Sofia shook her head.“I’m not sure how long I’ll be at the Donovan place, and I want to spend some time with my mom and the twins.And I’m a road warrior tomorrow.”
“Off to San Antonio?”
“Yeah.”Since she’d be at a hotel at least one night, she had a bag in the vehicle.
“Tell your mom I said hello.”
“I will.”
“How is it working out with everyone under one roof?”
“I think my mother’s in her own little part of heaven.She loves having the babies around.”
“So you’ll be in tomorrow before you head out?”
“Yeah.I’ll want to give you an update.”In the far distance, thunder rumbled again.
“Be careful out there.”
Tyrone checked his phone.“Radar is showing light rain moving our way.”
She nodded.There was nothing unusual about unsettled spring weather in South Texas.
After saying goodbye, she headed outside to her SUV.Printed instructions to the ranch were on the passenger seat.In an email exchange, Cade had warned her that her GPS wouldn’t do a lot of good once she left the local highway.The ranch had miles of roads, and most of them weren’t paved.
He’d informed her that house itself was more than a mile from the first gate.Taking wrong turns could lead her deeper onto the property, so he’d suggested she memorize the directions.
Once she was free of downtown Corpus Christi, Sofia pushed a button on the dash to dial Cade’s phone number.
As she listened to it ring, a frisson of nerves skated through her stomach.
No matter how much she’d tried to shove thoughts of him away, they’d returned relentlessly, teasing her senses, making her want more, making her wish he hadn’t been a perfect gentleman Saturday night.
Just when she thought the call might go to voicemail, he answered.“Donovan.”
Since the phone was connected to the car’s sound system, his deep voice surrounded her in a rumbling, masculine tone that took her immediately back to their conversation on the terrace at the country club.Now, as then, every feminine reaction flared.Instinctively she reached to turn down the volume.“It’s Sofia McBride,” she said, a bit amazed by how steady her voice was.“I’m confirming our three o’clock appointment.”
“That’s brave.”
His tone contained an edge that should have scared her, but instead intrigued her.“I told you I’d be there,” she said.
“Where are you now?”he asked.
“On Highway 44, a few miles west of Corpus.”
“Right on time.I’ll see you in less than an hour.Unless you’d like me to meet you in Waltham?”
“I should be fine.”A fat raindrop splatted on the windshield.
“And have you worked a bump gate before?”
“Well…” She hesitated.“No.”In his email, he’d explained that in many cases on the ranch roads, they’d opted to use gates that swung open when you hit them with a bumper.According to Cade, it saved a tremendous amount of time.“But it seems pretty straightforward.”
“You’ll have seven seconds to get clear before it swings shut.It’s plenty of time, but if you dawdle, we’re not responsible for the damage to your car.”
“Did your lawyer tell you to say that?”
He laughed, the sound low and deep, filling the inside of the vehicle with intimacy.
