He reached out and ended up grabbing a handful of air.
The slam of Lucilles front passenger door behind him told him everything he needed to know about what she would or would not do. Hot damn. He shouldve known better.
Chapter 4
Shed been willing to do anything to keep Jimmys mind off getting out of his car seat to playand her mind off Josh. Lucilles cab had suddenly become too small by a factor of one very broad-shouldered man. But Josh didnt seem to be facing the same problems she and Jimmy were. After nearly driving her mad with those intense looks and lust-filled expressions, he now drove the narrowing roads stoically and paid no attention to either one of them.
Hed been good with Jimmy at the gas stop. So good it had almost made her cry. The baby also noticed his firm but gentle care, and occasionally looked up at the back of his head with obvious admiration and yearning. Jimmy had never reacted with such instant bonding to any man, not even his own father. But then Ramzi was always too busy to pay much attention. In Ramzis world, babies were consigned to the womens domain until old enough to be educated.
Josh had somehow known just what to do to settle and soothe her boy. She had been sorely tempted to find out how good Josh could be with her, too. As hed stood beside her by the truck, shed been suddenly wild with need. Narrowing the tiny gap that hed infuriatingly left between them in a desperate attempt for just one taste had become an instant and insistent obsession. One she had fought hard to conquer, and congratulated herself for having mastered when shed finally stepped away.
What was with her? Shed known the man less than a day. Furthermore, she had promised herself there would not be any romantic involvement with someone so obviously uninterested in making a commitment to a family.
Was Josh really not interested in kids? What about those longing looks he had given Jimmy? She knew what shed been seeing. Those were the same kind of wistful looks she knew had been in her own eyes for babies before Jimmy was born. The damn man was confusing as hell with his gentleness andand his declarations of not caring.
It was enough to make her wish for more time to figure him out. But her main concern, the entire focus of her existence for the immediate future, had to be finding a way to keep Ramzi from taking Jimmy back to Abu Fujarah.
Sighing in frustration, she sat back in her seat just as they drove past the sign that said Welcome To Zavala Springs. Except for a sleek new office complex built outside the old part of the town proper, the place didnt look too different from any small town. Beyond the new-looking complex, they passed two brand-new multistory hotels and a couple of national chain restaurants. The newness of everything made the area look prosperous.
Do those new buildings we passed just inside the town limits belong to the Delgado Ranch? she asked Josh.
He shrugged a shoulder. Beats me. I havent been back in a lot of years. But Id have to guess they do. I cant imagine any other businesses would make that kind of investment in Zavala Springsor that the Delgado would allow anyone else to buy that much land from the company.
Does all the land in town belong to the Delgado, too? She hadnt thought of that, but it seemed logical when she considered how big and powerful the ranch and its owners were.
Most of the land for a fifty-mile radius is part of the companys holdings. Zavala Springs started out as a company town. Id guess you could say it was sort of an expanded bunkhouse
for the families of the ranch hands and those who worked at the wells. When the ranch last changed hands a couple of decades ago, many of the employees families inherited the land where they had been working or residing.
You mean the last actual owner named Delgado left parts of the town to the citizens in his will? As sort of a reward?
Yes, maam. Thats just the way it was.
Wanting to ask him how he was related to the Ryans and the Delgados but afraid she would sound either nosy or pushy, Clare left their conversation at that and stared out the window. The town was neat and clean, even though the mostly one-story stucco and shingled buildings on the main street didnt look exactly new. She imagined that the whole place was probably no more than a hundred years old at most, but it still seemed to belong to another time. Small live oaks grew in planting beds next to the sidewalks, and there were colorful flowers in pots at every corner.
Certainly Ramzis men could never follow them here. Clare took her first real easy breath of air since shed left Abu Fujarah.
On the other side of the small towns business district, Josh turned the pickup down a side street. Here the trees were taller, and though there were no sidewalks, houses set on grass lawns and painted in soft pastel colors lined the street on both sides.
Where are we headed?
My grandfather Will liveslivedin a big house in town for as long as I can remember. And my younger sister has been living there with him since our mother died back when we were teens. My guess is shes going to stay on now that hes gone, but I havent had a chance to talk to her about her plans.