The Cowboy's Temptation Page 0,11

you know how to cook meat loaf?” she asked.

Elissa bit her lip for a moment. “Can you tell me as I go along?” she asked.

“Sure, as long as you don’t try and get out of the original subject,” she joked.

Elissa followed Veronica’s instructions on cooking meat loaf, while dodging Veronica’s questions about her impressions of Jake. Elissa didn’t understand her reaction to the man so she didn’t want to give her friend the wrong idea.

Rick came back to the house a few hours later to find Elissa and Veronica laughing about old stories from their college days and their antics. Elissa really missed those carefree days and wished she could get some of those old feelings back again. She knew her life had become completely unbalanced, work taking up all her time and leaving nothing leftover.

The three of them ate dinner, then Rick walked Elissa home, explaining that Jake was still out working but he’d be back late that night.

Elissa laid in bed, amazed at the beautiful room Jake had let her use. It was very feminine and extremely comfortable. She watched the stars from her window, reveling in their brightness and the quiet of the night. There were no traffic sounds or planes flying overhead. She could even hear the crickets as they chirped their mating sounds in the tall grass.

It was almost midnight when she woke suddenly. She heard a noise coming from somewhere in the back of the house. The fact that she actually was waking up before midnight was just as odd as the sounds she was hearing.

Feeling nervous and not sure if Jake was back from wherever he’d been, she searched frantically for a weapon. The only solid object she could find was her hairbrush which she grabbed, wondering if the handle would do any harm to the intruder. But she held it aloft, her hand shaking violently as she snuck out of her room to find out who was sneaking into the house.

She couldn’t hear anything for a long time as she stood right outside her doorway. Then she heard the footsteps again, moving from the back of the house to the front, then slowly coming down the hallway.

Elissa’s heart was beating frantically but she moved as quietly as possible down the hallway. She saw a shadow in the foyer and thought to come up behind whoever it was, hoping to catch the intruder off guard.

Sneaking down the hallway, she stood just to the right of one doorway and waited, her body tense but determined to not be a victim. As soon as the shadow turned the corner, she jumped out and poked the handle of the brush into the huge, dark form in the middle of the hallway.

“Who are you and what are you doing in this house?” she demanded, hating the quiver that sounded in her voice.

The large form froze but didn’t answer her.

“Who are you?” she demanded with more force.

In one swift move, Elissa found herself with her back to the wall and an equally hard chest pressed against her front. Both hands were held in the air by strong hands and she was staring into the amused eyes of Jake Callahan.

“Good evening, Ms. Stone,” he said, his eyes roving over her stunned expression.

“What are you going to do now?” he asked when she didn’t make any response.

“Jake,” Elissa gasped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know who was in the house and I just heard sounds. I’m so sorry,” she said, staring up into the man’s mysterious eyes.

“So you meant to protect my home from me?” He stepped back slightly, giving her a few inches of space.

Elissa noted his broad shoulders and the fact that he smelled extremely nice. It was a mix of hay and sweat and something a little tangy that she couldn’t define. “Well, like I said, I didn’t know it was you.” She looked down at the floor, then back up into his dark eyes.

“And if I was a burglar, what were you going to do? Brush my hair to death?” he teased, glancing down at the hairbrush in her hand.

Elissa couldn’t think anymore. Now that her nervousness was gone, her body was reacting to his harder one against hers. He was teasing her? This didn’t seem like the austere man who had picked her up at the airport earlier today. “Um….I….Jake, I’m sorry.”

Jake knew he should move away but his body wouldn’t take orders from his mind anymore. He’d been thinking of her soft, blue eyes all