The smell of roast beef and vegetables met his nose long before he entered the kitchen. The growl of his stomach reminded him that he’d not eaten a bite of food since breakfast.
“I didn’t know whether you would prefer iced tea or beer with your meal,” Alexa told him as he stepped into the room. “So I gave you both.”
A plate piled high with food was already laid out on the table. Next to it was a basket full of bread rolls, an assortment of condiments and the two drinks. She gestured for him to take a seat.
“Aren’t you going to have any?” he asked as he pulled out a chair.
“I would, but I’ve already eaten,” she told him.
“Then surely you can join me with something to drink,” he suggested politely.
She studied him for a long moment, as though she couldn’t quite decide whether joining him would be the right thing to do. Jonas tried not to let her attitude offend him. After all, she’d already gone out of her way to be gracious. No one said she had to cozy up to him.
“All right. Since it’s decaffeinated, I suppose I could have a glass of tea,” she told him as she went over to the counter to fetch the drink.
“You’re not supposed to have caffeine?” he asked curiously.
“It’s not healthy for the baby, so I try to limit the stuff.”
She carried the tea back over to the table and took the chair across from him. He glanced up from his plate to see her stirring a spoonful of sugar into her glass. There was a small ruby and silver ring on her right hand, but nothing on her left. The lack of an engagement ring spoke volumes to Jonas.
“Sorry if my questions sound silly. I don’t know much about women having babies. Cows and horses are more my line.”
Tonight, without a hat and a button-down shirt, he looked different somehow, Alexa thought. Younger and sexier, if that was possible. His brown hair was the color of a pecan streaked with shades of coffee and honey. The waves stuck out in damp disarray about his head, as though he’d had an expensive razor cut to make his hair look purposely messy. But Alexa very much doubted he spent his money on such vain things. It didn’t fit his nature, she decided, as her gaze dipped down to his corded arms. They had a farmer’s tan that ended at the cuffs of his T-shirt, and Alexa found herself wondering what his chest looked like beneath the white T-shirt.
Swallowing at the nervous tightening in her throat, she asked, “You don’t have any children of your own?”
He shook his head. “No. I’m divorced. Have been for six years.”
The revelation jarred her. For some reason, she’d pictured him as always being a single man. To think that he’d once loved and married a woman put him in a whole new light.
“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
One thick shoulder shrugged. “You weren’t. And it’s not a secret.”
What had happened? Alexa wondered. Had he been at fault for the breakup of his marriage? Or his wife? Was his ex the reason he’d left Texas?
Forget it, Alexa. This man’s personal life is not your business. Besides, you have your own problems to think about.
After a short stretch of silence, he said, “So you’ve been living in Santa Fe. Did you like living in the city?”
Alexa slid her fingertips up and down the side of the ice-cold glass. “It was okay.” At least it was okay until everything with Barry had gone wrong, she thought grimly. “I worked at the state capital building as an aide to a senator.”
Feeling his gaze on her, she darted a glance at him and was surprised to see that he actually looked curious. Most men, especially the outdoor type, never showed much interest in her job. Maybe her first impression of Jonas Redman had been right. He wasn’t an ordinary man.
“You like that sort of thing—working in government?”
From out of nowhere a bit of shyness struck her, and she looked down at the tabletop rather than at him. “It’s interesting to me. But mostly I like helping serve the public.”
“How did you get the job with the senator? I suspect there were plenty of applicants waiting in line.”
Lifting her gaze back to him, she was relieved to see he was now focusing on his plate rather than her face. “I honestly don’t know how I happened to land it. At the time I was working in the Ruidoso mayor’s office and trying to finish up college.” She chuckled with fond remembrance. “What I lacked in experience, I made up in enthusiasm, I suppose.”
He looked at her and smiled, and for a moment Alexa felt as though everything around her stopped. The expression warmed his face and hinted at a softer side to the iron cowboy. It also endeared him to her, pulled her toward him in a way that caught her by complete surprise.
“Are you planning to go back? I mean, after your baby is born?”
A soft sigh escaped her as she turned her gaze away from him and toward the row of windows to their right. Even though it was dark, a distant outdoor lamp illuminated a part of the ranch yard. At the moment, nothing was stirring except for the wind ruffling the leaves on the aspen trees. “I—I’m not sure. I think I need a little time to make up my mind about that.”
“I’m curious about one thing,” he said.
His comment jerked her gaze back to his. “What’s that?”
He reached for another roll and proceeded to tear it down the center. “I’ve been wondering about your feelings for this ranch. It appears your father and brother put their lives into making it go. Were you never interested in it?”
Interested? Once she’d loved every inch, every blade of grass, every cow and horse on the place. Even before she’d started kindergarten, she’d followed her father around, watching him tend to everything, from a sick calf to a broken fence. He’d put her in the saddle before she’d been able to walk, and from her early childhood up until Mitch’s death she’d had one purpose in life, and that had been to help run the ranch, to do her part in making it grow and prosper. The accident had turned her away from everything she’d once loved, and now, after all this time, she was frightened to let herself love it again.
“Of course I was,” she said stiffly. “The ranch has always been my home.”
His plate nearly empty, he put down his fork and leaned back in his chair. Alexa hated the way her eyes were drawn to the broad width of his chest, the bunching of his biceps as he folded his arms together.
“Well,” he said casually, “most women don’t get involved with the grit and grime of everyday ranch life. Quint says your mother doesn’t ride at all. Do you?”
His question seemed so absurd to Alexa that she couldn’t stop herself from laughing. Which only prompted him to look at her in a calculating way.
“I didn’t realize that was a funny question,” he said as her laughter ebbed to a soft chuckle.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it.” She leaned toward him and smiled, with the first confidence she’d felt in a long, long time. “If I wasn’t so pregnant, I bet I could outride you, Jonas Redman.”
His hazel eyes suddenly glinted with interest; at the same time, a grin tugged at one corner of his mouth. “That’s a bold statement. Especially since you don’t know me.”
“Maybe. But I know myself. I’ve been riding since before I could walk. In spite of Mother’s protest.”
“She didn’t want you to do those types