Trusting Love (17 page)

He looked like a man who was learning his way around, but for what? For her?

What am I doing? I’m not good enough for a man like Robert.

The terrible thought made her eyes burn, but she shook it off again and turned to feeding the horses.

If he left, then she would cry, but until then, she’d enjoy every moment. She’d learned the hard way that was all a person sometimes had—moments, snapshots of happiness. She only wished she’d enjoyed more of them.

“Don’t let Buck get too friendly, he bites,” she warned with a smile at Robert’s quick glance over his shoulder.

Yes, moments can last a lifetime, can’t they?

Chapter Eleven

Robert watched Kristen when she was too busy rubbing Misty, her horse’s head, to notice. Kristen was so beautiful, she glowed. He’d surprised her, but then again, she’d surpassed all his wildest dreams. She was so giving, for one. She couldn’t seem to stop touching him and he dreaded the time when he would have to leave her and not feel the brush of her fingers or body against his.

What was he going to do with her? The storm still raged down around them, dropping so much snow that he was amazed that a woman like Kristen could shovel as much snow as she did. Hell, she needed a quad with a plough, but he grinned at the thought, knowing she’d deny that thoroughly.

She enjoyed the work.

They shared that.

He’d found himself fixing anything he could get his hands on, enjoying how it kept his hands busy and his mind free to think about Kristen. He’d worked on so many little things in her house that needed attention, so caught up in thinking about her as he did, he forgot she was outside, probably shovelling snow the whole time.

Still, he’d not change the way the day had gone. All of it had been perfect, except for her tears and the worry over her alcohol.

He’d found dozens of little things about her he’d not known, but shared with her. She’d been thrilled when she’d discovered he’d fixed her front door and all the windows in her house. But, hell, he’d needed to secure her house because he worried over the foreigner at DeRoy’s house, and over Sonya and over the cold winter wind easing in past the rickety windows. He didn’t want anything to happen to her—least of all an insane gunman using her for target practice. Or one very good sharpshooter who could take her away before he’d even fully got to know her.

Sonya, or, hell, Walters for all he knew, could be on their way right now—snow or no snow.

The loose ends made him itch. The side effects of the drugs hadn’t shown up, but he’d been too busy all day maybe to feel them. He’d lost the drugs back at DeRoy’s house in his jacket pocket. Soon, he’d suffer, but so far, nothing had happened. Maybe Kristen helped with that, he thought, finishing the last of tightening the handle on one of the stalls.

Rowdy barked and Kristen laughed, handing the dog a handful of sweet grain. She loved animals too, that was for sure. She’d raced to the house when Rowdy had barked again, and let him out. The dog had practically done back-flips to get to her, then calmly walked beside her, not once jumping up to put his paws on her. Robert had been amazed. The dog had been well trained because Robert couldn’t seem to keep his paws off Kristen.

The damn dog was smart too. At least he liked Robert, which he knew was a good thing because Kristen loved the dog. She came up to him then, carrying a water bottle and a smile that he knew he’d never forget was meant for him.

“Want some?” she asked.

He took the water and swallowed a bit before handing it back. It was icy and tasted good on his parched lips, but he wanted something else altogether. If she knew, she didn’t indicate it. She settled next to him on the small bench and crossed her legs just like him and pointed with the pink water bottle at Rowdy whining softly at a stall door.

“His babysitting duty’s about to start.”

“His what?” he asked, taking her empty hand and her glove off to hold her bare hand. It was cold in the barn, but with the small space and horses it wasn’t too bad.

“Watch,” she said, and snuggled closer, thrilling him when she tucked his arm over her slim shoulders and leaned against his side. “The dog, not me,” she laughed.

He kissed her quickly but dutifully glanced up in the direction of her hand. Rowdy was on his stomach, his nose to a stall door. It took him a second to realise a small kitten was trying to crawl out of the stall. Rowdy nosed the little fur ball and made that soft whine again, his tail wagging crazily.

“He can’t stand them getting out so he plays mother hen.”

He watched the white furry kitten wiggle free only to take two tottering steps before Rowdy gently lifted it in his mouth and bunched his body up and leapt over the stall door.

“Holy hell, that’s something.”

“Yeah, he’ll be busy for hours doing that, or at least until the kittens are worn out.”

“Where’s the mom?”

“She’s around, taking a break, no doubt.” She laughed then brushed a kiss to his jaw. “But she might just be watching, lazy and laughing at Rowdy.”

He laughed and pulled her closer. “This is your uncle’s place?” he asked after a while, admiring how snug and tight the barn was, with only minor problems that needed to be fixed. The cabin had a few too, and could use a new front door, but the place was perfect.

“Yeah, he left it to me,” she said. “It’s nice. Not too close to town, but when the roads are clear, only about forty minutes down.”

“That’s sweet. I didn’t even see this place when I did a brief scan of the area,” he mused aloud, suddenly reminded of his mission for the hundredth time that day. If he hadn’t known Kristen had moved up here, he would have had a hard time finding her little place. The cabin was situated on a hell of a mountain road, and in the snow would be harder to get to than ever.

“What do you mean, scan of the area?”

He’d been headed south, for the cabin they’d had in the outskirts of the national park that DeRoy’s property bordered. Why hadn’t he kept going there, instead of coming here? Walters maybe and how he’d acted? And why, only two days off his meds, wasn’t he getting the chills and suffering from the burning sensations he’d experienced before?

“Robert?”

He jerked out of his thoughts, and focused on Kristen’s worried frown. “I was on a mission. I scan areas where we know we’re going, to get a feel of the land.”

“You were on a mission, here, in Wyoming?” she asked, sounding so confused by that, he kissed her.

“Sure thing, even here in the middle of nowhere criminals can be found.”

She nodded at that, and tilted her head to examine his face. “And you were out to do what? What do you do now? I mean, you’re not a SEAL, are you?”

“Not any longer. This was my last mission,” he said, taking a chance to voice his biggest hope aloud. “I’m going to retire, quit the life and try to start a new one.”

Rowdy growled, breaking into their quiet talk then he growled deeper.

“What is it, boy?” Kristen said standing and looking around the barn.

Rowdy thumped his tail then turned back to the kittens. Robert eased back on the bench, his heartbeat settling back down after a moment. The snow was too wild to get through even if they were looking for him. They’d not find him out here, at Kristen’s place. Not yet.

Kristen shifted under his arm and he glanced at her, noticing her cheeks had brightened with a blush.

“You know, don’t laugh, but last night,” she glanced at him with a deeper flush darkening her pretty cheeks and moved into his arms. He wrapped her up tight and kissed her nose.

“Was embarrassing?”

“What?” she frowned and her blush grew. She buried her head against his chest and shook it. “No,” he heard then she looked back at him with a frown. “I was going to say, before you distracted me, that last night I freaked myself out about your wounds and almost fell on my butt racing for the porch in the dark.”

“What? You did? Why were you out at night?” he asked, frowning down at her. “You shouldn’t go out—”

“Robert, I didn’t tell you so you could get all Ironman on me,” she said with such a level look he shut up. She was right. He did get all ‘Ironman’ on her. He probably always would.

“There’s good reasons to be frightened at night, especially when a man lands up at your door all shot up.”

“Yes, I thought so too. Am I in danger here?”

He stiffened at the question, but quickly shook his head. “I didn’t know you were here, how could anyone else?” Besides, the storm, he thought, would keep anyone else out and away. “I was supposed to go—”

Rowdy barked, suddenly charging off into the snow with a growl that had Kristen shouting after him. He pulled her to a halt and scanned the snowy area, not seeing anything that would alarm the dog. “Where are my guns, Kristen?”

She froze and her slender arm tightened under his hand. “Kristen?”

“I, I mean, I…” she looked at him, then after Rowdy and bit her lip. “I threw them in a snow drift.”

“Holy hell, you—”

“I didn’t know! I thought you were…” She bit her lip but a smile broke past her control. He wanted to shake her or kiss her, he wasn’t sure which. “A mobster. You know, like some criminal.”

Rowdy came back into view happy as could be, wagging his tail like he’d not just scared the shit out of Robert. He gave the dog a frown and at least Rowdy had the decency to stop wagging his tail.

Robert turned back to the woman bent on driving him insane and heaved a sigh. “All of them?”

She nodded, twisting her fingers at her hips. “Well, not the scary big knives. I threw those down the well in the basement.”

He reached up and scratched his cheek, realising whether he liked it or not, whether he was ready or not, she was going to change his life. There was no anger, zero outrage at the loss of the weapons he’d had since the SEALs. A laugh broke free and she sighed in relief, sagging back against the barn, then caught her breath and launched into his arms with a happy sound.

He caught her. He’d always catch her, he knew. He pulled her in close to sample her cold lips. “I guess I don’t need them, huh?”

“Nope. You don’t need them,” she agreed. “But I might need something to eat,” she whispered. “Or maybe you do.”

He just knew her mind wasn’t on the same kind of food his was on, but that too, was okay. He had her, and for now, that was good enough. He needed to use her computer, and soon, but he also knew with the snow falling like this, whoever had hit the senator was just as stuck as he was by the storm. Still, he needed to ensure that this mission was over for good.

“Or were you still set on that massage, and your happy ending?”

Hell, the world did have angels. And he held one in his arms. He laughed hard at the way she grinned like she’d just rocked his world. She had, too and if the passion in her eyes meant anything, she wanted to rock it a hell of a lot more.

Chapter Twelve

Robert shook his head at Kristen’s joke and kissed her lips once more, tasting so good, she noticed, she didn’t want to let his lips go. He ended the kiss all too soon, though with a devilish look that made her smile.

“Well, I was hoping for that massage, you know, for all that hard work I just did.”

She laughed, catching on very quickly to his little tease. “Oh, you do?”

“I sure do,” he said, swinging her up in his arms and heading for the cabin.

“Robert, what are you doing?” she yelled, half afraid that something was wrong again. Her words came out all jarred from his fast pace, but he heard her.

“I’m getting you indoors. But more important than that, do you like peaches or plums?”

“What?” she demanded.

He set her down inside the cabin then shut the door, took a look at Rowdy wagging his tail, opened it to shoo her dog out and closed it again. He’d fixed her front door, worked on the windows so none of them leaked cold air and done something to her dresser so the top drawer opened easily now. She’d been so happy with all his work she’d danced around the kitchen making lunch without giving him hell about pouring out her Jack Daniel’s. She didn’t even crave it—not that she ever really had. She’d used it to sleep free of dreams more than because she’d liked its taste.

Now, watching him grinning at her, her stomach dropped all over again. He was simply so sexy. How had she ever denied the passion she’d guessed was held in check for her?

Still, he couldn’t push Rowdy out into the storm like that.

“Robert, did you just force Rowdy out in the storm?”

Robert didn’t even have the decency to appear sheepish. “He goes to the barn, I’m sure.”

“But—”

“Peaches or plums?” he asked again, taking his shirt off with a tug behind his neck, revealing every luscious inch of his chest and cut stomach all the way down to the loose jeans he wore low on his hips. God, even his chest was amazing—so rough with dark hair in the middle, she itched to rub all over it again—this time completely naked.

“Darling?” He dropped his hands to the buttons of his jeans and she lost her voice. He nodded to her clothes and started on his zipper.

“Because I have one hell of a plum for ya, darling,” he said, so pleased with himself she didn’t have the heart to smack him on the head or on the delicious ‘plum’ standing out so straight from his hips. Instead she backed up and slowly started to strip with a lot more tease to her hips. Two could play, she thought with a secret little smile.

“Well, that does look tasty,” she purred, “but what about—?”

She had her top off and was playing with him by turning to the side to jiggle her butt while she unbuttoned her pants when Robert tried to snatch her up. She screamed and evaded him because he had
his
jeans partway down.

As soon as she had the table between them she slowly eased hers open, tossing her hair over her shoulder when she did to arch her back and swing her hips as the material slid downward.

Robert looked fit to be tied. With a growl, he dodged and faked to the left, catching her on the right when she moved that way. She laughed and hugged his neck, stripping for him forgotten.