Because Tennessee wasn’t the kind of man who messed around with women.And even if he had been, Matilda was most certainly not the kind of woman anyone was likely to mess around with.She might as well have hadforeverstamped across her nose like those ridiculously cute freckles.
He had never heard of her being with anyone, but there was something about the directness of her gaze.There was something about her unflappable practicality.
There was the way she blushed at the sight of him.
All of those things told him things he’d be a lot safer not knowing.Because if he followed that blush, he knew he had to be prepared for where it would lead.
“You have a whole lot of animals in your personal zoo, Matilda,” he pointed out.“Does everyone know how many you’re taking care of back here?”
If he expected her to look chastened, well.He should have known better.Matilda laughed.
Then she looked back towards the animals and propped her hands on her hips.“I think they’re mostly happy here.I try to make sure of it.”She blew out a breath.“But it’s hard to convince anyone to come up the hill to meet them.Most of them would be great family pets.A few of them would be better off as working dogs and such.And I think rescues do a better job about that kind of thing than shelters, because you have more time to really get to know the animals in question and you’re better able to place them in good homes where they’ll thrive.Theoretically, I mean.If I could get people here.”
He was thinking about the flush on her cheeks and wondering if that would be something that happened all over her body.And then, once he was thinking about her body, he couldn’t seem to stop looking at the shape of her.All of the bright colors and the exuberant clash of fabric and pattern couldn’t disguise the fact that she was built.She was curvy and looked strong.He’d watched her carry heavy bags of dog food and the like out of the feed store, tossing them into the back of her truck as if they weighed nothing.Matilda was no fragile, wilting flower.
She was the kind of woman that a man conquered the West with.
And even as he thought that, Tennessee could feel something seem to chime deep inside of him, like fate.
But he refused to be governed by anything but cool rationality, and nothing even remotely like passion.Because Tennessee was nothing like his father.
He would never be anything like his father.
So when his hands itched to touch her, he shoved them into his pockets instead.
“How did you become so passionate about this?”he asked her.“Rural folks tend to be less sentimental when it comes to animals.”
“I didn’t grow up on a farm or a ranch,” she said dryly.“I did grow up around folks I thought were maybe a little too callous about the fate of their barn cats, but the truth is, I grew up in a sad house.My mother was mostly absent, both before and after my father died, and we pretty much had to fend for ourselves.Jack had to act like a father too young and I took it upon myself to act like it was my job to raise Rosie, whether she liked that or not.”
Matilda said all of that without a shred of self-pity.Like she was simply stating facts, and they had nothing attached to them.
But then she smiled.“Animals were what made me happy.And the happier they made me, the sadder the way they were treated made me.”She shrugged.“You could probably draw some lines between my childhood and my feelings about the treatment of defenseless creatures, sure.Somehow it all led to rescuing them whenever I could, making myself a nuisance at the Crawford County Animal Shelter as well as the vet.And then, you know.Also my career.”
“I think it’s a good thing,” Tennessee said gruffly.“An honorable thing.”
Her eyes darted to him, gray again.Then she looked away.“Some people think that you should spend more time rescuing humans and let animals fend for themselves.”
“That sounds like the sort of thing someone who doesn’t spend much time rescuing anything might say,” Tennessee replied.
This time, she didn’t grin so much as smile.And her smile changed her whole face—which was to say, it made her so bright that he was tempted to forget it was winter.He could feel that brightness inside of him, flooding through his body, like gold in his veins.
“There are still a whole lot of empty buildings down on the main road,” he found himself saying.“Some of them have land attached.I bet one of them would work for the kind of rescue you’re talking about.”
In fact, he was astonished to discover, he had one in mind.
“Sure,” she said, and she laughed.And that, too, was almost unbearably sweet.“I don’t know if you know this, but vet techs aren’t exactly Montana millionaires like those Flint brothers.”
“You’re a Stark and I’m a Lisle.”Tennessee thought maybe he was grinning himself, or maybe she was just looking at his mouth.That worked too.“I’m sure we could work something out.”
Besides, Tennessee kind of thought it would suit him to have more Matilda Stark in town.
She turned around and headed back out of the barn, and he followed after her—with one last look at his blue-eyed husky friend in the pen, silent and still.Like he had high expectations of Tennessee and would be following up.
How a dog made Tennessee feel called out was a mystery.
Outside, it was dark in her yard.The stars were a bright mess up above them, a lot like her and her house and her dogs barking out a symphony from inside the house.
“Look,” Matilda said, as they stood there in the cold, “I realize I did, in fact, roll on into your extremely orderly life with puppies, which you were kind enough to handle beautifully.And I would love to figure out this rescue thing with you.But we don’t have to do this.”
