Honeymoon With the Rancher

Sophia couldn’t help feeling a little deflated. Would it be so difficult for him to say a simple ‘you’re welcome?’ Perhaps they’d broken through some barriers today, but it was clear that he wanted to get on with his work around the estancia now that she had the pool at her disposal.

“Yes, but it didn’t need to be filled today. Tomorrow I’ll help you with the chores and in the afternoon we’ll go for a swim.” She smiled her prettiest smile. She sensed that after this afternoon, he was trying to keep her at a distance. He would not get rid of her that easily. Tomas needed a bit of fun as much as she did. “It’s no fun alone.”

For a moment he hesitated, but she stuck out her hand to seal the bargain. Finally he took it, his big hand encompassing her smaller one until it all but disappeared within his fingers.

Tomas looked down at Sophia’s glowing face and felt his heart do a little slide.

She had his number, no doubt about it. She’d seen through his attempt to pass it off as no big deal. He had done it to please her and for that reason only—the arrangements had been made before this afternoon and what happened in town. “I thought it might help your hip,” he said, pulling his hand away. “And any other sore muscles from the torture I’m putting you through.”

She smiled up at him. He wished she’d stop doing that. She had a beautiful smile, easy and unaffected and it did funny things to him. Like today, on the bridge. What had he been thinking, kissing her back like that? Baring his soul?

“You are quite a taskmaster, but it’s not torture,” she teased. “I’m having fun. Truly.”

“Right,” he answered, and sent her a skeptical look.

She turned to look at the sparkling water. The flickering refraction of the sun on the surface lit her face, a shifting pattern of light and shadow that captivated him. “Whatever the reason, Tomas, it was awfully thoughtful. Thank you.”

“Stop thanking me. If you remember correctly, you told me it should have been here waiting for your arrival.”

Her cheeks coloured a little and an unfamiliar current seemed to heat him from the inside out. It was getting harder and harder to deflect her warmth and charm.

“Don’t remind me, okay? I acted like a spoiled brat.”

“I saw through that fairly quickly.” Sophia had exhibited a fair bit of heart and willingness over the last few days, meeting each challenge he’d set out for her. He could add beautiful and compassionate to that list of qualities. It all combined to become a package to be reckoned with.

That he was even considering reckoning with her at all was shocking. He took a step back, a frown puzzling his brows. After hiding away for so long, the thought of consciously making a decision to move on was strange, even if he had been leading up to it for months. Now Sophia was insisting he join her in the pool tomorrow. He shouldn’t, there was too much to do. There should not be any repeats of today’s kisses or locked gazes, and the thought of her in a bathing suit, the cool water smooth against her skin…

He swallowed, trying to erase the image but failing utterly. Tomorrow night Maria and Carlos would return. The hours that he would have alone with Sophia were numbered, and he was surprised to find he didn’t want them to end.

But what was the alternative? It would be wrong to let things go any further. She was a guest, he was the host. And there were things she still didn’t know about him. Couldn’t know, either. All she’d done since her arrival was stir things up. The more time they spent together, the more she seemed to sneak past his defences, and he had to put a stop to it.

Everything would settle again once Sophia went back to Canada. The estancia would be back in tip-top shape and they would go on as usual. The thought should have alleviated his worry, but it didn’t. Because what he really wanted was more time with her.

And that was the most dangerous thing of all. The truth was she was cultivating feelings in him that scared him to death with their intensity.

“You knew I was afraid?” she asked, bending over and trailing her fingers in the water. He imagined the feel of her cool fingertips on his skin and swallowed.

“You covered it well. It was in the little things.”

She nodded, making swirls with her fingers, random little shapes that rippled outward from her fingertips. “What things?”

“The look in your eyes. The way you tried to smile but didn’t quite succeed.”

Her fingers stopped moving. “I didn’t realize I was so transparent.”

Tomas went to her then, put his hand beneath her elbow and nudged until she stood beside him, the pool water dripping from her fingers. “Not your fault,” he said quietly. “And you were right about some things. The estancia does have to hold a certain standard.”

She smiled then, not a trace of fear or nervousness in her face. She was beautiful this way—unspoiled, artless. Irresistible.

“The estancia is perfect, Tomas, just as it is.”

There it was, that burn that started deep within his belly every time she used that husky voice on him. Her acceptance of the estancia was simply another thread weaving their connection together.

He wanted more. It shocked him how much more. She had plagued his thoughts ever since they’d kissed in the yard. It hadn’t just been anger that had driven him to take her in his arms. It had also been fear and need and desire. Emotions he’d locked away long ago, determined not to feel them again.

The banked fire in her eyes only fed the flames of desire burning through him. There was a flush to her cheeks that was caused by more than the sun beating down on them, and her eyes shone up at him. It suddenly seemed like too much work to carry on fighting against the attraction that kept flaring up like a hotspot that refused to go out. Forget what if and the past. It was over and done. What if he took her in his arms right now? What would happen then?

His gaze dropped to her lips. “You need to be careful when you look at me that way.”