What a Man Needs Read online

Just then the door opened and Cyndi, Kelly and Nora walked out onto the porch. Nora came up to him. “Patrick, Kelly and I are headed back to town, unless you need anything.”

  My solitary life back, Patrick thought as he shook his head. “I can’t think of a thing.” He leaned down so his sister could kiss him goodbye.

  “Then I guess I’ll be going.” She looked him in the eye. “Behave yourself. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  Kelly and Cyndi hugged, then she and Nora walked to their cars. Cyndi waved until they drove off, then turned to Patrick.

  “Would you mind if I stayed out here for a while? I’m a little too restless to sleep.”

  Yeah, he knew the feeling. “It’s a free country.”

  Cynthia leaned against the post and looked toward the barn. This wasn’t going to be easy, especially since she couldn’t seem to push aside the feelings this man churned up in her. “You own a beautiful piece of Oregon, Patrick.”

  “I know. Wouldn’t live anywhere else.”

  Cynthia knew she should go up to her room, but the draw to him was magnetic. She couldn’t stop the need she felt to rediscover this handsome man with the killer eyes, sexy grin and to-die-for mouth. She moved closer and could feel his heat, smell his fresh soap scent.

  “Nora said you’ve lived here all your life.”

  He gave her a stiff nod. “True.”

  “That’s nice,” she said. “After my parents divorced, our mother moved us all to L.A.” She remembered the endless crummy apartments in bad neighborhoods. As a twelve-year-old kid, she’d dreamed of a house and no money problems.

  But Carol Reynolds hadn’t been good at handling money, a job and kids. She was never meant to be without a man. If only she’d known how to pick the right ones. After two more bad marriages, her mother had wisely chosen to stay single. Why not? Her oldest daughter made sure she’d been taken care of. Cynthia had made a lot of money in her career, even if she never worked again.

  “I was there once,” Patrick’s voice broke into her reverie. “Hated the place. Too many cars and people.”

  “That’s true. I don’t like to drive around on the freeways, either.” She glanced toward the shadow of the mountains. “Like I said, you live in a great place.”

  “Well, it may be a great place but we start early in the morning. So you need to get to bed.”

  He started to move away, and something made her touch his arm to stop him.

  “Please, not yet,” she whispered, not willing to end it. “It’s barely dark.”

  Cynthia’s heart began to race when he gazed into her eyes. “You’re right.” His warm breath caressed her face. “It’s not nearly dark enough. I can still see the fiery highlights in your hair.” His gaze lowered. “And your sexy mouth.”

  The rush of pleasure his words caused was so intense she couldn’t speak or resist when he reached for her and jerked her against him. Then he leaned down and took teasing bites from her lower lip. “Damn, you’re too tempting.”

  She whimpered and her fingers gripped his shoulders.

  His sapphire eyes met hers. “Want more?”

  Cynthia’s throaty whisper was barely audible, but he heard her. When he closed his mouth over hers, the muscles in her legs were suddenly nonexistent. But Patrick held on to her as his mouth moved over hers. His tongue slipped inside and rubbed against hers, recreating flashes of their night together. His touch, his mouth, his… Suddenly he released her and stepped back. His eyes were dark and intense.

  “If you think this is going to make tomorrow easier, think again,” he whispered. “So you better get some sleep.” He turned and walked off the porch toward the barn.

  Cynthia was still trying to catch her breath. What had gotten into her? What was it about this man that made her want her hands on him all the time? She’d never thrown herself at a man before. She raked her fingers through her hair. Well, she’d better think of a way to control herself and remember why she was here. To learn to ride.

  She turned and headed inside the house. She doubted she’d be dreaming about horses tonight.

  Patrick wasn’t in a good mood the next morning. He’d been up by five to do chores, even though he hadn’t slept much at all, not after kissing Cyndi. He’d lain awake, unable to get her out of his head.

  He checked his watch. It was six o’clock and time to meet his student. He headed to the barn for the first lesson, but he doubted that Cynthia Reynolds was even out of bed yet. He groaned. The picture of the sexy redhead in tumbled sheets was not something he needed to think about. At least it meant that he could send her packing and out of his life. Then he could get back to normal.

  Patrick walked into the barn and stopped when he saw his student standing in the center aisle. Dressed in worn jeans and a pink blouse, she looked too damn good for this early.

  “Am I on time?” she asked.

  “You’re fine.” He ignored her cheerfulness, trying to stay down to business. “Follow me,” he said and walked to a stall. A camel-colored horse with a white star on her forehead immediately came to the gate. Cyndi stopped about ten feet back and her face turned pale.

  Patrick frowned. “What happened to you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What’s the reason you’re so terrified of horses?”

  She shrugged. “A horse is a big animal.”

  “Yeah.” He petted the animal. “But something else happened to make you look like you’re going to pass out. And if you want to ride, you better tell me what I’m dealing with.”

  Cyndi let out a breath. “When I was six, my dad took us to his family’s farm in Missouri. He thought it was time that I learned to ride. All I can remember was that the horse was huge, but my dad still put me in the saddle. I begged him to take me off. He told me not to be a baby. The animal started moving sideways and I screamed when I lost control and ended up falling off. I broke my leg…and ruined the family vacation.”

  “I’d say your dad was a fool. Sounds like the horse wasn’t used to kids.” He went to the gate and rubbed the mare’s nose. “Daisy isn’t like that. She’s the sweetest animal here. All my sisters learned to ride on her. Isn’t that so, sweetie?” He crooned to the horse, but when he glanced at Cyndi she didn’t looked convinced. “Look, I’m not going to force you to do anything. Maybe you’re not ready to get on a horse today. The first step is to get used to your mount. So come here and just pet Daisy.”

  Surprisingly Cyndi did as he asked, came closer and reached out a shaky hand. Patrick took her sweaty palm and placed it against Daisy’s forehead. The animal obviously welcomed the attention. “See, she likes it.”

  Cyndi smiled and Patrick felt it all the way to his toes as she continued the stroking.

  “You’re such a pretty horse,” she said.

  Daisy bobbed her head and they both laughed.

  “I’d suggest you take this slow, but you only have ten days. Now, I have no idea what horses they’ll be using in the movie, but if you learn what to do and what not to do around a horse, that should help you.”

  Cyndi nodded. “At this point, anything would help me.”

  “You have to know that animals sense your fear, but a little respect is a good thing. As you mentioned, horses are a lot bigger than we are. I’ve trained all the horses on the ranch and I’ve never raised a hand or a whip to any of them. I find they respond better to a gentle touch and my voice.”

  Cynthia already knew firsthand about Patrick’s gentle touch. She blinked away the memory and turned back to Daisy. “I can do that.”

  “Good,” he said, then smiled. “For the next ten days the two of you are going to spend a lot of time together. You’ll be Daisy’s sole caretaker. You’ll not only be riding her, you’ll feed her, groom her and clean her stall.” His blue eyes locked with hers. “If you can’t handle that, now is the time to let me know.”

  Cynthia knew he was giving her a chance to quit. Not to say she hadn’t thought a lot about it during the night. She could
walk away, go back to Hollywood and find another movie. No! She wanted this one. She wanted the role in Cheyenne.

  “Show me what to do.”

  “First, you and Daisy need to get familiar with each other. She has to get used to your voice, your commands. You two need to become friends.”

  Cynthia followed Patrick to a room at the end of the barn. Inside, the scent of leather and polish was overwhelming but pleasant. She glanced around at the dozens of saddles atop sawhorses, and walls lined with bridles and halters.

  “Later on you’ll come in here to get Daisy’s tack, so you’re going to have to know where to put everything back where it belongs.” He took a leather halter from a hook, then went to one of the saddles with beautiful hand tooling. “When the time comes, this will be the saddle you’ll use. And you have to be strong enough to get it on Daisy.”

  She nodded, then followed Patrick back to Daisy’s stall. He opened the gate and went inside. He ran his hand over the horse, speaking softly as he examined her, then slipped the harness on. “Watch how I’m doing this because tomorrow I’m going to expect you to be able to handle it.”

  “What if I can’t?” she asked.

  He stopped what he was doing and studied her a moment. “If I didn’t think you could do this, I never would’ve considered taking you on.”

  “You’re doing just fine,” Patrick said as he watched Cyndi lead Daisy around the corral. He could see her uneasiness, but she was toughing it out and doing everything he’d asked of her. The old mare was a trouper, too. She could put up with nearly anything as long as she got some attention.

  “Talk to her,” Patrick coaxed. “Daisy will respond to your voice.”

  It was then he suddenly realized his mistake as he watched Daisy nudge her head against Cyndi’s back, pushing her forward. Before Patrick could react, the horse had nudged her again. Cyndi kept moving away but the horse came after her.

  “Patrick!”

  He grabbed the reins. “Whoa, girl,” he commanded the horse, then putting himself between Daisy and the frightened Cyndi, he calmed her. “It’s okay, Cyn. She’s just looking for her treat.”

  The redhead looked confused. “Treat?”

  “An apple, a carrot. It’s my fault.” With Cyndi gripping his arm, he looked toward the barn. “Hey, Forest! Bring me a few apples from the bin.”

  Cyndi started to move away, but he held her against him. Damn, she felt good. “No, you’re not going anywhere. Daisy may have gotten a little excited, but you need to learn to handle it. If you run away now, you’re only feeding your fears.”

  Cyndi nodded. “Okay.”

  “That’s my girl.” He couldn’t help but smile at her grit.

  Just then the foreman came out with the apples and handed one to Cyndi. Forest grinned at her. “I take it Daisy let you know you forgot something.”

  Patrick held Daisy away from the treat. “Put an apple in your palm and hold it out to her.”

  Cyndi did as he asked and Daisy politely took what she offered. “I did it.” She giggled as if she had done some incredible task.

  Patrick found himself smiling again. He glanced over at Forest, who cocked an eyebrow, then walked away. “Just so you know, there is an apple bin in the barn,” Patrick said. “So tomorrow bring one with you and you can give it to her.” He rubbed the horse’s nose and fed her the other apple. “Daisy’s my special girl. After our parents died, we had to sell off most of the stock, but I managed to keep her.” The horse bobbed her head up and down, knowing he was talking about her.

  “I think she knows you love her,” she spoke softly. “Thank you for letting me learn with her.” She surprised him and began to stroke the horse, then took the reins from him. With a tug, she and Daisy started around the corral again, and all the while Cyndi spoke in a soft, soothing voice.

  He released a frustrated breath. Her voice was anything but calming him.

  An hour later Cynthia was busy doing the tasks that she would be expected to do during her stay at the Tanner Ranch.

  Cynthia found she was a little disappointed that she wasn’t going to get to ride today. Patrick had said that she needed to know her mount, so he’d tied Daisy to the post in the barn and showed her how to brush the horse.

  She wiped the sweat from her face as she worked the currycomb over the horse’s hindquarters, leaving a shine on the buckskin coat. All she knew was this was the best workout in the world.

  She definitely could bypass her exercise routine tonight, but she wouldn’t forget to apply her NoWait oil. For the past two weeks she had religiously been applying the homeopathic oil behind each ear. She’d lost a few pounds, but mainly she had noticed she’d developed more muscle tone, a good thing since she was going to use those muscles while riding.

  Forest walked by. “How are you doing?” he asked as he paused to talk with her.

  She smiled at the friendly foreman with the warm hazel eyes. “Not too bad. Daisy and I are getting to know each other.”

  The horse continued to eat her oats from the feeding trough.

  Forest ran a hand over the animal’s rump and gave it a friendly pat. “Daisy’s a good old girl. The kids love her.”

  Cynthia was confused. Was he talking about Patrick’s sisters? “What kids?”

  Before Forest could answer, she heard Patrick’s voice. They both turned to see him, completely covered in mud from his face to his boots. “It’s nice that all the chores are done so you can stand around and visit,” he said.

  “What the hell happened to you?” Forest asked, fighting laughter.

  “Let’s just say I tangled with a not-so-agreeable steer,” Patrick grumbled. “I could have used your help out in the pen.”

  “Hey, you didn’t ask.”

  Patrick glared at Cynthia, making her feel as though she was the problem. “Did you want me to help?” she asked.

  “Sure. Think you can hold down a yearling calf so I can inoculate him?”

  “I can try,” she offered. She found she was curious about the workings of the ranch.

  “That’s all I need, for you to get kicked or worse. You better stay with Daisy.” Patrick turned back to Forest. “I’ll get the syringe and meet you out in the pen.” He stalked off.

  “Guess I’d better get back to work. Pat’s irritated enough. I don’t want to push him any further by talking with you.”

  “I didn’t know I was off-limits.”

  Forest shook his head. “The next week is going to be interesting. See you later.”

  Cynthia went back to brushing the horse’s camel-colored coat. “Oh, Daisy, will we ever understand why men act the way they do?” She brushed harder and the horse shifted sideways. “Sorry.”

  Once she’d learned that the man she’d spent the night with would be her riding instructor, she never should have agreed to stay here. Even though they’d said they would keep it business, she had already allowed Patrick to kiss her. And to tell the truth, she wanted to do a whole lot more than share a few kisses. That was her problem. Her desire for the man had her thinking X-rated thoughts. Her skin suddenly turned warm. Oh, yes, she was hot for the man. She continued to brush, hoping to distract the direction of her thoughts.

  Around noon, a filthy dirty Cynthia walked to the house. She had groomed and fed her horse, and even worse, cleaned out the stall. She didn’t care where Patrick had gone; all she knew was she needed a break.

  In the bathroom she stripped off her clothes and took a quick shower, then came downstairs to start lunch. There were plenty of leftovers and she made herself a roast beef sandwich. Not forgetting about Patrick, she made him up a couple, and added two more to the stack for Forest. If they didn’t show up, she could take them down to the barn.

  Just then the two men walked through the back door. She noticed that Patrick had removed his soiled shirt, leaving his white T-shirt stretched across his broad chest. He stopped on seeing that she had fixed them lunch.

  She set the table, then poured them al
l glasses of milk. She found a bag of chips and set it out.

  “Hey, this is great,” Forest said. “Thanks, Cyndi.”

  “You don’t have to do this,” Patrick finally spoke.

  She shrugged. “It’s not a big deal to make a few sandwiches.” Both men went to the kitchen sink to wash up, while she pulled out a chair and sat down.

  “Hey, I appreciate your effort,” Forest said. “Peanut butter and jelly gets old.”

  “Well, you’ll have to thank Nora. She’s the one who made the roast last night.”

  Forest dried his hands on the towel and sat down at the table across from her. “Is she coming back tonight?”

  Patrick pulled out a chair. “Nora does have a job.”

  Forest’s gaze went to Cynthia. “I know. She works for your sister, Kelly. The lawyer. Right?”

  She nodded, noticing his subtle interest. “Yes, she has a practice in Portland.”

  The foreman shook his head. “Beauty and brains, not to mention guts, all in the same family.”

  “Why do you say that?” she asked.

  Forest took a drink of milk. “Because you both have demanding and successful careers.”

  She didn’t want to go into her lack of movie roles the past few years. “I’ve been lucky.”

  He smiled and tiny lines appeared around his eyes. “Don’t sell yourself short, Cyndi. Your talent has had a lot to do with it.”

  Before she could say anything, Patrick’s chair scraped the floor as he got up. “It’s time to get back to work.” He carried his plate to the sink where he stood and finished his milk.

  “Patrick,” she called to him, “what do you want me to do?”

  “Take the rest of the day off. I’m going to be busy.” With those parting words, he was out the door.

  Cynthia didn’t know what to say. She looked at Forest. “What just happened here?”

  “Nothing that’s your fault. Patrick likes you well enough. He’s just not sure he can trust you, but then he hasn’t trusted any woman in a long time.”

  So the fascinating Patrick Tanner had a past—had been hurt. Cynthia couldn’t help but wonder what kind of woman could walk away from this man.