Free Heart of a Texan by Leigh Greenwood Page B

Ask him to do anything inside a house except eat or sleep, and you’ll find he’s as helpless as a child.”
    “Are you similarly handicapped?”
    Nate’s grin broadened. “I grew up a businessman’s son. I can do any number of things that would make a true Texan balk.”
    “Oh, really? You’ll have to tell me about that someday.” Roberta was beginning to realize she didn’t know anything about this man named Nate Dolan. She had also come to the conclusion that she wanted to know more. A lot more. After all, he thought she was beautiful.
    ***
    Nate settled back against his pillows after Roberta bid him goodnight. She was a confusing woman. At one end of the spectrum, she had shot him and faced down the ranchers. At the other end, she said she would never shoot any man if she weren’t too upset to think straight. Nate suspected she had always been capable of the first two. She believed the second only because she’d never been put in a situation where she had to choose. He had probably felt much the same before the war, before his brother’s death, but he could never go back to being that boy again. He wondered if the same might hold true for Roberta.
    He was certain of one thing, however. She was a beautiful woman. The way that rosy blush spread up her neck and into her cheeks made him think no one had ever told her that before. Why hadn’t Boone Riggins told her she was beautiful at least once a day? He would have if he’d been in love with her. Didn’t every man think the woman he loved was beautiful? Wasn’t that part of being in love?
    He didn’t know why he’d never noticed her lovely figure during the several visits he’d paid to her father. How could he have been so interested in dams, crops, and cows that he’d never noticed a beautiful woman?
    Probably because she’d stayed out of sight. Probably because he’d been so focused on defusing the friction between Robert Tryon and the ranchers he didn’t think of much else. Probably because he’d been so obsessed with finding Laveau diViere, there hadn’t been any room in his head or heart for a woman.
    Being shot had shifted things around a bit.
    He was still concerned about the friction between Roberta and the ranchers. He was still obsessed with finding Laveau, especially since Laveau was in the area, but now Roberta filled his thoughts, too.
    Heck, she was even making her way into his dreams, and not as a Florence Nightingale stand-in. She was more like Delilah, a temptress to test the resolve of a stronger man than he. But in his dreams he hadn’t resisted at all. Parts of his fantasy made it difficult to meet Roberta’s gaze without embarrassment—or showing naked desire. This was something new for him. Up until now, no woman had managed to hold his interest for more than a few days. He’d have to wait to know if Roberta was different.
    ***
    Roberta placed Nate’s supper on the stove. The cowhand Russ sent over could feed him. Starting tomorrow, Russ had promised he would supply Nate’s meals. A guard would be present at all times so there wouldn’t be any need for her to do more than check on him briefly just to make sure he didn’t have a fever or that his wound hadn’t become infected. Since the doctor would come by at least once a day, she didn’t really have to do that. She could ignore him, forget he was there.
    Ignore him, maybe. Forget he was there, impossible. In the few hours she’d been around him, Roberta had learned that Nate wasn’t the kind of man a woman forgot. Refuse to talk to him, look at him, or build unreasonable daydreams, that was all possible. Refuse to remember his voice, forget his smile, or be unaware of the physical magnetism that emanated from him, that was impossible.
    She wasn’t sure what exactly it was about him that intrigued her so much. Sure, he was handsome, but she was discovering there was more to him than he let people see. The biggest question was: would he ever want a normal life enough