“I was wondering something when that man asked you to dance,” he remarked, his voice taking on a husky gruffness.
“I wasn’t going to say yes,” her head snapped up quickly.
“I know.” His face was inches away from hers. “I wasn’t thinking about that.” His arms moved around her, drawing her closer to him. “I was wondering if you know how beautiful you are?”
“I don’t...”
His lips cut off the rest of her sentence as he pulled her against him and kissed her with an intensity that took her breath away.
She couldn’t think of anything else as he kissed her passionately, his breath mingling with hers.
He gently drew back from her when a nearby bush rustled. They looked around but there was nobody to be seen.
“Must have been the wind,” he said breathlessly.
“Thomas I want to tell you something...” Her words were once again cut off as he drew her into another kiss and held her tightly against him.
Chapter Twenty-One
The mare neighed as Thomas pulled the foal out onto the fresh bed of hay in the stall. “There we are girl,” he soothed the mare as the foal kicked and its way into the world. “You have a lovely young lad.”
Thomas was there for every birthing of the cattle and horses. He wanted to make absolutely sure that nothing went wrong, no matter the hour of day.
“Another successful birthing?” Arthur called over the stall doors.
Thomas stood and wiped his brow on his sleeve. “That makes three successful births this month. If we carry on at this pace, we will be in the pink before we know it,” he said happily.
The ranch was thriving since they took the deal from Elroy Higgs. All the buildings had been repaired and several corrals had been added to accommodate the horses that were used for breeding.
“There’s a young man at the house looking for you. He says that Higgs mentioned to him we need some help around the ranch. I left him with Rosaline. Bunea was over for tea so they are seeing to him.”
Thomas pulled open the stall door and cleaned his hands with a rag. “What do you make of him?”
“Seems decent enough, has a nice polite manner about him. There’s something about his manner that I’m not too certain of, but if Higgs suggested him then he must be alright. His build speaks of hard work, but I’ll let you make your own judgement when you see him.”
“No time like the present then.” Thomas threw the rag aside and followed his father out of the stables.
They chatted about the ranch and all the progress that had been made in the past few months as they walked towards the house.
“So you think this chap will be equal to the task?” Thomas asked his father.
“Higgs has held up his side of the deal and done everything he said he would. I don’t see why he would send a young man with references if he wasn’t everything he made himself out to be, but still...”
Thomas shot his father a questioning look.
“I’ll let you be the judge,” Arthur said as they entered the kitchen.
Rosaline was sitting across from a young man with a cup of tea in her hands. She was laughing at something he said.
The hairs on the back of Thomas’ neck stood up as he took in the scene.
The young man was tall and handsome. His skin was tanned over his bulging biceps. Thomas could see why his father had said that the man’s build spoke of hard work. His square jaw was cleanly shaved and his eyes were an ice blue, and he cut a fetching picture sitting across from Rosaline with his mop of blonde hair.
Thomas nodded a greeting and pulled out a chair next to his wife. He felt the urge to be as close to her as possible.
“Ian Summers,” the man stuck his hand over the table and greeted Thomas. “Pleased to meet you.”
Thomas shook his hand. Ian’s voice was warm and friendly enough, but something about his manner set his teeth on edge. He told himself that he was being unnecessarily protective because of Rosaline. There wasn’t anything else about the man’s behavior that was out of place.
