Hiding Out At The Circle C

oak dresser and allowed herself a smile when Max again settled on her feet with a little grunt. 'You like it here, too, huh?' She couldn't blame him. The main house was a dream come true, huge and airy, and decorated with a homey, welcoming charm.

The people inside were the same. She liked Nellie's husband, Jason. Liked the way be absolutely doted on Nellie. Zach seemed quiet and reserved, but had a smile nearly as devastating as… Haley's own soft smile faded as she thought of the other brother. Cameron Reeves.

She could list his obvious faults in her head: overtly charming-a fault because she didn't trust 'charming'; far too gorgeous for his own good; eyes melting with sensuality-okay, not a fault, but close enough; and a heart of gold. This last she considered a fault only because it made one vulnerable. But he also had another side. There was an edge there; a hard, dangerous side she didn't understand. Didn't want to. She had her own problems.

She liked cool, calm and collected, and she wanted those around her to be the same. But she suspected Cameron was none of those things. No. He was a man who felt, and felt deeply, and didn't mind it a bit. She'd seen the proof of that when he'd allowed Nellie to take her home simply because she had nowhere else to go. Thankful as she was, that just seemed plain crazy.

Or did it? Were there really people in this world who cared so much about the welfare of others?

Haley hadn't missed how Cam had looked at her, and just the remembering had her stomach doing a slow roll. He wasn't simply kind and gentle. He had much more depth than that. He had a rough, sensual facet that scared her. No man had ever looked at her as he did. Actually, men rarely looked at her at all.

And if this was what it did to one's insides, she simply couldn't handle it. She'd have to tell him… what? Stop looking at me with those sexy eyes that make me think with my hormones? She snickered at herself, disgusted.

She'd needed to disappear to save her life-and she had. But good Lord, at what cost?

Chapter 2

Surprisingly enough, once Haley fell asleep, she didn't budge again until a light knock sounded on her door. Instantly, she came awake, and moaning at the sunlight streaming through her window, she leaped guiltily out of bed.

She'd overslept on her first morning of work.

She ran across the bedroom, mentally berating herself for screwing things up so soon, then nearly killed herself and Max, when they got tangled together on their race to the door.

Skidding to a stop, she looked down in dismay. She wore only a chemise and her panties, having had nothing else to sleep in. 'Uh… who is it?' she called out, running an agitated hand through her mop of short hair.

'It's Nellie.'

The warm cheerful voice went a long way in relieving both Haley and Max. He started a happy whine, but still, Haley hesitated. Surely if everyone was annoyed she'd messed up already, Nellie wouldn't sound so friendly.

'Haley? Are you there? I thought you might want to- Oh, hell.' Haley could hear Nellie's frustrated sigh through the door. 'Haley, there's no polite way to say this, and I don't want to hurt your feelings.-'

'I'm fired,' Haley said flatly, her stomach tightening. She leaned her forehead against the door. She'd been an idiot to think she could handle this, even for a short time.

'No! No, that's not it at all. Haley, honey, do you think you could open the door?'

Haley glanced around and picked up the light quilt thrown over the back of a chair. She wrapped it around her, and with a fatalistic shrug, opened the door. 'I'm so sorry-'

'No, wait,' Nellie implored, her hands full of what looked like stacks of clothes. 'I just brought you some things. I thought you might need…' She trailed off, looking sheepish as Max barked joyously, obviously thrilled to find two of his favorite people together. 'I scared you, I didn't mean to. I know you need something to wear. Max, please, be quiet a minute.'

Haley pulled the quilt tighter, thinking if she'd ever been more mortified, she couldn't remember. 'I'll be fine. I don't need-'

'No. No, don't get embarrassed, please,' Nellie said quickly, her eyes full of compassion and nothing that even closely resembled pity, thank God. 'I don't want that. Max!' she warned the yipping, wriggling puppy. 'Put a lid on it.'

'I don't want to take your clothes.' It was hard to remain dignified wearing nothing more than a borrowed quilt, but Haley had to try. It was all she had left. 'Please, try to understand. This is very difficult for me. I'm not used to needing-'

'Just let me do this.' Nellie dropped the clothes onto the couch and sighed as she stretched her back. Ruefully, she glanced down. 'I'm wearing maternity clothes now, anyway, so you might as well have these. I know I'm pushing this on you, and it's not because I feel sorry for you.' She laughed lightly as she straightened. 'It's because I feel sorry for me. I want a friend here, Haley. I love my husband and his brothers dearly, but sometimes… I get lonely.'

Haley could understand that. Yes, she'd led a team of five for long months in tight quarters. But she was young, always so much younger than everyone she worked with. The gap between her and the others could bridge the Grand Canyon. Even she and Alda, the only other American female, hadn't become more than casual acquaintances. Lloyd, a quiet, unpretentious man, had taken her under his wing, but Haley didn't fool herself; he'd needed her brain. She couldn't remember how long it had been since she'd made a real friend to share personal things with. One who had nothing to do with work.

And suddenly, she wanted that more than anything.

'Please, take these clothes from me,' Nellie begged softly, stooping for the wildly excited puppy, nuzzling him close. 'And know it's just me pushing our friendship, not me dishing out pity.'

'I don't know what to say,' Haley said slowly, unbearably touched. She pulled the quilt tighter around her.

Nellie let Max go and folded her hands beneath her bulging belly. Her eyes were wide and earnest; her smile, shy and needy. An inexplicable urge to cry overcame Haley. She'd been on her own for so long, she could hardly remember what it was like to have someone think of her, but she didn't remember it having been this nice. 'Thank you,' she said softly, then found she could laugh, after all. 'You saved me from cooking breakfast in my underwear.'

'Now that's a sight that would have had the guys silent for a change,' Nellie said, with a matching laugh. The tension left her face. 'I'm glad you're here. And I'm glad I didn't insult you.'

Haley eyed Nellie's nicely curved hips and full bust that even pregnancy couldn't hide. 'What's insulting is that I won't be able to fill out these clothes as well as you.'

Nellie laughed again. 'At least you can see your feet.' She let the puppy go, then swiped her hands down her jeans-covered thighs nervously. 'Uh, Haley?'

'Yeah?'

'You can cook, can't you?'

Haley smiled. 'Now's a fine time to ask.'

Nellie smiled back. 'I mean, I don't really care whether you can or not-I want you here anyway-but the guys are going to wake up in about twenty minutes, starving as usual.'

'They'll be fed,' Haley vowed. From the moment the two women had met in the crowded airport, something had clicked. Nellie had somehow seen past Haley's distant, calm exterior to the real person inside. Maybe because she had no idea who Haley was and what she was capable of, but it didn't matter. Haley had a real friend-and she didn't intend to blow it.

Which didn't change the fact that she hadn't the foggiest idea how to cook. From a very young age, she'd been squirreled away in schools for child prodigies; then she'd been busy studying for her various degrees before she'd settled down four years ago, at the age of twenty-one, to study earth movement. In South America, as in all the other places, there had always been a local paid to work as their live-in, since the geologists' long, exhausting hours didn't allow much time for cooking or cleaning.

In all those years, Haley had never spent more than five minutes in a kitchen, but she had no doubt she could