side of the Granger Ranch. And if a straggler had returned for any reason, Nick darn sure wasn’t in the mood for company or an interruption of any sort.
Man, he hurt.
He had a bruise on his ribs where a temperamental gelding that he’d been training had thrown him, and it was throbbing. Almost as bad, his head was trying to compete for the award of the body part with the most pain. Nick figured both his head and side were in a dead heat for that award, because they caused him to wince and grunt every time he moved.
Doing more of that wincing/grunting, Nick wrapped the towel around himself and came out of the bathroom so he could make quick work of getting rid of whoever was clomping around in the other room. But he froze in the doorway when he looked in the bunkroom and saw the butt. Not one of the hands or even one of his bosses—they were all men.
This butt belonged to a woman.
She was facing away from him, leaning down over one of the beds, which meant all he could see of her was her back, butt and legs. She was wearing jeans that framed the part of her body that had grabbed on to his attention and was holding it hostage. Of course, anyone would have gotten his attention at this point, because no one should have been in there.
With annoyance sliding through him, Nick cleared his throat to get her attention. And he got it all right. She turned, not a whirling motion of someone who’d just been startled, but slow and easy movements as if she’d expected the throat clearing.
And expected him.
Nick got an instant jolt of recognition. He knew that face, and for just a split second he thought it was Carol Ann Gavin, his old high school girlfriend. However, when she cocked her head to the side and smiled, he realized it wasn’t Carol Ann but rather her identical twin, Lindsay. Carol Ann definitely wouldn’t have been smiling at him like that.
Or skimming her gaze over his body.
Nope. Not only was Carol Ann happily married, but she also hadn’t undressed him with her eyes in a very long time. Not since high school.
Only then did Nick remember that at the moment there wasn’t much of him to undress. He was wearing just a towel and a scowl. Neither the lack of clothing nor expression seemed to bother Lindsay. In fact, her smile widened as if there were something to actually smile about.
There wasn’t.
This wasn’t exactly a welcome reunion. Yes, he’d dated her sister for two years way back when, and Lindsay and he had been friendly enough—in a hands-off, keep-his-distance sort of way. Since she worked at a large ranch just one county over and often came back to town to visit her sister, Nick had seen her from time to time.
And he’d run into her that night.
A night about six months ago at the Longhorn Bar that he’d tried hard to keep in his “stuff to forget” box. It hadn’t worked. He still remembered that he’d noticed then what he was noticing now.
That she had curves in all the right places.
Something he really wished he hadn’t spotted right off. Actually, he wished her face hadn’t caught his attention, either. She was a looker, always had been. He’d especially seen it that night at the Longhorn, but he’d blamed that on too much beer and too little sleep.
“Nick,” Lindsay said. She went to him, outstretching her arms as if she might hug him. She stopped, though, and glanced at the towel. A long glance. “I should probably save a friendly hug for later, or it might go beyond the friendly point.” Then she chuckled.
Again, Nick saw nothing chuckle-worthy about this, especially since he’d noticed things about her that he shouldn’t be noticing about his ex-girlfriend’s sister. And he was also confused.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
Lindsay shrugged. “I moved back to Wrangler’s Creek.”
As if that explained everything, which it most certainly didn’t, she turned and went back to the bunk where he’d first seen her. The bunk that was just below his. She opened a suitcase that she’d put on the bed and started unpacking.
Nick made sure he got a good grip on his towel, and barefoot, he padded across the room. “What do you think you’re doing?”
She smiled, lifted her eyebrow. “Well, it’s generally called unpacking.” She tipped her head to his bare chest. “Is this a peep show I’m going to get every night, or is this a special occasion?”
Nick was certain there was a big-ass dumbfounded look on his face, and apparently it was effective because her forehead bunched up. “You don’t know?” she added. “Dylan didn’t tell you?”
Dylan was almost certainly Dylan Granger, his boss and one of the owners of the Granger Ranch, where Nick had worked for ten years, since he’d turned twenty-three. “Dylan got called out of town.” To handle some snags on a cattle deal he’d put together. Nick wouldn’t mention that, though, to an outsider.
Except maybe Lindsay didn’t fall into that “outsider” category.
The uneasy feeling went through him, and Nick didn’t think it was because of his lack of clothes or the way Lindsay kept glancing at him. The suitcase, the fact that she was here and mentioning Dylan all added up to one thing.
“You’re the new horse trainer Dylan hired,” Nick concluded.
“Bingo.” That smile came again, and she gave her long, dark ponytail an adjustment before she started removing more clothes from the suitcase.
Nick took hold of her hand. Not the brightest idea he’d ever had since now not only was he touching her, but the looser grip caused his towel to shift, and the darn thing nearly slid off his hips before he caught it.
Her attention shifted from his re-grip on the towel to her hand that he’d touched and then to the suitcase that kept snagging his volleyed gaze. “You didn’t know I’d be staying at the ranch until my own place is ready?”
Now it was his turn to say “bingo” because Lindsay had nailed it.
“Well, I’m having some repairs done on the house I just bought. It’s the little cabin at the end of Creek Road that Mrs. Farley used to own. It has an acre of land and a small barn to hold a horse, but the place won’t be ready for a week or so.”
A week was way too long. Heck, five minutes was. But at least Nick had a fix for this. “This is the old bunkhouse. There’s a new one, and that’s where the other hands stay.”
Her quick nod made him think his fix wasn’t the solution she had in mind. “It’s full. Well, with the exception of a cot that’s in the corner of an unfinished room. That’s why I’m here.”
He hadn’t known about the full part, but Dylan had said something about taking on extra hands for some seasonal work. Still, if there was a cot, even if it happened to be in an unfinished room, that’s where she should be. Or her sister’s place. Though come to think of it, Carol Ann’s house was on the small side, and she did have a toddler.
She stared at him, not annoyed. More like amused. “You don’t know how jealous I always was of Carol Ann,” Lindsay said before he could speak.
Nick
