1
Trace
The rain beats down, showing no signing of lessening anytime soon. The wind is coming in so hard I can feel the house shake, the windows rattling. There are a million places my mind should be right now—worrying about the already-high lake flooding, the fences that might be knocked down, enabling cattle to escape, or the oil riggings being damaged. But none of that seems to matter. I can’t even be bothered with the idea of it. Which isn’t normal for me. I like everything done and handled. Everything organized. Chaos drives me crazy, and normally a storm would have me pacing, wondering about the mess I’d have to clean in the morning.
All these things are small in comparison to what my mind insists on focusing on. All my attention is solely on the woman lying in my bed. I can’t take my eyes off her. Haven’t been able to since I found her lying in the middle of my fields, completely alone.
Her midnight-black hair was spread out all around her. A thin white dress clung to her curvy little body, her feet bare. She looked like an angel sent to tempt a man. Almost like she’d fallen right out of the sky and onto my ranch. Part of me thought that it makes her mine. This is Texas, after all, and possession is nine-tenths of the law.
How she’d really gotten there, I had no idea. I just knew from the moment I found her she was mine. Something deep inside me told me she was running from something, and I’m the one she ran to. Why else would a young woman be out in the middle of nowhere with no shoes, the nearest road over a mile away?
Maybe the gash on her head had confused her. She’d lost her way somehow, but still that didn’t seem to make sense either. I didn’t know what had brought her here, but that didn’t matter. She’s mine now. If someone’s chasing her, I’ll make sure they never find her.
When I couldn’t get her to wake, I picked her up off the ground. She weighed almost nothing, even with all those curves she had. I’d not only seen them but felt them when I pulled her body to mine, cradling her in my arms. I carefully held on to her as I climbed back onto my horse.
“Don’t let them find me.”
Her soft words ring over and over again in my head. She’d said those words as she nuzzled in closer to me. I could feel her lips on my neck the whole ride back to my home. It wasn’t an easy ride, holding her like that, but I made do. There was no other choice. I sure as hell wasn’t leaving her, even if there wasn’t a storm rolling in on top of us. The rain had already started to pour, and I barely got her into the house and my horse in the barn before all hell broke loose.
I wasn’t sure what to do with her at first. So I did the only thing I could think of. I took care of her. I stripped her of her wet clothes, doing the best I could to not look at her, no matter how much I wanted to. I couldn’t just let her lie in them, and I couldn’t figure how to get the damn dress off. But one good tug and the thing ripped right down the middle. I pulled it from her and tossed it to the floor before covering her with the blanket I keep at the end of my bed.
She didn’t feel like she had a fever when I checked her, and the cut on her head wasn’t deep enough to need stitches, not that we could go anywhere if she needed medical attention. Not with the storm raging like it was. Besides, she didn’t need to go anywhere. I liked her right where she was.
As I look down at her, I don’t know what to do next besides stand here. She looks like a porcelain doll in the middle of my giant bed. I never thought my bed was big until she was in the center of it, hardly taking up any space. God knows how long I’ve been standing here already. My wet clothes are already starting to dry.
She lets out a little sigh, her full lips parting a fraction before her pink tongue darts out, wetting them.
“Fuck,” I mumble, closing my eyes and turning my back to her.
The things I’m thinking about while she lies passed out on my bed would send an angel running. If that’s what she is. I haven’t even seen her eyes yet, and I can’t stop thinking about what color they might be.
Knowing I need some space before I find myself crawling into bed with her, I walk over to my dresser and start digging around for some sleep bottoms, or whatever they’re called. I know someone got me some for Christmas last year. I think. Normally I sleep naked, not having to worry about anyone else being around. I’m always alone here unless my sister Dolly pops in to drop something off.
I’m not like the rest of my brothers, who let Dolly in and allow her to wreak havoc on their homes. Okay, maybe allow is a little strong, but Dolly has taken on the role of our mother with full force since we lost ours years back. If I allowed Dolly, she’d be here most nights dropping off dinner and asking me a million questions about a million different things.
Lucky for me, the storm won’t be letting anyone get close. Everyone thought I kept putting off laying new gravel on the road that leads to my house because I didn’t have time. Truth be told, I like it to be a pain in the ass to get to my house. Maybe then people won’t come around so much.
It isn’t that I don’t love my two brothers, Ty and Blake, and even my nosy little sister, Dolly. But I like to be alone, or out on the land. It works for me. I’m not a man of many words. I say what needs to be said and that’s it. If I want to visit, I go visit.
But ever since Ty went and got married and started down this marriage road, it’s like everyone is pushing in for the rest of us to do it, too. Marriage isn’t something I’ve ever given much thought to. I have enough to worry about most of the time. I’m not sure I’m fit to be a husband, so I’ve never tried. Never had a desire to.