Shawna Delacorte - Wyoming Wife?

In the four years since his wife’s death he’d managed to drag himself up from the depths of despair and get on with his life. The first two years had been very difficult, but the past two years had settled into a normal routine that he was able to live with. He’d pretty much resigned himself to the fact that he would never find another special woman who could be part of his life.

One thing was for certain, he was not ready to expose that fragile place that he’d so carefully hidden away. And even if he did eventually take a chance on exposing those emotions, it would not be with someone as totally unsuited as Samantha Burkett. They were from two different worlds and obviously had nothing in common in spite of the fact that she managed to fan the nearly dead embers of his desires into flames.

Samantha was totally taken aback by his abrupt change in attitude. “I...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m accustomed to taking care of myself and paying my own way without depending on others. I didn’t want you to think I was a freeloader. Perhaps there’s something I could do to help out.”

“Well...I am a little shorthanded with Helen gone. Maybe you could fill in on some of her chores.” It wasn’t that he actually needed her help, but he thought it might give her something to do to occupy her time until the storm lifted. Then she would be on her way. As abruptly as she’d appeared, she would just as quickly be gone. They’d remain two people totally unsuited for each other, whose paths happened to momentarily cross one stormy day. Nothing more.

“Uh...yes, of course.” She glanced down at the floor, then recaptured his gaze and extended her best professional smile. “I’m not sure how much of a help I’ll be, but I’m certainly willing to try. In fact, why don’t I start right now by making some coffee? I’m sure this type of cold day calls for something hot to drink, especially after working outside the way you have been.”

“While you’re doing that, I’m going to put on some dry clothes.” Jace hurried down the ball to his bedroom, closed the door, then leaned back against it. He expelled a long, slow breath. A line from the movie Casablanca immediately leaped to mind. He changed it slightly to fit his own personal inner turmoil. Qf all the back reads in the county, why did she have to get stuck on mine?

Samantha carried the book to the guest room and placed it on the night stand. She would read it later. Right now she had other things to do. In the kitchen— certainly not her favorite room and not where she displayed her greatest proficiency. She squared her shoulders, clenched her jaw and marched determinedly down the hall and through the living room. She repeated the words over and over in her mind, I can do this...I can do this.

She carefully measured out the proper amount of coffee from the canister, then added the water and turned on the coffeepot. Next she set out two cups and saucers. She found a sugar bowl, then poured some milk into a cream pitcher. She arranged everything on the table, along with napkins and a spoon next to his coffee cup. She didn’t know if he took cream or sugar in his coffee, but she wanted to make sure she was prepared for the eventuality. She stood back and surveyed the scene with a critical eye. She knew it was only coffee, but she wanted to make sure she had not forgotten anything.

“Samantha?” Jace’s voice came from the living room moments later.

She heard him call her name, and a fraction of a second later the butterflies began to flit around inside her stomach. She took a calming breath, then called out to him. “In the kitchen.”

“Did you find everything okay?” He walked directly to the cupboard and took out a mug without even glancing at the table she had so painstakingly prepared. He grabbed the pot and filled the mug. He took one sip of the coffee, held it in his mouth for a moment, then finally swallowed it. He stared into the mug and scrunched his face into a disagreeable frown before looking quizzically at Samantha. “What is this stuff?”

“It’s coffee.” She didn’t have a clue what had prompted his question and strange behavior. “What did you think it was?”

He dumped the contents of the mug, picked up the pot and poured the rest of the coffee down the drain.

She rushed to the sink, watched the coffee swirl down the drain, then stared up at him. Her bewilderment carried over into the tone of her voice. “What’s wrong? What do you think you’re doing?”

He threw away the used coffee grounds and started anew. “I’m making coffee. That stuff you made could more aptly be referred to as tea.”

“Wait just a minute...” She felt the anger flush across her cheeks. “There was nothing wrong with that coffee. That’s the way I always make it and I’ve never had any complaints before.”

“Well, maybe your friends are ultrapolite or maybe they’ve never had to warm up after being out in a blizzard. Either way, coffee has to be a lot stronger than this barely tinted hot water of yours.”

“Strong coffee is not good for the system. Studies show—”

He whirled around to face her. “Studies aren’t going to warm me up after being outdoors in a subzero windchill factor.”

She tried to keep the irritation out of her voice, but it crept in anyway. “This falls within the realm of my area of expertise. Studies of the coffee-drinking habits of office workers clearly show—”

His retort was immediate and emphatic. “Running a ranch does not have a parallel connection to working in an office. It’s like comparing horses and cattle. They may both be four-legged animals, but that doesn’t mean they’re interchangeable in their uses.”

Her anger flared. She glowered at him as she jumped on what she felt was his unwarranted criticism. “Your horses and cows don’t have a thing to do with—”

He moved so quickly that Samantha didn’t have time to react. One minute they were engaged in a disagreement that could have turned into a full-scale argument, and the next minute his mouth covered hers with a heated intensity unlike anything she had ever before experienced—a heated intensity that was at the same time strangely hesitant and unsure, a heated intensity that tasted of longing and loneliness as much as desire.

Her first reaction was to pull away from him, even though his attentions were far from being unwanted. It was all so sudden, so startling, so unplanned...and so very exciting. His warmth flowed through her, providing her with a taste of the passion that existed beneath the cool exterior of Jace Tremayne. She lifted her arms around his neck. Then she felt herself being pulled into his embrace.

There was a strength about him that came from the security of knowing who he was and being content with that knowledge. He was a man who knew what he wanted out of life and where he was going. It was the type of strength she had longed for, the type of strength that had eluded her in her drive to please her parents, the type of strength she had not found in the person of Jerry Kensington. It was an honesty she found very appealing... and incredibly sexy.

Three

It would be difficult to say which one broke off the kiss, Jace or Samantha. They seemed to each pull back at the same time. For a long moment they stood together, still entwined in an embrace. The howling wind faded into the background. An almost deafening silence filled the air, broken only by the sound of breathing. Each seemed to be lost in the depths of the other’s eyes, looking into the soul in search of...of what? Then reality intruded into the moment and the spell was broken.

Samantha stepped away, coming to an abrupt halt when she backed up against the edge of the kitchen sink. There was no question that the kiss had a very disconcerting effect on her. Her heart pounded. She fought against the shortness of breath that tried to take hold. All the while his silvery-eyed gaze held her as close as his arms had just moments earlier. She didn’t know what to say to him about what had just happened. He might have been the one to take her by surprise, but she was every bit as willing a participant as he had been.