Have a Little Faith (6 page)

“Alex.”

She jerked like a spring when he said her name. Puzzled, and not a little annoyed, Lane brought her closer to him wanting to soothe her.

“No,” s
he said fiercely. She put such conviction in that one word as if her life had depended on it.

“No?”

“Let me go. Don’t do this.” She was trembling now and hated herself for it.

For a moment, she had forgotten what a man’s hands could do when he was consumed by temper. She had a feeling she knew just what a man like this was capable of. And her fear had
nothing
to do with the physical this time. In a moment, he had unearthed feelings
that she had
never had before—
never wanted to have again.

“It’s already been done, Alex.”

Sh
e jerked away. “You’re wrong.”

It infuriated him how she had gone from innocence to passionate to
afraid
in
the
blink
of an eye
. “I don’t like games.” His voice was low and deliberate.

“Game over, then.” She
backed toward the door slowly as if waiting for him to spring. She backed up until she felt the wall at her back, then she turned
and fled.

Chapter Five

Lane didn’t have to wake up. He had spent the entire sleepless night tossing and turning. Of course the fact that a certain southern goddess was sleeping one door down did nothing to ease his restlessness.

His attraction to her was something that couldn’t be helped. But there was something more burning deep down inside.
She was gorgeous, sure. But his feelings for her went much deeper than pure lust.

When he’d first seen her, she’d been a vision. He recalled the way the she looked as she flew down the side of the hill with the sun behind her. Mostly in shadows, but Lane could make out her perfect curves as she strained atop of the horse. He could see the way her hair whipped through the wind; the way her eyes met his with pure defiance when her mother introduced him.

H
e had seen a different side to her when she was with her horses. She didn’t know he’d been watching her long before he had made hims
elf known. He figured he would
be safer keeping that piece of information to him
self for now.

She was soft with her horses. Every one of them was important to her. She may not have noticed
,
but she even a
cknowledged that she gentled her horses—
never broke them.

Then he had both watched and tasted her passion. She was
ardent about keeping the ranch; not that he could fault her for it. But there had been some
thing there. It was almost like
she was pleading for her life.
And that kiss—

He had made his mind up the night before. Now he only had to decide how to make it happen.

After a quick call to
Tucker
Cole, the Morgan’s attorney, Lane headed downstairs. As usual, Alex was already out of the house, Linda had dry cereal waiting on the counter tops, and coffee was in the pot.

“Good morning.” He greeted Linda who was reading over the paper at the kitchen table.

“Good morning. Help yourself to breakfast. Alex usually cooks since I can’t get around anymore.”

“Not a problem. Would you like me to cook anything?”
Since your
daughter
’
s avoiding me?
“I can manage
scrambled
eggs
,
but that’s about it.”

“If you want something, then go ahead. I’ll stick with my cereal.” Linda replied.

“You’re low on eggs,
” Lane commented once he began cooking.

“Alex should be gathering them soon.”

Lane stopped in the act of cracking open an egg. “Gather?”

“Yes, from our chicken house.”

Lane continued and cracked the egg into the pan. Funny, he had never really given much thought to where his eggs came from
besides down the street at the
market.

“What else do you produce here at the ranch?” Lane wanted to know.

Ready for her sales pitch, Linda laid her paper
down
.
“Eggs,
milk, and meat.
Alex also bales e
xtra hay each year to sell and—”
She trailed off when the kitchen door swung open and Alex came in riding on a man’s back
,
laughing
like a loon
.

Jealousy. It was a new and foreign concept that Lane wasn’t very happy about.

“For God’s sake, Monster.
Put me down.”

“As you wish
, madam,
”
he replied
with
mock formality.
Monster twisted his body and Alex hit the ground on her backside with a thud. “Now, next time you wanna
wrestle—
just remember
who you’re dealin’ with.
Mornin’ Miz.
Morgan
.” He tipped his hat to her
,
then Lane.
“Sir.”

Lane inclined his head and watched Alex pick herself up off the floor.

“Well, I’ll be off now.”

“B
ye, Monster.” Alex dusted off her jeans and walked to the refrigerator. She plucked out a pitcher of lemonade and poured a glass.
She hadn’t wanted Monster to carry her to the house, but he had mistaken her protests. Now she was stuck there for a moment or else it would look as if she were running away.

“Alex, you know I disapprove of
you playing with the hired help,
” Linda
berated
quietly once Monster was out the door.

Alex gave her mother a long considering look while she sipped her lemonade.

“Monster’s worked here fo
r years,
” Alex said calmly enough. “He’s my friend.” She sat the empty glass down in the sink with a clink and dried her hands. She tried to ignore Lane’s unnerving stare just as she had tried to pretend last night never happened.
Neither was
very successful.

“Monster is an employee.
” Linda
busied her hands tidying
papers on the table. “He is on
the
payroll for this ranch. For the remaining time we are here I expect you to treat him like an employee. Not a playmate.”

Alex could feel the color spring to her cheeks. Temper came
,
but she banked it. It would do no good to argue.

“Done,
” Alex agreed and started for the door.

“Oh, Alex.”
Linda’s cold voice stopped
her at the door. “
We’re
low on eggs.”

Without a word, Alex walked out into the heat.

“You pluck me, I’ll deck you,
” Alex mumbled to the hen as she reached under her for an egg. She added it gently to her bucket before moving
to the next chicken. “Same goes,
” s
he told the next hen
ominously
.

She hated gathering egg
s. But that had been her chore—along most everything else—
since before she could remember. Her hands were scarred because of it. She felt silly threatening the hens
,
but it worked better than squealing and scaring them further if they plucked her.

She worked that way for fifteen minutes, idly threatening the hens and snatching their eggs. When she had a full bucket, she made her way back to the house.

To her relief
, the kitchen was empty. Alex se
t the bucket on the counter next to the sink and turned on the tap. She took a couple egg cartons out from the pantry and began to gently scrub an egg.

Funny, she mused, how this
part of the
chore had always soothed her. Her stomach had been in knots the whole day at the thought of facing Lane again. She hadn’t even given her bedroom a chance after that earth shattering kiss. She had showered and went straight to the barn to sleep.

She hummed
absently while she scrubbed and dried each
fragile
egg and placed them in the cartons. She looked out the window and saw the men outside taking their lunch break. Jack and Monster were sitting in the bed of the farm truck. Aaron Grey, the newest hand on Morgan was pacing the dirt with an apple core in one hand and
a bottle of
water in the other.

Tyrone Neal and
Jim Brian, the other two hands
were sitting on their tractors eating sandwiches. Tyrone threw a piece of lettuce at Jim who threw it at Aaron and all the men were laughing. Silly, Alex mused, but she wished she had a camera to capture the moment.

An incredible sadness swept through her. These men may be out of a job in a couple of weeks.
She seriously doubted any of them would stay on and work
on
a fake ranch. She
wondered what they would do if they did decide to stay. Would they have to shovel fake manure?

“Is th
at their idea of a food fight?”

Alex jolted, dropping an egg. It hit
the bottom of the sink
with a splat and cracked open
, the yolk sliding everywhere
. “Sorry. I seemed to have scared you again.”
Lane’s
voice was right in her ear.

“It’s all right.” She scooped up the egg and rinsed out the sink. After she disposed of the broken shell, she picked up another egg and scru
b
b
ed
it. “They’re men who don’t like to waste their food. So yes, that’
s their version of a food fight.
”

“It’s entertaining.”

How long had he been
standing there?
s
he
wondered. Against her will, she noticed he smelled of horses. The scent didn’t seem to belong to him
,
but she found herself
liking
it nonetheless.

“Have
you been out with the horses?” s
he asked as casually as she could manage.

“Yes. Your litt
le blond
one’s a sweetheart,” h
e murmured. Alex heard him take down a glass and pour himself iced tea.

“That’s Hope. She’s due on—”
Faith’s birthday.
She paused and pressed her lips together before she continued. “She’s due in about ten days.” Alex turned off the tap and dried her hands before she stacked the full cartons in the refrigerator.

She told herself that she should hate him. She wanted
to
. But her consci
ous had weighed on her througho
ut the night and her heart wanted nothing more than to apologize to him. She had acted foolishly by blaming him.

“Lane—”
She stopped when he handed her a glass of iced tea. He drank deeply into his own
glass
,
then
lifted a brow when he saw her staring into hers.

“Problem?”

“What? No. No, thank you for—”
s
he stammered.
“For the tea.”
She knew it was foolish to feel sentimental when a man made her a glass of tea. It was foolish to feel delighted
,
but she felt it nonetheless.

“It’s my pleasure,” h
e said slowly and waited for her to take a drink. “What were you going to tell me?”

“What?” She ran a hand through her hair. “Oh, I just wanted to apologize for the things I said last night. I was angry and when I’m angry I don’t think.”

“Okay.”

“Okay,” s
he repeated.
She
walked almost numbly to the refrigerator and pulled out the contents for a s
andwich. “Would you like one?” s
he asked
. She gestured
to the food she had set on the counter.

“Sure.”

She made two sandwiches
,
then
set
them down
on
the table. Lane brought over their tea and took a seat across from her. They ate in companionable silence for a moment. Careful not to break their truce, Lane searched for a topic to discuss that wouldn’t get her back up just yet.

“How
many horses do you have here?” h
e asked.

“Four.”

“Cows?”

“About two hundred.”
Alex finished her sandwich and picked up her glass.