The Bachelor's Baby (Bachelor Auction Book 3)(19)
But as he drove Meg home in the early morning, blade down on the truck and snow still falling, he wondered if that early experience had caused him to pull back from making serious attachments all his life. Meg had asked him about his plans for the house and he’d explained the updates and re-plumbing he intended and as he’d listened to himself, he’d thought, That’s a lot of house for one man.
When he thought about having a family, though, something in him recoiled. Shied like it was explosive and dangerous and carried a lot of potential for pain.
Maybe he did have unresolved grief issues, he thought broodingly.
“Park on this side. I’m staying in the spa,” Meg said with a tap of her nail against her side window.
He veered to the right across the plowed space between the house and a small outbuilding. The one-level building was quaint with a little porch, obviously too modern to be a renovated homestead.
“Your brother has a spa?”
“Blake’s first wife wanted to open a hair and nail salon out here, but never got it off the ground. Liz actually knows what she’s doing and is investing with her family to run it as a retreat for their big-money clients in California.”
“Your brother okay with strangers coming and going?”
“He doesn’t love it, but his first wife did such a number on his finances, the ranch needs the income. Technically, I’m her first client so Liz can write off the heat and electricity. She’s quite the penny pincher. She’ll be so good for Blake. Hey, wanna hear a secret? I think she’s pregnant,” she said with hushed excitement. “That’ll be so great if she is. He deserves more kids.”
Linc put the truck in park and shifted to face her, bemused by her animation when he was about as done in as it got. They’d carried on like rabbits on ecstasy, dozing a little before waking at the alarm and making love again. He was as horny as the next man, but no woman had ever got him up again and again like she did. He was disappointed as hell that she was leaving.
“Are you and your brother…?” he wasn’t sure how to phrase it.
“Related? No. He’s a local boy. His birth parents died in a car crash. Our parents, these ones-” she pointed at the house, “put their names in with agencies all over the country. I came from Illinois.” She set her gloved hands in her lap. “So I guess that’s where I belong.”
She sounded melancholy again, making him think of all the times he’d stood somewhere he didn’t want to be and wished himself back in Montana. After his mom passed, he had finally realized life was too short to waste it. He’d made the ranch happen, knowing there would be hardship, but he was living his goal, not leaving it on the end of a stick like a carrot to get him through days he was only tolerating.
He opened his mouth to give her a pep talk along those lines, but the lights in the house came on.
“Blue probably barked, the tattle-tale,” Meg muttered, flashing her white smile as she added ominously, “Big brother is watching now.”
“Want me to stick around? What time are you leaving for the airport? I could drive you.” That hadn’t been on his agenda at all, but now he’d said it, he wanted to.
“That’s sweet, but a pretty big favor to ask when we’re…”
He could only see her profile and watched her look down, mouth pursed.
“I had a really nice time tonight, Linc. Thank you.” She looked over at him and her eyes seemed to sparkle. “I won’t say I’ll call next time I’m in town because that might not be convenient for you, but…” She cleared a catch from her throat.
Something foreign and uncomfortable clenched in his chest, a kind of guilt that she expected him to find someone else in the meanwhile. He probably would, and it already felt like cheating.
“Call,” he said with a grate in the back of his own throat. “Let me know you landed safe. I want to know what the police are doing about that guy. You be careful.”
“I will,” she promised. He could hear the rueful, stirred note in her voice. She liked his protectiveness.
He wanted to protect her. If he wasn’t so dug in, with a truckload of heifers to prepare for, he might have gone to Chicago and ensured she was safe.
Hell. He ran a hand down his face, reminded himself how long he’d waited to be here. Women. He’d seen them play havoc with a lot of men’s plans. He wasn’t about to put his life on hold so he could go to Chicago for an affair that would end anyway, and probably with a lot more drama than this parting right here.
“I had a good time tonight too. You’re a helluva woman, Meg. I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you, but I’m damned glad I did.”
She tilted her head and leaned closer, saying, “Me too,” against his mouth.
It was a good kiss, one he didn’t want to finish. He cradled the side of her face and memorized the feel of her lips, the smell of her skin, aware of regret and something like craving infusing the moment. Not pleasant surface emotions, but deep, dark feelings that weren’t like him at all.
He was going to look back on this as a ‘could have been.’
Disturbed, he drew back.
She ducked her head, touched her gloved finger to her mouth, then turned away to open her door herself.
“I’ll walk you in—” he said, reaching for his own latch.