her was shocking.
“Bad kitty,” she admonished Moose when she reached him. The cat had adopted Lucy four days ago when she’d arrived. Now the moose of a cat—thus his name—looked up at her with a goulash-orange smile, then promptly buried his head in the noodles again. “Hey, how much can a hairy beast like you eat?” Lucy asked, pulling him away from the pan as his claws dug in, clinging to the wood.
“Shame on you. Shame, shame.” Lucy was so embarrassed. “Honest, I feed him. I really do.”
Rowdy chuckled. “In the cat’s defense, Nana’s food is pretty irresistible.”
Lucy’s gaze met his and her insides did that crazy thing they’d been doing since the moment she’d found herself in his arms.
“I would have loved to find that out for myself,” she snapped.
He gave a lazy, attractive grin. “Don’t worry, Nana will be coming by soon to invite you over for dinner. She figures you need to feel welcomed, but also she wants to introduce you to our wild bunch over at Sunrise Ranch. We can be a little overwhelming for some.”
His odd statement stirred her curiosity. “And how’s that?”
“So you don’t know. You’re living next door to a boys’ ranch.”
“A boys’ ranch—what do you mean exactly?” Envisioning a bunch of delinquents, Lucy felt her spirits plummet.
“No, no, I didn’t mean to make you worry. They’re good kids. We have a foster program of sorts. There are sixteen boys ranging from eight to eighteen who call our family ranch home. They’ve just had some hard knocks in their lives and we’re providing a stable place for them to grow up. Speaking of which, I need to run, they’re waiting on me.” Grinning, he started backing away. “No more flying, okay?”
Lucy laughed despite feeling off-kilter and uneasy. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, and then he was gone. The unease didn’t leave with him.
After the betrayal and nightmare she’d been through with her ex-husband, she was stunned by the buzz of attraction she’d felt toward her new neighbor.
Especially since he’d admitted being a reformed rowdy cowboy. Reformed—that alone was all the deterrent she needed to keep her distance. Fuzzy warm feelings or thoughts of cozying up to cute cowboys hadn’t crossed her mind. Even to feel attraction at all was startling to her. Then again, the man had swooped in and saved her from breaking her neck—maybe that explained away the attraction.
The thought had Lucy breathing a little easier. She’d come here to find the joy again. Joy in her life and in her painting: things she’d lost and desperately needed to find again. She was praying that God would help her and show her the way. What she wasn’t praying for was romance, relationships or attraction. She’d learned the hard way that there was no joy to be found there.
None at all. Nope, this ole girl was just fine on her own, swan diving out of the hayloft and all.
* * *
The day after he’d caught her falling out of the hayloft, Rowdy drove up Lucy’s driveway again as Toby Keith played on the radio. He had a ranch to run and horses that needed training, so what was he doing back here?
Making sure she wasn’t dangling from the roof. He chuckled as the thought flashed through his mind.
Stepping out of his truck, he looked up at the eaves just to make sure she wasn’t doing just that.
All clear; nothing but a rooster weather vane creaking in the breeze.
Looking around, the first thing he noticed was a large pile of barn wood a few yards from the barn. It was after five and, by the looks of the pile, she’d been busy.
He had work to do, but he hadn’t been able to get his new neighbor off his mind. True, he couldn’t get those pretty eyes out of his head or that cute figure he sensed beneath that oversize shirt she’d been wearing, but mostly he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her over here ripping her property apart all by herself.
He shouldn’t have left the day before without offering to help, and that he’d done just that had bugged him all night. He’d been taught better by his nana; buying the property for himself had vanished with Lucy showing up. And though he hated that, he didn’t hold it against his new neighbor— Well, maybe a bit. But that shouldn’t have stopped him from helping her.
He was headed toward the barn when Lucy came out of the back door carrying an armload of Sheetrock pieces. She wore her protective goggles again and another long-sleeved work shirt. Her jeans were tucked into a pair of low-heeled brown boots. How could a woman look that good in that get-up? He must be losing his mind.
Tucking a thumb in his waistband, he gave her a skeptical look. “So I’m thinkin’ you have something against walls.”
“Yup.” She chuckled as she strode past him to toss the load in her arms on the pile with the other discards. “I like open space. Don’t you?”
“Yeah, but you do know a house has to have some walls inside it to hold the roof up?”
She paused. “I’ve left a few.”
“But have you left the right ones? Maybe you should hire some help. I know some contractors who could do this for you. Safely.”
She stared at him for a moment, a wrinkle forming above her goggles. It suddenly hit him that she didn’t look like she was in a good mood.
“Did you have a reason for stopping by?”
So he was right. “I just dropped by to check on you. Make sure you weren’t dangling from high places.”
The crease above her goggles deepened. “Actually, I’ve managed a whole day without mishap. Of course, there was a tense moment when I climbed up on the roof and lost my balance walking the peak.”
His blood pressure spiked even as he recognized she was teasing him—so maybe she wasn’t in a bad mood after all. “I’m glad you’re teasing me.”
“Had you there for a moment, though.”
“Yes, you did.”
She smiled sweetly. “The thing is, Rowdy, I just met you yesterday, and while I am very grateful that you saved my neck, I really don’t know you. And that being the case... Well, you get what I’m saying?”
Get out of my business. Okay, so maybe she was in a bad mood—twinkling eyes and all. He was losing his touch reading women. That was an understatement. He hadn’t read Liz right at all. Not until her husband had shown up and punched him in the nose had he suspected he’d gotten involved with a married woman. His stomach soured just thinking about it.
Looking at Lucy, he held his hands up. “You are absolutely right.” He planned to leave it at that, get in his truck and hit the road; after all, it wasn’t any of his business. The problem: Rowdy was known for not always doing what he was supposed to do. He’d suffered from the ailment all of his life.
“But you don’t know what you’re doing.”
The words were out of
