A Cowboy for Holly

Chapter 6

Her apartment was so tiny, Ben felt like Gulliver. He could have dropped her entire studio apartment into the great room on his ranch and still have room for his pool table.

He watched her move around the living area, straightening things that didn't need straightening—nerves, he was pleased to note.

She might pretend to be over him, but she damn well wasn't, and he intended to keep it that way. There were blue curtains over the windows and bright splashes of primary colors in the pillows tossed on the short couch. A couple of tables and two chairs made up the rest of the furnishings. On the walls, paintings—some with simple frames, some without—were hung so tightly together it should have looked cluttered. Instead, it was instinctively artistic, drawing the viewer's eyes from one amazing landscape to another.

As he admired them all silently, he noticed that one of the biggest landscapes was of his ranch. The scene depicted just the barn and the field behind it, with a sunrise beginning to stain the sky, but it was so detailed, he felt he could have stepped into the canvas. Hell, he half expected to hear his wrangler's voices as they got started on their day.

He stepped closer. "Did you do this?"

"Yes."

He shot her a look. "You didn't tell me you could paint. You said you worked in accounting at the auction house."

"I do."

"Why? When you can do this?"

She moved in closer to him and turned her gaze on the painting. "Because artists have to eat and selling paintings isn't as easy as it sounds."

"Seems like I'm not the only one who kept secrets," he mused.

Her features stiffened. "It wasn't a secret."

"Neither was me being rich," he pointed out. "Everyone at the ranch knew."

"Everyone but me."

"How did you find out, anyway?" Not that it mattered, but he was curious. He had never planned to keep it from Holly forever, he just hadn't found a way to tell her before she'd up and left.

"The horseback tour," she said. "I took it the day before you went up on the mountain. The guide talked about you. Mentioned that the owner, Ben Gray, had been offering inner-city kids free weeklong stays at the ranch for the past few years. He was very proud to be a part of it."

"Hell." Ben tore off his hat, tossed it onto the couch and drove his fingers through his hair.

She tried to step back from him, but he stopped her with his hands on her shoulders.

"Let's just clear this up, then," he said. Meeting her eyes, he went on. "My family's always owned that land. Well, for a couple hundred years, anyway. When I took over the ranch, I got into horse breeding. Made money at it and then made more. But I'm not so different from the regular cowboy you thought I was, Holly. I work damn hard for what I've got."

"Doesn't change anything."

"Of course it does," he said and tightened his grip on her. He could feel her slipping away from him and he wouldn't let that happen. "I said I'd tell you why I kept who I was a secret, so here it is. You think you're the only one who doesn't like being used?"

"What does that mean?"

"It means I've had women try to wangle a wedding ring out of me just to get their hands on my bank accounts."

"I would never—"

"Didn't say you would," he muttered, loving the look of indignation on her face. "Just that others have tried. And so, damn it, when you didn't know who I was, I wanted to enjoy it. I wanted to spend time with a woman who was interested in me, not Ben Gray, rich guy."

She chewed at her bottom lip and every tug of her teeth tugged at something inside him. He was feeling easier now than he had in the past week. He was here, with her. Holding her, and she wasn't running.

"Okay, I guess I can understand that," she said softly. Tipping her head to look at him, she added, "But you should have told me, Ben. After we were together."

"You'd have run away all that much sooner."

"Maybe. And maybe not. We'll never know now."

He nodded and swallowed hard. Her scent reached for him, wrapped itself around him until he was near strangling with it. Her eyes were wide and beautiful and her lips parted as if she was waiting for his kiss. That thought jolted him.

"You've got a point," he said. "Okay, then, let's agree neither one of us was completely honest."

She nodded and her teeth tugged at her bottom lip again, twisting something inside him into knots.

He took a breath and blew it out. "We start fresh here. Tonight. You're Holly, I'm Ben. And I want you. More than anything else, I just plain want you."

"Me, too," she said, leaning toward him. "I do, too. I've missed you, Ben."

"Thank God for that," he muttered and took her mouth in a kiss he'd been starving for. Tongues twisting together, breath mingling, they clung to each other like survivors of a shipwreck.

Her hands moved up and down his back while he dragged her close. Arms tightening around her, Ben held her as if he never meant to let her go. His world came right again. All week, he'd been a step off. Out of balance with everything because she wasn't with him. Now that he had hold of her again, all he could think was that he needed to be inside her.

"Bedroom," he murmured.

She laughed a little. "It's here. Just here. The couch pulls out into a—" She sighed as his fingers found her nipples.

"Right. Bed. I'll get it open." He released her briefly and turned to the short sofa. Snatching up pillows, he tossed them every which way until they fell like confetti at a party. He heard her laughter, and that only fed the fires inside him.

He threw the couch cushions off, then grabbed hold of the damn sofa bed's edge, yanked it open and tore the blanket back. Turning around to look at her, he said, "Now, Holly."