scooped the pieces into the water and turned on the heat. Am I good or what?” He did a little victory dance.
“Yes, you’re amazing.” Although he made her laugh, he was horribly distracting. At this rate she’d ruin the meal. “But you know what? I can handle it from here if you want to hang out with the others.”
He grinned. “Trying to get rid of me?”
“No, of course not.”
“Tell the truth, Aria.”
She hesitated. But Lexi had claimed nothing bothered him. “I admit you’re destroying my concentration.”
“Damn. And here I promised not to get in your way.”
“You’re not getting in my way. It’s my fault. I’m not paying attention to what I’m doing and that could be a problem, especially when I set fire to the brandy.”
“You’re going to set fire to it on purpose?”
“Yes, and I—”
“So this is one of those flaming dishes?”
“Yep.”
“Hot damn. I’ve always wanted to see how that’s done. Look, I won’t make any attempt at conversation. I won’t say a word unless it’s required. I’ll just stand here and do what I’m told. Can I stay?”
She couldn’t very well admit that he could turn her brain to mush simply by his existence. She took great pride in her cooking. Sending him back to the table would be the smart thing to do. But that wasn’t what came out of her mouth. “Sure.”
“Thanks.”
She prayed that she wouldn’t burn down the house.
BRANT KNEW HE made Aria nervous, but backing off wouldn’t solve the problem. So he’d moved in closer and joked around with her, which had worked better. He couldn’t say for sure if her skittish behavior was a sexual thing, but he suspected she might be unwillingly attracted to him.
He was definitely interested in her, but he could dial that back if she wasn’t in the market. A boyfriend didn’t seem likely unless he wasn’t in town. She’d put her heart and soul into Linus’s birth so any guy worth her time would have been here for the event.
She could be hesitant to encourage a new relationship for any number of reasons, and he’d respect that. Her uptight attitude in the beginning had put him off a little, but after they’d shared a special moment while admiring the newborn colt, he’d found himself liking her, after all. He’d looked forward to being around her a little more. Then she’d proudly given her champagne toast.
He hadn’t been prepared for the visceral punch of desire as she’d stood on the porch in her flirty little dress, glass raised and sincerity ringing in her voice. Despite not knowing her very well, he’d been swamped with lust. He’d desperately wanted to kiss her. He’d wanted to do a lot more than that.
So he’d volunteered to help her fix the meal to see how she reacted to working closely with him. She’d admitted he was a distraction, which probably meant she was interested in him, too. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that she was resisting that attraction.
If so, they should have a frank discussion about it. That little colt would pick up on either positive or negative tension between them and he wanted Aria to be part of the training process. That way she could continue using his methods after he’d left.
Ideally her brother would participate, but no telling how that would turn out. Aria already loved the colt. Brant had seen it in her eyes. If her brother lost interest, she would take full responsibility for Linus’s welfare, which meant she needed to be included in the early stages of his socialization.
Right now, though, wasn’t the time for that discussion. He didn’t plan to talk at all unless necessary. Following her instructions, he cut up the mushrooms while she cooked the onions and bacon in a heavy skillet. He concentrated on being totally nonthreatening as they worked silently side-by-side.
Gradually her shoulders lowered and her breathing evened out. He matched that rhythm and she seemed to loosen up a little more. She was getting used to having him close by. She might not be flattered to discover he was using a horse training technique to settle her down, but she’d never hear that from him.
Unfortunately, watching a beautiful woman prepare food was like foreplay. Her breasts shifted gently beneath her flowered dress as she stirred the onions and bacon. Heat from the skillet created a flush on her skin. Or maybe his presence did that.
If they’d been alone, he would have reached out to stroke a finger along the dewy curve of her cheek. He would have been able to judge where they stood from her reaction. But they weren’t alone, which left him with an ache that wouldn’t be satisfied now and might never be.
She was good at this cooking stuff, which probably explained her vanity plate. He’d never watched someone prepare a fancy dish like this, but Aria knew what she was doing.
Her obvious mastery impressed him and her calm instruction struck a chord. After all, that was how he worked. Under her watchful eye, he took the onions and bacon out of the pan and put them on a plate while she got the chicken ready.
“When the chicken’s browned,” she said, “that’s when the flaming brandy comes into play.”
“Do you mean brown like a buckskin or brown like a bay?” He’d spent all his adult life on ranches where someone else had done the cooking and he’d done the eating. Although he’d helped Rosie in the kitchen because she’d required all the boys to take a turn, she’d never attempted something this complicated. He found the process almost as fascinating as the cook.
“Somewhere in between those two. It’ll take about ten minutes.” She carefully flipped the pieces of chicken in the pan as she glanced over at him. “Do you want to pour the brandy or light it?”
His macho instincts kicked in. “Light it, of course. Even though I can’t cook, I know my way around matches.”
“I’ll just bet you do. And we should probably warn everybody what’s about to happen. They won’t be expecting flames.”
“I thought Rosie and Herb had this once before.”
“They did, but the flaming part was probably done in the kitchen. Rosie might know because she checked out the recipe years ago, but I can picture Herb dousing it with the fire extinguisher.”
Brant laughed. “That would be—” Then he caught Aria’s thunderous expression. “Terrible. Absolutely terrible.”
“Exactly.” She met his gaze and gave him a sunny smile. “Why don’t you tell them?”
“Okay.” One look into those violet eyes and he was a goner. No point in fooling himself. He wanted her. But if she didn’t want him, or did want him but wasn’t happy about that, he’d recalibrate.
“I’d suggest you explain it to them now, though,” she added. “We’re minutes away.”
“Right.” He reluctantly stopped gazing into her eyes and walked over to the kitchen table.
Herb glanced up. “Don’t tell me it’s done already.”
“Not yet.” He realized he had incomplete info and turned back toward Aria. “How much longer before it’s ready to eat?”
“After the flaming part, it needs to simmer at least another forty-five minutes.”
Cade got out of his chair. “Then how about some more champagne and maybe some munchies?”
“Just don’t spoil your appetite, hotshot.” Brant had become protective of this meal prepared by a woman he admired. “The food will be primo.”