Page 24 of Too Hot To Handle

Cursing savagely, Reever bent down and pulled her T-shirt into place, covering the sensual temptation of Tory’s tan flesh. „You have enough money for that bus ticket yet?” he asked, his voice harsh.

Tory shook her head, refusing to look at Reever.

„You better get it, little girl. You better get it fast.“

Reever mounted his horse and looked down at Tory still lying curled around herself in a nest of grass and wildflowers. He closed his eyes and his hand clenched into a hard fist around the reins.

„Get up,“ he said quietly. „It’s time to go home.“

Again she shook her head.

„Tory, don’t make me touch you.“

Slowly she sat up and looked at him.

Reever’s breath came in with a swift, harsh sound as he saw her eyes.

„I know the way back,“ Tory said, looking through Reever as though he weren’t there at all. Her voice was like her eyes, dark, wounded.

„I can’t let you ride alone.“

„I’ll walk.“

„It’s two miles.“

Tory’s lips curved in a travesty of a smile.

„Walking is one thing even clumsy city girls can do, remember?“

Reever’s breath came in with a harsh sound. „Be back by dinner,“ he said roughly, looking at the soft, honey-colored silk of Tory’s hair lifting in the breeze above the vulnerable curve of her neck. „Don’t make me come after you. We’ll both regret it.“ He turned Blackjack, then looked back and said, „And stay away from Jed unless you want another lesson. You’re too damned hungry to be so innocent. You’d get Jed so hot so fast that he’d hurt you and never even mean to.“

„And you’re different, right? You’re cold so you hurt me – and you mean every bit of it.“ Tory shuddered with shame at the memory of how she must have looked as she pulled up her T-shirt and clumsily offered herself to Reever. „Go away,“ she said hoarsely, shaking. „Oh, God, please, go away!“

„Tory – “

Reever’s voice was as raw as Tory’s, but she didn’t hear it. She wasn’t even looking at him anymore. She had made him vanish in the only way left to her. She had hugged her legs to her chest until she could rest her forehead on her knees, closing out the world, closing out him.

Tory didn’t move or open her eyes, even after the sound of shod hooves faded into silence.

Tory moved awkwardly around the kitchen, trying to favor her right knee without being obvious about it. If Reever saw her limping he would just tear another strip off her for being a clumsy city girl. She couldn’t take that right now. She was still too raw from the afternoon. She didn’t know what she would do if he turned on her again. She didn’t want to know. She had finally admitted that in defiance of common sense and her own usual clear-eyed approach to life, somehow she had managed to fall in love with Reever during the long, sweet, maddening weeks that she had spent side by side with him on the Sundance.

Every day she had spent on the ranch, every hour, every minute, had increased her initial attraction to Reever. She had come to deeply respect his skill and endurance and intelligence. He had taken a ruined ranch and transformed it into a land both productive and beautiful. Although she didn’t know enough about ranching to understand all the thousands of hours of sweat and determination the Sundance’s transformation had required, she did appreciate the results – fat cattle and sheep, clear streams and lakes, grass everywhere she looked, a land that was obviously cared for with an eye to the future as well as to the bottom line on a budget ledger.

Tory hadn’t wanted to admit that her growing love for Reever was why she had been so endlessly vulnerable to his touch. She had told herself that she thought of him as just one more coach she had to please, but she could no longer keep up that pretense. No coach had ever reduced her to tears with a few cold words. No coach had ever made her breath shorten simply by walking past her. No coach had ever set her to secretly dreaming of what it would be like to be a woman with the man she loved, to have a home and children, a chance to build a lifetime of love.

As Tory had walked back to the ranch house, she had finally understood why she hadn’t been able to save up enough money to leave the Sundance. She didn’t want to leave. She had seen Reever watching her when he thought she wouldn’t notice. She had seen and savored the gentleness that lay beneath his harsh exterior, a gentleness he fought against revealing to anyone, especially to her. She had seen him wanting her, and she had kept hoping that if he would only let her close, he would come to love her as she loved him.

Tory bent her head and leaned against the counter until the edge bit deeply into her palms. Silently she raged at herself.You ‘re a fool, Victoria Wells. You ‘ve let yourself in for a world of hurt. You ‘11 never get close to Reever. He won’t let you. He knows just the kind of woman he wants, and you are not that woman. The only thing left to do is leave. There sure as hell isn ‘t any point in hanging around, waiting for the judge to explain why you were disqualified from the competition. This is just one of those times you never had a chance.

City girl. Clumsy. Useless. Too young.

Abruptly Tory shoved away from the counter as though it were her unwelcome thoughts. The incautious movement made pain lance through her right knee. She bit her lip hard, cursing her clumsiness.

She shifted her weight and resumed slicing potatoes into a huge frying pan. Onions followed. She had discovered that the men loved fried potatoes and onions with everything up to and including ice cream. But that wasn’t the reason she was cooking them tonight. She had stayed out so long trying to make sense of herself and Reever and her own life that it was nearly dinnertime before she had gotten back. Hamburger steak and fried potatoes were both fast and simple. Even so, dinner would be late. Already the hands were coming in from the range and looking hopefully toward the kitchen.

„Coffee’s ready,“ Tory said, glancing up from the frying pan as Dutch came in. „Dinner in a few minutes.“

„Don’t hurry,“ Dutch said, looking curiously at the grass stains visible across the back of Tory’s T-shirt.