I? I know practically nothing about you,” she retorted. “And for the record, you don’t owe me any explanations.” Her voice was cool, and she didn’t turn around. “We’re in an unfortunate situation, but that doesn’t mean that I’ll intrude in your life. You can be sure I won’t be a burden.”
She was as far from a burden as he could imagine, and he wanted nothing more than to have Willa intrude in his life. The realization brought a knot to his gut. He gripped the steering wheel more tightly. “Willa, I wouldn’t have brought you here to El Paso if I didn’t care what happened to you. If I were just doing a favor for Ryan, I would have taken you back to the Double Crown Ranch. I didn’t mean it that way.”
Willa turned around and looked at him, but her eyes were carefully blank. “I’m sorry if I misunderstood, Griff. Shouldn’t we be on our way?”
He swore silently as he put the truck into gear and pulled out of the parking lot a little more quickly than he should have. “You’re right. We don’t want to stay here long enough to give anyone a chance to remember us.”
They rode in silence for a while, tension still thick between them. He was shocked to realize that he wanted to pull Willa into his arms and show her just how much he cared about what happened to her. Telling himself again that he was too rough and untamed for a woman like Willa, he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and listened to the hum of the tires on the asphalt.
Taking Willa to this cabin, staying alone there with her, was a huge mistake. He should have known better. He’d known from the first time he saw Willa that she would be trouble. He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her. And now he was going to be cooped up with her in a tiny cabin, with nothing else to do but look at her. And talk to her.
He should turn around right now and go back to the Double Crown Ranch.
But he couldn’t take any chances with her, so he continued on the route out of El Paso. When the road began climbing into the mountains, he forced himself to say to her, “Have you ever been to this part of Texas?”
“No,” she answered. Her voice was carefully even, and he couldn’t interpret her tone. “Before I moved to College Station, the only part of Texas I’d visited was the Double Crown and San Antonio.”
“Keep an eye on the area,” he said gruffly. “You never know when you’ll need to find your way around here.”
Her eyes widened as she stared at him. “What do you mean?”
She seemed more puzzled than shocked, and he sighed at her naiveté. “We don’t know what’s going to happen in the next several days. I want you to be prepared for anything.”
He felt her eyes on him, studying him. “I think I understand what Ryan meant,” she finally said slowly. “Don’t worry, Griff. I could get us back to El Paso if I had to, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“What did Ryan say?” he asked, unable to stop himself.
To his surprise, a faint smile played around her lips. “He said that you always think three steps ahead of everyone else. He said that you’d managed to surprise even him. Now I understand what he meant. I can practically see you thinking as you drive, preparing for any possibility.”
“I learned a long time ago that you only survive if you’re smarter than your enemy. And I intend for both of us to survive.”
“I already told you that I trust you,” she said softly. “I meant it, Griff.”
The coolness was gone from her eyes. Now there was only warmth, and a light that burned steadily as she watched him. It made an answering flame leap inside him.
Deliberately, he turned away to focus on the road. There was no excuse for becoming distracted from his job. And Willa was definitely a distraction.
“According to Ryan, we should be there in about ten minutes,” he said.
“And then what?”
“Then we wait,” he said grimly. “Ryan is putting some private investigators on the job in College Station to see what they can turn up. We’re going to stay here until we have some answers. Until we know who was trying to kidnap you, I don’t want to take any chances.”
“All right.”
He glanced over at her. “All right? As easily as that? What if Ryan doesn’t learn anything? You don’t have forever before you have to start teaching your classes again. What if we don’t know what’s going on, and you have to go back to the university?”
“I’m not sure,” she said slowly. “Right now, the university and my job there seem very far away. I haven’t thought about it once since we left College Station.” She turned to him again, and gave him a blinding smile that made his legs weak. “I’m not going to worry about that until I have to.”
“I thought you were a regimented, plan-everything kind of woman,” he managed to say. “You teach at a university, for God’s sake. How much more by-the-book can you get than that? I figured an open-ended stay here in El Paso would be a problem for you.”
“I guess you were wrong, then,” she said lightly. “Maybe underneath this mousy exterior, I’m really a wild woman.”
“Mousy?” He gave her an incredulous look. “You’re about as far from mousy as you could get.”
His response was instantaneous, and he saw her blush. “Thank you, Griff,” she murmured. “But my physical attributes aren’t the issue. My job is. And I have a month before I have to worry about it. So let’s just forget about it for now.”
“That’s fine with me,” he muttered. How was he supposed to forget her physical attributes? he thought to himself. Especially when she’d spent the night sleeping on his lap.
He hardened again just thinking about it. He’d seen that her head was bent as she slept on his shoulder, and knew she’d awaken with a stiff neck. So he’d eased her down until she rested on his lap. That had been a mistake. It had been a night of pure torture for him, but he wouldn’t have traded it for anything. The fragrant cloud of her hair had drifted over his thigh, and whenever he’d shifted, her scent had swirled around him. As she slept, she’d unselfconsciously slid her hand under his leg, and the imprint of her fingers still burned on his skin. Even the heavy denim fabric of his jeans hadn’t been a barrier to the sensations. He’d been in a state of arousal for the whole trip, and it still hadn’t receded completely.
Which was probably why he was acting like an idiot.
“Here’s the road that leads to the cabin,” he said, as they turned onto a rutted dirt track. He was relieved and grateful for the distraction. “It doesn’t look like anyone has been this way in a while.”
“Great,” she said fervently. “I can’t wait to get out of this truck.”
Neither could he. The atmosphere was too confined, too intimate. Especially after last night.
But he was afraid that living in the same house with Willa was going to be even more so.
Betsy Keene sat on the shabby couch in the small living area of her trailer near Leather Bucket and shrank back against the cushions.
