The Color of Forever: Book Two: Forever Cowboys Series (10 page)

She expressed these sentiments to Ben and then asked “Do you always take a gun and/or tranquilizer darts with you when you go horseback riding?”

“Yeah, I do,” he replied. “On horseback, walking, even in my truck. Any time you’re in a remote area like this there’s a chance of having a close encounter with wildlife. It pays to have a way of protecting yourself if an animal becomes aggressive and the darts are for your benefit as well as the animal’s. The tranquilizer takes effect quickly and will stop even something as large as that mama grizzly. Bears can run thirty miles an hour, so it has to be something fast acting.”

“She was beautiful! I’ll admit that I was too scared to spend much time noticing her attractiveness because I thought she was about to kill me, but it did register that she’s awesome.” Samantha shivered in reaction to the memory of the huge, angry bear standing up and preparing to charge. “I was terrified and you were as cool as a cucumber!”

Ben chuckled. “Not really,” he said wryly. “I was terrified, too. Anybody that didn’t feel fear at the sight of an eight foot enraged grizzly bent on tearing them to pieces would have a screw loose. But,” he went on, “our only chance was for me to get that dart out and make sure I hit her with it in time to stop her charge. I couldn’t do that if I allowed my fear to rule me and interfere with my aim. But believe me, Samantha, I was scared too and relieved I managed to hit her, the way my hands were shaking.”

“I’m so sorry, Ben,” she replied contritely. “I saw that adorable little baby bear and reacted without thinking. It was so sweet and cute; I wanted to pet it. It was a stupid thing to do. I almost got us killed. The funny thing is that I’ve never considered myself an animal lover. I mean, animals haven’t interested me in the slightest. But my first impulse was to get closer to that little bear.”

“Hey, don’t be too hard on yourself. Baby bears really are cute and most people do find it tempting to pet them. But here’s the thing: bears aren’t dogs and baby bears—even as cute as they are—aren’t puppies. Wild animals of any kind are just that … wild. You can be an animal lover and still understand that.”

He looked around at Samantha sitting behind him in the saddle, her arms wrapped around his waist, and flashed a big smile. “Hey, maybe you’re an animal lover and just didn’t know it because you haven’t been around animals much. But I think it might be a good idea to love bears at a distance from now on!”

Samantha agreed, laughing. They rode the rest of the way home in companionable silence, Samantha savoring every second of skin-tight closeness to Ben. Her breasts were pressed against his back and she wondered if the contact was affecting him as much as it was her. Lord, he was sexy! She inhaled the clean, male scent of him and tightened her arms around his waist. My hero, she thought, not in a joking way.

He had literally saved her life today. She couldn’t help but contrast his actions and the way he kept a cool head in a life or death situation to some of the guys she had dated back in the city. One budding relationship had ended when she and her date exited a subway stop at a deserted station and been confronted by two young men with gang tats who demanded their money and jewelry.

Sam’s date had panicked, stripping off his Rolex watch and fumbling to extract his wallet and hand it over to the men, too, before shoving her in front of him as a human shield between himself and them. Even the muggers had been disgusted with him. To Samantha’s surprise, they hadn’t taken her purse or jewelry but had advised her to ditch the “loser” and find a real man before taking their leave.

She had taken their advice about ditching him. But as for finding a real man, up to this point she hadn’t been successful. To be fair, some men she had dated or had longer term relationships with probably had been “real” men. The problem was that none of them had been the right man for her. She shelved the reminiscing and let herself enjoy these moments to the max; close to Ben.

She enjoyed riding double behind Ben but hoped it wasn’t too much of a strain on the horse. Injuring Trey’s horse would be a poor way to repay Mari’s generosity in keeping the two horses there at Sam’s disposal during her visit. She voiced her concern to Ben. “It won’t hurt the horse for us both to ride him, will it?”

“No, he’ll be fine,” Ben assured her. “We aren’t going that far or fast. We’re almost home.”

No sooner were these words out of his mouth than they stepped out from the winding, heavily forested trail onto the open pasture and meadow behind Marielle’s ranch house. Samantha was delighted to see that, just as Ben had predicted, Taffy was standing at the fence by the barn, placidly waiting.

“I’ll take care of the horses, Samantha,” Ben told her. “You can go on inside and put on some coffee on if you want.”

“Of course!” Samantha replied, heading up to the house. Making coffee for Ben was the least she could do for saving her life and besides, she could use a cup herself. Even now, she was still feeling shaky after what had happened. Sitting down and relaxing for a little while would help to soothe her jangled nerves.

Yes, she definitely owed Ben Connors as much coffee as he wanted to drink for his actions today. She didn’t feel that coffee was enough of a repayment. She’d prefer to show her gratitude in a much more personal … more intimate … way.

But, she decided, moving around the kitchen and getting coffee ready for herself and Ben, not today. She was still unnerved from the incident with the bear. Her knees were like water and her insides quaking like Jello. All she really wanted to do after they had coffee was take a long, leisurely hot bath and then put on her coziest pajamas and curl up on the couch with a good book.

A fire wouldn’t come amiss, either, since the evenings and nights were chilly even though it was early Spring.

Her plans made for the evening, she set out cups and spoons along with cream and sugar and waited for Ben to come to the house.

Ben’s thoughts were in turmoil as he removed the saddles and other tack from both horses and brushed them thoroughly.

Samantha had almost been killed today, right before his eyes! Yes, he was aware that he would almost certainly have been killed right along with her, but his fear was focused on Samantha. What a loss if something had happened to her! She was such a bright, shining light. He couldn’t imagine how much darker and drearier his world would be without her in it, even after knowing her only a short time.

Her vibrancy, her passion for life and living … she brought him to life, too, in ways he hadn’t even realized were lacking before he met her. Everything about Samantha was charged with an electricity that fairly vibrated, pulsing with energy and vitality. Next to her, most people seemed colorless and uninteresting.

He cast his thoughts back to some of the women he had dated.

Most of them had been considered extremely attractive, even beautiful. They had been intelligent enough. Some had turned him on physically and he had enjoyed a satisfying sexual relationship with them even though he hadn’t fallen in love with them. But none of those women could hold a candle to Samantha O’Brien. Being around her was like the difference between watching a movie in black and white or color. Everything about her was exciting. She made his world seem new and enhanced, with a level of intensity previously unknown.

Colors were brighter and more vivid. Music and sounds were amplified and made better. Every moment he spent in her presence was infused with a keen awareness of all his senses. She was the most thrilling creature he had ever known.

The main, overriding feeling Ben had when he was with Samantha, he decided, was happiness.

In a nutshell, he felt happy just to be near her. Was this love? Had he finally met the woman who pushed all of his buttons? Could he be head over heels in love with this radiant, fascinating woman?

Yes, yes and yes.

He answered his own questions with a sigh, acknowledging that he was in love with Samantha while doubting that such a glorious woman who sparkled with a brilliance all her own could ever love a plain vanilla guy like him.

Still, he set his jaw and decided to make an all out effort to win Samantha’s heart. He had to. He was a one woman man and he had found his woman.

Losing her just wasn’t an option.

Samantha stretched lazily and yawned. She had followed through with her intentions to have a relaxing soak in the old, roomy claw foot bathtub and then change into her comfiest pair of pajamas, lie on the couch in front of the fire and read.

She couldn’t remember when, if ever, she had felt so completely relaxed. Before coming up here, headaches had been a way of life for her. She usually felt as though a steel band was tightening around her head and her whole body had felt tied in painful knots. She had popped OTC painkillers at least twice a day, just to ease the headache and generalized body aches.

But she had felt that tension easing gradually ever since her arrival in these mountains. Little by little during the few short weeks she had been here, her stress had been unraveling and she had experienced an unaccustomed feeling of peace.

She puzzled at what had wrought such a change. Sure, she wasn’t up to her neck in stress from her job. Nor was she feeling agitated about Tony or some other man who wasn’t turning out to be all she had hoped for in the beginning of a relationship. No hurrying and rushing madly around the city to get somewhere by a certain time.

Thinking back from the perspective of being removed from her usual life for a while, Samantha realized with a sense of shock that she had been living with a heavy burden of stress. Work related stress. Romance related stress. Even stress from friends who were constantly asking her to go to this party or that gallery opening or concert or play or fashion show or any of the other thousand and one things her circle found to do in the city.

She had thought it great fun and had enjoyed this never-ending whirlwind of activities. If someone had asked her whether or not she enjoyed her life in New York, she would have said yes without a moment’s thought.

But … had she really enjoyed it all that much? Or had she accepted it as the norm for a single girl and been going with the flow, never stopping or taking a break from her jam packed schedule long enough to do any serious soul searching about what she wanted out of life?

Maybe now she’d have time to stop and take stock of her life … what she had and what she wanted to have. Unlikely as it might seem, maybe her life in New York wasn’t the life that would bring her true happiness. After all, she had to ask herself why, if her life in the city was so happy, she had been tied in knots all the time and suffering from tension headaches along with other stress related ailments. Not to mention chronic insomnia, something else that had changed drastically since she came here.

Now it was all she could do to hold her eyes open. She slept like a log all night and had gotten into the habit of taking a nap every day. Must be all those years of sleep deprivation. Maybe her tired body was taking advantage of her new found sleepiness to catch up on all it had lost. She puzzled over why she felt so relaxed here and what had abruptly cured her insomnia. As far as the insomnia, she wondered if it might be the altitude. Hadn’t she heard something once about altitude making people sleepy?

Or maybe not. She wasn’t sure and decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. After long, frustrating years of laying sleepless most of the night and hearing the clock ticking off the moments she had left to try and sleep before getting up and going to work, her nights were filled with restful, natural slumber that left her feeling refreshed and eager to meet every new day.