Running Blind by Linda Howard Page A

she couldn’t tell him the details. She couldn’t plead her case. And she would
not
beg. Zeke Decker would take her for the winter, or he wouldn’t.
    “All I have to offer is my word, I suppose. I’m guilty of being naive. Nothing more.”
    He took a few minutes to think it over. It was obvious he wasn’t pleased by the development, but he hadn’t dismissed the idea of hiring her out of hand, either. He must really be in a tight spot to even consider it.
    “You can cook, can’t you?” he finally asked.
    “I can,” Carlin said confidently. Maybe she wasn’t on Kat’s level, but she had learned a lot working at The Pie Hole and she could follow a recipe. She could learn more.
    “You got anything against doing laundry?”
    “Nope.” She thought about telling her prospective employer that she was willing to do anything, but she didn’t. She didn’t want to give him the wrong idea with a vague and possibly suggestive
anything
. “I also do windows.”
    Zeke took his last bite of pie, chewing it and the situation over at the same time. She could tell he was sorting through his options, which, from what she’d heard, weren’t good. He either hired her, or he did without a cook. He was obviously unhappy when he growled, “Fine, you’re hired. Fair warning, though: the windows haven’t been cleaned in about a year.”
    Carlin caught herself smiling, and she doused it immediately. She didn’t want him getting the wrong idea, that maybe she was
grateful
. She was, but not the way he’d think. She didn’t want him to assume he had all thepower in this new professional relationship. He needed her as much as she needed him. No, he needed her
more
. She wouldn’t allow him to forget that.
    There was still the matter of her salary to negotiate. And she had to figure out what she was going to do about the way her heart kept beating faster every time he was close by.
    Suddenly she felt very uneasy. For months, she hadn’t found any man attractive, because Brad had left such a terrible imprint on her psyche. Now, all of a sudden, her wayward insides were taking notice of a man she knew for sure she was going to leave. What the
hell
was wrong with her?
    Okay, it was official: she’d gone nuts.

Chapter Seven
    C ARLIN ’ S HEART WAS pounding at a ridiculous rate the next day as she followed Zeke Decker’s dark green pickup truck down one narrow road after another. Kat had been right—it was a damn long drive through a lot of nothing to get from Battle Ridge to the ranch. She tried to calm down by calling herself silly for being so excited, she tried to distract herself by first one thing then another, but the fact was: she was going to be working at Zeke Decker’s house!
    And if that wasn’t silly, she didn’t know what was, to be as giddy as a teenager at the idea of being close to a man. Not dating him, not doing anything except probably working her butt off, but—being close to him! Seeing him every day! Handling his dirty underwear!
    She was mentally unbalanced. Had to be. She couldn’t feel this way about him. It wasn’t just silly, it was impossible. And dangerous. Considering her situation, nothing could—
    Oh, wow!
    Her mouth fell open at the grandeur around her. She hadn’t been able to distract herself, but God and Mother Earth had done the job, and how.
    They’d long since left the asphalt highway, turned rightonto a graveled road, then left onto another one that was less well graveled, then sort of veered onto a dirt road that seemed to meander all over creation and back. It was noon, the sun was directly overhead, so she didn’t even have any idea what direction they were traveling in. All she knew for certain was that they were climbing higher in altitude, because her ears kept popping.
    And the scenery was beautiful. No, the word “beautiful” was too mild; the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. She almost gave herself whiplash trying to see all the gorgeous valleys and the