Whirlwind - Janet Dailey Page 0,53
The moon shone through drifting clouds, its golden image reflected in pools of rainwater. Crickets emerged to fill the darkness with their chirping songs. A lone coyote trotted across the yard and vanished behind the machine shed.
The house was dark and silent—except for the quiet opening of the kitchen door. The figure that emerged, keeping to the shadows alongside the house, made no sound.
The dogs, lying on the porch, raised their heads as Callie passed, but they didn’t try to follow her as she skirted the yard and headed along the narrow road that led to the north property line, walking the grassy border to avoid leaving tracks in the mud.
Dressed in a dark rain jacket and rubber boots, she lengthened her stride until she rounded the curve in the road where the Kubota ATV was waiting. The driver climbed out and opened his arms.
“Damn it, woman,” Aaron muttered as he pulled her close. “I thought you’d never get here.”
Easing away from him, she went around the vehicle and climbed into the passenger seat. “We haven’t got much time,” she said. “I don’t want to be missed.”
“Hell, if you’d marry me, we’d have all the time we wanted. Now that Bert’s gone—”
“You know better than that. The house and the ranch belonged to Bert’s first wife. When Bert died, the property passed to their children, not to me. If we got married, you couldn’t expect to move into the house. I’d have to move out and live with you.”
“So?” He started the engine and turned the ATV around.
“Those girls are my family, Aaron. And that house is my home.”
“Yup. And they could kick you out tomorrow if they took a notion to. Hell, if they ever found out you were carryin’ on with me the whole time Bert was sick, they probably would.”
She reached over and laid a hand on his knee. “I needed you. Bert was impossible. He treated me like dirt after he got sick. Being with you was the only thing that kept me sane.”
“And now?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
He chuckled as he turned into the yard and pulled up to his boxlike, prefabricated house. “You’re here, all right, and I know why. It’s ’cause you like it. Never met a woman who liked it as much as you do.”
“And you think that’s the only reason I keep coming to your bed?” Callie shook her head. “I should’ve guessed that a man would see things that way.”
“Something wrong with that? Hey, I like it, too.”
“Don’t you see, Aaron? I care about you. And I like to think you care about me, too. If this was just sex, I couldn’t keep doing it.”
He came around the vehicle, helped her out of her side, and gathered her into his arms. “’Course I do, honey. Hell, I’m the one who keeps askin’ you to marry me. You’re the one who keeps sayin’ no. Now come on inside, and let’s make each other happy. Okay?”
“Okay.” She gave him a light kiss and allowed him to lead her into the house.
* * *
Two days later, after a restless night, Lexie woke before dawn, reached for her phone, and checked her texts and e-mails. Her spirits drooped as she failed to see anything from Shane—but then, after she’d made it clear that they had no future, what else could she have expected?
When he’d offered to let her know how Corey was doing, she’d secretly hoped that he was angling for a way to keep in touch with her. Whatever his motives, she’d jumped at the chance to give him her cell number and e-mail. Maybe she’d been too eager. Maybe it was time she faced the truth—as far as Shane was concerned, she was just another one-night stand.
Resisting the dark mood, she dressed in riding clothes, went out to the stable, and saddled her favorite horse, a buckskin mare named Sadie. An early-morning ride would raise her spirits, she told herself as she set out along the fence line. She could also make sure the cattle had weathered the storm—and hopefully that the mystery intruder hadn’t struck again.
The dawn air was cool, the wet earth smelling of rain. Petrichor. Lexie remembered the word as she filled her lungs—the fresh, clean fragrance of earth after a storm.
Behind her, the ranch was stirring to life. Lights had come on in the bunkhouse and in Ruben’s trailer. Tess and Callie had both been asleep when she’d left the house, but they would soon be waking to start