“I’m not a flirting man. There’s only one thing I want from a woman.”
She knew exactly what he meant, and she wished she could feel offended. Instead, she experienced a curl of heat low in her belly. “It’s nature, though, isn’t it? There’s only one thing a ram wants from a ewe.”
He took a sideways view of her expression. “I don’t think your father would like to hear you talking this way.”
“Perhaps if he hadn’t died, I wouldn’t be. I would be inside the house pressing flowers for my album or sketching a design for an evening gown. I’m changing with the circumstances, Cal. Didn’t you say I should?”
“Perhaps I’m not your best adviser.”
Her eyes prickled. She dashed a wrist beneath her nose. “You’re the only volunteer I’ve had thus far. I never expected to be left with a debt-ridden farm. Once I had everything, including a social life and two parents. You wouldn’t understand. You have a mother and you can go where you please and do what you please.”
“You have to make the best of what you have.”
“Did you read that in the shearer’s manual? I’m trying—you can see I’m trying.” She faced him defiantly. “I wish I’d been born a man.”
“I wish you had, too.” He didn’t move. The expression on his face told her that he controlled himself rigidly.
“Don’t worry. You don’t need to continue educating me.” Her chin lifted higher. “I can manage without you.”
And suddenly the tension dissipated. He glanced at his feet. She could swear he was hiding a smile.
“I’ve been ungrateful,” she said stiffly. “I should thank you, yet again.”
He lifted a palm to stop her speaking. “You’re bothering me, Ella.”
She turned her face away from him. “I won’t bother you anymore.”
“It’s not something you have control over. It’s the effect you have on me.”
“I know I speak too bluntly, and I know I argue way past the point of no return. Papa said I’m far too tactless but that most people could see that underneath I have a good heart.”
“I’m sure your father knew you better than I do, but I don’t agree. I think you are a delight and a constant temptation. And that bothers me, for I have no choice other than to resist you.”
She stared at him, gaze wide, her blood rushing so loudly she was sure he would hear. She tried to concentrate on breathing. Her body thrummed with awareness. He looked taller, darker, and more dangerous with the sun behind him. Without a doubt, everything about him lured her, from his self-containment to his utter stillness. The dogs frolicked at his feet, but he ignored them. Girl nudged his leg, but he pushed her snout away. She stared at Ella with sorrowful eyes. Ella heard the pitiful bleating of the sheep and a loud “cawing” she identified as a nearby crow.
“Ella,” Cal said softly, lifting a hand to her hair and catching a flyaway tendril between his fingers.
Her skin seared where his knuckle brushed her cheek. To herself or him, she whispered, “We shouldn’t.”
He cupped her face between his calloused hands. His fingers slid into the sides of her hair and with careful thumbs, he caressed her cheeks. “No, we shouldn’t. But just this once in my life, I want to be irresponsible.”
She only had time to soften her lips before his mouth angled across hers. She closed her eyes and he began to kiss her, slowly and gently. At first she felt the tingling there, but heat spread slowly throughout her body.
She shifted her hands to the muscles of his back and pressed her body against his, thrilled by his hard strength. Although willing to admit to excitement, she couldn’t get comfortable. He appeared to have something in his pocket. She wriggled. The more she wriggled, the deeper his kiss. He moved his hands down her to her buttocks and lifted her up against him. Her body pulsed with sensation.
Wanting to experience more, she moved her hands to his chest. When she’d faced him in his soaked shirt, she’d seen his perfect form, but she needed to touch him. His heart thundered against her palm and somehow his strength, his stability, and his lack of hesitation bred confidence in her.
She slid her hands to his behind and became another person, a hot, heavy-breathing bundle of desire. His rounded tightness and shifting muscles thrilled her. The stronger a man, the safer a woman felt. She made a sound of need.
His hands moved to cup her breasts. Standing on tiptoes, she let her body beg for every caress she could get, for she wanted more. She shifted her hips, not knowing how she could press any closer. His mouth lifted from hers and pressed against her cheeks, her nose, and her eyelids. He breathed as heavily as she, and his heart thundered exactly like hers.
No doubt he too wanted more. “This is probably no time to tell you,” she said in a husky murmur. “But you have rocks in your pockets, and if you are going to kiss a woman you should be aware of her comfort.”
His face nestled into her neck. “My Lord,” he said in a strange voice. “I thought you understood about rams and ewes.”
“I do.” She stilled. Her cheeks flamed. “I simply hadn’t applied it...”
He kissed her cheek, holding her upper arms. In a deliberate movement, he took a step back. After a moment of utter stillness, he nodded as if saying goodnight and walked off, the dogs trailing behind him.
She touched her cool palms to her face. The heat didn’t subside. Gathering her skirts, she ran back to the homestead understanding that he hadn’t treated her either as a lady or a station owner.
He had simply shown her what a man wanted from a woman.
* * * *
With the evening meal cooked and ready to be served and the daylight waning, Ella dressed in a dark brown taffeta she’d had fashioned two years ago so that she could attend formal functions with Papa. She presented herself in the kitchen and took her apron from the hook behind the door.
“My,” Rose said, staring. “You look very fine. Perhaps I ought to have a gown made in that color…after we get our money, of course.”
“And after we have bought the house?”
Rose took the serving spoons from the dresser drawer and made a sound of agreement.
Ella breathed out with relief. “If you want your inheritance to take to your husband, Vianna and I would be able to buy your share of a house somehow.”
Rose gave a cynical smile. “I won’t be marrying a man who wants my money. I have a very ambitious godmother. She has watched over me carefully these past two years. Men are more calculating than one supposes.” From the cupboard beneath the dresser, she took out the biggest meat plate and a covered vegetable dish, both gold-edged white china. “For a shearer, you would be a good catch. Be careful. That said, perhaps Vi should come out of black, too.”
“And what about you? When do you plan to come out of black?”
“When we get back to the city.” Rose glanced down at the beautiful black silk she wore. “I won’t have any use for these when I start enjoying life again.”
Ella sliced the meat. When Rose married, and nothing could be more certain than that event, life would continue as Papa had preordained. Ella would, possibly, take care of a few nieces and nephews in addition to Vianna. She couldn’t be a good catch for the handsome shearer who thought she was a delight, who kissed her as if she were a temptation, and who walked off when he discovered her inexperience. He wanted to dally with a woman but not one who expected marriage. Fortunately, she couldn’t marry a poor man, but the chance to be someone’s delight and their temptation didn’t come every day.
Rose