Loving Attention Read online

  His knees had almost buckled when he’d seen Niki’s profile as she’d talked to his brothers. He’d never seen a more beautiful or sexier woman in his life. His cock had started pulsing as it engorged with blood, and he’d had a full-on boner ever since. He was sure she’d seen his hard dick pressed against the fly of his jeans when she’d started blushing up a storm as he stood in front of her, but when she’d raised her gaze to his, her amazing green eyes had been full of wariness. He’d sat beside her, trying to hide the fact he’d had an erection even after the horse had already bolted from the stables, but there was nothing he could do about his body’s response to her stunning face or her sexy curves.

  When he noticed she was pressing herself into the corner of the sofa and trying to put some space between them, he shifted restlessly, adding a few more inches away from her. The tension in her shoulders eased slightly, and she seemed to breathe easier.

  Brent began to wonder why she was so trepidatious around him and his brothers. Was she trying to hide something from them? Was she a criminal on the run from the law? Surely their law enforcement officers had done a background search on her and her sister? Whenever someone new landed in town, the sheriffs and the deputies investigated them as much as they could. If she and her sister were on the wrong side of the law, he was sure that they would have been locked up behind bars already. There had to be another reason Niki was so anxious around them.

  When he realized that no one was talking, he glanced toward his brothers. They were staring at Niki as if she were a gallon of water and they were dying of thirst. He shifted his eyes toward her and frowned when he saw she was staring down at her hands. She was twisting her fingers into knots.

  “We have to be honest with you, Niki,” Brent began. “My brothers and I are so busy with the ranch chores we haven’t had time to clean the house for over a month. We’re so weary after working fourteen to sixteen hours a day that we barely have the energy to eat, let alone clean up after ourselves.”

  “I understand,” she replied in her soft, musical voice. Brent was sure she had a slight accent but couldn’t quite place it, and it wasn’t just because she came from a different part of the country. She sounded as if she had a slight European lilt when she was speaking, but her surname didn’t equate to having a background from another country. That was a paradox that made him curious, but he wasn’t about to start giving her the third degree. He wanted her to get comfortable around him and his brothers before he started grilling her with questions. “How big is your ranch?”

  “We have ten thousand acres,” Hes answered.

  Brent nodded. “The property starts at the road where you came in and heads up into the mountains.”

  “What sort of ranch do you have?”

  “Beef,” Rig replied.

  “We have five thousand head with more on the way. Our heifers should start calving any time now. We’re going to be even busier than we are now,” Brent explained. “We would love it if you would take the job of housekeeping on.”

  “What would you expect me to do?” Niki asked.

  “Cleaning the house and if you’re up to it, we would appreciate you cooking lunch and dinner. We’re up too early for you to worry about breakfast, but we won’t have time to clean up after ourselves.”

  “So, are you going to take the job?” Rig leaned his elbows on his knees.

  “Yes.” She nodded, then licked her lips nervously. “Do any of you have any food allergies or dietary requirements?”

  “Nope.” Hes winked at her.

  She blinked and blushed before looking away. Brent snagged her gaze with his. “We pretty much eat anything, baby.” He cursed his slipup when she frowned, but thankfully she didn’t take him to task over calling her an endearment. For the first time in his life, Brent wished she didn’t have a sister or a place to stay because if she didn’t, he and his brothers might have been able to talk her into staying with them.

  He sucked in a deep breath when he realized where his thoughts were at and knew without a doubt that Niki Gilmore was that special woman he and his brothers had been hoping to meet.

  Brent didn’t want her leaving his sight, but he couldn’t force her to stay either. If he began telling her how to live her life, she was likely to tell him to fuck off and leave without ever looking back. He and his brothers were going to have to go really slow with Niki. Hopefully she wouldn’t notice they were courting her until she was head over heels in love with them.

  “Right, we need to head out. Rig, Hes, you two can herd the rest of the cattle in the southeast paddock to the adjoining one. Then I want you to head north. The fence in the northern pasture needs attention. I’m going to take Brutus and ride the west fence,” Brent said as he rose.

  Niki stood along with his brothers. “Can I ask how much you’re paying for the job?”

  Brent glanced at his brothers and quirked a brow. They gazed at each other for a moment before turning to look into Niki’s eyes. “Does twenty-five dollars an hour sound all right to you?” Rig asked.

  “Are you serious?” Niki asked, her eyes wide with shock.

  “Very,” Hes replied.

  “You’ll be earning every penny of that money, Niki,” Brent said. “We aren’t the neatest of men, and we eat a lot since we’re burning so many calories. We like good hearty meals that will keep us going all day long. Plus, since you’ll be cooking, we won’t be wanting to head into town to the diner or somewhere else to eat. That’s saving us cash. If we have the energy after working such long hours, we eat out. Otherwise we just make a batch of sandwiches. You’re going to need to make a grocery list and do the shopping too. One of us will help you with that. As I said, you’ll be earning the salary we give you. Do you have any reservations?”

  Niki crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. “I’m not afraid of hard work.”

  “Good.” Brent glanced at his watch. It was just after nine in the morning, and there was still a shit ton he and his brothers needed to do before lunch. “Lunch is at one. We don’t want to be waiting around wasting time for the food to be ready.”

  Niki nodded. “Lunch will be on the table at one on the dot.”

  “See ya in a few hours.” Rig pretended to tip his nonexistent hat before heading out.

  “I’m looking forward to lunch,” Hes said, then winked and walked away.

  “Come into the kitchen, Niki. I need to show you a few things.” Brent stepped aside so she could move around the sofa. As he followed her into the kitchen, he couldn’t stop himself from staring at the sexy sway of her hips and her delectable peach-shaped ass. What he wouldn’t give to take a bite out of those butt cheeks, or anywhere else for that matter. He almost groaned with hunger as he adjusted his hard dick in his jeans. It was going to be damned difficult keeping his mind out of the gutter with such a gorgeous, sexy woman around.

  He watched her as she took everything in, and when she spun to face him, he made sure to clear all expression from his face. He didn’t want her getting more nervous around him and his brothers if she realized he was lusting after her stimulating anatomy and pretty face.

  “What did you want to show me?” she asked.

  Since his mind was still on the verge of being in the bedroom, it took him a few seconds to remember why he’d asked her to go into the kitchen. He sighed with relief when his gaze landed on the walkie-talkie sitting on the windowsill above the double kitchen sink. Being careful not to crowd her, he stepped around her and grabbed it.

  “Have you ever used a walkie-talkie before?”

  She shook her head.

  “Okay, it’s easy enough. This is the power button. We always have the channel set on forty-five because it’s not used regularly by truckers and/or emergency services. If you have any problems, don’t hesitate to contact us. One of us will be here as fast as we can.”

  She nodded and frowned at the same time. “I don’t foresee anything going wrong.”

  “That’s a good thing, but work
ing a ranch can be dangerous. It will be good for us to have someone to call for help if one of us gets injured. Most of the time Hes and Rig work together, but there are some times when we’re all working on different parts of the property. We carry these with us at all times just in case, as well as new batteries and our cell phones. However, phone reception can be spotty. Our cell numbers are on the wall next to the house phone.” He pointed to the list stuck to the wall. “There are also the numbers for the vet, the fire station, the Sheriff’s Department and our local GP. I don’t expect that you’ll need to contact anyone, since we’re always careful and vigilant to any trouble, but accidents happen.

  “If you need one of us, push this button on the side and talk. You have to release the button to hear a reply.”

  Niki nodded again. “That seems easy enough.”

  “It is.” He left the walkie-talkie on and set it back on the windowsill. “There are spare batteries in the second drawer if those go dead, but you shouldn’t need to worry for now. I put a new set in this morning.”

  “Okay.” She blinked up at him.

  Brent wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her, but he made himself turn and stride toward the glass sliding door, which led to the covered alfresco dining area and the steps. As he closed the door behind him, he glanced back but Niki was already tackling the dirty dishes in the sink.

  Even though it was only just under four hours before lunchtime when he could head back to the house, he had a feeling the morning was going to drag.

  With a sigh of frustration, he tried to push the image of Niki from his mind and concentrate on what he needed to do next.

  As soon as Niki had all the dishes washed, dried, and put away, she emptied the dishwasher. It took her longer than it normally would since she had to search out where everything went. When she was done cleaning the kitchen, she inspected the contents of the fridge, freezer, and pantry and found not much more than the bare staples of flour, eggs, milk, and of course lots of packaged beef.

  She took out a hunk of beef, weighed it on the digital scale she’d found, unwrapped it, and set it to defrost in the microwave. When she spied a wooden box on the floor in the pantry, she opened the lid to discover potatoes. If she remembered correctly, she was sure she’d seen a huge package of mixed vegetables in the freezer. She was going to make a large pot of beef and vegetable stew as well as some fresh biscuits. Maybe if she doubled the mix there would be enough biscuits leftover for the Lyndon men’s dinner. Then when she remembered how tall and muscular they were, she decided to triple it.

  As she waited for the beef to defrost, she found a large bowl and measured out flour and the other ingredients she needed. Half an hour later, she had three paper-lined trays ready to go into the oven.

  When the microwave beeped, she removed the plate with the beef and started slicing the meat into small chunks. After scrubbing the knife and chopping board clean, she dried them and went to get a bowl full of potatoes.

  She had the stew simmering on the stove on a low heat and would need to make sure she came back the kitchen regularly to stir it so it didn’t burn, but she also needed to investigate the rest of the house and see what part needed her attention first.

  Glancing about as she walked through the living room, she noted the dust coating the shelves and the coffee and side tables. Since that wouldn’t take her too long to do, she decided to tackle that chore after the men had eaten.

  She peered into the bedrooms as she passed them by, and for some unknown reason, she felt as if she knew which room belonged to which brother. The first bedroom had clothes strewn about the floor, draped over a chair, and scattered along the end of the king-sized bed. Niki had a feeling she was looking into Rigby’s room. While his clothes had been clean, they’d been wrinkled as if they’d been sitting in a laundry basket without being folded neatly.

  The next room wasn’t as messy as the first. Even though the bed wasn’t made properly, the covers had been pulled up in an attempt to make it look tidy. There was a pair of dirty socks at the end of the bed, and a layer of dust on the bedside tables and tallboy. Since Heston had looked neater than Rigby, she figured this was his room.

  There were two bedrooms on either side of the hallway. One with a neatly made bed which had nothing out of place except again for the dust. It had an empty feel to it and she thought that maybe it was a guestroom. The opposite bedroom had a framed photograph of three older men and woman. They were all smiling, and since the men’s features were similar to Brentley’s, Heston’s, and Rigby’s, she presumed that they were the men’s parents. Niki didn’t realize that she’d taken a few steps into the room and hoped that the three brothers didn’t think or mind that she was invading their privacy, but since she was now their housekeeper, they were going to have to get used to her infiltrating their space. As was she.

  She was surprised to see no layers of dust on any of the furniture, and the bed was made with an almost military precision. Had Brentley been in the armed services? In fact, all three of the Lyndon brothers wore an air of confident authority, so maybe all of them had served their country in one way or another.

  The room at the end of the hall was bigger than all the others and looked to be the master bedroom. Again, this bedroom didn’t feel as if it were being used. The adjoining bathroom was clean but dusty, but the en-suite bathrooms to the three brothers’ bedrooms were going to need a good hard scrub. The floors needed to be washed after she vacuumed them.

  It was going to take her all day to get everything in order, but it would be easier to maintain after that and take her less time.

  Niki grabbed the clothing hampers from each room one after the other, gathering up the rest of the dirty clothes from the floor. The laundry room was large and off the kitchen, and after loading the washing machine and turning it on, she took the opportunity to stir the beef stew. It smelled so good her stomach growled. Since she’d been so nervous, she hadn’t wanted to eat breakfast in case she became nauseous. Now she was hungry, but she didn’t feel right helping herself to something to eat.

  After checking the time, she gathered up the cleaning supplies and got to work. She’d cleaned three bathrooms by the time she had to put the biscuits in to bake, as well as hung out three loads of laundry and kept an eye on the stew.

  Deciding to tackle the rest of the chores while the men were eating, she grabbed a glass from the cupboard, filled it with water, and guzzled it down.

  She’d just taken the biscuits from the oven and was serving up large bowls of stew when the men started coming inside.

  “Something smells delicious,” Rigby said as he walked toward the kitchen counter. Heston was right behind him.

  “There weren’t any fresh vegetables or much else. I’ll need to go grocery shopping for you all tomorrow, but for now, I hope you like beef stew.”

  “I love beef stew.” Heston rubbed a hand over his flat belly while smiling at her.

  “You made biscuits?” Rigby asked. “From scratch?”

  “Yes.” She carried two bowls over to the set table and went back for the third, then she put the biscuits in a large wicker basket lined with a clean towel and covered them with another towel to keep them warm. She carried them to the table, then hurried back to the kitchen and poured three mugs of coffee. There was already a jug of water and glasses at each set place. Just as she put the basket in the middle of the three place settings, Brentley entered the house. Niki couldn’t help staring at him. He looked so damn sexy with his Stetson still on his head, his dusty blue jeans molded to his long strong legs, and his flannel shirt stretched over the bulging muscles of his pectorals and biceps. He’d rolled the shirtsleeves up, leaving his forearms exposed. His skin was tanned a dark bronze, and there was a light smattering of hair covering his arms. He removed his hat, ran his fingers through his hair, and hung the Stetson on a coat rack just inside the back door.

  As he turned toward her, she grasped the fact that she was staring at him, then quickly
straightened and hurried back to the kitchen. Her skin tingled when she felt eyes on her, but she stubbornly kept her gaze away from the men, all the while hoping that Brentley’s brothers hadn’t noticed she’d been ogling their older sibling.

  “Wow, this looks wonderful,” Brentley said as he took a seat at the table. “I can’t remember the last time we had a home-cooked meal.”

  Niki smiled in their direction. “Go ahead and eat while it’s hot.” She started rinsing and placing the dishes in the dishwasher.

  “Look at me, Niki,” Brentley ordered from right behind her, startling her.

  She flinched, placing her hand over her rapidly thudding heart as she turned to face him. He was so close to her she could feel the heat radiating off his large body, but instead of meeting his eyes, she stared at one of the buttons on his shirt.

  When he lifted a hand toward her face, she whimpered and backed up until her lower back was pressed up hard against the kitchen counter. Brentley slowly lowered his hand back to his side. “I would never hurt you, Niki,” he said in a deep, soft voice. “My brothers and I served in the Marines for ten years protecting people. We’ve never and would never raise a hand to a woman, child, or man weaker than us.”

  Niki swallowed around the constrictive lump in her throat and nodded. She lifted her head after shoring up her gumption and met his concerned brown eyes. “Why are there only three places set at the table?”

  She shrugged instead of answering. When Brentley turned away from her with a loud sigh, she sagged against the counter. He pulled open the cutlery drawer and retrieved a spoon, fork, and knife. Then he skirted around her, got another bowl out of the cupboard, and ladled some stew into it before carrying it to the table and setting it down next to where he’d been sitting. “Can you please bring over another glass and mug of coffee?”

  Niki did as asked and was about to head back to the kitchen to finish up scrubbing the pot, but before she’d taken two steps, Brentley snagged her wrist in a gentle hold. “Sit down and eat, baby.” He slowly, cautiously stood, pulled a chair out for her, and pushed it back in as she sat.