by D'Ann Lindun
Now that she’d cooled off a bit and had her wits about her, Alannah took stock of her cowboy rescuer. On the way in, he’d placed his Stetson on the entryway table. His walnut-colored hair lay flat except for the ends, which curled up a bit. She found the look endearing. He looked exactly like what he was—a tired cowboy who’d put in a hard day’s work.
Guilt gripped her. She’d ruined his whole day by not thinking. “I’d like to help you recapture your bull tomorrow. May I ride along?”
For a minute, she thought tea was going to come out of his nose as he laughed heartily. “You want to tag along with me for a long, hot day under the sun?”
She lifted her chin. “Yes.”
“Can you ride?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I can.”
“I’m not going to bring you back if you get tired by ten a.m.,” he warned.
“I wouldn’t expect you to.” She held his steely gaze until he nodded.
“All right.”
“Great.” Why did she feel as if she’d just won a major skirmish? “What time do we start?”
“Breakfast at five, on the road by six.”
“I’ll be ready,” she promised.
He set aside his glass. “I could use a shower before dinner. You?”
For a second she thought he was asking her to shower with him, an idea she found strangely appealing. “I could stand to wash off some of this dirt.”
“I’ll show you to your room.” He stood and she did, too.
He led her down a long hallway to a closed door. “Here you go. If you need anything, let Lupita know. I’ll see you in the living room at quarter til six.”
“Where’s your room?” she asked.
He nodded over his right shoulder. “Right there. I don’t invite women inside.”
“Good to know.” She stepped inside her own room and closed the door in his face. Arrogant jerk. Like she’d ever step into his bedroom. Arizona would freeze over first.
The bedroom she’d been assigned rivaled any she’d been in—large bed covered with a plump comforter, more heavy Spanish-style furniture, including a small vanity. Her luggage sat on the queen-sized bed, and she unzipped the biggest suitcase. She’d just show him a thing or two. In the smaller bag, she found her toiletries and chose her most expensive mango-scented shampoo and body wash.
The bathroom was as nice as the bedroom, if not more so. Ultra-modern with a garden tub and shower big enough for a small crowd. With a sigh of contentment, she undressed and stepped under the shower. Cool water cascaded over her fried skin as she shampooed her hair and lightly scrubbed with the body wash.
Lingering for hours would be wonderful, but she didn’t have time.
Reluctantly, she stepped out and dried off with a big, fluffy towel. After slathering on a gallon of mango-scented lotion over her fried skin, she felt human again. Sitting in front of the vanity mirror, she applied makeup—a brush of eye shadow, mascara and light-pink lipstick. A quick twist of her pale blonde hair into a sleek knot with a strand hanging over her eye had turned more than one man’s head.
From a garment bag, she pulled out a pale pink slip dress. She held it against her. Bra or not? Not, she decided with a wicked grin. By the end of the evening, she was going to have Sterling Gentry begging at her feet to come inside his bedroom.
Her hand, halfway to her perfume bottle, froze.
Why was she going out of her way to impress a man she didn’t want? In a few days, she was moving on to her next assignment—shooting a world champion roper in Houston. Maybe it was Gentry’s arrogance that made her want to take him down a peg. Or maybe she just wanted to let off a little steam. Either way, she wasn’t getting attached.
She sprayed on a dab of perfume, then slipped on a pair of strappy sandals.
With a deep breath, she opened the door.
~*~
Gentry poured a scotch over rocks and sipped, the smooth liquor sliding down his parched throat. He stared out the west window at the dying sun. Some of his fatigue had washed away in his shower. The whiskey revived him more.
“Drinking alone? Or are you sharing?”
He turned toward Alannah, who stood in the entryway, a vision of womanly softness in a pink dress and glittery sandals. The image of her standing there hit him like one of the cows had kicked him in the gut. As she glided toward him, he caught the scent of mangos. Suddenly, he was glad for the expensive aftershave his mother sent him for Christmas and the new green-and-blue striped shirt he’d chosen over an older red one.
“Straight? Or on the rocks?”
“Ice, please.” She drew close and peered at him from behind a long strand of hair she’d left loose. Her updo was streaked silver and gold. Artfully done. Again, he wondered if she were a natural blonde. He had a sudden urge to find out.
“Anything for a lady.” He poured the drink and, when he handed it to her, deliberately allowed their fingers to brush.
She flinched, spilling a little of the drink.
He hid a grin. Not as unaffected by him as she’d like him to believe. “Are you feeling better?”
“Much.” She lifted the glass to her pouty pink lips.
“Nice dress.” He let his gaze linger on her small breasts for a half beat before dropping across her stomach down the long line of her legs. When he raised his gaze back to her face, her cheeks were rosy, but whether from his inspection or her hours in the sun, he couldn’t say.
“I didn’t know if you dressed for dinner—”
“Not usually. It’s casual around here. Jeans and a jacket at most.” He shrugged. “No point dressing up to impress Lupita.”
“I can change—”
“No. Don’t.” He waved his drink. “It’s rare I get to see a pretty lady wearing a dress.”
“Lupita had on a dress.”
His lips curved up. “Not the same at all.”
She smiled, too, and his pulse kicked up. “Are you the epitome of the lonely cowboy? Singing to his horse around a campfire at night, keeping the doggies in check?”
“Something like that.” It had been almost eight months since Mindy packed up, saying she couldn’t take the solitude any longer. Since then, he’d gone out with a lady friend a few times, but it wasn’t serious. She understood—and liked—their no-strings arrangement.
“You don’t kiss and tell?”
“Nope.”
Alannah walked to the same window where he’d just been standing and looked out. “It’s beautiful here. Must get lonely, though.”
“I like it.”
She glanced over her shoulder at him. “You don’t miss concerts, museums, people?”
“Nope. Got my fill of those things in college.” He walked across the room and stood beside her. “Don’t want to go on cruises or trips to the big city to get cultured. I have everything I need right here.”
“I’m told cows don’t make great conversationalists,” she teased.
“I don’t have much to say, so it works,” he countered.
She raised her glass. “Touché.”
He grinned, saluted her with his own glass, then drained it. “Dinner should be ready. Shall we?”
“Yes.” She carried her glass with her, walking ahead of him in the direction he indicated, toward the dining room. The sway of her curvy ass under the soft material whetted his appetite for something very different from food.
Not an option. A spoiled city girl wasn’t someone he would ever tangle with. He wouldn’t risk losing his head over a woman who wouldn’t fit into the life he’d made for himself here on the ranch.
Gentry’s father had made that mistake, and he didn’t plan to repeat it. His mother had made it a whole five years before she took off and refused to ever come back. It had been years before she visited the ranch, and only for a day or two, when she made one of her rare appearances.
He’d forgiven her years ago because he didn’t want to live alone and bitter over a woman until heartbreak eventually killed him like it had his fat
her. JohnMcDonaldMila
He pulled out a chair for Alannah, and after she sat, he pushed her back in. “Beer?”
“Please.”
He poured them each a glass of Corona, but before they tasted it, Lupita carried in their dinner. The mouth-watering scents of beef, peppers and warm tortillas filled the air. With a flourish, she placed everything on the table. “Bueno?”
“You’ve outdone yourself, Lupita,” Gentry told her.
“Gracias, patrone.”
For a minute, he wondered if the old woman planned to curtsy. What had gotten into her? She’d never acted like this with Mindy. In fact, she’d barely been able to tolerate the woman.
Gentry held the heavy platter for Alannah. “Ladies first.”
She served herself. “This looks wonderful.”
“It is,” he said. “Dig in.”
He didn’t have to ask twice as she began eating like one of his ranch hands after a hard day’s work. Hiding a smile behind one of Lupita’s homemade tortillas, he watched his guest fill up on tender Gentry beef.
He’d half expected her to be a vegetarian.
What other surprises did she have up her sleeve? It would be interesting to find out if there was more to her than the airhead he’d first thought her to be.
Whoa!
Why was he already thinking of breaking his plan of letting her take a few pictures and sending her on down the road?
Not a good idea to think with your dick. A surefire way to find not only that body part in a heap of trouble, but the rest of you, too.
CHAPTER THREE
“I’m stuffed.” Finally, Alannah pushed her plate away. She had eaten more than she normally did in three meals. She’d been too hungry before to pay attention to the museum-quality table and chairs. Now, she looked around at the heavy furniture, admiring the detail that had gone into making the dining set.
Gentry laughed. “Lupita is a damn good cook.”
“Yes, she is. I’d be fat in a month if I spent much time here.”
“Doubtful.” He eyed her small frame with skepticism.
“You’re too kind.” Her stomach tightened. She chalked it off as a reaction to too much food, not the heat in the man’s eyes
He chuckled. “I do my best.”
“I need to get up, or I’m going to fall asleep right here.” Alannah pushed away from the table.
“Lupita will be disappointed if you don’t taste her sopapillas. They’re the best around.”
Alannah groaned. “I’d love one, but I didn’t save any room.”
“How about a short stroll to work off some of that food?”
“Perfect.”
He stood, pulled her chair out and glanced at her shoes. “You plan to wear those fancy sandals in the sand?”
“I’ll change.” She flew to her room and kicked off the shoes, pulling on her red boots. For a second, she considered changing out of the pink dress but decided to keep it on. She’d seen the interest in Gentry’s eyes when he’d first seen it. Although she had no intention of letting him anywhere near her heart, flirting a little was harmless fun. She grabbed her camera and hurried out to meet Gentry.
When he spotted her footwear choice, he grinned. “Looks good.”
“Show me around, cowboy.”
“Bet you’ve used that line a few times,” he muttered.
She laughed and tossed her head. “I’ll never tell.”
“You don’t kiss and tell?” he parroted her earlier comment.
Two could play that game. “Nope.”
He grabbed his Stetson, placed it on his head and led her outside toward the meandering river. The temperature had cooled considerably but still held in the high nineties. The sun lingered over the rolling hills in the distance.
“It’s beautiful here.” Alannah paused to take several shots. The shifting colors had already changed the view from the time she’d arrived. If she were a landscape photographer, she could easily find a hundred years’ worth of subject matter. A glance out of the corner of her eye at the sexy cowboy reminded her she could find plenty of material to photograph in him.
They strolled alongside the creek where a bullfrog croaked. A light breeze stirred the cottonwood leaves.
“I imagine you’ve seen a lot of interesting places.” Gentry stopped to wait while she took more pictures.
She aimed the Canon at him. “A few.”
“Anywhere that sticks out?”
“Denver. Cheyenne. Butte. I like western cities.” She snapped several shots of his angular face. Nice!
“Ever been to Tuscon?”
“Sure. Several times.” She had a hard time concentrating on his words because his face was so intriguing. The rest of him wasn’t too bad, either. Would he let her shoot him nude? Probably not the best question to lead with but maybe eventually. The thought made her panties dampen.
What was it with this guy making her so irrational? She rarely had relationships because she had no intention of settling down, and hookups left her cold.
“I went to school there ,” Gentry said. JohnMcDonald
“Ah, U of A?” Alannah said. “Good school. What program?”
“Ag business. I couldn’t wait to get through it and come back here to the ranch.”
Alarms rang in Alannah’s head. This guy was worse than her parents about land ownership. Tied, make that hogtied, to property. Something she would never be—hobbled to a place.
Gentry pulled her away from her moody thoughts. “You ready for some of Lupita’s sopapillas now?”
“Sure.” She was still full, but she wanted to spend a little more time with this man. He intrigued her more than she wanted to admit.
They walked back toward the house in a comfortable silence.
Lupita had left a plate of sopapillas in the oven, the heat low. Honey and powdered sugar waited on the counter. Gentry placed one of the desserts on a plate for each of them and handed one to her.
“Honey?”
She nodded. “Yes, please.”
After liberally coating a piece of the fried bread, she tasted it. And sighed in appreciation as the sweetness spread over her tongue. “I’ve just died and gone to heaven.”
Gentry chuckled. “It’s pretty good.”
“Bread is pretty good. These are spectacular.” She licked her fingers.
A small sound slid from Gentry’s throat, and Alannah looked up from her sticky fingers. The undisguised hunger in his eyes had nothing to do with the treat. Her stomach dipped toward her red boots.
She peered at him through her long strand of hair and licked her lips. “Gentry—”
“We should turn in. Five comes early,” he said, abruptly covering the remaining sopapillas and placing them inside the gleaming stainless steel refrigerator.
Turn in? Before nine? “I’m not tired.”
“You will be tomorrow morning,” he said. “There’s a TV in the living room and a selection of books in the den. Help yourself to any of them.” He placed the powdered sugar and honey in the cupboard. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to do a little paperwork before I turn in.”
“You said something about a pool,” she said. “May I use it?”
“I’ll show you the way.” He walked out of the kitchen, through a laundry room, onto a back patio where a small yard and glimmering aqua pool sat encased by a rock wall. A waterfall splashed down the wall in one corner, creating the illusion of a natural spring.
As she grew closer, Alannah also spotted a hot tub attached to the pool. She couldn’t wait to get in and soak away the long, sweltering day. “Awesome.”
Gentry pointed to a door. “That leads to the bedrooms. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Impulsively, she spoke. “You won’t join me for a little while? It’s not that late.”
He considered her for a moment. She thought he’d refuse, but he nodded. “All right.”
“I’ll get my suit.” Excitement flooded her at his ascent. She wanted to know th
is man. A plan began to form in her mind.
“I’ll meet you here in fifteen minutes. I need to make a phone call.” Gentry went back through the kitchen door, and Alannah headed for the other door he’d indicated.
~*~
Alannah slipped into a pastel two-piece and grabbed a towel from the bathroom before hurrying back outside. Gentry hadn’t appeared yet, and a tinge of disappointment nibbled her.
She dove into the aqua water, sighing in delight at the perfect temperature. She swam slow strokes from one end of the pool to the other. On her third pass, she stopped and stood to look around.
Gentry sat on the steps observing her. The skin of his neck and hands were darker than the rest of his swarthy skin. Her lips curved up. Farmer’s tan.
“Come in,” she invited.
“I’d rather watch.”
With a teasing smile, she reached behind her neck and slowly untied her bikini top. With a quick flip of her wrist, she sent the scrap of material zinging to the side of the deck, where it landed with a plop. Bravely, she let her arms hang by her sides. With a cool stare, she allowed him to look his fill. She had never been so bold before, but wanting this man turned her into a seductress.
He dove in and, with a few quick strokes, joined her. He bobbed to the surface directly in front of her. “Don’t stop now.”
Keeping her gaze locked on his, she slid her thumbs under the skimpy strings holding her bottoms on and pulled them over her hips, legs and feet. With her toe, she lifted them to her hand. Tossing the bottoms to the side where her top rested, she grinned. “Your turn.”
Eyes darkening, Gentry reached for the tie on his swim trunks. Alannah put her hands over his. “Let me.”
With a hooded look, he lifted his hands and let them float on top of the water. Still holding his gaze, she untied his trunks and slid them over his slim hips and long legs. He stepped out of them, and they floated away. It became impossible to ignore his cock standing proudly erect between them.
Alannah licked her lips, then flipped onto her side to swim away, her heart pounding a wild staccato. She was in over her head here. This had been a bad idea. She wasn’t wild. In fact, she normally kept her heart closely guarded. Before she could escape, she was grabbed by the ankle and reeled in like a trout. When her body bumped into his, he scooped her up and carried her to the steps.
