Taming Clint Westmoreland - Brenda Jackson [34]
In the past, Alyssa had avoided casual relationships, but for some reason she didn’t see the time that she would spend with Clint as a casual fling. It would be more than that. Indulging in pleasure seemed a fitting term for their relationship. She considered her feelings for Clint a reawakening. If she had an affair with him, it would be a way to rebuild her self-esteem and regain her confidence as a woman. It would also be a way to enjoy life before returning to the mundane existence she’d carved out for herself in Waco.
“Nice night, isn’t it?”
Alyssa was pulled out of her reverie when Chester walked out onto the porch. She was discovering each and every day just how much she liked the older man. He was loyal to Clint and his siblings to a fault and she liked that. It reminded her so much of how her relationship with her grandfather had been and the relationship she shared with her aunt now.
“It is a nice night,” she said simply. She knew he was perceptive enough to figure out why she was outside standing on the porch in the dark and his next statement proved it.
“Sometimes it takes longer than the two days to set free the horses. Some of them can get real frisky when they are taken out of their element. I bet the reason Clint hasn’t returned yet is because he’d had his hands full.”
Alyssa sensed that Chester was telling her that Clint hadn’t been staying away from the ranch just to avoid her. How had Chester known that was exactly what she had been thinking?
Alyssa smiled as she pulled the jacket she was wearing more tightly around her shoulders. February was proving to be a colder month than January.
“Clint said that your grandfather used to be a bronco rider,” Chester said.
“Yes, he was. In fact that’s how he met Sid Roberts. It was an experience he took pride in telling me about while growing up.”
“You were close to him,” Chester said.
“Yes, he was the most special person in my life.”
Less than an hour later when getting ready for bed, Alyssa remembered those words and knew in her heart that Clint was becoming a special person to her, as well.
Clint almost weakened as he gazed down at a sleeping Alyssa. A stream of light from a lamppost poured into her window and illuminated her features. He wasn’t sure what she was wearing under the bedspread because her body was completely covered, but she looked incredibly sexy.
Okay, he had broken their agreement and had come into her bedroom. He’d done so because Chester had told him that she had stood outside on the porch that night waiting for him to return.
At first Clint hadn’t wanted to believe it, but then a part of him realized that the possibility existed that she had indeed missed him…like he had missed her. Clint stiffened at the thought that he could miss any woman, but whether he liked it or not, he had. And she had constantly invaded his dreams since she’d come to the ranch. He didn’t like that, either.
How could she get to him so deep and so quickly? He’d had other women since Chantelle, but none of them had made a lasting impression. None of them had even come close. But Alyssa was making more than a lasting impression. She was carving a niche right under his skin and it got deeper and deeper each and every time he saw her.
He studied Alyssa when she made a sound in her sleep. A lock of her hair and fallen onto her face. He leaned down and brushed the tendril back, careful not to wake her. He sighed knowing he had no right to be there, but also knowing that he would not have been able to sleep a wink if he had not looked in on her. He also knew his presence in her bedroom was about more than that. It was about wanting to be close to Alyssa.
He hated knowing how much he had wanted to see her and be with her. Clint fervently hoped that by the morning he would have regained control of the situation. He had to get whatever emotions he was battling in check and start putting her at a distance.
He frowned as he turned to leave the room and contemplated his plan of action with difficulty.