Honeymoon with the Rancher / Nanny Next Door: Honeymoon with the Rancher / Nanny Next Door. Michelle Celmer
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think the Vista del Cielo can handle that.”
But Tomas waited a moment before backing away. “Are you sure you’re okay? I can call a doctor.” His hand rested on her shoulder and she tried not to like the heat of it there—but she did anyway. She could protest all she wanted, but it felt good to be cared for, taken care of, even just a little. The simple touch made her wonder what it would be like if he came inside with her, maybe kissed her again. Would it be as good the second time? Better?
“Truly, I’m fine, thank you.” She didn’t want him to leave. She wanted to see him smile, and feel the way his gaze fell on her, warm and approving in the Argentine sun. She wanted him to touch her cheeks with his lips again and maybe slide that small distance to her mouth. Her gaze fell unerringly on his lips too and then back up to his eyes. She’d give up her soak in the bath for that.
“I will see you later. I must look after the horses if you are all right.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
She wasn’t going anywhere, not yet. But in another week she would be on a plane headed back to Canada. That much would not change no matter how enamored she became of her surroundings. She took one last approving look at his retreating figure. All of her surroundings.
CHAPTER FIVE
“WHAT are you doing?” Tomas asked, stepping into the kitchen. He’d spent a long time in the barns, avoiding Sophia after their kiss. Needing to clear his mind. It hadn’t worked. The taste and feel of her stayed with him until there was no more tack left to polish. He’d put things off a little longer by having a quick shower. Now he’d come to the kitchen to scrounge something to eat, never expecting to find Sophia there. He’d figured she’d be exhausted from her eventful day.
“Making dinner. You were busy in the barn, and I was cleaned up, so.” she broke off the sentence, turning around to face him as she wiped her hands on a towel. “I didn’t know what sort of food you were used to, so I put together a cold meal. I hope that’s okay.”
Tomas stepped forward, just enough to catch the perfumed scent of her skin. She should have been dead on her feet after the extraordinary day they’d had. Instead he found her here looking like an ad in a magazine. She wore a dress that managed to hug her figure yet appear elegant, drawing his gaze to the soft curve of her hips. Her hair was up in some sort of twist that looked simple and casual and that he expected took a great deal of talent to arrange. Silver and amethyst earrings dangled at her ears. And the shoes were back. Lower heels this time, but he raised his eyebrows at the sandals that blended shades of pink, lime green and turquoise. They should have been garish. Instead, they complemented everything, making her look young and stylish.
Like the woman who had arrived yesterday. Tomas knew he should be relieved. It was easier to distance himself from her when she looked like this—foreign and out of his league.
But he missed how her eyes had glittered up at him from beneath her campero and how cuddly she’d appeared in his coveralls. “You didn’t have to make dinner.”
“But you said everyone pitches in. I ditched you earlier—literally. And my bath was very refreshing. I fear today’s activities have left me starving.”
She smiled up at him and he felt his breath catch. This was wrong. It was purely physical. But it was just attraction. Nothing more. He could handle it. Another few days and she’d be gone. Just a blip on the libido radar until things got back to normal.
“How is your hip?” he enquired politely, ignoring the way his pulse had quickened and moving to help with the preparations. She’d already laid out a selection of cold meats from the fridge, as well as cheese and sliced vegetables. The food was placed strategically on a platter, in sections and precise layers that made it a work of art.
“Sore, but the bath helped, and the scented salts, too. They are a lovely addition to the room, Tomas. It should be mentioned to Maria. A nice touch.” She put the last few slices of tomato in place and stood back. “There. All that is missing is slicing the bread.”
“I can do that. You should get off your feet.” Tomas felt off balance at the change in their conversation. In some ways it felt polite and distant, and yet there was a comfortableness to it that made it seem that they’d known each other far longer than a couple of days. And then there was the kiss that neither of them had mentioned. It stood between them, a lump of something that was hard to ignore. They had both retreated to their respective corners since then, looking for solid footing. Had it affected her as strongly as it had him?
He sliced the bread and Sophia laid it on a plate around a small bowl of herbed butter. “Let’s eat outside,” Tomas suggested. He wouldn’t feel so closed in if they ate in the backyard. “I can light a fire. We often do in the evenings.”
“That would be lovely.” Again she smiled, warm and polite, and Tomas got the sneaky suspicion that it was her friendly meet-the-politician smile.
It was no more than he deserved, and he should be glad she’d taken a step back. But he hated it.
They carried the food outdoors, and while Sophia went back into the kitchen to retrieve a bottle of wine and glasses, Tomas began laying a fire.
This formality was exactly what he’d wanted. So why did it feel so awkward?
After the meal he insisted on doing the cleaning up and sent Sophia to rest her hip. When the last dish was dry and back in the cupboard, he found her in the living room, curled into a corner of the sofa, sleeping.
She looked so innocent with her lashes on her cheeks and her lips relaxed in slumber. Her shoes were on the floor and her dress had slid up her thigh, revealing the soft skin to his gaze. Gently, so as not to wake her, he ran his finger up the smooth length, stopping at the hem and drawing back. He didn’t know what to make of her. One moment fragile, the next stubborn as a mule. Today he’d felt he’d let her down. He knew she could have been seriously injured, and he’d expected her to retreat to spoiled form. But instead she’d risen above it and had proved her mettle.
He reached out and touched her shoulder, and as her eyes opened and focused on his he felt the burning start, deep in his gut.
“It’s time for bed,” he said quietly.
For a few moments something hummed between them. The memory of the afternoon’s kiss seemed to sizzle in the air. Her eyes had the same hooded, dazed look now as they’d had then, and he swallowed, resisting the urge to reach out and run his thumb over her cheekbone.
He had the most irrational thought of taking her down the hall to the family quarters and tucking her beneath his sheets before crawling in beside her and holding her close. Her dark eyes showed the slightest hint of alarm as if she understood the direction of his thoughts even though no words had been spoken.
But that was wrong, and crazy, and definitely not what Maria had meant when she’d ordered him to look after their guest. He stepped back and cleared his throat.
“Sleep well, Sophia,” he said, and gathering all his willpower, walked down the hallway alone.
Sophia dug in her pitchfork, wrinkled her nose and, holding her breath, deposited the soiled straw in the wheelbarrow.
When she’d heard Tomas rise this morning, she’d hurriedly hopped out of bed and pulled on the bombachas of yesterday. She would not be late. She was determined not to lag. She put her hand on her still-aching hip. She’d show Tomas she was made of sterner stuff. Last night she’d been exhausted and still reeling from Tomas’s kiss. Putting on the dress and shoes and making dinner was the best way to keep her guard up, to show him a tumble from a horse would not defeat her. And neither would a most heavenly kiss from her sexy gaucho. What she wanted and how far she was prepared to go were two very different things.
The kiss had nearly been repeated before bed last night. She had seen it in his eyes, and for a few seconds she had leaned the slightest bit towards him, her nerve endings on high alert. In the end he’d backed away.