She returned his smile but hesitantly. "There is no 'us'. Not yet."

"Key words." He gave her a little grin. "Not yet."

She looked away for a moment before turning her gaze back to meet his. "Okay, one step at a time."

He nodded. "One step at a time."

"And we go at my pace," she said.

"I promise." He smiled. "Your pace."

Hair p.r.i.c.kled at his nape. He felt like they were being watched. He looked over his shoulder and saw a shadowy figure across the street, arms folded as he leaned up against a car, facing their direction.

A slow chill rolled over Gage. It looked like it could be Harvey Norton. As a matter of fact, he was sure it was Harvey.

"What is it?" Tess asked as his jaw tightened and anger burned through him.

Gage brought his gaze to hers. "Let's get you into your car and then I want you to lock your doors and wait for me."

"What?" She looked confused.

"Just do it," he said, his anger rising as he glanced back in the direction where Harvey still watched them. "Please," he added as he met her eyes again. "Trust me."

She paused, then gave a nod and used the remote to unlock the door to her car before she opened it and climbed in, shut the door, and locked it.

He turned to face Harvey, intending to go across the street and confront the b.a.s.t.a.r.d. But when Gage looked again, Harvey was gone.

Chapter 9.

Harvey shook with rage as he melted into the darkness. If he didn't want to give his position away, he'd take his tire iron out of his car and start swinging it as hard as he could at anything in his way.

Preferably Gage McBride. He'd love to bash in Gage's skull, slit his throat, and leave him to bleed out.

Gage had ruined his life, had taken everything from him. Harvey had lost his house, his money, and even his b.i.t.c.h of a girlfriend had left him.

Thanks to Gage, Harvey had nothing. He worked for Sanderson, a rancher, mucking s.h.i.t from stalls and doing other jobs far beneath what he should be doing. But he'd been forced to work for anyone who would hire him so that he'd have enough money to live on.

He'd lost a lot, but worst of all, he'd lost his freedom.

For three long years he'd bided his time in prison. Plotting...planning for the day he'd get his revenge. And it was finally here.

And even now, Gage was still stealing from him. Again.

Tess belongs to me, Harvey thought as he clenched his hands into fists.

Yet he'd caught her with Gage.

The b.i.t.c.h. Harvey ground his teeth. She'd flirted with him, had even gone out for a drink with him. But she'd been kissing Gage. The b.i.t.c.h was probably f.u.c.king him, too.

Harvey wanted to go back and beat the s.h.i.t out of Gage and drag Tess home with him and put his mark on her.

He forced himself to calm down. Instead, he'd take everything from Gage the way everything had been ripped away from him.

The ladies had always liked Harvey. He knew he was better looking than Gage and Harvey knew how to play women. Harvey would have Tess, one way or another, and he'd teach her a lesson about s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around on him.

Chapter 10.

Tess paced her living room, holding her hand to her belly, which fluttered like crazy. Gage would be here at any moment. Despite the fact that she had seen him at the bar frequently for ages, she was nervous. It was crazy. She had no reason to be nervous.

"What's wrong, Mommy?" Jenny came into the living room, followed by Glenna, the teenager who babysat on weekends when Tess needed her.

"Nothing's wrong." Tess smiled at Jenny. "I was just thinking."

"You must be thinking hard. Your face was all scrunched up." Jenny turned to Glenna. "I want to play Barbies. Superstar Barbie wants to go to the salon."

"Good idea." Glenna swung her long, thick braid over her shoulder. "I think she's due for a makeover."

The doorbell rang. Tess felt another burst of nerves and mentally chided herself.

"Is that almost-Uncle Gage?" Jenny ran to the door.

"Probably." Tess followed her and looked through the peephole. She took a deep breath. "Yep."

"I want to open the door." Jenny reached for the bolt lock and turned it, then turned the lock on the doork.n.o.b. She hurried to open the door.

Gage stood there, looking so s.e.xy in Wranglers, a dark blue T-shirt, and a western hat. His T-shirt stretched over his biceps and fit his chest just right. How could any man look that hot?

"Hi, almost-Uncle Gage," Jenny said with a big smile.

He grinned. "Hi, Jenny." He met Tess's eyes and gave her a smile that she knew was meant only for her.

There went those d.a.m.ned belly flutters again.

Tess swallowed. "Come on in." She introduced him to Glenna whose cheeks reddened as he gave her a smile and touched the brim of his hat. Tess had never seen the teenager appear tongue-tied or shy before.

"Ready?" Gage asked Tess.

She nodded. "Kiss?" Tess held out her arms to Jenny who ran toward her and gave her a big kiss on the cheek and hugged her. Tess kissed Jenny's cheek in return. "Be good for Glenna."

"I will." Jenny took Glenna's hand. "We're going to play Barbies now," she said to Gage.

"Have fun," he said to the girls. Glenna blushed again and Jenny beamed before she started to lead Glenna to the bedroom.

"You look great," Gage said to Tess when the girls had disappeared into Jenny's bedroom.

She looked down at her own T-shirt and jeans. "I take it I'm dressed okay for mud?"

He laughed. "Perfect."

"Hold on." She grabbed her keys and the small woven purse she'd decided to take with her to hold the few things she might need. They headed out and she locked the door behind them before she dropped the keys into her purse.

"We need to stop by my place and then we'll head on out," he said as he helped her into the pa.s.senger side of his truck. He went to the driver's side and climbed in.

When they were on the road she found herself almost as tongue-tied as Glenna had been. "So what are we doing?" she managed to ask.

"Ever been out on an ATV?" he asked.

"No." She shook her head. "It always looked like fun but I've never had the opportunity."

"Well, now's your chance." He looked at her. "I'm glad you're here with me, Tess."

She found herself smiling. "I am, too."

It wasn't too far to his place. He had a small ranch but had a sprawling home that from the outside looked to be over three thousand square feet.

A huge building sat on some property set back from the house. "I run my well and pump service business out of that building and keep my heavy equipment there," he said as he drove to the building. "We're so busy that we work weekends, too. I managed to arrange to have some time off today."

"I'm glad," she said and he rewarded her with a quick grin.

They went around the back of the building. A trailer with a strapped down four-wheel ATV was behind the shop.

He backed up the truck to the neck of the trailer and parked. Before he could climb out, his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of the holster on his belt, checked the caller ID screen and answered with, "Hi, Joe." After a moment, he frowned. "d.a.m.n, I'm sorry to hear that." His brow furrowed as he continued to listen. "No, you're right, we can't leave Mrs. Johnson without water. Don't worry about a thing. I'll take care of it."

When Gage disconnected the call, he blew out his breath and looked at Tess. "One of my men's uncle was in a car accident and he needs to get down to the hospital. He was heading out to put a new pump in Mrs. Johnson's well when he got the call. She's a sweet little old lady who lives on the other side of Prescott, down the road from where I grew up."

"And she needs water," Tess said. "I understand."

"If you still want to get muddy, why don't you come out with me?" he said. "It's possible it won't take too long and we can still do something this afternoon."

"Sure." She nodded. "I'm up for muddy one way or another."

"Good." He started the truck again and started driving it around the shop. "We need to take the pump rig." He nodded in the direction of a big truck. "It has all the tools I'll need, and the right pipe is already loaded. But I'll have to load a new pump for her well."

Tess jumped out of the cab when he parked again and offered to help with whatever it was he needed.

"In the back of the truck is a small cooler with our lunch in it," he said. "Also a bag with chips and a few other things. Why don't you grab that?"

She started toward the rear of the truck. "I've got it."

When everything was taken care of, and he had changed into a work shirt and put on work boots, they headed off to Mrs. Johnson's place.

Tess found herself feeling more relaxed. It was like the pressure of a first date was washed away now that they weren't actually going out. They laughed and talked on the way to the job and it felt like they were in Nectars, flirting, only the bar wasn't between them.

Just like he'd promised. That thought gave her a little pause but she easily fell back into their conversation. He'd also promised that they could go at her pace and she was going to hold him to that.

Tess was having so much fun that the drive seemed to go by in no time. Soon they were turning up a maintained dirt road toward an older home on a fenced-off piece of property.

Mrs. Johnson lived on an acre set back away from the main road. She had a nice place with a little house and a flower garden in front and a greenhouse in the back.

They pulled up to the house and Gage parked the truck and killed the engine. He was out of the truck and to her side as usual to open the door for her.

"My squash, tomatoes, and green beans need water," Mrs. Johnson said when she came out to greet them. "I was planning on watering them today. They're looking a little limp."

"We'll have you taken care of in no time." Gage had switched his western hat for a ball cap and he pushed it up as he talked with the elder woman. "Just sit tight and we'll get those vegetables watered."

"I've always liked you, Gage McBride," she said and patted him on the arm. She looked at Tess. "He was always a little devil but a good kid."

Tess laughed. "I don't think he's changed much in that regard."

With a grin, Gage said, "I'll get to work on it now."

The water well and pressure tank were in back of the greenhouse and Gage backed the pump rig up to it.

"What do you need to do?" she asked.

"First I need to check the electrical wires for the pump to see if they're going to ground." Gage went up to the well and started his inspection. "Yeah, it's gone bad," he finally said after a few moments.

She stepped out of the way as he backed the rig closer to the well, got out of the truck, and then raised the mast. The hydraulics made the loud hum of heavy machinery as it went into place.

Tess didn't have a clue when it came to anything remotely related to his occupation and she was fascinated by everything he was doing.

"Next the plumbing to the pressure tank and the house need to be undone." Gage pulled on a pair of work gloves and grabbed tools he needed.

After he'd finished with the plumbing, he centered a cable from the mast over the well. He explained to her what he was doing as he unscrewed the plug on top of the pipe to use some kind of pipe puller at the top to pull out the pipes.

She felt kind of useless as she watched him work. "What can I do?"

He gestured to the truck and pointed to one of the toolboxes built into the side. "In that toolbox are some rags. If you can grab those for me, it would be great."

She walked around the pump rig to the opposite side, opened up the toolbox he'd indicated, and grabbed the rags he needed.

"If we're not careful, this could be messy." He took the rags from her and put some down. "The joints are going to have gunk on them and water will be in the pipes."