Bunking Down with the Boss

“I couldn’t find a match to the old doors, so I put on all new ones.”

“I see that.” Caroline loved the new look, but she hesitated. “I hadn’t planned on renovating my entire kitchen. Those new doors must have been expensive.”

“Nah,” Sam said, finally glancing over to her. His dark eyes twinkled and Caroline’s stomach flip-flopped. He was a man who, when he gave a woman his full attention, could turn her inside out. “I made the lumber store manager a deal. Trust me, you got more than a fair shake on the doors.”

“How?”

“How’d I make the deal?” He seemed pleased with himself. “You’ll do all your lumber business with him during the renovations and you’ll give his kid free riding lessons.”

“Free riding lessons?”

“Yep, you were planning on giving lessons, weren’t you?”

She chuckled. “I am now.”

Actually, aside from boarding and grooming the horses, Caroline had toyed with the idea of giving lessons after school and on weekends. Sam had just cemented the notion into reality.

He set the invoice for the cost of the lumber, doors included, onto the kitchen counter. Caroline leaned over to take a look. She couldn’t fault him for being excessive since he had indeed gotten a fair price for the materials. She glanced up to meet his eyes. “Looks like I can afford you after all.”

“So I’m hired?”

Caroline nodded. “For the month. Yes, I’ll hire you. And I don’t plan on starving my one and only employee. I brought dinner home from Patsy’s Pantry. It’s nothing fancy but the food’s the best in five counties. Hungry?”

“I could eat,” Sam admitted, “but I’d like to clean up first. Mind if I take a shower?”

A shower? Caroline’s mind spun in a dozen directions, but it came back to earth quickly and focused on one final thought. Sam Beaumont, with his bronzed skin and strong body, naked, in her shower. The instant mind flash caused her a moment of doubt in hiring him.

He was good-looking to a fault. And sexy as sin.

Oh, Caroline, get a life.

“Sure, you can take a shower. Follow me.”

Caroline grabbed a towel from the linen closet on her way toward the bathroom. “Sorry, all I have is this color.”

Sam took the fluffy flamingo-pink towel. “Thanks. As long as it dries my bones, I’m happy.”

“Take your time,” she said once they reached the bathroom. “Dinner will keep.” With that, Caroline headed for the kitchen, blocking out the image of hot steamy water running down Sam’s bare body. Instead, she was grateful that Sam didn’t have one of those macho, don’t-give-me-anything-pink attitudes so many men share. A real man is secure enough in his own skin not to worry about trivial things like that. A real man knows who he is, and what he’s made of.

It had taken Caroline twenty-nine years to realize what made a real man, and unfortunately, she just hadn’t met too many of that breed in her lifetime.

She entered the kitchen, setting out paper plates and napkins, two glasses of lemonade and then…She remembered the fudge and caramel sundaes! “Oh, no!”

Quickly, she dug into the bag and came up with both ice cream concoctions. She sighed with relief. They weren’t completely melted, so she set them into the freezer, hoping for the best.

Not ten minutes later, Sam reentered the kitchen. He’d dressed in his jeans again, but his chest was bare. Caroline blinked, opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Her naked-shower fantasy didn’t compare to seeing the real thing. His jeans hung low, dipping under his navel and hugging a tight butt in the back. His chest, wasn’t massive, wasn’t muscle-man broad. No, it was simply the perfect amount of bronzed strength.

With hair slicked back, and tiny beads of moisture still caressing his skin, he headed straight for her in a slow sexy saunter. Sharp tingles coursed through her body as he came closer. Caroline held her breath, unable to move, staring.

“Excuse me,” he said, passing her to reach for his shirt hanging on the back of the kitchen chair, the one he’d removed just before he began ripping out the damaged cabinets. He slipped his arms into the sleeves and turned to face her, buttoning up. “Smells good.”

Her shoulders slumped ever so slightly “Oh, uh, yes. Let’s eat.”

Fantasy over.

And it was a good thing, too. Because if Sam Beaumont had reached for her hand, Caroline would have followed him.

Right into the bedroom.

“I’d like to seal the cabinets tonight, so I can get started tomorrow with the stables. The doors I can do outside, but I’m going to have to put the sealant on the existing cabinets where they are. Only problem is that the fumes will be too strong for you to sleep in the house.”

Sam Beaumont collected his paper trash, helping Caroline clean up the kitchen after they’d eaten their meal. She wiped down the counter and table then turned to him. “Not a problem really. I can sleep in one of the stable stalls tonight.”

“Are you sure?”

She shrugged. “The cabinets need to be finished. And I’ve got a sleeping bag. I’ve slept out there before.”

“Oh, yeah? Have you lived here all of your life?”

“Most. When I married Gil, my parents retired and moved to Florida. They gave us the stables to run as a wedding present, along with the house I’d grown up in. They weren’t crazy about changing the name of the stables to Portman, but they’d agreed. Gil had a thing about that. Status was everything to him. I should have known better, but I agreed, too. After all, I’d married into that name. At least when the place went to the dogs, my parents’ name wasn’t associated with the stables any longer. They’d worked hard most of their life to build up what Gil ruined in just four short years.”

Caroline didn’t want sympathy. And Lord knows, she’d agonized about this for too long. She wasn’t looking back any longer. She had a future now, with the life insurance money that she’d received. And she was determined to create a good life for Annabelle in the process. One day, her daughter would have everything.

“Well, sounds like we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. It’ll take me an hour or two to get these cabinets sealed. And I can guarantee that you won’t want to be in here.”

Us? Caroline hadn’t been one half of “us” in a long time. She’d been the one making all the decisions, doing all the planning and hoping. She sorta liked the sound of it, even as she reminded herself that the sexy drifter she’d hired would only be here for one month.

Caroline knew she to had take complete control—relinquishing her part in the ranch had been a mistake she would never make again. She had too much to lose now. She’d barely squeaked by these past few years, boarding a few horses and taking on odd jobs just to earn enough to keep food on the table and the bankers from knocking on her doors. She’d never risk her daughter’s future again. And she’d never lay her heart and her life on the line for another man. So this one-month arrangement with Sam Beaumont was a perfect solution.

“Okay, well, I’ll just muck out some of the stables. I’ve got to check on Dumpling, anyway. She misses me if I don’t spend time with her at night.”

“Dumpling?”

“Our family mare. She’s a sweetheart.”

He nodded. “So, will I be sleeping in the stables too?”

Caroline’s mind once again flashed a thrilling image of Sam Beaumont waiting for her on a plush bed of hay. Her heart danced for a moment and, inwardly, she sighed. “No, there’s a room at the back of one of the stables. Used to be a tack room, but I recently converted it into a guest room. I wouldn’t expect much, but there’s a comfortable bed, a dresser and electricity.”

“Sounds fine.”

But Sam Beaumont had already dismissed Caroline, focusing his attention on the cabinets. He worked his hands over the wood, looking for rough spots, surveying the job ahead.

Chuck from the Tie-One-On had been right in vouching for Sam Beaumont. He seemed intent on getting the job done and oddly enough, despite the way they’d met, Caroline felt she just might be able to work with him.

She reminded herself to ask Chuck how he’d come to know so much about Sam, and why he seemed so eager for her to hire him.

Sam Beaumont still was a mystery to her, the handsome drifter who seemed far too capable a man to be scrounging around for work, traveling from town to town like a vagabond.