Taming Clint Westmoreland - Brenda Jackson [25]
“Are you satisfied with our agreement?”
Alyssa dragged in a deep breath. The issue of them kissing hadn’t been fully resolved to her liking, but the way she saw it, he was not a man to force himself on anyone. If she resisted his kisses enough times, he would find some other game to amuse himself. “Yes, I’m satisfied,” she said.
“So, are you agreeing to remain here for thirty days, live under the same roof with me?”
Intimate images flooded her mind. She forced them out. His home was humongous. His bedroom was on one side of the house and hers on the other. Chances were there would be days when their paths wouldn’t even cross. “Yes, I’m agreeing to do just that,” she said.
He nodded. “I’ll call Hightower and let him know. By the way, what about more clothes for you? You only brought an overnight bag,” Clint said.
“I spoke with my aunt yesterday and she told me if I decided to stay she would send me some things.”
“Your aunt is the only family you have?”
She might as well be, she wanted to say.
“No, I have an uncle and several cousins,” she said instead. “My mother sent me to live with my grandfather and Aunt Claudine when I was thirteen. Over the years Aunt Claudine has become a surrogate mother to me,” she added.
“And your grandfather?”
A pain settled in her heart. She wanted to correct him so badly.
“My grandfather died four years ago,” she said softly.
“That was about the same time I lost my mother,” he said, looking down at the coffee in his cup. She could hear the sadness in his voice. He glanced up and at that moment an emotion passed between them—a deep understanding of how it felt to lose someone you truly cared about.
“Were you close to her?” she asked.
“Yes. Casey, Cole and I were her world and she was ours. She and Uncle Sid, along with Chester and the other old-timers on the ranch were our family. What about your mother? You said she sent you to live with your grandfather and aunt when you were thirteen. Do the two of you still keep in touch?”
In a way Alyssa wished he would have asked her anything but that. That her mother could so easily send her away and not stay in touch was still a pain that would occasionally slither through her heart.
“No. I haven’t seen or heard from my mother since the day she sent me away,” she said.
Deciding she didn’t want to subject herself to any more of his inquiries about her family, she stood. “I need to make a few calls. In addition to contacting my aunt, I need to make sure I have everything I need to continue my business while I’m here. That means I will need to use your computer a lot,” she said.
“I don’t have a problem with that.”
Alyssa nodded. “Okay. I’m sure you have a lot to do today, as well,” she said, picking up her plate and cup and carrying both over to the sink. “And since today is Chester’s day off, I’ll take care of the dishes as soon as I’ve made those calls.”
With nothing else to say, Alyssa walked out of the kitchen.
Clint continued to sit at the table. From the moment he had gotten the letter from the bureau advising him of his marriage to Alyssa, he had simply assumed that getting out of the marriage would be easy—a piece of cake. He had miscalculated on a number of things. First, the bureau being so hard-nosed over such a blatant mistake and second, his attraction to the woman who was legally his wife. Now, he was fully committed to go to extraordinary restrictions to keep his hands off of her. In other words, to stay out of her bed and to make sure she stayed out of his.
Neither would be easy.
That was what made the thought of the next thirty days so disconcerting. A part of him wanted to rebel. Why not have sex with her? After all it was just sex, no big deal. They were mature adults who evidently had healthy appetites with no desire to get caught up in anything