Captivating A Cowboy. Jill Limber

back in her chair and pondered what she should do. If she hired Tony she could get the work done by the time she had to go back to L.A. That way the house would be on the market. If she waited to do the work herself, she would probably have to make at least a few extra trips back up to Ferndale. She wouldn’t be able to put the place on the market until late fall, if that soon. With the price of gas and wear and tear on her car for extra trips, it made sense to hire Tony.

      The thought made her feel uneasy. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him to do a good job. After all, wasn’t he building a house all by himself? It was just that she had planned to do it alone. Be her own boss, make her own decisions.

      She had already seen him in action. He liked to be in control of a situation.

      She began to argue with herself. She would still be in charge. She could help him out as he worked. That would speed things up. He had the skill and expertise, and she could learn from him.

      She sat for a long time as her fingers fiddled with the bristles of her brush. Money and control weren’t the only problems, she thought.

      She was attracted to him.

      Very attracted.

      If she hired him to work, they shouldn’t start a relationship that had nowhere to go anyway. He had made it clear he liked small town living, and in a matter of weeks she would head back to her life in Los Angeles.

      She stood up and gingerly stretched her sore muscles, then headed upstairs, her thoughts still swirling. So the real question was, could she work with him and maintain her distance? Just be friends?

      Of course she could.

      She’d been around plenty of good-looking men. Even had a few who were friends. She laughed at herself. Was she turning her rescuer into some kind of irresistible knight on a white horse?

      He was just a guy.

      She set her brush down on the dresser and surveyed the damaged ceiling that she’d stripped yesterday. Just the thought of lifting her arms over her head to apply the plaster made her wince.

      Julie made her decision. If she and Tony could come to reasonable terms, the ceiling would be their first project.

      The sound of the front doorbell interrupted her thoughts. She headed down the stairs. A middle-aged woman stood on the porch holding a dish covered with foil. Julie thought she looked vaguely familiar but it was hard to tell through the wavy old oval glass window in the door.

      She opened the door and the woman smiled. “Julie, I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Jane Arnold.”

      As soon as she spoke, Julie remembered. Jane Arnold had been one of the adults who led the youth group at the church. “Of course I remember.” Almost, she thought.

      Mrs. Arnold held out a covered casserole. “I heard what happened. I made you some chicken.”

      Of course. Hadn’t she predicted that the whole town would know? Julie remembered her manners. “Won’t you come in?”

      “Thank you, dear, but I’m on my way to an appointment. Let me just put this in the refrigerator for you.”

      Julie followed her to the kitchen and then back to the front door, feeling awkward over the woman’s show of concern. At Mrs. Arnold’s insistence, Julie promised to call if she needed anything.

      By the time Tony returned hours later Julie had gotten tired of running up and down the stairs to answer the door and had planted herself in the front room.

      “How are you feeling?” he asked, giving her a quick once-over.

      His question vaguely annoyed her. She wasn’t sure how she felt about him taking on the role of her guardian.

      “Tired, but otherwise pretty good.” Actually, answering the door had worn her out.

      “Take any more pain pills?”

      “No.” She was trying to avoid them. They made her stupid, and if she was going to be around Tony she needed to stay smart.

      “Hungry?”

      She thought for a moment. “Yes.”

      “I’ll go get some groceries.” He started to turn toward the front door.

      Julie grimaced. “Not necessary.”

      She motioned to him to follow her to the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator. There were five casseroles inside. “I will be eating tuna and noodles and chicken and rice for the next week.”

      Tony surveyed her newly filled refrigerator and shook his head. “Looks like a church potluck on Saturday night.”

      “Yeah,” Julie remarked sourly. “People just couldn’t wait to come and see Julie, all grown up and clumsy.”

      Tony shot her a startled look, but didn’t say anything. He started touching the sides of the casserole dishes, then lifted the foil on the corner of one on the second shelf. “This one is still fairly warm. Want to start with it?”

      Why was he being so nice? He couldn’t like tuna and noodles that much. “Are you sure you don’t have anything better to do?”

      “What, and miss a free lunch? No, ma’am.” He grinned and pulled the glass dish out of the fridge.

      Julie settled down onto one of the chairs and watched him scoop a huge amount of casserole onto a plate. When he started to fill the other plate she said, “Whoa, cowboy. I need less than half of that.”

      He carried the plates to the table, found some silverware, and sat down. Julie watched, fascinated as he methodically and quickly cleaned his plate.

      “Do you always eat that much?”

      He shrugged. “Usually. I stay pretty busy during the day.”

      She shoved the food around her plate. “Speaking of that, I’ve done a lot of thinking. I’m going to need some help, but I want to make sure you have the time. I mean, that you’re not going to regret your offer.”

      He studied her face. “I wouldn’t have made the offer if I didn’t want to do it.”

      She felt herself warm under his direct gaze. “Well, I just wanted to be sure.”

      “I do need to keep working on my place, so how about I come in three days a week? We’ll see how it goes.” Tony stood up and carried the dishes to the sink.

      “Okay. How long does it take you to get here from where you live?”

      “If there’s no fog and the road isn’t washed out, about an hour and a half.”

      That was worse than the commute times in L.A. “You’re kidding? You live that far out?”

      “Have you been down Petrolia Road to the Lost Coast?”

      She’d heard of it. “No. My grandmother never allowed me to go. She thought that’s where kids went to drink and get into trouble.” Besides, she’d been such a loner in high school she’d only been invited once.

      Tony grinned at her. “She was right. I’ve chased kids off my property on occasion.”

      He came around and helped her as she scooted back out of her chair. “Why don’t we take a look at what needs doing.”

      Stiffly she got to her feet and stretched to get some of the kinks out. “Well, you’ve already seen the ceiling upstairs.”

      “You did a nice job of cleaning it up.”

      “Thanks.” She felt a glow of appreciation at his approval.

      They wandered through the downstairs rooms, Julie pointing out what she wanted to do, as Tony nodded and added suggestions.

      By the time they went upstairs into the room where she slept they’d settled on an hourly wage and Julie had a good idea of how long things would take. She felt better about her decision