More Than a Convenient Bride Page 17
With a hiss the rain changed to sleet and Mike’s smile vanished as he swore quietly. “This we don’t need, but I’m thankful it held off until now.”
She nodded and looked up. He gazed into her blue eyes and she gazed back. The low dash lights bathed her face in a pink glow, revealing rosy cheeks, big blue eyes and smooth skin. As he looked into her wide eyes, he became aware of her as a woman. A current sparked and he saw her eyelids flutter at the same time he felt electricity ignite between them. Startled, he stared at her while his surprise held him immobile. He hadn’t been aware of another woman since losing Elise to cancer almost two years ago, a year after Scotty’s birth. Shocked by his reaction, Mike forgot how he was staring at Savannah. He looked away, turning to gaze at the rain.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Lucky boy. He’s still asleep.”
“I’ll carry him in and come back to get your suitcases,” Mike said.
“Don’t worry about my things tonight. I’ll get the bag I need and the rest can wait until tomorrow. You take care of your son.”
“His nanny is away right now or she would come help. Her daughter has a new baby and Nell, Mrs. Lewis, has gone to help for a few weeks.”
“I’m in no rush,” Savannah said, slipping on a backpack and gathering her laptop, purse and a suitcase.
Mike unbuckled Scotty and picked him up, carrying his sleeping son in his arms.
“He’s a sound sleeper,” she whispered.
Mike smiled. “Thank heaven.” He opened the door and held it wide for her. She stepped inside and turned to hold the door out of his way while he carried Scotty inside and switched off an alarm.
“Scotty is growing up in a comfortable, beautiful home,” she said as they walked down a wide hall that held green plants, oil paintings of landscapes and Western scenes in ornate frames, Queen Anne chairs and tables along the walls. Doors opened onto rooms they passed, giving her a glimpse of a formal dining room with a massive table that had to seat twenty. She passed a library with ladders and an open beam ceiling.
“Mike, that’s an enormous library. Do you read constantly?”
He smiled and nodded. “It’s the family library. Many of the books are very old. Scotty has his own bookshelves in his room, so he doesn’t try to pull out valuable first editions from the family collection.”
“I don’t know how Scotty finds his way around this house.”
“This house seems large because it’s new to you. You’ll know your way around in no time.”
“Which means you think I’ll be snowed in for several days.”
“Don’t sound so glum. You didn’t mention having a deadline and we’ll find some way to pass the time.”
He smiled at her and she had to laugh. Was he flirting with her? She didn’t know him well enough to know. They branched off into the front hall with a sweeping staircase and she went upstairs beside Mike.
“This ranch is my whole life. My brothers have other interests, but my world is here. My sister is like me and has a ranch close by. I also have a house in Verity that I never use and a condo in Dallas that I’m rarely in. Do you live in town or in the country in Arkansas?”
“Definitely in town,” Savannah answered. “I don’t know anything about country living much less life on a Texas ranch.”
They walked down another wide hall. “My suite of rooms is at the end of this wing. Any of these bedrooms are empty along here. You might as well be closer so you don’t feel isolated. Scotty’s suite adjoins mine and his nanny has a suite adjoining his on the other side. Here’s where you can stay.” Mike entered a room and switched on a light. She looked at a sizable sitting room with a large-screen television, a wide glass desk, bookshelves along one wall, chairs and two sofas. The room had appealing turquoise-and-cream decor with a hardwood floor and thick area rugs. “There’s a bedroom beyond this room. If you need anything, just let me know. Make yourself comfortable. As soon as I get Scotty in bed I’ll come back and we can go have hot chocolate or a drink or whatever you would like.”
“That sounds wonderful.”
“See you in a few minutes,” he said.
She watched him walk out, his son in his arms. He looked like a typical cowboy, his black hat squarely on his head and his jeans hugging his long, slender legs. Boots gave an already tall man additional height. Once again she was thankful he had been at the station when she had turned in.
Glancing around the sitting room, she thought of the rooms they had passed. Mike was not an ordinary cowboy to afford a house such as this. She walked through the sitting room into a bedroom that was warm, pretty and welcoming with antique maple furniture, a four-poster bed, a rocking chair, another large television and a tall cheval glass. Savannah put her bags on her bed and sent a text, including a photo of her temporary room, to her mother to let her know where she was and why.
She freshened up, then changed into jeans, a blue sweater and her knee-high leather boots. Undoing her braid, she brushed her hair, which fell across her shoulders. She thought about the moment beneath the porte cochere before they stepped out of the truck when she had become aware of Mike as a desirable man. When she had looked into his dark eyes, she had been certain from his intense expression he had felt something. She shook her head. Attraction had no place in her life at this time and it had surprised her that she even had such a reaction for a brief moment, although Mike Calhoun was a good-looking man and his calm in the storm gave him added appeal.
No matter how attractive Mike was, after what she had just been through, she knew better than to go from one problem of the heart straight into another one.
Copyright © 2015 by Sara Orwig
ISBN-13: 9781460378380
More Than a Convenient Bride
Copyright © 2015 by Harlequin Books S.A.
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Michelle Celmer for her contribution to the Texas Cattleman’s Club: After the Storm miniseries.
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