Taming a Dark Horse

“That’s not surprising,” Linc muttered. “If a woman has to go without electricity for one hour, she thinks she’s been traumatized.”

“Hmm. Is that so? I had to go without electricity for two days last winter. Ice did something to the lines going to my apartment. But you know, I made it okay. Didn’t feel a bit traumatized.”

Glowering, he looked away from her. “I guess you’re trying to say that I should be grateful that you were willing to take care of me?”

Her hand felt as though it was vibrating on his shoulder and she pulled it away, hoping it would put an end to the odd sensation. “Well, you don’t have to go so far as to be grateful. Just civil will be enough for me.”

His head twisted back around and Nevada felt something jerk in her chest as his dark-green gaze landed on her face. “You’re doing this for Victoria’s sake, aren’t you?” he asked, then quickly added, “No. Don’t answer that. I already know that you are.”

“Well, well. You not only think you’re an expert on nurses, you also think you’re a mind reader. You must have many talents, Mr. Ketchum.”

Ignoring her sarcasm, he said, “See, you’re not even bothering to deny it.”

Nevada smiled at him. “Why should I bother? You seem to know the answer already.”

He heaved out a heavy breath. “Well, I guess that part of it doesn’t matter. I just don’t like feeling beholden to anybody.”

Nevada’s expression turned serious. “Look, Linc, I’m here because I chose to be here. I’m a nurse and when it all boils down, I can’t turn away from someone who needs my help. No matter who they’re related to. Now if you don’t mind, I need to unload my things from the car.”

She stepped around him and jerked the car door open. Linc watched with helpless frustration as she pulled out several pieces of luggage and piled them on the ground. Normally, he would never allow a female to lift anything heavier than a plate of food in his presence. But as it was he was so incapacitated he couldn’t even pick up her handbag.

“If you need help with that I can call someone up from the main house,” he finally offered.

She glanced his way. “Thank you. But they’re not a problem for me to carry.”

He watched her shove one of the bags beneath her armpit and pick up two more with her hands. How the hell was he going to deal with this woman for two weeks or more, he wondered. She’d already managed to make him feel like a helpless idiot. Moreover, she was just too damn sexy.

“I—uh—I’d help if I could,” he felt compelled to say.

She started moving toward the house and he fell in beside her.

“I know that,” she said. “Don’t apologize for your condition. You can’t help it. Just try to get well as quickly as you can.”

The two of them crossed the rough ground of the yard and climbed onto the porch. There Nevada turned to look at the view. The house was facing south and some distance over on the next mountain ridge she could spot the top of the main ranch house. Between here and there was nothing but forested mountains.

“This is beautiful,” she said with quiet awe.

Linc looked at her, faintly surprised by the sincerity in her voice. “Yeah, but give yourself a few days and you’ll be screaming to see town again.”

She flashed him a glance. “How could you predict that? You don’t even know me.”

“Women can’t stand the isolation.”

Obviously Linc Ketchum wasn’t just down on being incapacitated, he was also down on women for some reason that Nevada would very much like to know.

“Excuse me, but Victoria lived her whole life on this ranch until she went to med school and married Jess.”

He waved away her words. “Victoria is different. She’s a ranch girl, a cowgirl.”

Nevada wanted to ask him what he thought she was, but she didn’t bother. Now wasn’t the time to try to dig into him. If she was going to be able to make it through the next two or three weeks, she needed to keep peace with the man.

“Well, don’t worry about me getting cabin fever. I’m sure you’ll keep me entertained,” she said, then turning to the door, she opened it and stepped inside.

Linc quickly followed her into the small foyer and then into the long living room until she stopped abruptly and stared all around her.

“Oh! This is lovely. This looks almost like the big ranch house. Only smaller.”

The room had off-white walls and a high ceiling crossed with heavy oak beams stained a deep brown. The floor was covered with a shiny brown-and-beige tile and a good portion of the north wall was built of plate glass. The landscape past the window was breathtaking and framed the peaks of the distant San Juan Mountains, which, in spite of it being midsummer, still hung on to their caps of snow.

“You sound surprised,” Linc said as he watched her drop her bags and walk slowly around the room. “What were you expecting?”

She shot him a frank glance. “Nothing like this. Victoria told me this was just a small ranch house that they leased to any of the ranch hands who had a family and were in need of housing.”

“She told you right.”

“Goodness! This is so—beautiful!” Continuing her walk around the room, she inspected the leather furniture, the Western photos and paintings on the walls and the wagon wheel that dropped from the center beam in the ceiling. The wooden wheel was circled with lights that were fashioned in the shape of old-time lanterns.

The fact that she was so taken with the house both surprised and pleased Linc. He hadn’t expected such a reaction from her. To look at her, she seemed like the modern-apartment type.

“I’m sure it seems dated and stuffy to you.”

“Not at all,” she said as she headed toward an opening that looked as though it would lead to the kitchen area.

Linc followed her into the kitchen to a pine table and benches located near another wide window. From here Nevada could look down upon the ranch. From this angle, looking left, she could see a meadow filled with black Angus cattle and the sparkling ribbon that was the Animas River.

“Where do you live?” Linc wanted to know.

She glanced away from the window and over to him. He was standing only a couple of feet away from her and she picked up the faint masculine scent of his body. An inward shiver raced through her as she looked at him, and she hoped the reaction wasn’t showing on her face. The last thing she needed was for this man to think she was attracted to him.

Which she wasn’t. She couldn’t be. He was a patient. “In Aztec. In an apartment.” She grinned wryly. “My kitchen view is of an alleyway. The only good thing about it is that I get to see an assortment of stray cats hunting through the garbage cans.”

“Hmmph. I’ll bet you’re the kind of woman who pours feed out for them.”

She laughed guiltily. “Well, I am soft-hearted when it comes to animals,” she admitted. “And I’d never let one go hungry for any reason.”

“You like animals?” he asked.

Once again he sounded surprised and Nevada wondered where he’d formed his opinions about women.

“Very much. In fact when I first started college I had plans to become a veterinarian. But then a close friend of mine became seriously ill and I decided that maybe I was meant to help people get well.”

“Did you help your friend?”

Shaking her head, Nevada turned away from him. He didn’t need to see any sort of sadness or woe on her face. Not now. Linc Ketchum needed to see bright skies ahead and she was determined to show them to him. “No. She died. And that only reinforced my resolve to stay in medicine.” Turning she smiled at him. “But that’s in the past. And right now I think I’d better go carry in the rest of my things and get settled in.”

She turned and walked out of the kitchen and Linc found himself wanting to follow her, talk to her, if for no other reason than to hear her voice. Which didn’t make one iota of sense to him.

Linc didn’t talk to women just for the sake of making conversation. Sure there were women who came to the T Bar K looking to buy a horse or colt or have a mare bred by one of the ranch’s champion stallions. And Linc didn’t have any problems dealing with them. But as far as his personal life went, he’d always made it a policy to steer clear of women.