“that just means I’ll have to stay here in Ruidoso longer and get to know you a bit better.”
Dropping her head, she cleared her throat as she tried to gather herself together. “Um…we’d better go. It’s a fairly long drive to the Bar M,” she told him.
Out in the parking lot, a north wind was whipping across the asphalt, rattling the bare limbs of the aspens and shaking the branches of the blue spruce trees. Ileana huddled, shivering inside her coat, as she gave him general directions to the ranch, then climbed into her truck and waited for him to do the same.
Soon a dark, fairly new-looking pickup truck pulled directly behind hers. She steered her own vehicle onto the street while carefully watching in the rearview mirror to make sure he was following. After a maze of turns and several traffic lights, they hit the main highway that would take them east to the Hondo Valley.
The Bar M was nearly thirty miles away and in the daylight, a beautiful drive through the mountains. But night had fallen more than an hour ago. As she drove, Ileana’s gaze switched from the white line on the highway to the headlights following a respectable distance behind her, while her thoughts raced faster than the speedometer on the dash panel.
What was the man really trying to do? There was no reason for him to flirt with her. In fact, the whole idea seemed ridiculous. But he had flirted, she mentally argued with herself. At least, it had felt that way to her. So why? Was he still thinking he could charm her into letting him see Frankie?
Yes. That had to be the reason. A man like him didn’t look twice at a woman like her for romantic reasons. And during the evening ahead, she was going to do her best to remember that.
Since Mac McCleod was a guest who had never visited the ranch before, Ileana purposely parked in front of the house so that they could enter properly through the main entrance.
When he joined her on the small stone walk leading up to the long porch, he paused to look around at the area lit by a nearby yard lamp.
“This is quite a beautiful place. I’d like to see the ranch and the drive up here in the daylight sometime.”
“Yes. Even though it is my home, I never take the scenery for granted,” she replied, then gestured toward the house. “Shall we go in? It’s very cold this evening.”
“It’s damn—sorry—it’s darn cold to me,” he said as he followed her to the door. “It gets cool where I come from but not anything like this. We’re lucky if we see a frost, much less snow.”
“Oh, come June and July we’ll get some very warm weather,” she told him. “But with the high altitude the nights remain cool.”
She opened the door and gestured for him to enter, but he shook his head and smiled.
“I’d never go before a lady. You lead the way.”
Even though Mac’s mother had left the family, he’d obviously been raised with manners, Ileana thought. And a whole lot of charm. Something she needed to ignore. But everything inside her was so aware of the man, so pleased to be in his presence. And the reaction made her feel more foolish than she’d ever felt in her life.
As they moved from the foyer into the long living room, Ileana was relieved to find her mother sitting on the couch. The moment Chloe spotted them, she rose to her feet and quickly joined them.
“Mac, this is my mother, Chloe Sanders. Mother, this is Mac McCleod,” Ileana promptly introduced.
“Mr. McCleod, I’m very happy you decided to join us tonight,” Chloe told him as she reached to shake his hand.
He took her hand, but rather than shake it, he simply held it in a warm, inviting grip. As a smile dimpled his cheeks, Ileana could see her mother succumbing to the man.
“It’s my pleasure, ma’am. Having you two ladies for company sure beats the lonely meal I had last night.”
Chloe chuckled softly. “Eating alone isn’t much fun. But my husband sometimes travels so I have to do it at times. Are you married, Mr. McCleod?”
Mac gave her a lopsided grin. “No. I’m a single man. And call me Mac, ma’am. Ileana already does.”
Chloe’s brows inched upward as she glanced over at her daughter. Ileana smiled awkwardly as her mother’s gaze swept over her sweater dress and her stacked heel boots.
“Does Cesar have dinner ready yet?” Ileana asked quickly.
“I think it will be a few more minutes,” Chloe said, then looped her arm through Mac’s. “Come along, Mac, and make yourself comfortable. I was just having a small glass of wine. Would you like to join me?”
“Only if Ileana will share one with us,” he said.
“Usually Ileana doesn’t drink anything but water,” Chloe said. “But maybe she’ll make an exception tonight—for you,” Chloe added.
Ileana didn’t know why her mother was speaking in such a coy manner or why Chloe expected her to drink a glass of wine when she knew her daughter didn’t like alcohol. But then, this whole issue with Mac McCleod was strange. His presence must be rubbing off on her mother, too, she thought.
“Only a very small glass,” Ileana told her.
Mac took a seat in a stuffed armchair situated a few feet from the fireplace, which at the moment was cracking and hissing with a roaring fire. Ileana took a chair across from him and crossed her legs. Then realizing she didn’t feel comfortable, she rested both feet flat on the floor and folded her hands in her lap.
Across the room, at a small wet bar, Chloe asked, “So have you been in Ruidoso for long, Mac?”
“Only since yesterday, ma’am.”
“How do you like this area?” she asked, as she handed him a glass of wine.
He thanked her, then said, “It’s very beautiful. But it’s not Texas. No offense, ma’ am.”
Chloe laughed softly. “I know what you mean, Mac. Texas is your home, so nothing could compare.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “That pretty much says how it is.”
Chloe handed Ileana a glass with a very short amount of red liquid in the bottom, then took a seat on a nearby couch.
Ileana said, “I’m sorry my father couldn’t be with us tonight, Mac. He’s away on business right now.”
“Is he a cattleman?” Mac asked.
“No. Daddy knows about cattle, but he’s mainly an oilman,” Ileana explained.
“Wyatt owns and runs a natural gas exploration business,” Chloe added. “He was doing that when we married—oh so many years ago.”
Mac looked back and forth between the two women. These people were well off financially. Even more than he’d initially thought. “This ranch, do you run stock on it?”
“Oh, yes,” Chloe answered. “It’s been a working ranch for nearly seventy-five years. For the most part, we raise horses, and I train them for the racetrack.”
He looked intrigued now, and Ileana wasn’t surprised. Her mother lived and worked in mostly a man’s world, at an exciting sport. Whereas Ileana worked at a job that was oftentimes depressing and complicated. Men were rarely drawn to her occupation.
“Thoroughbreds or quarter horses?” he asked Chloe.
“Both.”
Mac looked over at Ileana and was struck at how lovely she looked with her face bathed in a golden glow from the fire and the tail of her simple ponytail lying against one shoulder. There was a quiet dreaminess about her expression that was both soothing and inviting at the same time, and he found himself wishing he was going to have dinner with her alone.
“What about you, Ileana? Are you familiar with horses?”
“Ileana