Coming Home by Leslie Kelly Page B

from her just as fast as he possibly could.
     
    Over the next couple of days, Wyatt decided it would be good for his sanity to be away from home as much as possible when Nicole came out to the ranch. He wondered if she had any idea how difficult it was for him to steer clear of her. She’d been back a week, and already she'd managed to take over just about every waking thought...and most of his long, erotic night-time dreams.
    Kissing her had been a mistake. Before that, his memories of their relationship had been tinged with bitterness at how things had ended. Now, having had her in his arms once again, it was hard to recall the anger but much too easy to remember the passion and excitement between them.
    On Sunday night, he’d had to get up at four a.m. to take a cold shower. An hour later, he’d just given in and done what he needed to do to get some relief, which hadn’t helped, but had at least taken the edge off. The next two nights had been more of the same—hot dreams, curious thoughts, making friends with his own damn hand.
    By Wednesday afternoon, he was grouchy and tense. He was torn between desperation to avoid the cause of that grouchy tension and his hunger to at least see her again. Knowing she was close by—that she was coming to his ranch in the afternoons while he found something else to do—was a unique kind of torture.
    It wasn’t as if everything else stopped while he dealt with his personal demons, either. He still had to keep up with the business of the ranch. Not just the livestock, but the employee issues. "Simone, I'm going in to town this morning, do you want to come along and do some grocery shopping?" he asked as he prepared to leave the house.
    The girl immediately nodded. "Yes, Mr. Wyatt, I will."
    Wyatt paused at the front door. He'd half-expected her to refuse. He knew Brady would be up soon, and it was seldom Simone wanted to be away from the house when his cousin was in it.
    Which was the reason he’d asked her to come with him. They needed to have another talk about Brady.
    "How many times have I told you, please just call me Wyatt? Mister makes me sound like I'm ancient."
    They soon left the house, driving in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Wyatt asked, "You aren't still upset about the conversation we had a few weeks ago, are you? I've noticed you don't have much to say to me lately."
    "No, sir. I know you were just trying to look out for me. As I told you, Mr. Brady has been very kind to me and I wish you would not worry."
    "Brady isn't kind to anybody unless there's something in it for him," Wyatt muttered. "Believe me, Simone, I wasn't trying to make you uncomfortable, or give you the impression I don't want you involved with Brady because you work for us. I just don't want you getting in over your head."
    "Please don't worry, I am in no danger of that."
    Wyatt frowned. Damn Brady! The man had had his eye on Simone since day one. Wyatt had not been too happy when he'd come back from a trip to Arizona a few months earlier and found her already working on the ranch. They needed a new cook, but Wyatt had been planning on hiring someone when we got back. Instead, he'd come home to find Brady had already given Simone the job.
    The girl could cook, was honest, and trustworthy. But she was too young, and definitely too pretty, to work in a house full of men. Especially men like his cousin who enjoyed the challenge of innocence. Wyatt had kept an eye on the situation, and even tried to talk to the girl a few weeks before. It obviously hadn't worked. Instead of putting up her guard against Brady, she had become silent and tongue-tied around Wyatt, as though she was suddenly uncomfortable to be in the same room with him. He’d hoped that by bringing it up again, she might open up to him, but obviously that wasn’t going to happen.
    "All right, I won't bring it up again," he finally said. "Just be careful, all right?"
     
    On Wednesday morning, Nicole went into town to pick up some