The Texan's Tennessee Romance / The Rancher & the Reluctant Princess. Gina Wilkins

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СКАЧАТЬ she’d been corporate. Didn’t surprise him. He still couldn’t decide if she’d burned out or lost her job, but something made him suspect the latter. Laying out tiles to spell “maid,” the longest word he could manage at the time, he said casually, “Sounds to me like you needed a vacation.”

      “I suppose I did.” She took a few moments to study her tile rack, then played on his M.

      “Not much fun, though, if you’re spending it all here in this cabin.”

      She shrugged. “I needed the rest.”

      “Maybe you’d like to do something a little different this week? Maybe a hike or something? I’ve been told there are some pretty nice trails around here.”

      “I haven’t been hiking in a long time, either. But maybe I will go this week.”

      “You know, this is my first visit to this area. I’d like to go with you on a hike, if you don’t mind.”

      She didn’t even hesitate this time before she picked up her wine glass again and nodded. “Sure. Why not? I could use the diversion.”

      He wasn’t sure how he felt about being used as a diversion—but then again, wasn’t that what he was looking for, as well? Something to think about other than returning home and taking up his life where he’d left off—a prospect that left him feeling empty and inexplicably anxious?

      She won the game, by less than twenty points. “That makes you the champ tonight,” he said. “Two games to one.”

      “It was close,” she replied, beginning to gather the game pieces. “We’re pretty evenly matched.”

      He thought about those words for a moment, but decided not to comment on them. Instead, he took another sip of coffee while Natalie closed the Scrabble game box.

      Her gaze met his across the table between them and he was struck by something he saw in her eyes. His well-developed intuition told him that though she had laughed and played for a couple of hours, something was still eating at her. Something an evening of games—and half a bottle of wine—couldn’t entirely banish.

      He wondered just how much of a “diversion” she was looking for with him.

      She drained the wine from her glass, and looked for a moment as if she were tempted to refill it again. But then she pushed her glass away and replaced the stopper in the wine bottle. “Can I get you some more coffee?”

      “Actually, it’s getting late. I guess I’d better be going.”

      He saw the expression in her eyes before she lowered her lids, but he couldn’t interpret what he had seen. Was she reluctant for him to leave? If so, was it because she really wanted him to stay—or because she didn’t want to be alone?

      She followed him through the living room. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I suppose.”

      “Yeah. Thanks for dinner. And the games.”

      “You’re welcome. I enjoyed the company.”

      “You mean, the diversion,” he murmured, remembering what she’d said earlier.

      “That, too,” she replied with a slight shrug.

      She reached for the door at the same time he did. They collided, and Casey caught her shoulders to steady her. “Okay?”

      Smiling a bit sheepishly up at him, she said, “Clumsy. I rarely drink wine. I must have overdone it a little tonight.”

      He didn’t release her immediately. Nor did she step away, instead gazing up at him as he searched her face. Her cheeks were a bit flushed, her eyes a little too bright, and it was all he could do not to cover her slightly parted lips with his own. He suspected she knew full well that he wanted to kiss her. Just as he suspected she wouldn’t mind so much. Maybe she even wanted him to kiss her.

      But because she’d had too much wine, and because she’d admitted that she wasn’t quite steady tonight, he allowed himself only to touch her face as he brushed back a strand of hair from her cheek.

      He wanted to tell her that he was a pretty good listener, if she wanted to talk, but he didn’t think she would respond to that just now. It was obvious that she didn’t want to talk about whatever had brought her here, which he could certainly understand. But he wanted to do something to make her feel better.

      “I was serious about wanting to go on a hike with you,” he said, keeping his tone casual. “It sounds like fun. How about tomorrow morning? I can’t put the furniture back on the deck until afternoon at the earliest, so I don’t have a lot to do tomorrow. Unless you have something you would rather do?”

      Her mouth twitched a little, as if his somewhat pointed question had hit home. “No, not really,” she admitted after a moment. “A hike could be fun.”

      He hoped his smile didn’t look smug, but he was pleased that she had accepted his invitation. “I’ll see you in the morning, then. I’ll pick you up at nine o’clock?”

      She nodded. “I’ll be ready.”

      He brushed her cheek with his hand again, not to tuck back her hair this time, but simply to enjoy the feel of her soft skin. “Let your problems go for a while,” he said lightly. “Have some fun. You’ll know what to do when it’s time.”

      Her eyes narrowed and she pulled back. “What do you mean? You haven’t been talking about me behind my back, have you?”

      Giving an exaggerated sigh, he shook his head. “I know nothing about you that you haven’t told me yourself, or that I haven’t observed while I’ve been with you. I can just tell that something is causing you stress. I hope you can leave it behind tomorrow and have a little fun.”

      She looked at him a moment longer, then gave a rather weary-looking smile and said, “Thanks. I’ll try.”

      He caught just a hint of the dimples at the corners of her mouth. Just enough to make him want to see them again.

      He cleared his throat and forced himself to move away from her before he forgot that he was trying to be a gentleman. “Okay then, see you in the morning.”

      “Good night, Casey.”

      “Good night.” Hearing the door close behind him, he moved thoughtfully toward his truck. So maybe the evening had almost ended awkwardly, thanks to his poorly timed advice to her. But he would be seeing Natalie again in the morning.

      That prospect made him feel just a little too eager for his own peace of mind.

      Natalie yanked on the laces of her left hiking boot with a bit more force than necessary, tying them tightly enough to cut off the circulation in her foot. And then she loosened them a little because her self-recriminations didn’t extend to inflicting actual pain.

      It wasn’t that she was annoyed with herself for agreeing to go hiking with Casey. Though it had been a while since she’d been, she liked to hike. And she was the first to admit that she needed to get out of the cabin, spend a day doing something else, getting some fresh air, trying to clear her mind. Casey would be an entertaining СКАЧАТЬ