Love Unspoken (5 page)

How would she explain it? One way was to not cower in front of
him and act as if she had committed a heinous crime. It was a free country and
he didn’t control her reading material, even if he was the sole cause of her
buying the book.

As if in slow motion, Noelle watched with bated breath as he
picked up the book, grasping it between his fingers. He held it out to her. She
wasn’t dumb enough to try and take it. Cole wanted to know why she had such a
book in her possession.

Too bad.

 
She wasn’t going to stick around and answer him. Noelle
hurried past him and snatched up her handbag. He could keep the damn book if he
wanted. It wasn’t like there’d be much use for the few signs she had learned
anyway.

“I don’t owe you any explanations.”

His jaw clenched.
“Why?”
He pushed the book toward her,
eyes maddened with fury. “
What are you up to?”
he signed rapidly.

Noelle looked down at his hands. “If I were you, I’d have better
things to worry about than what I’m doing.”

He threw the book on the blanket, a sharp thud echoing around
them. Noelle blinked in surprise. Fear raced up her spine. Her breath felt
trapped somewhere in her throat at his unnerving stare. Damn. She shouldn’t
have pushed him. Cole didn’t like her and if he wanted to hurt her out here in
the bushes, there wasn’t a thing she could do to defend herself against him. He
was too big and powerful; she’d be no match for him at all.

“Why are you messing with me?”

Noelle gulped, disturbed by what she saw beneath his stormy eyes.
She reached down to pick up the book, then pushed it into her bag.

“It was a mistake, Cole. Forget it.”

He shook his head and moved his hands rapidly, way faster than
she could understand.

She should walk away, but how could she? Because of her Cole was
offended.  In a quieter tone she answered, “I don’t understand you—the signs I mean.”

His hands fell to his sides. Forehead creased, his hand delved
into his pocket for the notepad. He scribbled quickly then pushed the paper
into her hand without touching her.
Noelle, why are you doing this?

As if he didn’t know. It was the same reason she saw him at least
once per day riding near the border between her parents’ home and the ranch.
The reason, he’d spied her watching him from her bedroom window.

Noelle lifted her shoulder, hoping she looked as haughty as she
didn’t feel. “I was curious, that’s all.”

Curious about what? How it feels to be lacking?

Noelle blinked at the words on the paper. Cole thought he was
lacking? She looked away and crossed to the edge of the water where he’d knelt
previously. “I never said that. You always seem to take pleasure in imagining
the worst of my intentions. I don’t see why this should be any different.”

His footsteps mashed on the ground and Noelle felt her heart
quiver and heat flooding between her thighs as he came to stand beside her.

Do you care what I think?

She ran her fingers over the note she’d just read. “I shouldn’t.”
I really shouldn’t.

He took a deep breath and nodded as if her words explained
everything. Long, callused fingers worked quickly on the paper again, leaving
her worried as to where the conversation was headed.

But you do and you don’t like it? Am I right, Noelle?

Noelle nodded. There was no use lying to him. “We’re very
different people. You know that right?”

She expected the question to upset him because of course he had
to know what she was talking about and the difference in their skin color was
the least of her concern.

He looked over at the ranch then down at the ground before
nodding and lifting his hand in a motion she remembered from the book.
“I
know.”

The silence grew dense between them until Noelle focused her
attention on his hand. “What happened?” she asked, unsure if he would confide
in her.

 He gave her a wry grin. Noelle waited for him to grab the pen
and start scribbling again. He didn’t.

Biting back the hurt, she lifted her gaze to the auburn sky.
“Well the good thing is, I know nothing’s changed.” She brushed off her skirt.
“As far as I’m concerned you can go on back to the ranch and keep on thinking
of me as the bitch you want to avoid, because I probably am, cowboy.”

Brows furrowed, he gave her a quick look before writing something
on the paper.
I was stupid. Let myself get distracted while tearing down a
piece of barbed wire.

She had seen some of the other cowboys removing sections of the
wiring that must have been put in place over a century ago and was a deadly to
animals if they became entangled in the fencing.

“Do you think Mr. Somerset will allow you to keep working if he
gets a look at that injury?”

He chuckled. She assumed it was a chuckle because his eyes became
lighter and his lips curved into a sensuous grin. He stared at her for another
second before lowering his head and jotting something down.

He will. Needs all the men he can get.

He was probably right. There weren’t a lot of men out there ready
to give up their social life to rough it on a ranch in a backwoods town. Much
less a skilled cowboy like Cole who actually knew what he was doing. Mr.
Somerset wasn’t an idiot and would not risk losing him to another ranch.

 “All right. But just because your boss isn’t going to fire you,
is not a good reason to not take care of that hand.” She pointed to the blue
bandanna around his palm, stained with red. “You don’t think you need to tie
that knot a little tighter? Or do cowboys have some kind of mystical healing
power different than everyone else?”

He arched an eyebrow at her then held out his hand, with the knot
facing her. Her cunt moistened at the way he held out his palm expectantly,
even though she’d made no mention of helping him. It was a silent command and,
Heaven help her, she adored it.

Steadying her breathing, Noelle fingered the knot, untied it and
drew it closer around his palm. “Is it too tight?” Was that her voice all soft
and throaty?

He shook his head and lowered his gaze to her hand beside his.
She retied it and allowed her hand to fall. Reaching out, Cole brushed his
fingertips to hers. Noelle pulled away her hand. It was wrong to allow him to
believe this
thing
would go any further than what took place right here.

Cole looked at her hands, clenched to her sides and gave his head
a jerk as if he didn’t care one way or the other.

Irritated with herself and him, Noelle blurted, “You’re not going
to tell your friends about this are you?” The last thing she needed was her
father finding out that she was making nice with a worker from one of his
buyers. A ranch hand.

Cole pounded past her and dropped a piece of paper on the
blanket. In big letters she read:
There’s not a damn thing to tell, is
there, Ms. Williams?

 Her chest tightened. Noelle turned to say something to softened
the sting of her words. She was met with his retreating frame. Noelle stared
after him longingly. Thankfully, this time her feet heeded the command of her
brain and remained still, winning against the urge to run after him and
apologize. It was just as well. If Cole knew the real her, he would be
disappointed anyway. No point in fanning the flames of their attraction.

Chapter
Five

Cole studied the scar in the middle of his hand. It was almost
healed. Despite how he’d made it seem to Noelle a week ago, he was thankful the
injury was a minor cut. Men like him couldn’t afford to lose the ability to
work with their hands.
He
couldn’t afford it, not with everyone
depending on him to get the work done here and then to take over at the ranch
back home.

Still, it was a stupid mistake that resulted in the injury. One
of the regular line riders, whose duty was to make sure all the wired fences
were in tact each day, was holed up in his room with the flu, so he’d stepped
up and volunteered to show one of the newly hired hands, a tenderfoot, how to
patch up the four wire barbed fencing used to keep the herd of cattle from
straying. The guy made a stupid move, causing the sharpened blade to slide
across his palm. Lesson learned, he’d never volunteer to teach fence mending to
anyone.

Cole ran a finger over the scar. Although he didn’t like how
things ended with Noelle during their last encounter, he had to admit she was
wreaking havoc on his nerves. He could still feel her hands on his. She’d felt
so soft, he hadn’t been able to stop himself from touching her… until she’d
withdrawn from him. Right now, she seemed hell bent on avoiding any connection
to him and he knew he should be doing the same with her.

Tonight he had the chance of doing just that, sampling another
woman and clearing Noelle from his mind once and for all. It was one of those
nights. Every month or so, some of the women from the neighboring towns would
pass through on the ranch with thoughts of nothing more than hooking up with a
cowboy.

A few of the women had been married, some of them not caring
enough to take off their wedding rings. He had never slept with any of the
married ones, but not all the men were as discriminatory, because of the long
bouts of celibacy. He wouldn’t be a hypocrite and pretend he minded the women
who came, but that didn’t mean he wanted to indulge either. The last and only
woman on the ranch, he’d slept with had been three months ago. The experience
left a rancid taste in his mouth although he hadn’t been stupid enough to place
his lips on hers or any other part of her body. It would have been too
intimate. At the time, the pressure in his cock had been relieved, but that was
just it, nothing more, nothing less. The way he’d heard the other men describe
it, it should have been way better than just releasing into the condom. And
that went for both times he’d had sex.

It probably would be if I hadn’t been half disgusted.
He’d
known that as soon as he and the woman finished she would jump into bed with
another ranch hand and continue like that for the rest of night. That little
tidbit alone had lessened his arousal. Yeah, he really wasn’t that desperate
for a fuck tonight.

He wanted…Noelle. Lovely, perfection that he wanted to claim.
There had to be some part of her that wanted him too. Why else would she
attempt to understand him, show concern for his injury? She was not as tough as
she tried to portray herself and he wanted to be the one to wear her down, the
one to lie on top of her each night, have her bear his weight with every thrust
into her pussy. His cock pulsed with excitement and Cole lowered his hand,
stroking it over his erection. Reluctantly, he lifted his hand and shook his
head in defeat. He wasn’t going to spend another night bringing himself to
come, spilling his seed for Noelle, a woman who he’d probably never get a
chance in this lifetime to touch. He looked down at his cock and remembered how
hard he came last night thinking of her and how badly he wanted to know what
her cunt felt like. So much cum and such a fucking waste.

He knew he wasn’t the only one who was attracted to Noelle. He
knew for a fact a couple of the other hands had tried to come on to her to
which she shot them down. He’d seen it happen once and actually stayed close by
to make sure the man left her alone. Of course she hadn’t seen him and he
hadn’t alerted her to his presence once he realized the worker wasn’t going to
push the issue with her.

Cole glanced at the small, rarely used alarm clock by his bed.
What would be an even bigger waste was to spend the entire evening alone. He
exited the room. The moment his feet hit the dirt, he could smell the stench of
cheap liquor wafting off a cowboy with his hand up the skirt of a scantily clad
woman sitting on his lap.

 “Isn’t this great, Cole? I was starting to get worried for a
couple of weeks there. Didn’t think we’d come across any females willing to
spread em’ for us.”

Cole shook his head and ignored the boy. This was his first month
on the job and Cole suspected the nineteen year old had never been with a woman
but was trying to show off his machismo.

There wasn’t anything unique about the position of the tenderfoot
Mike and the brunette sprawled across his lap. Some of the cowboys preferred
privacy and some just plain didn’t care, like the one pumping into a blonde
against the tree.

Cole looked away, shifting his gaze to see Beau strolling in his
direction. Like him, the foreman also took a quick glance at the couple by the
tree and shook his head.

“I thought you were gonna miss all the fun and chill inside your
room.”

“That was the plan.”

“Not tonight. Sandy was asking for you.” Beau turned, looking
around as if he was trying to spot the curvy woman.

Cole shrugged.
“I don’t give a shit.”

Frowning, Beau looked at him strangely. “You left with her last
time. What’s different now?”

“
It doesn’t mean I want a repeat experience. You can have
her.”

The foreman eyed him with suspicion. “No thanks. I do have to
ask, this wouldn’t have anything to do with Williams’ daughter would it?”

They both knew the man had two daughters but it was obvious which
one anyone would be interested. That and the fact that the younger one was
married. Regardless, it was a strange question…unless he’d accidentally let
something slip to his friend. Cole had no memory of ever speaking to Beau about
Noelle or any woman for that matter. There hadn’t been much information to
relay.

“Why would it? I don’t know his daughter.”
It was the
truth. He
wanted
to get to know her, but right now he was in a dismal
darkness when it came to Noelle Williams.