The Cowboy's Temptation Page 0,9
spring, right?” she asked, only mildly deflated by his announcement of the upcoming heat and resulting devastation of the wildflowers.
“I guess,” he said and turned his attention back to the road. Her smile changed her whole personality. She looked more youthful, less tired and angry, he thought. And her eyes twinkled a little.
Maybe she wasn’t such an awful person after all, he considered. There was a tiny amount of hope for this city girl. Anyone who appreciated the raw beauty of this tough land couldn’t be completely bad, even if they were from the city.
Chapter 3
After about an hour’s ride, Jake turned down a driveway that was lined with tall oak trees. The trees eventually gave way to a beautiful Spanish style home that spread out in all directions.
“Oh, Mr. Callahan, is this Ronny’s house?” she gasped. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I’ve always wanted a house like this,” she said, getting out of the car so she could have an unencumbered view of the house instead of viewing it through the windshield. “I had no idea she was so lucky!”
“Wow!” she said, immediately walking up the gravel drive to the broad tile steps that led to a double front door. Elissa noticed several rocking chairs at one end of the porch and walked down to them, stopping in awe as she looked up. The chairs were perfectly placed to see both the driveway on one side of the house and a panoramic view of the mountains on the other side.
Elissa just stood there, taking in all the beauty around her and feeling a little jealous that her friend had so much in her life.
Jake came up behind her. “Like it?” he asked.
Elissa didn’t speak. She just nodded her head.
“I hate to break the news to you. But this is my home. Ronny and Rick built their house over behind those trees.”
Elissa laughed, only slightly self-conscious. It was still a beautiful house even if the awesome Jake inhabited it. “Oh, well, I think your home is lovely. I was wondering,” she laughed, “because Ronny was telling me about it and she never described it being a mansion.” Elissa smiled up at the man standing next to her, not embarrassed at all that she had mistaken his house for her friend’s.
Jake stared down at the woman, wondering which was the real Elissa Stone. She seemed so genuine at this moment, almost vulnerable with her incredible eyes and translucent skin. Gone was the snobbish woman he’d initially met at the airport trying to shrug him off as if he were beneath her notice. He wondered if her hair felt as soft as it looked and if he’d only imagined her soft figure.
She quickly cleared her throat and looked down at the tile floor of the veranda. “Well, I guess I’d better get over to her place before she tries to help me,” she said and took one last look at the mountain view before moving back down the porch to get her bags. “Can you point me in the right direction? I’ll walk over to it.”
“You’re staying here, actually,” Jake said gruffly, staring down at her lovely face with her twinkling eyes and smiling, luscious mouth. How could he have missed her mouth before? It was one sexy mouth with the bottom lip fuller than the upper one.
The smile quickly disappeared and Jake wanted to think up a joke, just to get her smile back.
“Oh, no. Ronny said that she’d arranged for me to stay in a cabin. She even put in a modem so I could keep up with work, although I’m not sure how anyone could work with that view,” she said and glanced behind her to the mountains once more.
Jake shook his head. “One of the crew threw a rake through the window, so there aren’t any more available cabins until the window gets fixed,” he said.
His statement created butterflies in her stomach. “That’s no problem,” Elissa said, not liking the idea of staying in Jake’s house, regardless of how huge it was. “It’s summer,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “It shouldn’t be a problem. I don’t want to be in the way,” she said.
Jake turned away from her and carried her bags into his house. “You’re staying here,” he said, ending the conversation as he disappeared up a stair case.
Elissa watched him go inside, carrying all four bags at once up a stair case effortlessly. “Well, I guess that’s that,” she said and sighed, wishing Veronica were here to