Tempted by the Soldier

Her passenger must have had enough time to change. Then she spotted the new-looking loafers near the fence. She picked them up and headed to the back of the van. She knocked. No way was she going to barge in.

The door opened. Clint Morgan hadn’t changed his soiled shirt, but now wore a new pair of khakis. His feet were covered only by socks, and his thick dark hair was rumpled, as if he’d just combed it with his fingers. His eyes were the color of rich dark coffee, and they appeared far more alive than before the heifer affair. Instead of reflecting pain, they practically danced with mischief.

An unwelcome warmth spread through her. She willed it away. She didn’t trust it. She didn’t trust him. Hell’s bells. She didn’t trust herself.

He stepped down on his good leg, then put an arm around her shoulder for the short hobble to the front of the van. Once again, she felt trapped. He was too close. Along with the lingering cow smell, she got a whiff of a tangy aftershave scent and, oddly enough, it was a sensuous mixture that probably only a vet would appreciate. His arm was warm. The air was also warm and getting warmer, and not just from the sun.

They made it to the passenger side, and he stepped inside, using the door handle for support. She handed his shoes to him and hurried around to the other side of the van. As she settled into the driver’s seat, she was too aware of him, much more so than during the trip to Hardy’s. She was afraid she liked him now. Liked the way he had laughed after Isobel kicked him and his quick quips with Hardy. She was fascinated by his subtle and not so subtle challenges.

Wow, she needed to get herself in hand. “I called the town’s doctor—Doc Bradley—and he’ll be waiting for us. Josh will be there.”

To take Clint Morgan off my hands.

His grin was just too potent. Whenever she saw handsome, smiling men nowadays, she searched for the treachery she was sure lurked within. Think Ted Bundy. Or her former husbands.

Clint Morgan was good-looking with a beguiling smile. Dark, slightly curly hair, dark eyes, strong cheekbones, a cleft in his chin and a slight wry turn to his lips. In short, Clinton Morgan raised every single one of her red flags. But she tried to reserve judgment. All she really knew about him was that he couldn’t drive because of his blackouts, and he was ex-military. Josh had been characteristically uncommunicative. Well, it was none of her business, nor the business of Covenant Falls.

She needed to keep it that way.

* * *

CLINT SAT BACK in the seat, shoved his good foot into a shoe and watched Stephanie drive. She drove with the same concentration she showed when treating the cow. He thought back to that moment she’d smiled. Openly. Not guarded as she had been since they met.

He’d thought her pretty before, but when she smiled, she was stunning. And when her blue eyes had darkened with concern while she examined his foot, he’d felt a tingling interest he hadn’t experienced in a long time.

Down, boy. He knew nothing about her. He had a pile of troubles at the moment. Plus, he wouldn’t be staying long. Just long enough to chart out a future.

But in that moment immediately after the cow had stepped on him and she’d knelt next to him, their eyes had clashed, challenging each other. It had made him feel alive for the first time since the car accident. Call it sexual attraction, awareness, or whatever, something was there, at least for him.

“I don’t need a doctor,” he said. “I’ve seen enough injuries to know this doesn’t even count as a pinprick.”

“Then you didn’t need my shoulder?”

She had him there. His foot hurt like hell, but he probably could have walked on his own. He just hadn’t been able to resist the offer. “It helped,” he said, somewhat lamely.

A small smile started on her lips, then faded. “We are going. So far my track record in seeing you safely to Covenant Falls is near zero.”

Was she being adamant because of this Josh? She’d made it clear she valued the opinion of his benefactor more than his. It was rather a blow to his pride, but then except for that one extraordinary moment on the ground, she’d been stilted since they’d met. It was as if she knew something about him, something she didn’t particularly like. The reason he’d left the army? That he failed his buddies for a dumb stunt?

At least he hadn’t had a blackout during the afternoon. He didn’t know what triggered them. The doctor suggested tension, anxiety, but they occurred at other times, as well. The only warning was a god-awful headache.

“I really am sorry,” she said, breaking into his thoughts. “I shouldn’t have asked you to help. You haven’t much experience with animals, have you?”

He shrugged. “It felt good to be doing something useful, even holding two legs of a reluctant cow.” He stayed silent for a moment, then said, “Tell me about Josh Manning. All I know is he’s a vet, not to be confused with your kind of vet.”

“He’s a good guy. He’s one of about three people whose opinion I respect.”

Clint raised an eyebrow. “That’s not very many.”

“I’ve been here only five years,” she said with a trace of a grin. It was the first time she’d lowered her guard with him. He knew about that. He had his own walls and recognized them in others.

“Just what does he want? Why is he doing this?”

“Josh inherited the cabin from a fallen friend, a fellow soldier, and rehabbed it. It was a mess when he arrived. Time and partying kids had pretty well destroyed it. He worked like hell to fix it, and he doesn’t want it to fall into disrepair again.”

“Couldn’t he rent it?”

“Covenant Falls isn’t exactly on the tourism map,” Stephanie said. “Josh and his wife hope to change that, but in the meantime, he wants someone to use it, and who better than a vet.”

“And the town?” Clint asked. “I looked it up. It’s pretty small.”

“It is. And quite elderly on the whole. A little over three thousand people spread over a large space. Most have lived there all their lives.”

“Where are you from?”

Her lips tightened. “Pennsylvania. Once upon a time.”

“What brought you here?”

“What brought you to the army?”

A deflection. Interesting. But then everything about her was interesting. Contradictory. There was a standoffishness, a message that said “hands off,” yet she had been very easy with the rancher. And his being stomped on by a heifer had apparently broken through some kind of barrier. She wasn’t a bundle of warmth, but she was communicative. Progress.

He shrugged. “I wanted to fly. The army was the fastest and cheapest way to do that.”

“Risky, though.”

“Not if you know what you’re doing.”

“What did you fly?”

“Choppers. Black Hawks mostly.”

“How long?”

“Seventeen years.”

He waited for the next question. Why had he left? It didn’t come, which either meant she wasn’t interested or she already knew. He tried to tamp his growing interest in her. He couldn’t even get from point A to point B without help. It was galling. He leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes. His foot throbbed, but it was a minor annoyance. It was the emptiness ahead that was agonizing.

* * *

WHY HAD SHE asked so many questions? It only invited more conversation and questions of his own.

Still, curiosity tickled her. She glanced at him. His eyes were closed. Resting? Dang it, but he was...

Remember your first reaction. That smile. The compliment. Remember Mark’s smile.

Still, it was her fault he was injured. She’d needed him, true, but she and Hardy could have handled the cow alone. It would have taken longer, been riskier. She hadn’t truly given Clint a choice, though, knowing full well she had challenged him. She’d known he would take it, having judged in the first few minutes of their meeting that he couldn’t ignore a challenge. However, she hadn’t expected him to get stomped on and, when he had been, to laugh.