The Cowboy's Temptation (8 page)

Elissa stared out at the magnificent Rocky Mountains and breathed in the fresh, clean air. “I don’t know,” she thought, not really wanting to solve her problems at this point but knowing she’d have to do something soon. “I hate living in New York. I’m sure there are wonderful people there, but I haven’t run into them.”

“You probably won’t in your line of work. You take money and make more of it. That doesn’t bring the most fascinating line of people into your office.”

 

Elissa smiled at her friend’s summation of her career choice. “I know. But I don’t know what else to do.”

 

“What do you like to do?”

 

Elissa thought for a moment. “I like numbers. I’m very good at it.”

After a moment of silence, Veronica quietly said, “Jake hates doing the numbers part. He’s asked me for help on several occasions, but with my full time job, I don’t really have the time to help out as much as he needs.”

Elissa nodded in agreement at Veronica’s comment. “I’ve done all his accounting for the past several months,” Elissa replied. “You’re right. It was a mess. That man definitely knows how to run a ranch though. I can’t believe how much money goes through this place.”

“It’s pretty astounding. I don’t know how Jake keeps track of everything. But he knows what is happening on almost every inch of this place.”

 

Elissa glanced at her friend, noting the odd way Veronica had phrased her statement. “What doesn’t he know?”

Ronny shrugged. “I don’t think he knows what is happening in his own house. He thanked me for cooking for him this past week. He said he’s never tasted better,” she said with a smile.

Ronny’s comment filled Elissa with a warmth she hadn’t known in years. Smiling brightly, she laughed. “He really said that?”

 

“Yep,” Ronny said, nodding for emphasis.

 

“What did you say?”

“I didn’t really have a chance. He was discussing something with Rick when I came out of the kitchen. He just thanked me and walked out the door. I would have said something, but my mouth was hanging open in shock that he didn’t know it was you who was cooking all week.”

“Why would he know?”

 

Veronica stared at her friend in surprise. “Why wouldn’t he? Why didn’t you tell him?”

Elissa brushed a petal off her leg that had just fallen from a nearby tree. “He’s never around when I cook and he eats much later than we do, so I’m generally already upstairs in my room when he walks in. We really don’t run into each other in the house.”

Ronny eyed her friend suspiciously. “I’ll grant that it’s a huge house. With fifteen bedrooms, it pretty much qualifies as a mansion. But you two seem to know what the other is doing whenever you two are in it. Want to tell me something?”

Elissa blushed. “There’s nothing to tell, I promise.”

 

Ronny eyed Elissa suspiciously. “Uh-huh. Okay, you’re secrets are yours. What would you like to do today? I don’t have any papers to grade until tomorrow night.”

“I have no idea. I’ve been getting into a routine of going to town to get groceries each morning. I get back here in time for my riding lessons with Jake, then I cook and clean all afternoon until you get home.”

“You still have riding lessons with Jake?” Ronny said, an astonished look on her face.

 

“Yes, why?”

 

“So Jake has been teaching you all week?” she asked, laughing at the idea.

 

Elissa nodded. “What’s so funny about that?” she asked, feeling like she was missing something significant.

Ronny threw back her head and laughed harder. “What’s so funny about Jake taking the time to teach you how to ride? If you don’t know the answer to that, you’re in worse shape than I realized. But I’m guessing that everything will work out perfectly in the end. Come on, I feel a huge need to clean the baby’s room. Can you help?”

They spent the rest of the morning cleaning her house from top to bottom. It was odd because whenever Elissa thought they were finished, Veronica came up with one more item that she desperately needed cleaned and off they went to scrub.

By lunchtime, Elissa called a halt. “Ronny, you could eat off the floors in this house. Let’s take a break and go have some lunch,” she said.

 

Veronica looked at her nice, clean kitchen and relented. “Okay, I guess we can clean the kitchen again afterwards.”

Elissa laughed. “Oh, no we won’t. Come on,” she said, grabbing Veronica’s hand and pulling her out of her house. “We’re going up to Jake’s. He’s never there around this time of the day anyway so it will be safe.”

“What do you mean by ‘safe’?”

Elissa bit her lip, wondering how she was going to cover up that flub. She’d meant that it was a safe bet that they wouldn’t run into Jake, but she didn’t want to reveal that to Veronica. The woman was too perceptive already. “I meant that you won’t care if it gets dirty,” Elissa quickly fabricated.

“Oh, okay. You’re right.”

 

But as soon as they walked into the large kitchen, Veronica started cleaning the counter tops. “Sit,” Elissa said, pointing to a chair.

 

“I’ll just clean this one while you make us a sandwich.” “Sit,” Elissa repeated and pushed her gently into a chair. “Relax.”

 

Elissa put Veronica’s feet up on the chair next to her. “Your feet are all swollen. You know better than to push yourself this hard,” she said.

 

Elissa turned and started pulling sandwich food out of the refrigerator. “How many sandwiches should I make?”

“Six or seven for me, darlin’” Rick said from immediately walked over to his wife and kissed her cheek. had a pretty rough night last night.”
the kitchen doorway. He

“You taking it easy? You

 

Veronica nodded but didn’t let go of his hand. “I’m okay.”

 

“You need help with those sandwiches?” Jake said from behind her.

Elissa had seen him come through the door right behind Rick but had turned away, frightened by the feelings he stirred within her. She’d only seen him out at the barn in his dusty jeans and cowboy hat. She could barely breathe with him standing there so sexy, his leather gloves in one hand as he leaned against a cabinet, his arms crossed over his broad, muscular chest.

Elissa blushed, realizing that she was staring at him. She quickly looked down at the counter. “No, no. I can handle it. I’m sorry I’ve taken over your kitchen,” she said, “but Ronny and I were cleaning and she didn’t want to get her kitchen messy and since I’d been in here already so much, I didn’t think you’d mind and I didn’t think I’d be in your way…” she said, her voice trailing off. She was rambling and didn’t know how to stop. If he would just stop staring at her with those dark, blue eyes of his. Good grief he was sexy, she thought.

“You’re not in my way,” he said, his deep voice was quiet and seemed to be a few inches closer than he was a moment ago.

 

“Oh,” Elissa said breathily. “Well, I guess I’d better make lunch then.”

 

Jake didn’t reply, but his lips formed a soft smile.

Elissa grabbed the loaf of bread and made several sandwiches, piling on the meat and cheese for the men. They all sat down at the large kitchen table that looked out over the pool shimmering in the afternoon sunlight. Rick and Jake talked about the plans for the afternoon while Elissa and Veronica just munched on their food. Well, Elissa munched. Veronica gorged. She ate two sandwiches before she declared that she needed a nap.

Rick took one look at her face and rushed around the table to lift her up into his arms. “Why don’t you just rest on the couch in here, Ronny?”

Veronica was almost asleep as soon as he picked her up so she nodded sleepily in response. Rick deposited his wife on Jake’s extra large sectional sofa, then pulled a blanket over her already sleeping form.

When he walked back into the kitchen, he smiled at Elissa. “Want your riding lesson today?” he offered.

 

Elissa curled her blistered hands up, then hid them under the table so the men wouldn’t see them. “No, I think I’ll pass today.”

 

“What’s wrong with your hands?” Jake asked, already standing up to come around the table to take a look.

Elissa quickly stood up and grabbed the plates. “Nothing, I just think you two have better things to do than to teach me how to ride Jemima. The horse might need a break as well,” she explained. A moment later the plates were taken out of her hands and Jake’s large, callused hands were gently turning hers over so he could see the effects of the past week on her soft skin.

“Why didn’t you tell me that your hands were like this?” he demanded, his eyes staring into hers.

Elissa tried to close her fingers over her palms but Jake wasn’t having any of that. He pulled her fingers out again, examining the blisters in the middle of her palms. “Come on,” he said and pulled her behind him out of the house.

“Where are we going?” she asked, almost running to keep up with him.

He didn’t answer her but pulled her along all the way to the barn. There, he pulled a jar out of a cabinet at one end. He put a thick cream all over her hands, rubbing it into the blisters and cracked skin.

“I can do that,” Elissa said.

 

He ignored her attempt to pull her hands away. “Stand still.”

Elissa couldn’t move even if she tried. The touch of his long fingers running along her hands was sending shivers through her entire body. He felt the first one and glanced into her eyes.

“Cold,” she explained.

Jake raised one eyebrow as he noted the small perspiration forming on her forehead but he didn’t comment. He continued to rub the soothing cream into her hands, gently massaging her palms and fingers.

Elissa thought it was one of the most erotic moments of her life. She was in a hay smelling barn, standing next to a big utility sink while a gorgeous, sexy cowboy rubbed what was probably horse cream on her hands and it didn’t matter. Jakes touch was too sensual, too exciting.

All the cream had quickly disappeared into her skin but Jake continued to rub her hands. But the touch changed. The movements were no longer soft and minstrating. They were light and teasing, as if he were thinking about something other than her blisters now. Elissa’s heartbeat tripled and her breathing became labored.

“That feels much better,” she said, trying to pull her hands away again.

 

But he held them, more softly this time. “Why do you pull away whenever someone tries to touch you.”

 

“I don’t,” she contradicted.

 

“You do with me. Why?”

Elissa couldn’t tell him that his touch was too dangerous for her peace of mind. In her heart, she suspected that he was different from the other men she’d known in New York, but she wasn’t willing to take the chance. She would rather be alone than to be treated that way by any man. She hated cheating, no matter what form it took. And with Jake, betrayal might actually mean more to her than just a slap in the face.

“I need to go help Ronny,” she said, and took a step backwards. Once she had gained a few feet of space, she turned around, almost running out of the barn in her need to get away from Jake’s magnetism.

“Are you ready?” Ronny said, waddling into the kitchen of Jake’s house. Rick was right behind her and smiled as soon as he saw Elissa.

He whistled as he watched her walk into the room. At Veronica’s urging, Elissa had borrowed an outfit. She was now wearing a red, cotton skirt that flew out around her legs when she twirled. She had a white button-down shirt tucked into the skirt and a denim jacket over that. On her feet were a pair of red cowgirl boots and a black Stetson on her head.

Elissa twirled to show off her new digs. “Do I look like I belong?” she asked, the skirt flying up around her legs as she spun.

 

“I don’t know. Jake, what do you think?” Ronny asked, laughing at Elissa’s eager expression.

Elissa almost tripped on her feet as she spun around to find Jake watching her in the doorway. He was leaning against the kitchen doorway, his eyes traveling from the top of her head down to her red boots, then back up to her face that was now flushed with color.

“I’d say she’ll fit the part,” he smiled. “Ready to go?” he asked and pushed away from the wall.

“You’re coming too?” Elissa asked. If she’d known that, Elissa never would have agreed to come to the dance tonight. She definitely didn’t want to watch Jake dancing in the arms of another woman but she didn’t delve into that reasoning too much.

“Of course,” Ronny laughed. “Practically the whole town shows up for these dances. It isn’t much, but it’s fun and we all have a good time. I promise,” she said and put her hand through Elissa’s arms to guide her out of the house.

“Are you driving Jake?” she called behind her.

“Yep,” he said and pulled the keys off the hook in the kitchen. The two men followed closely behind the women and Veronica nudged Elissa into the front seat next to Jake while she and Rick took the back seat.

Elissa sat nervously in the front seat, letting Ronny and Rick do most of the talking. She tried to keep her eyes on the road, but her gaze kept straying to Jake’s thigh clad in black jeans. She liked his hands as well and she noticed that his strong hand was hanging casually on the armrest between them. He laughed easily and talked about the latest activities from town that Ronny relayed to them. Elissa didn’t know the people they were talking about but she liked to listen to their discussion. Or more to the point, she liked listening to Jake’s deep voice with it’s western accent and his easy banter. Was there anything about this man that didn’t fascinate her, she wondered?

The drive to the dance took less than a half hour and Ronny was almost jumping up and down in her excitement to get inside and start dancing. Elissa laughed but remembered her friend’s reasoning for dragging Elissa to the dance so Rick would have someone to dance with.

Elissa suspected that Ronny was doing a little matchmaking. Jake and Rick walked behind Elissa and Ronny, both chuckling over some private joke. As soon as they were inside, Ronny pulled Elissa over to a table already full of couples. “Everyone, this is my friend Elissa Stone,” She said and introduced her to everyone at the table. There were several other couples, all of whom slid over to make room for the four new people.

Elissa was instantly brought into the conversation with the other women. They talked about babies and their men and Elissa could only listen and nod her head as if she understood. She didn’t though. She had no idea what it was like to know a man so deeply that they could share teasing jokes about house chores and children together. Her eyes glanced up and searched out the one man she wanted to know more about. Just as she found him, he glanced over at her as well. Their eyes held for a long moment. Finally, he took a long swig of beer, then strolled over to where she was sitting. He put an arm around her chair. “Want to dance?” he asked.