Charlene Sands – The Texan Takes A Wife (страница 2)

“You took a fall,” he said in a deep baritone voice. With a nod of his head, he gestured to the metal bull.

She realized where she was instantly. And that the crowd circling the arena was watching her. “How long did I ride?”

That brought a smile to his lips. Oh, and it was a killer. “About three seconds.”

She grimaced.

“Your head?” he asked.

When a crewman approached, the beast gave him a glare that would have sent the Hulk cowering away.

“I feel fine,” she answered. She did. She’d been tossed off the bull and landed hard on the padding, but nothing hurt, nothing seemed fuzzy. Anymore.

Except that her handsome beast was at her side, helping her to her feet. She was met with a round of applause and cheers. She chuckled out of sheer embarrassment and then her body tilted, swaying sideways and everybody else seemed to be leaning. “Uh-oh.”

“I’ve got ya,” he said, catching her before she lost her balance and lifting her into his arms. “You need air.”

She stared up at him again, amazed at his strength. From this angle, he was even more appealing. His size, the sexy base of his throat, the scruff on his face and those blue eyes, locked him into a category all his own. He carried her as if she was a handful of marshmallows, instead of a twenty-six-year-old woman. And before they got too far, she pointed toward the bar. “My purse.”

He nodded and changed directions, carrying her over to swoop up her purse off the bar stool with the grace of a panther. He glanced down for a second. “I’m Dan.”

She smiled. What an odd way to meet. But she was not complaining. “I’m Erin. Nice to meet you.”

He grunted a reply.

The contrast of the dimly lit smoke-filled noisy saloon to the cool crisp fall Texas air outside helped to wake her up out of this steamy sort of dream she was in. She didn’t want Dan to put her down, but it was awkward and she didn’t know where to put her arms, so she’d looped them around his neck. Now that they were outside, touched by moonlight and facing the parking lot where it was quieter, the reality of the situation was starting to dawn on her. “I, uh, I’m fine now,” she said. “You can put me down.”

He gave her another glance, nodded and then took great care to allow her to slide down his body. For safety’s sake, she assumed, but oh, the brush of his body with hers sent all the right signals and she shivered.

“Cold?” he asked.

“No,” she answered. “I’m, uh, this is silly. I hardly know you, but...”

She couldn’t finish her thought. Was she about to tell this gorgeous cowboy that just a brush of his body to hers made her tingle from head to toe? No, she couldn’t do that.

“Got it,” he said, and without any discussion at all, he seemed to know. Oh God. How embarrassing. Did women fall at his feet like this all the time?

“So why the bull?” he asked.

“Because it was there,” she answered immediately.

His brows furrowed. He didn’t get her little joke.

She tried to explain, “It’s just that, I’m from Seattle, staying in Texas for the holidays and I wanted to do something Texan. You know,” she added quickly, remembering her thought a while ago about doing him. “I mean we don’t have a lot of mechanical bulls in Washington.”

“I don’t suppose.” Still, the furrow.

“And I... Well, you see my nanny job brought me here. And then a few friends I’d made invited me to a birthday party tonight at the Dark Horse, so I tagged along with them, but they all went home, and I wanted...”

He was a good listener, but he wasn’t adding much to the conversation. And she wasn’t going to babble on anymore. “Never mind.”

Talk about the strong silent type. He was that and so much more.

“You sober enough to drive home?” he asked.

“Oh, uh, yes. I stopped drinking a while ago. I’m feeling fine now, aside from the humiliation.”

He stared at her for what seemed like a minute, his eyes flickering over her mouth and in that heated moment, she wanted nothing more but to lock lips with him, to taste his whisky breath and feel the absolute thrill of kissing him. Almost as if he heard her thoughts, his mouth cocked up and he drew a long breath.

And then he said, “I’ll walk you to your car.”

Disappointment that the stranger who’d just rescued her didn’t want to kiss her into oblivion, she said, “Okay.”

In a few minutes she’d be headed back to her guest cabin at the Flying E, with no job, no prospects, and trying to find a productive way to spend the next month or so. Her job being little Faye’s nanny had ended when her employer Will Brady had found love here in Texas. And apparently, scandal-plagued grade school music teachers were not in hot demand, apparently in Seattle or anywhere else for that matter.

She pointed to her car. “It’s just over there.”

She could dream of a goodbye kiss from the stranger. Or she could give him one herself. It was risky, but she was warming to the idea. Executing it would be a different—

A car came to a screeching halt, right in front of them on the street. Then a loud yelp rang out and something hit the pavement with a thud. And a dog began to whimper. The sound of his pained cries curled her stomach and she glanced at Dan. He didn’t waste a second. He grabbed her hand and took off running toward the downed animal. The car sped off, the driver not even giving the poor animal a glance. Dan was at the dog’s side immediately, kneeling beside him, cradling his head. “You’ll be alright, boy,” he said, whispering confidently near the dog’s face as he began a thorough scan over his body. His big hands were gentle as he probed. He found a few gashes on the dog’s backside where blood was beginning to pool. “You need some patching up, is all.”

“Are you a vet?” she asked, noting the care he took with the animal.

“No, but he needs one. He’s scared, probably in shock. That A-hole just drove off after hitting him.”

Erin couldn’t believe it, either. It was heartless and cold. She wished she could’ve gotten a look at the license plate.

The dog looked to be a mix of collie and German shepherd with big round brown eyes. He watched Dan carefully, giving him blind trust. “Will you stay with him?” Dan asked, sparing her a brief glance. “I have a blanket in my car.”

“Sure, of course.”

Dan rose and Erin took over his position. “You’re gonna be just fine, pretty boy,” she said, carefully stroking the dog just above the eyes. She made massage circles and the dog’s whimpers stopped as his eyes drifted closed. He wore no collar and there was no way to contact his owner, if he even had one. Why had he been wandering out so late at night?

“That’s it, boy. Rest. We’re going to get you all fixed up.”

Dan was back in an instant, and immediately tucked the blanket under the dog, careful not to cause him injury. The blanket was thick enough to absorb the little bit of blood at the wound site. “Bleeding isn’t too bad.”

“That’s good, right?”

He nodded.

“What can I do to help?”

“You mind watching him in the backseat of my SUV? My vet is gonna meet me at my house. It’s closer than his office.”

“Sure,” she said, stroking the dog’s golden coat gently. “Of course I will.”

And once Dan got her situated in the backseat of his car, the big blanketed dog scooted next to her and planted his sweet mug on her lap. Thatta boy. She smiled and continued to massage the dog’s head, just over the eyes and occasionally stroking over his ears.

Dan didn’t say much as he drove, but he kept glancing in the rearview mirror to see how the dog was doing. She was touched by his concern, the kindness in his eyes.

“Pretty nice vet to come out in the middle of the night for this sweet guy,” she said.

Dan nodded, and she didn’t think he’d say anything but seconds later, he admitted, “I do business with him at my ranch. He’s a neighbor.”

So Dan really was a cowboy. “Is it far?”

“Five more minutes.”

And a short time later, Dan pulled into one of the garages of a beautifully appointed two-story estate. It was dark; she couldn’t see more than what the ground lights surrounding the property gave away, but her instincts told her this ranch was massive and successful.

“I’ll set up a bed in the kitchen and then come get him,” Dan said.

Lights flicked on in the garage as he entered his home and Erin waited patiently. The dog was breathing heavily, but other than that, his whimpers from earlier were all gone. Thank goodness. Erin had never owned a dog, but back in her college days she used to walk dogs to pick up extra spending cash, and she’d grown fond of the species, even as she was also picking up their poop. She was sure this big guy would’ve stolen her heart too. He had those kind of eyes that seemed to touch her deep inside.

Once Dan came back, he removed the dog from the backseat, lifting him with as much care as he’d lifted her from the mat after her mechanical bull fiasco. Erin followed him inside to a kitchen a chef would envy. Despite the ivory cabinets, black granite countertops trailing with gold vein, contemporary appliances and stone fireplace, the room looked cozy and lived-in.

Dan set the dog down and stroked him lovingly a few times. Then he grabbed a towel he’d soaked with warm water and began dabbing at the animal’s wounds.