Lauren had no idea how a man’s bedroom looked. She blanched at the words “Jared’s room.”
They walked down the hall and Gloria opened the door to a large bedroom with wide windows opening onto a view of rolling hills and the river in the distance. It was magnificent.
The furnishings consisted of a chest of drawers with a shaving mirror on it, an overstuffed chair with an ottoman, and a wardrobe which Gloria opened to show that she had pushed all Jared’s clothes to one side.
Jared’s clothes!
A double bed dominated the room. A small table stood beside it.
“I moved this in here for you, Lauren,” Gloria said. “It was all I could find in the storage shack.” She indicated a small vanity table with a washbowl and pitcher on it. The mirror was wavy and cloudy. “Pepe will pick up something else for you and bring it out on his next trip.” She took Lauren’s dismay for dislike. “Is it all right?” she asked shyly.
“No!… I mean yes. Everything is beautiful, Gloria. You have gone to a lot of trouble, and I appreciate it more than you know, but…” Her voice trailed off when she didn’t know what else to say. She looked helplessly toward her husband. He and Rudy stood in the doorway. Jared seemed as disconcerted as she.
Rudy leaned against the jamb with his arms and ankles crossed. He was enjoying himself immensely. A mischievous light glinted in his eyes as he looked at Jared and said, “Gloria and I will leave you two alone so you can wash up. Then we’ll eat. I know you must be starved, but take all the time you want.”
“I… uh… think I’ll go out to the bunkhouse and say hello to some of the hands. I’ll wash up out there.” Before anyone could object, Jared rushed out of the room, leaving in his wake a very surprised Gloria, a mildly surprised Rudy, and a relieved Lauren.
Damn! Jared cursed as he crossed the yard. He hadn’t even thought about the bedrooms at the ranch. Rudy and his brood used every goddam one of them except his. He liked his room. He didn’t want to give it up, but there was no way he could ask the romantic Gloria to move his wife—his bride—out of his room.
Even more nerve-racking to consider was spending the night in the same room with Lauren. He had made a vow to himself not to touch her. But it would take a blind, feeble ninety-year-old monk to stay the night in such intimate confines with Lauren and not—
He’d have to think of something. Fast.
When, after a short toilette, Lauren went into the large room for lunch, she saw a woman sitting alone at the dining table. She was beautiful and of Mexican heritage, and Lauren was struck by her bearing. She held herself straight and proud, yet serene.
She was small, her figure dainty. Her black hair was streaked with gray and pulled back into a glossy knot on the nape of her neck. She wore a high-necked black dress. There was no jewelry or other adornment to relieve its severity. Her face had cameo perfection. Smooth, well-shaped brows framed dark, sad eyes. Her nose was straight and narrow. Above a delicate chin was a sweet, well-shaped mouth.
Her smile was genuine as Lauren shyly walked toward her. “Lauren Holbrook Lockett. I am Maria Mendez. Welcome to Keypoint.”
“Señora Mendez, it is a pleasure to meet you. You are Rudy’s mother?”
“Yes,” she answered abstractedly as she studied Lauren’s face. “You are just as beautiful as he said. He was very eager to have you here. I think he did the right thing.”
“You mean Ben?” Lauren was puzzled as to how this woman knew so much about Ben’s plans for her.
She nodded. “He told me all about you the last time I saw him.”
She seemed about to say more when Jared came through the front door carrying a Mendez offspring under each arm and one on his shoulders. The one on top was holding on for dear life with tight fistfuls of Jared’s hair. All were laughing and shouting as the other children ran in behind them.
“Do it to me, Jared!”
“No, to me.”
“Please, Jared, me next.”
Gloria came through the door that led to the kitchen clapping her hands. “Leave Jared alone. He’s just arrived. There will be plenty of time to play later. Come to the table, and I’d better not see any dirty hands.”
The children reluctantly released their hold on Jared and took their places at the table. Jared raked his hair with his fingers and tucked in his shirttail, which had come out during the scuffle.
Lauren would never have imagined that Jared could enjoy child’s play, but he was laughing as he smoothed the cotton shirt over the muscles of his wide chest. When he sucked in his stomach, in order to shove his shirttail into the front of his pants, Lauren’s eyes flickered lower. She tried to swallow the increasingly familiar congestion in her throat.
Jared’s head came up with a snap and his eyes locked with hers as if she had called out to him. Her hair had been rebraided. Jacket, gloves, and hat had been discarded. The shirt molded against her breasts, making them look softer, more touchable than ever. The tight fit of the split skirt announced her femininity like a banner. Jared wiped damp palms down his thighs and looked away from that intriguing spot where the legs of her culottes came together. As he moved farther into the room, he cursed his physical susceptibility.
His eyes lit up with affection as he sighted Maria Mendez at the table, and softened as Lauren had never seen them do before. “Maria, how are you?” He came around the table and took the lady in his arms, giving her a big hug. He had never addressed Olivia in such a warm manner.
“Jared, I have just met Laur
en, and I think your bride is lovely.”