Chapter 4
She’d better get her story soon, Nikki thought to herself as she lugged in another box from the back of Cal’s pickup and plopped it down on the kitchen table.
And Marge was paying how much so she could vacation in this dump? Getting back to nature really sucked, and as soon as she had her scoop, she was off to a vacation spot with glitz and glamour-and a massage therapist!
She dug around in the first box and pulled out a cookbook. Oh, goody. “I don’t cook,” she muttered.
“This will be a great time to learn, then. You should be able to write a fantastic…book with all the experiences you’ll have while staying at the cabin. I bet it’ll be a bestseller,” Cal said as he began emptying the boxes.
“I can’t wait.”
“Enthusiasm, that’s good.”
She had a feeling he was being sarcastic. Again, she wondered if he knew the real reason why she was here. She mentally shook her head. He couldn’t know she only wanted to do a story on him and not a book about how pioneer women had struggled through the Depression. At least now she knew why they were so damned depressed.
She pushed her hair behind her ears. God, she was getting paranoid. Marge was right: there was no way Cal could know why she was really here. If he did, he’d have run her out of town by now.
Her stomach rumbled. Food, she needed food. She eyed the stove. Starvation or blowing herself up. Hmm… Which was the lesser of two evils?
“How do I operate this?” She warily walked over to the black beast.
“The wood is outside the back door. You’ll want to use kindling to get it started.”
He stepped outside to the porch and grabbed a handful of sticks and a small log, then dumped everything in front of the stove-on her clean floor. Well, sort of clean.
“You might check first to make sure there’s not a critter inside.”
“Critter?” She took a step back. What the hell was a critter? She took a wild guess and assumed he must be talking about a small animal. The thought of another wild animal did not sit well with her.
Was
“All clear except for a few cobwebs.”
She grimaced. “I’d just as soon not eat cobweb-seasoned food.”
There were cloths in one of the boxes. She grabbed one and a small empty tub. At least he’d brought dish soap rather than lye soap-she’d rather not leave here with chapped, red hands.
After filling the tub with water, she added a squirt of soap. She was adapting a little too quickly, she thought wryly. Better to adapt than to run back to the city with her tail between her legs.
Cal didn’t say a word as she began to clean. He also didn’t offer to help. She had a feeling he was having fun at her expense. Maybe it was time to give a little back. She accidentally sloshed some water over the side of the tub. He moved fast enough then.
“Oops, sorry.” But she wasn’t.
That had been very juvenile of her. She bit back her smile. It had felt damned good, though.
“No problem.” He moved out of her way, then leaned against the table.
Cal was almost certain Nikki had done that on purpose. She was probably getting really pissed at him by now. It wasn’t hard to see she didn’t like the cabin or anything that went along with it. And she was taking her anger out on the mammoth beast as she scrubbed away the dirt and grime.
It was all he could do to keep from grinning. He casually crossed his arms in front of him. Nope, she wouldn’t last a day.
But then guilt began to set in. She was really going to town cleaning that stove. His natural inclination would be to pitch in and help.
He should help. What if she broke a fingernail or something?
Was he losing his friggin’ mind? Going soft? Yeah, right, help a reporter who wanted to scoop everyone else with her story on him, and he’d bet there wouldn’t be a word of it in his favor.
His gaze moved downward. Besides, he liked the way she moved. When she wiped across the top of the stove, her ass wiggled back and forth nicely. Sweet temptation.
“Now what?” she asked.
He continued to stare at her as if she hadn’t spoken. There was a streak of dirt across her cheek, and suddenly she didn’t look like city to him. She must really want this story bad.
“You’re going to show me how this thing works, right?” she asked.
He glanced at the stove. It almost sparkled. “Yeah, I’ll show you,” he said as he reined in his thoughts. “We wouldn’t want you to blow yourself up or anything.” He pushed away from the table and went to the oven.
“This is where you start the fire.” He opened a door and stuck the small pieces of wood inside, then crumpled some paper and stuffed it inside as well.
She nodded.
“Wait for the kindling to begin to burn, then add the bigger piece of wood and shut the door.” He noticed she watched everything he did. Okay, he’d give her credit for paying attention.
“Then what?”
“You really don’t know how to cook?” He thought she’d been joking. She looked serious.
“I microwave dinners or I go to restaurants.”
“I don’t suppose you’ve ever gone hunting, either.”
She paled. “I have to hunt my food…and murder some poor animal?”
This was the time to lie and tell her that not only did she have to hunt it, but she had to skin it as well. She’d be out the front door faster than he could say newspaper article.
But where would the fun be in that? He wanted to teach her a lesson. Let her know she couldn’t play with other people’s lives.
“No, you don’t have to hunt or skin it. I’ll bring meat from the freezer at the ranch.”
She breathed a sigh of relief and looked around the room. Her gaze landed on the wooden box. “And is that the refrigerator?”
“Icebox. I didn’t think to bring a block of ice. I’ll bring it on my next trip.” He’d thought she’d be gone by now and all that would be left would be a trail of dust as she headed back to Fort Worth. The woman had stamina, he’d give her that much.
“A block of ice?” she asked.
He opened the icebox. “It goes in here. As the ice melts, the water drains through the tube and into a pan.” He squatted in front of the icebox and raised a slat, then showed her the metal pan that was behind the slat. “You’ll need to keep it emptied or you’ll be doing a lot of mopping. Do you think you can handle that?” He straightened.
When her spine stiffened, it was all he could do to keep from laughing. He liked seeing the fire flash in her eyes.
“I’m sure I’ll manage.”
“I just bet you will.”
Their gazes met and held. After only a few seconds, she looked away. It was a small victory, but he savored the moment. He planned to savor quite a few more before she threw in the towel.
“I stuck a jar of peanut butter and one of jelly in the box until you get the hang of it. There’s a loaf of bread in there somewhere, too. You’ll find silverware and dishes in the cabinets, but you might want to wash them before you use them. No one has rented the place in a few months.”
“I can’t understand why,” she said, then smiled, but it didn’t even come close to reaching her eyes. “I mean, I expect to have a wonderful time while I’m here. I’m sure I’ll discover a lot more than I’d planned.”
“I’ll get your block of ice,” he said.
Nikki thought she was going to get a story while she was here but that wasn’t going to happen. She might be a
