Her Texan Temptation Page 5

  Then he’d kissed her.

  She’d safeguarded her heart for two years, and with a single kiss Deke had chiseled away at that solid wall she’d built around it. Little cracks had appeared, revealing her vulnerability to him. But she wasn’t going to let him hurt her again. While she had no plans to become involved with him, she was smart enough to know that her heart was still in danger. She’d had feelings for him most of her life. Now she just had to keep from letting herself get further involved with him.

  Carefully, she managed the back steps as quickly as she could and went inside, knowing that Deke would be right behind her. She grabbed a glass from the cabinet, then opened the refrigerator and took out a pitcher of cold water.

  Then she heard the back door open.

  “What the hell are you doing walking on your ankle?” Deke demanded, stepping into the room. He whipped off his hat and tossed it on the kitchen table. At the sound of his voice, Mary Beth’s shoulders visibly tightened. Busy pouring water into a glass, she didn’t even acknowledge that she’d heard him come into the room. But her stiffened spine gave her awareness of him away.

  “Mary Beth—”

  Mary Beth slammed the pitcher down on the counter with a thud. She whirled around to face him, crossing her arms over her chest. “Don’t you dare yell at me!”

  “I wouldn’t, if you didn’t give me reason to,” Deke retorted.

  “You’re accusing me—”

  “No,” he said, lowering his voice. “I didn’t mean to make it sound like that.” His lips thinned as he glanced at her foot. “You need to get off your ankle.” He nodded his head toward a kitchen chair.

  Mary Beth didn’t move. “What are you doing here, Deke?”

  He winced from the ice in her tone. “I wanted to talk to you.”

  Her hand went to her hip. “So, go ahead and talk. I’m not stopping you.” But she didn’t continue looking at him. Instead, she turned her back on him and grasped the glass with both hands.

  Deke sucked in a hard breath. He wanted to see her face, wanted to gauge the reaction in her eyes. “Could you just look at me?”

  “You don’t owe me any explanations,” Mary Beth said coolly.

  “Yes, I do.” Still, she ignored him. He wasn’t going to apologize to her back. “Look at me,” he demanded, his tone rougher than he intended.

  Remaining silent, she lifted the glass and drank. Deke swore under his breath. He wanted to get his apology over with, to clear his conscience so he could think about something other than her.

  You need to get your mind on the next competition.

  The tight standings between Deke and two other cowboys was enough pressure without throwing his awareness of Mary Beth into the fray. He couldn’t afford to get distracted. This year he had a real chance of taking the title in Las Vegas, but only if he could keep his mind on bull riding and off his sexy neighbor.

  “Mary Beth,” he implored, softening his voice. She set the glass on the counter but still didn’t move. Deke cursed again. The woman had a way of testing his patience. “Please.”

  As he reached out to touch her shoulder, she swung around to face him, anger and humiliation taut in her expression. Amidst those emotions, there was also pain. He let his hand drop. He’d done that, he thought, guilt eating at his heart. He’d caused that fragile hurt in her eyes. Now and two years ago. Back then he hadn’t waited around to explain. Her haunted expression caused his chest to tighten.

  “I just…I want to talk to you.”

  “All right,” she told him, her stance wary. “You have my undivided attention.”

  She wasn’t going to make it easy for him. Well, that was okay. She had a right to be angry. There was nothing she could say or do that would make him feel worse than he already did. Nothing. Because he felt as low as any man could. Why did he seem to hurt the people he cared about the most?

  “I’m sorry, Mary Beth,” he said. “I shouldn’t have run out on you like that.”

  Mary Beth didn’t even blink. “Which time, Deke? Last night or two years ago?” Her chin came up a notch. Her retort had wounded him. She’d seen the flash of regret in his eyes. So why didn’t she feel as if she’d scored a point, or at least regained a fraction of her pride?

  “Last night,” he clarified solemnly. He didn’t want to talk about two years ago. That was over. History. To apologize for what happened between them two years ago would require him to lie to her, and he couldn’t bring himself to do that. “It isn’t you, I swear. It’s me.”

  “Well, thank you, Deke. That makes me feel so much better.” She feigned a bright smile. “Now that you’ve gotten that off your chest, you can leave.”

  Annoyed that she’d so easily dismissed him, Deke shrugged his shoulders as he looked around. “I thought maybe I could lend you a hand. You shouldn’t be walking on that ankle yet.”

  “No, thanks.” She gave him a disinterested look, then started to turn away.

  He caught her shoulder with his hand and drew her to a halt. Despite an inner warning that told him he was treading on dangerous territory, Deke forged ahead with his plan to help her. “I could keep an eye on things around here, help take care of you.” Her eyes narrowed. “Just for today,” he clarified.

  Mary Beth’s curiosity got the best of her. “Aren’t you returning to the rodeo?” She prayed that he was. The last thing she needed was Deke hanging around, having him so near would be disastrous to her heart. She could resist him—at least she really believed she could—if he wasn’t underfoot all the time.

  “I’ll be returning to competition tomorrow, yeah. Until then, I can help out around here.”

  “I don’t want your help.”

  The lie rolled off her tongue easily. The idea of someone watching over her was more appealing than she wanted to admit—even to herself. She’d never had the luxury of having someone care about her, think about or anticipate her needs. She’d always been the caregiver. The thought of Deke watching out for her was frighteningly alluring.

  Deke frowned. He should’ve known that she’d be stubborn about it. Heck, last night she’d almost broken her leg hopping back to bed instead of waiting for him to help her. “Whether you like it or not, you need help.”

  She shrugged his hand from her arm while she still had the ability to carry off an iota of bravado. “I don’t want to depend on anyone, and that especially includes you.” The ranch was probably going under, anyway. She might be able to delay it for a while, but the end result seemed inevitable.

  Deke’s jaw hardened. “Accepting help never seemed to bother your father.”

  Mary Beth drew in a sharp breath. How dare he compare her to her father! It was true that Hank Adams had always been quick to call on neighboring ranchers for help, but she was nothing like him.

  Nothing. And she resented the implication.

  “Leave my father out of this,” she warned him. More disturbing was the fact that Deke had the power to hurt her. She had to say something, anything, to get rid of him, to get him out of her life. He was a complication she didn’t need. “Having your help for a day won’t make a bit of difference around here,” she insisted. “I’ll be on my own after you’re gone.”

  “It will make a difference,” he pressed, already regretting the crack he’d made about her father. He was trying to gain ground with her and instead he was losing it. “It’ll give your ankle a chance to heal. Maybe I can help you find someone to take over for Clyde.”

  Mary Beth could hardly admit that she didn’t have the money to hire someone to replace her ranch hand. “My ankle’s not that bad. I can do my own chores.”

  “Let me see it,” Deke stated.

  “What?” she asked, her eyes widening.

  “Let me see your ankle.” He didn’t wait for her to agree. Giving her a choice would only cause more aggravation between them, and Lord knew they’d had enough of that already. Bending down, he lifted her foot and pulled her boot off before she had a chance to protest. Then
he shoved her sock down, revealing the bandage she’d wrapped around her ankle. In seconds he’d unwrapped it. “Dammit, Mary Beth, it’s still swollen!”

  “It’s better than it was yesterday.”

  “Maybe so, but it’ll heal quicker if you take it easy another day. Go into the living room and get off it.” He gave her a stern look when she didn’t move. “Right now. I’ll get you some ice.”

  She opened her mouth to challenge him, but his next words stopped her.

  “Do it, or I’ll cart you in there myself.”

  Her expression indignant, Mary Beth clamped her lips together. Without another word, she snatched her boot from him and limped from the room with as much dignity as she could muster.

  Deke watched her disappear though the doorway. She had an obstinate side to her, that was for sure, he thought, as he prepared an ice pack. Why did he find that side of her just as appealing? Shaking his head, he went into the living room. She was sitting on the couch, her foot elevated. She didn’t speak as he approached her, but he felt the cold chill of her gaze.

  “Keep off it,” he ordered, undaunted. He settled an ice pack on her ankle. “I’m going out for a while. I’ll be back to check on you.”

  Deke didn’t wait for her to answer. Rather than tempting fate by staying with her, he went outside to pick up where she’d left off. As he entered the barn, he saw that she hadn’t even started feeding the horses, so he figured she couldn’t have been on her ankle all that long.

  He located the hay—at least, what there was of it. There was only half a bale. Wondering if she had the rest of it stored in one of the other buildings, he made a mental note to ask her about it.

  Hours later Deke stepped into Mary Beth’s house, unsure of the reception he’d receive from his unwilling patient. He hadn’t meant to intimidate her or to make her angry, but the woman didn’t seem to know what was good for her.

  He’d spent the better part of the morning tending to the horses, then riding out and checking her cattle. It was a good thing that he had. He’d found another break in her fencing. By the time he’d gotten the tools and had it repaired, he’d realized that he was getting hungry. While he should have gotten in his truck and headed back to the Bar M, Deke wanted to check on Mary Beth.

  When he walked inside, she was sitting on the sofa in the living room, her foot propped up on a beat-up ottoman. His heart rate accelerated. At least she’d listened to him.

  “How’s it feel?” he asked. He sat on the sofa, careful to keep his distance from her. Removing his hat, he set it aside, then combed his hair with his fingers.

  “Better,” she said, her voice tight.

  “That’s good.” Deke doubted it. He itched to check it, but knew if he did, he’d just make her angrier. But then, maybe that was a good idea. Maybe if she was angry with him, he wouldn’t be so tempted to kiss her.

  Risking her ire, he lifted the ice pack and examined her ankle. He was surprised and pleased to see that her injury did look better. Minimally, but there was a sign of improvement. It was still slightly swollen and several shades of purple. “Yeah,” he agreed. “It looks like it’s healing.” Maybe by tomorrow it would be hurt less and she’d be able to walk on it again without making it worse.

  He sure hoped so. He didn’t like the idea of leaving her on her own, unable to get around.

  “I made you some lunch,” she informed him, a bit of resentment in her tone. “Don’t worry,” she said before he could speak, “I was careful. I put everything on the table and sat down to do it. There’s also some soup warming on the stove. It’s canned, but it was all I had.” When she’d gone to the bathroom, she’d peeked out the window and had seen that his truck was still in front of her house. She hadn’t expected him to stay that long, but since he had, she figured he’d be hungry when he came in.

  A pleasurable sensation tingled up Deke’s spine. While he wanted to admonish her for being up and around, he couldn’t bring himself to do so. Making him lunch had been the first nice thing she’d done for him since he’d walked back into her life. It also told him that she’d been checking on his whereabouts. That deepened the feeling of pleasure, and Deke knew he’d have to be very careful to keep his sentiments for Mary Beth under control. “I’m starving, that’s for sure,” he said, grinning at her. “What about you? Have you eaten yet?”

  She shook her head. “I’m not really hungry.”

  “Come and keep me company while I eat, then.” He stood and held out his hand to her.

  Mary Beth’s first reaction was to rebuke his offer of help. But she tamped down that instinct, thinking if she went along with him, she’d be better off. He’d be leaving soon enough. Knowing that, she wouldn’t be foolish enough to put any real trust in him. And during the time he was here, he could get a lot more done around the ranch than she would be able to do on a bad ankle.

  Putting her hand in his, she relied on his strength to help her off the couch. His scent surrounded her, and she quickly let go of his hand and put some space between them so she wouldn’t give in to her desire to lean against him. She was pleased when Deke kept quiet as she used her own fortitude to get to the kitchen. In any case, he was close by her side until she took a seat at the table.

  “The sandwiches are in the refrigerator,” she told him, pointing to it.

  Deke nodded. He retrieved them, then set the plate on the table and unwrapped the cellophane covering it. Though each sandwich wasn’t loaded with lunch meat, there were a lot of them. Once again, he wondered about her financial status.

  It took him a few minutes to get some ice in the glasses and pour the tea she’d prepared, then he moved the pot of vegetable soup to the table. Though Mary Beth had said that she wasn’t hungry, he got an extra bowl and plate from the cabinet, hoping that she’d join him.

  He didn’t say anything to her, just put the setting before her along with her drink. “I found another break in your fencing,” he mentioned as he took a seat at the table. “It just needed a little repair before it got worse. The cattle are okay, but if it’s all right with you, I thought I’d move them to another pasture tomorrow. It looks like they’ve about done as much grazing as they can where they are.”

  “That’ll be fine.” She’d been planning to do that, as well—that is, along with Clyde’s help.

  “Why don’t you join me?” he suggested, indicating the soup and sandwiches. “You might not be hungry, but you need to eat. And to tell you the truth, I don’t like eating alone. I do enough of that on the road. It’s kinda nice to share a meal with someone other than the guys on the rodeo.”

  Did that mean that he didn’t always have a woman with him? Her heart leaped at the thought as she looked at the food. The smell of the warm soup had stirred her hunger. And maybe she could eat one sandwich. “Okay.” She wondered about his comment.

  Don’t be a fool, her mind taunted.

  Her lips turned slightly upward as Deke ladled some soup into a bowl for her. She reached for a sandwich. “You should be home spending time with your family. I feel bad keeping you from them.”

  He chuckled. “You’re not keeping me from them. Everyone at the ranch is busy working. They don’t stop to entertain me when I come home for a few days.”

  “I saw Matt in town last week,” Mary Beth mentioned. “He sure has grown since he came to live at the Bar M.” She’d first met Deke’s nephew over a year ago. Nearly thirteen, he’d come to Crockett in search of the father he never knew. He’d been hitchhiking and she’d given him a ride when he’d asked where the McCalls lived. She hadn’t known then that Catherine, Matt’s mother, had been Jake’s college sweetheart, whom he’d left when he’d had to come home and raise his siblings when his parents had been killed.

  It was obvious to everyone who met him that Matt was Jake’s son. Tall and muscled from working on the ranch, he had his father’s height and build.

  “Yeah,” Deke agreed. He lifted his glass and took a long drink of the tea. “He’s going on
fifteen now and already looking forward to driving. Catherine is the principal at the high school.”

  “I’d heard that.” She ate a spoonful of the soup, then said, “I haven’t talked to Ashley in a while. How are the kids?”

  His eyes softened. “The twins are into nearly everything. She has her hands full keeping up with them and their little brother, Taylor. But Ashley’s doing a fantastic job of mothering them.”

  After saving Ashley from the advances of a drunken cowboy, Ryder had spent the night with her. Though he hadn’t meant to steal her virtue, when he later found out she was pregnant, he’d convinced her to live at the Bar M until the baby was born. They’d ended up falling in love, getting married and having twins.

  Ashley living with them had been one of the best things that had ever happened to the family, especially Deke. He’d loved having a woman around the house, and Ashley had doted on him.

  Mary Beth was very aware that Deke’s entire demeanor had changed when he spoke of his sister-in-law. Stunned by sudden feelings of jealousy, she tried to think of something to say to steer the subject in another direction. “Um, I got a chance to meet Catherine’s sister at Jake and Catherine’s wedding. She seemed really nice.”

  She didn’t know why she’d even brought up Bethany St. John. Sitting back in her chair, Mary Beth admonished herself. She’d brought up another woman who was actually available to him!

  Well, she didn’t really care. She had no reason to feel even remotely possessive of Deke.

  Deke smiled as he reached for his third sandwich. “She left for Virginia right after the wedding. As a matter of fact, I took her to the airport on my way to San Antonio. She’s really sweet, a lot like Catherine,” he went on, and his eyes twinkled.

  “I only talked with her a few minutes,” she admitted. In her mind she pictured Deke with Bethany. Sweet, he’d said. And beautiful, Mary Beth thought to herself, her lips tightening. She wished that she’d never brought the woman up. Bethany St. John looked like Catherine, with thick chocolate-brown hair and a voluptuous figure. Even though he spoke casually about her, surely Deke had noticed. Any normal man within a few feet of her would have.