surprised by the question, then smiled. “Yes. I would.”
“I thought so.” He pushed off the fence, and even though he didn’t offer his hand again, they walked to the house, close enough that every now and again their shoulders bumped, and Taylor realized that she felt more at peace, more centered than she’d felt in a long, long time.
The only problem was that it was happening in a place where she didn’t belong.
* * *
JANCEY WAS NOT much of a chaperone. They’d barely gotten twenty minutes into the movie when she fell asleep curled up in Karl’s big chair with her fist tucked under her chin. She looked so vulnerable and emotionally spent that Cole’s anger welled.
He must have been telegraphing because Taylor leaned into him during a particularly raucous part of the movie. “I know it’s tough,” she murmured. “Better to hurt yourself than see someone you love hurting.”
He was so damned glad she didn’t say something along the lines of “it’ll be all right.” It may well be, but they didn’t know for sure.
“This is how Miranda works. She gets people so stirred up that they make stupid mistakes while she stays cool and collected. She feeds off this stuff.”
“Lovely woman.”
“Jancey’s tough,” he said. His little sister stirred in her sleep at the sound of her name, then settled again. “But…”
His voice trailed off as Taylor took his hand, very much as he’d taken hers earlier, and laced her fingers with his. It could have been the gesture of a good friend…or something else.
He was too wound up to properly evaluate, so instead he went with his gut, shifted on the sofa and brought his hand up to touch her face, lightly cupping her cheek. She held his gaze, raised her eyebrows, her lips curving into a soft I’m-game-if-you-are smile.
Hell, why not?
His lips met hers in a butterfly kiss. Barely a touch, but electric all the same. Her mouth opened, inviting him in. He accepted as he pushed his hand into her silky hair, twisting the strands gently as the kiss deepened.
Had his sister not been there, he would have pressed Taylor back onto the sofa and gotten serious about this. An explosion on the television screen yanked them back to the here and now, and he shot a look over at Jancey to see if she was still asleep. Thankfully she was. Taylor pulled back a little.
“You’re distracting me from Rodney,” she whispered.
“Who?”
She let out a soft laugh, her warm breath feathering over his lips. Her fingers splayed wide over the side of his face, the connection between them feeling so real. So good.
“I hate to miss the end of the movie, but perhaps I should go?”
Cole let out a breath. He didn’t want her to go. And wasn’t that just nuts?
“Yeah. Maybe so.” He took her lips again in a kiss that promised more. Much more. Later.
Surely there’d be a later?
With Taylor, with their odd situation, there was no telling.
* * *
WHEN TAYLOR HEADED out to feed the calves the following morning, Jancey was already there, cooing and loving the little animals as she fed them.
“I take it these were your babies?” Taylor said as she approached.
“They are.” There were still signs of stress in the girl’s face, but she looked better than she had the night before, making Taylor wonder how Cole looked this morning. He’d been smoldering while they’d watched the movie. Before she’d distracted him, that is. Distracted him, distracted herself.
It was crazy how right it had felt.
Jancey finished the last calf and dropped the bottle in the bucket. “The heifer that tried to take out my brother is mine, too. I’m selling her, and he was supposed to deliver.”
“Yeah. That didn’t work out so well.”
“Got to check your ground before working. He knows that.” She climbed out of the pen. “I have to clean up. Job hunting today.”
“Good luck.” Taylor did her best to keep the irony out of her voice.
“Thanks. I guess I should be grateful that Miranda made me wait tables last summer.”
Taylor smiled as if she didn’t know who Miranda was, then headed back to the bunkhouse to do the networking she didn’t feel like doing. Seattle seemed very far away today.
An hour later, a movement outside the window caught Taylor’s attention, and she looked up in time to catch sight of Jancey getting into her car. Cole followed, leaning down to say a few words through the open window, then he headed for the machine shop after his sister drove away.
Taylor grabbed her jacket and let herself out of the bunkhouse. When she walked into the machine shed, Cole was standing in front of the long workbench staring at nothing in particular. He turned, scowling.
“Nice stay-away face.” Taylor leaned a shoulder against the door.
“Not intended for you.” He rubbed his hands over his cheeks and then dropped them again. “Still working through stuff.”
She couldn’t help but wonder if some of that stuff involved her…and how she felt about that. But for now, she wasn’t thinking, plotting or planning. She was doing.
“How would you feel about taking a drive with me today?”
“To…?”
“The ranch.”
Taylor pushed off from the door and moved a couple of steps closer. Jancey had been bullied by their step-aunt, and now Cole was going to the ranch. How could she say no? She wanted to see this ranch and meet Miranda. She wanted to make certain Cole didn’t do anything he’d be sorry for later. The guy was starting to matter to her in ways she’d never dreamed of.
She gave an overly casual shrug. “When do you want to leave?”
COLE’S FAMILY RANCH was something out of a picture book. Set at the edge of a wide meadow where a herd of Angus grazed, it wasn’t much bigger than Karl’s farm but had so much more visual appeal. The house and barn were both sided with rustic boards, which had weathered to a beautiful golden brown. A jackleg fence stretched along one side of the meadow, and the corrals and pens were constructed of poles instead of wire. The place looked rustic yet manicured.
“The siding is fake,” Cole said before she could utter a word. “Well, the barn’s real, but Miranda wanted the house to have more impact, so she paid to have the vinyl siding taken off and replaced with the cedar boards. Then she wanted us to pay for it, but I fought her on it.” He stopped at the gate. “That
