The Cowboy's Temptation Page 0,17

to sleep tonight if I do,” she said and smiled as he walked back into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. “How did you sleep last night?” Veronica said, sipping her milk.

Elissa shook her head, “I don’t remember. So it must have been good. I didn’t wake up at all.”

“That’s good! The country air is good for you. You look a lot better today than you did yesterday,” she said, noting that the dark circles under her eyes were a little less visible.

“It feels good.” Then she leaned forward, “You wont’ believe what I did today. I learned to ride a horse,” she said without waiting for Veronica to guess.

“You’re kidding,” Veronica said, almost spilling her milk in her shock. “Did Rick teach you?”

“He started to, but then Jake took over.”

“Jake gave you riding lessons?” she asked.

“Yep.”

Rick came in at that moment with a steaming cup of coffee and sat down, chuckling. “I heard a little bit about the lessons and I’m glad you survived.”

“What happened?” Veronica asked, curious.

“I learned to start and stop, turn the horse left and right,” Elissa said quickly.

Rick burst out laughing. “Well, that’s true enough.”

Veronica’s gaze traveled between Rick’s laughing face and Elissa’s red one. “Okay, give it up. What happened?”

“Nothing. I told you,” Elissa said, standing up to put the dishes into the dishwasher.

Rick threw back his head and laughed. “That’s not what I heard,” he said, laughing so hard he had to gasp for breath and hold his stomach.

Elissa put her hands on her hips and stared at the man in confusion. “How would you know? You were out in some field doing something with a steer.”

Rick laughed again and stood up to give her a little hug. “Lissy, that’s one thing about living out here. Everyone knows everything about everyone. There’s no way to hide.”

Elissa was amazed that the rumor mill worked out here as efficiently as it did in New York. It didn’t seem as vicious she thought as Rick told the story about how she couldn’t get on the horse, couldn’t move the horse, then couldn’t move the horse in the right direction, and on and on. By the end of the story, Veronica was laughing so hard she was holding onto her stomach just as Rick had a few minutes ago. “Oh, Lissy, is it true?” she asked, wiping the tears from her face.

Rick even had Elissa laughing the way he told the story. “Well, it wasn’t funny at the time, but I guess I did make a few mistakes.”

That got Veronica and Rick laughing again and Elissa enjoyed their humor, letting the relaxed atmosphere wash over her. As they moved on to the next subject, Elissa could feel the tension in her shoulders ease. They talked about the kids in Veronica’s class at school and their antics and Rick mentioned a few of the trials of his day.

It was only nine o’clock but she saw Veronica smothering a yawn and got up. “I’d better go. I need to check my e-mail. I’ll see you guys in the morning,” she said and quickly left the house before they could protest.

Elissa made her way to the main house, wondering if she would run into Jake and hoping she wouldn’t. But a tiny voice inside her told her that she was lying to herself. She did want to see him. She wanted to know if he had eaten her chicken and if he’d had a nice day. She wanted to…Elissa didn’t let that thought continue. She slipped into the house from a side entrance and snuck up the side stairs to her room, closing the door quietly in case he was somewhere in the house.

She wasn’t sure where his room was, probably on the opposite wing, but she was too nervous around him. She felt silly and awkward, like a school girl with a crush. She seemed to stare too much and couldn’t form a thought when he looked at her with those intense black eyes of his.

She considered checking her e-mail again, but just couldn’t face the stress. So she didn’t even unpack her computer. Yawning, she walked out onto the balcony and looked out to the black night. She stared up at the sky, getting dizzy with the stars.

Climbing into bed, her last thought before her head hit the soft pillow was if Jake had liked her chicken as much as Veronica and Rick had.

The following week went along the same agenda. Elissa woke up when she