“Hey, cuz. How’s it goin’?” Kaoz drawled.
Aidan offered a nod. “Can’t complain.”
“I’d say you can’t, considering you bought the Windswept. Damn. I heard you got it for a little bit o’ nothin’.”
“I did.”
“Planning to summer the herd over there?”
“Yup, that’s the plan.” He suddenly didn’t feel too talkative about his new purchase. Knowing he’d ripped it out from under Liberty, and remembering her tears, only left him feeling bad.
“Give us a shout if you need a hand.”
“What my new ranch hand and I can’t handle, we’ll ask for help with.”
Kaoz’s eyes widened. “Hold the phone—ranch hand? Since when? You hate workin’ with people—it’s why Uncle Cort never offered you work on the Bellamy.”
“It’s a new development. Hired her yesterday.”
Silence beat the air between them like the fluttering wings of a gigantic bird. “Did you just say her?”
He tipped his head in affirmation.
A slow grin spread over his cousin’s face. “You hired a woman ranch hand. You—who doesn’t like women and doesn’t like help on your ranch.”
“I like women fine.” This one perhaps too much. “Besides, I’m not marryin’ the woman—she’s helping me with chores and with merging the ranches.”
“Well, who the hell is this woman who managed to change your mind about pretty much everything it’s ever been set on?” Kaoz glanced in the mirror to check if any other vehicles needed to cross the bridge. There wasn’t a car coming either way.
“Her name’s Liberty Baker.” He waited. “You know her?”
“Never heard the name. Pretty memorable name too.”
“Yeah.” He felt more than a little disappointed that his cousin didn’t have any history on the woman.
A horn toot from behind had him throwing his truck into gear. He lifted a hand in farewell to Kaoz. “Catcha later, cousin.”
“Bring her to the Bellamy next week for a bonfire,” Kaoz called out.
He waved and drove on, considering the implications of that invitation. To his family who expected him to settle down the way they recently had, taking Liberty to a bonfire at the Bellamy might look like more than what it was. Besides, did a rancher haul his hands to various family gatherings? Liberty probably had better things to do than hang out with his kin anyway.
Great—he was thinking about her again. This didn’t bode well for him shaking her from his mind, did it?
Not when he secretly hoped he’d get a peek of her in that loose-fitting T-shirt outside the bathroom door.
Swiping a hand over his face, he issued a groan.
Chapter Four
Liberty made a noise of disgust as she entered the kitchen. Last night’s pot still sat on the stove with a few spaghetti noodles licking over the side. Next to the sink sat a knife spread with the peanut butter that Aidan ate a lot of. The man probably went through a huge vat of the sticky stuff each month.
“Was that grunt for my benefit?” The deep intonation swung her toward the counter where the man sat stuffing yet another peanut butter sandwich into his face.
“Uh, yeah, it was. This is your house, but I’d appreciate having a pot I don’t have to wash before I need to use it.” She twisted to face him, hand on her hip.
His gaze dropped over her, almost caressing her breasts on the way down. After a week together, she should be used to that appraising way he had of looking at her, but fat chance.
He returned his attention to his sandwich as if the jam oozing from the seams was the most interesting thing ever.
“I’ve lived alone a long time. Guess I got into some bad habits.”
“Bad?” She stalked to the stove and picked up the pot half filled with spaghetti. “It’s a wonder you don’t have rats!” She strode to the garbage can and dumped the old, solidified contents.
“I’ll get around to the washing up after chores.”
She folded her arms and stared at him. “I’d like to use that pot now.”
Blue eyes met hers. When their gazes locked, she felt suddenly hot, tight…prickly. As if she’d just touched an electric fence.
I did. Those electric blue eyes are the current.
After a week of living and working with Aidan Bellamy, she’d come to know a lot about him. Besides the fact he ate peanut butter sandwiches and was a slob around the house, she knew he liked looking at her.
Countless moments while cleaning stalls or helping him set fence posts along what would become the new pasture on the Windswept, she caught him staring. Always with that backlight in his eyes that seemed to project from an inner power source.
And she learned how much she liked him looking at her.
Years of marriage had made her invisible. She was no longer twenty and a great catch. Men didn’t crane their necks to look at her, and that had left a bigger crater in her already pitted self-esteem. So having a hot, virile and decent man eye up her body left her more than breathless—she liked Aidan even more for taking notice.
His stare latched onto her chest again.
Both turned on and irritated that he wasn’t listening to her, she grabbed the sink sprayer and flipped on the faucet. When she squeezed the trigger, shooting water straight at Aidan’s chest and soaking his navy T-shirt, he launched off the stool like it burned his buns.
“What the—! Woman!” He sputtered as he moved from the spray, but she held her aim and followed him as he circled the counter.
The minute he faced her, she realized her mistake. Big Hot Rancher didn’t appreciate being hosed down in his own kitchen. What had come over her?
She released the sprayer, and it snaked into its spot on the sink.
He advanced a step toward her.
The wet T-shirt contest—cowboy-style—wasn’t what she wanted, but the view sure was nice.
She chanced a look at his face, only to see water dripping off his angled jaw. She took a step back and pitched up against the sink.
When he closed the gap by another step, her breaths came faster. What would he do?
Tension rolled off him in burning waves. Her front scorched and the man stood three paces away.
“Well?” His jaw firmed. “Why did you spray me?” He raised a hand to the wet cotton molded to his chest like a male dancer teasing his audience. She was teased, all right.
And hot. Bothered. And starting to get wet herself.
She met his glare. “I do a man’s work on this ranch. If I let anything slide, you’d call it a gender thing.”
“So you think I expect you to do the dishes because you’re a woman.”
She nodded. “That’s right.”
His gaze traveled over her once more before hitting her eyes again. “Step aside.”
Heart thumping, she inched aside. When he crowded into the area, she made a beeline out of the kitchen. “I’ll be tossin’ hay while you’re washing dishes,” she called over her shoulder, getting an answering growl in return.
Outside, she had to stop and giggle to herself. The look on Aidan’s face when the water hit his chest…