she asked in a voice that dripped sweetness.
“None! Damn it. I can get along without anybody’s help. And I have no idea why Victoria sent you up here! I don’t even believe you’re a nurse!”
Nevada folded her arms against her breasts. This outburst from her patient wasn’t too big a surprise. Victoria had already warned her that since the fire Linc had been on a rampage. And she’d heard a long time ago that the man was a recluse. She’d asked Victoria about the hearsay and the doctor had confirmed it as true, saying she couldn’t remember the last time Linc Ketchum had ever stepped foot off the T Bar K. Poor man, Nevada thought. He really needed her help.
“Why not?” she asked simply.
He stepped closer and it was then that Nevada allowed herself to really look at him. When she’d first driven up, she’d gotten the impression of long legs, muscles and shoulders broad enough to carry her weight twice over. Now she could study his face close up and as far as she was concerned it was a work of pure art.
A Roman nose, square jaw and chin, and dark-green eyes set beneath a pair of black brows. At the moment he was wearing a cowboy hat the color of creamed coffee, but she could see the hair next to it was slightly darker and curled against his head in a touch-me-please way. Victoria had told her that Linc was thirty-eight and all Nevada could think at the moment was what a hunk of a man Linc Ketchum had grown into in those thirty-eight years.
“Because you don’t look like a nurse. Or sound like one, either,” he answered.
Nevada couldn’t help but laugh. “Really? I guess you must be an expert on nurses?”
He grimaced. “No. But—”
Nevada stepped forward and put her hand on his shoulder. It was warm, rock-hard and caused her skin to sizzle.
“Listen, Linc. Victoria tried to find a nurse other than me. She couldn’t. No one was willing to come all the way out here and stay for two weeks.”
“That’s not surprising,” Linc muttered. “If a woman has to go without electricity for one hour, she thinks she’s been traumatized.”
“Hmm. Is that so? I had to go without electricity for two days last winter. Ice did something to the lines going to my apartment. But you know, I made it okay. Didn’t feel a bit traumatized.”
Glowering, he looked away from her. “I guess you’re trying to say that I should be grateful that you were willing to take care of me?”
Her hand felt as though it was vibrating on his shoulder and she pulled it away, hoping it would put an end to the odd sensation. “Well, you don’t have to go so far as to be grateful. Just civil will be enough for me.”
His head twisted back around and Nevada felt something jerk in her chest as his dark-green gaze landed on her face. “You’re doing this for Victoria’s sake, aren’t you?” he asked, then quickly added, “No. Don’t answer that. I already know that you are.”
“Well, well. You not only think you’re an expert on nurses, you also think you’re a mind reader. You must have many talents, Mr. Ketchum.”
Ignoring her sarcasm, he said, “See, you’re not even bothering to deny it.”
Nevada smiled at him. “Why should I bother? You seem to know the answer already.”
He heaved out a heavy breath. “Well, I guess that part of it doesn’t matter. I just don’t like feeling beholden to anybody.”
Nevada’s expression turned serious. “Look, Linc, I’m here because I chose to be here. I’m a nurse and when it all boils down, I can’t turn away from someone who needs my help. No matter who they’re related to. Now if you don’t mind, I need to unload my things from the car.”
She stepped around him and jerked the car door open. Linc watched with helpless frustration as she pulled out several pieces of luggage and piled them on the ground. Normally, he would never allow a female to lift anything heavier than a plate of food in his presence. But as it was he was so incapacitated he couldn’t even pick up her handbag.
“If you need help with that I can call someone up from the main house,” he finally offered.
She glanced his way. “Thank you. But they’re not a problem for me to carry.”
He watched her shove one of the bags beneath her armpit and pick up two more with her hands. How the hell was he going to deal with this woman for two weeks or more, he wondered. She’d already managed to make him feel like a helpless idiot. Moreover, she was just too damn sexy.
“I—uh—I’d help if I could,” he felt compelled to say.
She started moving toward the house and he fell in beside her.
“I know that,” she said. “Don’t apologize for your condition. You can’t help it. Just try to get well as quickly as you can.”
The two of them crossed the rough ground of the yard and climbed onto the porch. There Nevada turned to look at the view. The house was facing south and some distance over on the next mountain ridge she could spot the top of the main ranch house. Between here and there was nothing but forested mountains.
“This is beautiful,” she said with quiet awe.
Linc looked at her, faintly surprised by the sincerity in her voice. “Yeah, but give yourself a few days and you’ll be screaming to see town again.”
She flashed him a glance. “How could you predict that? You don’t even know me.”
“Women can’t stand the isolation.”
Obviously Linc Ketchum wasn’t just down on being incapacitated, he was also down on women for some reason that Nevada would very much like to know.
“Excuse me, but Victoria lived her whole life on this ranch until she went to med school and married Jess.”
He waved away her words. “Victoria is different. She’s a ranch girl, a cowgirl.”
Nevada wanted to ask him what he thought she was, but she didn’t bother. Now wasn’t the time to try to dig into him. If she was going to be able to make it through the next two or three weeks, she needed to keep peace with the man.
“Well, don’t worry about me getting cabin fever. I’m sure you’ll keep me entertained,” she said, then turning to the door, she opened it and stepped inside.
Linc quickly followed her into the small foyer and then into the long living room until she stopped abruptly and stared all around her.
“Oh! This is lovely. This looks almost like the big ranch house. Only smaller.”
The room had off-white walls and a high ceiling crossed with heavy oak beams stained a deep brown. The floor was covered with a shiny brown-and-beige tile and a good portion of the north wall was built of plate glass. The landscape past the window was breathtaking and framed the peaks of the distant San Juan Mountains, which, in spite of it being midsummer, still hung on to their caps of snow.
“You sound surprised,” Linc said as he watched her drop her bags and walk slowly around the room. “What were you expecting?”
She shot him a frank glance. “Nothing like this. Victoria told me this was just a small ranch house that they leased to any of the ranch hands who had a family and were in need of housing.”
“She told you right.”
“Goodness! This is so—beautiful!” Continuing her walk around the room, she inspected the leather furniture, the Western photos and paintings on the walls and the wagon wheel that dropped from the center beam in the ceiling. The wooden wheel was circled with lights that were fashioned in the shape of old-time lanterns.
The fact that she was so taken with the house both surprised and pleased Linc. He hadn’t expected such a reaction from her. To look at her, she seemed like the modern-apartment type.
“I’m