“So then I should be going,” she said, trying to stick to what she felt she should do.
Placing his hands on her shoulders, making her tingle in anticipation, he turned her to face him.
“Don’t go home tonight, Lindsay. You have choices—you can sleep downstairs alone or upstairs with me, but stay. I don’t want you to drive back tonight.”
“Tony,” she said, her heart drumming as she looked into his blue-green eyes, “you know I should go. We’ve talked about this.”
He stepped closer to wrap his arms around her and kiss her. When she knew she was on the verge of agreeing to stay, she stepped out of his embrace.
“I have to go home,” she said breathlessly.
He nodded and watched as she straightened her blouse and turned for the door.
Draping his arm across her shoulders, he walked her to her pickup.
“I know you’re doing what’s sensible. We have different lifestyles. Even so, I don’t want you to go.”
“I have to,” she said and turned to climb into her pickup.
She smiled at him. “Thanks for dinner and for showing me your water pump.”
“Sure. I’ll call you,” he said, and closed the pickup door.
He stood on the driveway watching her as she drove away. She glanced several times at the rearview mirror and he still stood watching. Then she rounded a curve and he was gone from view.
She trembled with longing, wanting to stay, telling herself over and over that she was doing the right thing and the smartthing. She had no future with Tony. Far from it, he would be a threat to her and her ranch. Why didn’t that knowledge make her feel better?
She tried to stop thinking about his kisses, the laughs they had shared. What she was doing was for the best. She missed him, but she was not brokenhearted after an affair that Tony had ended, something she wanted to avoid with all her being.
The auction had been worth the money if she got friendliness and cooperation from him. She knew he would never stop telling her what she should do, but they could have a more neighborly relationship. In a week she would probably feel differently about him if she stopped seeing him and talking to him.
Tony stood a few minutes after Lindsay drove out of sight. Longing for her tore at him and was impossible for him to ignore.
How could he have so much fun with her now, find her so desirable when not long ago they were at each other’s throats over every issue?
He knew the answer to his question. She was the sexiest, best-looking, most fun woman he had ever known. The realization still shook him.
Feeling empty, he stared at the road, wishing she would turn around and come back. Back into his arms and into his bed tonight.
He shouldn’t miss her—he had never missed a woman this much or given one this much thought when he wasn’t with her.
Of all the women in Texas, why did it have to be Lindsay who had turned his life topsy-turvy?
With a long sigh, he turned to go inside, knowing he wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about her or sleep peacefully tonight.
As he walked back to his house, he saw a light in one of the barns. On impulse, to avoid being alone, he changed direction and strolled to the barn, where he found Keane nailing up more shelves in the tack room.
“I wondered who was working. Need help?”
“Yep. In a minute. I need a break. If you have time, four hands will be better than two trying to get these shelves in place,” Keane said as he sat on a crate.
Tony sat on a bale of hay and stretched out his legs. “Lindsay just left and she’s happy about my water pumps. She is going to look into doing the same, as we have to get water.”
“She can be a nice lady. Good for neighbors to get along.”
“It should be more peaceful. I hope it lasts, because she still can be her stubborn self.”
“She’s not so bad, but you know that now. The people who work for her like her.”