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“He didn’t steal anything. We defaulted on a loan and he just followed the contract my grandmother signed.” Belle made the mistake of looking at the dog. He was giving her such a soulful look she couldn’t help reaching out and stroking his fuzzy head. His eyes drifted closed as he snuggled against her palm.
Something that didn’t go unnoticed by Melba.
“Would you look at that? Gilley looks like he’s died and gone to doggie heaven. Of course, anything would be heaven after the hell this poor fella has been through. When I got him he was skinnier than a willow branch. Poor thing had been starved near to death.”
Belle’s heart tightened. “Starved?”
Corbin got up from the table. “As always, it was great seeing you, Melba, but we need to get going.” He took Belle’s arm and led her toward his truck.
Melba called after them. “If you change your mind about needing a pet, Belle, you know where to find me!”
Belle glanced back over her shoulder to see Gilley sitting at Melba’s feet looking forlorn.
“Don’t look,” Corbin said. “That’s what suckered me in.”
“Who starves an animal?”
He came to a stop and turned to her. “Do you want to go back? I just thought you had enough on your plate without worrying about a dog. But the choice is yours.”
“You’re right. I can’t take care of a dog when I can’t even take care of myself.”
“That’s not what I said.” Corbin pulled open the passenger door of his truck. “I said you have a lot on your plate. I think you’re taking pretty good care of yourself. You found a place to stay and are well fed. Or would have been if that huge hound hadn’t finished it off.”
Belle laughed and glanced back, but Melba and Gilley were already gone. Which made her sad.
Corbin sighed. “Like Melba said, you know where to find her if you change your mind.”
She wouldn’t. She didn’t need a dog right now. But that didn’t stop her from thinking about Gilley all the way back to the trailer.
Once there, Corbin hopped out and opened her door before he walked her to the foot of the rickety steps that led to the front door of the trailer.
“Well, thank you for dinner.” To avoid another awkward moment like the other night, she quickly climbed the steps and pulled out the key so she could unlock the door. Unfortunately, she struggled to get the key in the lock.
Suddenly, Corbin was there, his muscle body and heat surrounding her as he took the key from her. Once the door was open, she held out her hand for the key, but rather than dropping it into her hand, he placed it carefully on her palm and closed her fingers around it. She knew he only did it so she wouldn’t drop the key and they’d have to search for it in the dark. But the feel of his hand closed around hers sent a bolt of electricity arcing through her and her breath caught.
The sound seemed deafening in the silence of the night.
He stilled, a sure sign he’d heard. She should have pulled her hand away and made light of it. Instead, she just stood there with her pulse spiking and her insides sizzling and her gaze pinned on his perfect features that she could see in the flickering light of the television they’d left on.
“Was it a lie?” he said in a soft, husky voice that made her insides tremble. Her voice sounded just the opposite, high pitched and strained.
“Was what a lie?”
“What you said about me not being your enemy.”
She hesitated for a moment and tried to collect her turbulent emotions before she answered the question. “At first, I did think of you as the enemy. I thought you were taking the ranch because of what I did. But now I realize you’re just a brother who loves his sister and wants to give her the home she’s always dreamed of.” She hesitated. “But the Holiday Ranch is my family’s dream too, Corbin. It’s been in our family for over a century. It’s our heritage.”
“A heritage your family carelessly lost. If I hadn’t taken it from them, someone else would have. Someone who would have probably kicked them out without a backward glance and bulldozed the house and barn to put up wind turbines.”
It was true, but that didn’t make it any better.
“But at least it wouldn’t have been you.” She didn’t know where the words came from. They surprised her as much as they seemed to surprise him. He went perfectly still. She waited for him to say something—to question her words like she was questioning them. But he didn’t. He just stood there looming over her, holding her hand and radiating heat that warmed her like a cozy fire on a dreary rainy day.
She was reminded of another night. A night when she’d stood on her front porch and stared at the same face. An intense face that gave nothing away . . . except the vulnerability in his eyes. Like that night, she made a choice. A choice she had no business making.
She leaned in and kissed him.
His lips were as soft as she remembered. They hesitated for only a startled breath before they opened and he took over the kiss.
