Expecting.... Carol Grace

tipped you off.”

      “Good point. Housekeepers don’t faint. At least Diane never did.”

      “Diane this and Diane that. I’m not Diane. I’m not even a housekeeper.”

      “You are now,” he said flatly. “It can’t be that hard. But a foreman is another matter. I want someone who’s had experience running a large ranch. They’re out there, I know they are. I just can’t seem to get my hands on one. I don’t expect to get someone like Joe. Whatever his character flaws, he was damned good at what he did.”

      Mallory thought of the night she’d met him. His handsome face, his smooth talk, his expertise on the tiny dance floor, plying her with drinks, seducing her with words as well as action in that small hotel room across the road from the bar. Yes, he was damned good at what he did. And she was an admirer, and a willing participant. She couldn’t blame Joe. She’d gone willingly, like a moth to the flame.

      “What’s the matter?” Zach said, studying her flushed face.

      She picked up her cup and took a large gulp of tea. “Nothing.”

      “Were you in love with him?”

      “No, of course not.”

      “Then why were you going to marry him?”

      “You wouldn’t understand,” she said.

      “Try me.”

      She brushed her hand across her cheek. “I don’t know. I mean...maybe I was in love. I know, people don’t usually get married unless...unless they have a good reason. But what is love, anyway? What does it feel like?” She wished she had been in love. She wished that had been the reason for those wedding plans. And love would have excused her behavior in that hotel room. She really did want to know about love. Just because Zach wasn’t married didn’t mean he didn’t have the answer. Anyone who looked as worldly-wise as he did and was as rich and good-looking as he was had probably been in love dozens of times.

      “Damned if I know,” he said, rocking his chair back against the wall and folding his arms behind his head. “You’re asking the wrong person. I don’t think you’ve answered my question yet. If you didn’t know if you were in love, why did you want to get married?”

      She set her cup down with a thud. “That’s none of your business.” She’d had all the questions she could handle for one day. If she could summon the energy to walk out, she would. But right now she was drained.

      Zach sat at the table, crumpling the napkin with the formula for feed he’d scribbled on it. He looked at her cup and noted the imprint of her lips on the rim. If she wasn’t sitting there staring off into space he would have picked it up and held it to his mouth. To taste passion peach blended with her own elusive scent.

      He still didn’t get it. Why in the hell would she want to many a promiscuous stud like Joe if she didn’t love him? Then suddenly he did get it. Because he was a stud, of course. Even Diane couldn’t resist him. So why should a beautiful woman like Mallory?

      Tex came in and set a fresh pot of coffee in front of them.

      “More tea, Ms. Mallory?” he asked.

      She shook her head. She looked like she wanted to leave but was too tired to move. To break the silence Zach turned to Tex. “You’ve been married, Tex, you know anything about love?” Zach asked.

      Tex wiped his hands on his apron. “I know this much. It makes the world go round.”

      “Thanks,” Zach said drily.

      “What’re you asking me for? You been married yourself, boss.”

      “That was a long time ago.”

      “Once you’ve been in love, you never forget how it was,” Tex said.

      “Then I couldn’t have been in love, because I have forgotten,” Zach said, drumming his knuckles on the table. “All I remember is the shock when she told me she was leaving.”

      Mallory looked up and met his gaze. There was sympathy in her dark eyes. And he knew he’d said too much. He didn’t want sympathy from anybody, especially from a woman he didn’t even know.

      “Well,” he said, “it’s been a long day. You’re probably tired.” If she didn’t take the hint that it was time for her to leave, he’d be surprised.

      But she didn’t, and he was surprised to hear her say to Tex, “I think I will have another cup of tea.”

      The cook smiled and took her cup to refill it.

      “How long have you had the ranch?” Mallory asked.

      He paused. He didn’t really want to talk about himself. But he could hardly ignore a direct question, either. “My uncle died seven or eight years ago. But I’ve lived here since I can remember. I was about ten when my mother dumped me here and took off.”

      “Dumped you?” she asked.

      “Call it what you want. I don’t blame her for taking off. As a single mother she was at the end of her rope. It hurt at the time, but leaving me here with my uncle was the best thing she could have done. For her and for me. I know everybody doesn’t feel this way, or they wouldn’t keep quitting, but I love this place. Better than anything.”

      “Better than anybody?” she asked.

      “Yeah, why? There’s nothing wrong with that. The only thing that’s wrong is that I can’t run it alone. I depend on others. I need good help. Yesterday I lost two of the best.”

      “Today you replaced one of ’em,” Tex said from the doorway, nodding at Mallory. How long had he been standing there? Not that it mattered, he knew more about Zach than anybody.

      “Did I do the right thing?” Zach asked with a wry glance at Mallory.

      “She looks good to me,” the cook said.

      “She looks tired to me,” Zach said, noting her drooping eyelids.

      “You’re right,” Mallory said with a yawn. “She’s going to bed. Good night.” She rose from the table, leaving her tea untouched, and walked out the dining room door.

      “Pretty little thing,” Tex noted, crossing his arms across his ample waist.

      Little? He hadn’t picked her up off the floor and carried her across the room. “Doesn’t have any experience,” Zach said, pouring Tex a cup of coffee.

      “Then why...”

      “I don’t know,” Zach said. But he knew why he’d hired her. It was because he couldn’t send her away. Because there was something in those limpid brown eyes that told him she needed help, a place to go. It was the tears that she fought to hold in check that called forth his grudging admiration, and the way she handled the shock of hearing Joe was gone. By fainting, yes. But when she recovered, with fortitude and grim determination. Those things showed her mettle.

      “I’m running a business, you know,” Zach reminded himself as well as Tex. “Not a home for the lovelorn or an observatory for astronomers.”

      “Who?” Tex asked, sitting in a chair halfway down the table.

      Zach took a swallow of hot coffee. “She’s an astronomer,” he said.

      “She gonna read our horoscope?” Tex asked.

      “Afraid not,” Zach said, not wanting to go into the difference between astronomy and astrology. “I wasn’t going to tell anybody she’s not a housekeeper, but you’re not just anybody. You’ve been with me for the last nine years. Making food that keeps a lot of guys around when they might have had reason to leave.”

      “Thank you, boss,” Tex said.

      “You’re welcome.”

      “They can look into the future, you know,” Tex said.