The Cowboy's Claim (15 page)

“Can we go by the motel and get some of my things?” she asked.

Nick nodded and she saw the vague surprise in his eyes. Under any other circumstance she would never agree to go with Nick to his ranch for any length of time, but at the moment she recognized she was too beat up to properly care for Garrett, and she felt too vulnerable to want to be alone.

It was almost six o’clock by the time Courtney was released from the hospital. They made the trip to the motel to pack up a suitcase for her and Garrett, and Nick loaded Garrett’s crib and high chair into the back of the pickup.

“It’s crazy to be bringing all of this for a night,” Courtney said as they headed toward the Benson ranch house.

“It will just make things easier on all of us if Garrett has his own bed and high chair, even if it is for just one night,” Nick replied.

“It
is
just for one night,” she replied.

He shot her a quick grin. “Because you’re the boss, right? Yeah, boss, well we’re going to play this one by ear. Even though you’re putting on a good show, I can tell that you’re hurting. A couple of days of TLC will be good for you.”

“We’ll see,” she said, refusing to commit to more than a single night.

“You’ve been busy,” she said as they reached the ranch and she saw the neatly cut lawn and trimmed shrubs.

“Yeah, it was in pretty bad shape. Slowly but surely I’m making some headway on cleaning things up.” He parked the truck and opened the driver’s door.

“Tell you what, why don’t I go inside and draw you a hot bath and while you soak, Garrett and I will unload things and start on some dinner,” he said as he pulled Garrett out of his car seat.

She was shocked by his kind offer. Who was this man who stood before her, her son in one arm and a gentle caring in his blue eyes?

The man she’d fallen in love with two years ago had displayed a touch of youthful arrogance, a cockiness she’d found both thrilling and sexy. But, this man who stood before her was even sexier as he talked of baths and babies and making dinner.

“A hot bath sounds lovely, but I’ll help you carry things inside before I’ll think about a bath.”

It didn’t take them long to get Garrett’s crib set up in a guest room, which had a full bed covered in a buttercup-yellow spread. Nick started running the water in the tub in the bathroom across the hall while Courtney unpacked the few things she and Garrett would need for the night.

“Ready for me to add the bubbles?” Nick asked. Garrett toddled at Nick’s side, gibbering in the language of presentences that only he understood.

“Bubbles?”

Nick appeared in the bathroom doorway with a bottle of strawberry bubble bath in hand. “This belonged to Cherry. I’m assuming bubble bath doesn’t go bad.”

“I’d love some bubbles,” she replied, touched that he would allow her to use his sister’s bubble bath. “Where’s Adam?” she asked. She hadn’t seen Nick’s brother since they’d arrived.

“Adam is out of town for a couple of days. He’s visiting some friends and checking out a few horses we might purchase.”

“Oh.” When she’d agreed to come here for the night she hadn’t thought that it would be just herself, Garrett and Nick in the big house.

“Worried about your reputation?” he asked, and she thought she detected a sharp edge to his words.

“Of course not,” she replied. “I was just wondering why I hadn’t seen your brother, that’s all.”

He nodded. “I’ll go finish up your bath.”

A half an hour later Courtney lay in the scented bubbly water in the bathtub and finally felt her sore muscles begin to relax.

She leaned her head back against the cool porcelain and closed her eyes, trying to keep her mind as empty as possible. But, no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t think of nothing.

It wasn’t thoughts of the accident that scurried through her head; she had no memories of getting into her car, of driving on the rain-slicked streets and flying off the road and into the tree.

Why? Why couldn’t she remember leaving the café? She could understand losing the memories of the initial impact and being unconscious, but she didn’t remember even telling Mary goodbye the night before when she’d left the café.

And if that wasn’t enough for her to think about, thoughts of the man in the kitchen with her son filled her brain.

What had he been doing for the past two years of his life? She knew he’d been working on a ranch, but what had he done besides that? He seemed to have arrived back in her life with no baggage from that time.

She’d certainly had baggage. She’d had Grant. She frowned as she thought of the man she’d broken up with only a week earlier. He’d come into the café during the dinner rush the night before although he hadn’t sat in her section, indicating he was still angry with her for breaking up with him.

Why could she remember him coming in to eat and the teenagers leaving her a paltry tip, yet she couldn’t remember walking out of the door to get into her car?

It was this troubling thought that finally pulled her out of the tub. She dried off with a large fluffy towel that Nick had provided and then looked at her reflection in the mirror.

There was some slight bruising at her hairline on her forehead, but thankfully it wasn’t creeping downward. Her sternum had a faint discoloration from contact with the steering wheel. All in all everyone was right—she’d been tremendously lucky to walk away from the accident.

She pulled on a pair of pink shorts and an oversized navy T-shirt, deciding that her bra would be too uncomfortable, then went in search of Nick and Garrett.

She found them in the large country kitchen. Garrett, seated in his high chair munching on a cracker, greeted her with a wide smile.

Nick stood at the stove, stirring something in a large pot. He turned and gestured her to the table with a smile. “Something smells good,” she said as she sat at the large oak table.

“Ground beef, jarred sauce and spaghetti noodles that are slightly overcooked,” he replied.

“Sounds yummy. Can I do anything to help?”

“Nope, just sit there and look pretty and I’ll do the rest.” He left the pot on the stove and reached into a cabinet for two plates and a plastic bowl. He set the plates on the table and handed Garrett the bowl. The boy promptly put it on his head.

Courtney took the bowl from his dark curls and placed it on his high chair tray. “It’s not a hat,” she said and touched his little nose.

“Hat,” he said and pointed to Nick.

Nick added silverware to the table and smiled. “He definitely has a hat fetish.”

Courtney smiled. “If you think his hat fetish is funny, wait until you watch him eat spaghetti. You might want to break out the hazmat suits.”

“How much mess could one little boy make with a bowl of spaghetti?” Nick asked.

A half an hour later as he wiped sauce off the floor and then a nearby cabinet, he shook his head ruefully. “Who would have thought,” he said more to himself than to Courtney, who was clearing the dishes from the table. “I’ve never seen spaghetti fly before.”

She laughed. It had been nearly impossible to carry on any kind of conversation through the meal as Garrett had been a pip, finding the game of throwing pasta as entertaining as eating it.

He now sat in the high chair, face cleaned and properly contrite after being fussed at by Courtney for his bad manners. “How about I make some coffee and we all go into the living room?” Nick suggested once the kitchen was clean.

“That sounds nice.” As Courtney attempted to lift Garrett from the high chair, her bruised and sore muscles protested.

“Here, let me do that,” Nick exclaimed. “How about you make the coffee and I’ll take Mr. Garrett in and dress him in his pajamas.”

Once again Courtney was shocked by what a natural Nick was at parenting. As she made a short pot of coffee, she thought about Nick the daddy.

She hadn’t expected him to be so demonstrative with the child. He kissed Garrett often, ran a hand lovingly through his curls. The light of love in his eyes when he gazed at the boy was obvious and seemed to grow brighter each time father and son were together.

He’d once seduced her as the taboo bad boy, but if she wasn’t careful she’d find herself equally seduced by the father in him.

By the time she carried two cups of coffee into the living room, Nick had a pajama-clad Garrett on his lap on the sofa. “I think somebody has had a long day,” Nick said.

“Are you talking about yourself or Garrett?” she asked teasingly.

“He didn’t have much of a nap today and he almost fell asleep while I was changing him.”

“Maybe we should just go ahead and put him down for the night,” she said, although she wasn’t so sure she liked the idea of being totally alone with Nick without the buffer of Garrett between them. Then she was irritated with herself for even thinking she needed a buffer between herself and Nick.

Fifteen minutes later Garrett was asleep and Nick and Courtney were back in the living room seated on the sofa with their coffee.

“Tell me about Texas,” she said. “You pretty well know what I’ve been doing for the past two years, but what did you do down there?”

He leaned back against the sofa, looking sexy and relaxed. “I’ve got a friend down there named Charlie Hanes. He hired me on at his ranch, and that’s what I did for the past two years. I worked, I slept and I ate, and I like to think that during that time I did a little growing up.”

He took a sip of his coffee and then continued. “I’d never really been alone before. There was always a sibling to pick up the slack if I got too lazy, somebody to tell me what to do, to party with or to just talk to if I felt like it. I’d never had to depend just on myself. I’d never really taken the time to look inside and find out what was there.”

“And what was there?” she asked with curiosity.

He shot her a lazy grin. “I’m still a work in progress.”

And she liked the way he had progressed. There were still flashes of the boy he had been when he’d left Grady Gulch, but there was more substance, more solidness to him now.

“In lots of ways I think I’ve grown up, too,” she replied. “For the first time in my life I suddenly not only had to depend on myself, but also had to think about how I was going to take care of a baby. And I’m proud of how I’ve managed to do both without anyone’s help.”

“You’ve done a great job,” he replied, and his eyes held a soft light that felt seductive.

She suddenly felt the need to distance herself from him. He seemed like an illusionist to her, playing havoc on her senses, on her very sensibilities with his magic. She took a big drink of her coffee and then stood.

“I think it’s been a long day for me, too. I’m exhausted and I need to call it a night.”

He got up as well and set his cup on the coffee table next to hers. “Courtney, before you go...” He stepped close...closer still to her, and her heart began to beat a rapid rhythm.

He stopped when he stood so close to her that she could feel his body heat and was engulfed by the heady scent of him. “Yes?” she asked, her mouth dry.

“I’ve been wanting to do this the minute I yanked open the car door and saw you slumped over the steering wheel.” He wrapped his arms around her and gently pulled her toward him.

She stood stiffly in his embrace for just a brief moment and then yielded to the warmth and familiarity of him, gave in to her need to have strong male arms around her. Melting against him, she released a tremulous sigh.

He felt just as she remembered, big and safe and warm, and she was in no hurry to leave his arms. She nestled her head into the crook of his neck and was reminded of how well their bodies had always fit together. His heart beat against her own, a steady, strong rhythm that further relaxed her.

It had been a long time since she’d felt the comfort of anyone’s arms around her, and she hadn’t realized until this moment how hungry she’d been for this kind of physical contact.

It felt right to be in his arms and she would have stayed there forever, but he took his finger and raised her chin so she was looking up at him. His blue eyes were dark with unabashed desire, and she knew he wanted to kiss her.

And even though she knew a kiss from Nick was wrong on all kinds of levels, she wanted it. She wanted him. She opened her lips slightly, as if to invite him to take what he wanted from her.

He lowered his head and claimed her mouth with his. Initially his kiss was feather-soft against her lips, heating her from her head to her toes. He deepened the kiss, touching first her lower lip with his tongue, and then delving inside her mouth with desire and determined intent.

She raised her arms to his shoulders and pressed more tightly against him as their tongues swirled in heated battle. She’d forgotten his kiss.

She’d forgotten how when he kissed her she felt as if he touched her all over, as if kissing was the most important thing in the entire world. Nick’s kisses had always been infused with not just desire, but also with caring, making her feel like the most important woman on the face of the earth.

“You know I want you,” he said as he finally broke the kiss. His voice was deep with need.

Would it be so terrible? To make love with him just one last time? It wouldn’t mean anything, because she refused to allow her heart to be involved with him ever again.

Just one more time to hold in her heart for when he eventually got tired of playing daddy, when he ran from his family responsibilities not just to Garrett, but to the ranch and Adam, as well.

Fool, a little voice whispered in her head at the same time she placed a hand on the side of his cheek. “I want you, too.”

She didn’t want to dwell on their past, and she didn’t want to contemplate the future. She just wanted to be in this moment with him, feeling safe, feeling desirable and fooling herself into believing that she was loved.

Chapter 10

N
ick wasn’t sure exactly what he expected from Courtney, but it wasn’t the shine of desire in the depths of her eyes, it wasn’t the words he’d most wanted to hear.

He took her hand and led her down the hallway toward his bedroom, afraid with each step that somehow the mood would shatter, that she’d change her mind.