The Cowboy's Temptation Page 0,18

heard a door close downstairs. She imagined that it was Jake leaving but wasn’t sure since the sun was just coming up over the horizon. She sat down on her balcony and watched the sun rise, enjoying the peace of the morning as the ranch slowly started to energize.

Once she finished her coffee, she would make breakfast for Veronica and Rick before they left in the morning. Once they were gone, she would pour over recipes, planning out the dinner she wanted to cook. Then she got into the ranch truck Rick told her she could use and drove into town to get whatever ingredients she needed. Elissa didn’t question why she always got enough to feed four people, two of whom were very large, very muscular men. It just became automatic as she selected her groceries each day.

Once she got back to the ranch in the late morning, Jake was always waiting for her at the barn and he would teach Elissa how to ride around the corral. He was usually pretty surly about the lessons, yelling instructions to her, criticizing her whenever she slipped even a little. By the third day, she didn’t let Jake’s ornery tone hurt her feelings or fluster her. Elissa was feeling so good about her success, she just gritted her teeth and tried harder, ignoring his cryptic comments and just general meanness.

After an hour or two of riding instruction, Elissa rubbed down Jemima, gave her a treat, then headed to the main house to cook dinner. Usually she was done by around two o’clock so she decided the second afternoon to start cleaning the house. It was a beautiful Spanish style house with gorgeous antiques that had previously been cared for by a loving hand. But the dust settling over the wood just made Elissa itch to clean up. So she did.

She started in the back of the house in the obviously unused portions, dusting, polishing, vacuuming all the furniture and carpets. As she cleaned each room and the wood started glowing with polish, the dusty smell left and the floors took on new shine, she felt a sense of accomplishment that had been missing in her days prior to coming here. The rooms took on a glow that revealed their previous beauty.

Each night, she shared her evening meal with Rick and Veronica, but left a little after the meal was over. She knew that they needed private time to talk and share their days without her being there.

So she left them each evening and headed back up to the main house, using the excuse that she had to do a little work. But her computer never left its case.

One evening, she sat out on the patio by the pool, staring up at the stars, amazed by their brightness.

“Having a good time?” a deep voice asked.

Elissa jumped. She hadn’t known Jake was here but she squinted and saw him leaning against the fence to the pool. “Oh, Jake. I’m sorry. Am I invading your space?” she said and stood up, already heading towards the house intending to head back to her room.

“Sit down,” he ordered. Elissa sat.

“What are you doing sitting out here? Why aren’t you down with Rick and Ronny?”

Elissa watched as he opened the gate and walked towards her. He sat down on the chair right next to her. Raising his eyebrows, he waited patiently for her answer.

As usual, when Jake came near her, her stomach got all mushy and she had trouble concentrating. Except during her first horseback riding lesson, he’d never been this close. He could easily reach out and touch her.

“I’m um….” Elissa looked over his shoulder, trying to concentrate. “They need time to themselves,” she explained.

Jake heard the wistfulness in her voice and wondered about it. “Why don’t you have someone you want to be alone with?” he asked.

“Who says I don’t?” she asked, avoiding his eyes.

“I do. You haven’t called anyone since you’ve been here. If I were the one waiting for you to come back, you damn well better call me every day,” he said.

Elissa glanced at his eyes, startled by his statement. “You would feel that way?” she asked.

“Damn straight,” he confirmed, nodding his head for emphasis. “So tell me why you don’t have someone?”

“Just because I don’t call someone, doesn’t mean there isn’t a significant other in my life,” she said, leaning back in her chair and staring up at the stars in an effort to appear calm despite her jumpiness when he