Chapter 7

Jennifer went to Shelly's room to drop of the purchases she had made and to return Shelly's credit card, being very careful to make sure that it was in her sight at all time and that she had the receipt. The last thing she wanted to do was to betray Shelly's trust in her.

"Shelly, I was able to get everything you requested."

"Great, thank you so much, you have no idea how much it will help to keep me from moving too much just having something to keep my hands busy. Would you be kind enough to help me move from the bed to the chair they brought in for me? I can't believe Mr. Wilson got them to bring the reclining chair in here so I could sit up more comfortably yet still be able to keep my knee elevated."

"Sure, then I will move that small table next to it so you have a place to keep your things while you work." Jennifer moved quickly to get everything in place, she didn't mind at all doing these things for Shelly. Making sure Shelly had her medication, water, craft items, cell phone and the remote to the TV, Jennifer excused herself for the afternoon as it was her afternoon off today and she had a ton of things to get done in preparation for Thursday night.

As she was leaving Shelly's room, deep in her thoughts, and not really paying as much attention as she normally did, Jennifer ran into someone. Startled by the fact that she had ran into someone, Jennifer very quickly apologized.

"Oh, I am so sorry" Jennifer said as she looked up to see exactly who she had run into. With her arms in his hands to steady the startled Jennifer, was a very handsome guest named Marcus Ashley. Marcus was 6' 1", blond hair, and blue eyes and had a smile that made Jennifer go weak in the knees. Jennifer had seen him around the ranch, but since he showed up the day before Shelly's first accident when she got thrown from Shadow, she really never got a chance to do more than see him in passing as she preformed her new duties.

Marcus couldn't help but smile when he looked at who bumped into him; normally it pissed him off royally when people didn't pay attention to where they were going. "It was just as much my fault as yours, Jennifer isn't it?"

"Yes sir, my name is Jennifer" for a reason she couldn't understand she was trembling while he held her and talked to her.

Feeling her tremble Marcus reluctantly let go of her not wanting to frighten her, why he couldn't understand, he never really cared much about women or what they felt or wanted, he had been hurt once and had put up a brick wall around his heart that no one had ever been able to break through.

"Its fine, I know you have been busy and concerned for Ms. Shelly, I heard about her and her horrible accident, and that it seems she has a habit of if she feels a bit better to go pushing herself to hard and re-aggravating her injuries. I also noticed that I believe Justin is his name, who primarily cares for her had to go out of town with the ranch owner, putting more burdens on you."

Jennifer's heart gave a flip as she looked into Marcus' eyes and saw concern in them. Not sure if was for her or Ms. Shelly, but it was still there.

"Yes, it is hard, but harder on Shelly then on me, she is not used to not doing anything and she does have a tendency to push herself way to hard, but there was more damage done to her knee in the accident then she realized. The bones healed, but until the events of the last two weeks the doctors could never pin point the tear." Jennifer responded not wanting Mr. Ashley to think that Shelly was being careless. "And yes his name is Justin, and he is for now the right hand man to Mr. Wilson."

"What do you mean for now he is?"

"Justin plans to ask Shelly to marry him Thursday night, she has no clue he is even coming back that afternoon or anything else planned. Oh my I have a ton of things to get done in preparation. Please excuse me; I want to make Thursday night as special for them both as I can!"

Jennifer took off down the hall, not seeing the look of relief on his face. "Now I will have a chance to get to know you better my pretty little Jennifer" Marcus said to himself. Which really surprised him? Ever since he arrived, just wanting to get away from all the pressures of running the family business, and his parents hounding him about settling down and giving them grandchildren. Sighing he thought of the night before he came here how they tried to set him up yet again with a young lady, who to say the least had very little going on upstairs. When Marcus arrived he had noticed her walking from the employee dining hall after eating dinner and was fascinated by the way she walked and carried herself, so sure and confident, the way the fading sunlight hit her hair making it and her just glow. His heart did a flip and that was such a shock to him, usually when he looked at women it was with disgust and distain although he really did try not to let it show too much, he was too good of a business man and gentleman for that.

On his second day here as he sat by the pool, she had kindly asked if he wanted a towel or needed anything. Although he wanted her, he said he was fine and thanked her for the towel. As she was turning to head back inside there was a great commotion as two horses arrived at the stables, a man was sitting behind a very pretty woman practically holding her up and leading another horse behind him. He was shouting orders to the other hands and tossed the rains of the second horse at a guy named Matt. A second hand had come up and was instructed to get on the left side and help stabilize the woman has he got down from behind her. Marcus had never seen anyone get off a horse that quickly. As he sat there and stared like all the other guests who where outside, Marcus saw the male rider gently take the lady off of the horse and carry her across the yard to the main house. As he went by Justin yelled for Jennifer to go call Dr. Carter and get him here quickly. Marcus was able to see the look of pain on the lady's face as Justin briefly paused by the pool shouting out more orders.

A while later Marcus asked the second hand, whom he discovered to be Chris, what had happened. Chris had told him that lady, Ms. Shelly, was one of the guests and that she and Justin, who was the second in charge here at the ranch, had gone riding to the beach and something had spooked Ms. Shelly's horse tossing her on to her right side which apparently had been seriously injured in an accident approximately a year ago.

Marcus was surprised to learn that Justin was an employee and not Ms. Shelly's husband. He would have sworn by the look in Justin's eyes and the concern on his face and in his voice that she was his wife, not just some guest. Well it looks like soon she would be his wife if she accepts like Jennifer seems to think she will.

Since then Marcus had been watching Jennifer as she went about her tasks admiring her in a way that he had never had admired another woman before. He was actually allowing himself to feel again and dream of what it would be like to have her in his arms. Touching her today, having his hands on her arms and feeling her body brush up against his when she ran into him, had his head swimming and his heart floating. How wonderful it would be to feel that body next to mine at night and waking up with her in my arms every morning, Marcus thought. Shaking his head he still couldn't believe that she was affecting him so.

Marcus had been up early the morning Shelly went out for her run. Visions of Jennifer in his bed making love to him had kept him from getting a good night sleep. Marcus had gotten up and went for a walk around the property hoping to quiet his nerves and get a grip on his mind and emotions, emotions he hadn't felt in years. He was on a trail near the one Shelly used to head towards the beach. When he saw the door open to the main house for some reason he froze where he was. He watched as Shelly looked around to make sure no one was up especially Justin he thought and put her IPod on, double checked her knee brace and went quickly walking towards the path. Marcus very silently backed behind a tree so she wouldn't see him as she entered the forest. He watched her take one quick look behind her then start running at a pace that surprised him. As Marcus was leaving the trail he noticed Justin heading for the dining hall for the early breakfast, he always did before heading to Ms. Shelly's room, which happened to be right next to Marcus's. Marcus had a feeling it was going to be an interesting day today especially after seeing Ms. Shelly sneak out for a run. Marcus had yet to learn Shelly's last name, everyone there called her Ms. Shelly or just Shelly, but he was curious, especially with the bits and pieces he had heard about her and the accident she had had a year ago. He could understand her grief and wondered if she wasn't pushing herself so hard to try to bury such a painful memory.

Marcus was sitting out on his balcony when he heard noises in Shelly's room and knew that Justin and Jennifer had found her missing. The balcony was facing towards the stables and Marcus saw Justin running from the house to the stable to get a horse. The look on Justin's face told Marcus that he was pissed, but more worried and concerned; there was almost a fear there. Marcus would have sworn that Justin came back out of the stable with a fully saddled horse, which Marcus had later learned was Shelly's personal mount Shadow, in record time. Climbing up in the saddle Marcus watched Justin talking to the mount and next thing he knew, Justin and Shadow were heading off towards the beach in a flat out gallop. Several hours later, around lunch time Marcus was again by the pool relaxing when Justin and Shelly returned. Justin pulled up to the stable and dismounted as Matt came out to take Shadow in and brush him down. There was pain in Shelly's face but also a glow of happiness and love as Justin gently carried her back into the main house. If he didn't know better he would have thought the two had had sex, Shelly looked much younger than she did earlier this morning and very content, she snuggled into Justin's chest and when she turned her head up to look at him he smiled and kissed her.

Marcus pulled himself out of his revere as he tried to decide how he could get to know Jennifer much better and maybe even be able to get to spend some time with her. He had heard her tell Shelly she had the afternoon off and that almost made him despair wondering what she would do on her time off, more than likely he wouldn't get a chance to see her or spend time with her today. About an hour later Marcus was sitting on his balcony again just enjoying the peace and quiet and thinking about Jennifer, when he saw her in a bikini with a towel in her arm, he almost stopped breathing seeing her beauty. His thick 9" cock stood at attention as he watched her head towards a pond beyond the trees, he had found it by accident during one of his early morning walks. Smiling to himself, Marcus knew what he would do. He put his swimsuit on with a matching shirt and headed in the direction of the pond as if he were just out for a walk.