would be such a bad thing come to think of it. If she placed those
soft hands on the right spots, gave him a few scratches, it might just be well
worth it. His cock hardened inside his jeans before he forced himself to focus
on his surroundings. He had no right getting hard for Noelle.

Luckily, the foreman didn’t press the issue. “Since you weren’t
here for the cattle drive, I used Bradford as point rider and had Langley take over his lead spot on the side.” Beau snorted. “Big mistake as you can
imagine. We lost two of the yearlings, just a bit down the road from the
Williams’ place.”

The Williams’ place.
Cole silently repeated the words to
himself. When Beau grabbed his own saddle from against the wall and called out,
“Saddle up. We’re riding out to find them before boss gets wind of it.” Cole
was one step ahead wrangling his thoughts from straying toward the possibility
of seeing Noelle again.

Once on horseback, Cole rode alongside the foreman until he
realized there was no way they were going to get a rein on where the yearlings
went unless they headed into the bushes.

He turned to the Beau and signed,
“I’ll take over the western
front.”
He pointed his thumb in the direction of the sprawling terracotta
painted three-story country house belonging to the only African-American family
in Copper Mesa.

Beau gave the official okay as Cole guided the stallion,
Firebrand, toward the wire fence separating the two properties. Although not
even half the size of the ranch, the bushes behind the house were a decent size
for the animals to wander into danger.

Jumping from his mount, Cole led the horse under the shade of a
Ponderosa Pine, tying a jerk knot around the trunk. He’d never been on the
property before but he knew the landscape well. There were far too many low
lying branches that spelled hazard if he tried to scour the area on Firebrand.
After he’d climbed the fence and was minutes underway into his search for the
yearling bulls, Cole felt two distinct taps on his back.

His brows furrowed. It reminded him of the way he had touched
Noelle hours before in the parking lot.

Cole glanced to the side and swallowed hard. Why was he always so
happy to see her when judging by the fire in those deep brown eyes, she looked
none to pleased by his presence?

“I don’t have to tell you that you’re trespassing, do I?”

He blinked in response. Was she serious?

She stared back at him with something akin to superiority in her
eyes. Cole shrugged and kept on walking. For some dumbass reason, he hadn’t
expected that from her.

Behind him, footsteps quickened, followed by her insistent voice.
“Just because you have free reign over at the ranch doesn’t mean you can have
the same liberty here. I don’t know if it’s because I was decent enough to give
you a —”

Talk about misjudging a book by the cover. Cole stopped in his
tracks, spun around and issued her a deadly look. He needed her to shut up so
he could detect if one of the animals was in the nearby bushes and go on about
his business.

She opened her mouth to utter something else but he drew a finger
to his lips hoping she would take the hint.

 
Come on beauty, I know you can shut up for one minute.

Her perfectly arched brows narrowed as she mouthed the words.
“What is it?”

Luckier than he thought. She was actually listening to him. Cole
relaxed his posture. He didn’t want to frighten Noelle by having her believe a
wild animal was on the cusp of attacking them. Or rather him, because as
dubious as he felt about her in this moment, one thing was certain– he wouldn’t
let anything hurt her.

He crooked his finger, gesturing to her.
Come with me.

Arms folded, she shook her head fervently. “You go,” she mouthed,
jabbing a finger toward the bushes.

At least there’d be no mistaking her lack of concern for his
wellbeing, Cole thought lifting the rope from his shoulder. He pushed away the
shrubs. Sure enough the little guy was lying on its side, the Somerset brand
visible on its hip. The cow appeared to be suffering, one of the hind legs red
and swollen.

Shit. It had to be a snakebite. His next thought centered on
Noelle. Cole glanced backward, swinging his gaze to her long legs. Good. She
had replaced the stylish black pumps from earlier today with a pair of tan
suede boots that reached just above her calves.

“What’s wrong with it?” She inched closer to him as if she was
unsure her legs were doing as she commanded.

Cole pointed to the snakebite and she immediately clamped a hand
over her mouth and sprang backward.

“What are you going to do?”

He lifted a brow. Was she concerned about the animal or herself?

She tucked a strand of shiny dark hair behind her ear and let out
a small breath. “I’m asking because I hope you don’t plan on leaving it here to
die. Your boss will be getting a bill if my father has to dispose of it.”

Disappointment rose within him. After the ride she had given him,
he’d thought maybe there was more to her than what he heard from the other
hands. He was wrong. And despite the fact that he had no reason to be
disappointed in her, they were nothing, not even friends, he couldn’t help it.
The loss of not getting to know the person he thought he’d caught a glimpse of
left him hollow.

Ignoring her, Cole hoisted the half limp yearling into his arms
and turned in the opposite direction. He couldn’t believe he’d felt excitement
at seeing her again.

He kept on moving throughout the thicket, hurrying with the heavy
weight in his arms. Still, he heard her quiet footsteps behind him. If she
disliked him so much, why was she following him, when all he wanted was to get
the fuck off her precious daddy’s property and return where he belonged?

He paused and waited for whatever it was she had to say again.

Noelle cleared her throat. “So um… Cole. Aren’t you worried your
boss is going to fire you? You’re the one who usually rides point, correct?
Shouldn’t it have been your duty to make sure the animals stay on course to
wherever you guys take them?”

His eyebrows shot up and his movement halted. It had nothing to
do with being worried about his job. Somerset wasn’t going to fire him. No.
What surprised him was Noelle’s reference to his work. Earlier he hadn’t
expected her to know his name. That shock was lesser compared to her knowledge
of his duties on the cattle drives.

He wanted to say something, anything to know what was going
through her mind when it came to him. But he couldn’t. She wouldn’t understand
him and he had no wish to have her eye him and his attempts to communicate with
scorn. He’d have to keep ignoring her. There was too much at stake for him and
his family to get caught up in the world of Noelle Williams.

Chapter
Two

Noelle stared out of her bedroom window. She was looking over at
that damn ranch again. Disgusted with her lack of self-control, she snatched
the satin drapes together and pressed her head to the fabric.

She hadn’t made a good impression on Cole last week after they’d
found the injured animal. She should have just stayed hidden and continued on
with her walk instead of approaching him. If only her stupid feet had listened
to her brain instead of leading her to the last person she needed to be around.

She’d done so well for the past year, keeping her distance from
Cole, since she’d first caught sight of him shoeing horses as she spoke with
Mr. Somerset. Noelle curled the edges of the drapes in her fist, unsure if her
first memory of Cole was a cherished one or part nightmare.

That day, over a year ago, she’d visited the ranch for the sake
of her father’s business, but had been caught off guard by the sight of a man,
kneeling on the ground. There hadn’t been anything special about him, except
his massive frame, but her heart started to beat a mile a minute, waiting for
him to lift his head. She was glad he hadn’t noticed her while performing his
duty, because as Mr. Somerset spoke and Noelle felt her lips moving, her heart
continued to beat fast, palms misting with nervousness she had never felt
before.