Chapter Three
Rowe
His dragon was slithering wildly inside him.
Rowe closed his eyes and focused his breathing as green scales with hints of light blue rose near to the surface of his skin. His beast was so crazed it was trying to transform on its own. Never before had he heard of such a thing happening. The mental wrestling match to subdue it left him breathing hard and wincing as pain stabbed deep into his skull. It was not happy about being kept caged.
It wanted to be freed.
It wanted…shit, what the hell was her name again? He’d heard it before, he swore. There was only one other person that would be living on the ranch besides Torran and Lilly. Shaking his head in an attempt to recall the knowledge buried somewhere inside his head, Rowe groaned, pressing his temple into his palm. The agitation had worsened the headache from his dragon. A lot. Asshole.
“She doesn’t want you,” he hissed, standing up straight.
His dragon disagreed. Loudly. She did want him. Badly. All he needed to do was go and claim her. It would be as simple as that, it said.
Which is why Rowe was in charge of things. The other side of him had no respect for things like emotions, feelings, societal boundaries and all that other stuff. There was no denying though that he’d been awestruck by her beauty.
And her fire. Oh, the way she’d come charging back into the kitchen full of fiery righteousness had awoken a hunger in him he hadn’t known he possessed. Rowe had every inch of her face burned into his memory and he loved it. She was beautiful when relaxed and doing her own thing. But when she was angry…she was gorgeous. He’d been unable to stop staring, but thankfully she hadn’t picked up on it.
In his mind strawberry-blonde hair bounced wildly as she jerked her head left and right. It always settled down her back, the long, loose curls appearing to be natural. Either that, or the only thing she did in the morning was curl her hair before coming for coffee. Judging by her dependency on the bitter black liquid, Rowe doubted it.
Then there was the wild lines of her body, the curves and softness, the way it moved just so naturally as if she was meant to be that way. It was better than anything he could have imagined. Drool had been building like wild in his mouth as he moved about, and for a time he’d been unable to believe his luck that she was comfortable enough to walk around in her bra and underwear.
He’d read that one wrong. Probably should have made more noise earlier, but what was done was done. Unlike what he’d accomplished for the day, which was precisely nothing. Well, unless daydreaming about a woman whose name he didn’t even know counted. In which case he’d had the most productive day of his life.
The report he was putting together for the council of dragon elders was barely half done. Part of that was the lack of work he’d put in. There was another reason, however, and that was because Rowe no longer knew what to say. For so long it had been fiery rhetoric. In fact, his first report had been almost exclusively that. But now things were changing. Watching his comrades find their mates had introduced a lot of doubt into his mind.
Rowe was lost.
Instead of confronting the issue, he was going to run from it and use the mysterious woman as a distraction. The last he’d seen she was outside making notes. Although she didn’t know it, Rowe could track her anywhere, so all he had to do was go outside and catch her delicious cinnamon-infused scent.
He was halfway into the back mud room where his boots were when the door opened and she came inside, looking like a slow-motion model from the movies. There was little he could do but stare and bask in the moment.
Beautifully curved eyebrows that spoke of a lot of time and care helped to frame two round and inquisitive eyes that went wide as they saw him. She shouted in surprise and clutched at her heart. Fearful for her health, Rowe rushed to her side.
“Are you okay?” he asked, trying to ease her to the ground.
“What?” she yelped. “Yes, I’m fine. You just scared me. Why are you trying to help me to the ground? Please remove your hands.”
Rowe immediately stopped what he was doing. She stumbled slightly, not having realized how much of her weight he was supporting. Righting herself, she gave him an angry glare, but it subsided as he stepped back.
“You’re making a habit of startling me, and I have to admit I don’t like it. My heart can only handle so much of it.”
“I’m sorry. I was just about to go outside. I didn’t know you were coming in or I would have waited before entering.”
“Oh, you were leaving?”
Was that disappointment he’d heard in her voice? Rowe was so busy trying to figure that out that he stumbled over his answer. “I…guess. Yeah. Wait, no!”
“No? What were you doing then?”
“I was coming to find you,” he stated, feeling his confidence come trickling back.
“Me? I thought I told you I didn’t want to see you for the rest of the day?”
“You did.”
She frowned, cheeks dimpling furiously, taking much of the seriousness out of the look. “Why come find me then?”
“You never told me your name.”
“What?”
Rowe smiled, enjoying the way it seemed to throw her off. “I want to know your name. You didn’t tell me it when we met earlier.”
“You mean when you stared at me while I was in my underwear.”
“I wasn’t staring.”
She snorted, but didn’t leave. She was giving him a chance to explain.
“I read two pages of the newspaper while you were there.”
“What did they say?”
“Uhhh.”
“Exactly. So just stay out of my way, please.”
Rowe didn’t move. “You can’t be serious.”
“I was completely serious. Look at this face. I know you weren’t looking at it much earlier, but look now. Does it seem like I’m joking?”
“We’re the only two people living in this massive place, and you want nothing to do with me?”
This time there was a definite hesitation before she replied. “Exactly. I have a job to do, and you’re preventing me from doing it.”
Rowe blinked. A job? That sounded familiar. He felt like he should know what it was, but his brain wasn’t helping him out at all. “What do you do?”
“I was hired by Palin to—”
Rowe’s memory came crashing back to him. “I know it!” he shouted.
The abrupt exclamation sent her scrambling back from him, eyes bugging out again. Damn, he needed to stop doing that to her. Still, he couldn’t contain the excitement. He knew her name.
“Cheryl,” he said, pointing a finger at her.
“Please don’t kill me,” she whispered fearfully.
Rowe jerked. “What? I’m not going to kill you. Why would I do that?”
“You’re acting really weird. Weird people kill people.”
He sighed. “You’ve seen way too many horror movies. I was excited because I swore I knew your name, but I couldn’t remember it. Then when you were telling me what you were hired to do it all suddenly popped up in my brain. I’m sorry I scared you. Again.”
“This is the most cardiac activity my heart has gotten in a long time,” she muttered. “There’s a reason for that. I hate it.”
Rowe laughed.
“So you know my name, do you?”
“Cheryl, though don’t ask me about the last name. You’re a manager or something. Palin contacted a huge farming consortium to come in and get this place up and running to turn a profit. You’re the one they sent to oversee it.”
She nodded. “Controller is the position name, to be specific. And yes, that’s my job, which you are currently preventing me from doing.”
“I’m sorry.” Rowe’s lips twisted. “I feel like I’m doing that a lot.”
“You are, and trust me, each one has been unnecessary.”
Before he could respond she pushed past him into the house at last. Rowe followed after her. He wasn’t about to give up that easily. She was feisty and focused. He liked that, and intended to tell her so.
“I think it’s pretty awesome that you’re doing this big job,” he said, meaning it.
“What? Why? Because I’m a woman?” Cheryl rounded on him. “You have no idea who I am or what I’ve done, but you’re impressed?”
Rowe threw his hands up in surrender. “I just meant it’s a big job, that’s all.”
Cheryl sighed. “Sorry. You’re right, it is a big job, and because I’m losing all this time talking to you, I’m getting stressed over it.”
Rowe thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Sounds like you need an assistant then.”
“What? Oh no. No way.” Cheryl started backing away from him, shaking her head. “I am not going down that path with you, mister. That’s way too much trouble.”
There. That was the first confirmation that she couldn’t think straight around him either. It was at least partially mutual, which is all he could hope for.
“I’ll be an excellent right-hand man,” he countered, chasing after her, not bothering to hide his grin. The hunt was on.
“Nope. No way. Not happening. I can do this on my own.”
“Nobody is saying you can’t. But I come free, and believe it or not, I still have a few smarts knocking around in here.”
“Do people ever believe you when you say things like that?”
Rowe smiled wider. She was starting to cave, flirting and teasing him back instead of continued outright denial. He was going to get her to agree, and then show her that she had no reason to be doubtful at all. This was going to be a wonderful partnership. On many levels.
“No, don’t use that smile on me. Yes, you’re a pretty boy, I get it. It won’t work.” Cheryl was at the stairs now, and she slowly started backing up them, shaking her head the entire time.
Despite all that, her lips kept quirking upward, as if she wanted to smile but wouldn’t let herself.
“Free trial then. You don’t have to buy it outright, but at least give it a whirl, see how it is having me help you out.”
Cheryl stopped climbing the stairs backward. “You’re not going to stop.”
“Nope.”
“If I say yes, you have to promise that when the farmhands arrive, you act like a professional around them.”
“Of course.”
Cheryl gave him a long stare, evaluating. “I am so going to regret this.”
Rowe shook his head. She wasn’t. This was going to be the best decision of her life. He just couldn’t tell her that.
Not yet.