He brought his hand to the brim of his Stetson, tilting it in her direction.
“My name is Nathan. Nathan Wilde. What the hell are you doing in my stables, with my horse?” he asked.
When the tall cowboy tilted his hat toward her, the gesture oddly old-fashioned yet appealing to Althea, she slowly eased away from the wall, her hand remaining on the horse, soothing it.
“My name is Althea. Althea…Dayton.”
She hoped he didn’t catch the hesitation. She’d used her mother’s maiden name, which was her middle name, for the last two years, as a means of helping to keep under the radar. The fact that she hesitated even that small bit was unnerving to her, something she’d never done before. The fact that he could rattle her enough to cause the small slip-up was even more disturbing to Althea.
When he removed his hat his face was fully revealed. Althea drew in a swift breath, slowly expelling it.
To say he was handsome was too mild…too tame a description for the man standing in front of her.
He exuded raw, male earthiness in scalding waves. His skin, the color of molten chocolate, made her want to reach out and run her fingers over his face…she barely resisted the urge. She continued to keep her hand on the horse, thankful for its presence.
So this was Nathan Wilde, the oldest of the Wilde brothers, the one she’d heard about but had yet to meet.
When she’d arrived a few days before she’d been introduced to the men who worked the ranch, hiding her surprise when there’d only been one female who worked for Wilde Ranch, the housekeeper, Lilly. Lilly had been the one to take her to the guest cottage she’d live in during her stay. The older black woman had been open and friendly as she showed Althea around, her love for the ranch obvious in the pride in her expression.
After that, she’d been given the full tour of the ranch by Holt and Shilah, which had taken the majority of the day, as their land and livestock spread over two hundred acres.
The brothers had mentioned their oldest brother, Nathan, only briefly, simply telling her he was away buying cattle and wouldn’t return until the end of the week.
“Too late for him to do anything about it then,” Holt had said, turning to his brother. Althea’s radar had gone on full alert at the comment, knowing it had something to do with her, but she hadn’t asked. She’d simply filed it in the back of her mind for later thought.
They’d given her three weeks pay upfront, no strings attached, something that surprised Althea but at the same time made her instantly at ease, just in case she had to move on unexpectedly.
Later that evening, after the men had shown her around, she’d gone to the main house where Lilly had invited her to eat. Not having had the opportunity to go into Landers and pick up supplies, she’d been thankful for the invitation.
Remembering Holt’s earlier comment, she’d casually mentioned it to the older woman, watching her as she bustled around the kitchen, removing a storage bowl from the refrigerator to heat up leftover food from the afternoon meal for Althea.
The older woman had paused, one hand on the chrome handle of the microwave, and glanced at Althea. She’d held her gaze for such a long time that Althea had immediately regretted her impulse in bringing up the question.
“Baby, did you notice there weren’t any women working on the ranch?” She finally spoke, closing the door and setting the cook time.
Althea nodded her head, slowly.
“There’s a good reason for that,” she’d said, her expression, although light, serious as she turned and fully faced Althea.
“And that would be?”
The older woman turned away, moving toward the stove to pour the boiling water into two mugs she’d set out before tossing tea bags into both.
“Besides me, you’re the first woman in over two years who’s been on the ranch. Let’s just say women living at the Wilde Ranch has never been an…easy thing.”
Before Althea could digest that comment, the older woman had continued. “And if you want to stay for any amount of time, my suggestion would be to lay low, do your job and everything will be fine. Particularly around Nate.”
Something in the woman’s expression warned her not to ask questions, so she simply nodded her head and sipped the tea Lilly placed in front of her, feeling a kernel of apprehension knot in her belly for the first time in the week she’d been on the ranch.
Now she straightened, dusted her hand down the side of her jeans and cautiously extended it toward him.
He glanced down at her hand and hesitated for a fraction of a second before he engulfed it within his large one. Althea did everything she could not to squirm, the electric heat of his hand touching hers, warming her on contact, sparking off a fizzle of awareness down her spine.
“Yes, Mr. Wilde, I’ve heard about you, from your brothers. What I meant was, your brothers told me you were away when they hired me. Not that that was the reason they hired me or anything. I just…” She stopped, took a breath, trying like hell to curb her nervous chatter. “I look forward to working here at the ranch.” She rushed out the rest of the sentence, expelling the breath of air she’d taken as she did.
He held her hand, held it a fraction longer than was necessary before slowly releasing it.
“It’s beautiful here, I’ve already started falling in love with—”
“No offense, Ms…. Dayton,” he broke in, eyes narrowing, cutting Althea off, making her want to bite her tongue for the words she blurted and her crazy inability to stop with the nervous chatter.
She didn’t miss the emphasis he’d placed on her last name. As though he suspected she hadn’t given him her true name.
But his voice, smooth and liquid, distracted her momentarily. He had the type of voice that inexplicably brought out everything feminine in her. Things she thought long buried deep down inside, things she thought she’d never feel, tucked deep.
Her imagination took over as she eyed him. She imaged him roping cattle on a lazy summer day, beads of sweat glistening against his naked, muscled chest, wearing snug low-riding jeans, his Stetson on, the rim low, shading his eyes…
“But as my brothers should have consulted with me before hiring you, I’m not so sure your stay here will be that long. I wouldn’t want you to fall too deeply in love. With the ranch, that is,” he said, breaking into her little fantasy and bringing a flush to her face, dragging her mind away from the unexpected flight it had taken.
Althea withdrew her hand from his and fully faced him, swallowing down her embarrassment.
The noticeable coolness in his tone was in direct competition with the heated way he was looking at her, the way he’d been since the moment he entered the stall. His words said one thing, his eyes something totally different.
Althea focused on what had just flown out of his mouth.
“Well, Mr. Wilde, as your brothers were so kind as to give me three weeks’ pay—” she began, and ignored the look of surprise on his face “—for the next three weeks at least, you don’t have one damn thing to say about that,” she finished, and smoothly turned away from him, giving the horse her full attention.
Before she turned away she saw the flash of irritation on his face and squelched the need to laugh. She had enough sense to know when to walk away from a fight. No sense in pulling the lion’s tail any more than she had today.
“We’ll see about that,” he nearly growled, advancing on her.
Hot and heavy, the tension instantly grew thick; heady and palpable.
Althea, despite the way the last years had shaken out, forcing her into hiding, had never been one to run