counseling, handle adoptions, and maintain a home for battered women. We work closely with city agencies.”
Zach stared at her, realizing she had been telling the truth when she insisted that she was different from her sister. Amber could never have held a job like the one Emily just described, nor would Amber want to. He began to see Emily in a whole new light. And he realized how dangerous that might be. The last thing on earth he wanted to feel was an attraction to a relative of Amber’s. His ex-sister-in-law, for Pete’s sake!
“Your title?”
“I’m executive director and I oversee the counseling, decide which families we will help, work on the adoptions, check on the women who are in the shelter. The executive committee and I decide how the money will be dispensed when there is a catastrophe and donations come in.” She added, “I love my work.”
He could imagine her in the kind of job she described. She looked soft, caring. A small light above the sink was the only illumination and it made a halo of her red-gold hair. Locks of it were still pinned to her head, but tendrils had fallen and curled around her face. He imagined all of it free and tumbling loosely over her shoulders.
“What did you do—take a few days off?”
“Yes. I haven’t taken a vacation since I started working there, so I have a lot of time coming—more than I plan to take.”
She looked much younger than Amber, he found himself thinking. At first he would have guessed Emily’s age at about twenty-three, but she had to be older to hold the job she described. He took another drink of beer. Stay out of her problems and get her on her way home, he reminded himself. His gaze swung back to her and worry was plain in her expression as she bit her lip and gazed beyond him.
He needed to avoid her dilemma, to keep to himself—to build a home and a haven. He had a ranch to run. And there was already a crowd. He had the two kids to protect and care for. And there was the retriever he had found near the highway. Plus the two mutts that had been abandoned, and the cat that had appeared from nowhere. He thought about Nessie who stayed with the children. He didn’t need to take another living thing under his roof, especially one so desirable.
“There’s a possibility your sister is with someone of her own choosing. She didn’t act like a frightened woman when I talked to her. Or like a woman on the run.” Before Amber had sat down beside him, he had seen her flirting with other men in the bar. “My advice would be to go home and wait a while. She’ll call. Believe me, she wasn’t frightened that night. Far from it. She was having a good time.” He felt like swearing as Emily’s dainty chin raised defiantly and her eyes blazed with determination.
“I talked to the bartender at the Red Rocket,” she said, “and he gave me a list of names of men who were there that night or who frequent the place. I want to ask them about Amber.” She ran her fingers across her forehead. “Do you have aspirin? My head is pounding.”
He stood and crossed to a cabinet to get a small bottle and bring it back to her. As she shook out two aspirin and took them, he pulled his chair around the table. “Turn around. I’ll massage your neck. Sometimes that works better than aspirin for a headache.”
After a momentary hesitation, she turned her back to him.
He spread his legs and moved his chair close behind her, again catching the faint scent of flowers in her perfume. Wisps of red hair curled against her nape as he began to massage her neck. He could feel the tension in her shoulders. Her bones felt delicate and as he kneaded her shoulders, she leaned her head forward and began to relax. Her flesh beneath his hands was warm and soft. He wanted to touch her, and he knew he was playing with fire by doing so. He removed a remaining pin from her hair and the last locks tumbled down.
She turned to slant him a frown over her shoulder. “What are you doing?”
“Relax,” he said, amused that she was so bristly. “I’m giving you a massage. You feel better already, don’t you?”
She turned around without answering. He worked his hands into her hair, rubbing her scalp, massaging her slender neck. As he stroked her head, he heard a soft murmur from her, and a few minutes later a long, pleased sigh. With every sound of satisfaction she made, he felt his temperature rise. She wiggled slightly beneath his touch, stretching her back.
He worked his hands down her back until she twisted away from him.
“I hurt on my side.”
“From my tackle?” he asked, feeling a stab of guilt for being so rough with her.
“Yes,” she said, touching the ribs on her right side lightly.
“Does it hurt to take a deep breath?”
“A little.”
“Maybe I should take you to an emergency—”
“I’ll be fine,” she said, her voice becoming softer as his hands moved across her shoulders and neck. “That does feel good. And the aspirin is working.”
“Good,” he said. She was responding to his massage like a cat being stroked. What would it be like to kiss her? he wondered. The moment the question arose, he closed his mind to speculation. Stay away from the lady, he silently reprimanded. He ought to get up, move and put the table between them. Instead, he continued to massage her slender shoulders even while silently lecturing himself on the dangers of becoming involved.
“Do you have the list of names you got from the bartender?”
Shifting to one side, she pulled a paper out of her jeans hip pocket. He couldn’t help noticing the material pulled tautly across her round backside. He took the list she handed to him. Spreading it on the table, he looked at the neat printing. As he went back to massaging her neck, he scanned the page and frowned. “I know a few of these men. Some are trouble. Two are ex-cons. You ought to leave them alone.”
“It’s the only lead I have to her. Besides you.” She moved away and turned her chair, twisting to face him. “You can stop now.”
He wanted to keep on touching her. He was so caught up in kids and day-to-day ranch life that he couldn’t recall the last time he’d been alone with an appealing woman. The last time he’d been close to one, touched one. Too damn long and too dangerous to think about now.
“Thanks so much. I feel better,” she added.
“Always happy to oblige a lady,” he answered lightly.
Her eyes twinkled, and she flashed him a smile. Startled by the change in her, he was dazzled. She had a dimple in her left cheek, and for just a moment worry vanished from her expression. It was like a flash of sunshine on the cloudiest day, and he warmed to it instinctively. “So your opinion of me has improved a notch,” she said in a teasing voice.
He couldn’t resist leaning closer and looking directly into her eyes. “It’s improved enough to scare the hell out of me. Your job is impressive,” he added quickly, wanting to change the subject after his blunt, truthful answer to her. “You’re here searching for your sister, which is more than she would do if you had called her.” He moved to the other side of the table again, feeling he needed the barrier between them.
“I have to do what I have to do. I haven’t ever been able to ignore my family. Someone has to look after them.”
He
