up at him, she knew she was playing with fire. The feel of him holding her and the rich sound of his voice lowered to an intimate timbre caused an ache that she knew for certain only he could ease.
“I was thinking more like my room.” His seductive smile sent her pulse into overdrive.
What she wanted was to go with him. What she needed was peace of mind. And that would be in serious jeopardy if she let her heart overrule her head. She took a deep breath as she summoned every ounce of strength she possessed. “I want you to go to your room and… I’ll go to mine.”
“Are you certain that’s what you really want, Heather?”
They both knew she was telling a huge lie. The last thing she wanted was to go back alone to the big empty bed across the hall. But making love with Jake would only add another wrinkle to their already complicated situation, not to mention pose a serious risk to her heart.
“Y-yes.” Turning to go across the hall to her room, she wished she’d sounded more convincing. “Good night, Jake.”
When he placed his hand on her shoulder to stop her, the look in his amazing blue gaze caused her heart to beat double time. “You can only run from this—from us—for so long.” He leaned forward to kiss her with such tenderness she thought she might do something stupid like give in. “Sleep well, sweet Heather.”
As she watched him stroll down the hall toward the master suite, she had to lean against the door frame to keep her knees from folding beneath her. How on earth was she ever going to be able to resist such blatant sexuality?
She somehow managed to walk into the bedroom and close the door. If it was just a matter of physical attraction, she was pretty sure she’d be successful. But the more she learned about Jake and the more she saw how much he cared for their daughter, the closer she came to listening to her heart. And that was something she couldn’t let happen again.
She climbed into bed and hugged the pillow close again. There was no doubt about it. If she intended to survive Jake’s visit to Hickory Hills, she was going to have to keep her emotions in check. She was in danger of losing a lot more than her heart if she didn’t. They still had yet to discuss how they were going to raise Mandy, and considering the high-handed way he’d relieved her of most of her duties, she might end up losing her job.
But as she lay there thinking about how it felt when he touched her, held her, she knew that keeping her wits about her was going to be all but impossible to do. She was falling for him all over again and there didn’t seem to be anything she could do to stop it.
Chapter 6
“Where’s Heather?” Jake asked when he walked into the kitchen and found Clara feeding the baby breakfast.
“Tony called. There was a problem down at the stables with one of the horses and he wanted her to come down to assess the situation.” The housekeeper shook her head. “He knows Heather would never forgive him if he hadn’t let her know about it.”
Jake frowned. He’d put Tony in charge to free Heather from having to deal with this sort of thing until after the race. “Is there something wrong with Dancer?”
“No. I think she said one of the other studs has a really nasty cut on its pastern.” She spooned a mouthful of cereal into Mandy’s open mouth. “Heather’s almost as good as a vet when it comes to taking care of horses and I’m pretty sure Tony wanted her to take a look at the injury to see how bad it is.”
Clara might as well have been speaking a foreign language for all he understood about where the horse was injured. “How did she learn so much about horses?” he asked as he grabbed a mug from the cabinet, then poured himself a cup of coffee.
“Bless her heart, she learned from the best,” the housekeeper said, smiling fondly. “Before he died five years ago, her dad, George, was the manager here. From the time she was old enough to walk, she followed him around like a shadow and soaked up everything he knew about horses.”
Fascinated by the details he was learning about Heather, Jake leaned against the kitchen counter. “What about her mother? Is she still around?”
Clara snorted. “No, and I say good riddance. She was a wild one, always looking for a good time. She took off when Heather was six and they never heard from her again.”
It sounded to him like Heather’s mother and his father were a lot alike—narcissistic and completely irresponsible. “I think I’ll walk down to the stable and see what’s going on. Would you mind watching Mandy until Heather and I get back?”
“Not at all.” Clara grinned as she wiped the baby’s face. “Take all the time you need. The only thing I have to do this morning is come up with another list of chores to keep Daily busy after he finishes mucking out the stalls.”
Chuckling, Jake wondered how much longer the woman was going to make the boy suffer for his lapse of judgment. “I have another project that I’d like his help with. Do you think you could pencil that in on the schedule for tomorrow?”
Clara nodded. “Will you need him all day?”
“Probably several days. Will that be a problem?”
“Not at all.” She smiled. “What have you got up your sleeve this time?”
“When we moved Heather and the baby, I noticed the carriage house could use a fresh coat of paint and some new carpet.”
As Jake left the house and walked the distance to the stables, his thoughts returned to Heather and he couldn’t help but wonder how she’d slept the night before. If he was taking bets, he’d wager that she hadn’t gotten any more sleep than he had.
Entering the stable, he followed the sound of a loud commotion. What had been so important that Tony felt the need to call Heather?
“Hold him while I get him tranquilized.”
Jake automatically turned at the sound of Heather’s voice inside one of the stalls and it felt as if his heart came up into his throat. As he watched, she, Tony and another groom jumped back just in time to keep from being kicked by a very large, extremely agitated horse.
“Heather, get out of there.” He tossed the coffee cup onto a pile of straw and reached to open the stall’s half door.
“Don’t you dare open that door,” she warned. “Just stay back. We’ve got this under control.”
It didn’t appear that they had everything in hand. It looked as if someone was about to get seriously hurt. The thought that it might be Heather had his heart hammering so hard that he thought he’d surely end up with a few cracked ribs.
When Tony and the other man finally caught hold of the thoroughbred’s halter, Heather moved swiftly to jab a long needle into the animal’s shoulder. The horse lurched to one side, then kicked the back of the stall with a blow that Jake knew for certain would have killed someone had it connected with one of the humans inside the enclosure. But just when he thought all hell was going to break loose, Heather and the grooms managed to open the half-door and escape.
Fear ignited an anger in him that quickly flared out of control and he was itching for a confrontation.
