Convincing the Rancher (5 page)

“That’s what my boss told me, but I think he was just desperate to get someone out here to this godforsaken place.”

“Oh, no, not godforsaken.” Slaid’s smile was suddenly gentle. “Spend some time out here in these hills and mountains, and you’ll know we’re right in the heart of God’s country.”

“I may have to pass on that opportunity, Mr. Mayor. Trekking the great outdoors is not my style. Plus, I doubt that God would welcome a poor sinner like me strolling around his chosen land.”

Slaid laughed and pointed to a wall of outdoorsy-looking boots, similar to his own. “Why don’t you get some more practical shoes anyway, just in case God’s a little more welcoming than you give him credit for?”

Despite all the tension between them, Tess had to laugh at that. She went over to study the boots, wondering which ones were the least ugly. This was strange. She’d never had a business meeting that involved shopping before. And she’d never have guessed Slaid would be so helpful. He quickly pointed out the most feminine and classy looking of all the hiking boots on the wall, and also found her some wool socks to try them on with. Then he came back with another pair of boots for wearing around town—knee-high black leather with a sturdy rubber sole and low heel. The kind of boots a lot of women were wearing to stride around San Francisco these days, though so far Tess had passed on the trend. But once she slid them on over the wool socks, she knew her style was going to change, at least for now. They were comfortable and, more important, warm.

Then Slaid wandered over with a knee-length down coat in a rich, dark teal blue with fake fur lining a generous hood. Tess slid it on and was pleased to see that it was actually cut in a feminine line, not too thick and bulky. He handed her a sweet, matching teal wool hat and another one in black. He had her choose two kinds of gloves—black fleece for everyday and another pair, more like ski gloves, for when it snowed. Tess hoped she’d be long gone from Benson before
that
happened. After a couple of turtleneck sweaters were added to the pile, Tess stared at Slaid in awe. “You are a way better shopper than most of my girlfriends!”

He grinned. “I have a teenage son. I’m used to shopping quickly, before he gets too mopey.”

She kept forgetting he had a son. Of course she did. She knew almost nothing about Slaid, except what Samantha had told her and what he looked like naked...and wanting. Tess quickly pushed that image from her mind, but not before it heated her face. She turned to a rack of scarves and studied them intently.

“How about that eggplant color,” Slaid suggested. “Or the dark blue, to match your eyes. They really are so blue they’re almost purple, aren’t they?”

“The eggplant might go best with the teal coat.”

He picked up the scarf and gently wrapped it around her neck. His fingers brushed the skin there and she shivered, fighting the sudden urge to lean into them. “Yep. Your eyes
are
almost purple.”

She looked up then. His expression had grown serious, his voice soft. “You’re even more beautiful than I remembered.” He was so close she could kiss him if she just leaned forward a few inches.

“And
that
is totally inappropriate,” she reminded him, and herself, pulling away abruptly. But some strange fragment of her heart fluttered at his words. And she realized that by never sticking around to get to know the men she slept with, she’d missed out on little compliments like this. And another thought flickered. What else had she missed out on? She turned away and went to the front of the store, loading her items on the counter.

The clerk was on a ladder, hanging up climbing ropes on a high rack near the door. Slaid wandered up next to her and called, “Harris, this is Tess Cole. She’s in town for a while and needed some warmer clothes.”

Harris turned and grinned. “Hey, Slaid.” The man climbed down and surveyed the pile of clothes. “Gotta make sure you’re layered up for the mountains. You be careful out here, Tess. The weather can change on a dime, and you can count on some pretty cold nights this time of year.”

“It’s hard to believe I’m just a day’s drive from San Francisco.”

“A day’s drive but a world away.” Harris smiled as he loaded the clothes into a big paper bag.

“You’re not kidding.” Tess handed him her credit card, feeling hollow at his words. A world away and not the world she wanted to be in.

She sighed, unbuttoning her beloved wool coat and folding it carefully for Harris to put in the shopping bag. She slid her arms into the new parka, vowing to smack Slaid if he tried to help her into it, and ignoring the tiny twinge of disappointment that winged through her when he didn’t. Zipped into the fluffy down, she was incredibly cozy, but all that puffiness felt a bit like she was wearing a spacesuit—as if she needed another reminder that she was in an alien environment.

But as soon as she stepped outside she was grateful for the down barrier between her and that crisp cold. They started along Main Street, back toward Tess’s little cottage.

“I’m a little apprehensive to continue our meeting,” Slaid said. “It seems as though when I’m around you, my foot goes in my mouth and I say the wrong thing. I’m sorry.”

“Let just focus on work,” Tess said. “Let’s forget about that night two years ago. It doesn’t matter, it’s irrelevant.”

“Right.” Slaid nodded, but he gave her a slightly quizzical look. “Completely irrelevant.”

“Yes.” She hoped she could follow her own advice. His moments of kindness and humor had her a little worried, too. She couldn’t afford any complications. Succeeding at this job required all her focus. And she could already tell that Slaid had the ability to make things a lot blurrier.

“So—” Slaid slowed his stride to match hers “—to sum up our meeting, strictly business now, Renewable Reliance wants to put a wind farm here. And you get to be their spokesperson. What happens next?”

“I’ll get all the informational materials together,” she answered. “Make some pamphlets, translate the environmental impact report into clear talking points and make a video that we’ll have available for people to download or watch at the library.”

“All in a month?”

“If I’m lucky. I think a month of exile in Benson is all I can handle.”

Slaid laughed. “Is that how you think of this? Exile?”

“Pretty much,” she answered, glancing at him. When he really laughed it was low and deep, as if he was truly enjoying himself.

“You know,” he said, his eyes still crinkled with humor. “A lot of people would consider you in paradise, not exile. We get tons of tourists out here to hike, mountain bike, camp, fish, rock climb, horseback ride...”

“None of which I have the slightest interest in.”

“What
are
you interested in?”

Tess opened her mouth to answer and shut it abruptly. She thought quickly, mentally trying to pick apart her life in San Francisco. “Work, mostly. I shop. Go to the gym. Spend some time with friends.” She suddenly wished she’d made time to take up a hobby.

“Huh.” That was all he said—but it said a lot. When she looked at her answer from Slaid’s point of view, her life, which she always tried hard to portray as glamorous and fascinating, actually seemed pretty boring.

Then he spoke. “How about you try a few of those things I mentioned while you’re here?”

“You mean fishing? Hiking?”

“Why not? If your boss sent you out to live in the middle of nowhere, why not use a little of the time to try something different? I’d be happy to show you around, strictly as professional colleagues, of course. Maybe I could teach you a few new skills.”

She flushed at his choice of words. He actually had taught her a few things during their night together. She was pretty sure she’d taught him a few, as well.

“Not like that.” How had he read her mind? “Not to be crude, but I don’t think you need much tutoring in that area.”

Heat flooded her veins and lit up every nerve. “Slaid, I think it’s best that we agree not to talk about
that
topic. We need to pretend that Phoenix never happened.”

“Maybe.” There was a pause and she glanced at his profile as they walked, trying to read what that
maybe
meant. He didn’t elaborate.

“I’m here to work,” she reminded him. “I have to be professional or I could compromise my credibility. And I’d hate to do anything to damage your image as mayor.”

“And how might you do that?” He was looking down at her with a half smile. “You don’t really strike me as the kiss-and-tell type. More like kiss and leave.”

“Trust me, Mayor Jacobs. I was doing you a favor by stepping quietly out of your life—I won’t apologize for that. And I told you yesterday, if you insist I stay on this project, I will, but that’s the
only
thing I’m here for.”

“Work isn’t everything, Tess. And if you get to know the area, you might think twice about destroying it.”

So that was his motivation. She shouldn’t care, but for a moment she’d thought he really wanted to spend more time with her. And even if it was out of the question, it had been an enticing thought. “I don’t know how else to explain it to you. I represent this project, but it’s not
mine
. I have nothing to do with it and
I’m
not destroying anything—I’m simply here to interface with the public.”

“But you just agreed that the project will destroy the area.”

Tess wasn’t sure if it was humor or malice that she saw in his eyes. “I agreed to no such thing! Stop trying to box me into a corner or make me feel guilty. I’m here to do my job and I intend to do it well. I assume you’ll do your job to the best of your abilities, also. Just two civilized adults doing what we’re being paid to do.” They’d reached the gate in her picket fence. “I appreciate your time this morning, Slaid. I’ll keep you informed as the project progresses. And thank you for the shopping trip.”

“Are you warmer now?” he asked, and there was a softness in his voice that surprised her.

“Yes. Not my usual attire for the office, but it will have to do.”

He looked her up and down. She could almost feel his gaze under her layers of warm clothing.

“I think it’s an improvement. They have business casual clothing, why not business country? Business wilderness?”

“I’ll ask my boss about it.” She couldn’t stand there with him any longer. Not with the strange wanting, that couldn’t,
shouldn’t
be rushing through her.

“Goodbye,” she told him, and fled past the gate and through her front door, shutting it gratefully against the chill of the air and the heat that was Slaid. Maybe she was a coward, but she was ready to hide out in the temperate climate of her little cabin.

CHAPTER FOUR

T
ESS SAVORED THE
rich taste of her cappuccino as it rolled across her tongue. After five days in Benson she’d fled to Samantha and Jack’s house this morning and begged for espresso. She’d been as desperate for her fix as any addict. She swallowed blissfully and leaned back in her chair in Samantha’s sunny kitchen. “Slaid deiced my car.”

Samantha stopped stirring her coffee. “When?”

“Every single morning this week. I don’t know when he does it because I never see him, but every morning someone has scraped the ice off my car. It has to be him!”

“Well, he is known for keeping early office hours,” Samantha said. “Maybe he’s doing it after dropping off Devin, his son, at school.”

“He’s making it hard to stay mad at him.”

“I know you didn’t appreciate him pressuring you to stay here. But can’t you see that it’s a little sexy, too? Maybe the guy is really happy that you’re in town.”

“But why?” Tess asked. “We’ve met twice since I arrived and all we did was argue! He thinks I’m an evil developer and wilderness destroyer and I think he’s close minded and full of himself.”

“They say there’s a thin line between love and hate.” Samantha’s smile was so obviously hopeful that Tess laughed.

“We are not talking about love here! Quite the opposite.”

“Okay, lust, then. Lust isn’t logical. And admit it, you’ve thought about him over the past couple years, haven’t you?”

“Once in a while.” A lot. Way too often.

“Maybe you should just go out with him,” Samantha suggested tentatively.

“Like on a date?” Tess repressed a shudder.

“Yes, a date. Like regular people do.”

“Honey, I am not regular people when it comes to that stuff. I can’t stand it.”

“Even when there are perks like not having to scrape the ice off your car?” Samantha raised an eyebrow.

“Well, that is the one temptation.”

“Now I know you’re lying.
He’s
a temptation. Half the women in this town are in love with the guy! Just his shoulders alone melt knees. In the summer they did a dunk tank for charity and he was in it and I don’t think the female population talked about anything but his abs for months afterward.”

“Okay, fine,” Tess admitted. “Two temptations—he deices my car and he’s good-looking. But it’s irrelevant. I’m here for work, and even if I liked him, which I don’t, or he liked me, which he doesn’t, we couldn’t get involved. Our relationship has to remain strictly professional.”

Samantha sighed. “Well, you can’t blame me for dreaming.”

Tess laughed at that. “I know you’re happy here in Benson, Sam, but don’t get any ideas about being my matchmaker.”

“But if you lived here, we’d see each other all the time. You could be in your godson’s life almost every day!”

Tess stared at her friend in shock, then realized that the expression of horror on her face probably hurt Samantha’s feelings. “Um...that would be great!” It hadn’t occurred to her that she’d be asked to be a godmother.

“You’ll do it, right?” Samantha asked. “Be godmother to our baby boy?”

Tess tried to suppress the flutter of panic in her stomach. “I’m so honored that you’d ask me.” She took a deep breath and tried to wrap her mind around the idea.
Godmother
. So far she’d mostly managed to pretend that this baby wasn’t really happening. Obviously she knew Samantha was pregnant, but Tess didn’t like looking too far ahead. Soon the baby would be here, and she’d be expected to adore it, and she just wasn’t sure she could handle that. Not after living through the pain of giving up her own child. “Absolutely. How exciting!” The corners of her mouth ached with the effort behind her smile.