by Cora Seton
“You wanted to see Jolene?”
“Just in the area and I thought I’d check on her. Any problems?”
Tanner shook his head. “No. Don’t expect any either.”
“Who was the sire?”
“Blue Rocket, from Halo M Ranch stock.”
She thought for a minute. “One of the Montgomery ranches?”
Tanner nodded. “Travis. Runs the best horseflesh in the area.”
The entire time they’d been talking, Tanner had been running his large hand along Jolene’s neck with long strokes. The horse shivered to the touch and shook her head. Georgie knew how the horse felt. She wanted to shiver just watching the gentle caresses.
“As long as I’m here, why don’t I take a quick look at the little momma-to-be.”
She moved closer to the horse, which put her much closer to one of the hottest, and most infuriating, cowboys she’d ever dealt with. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up past his elbow exposing tanned flesh and thick forearms. Every time he moved his arm, beefy muscles made their presence known. What was it about well-developed forearms that made her lose all her professionalism?
When she leaned down to press the bell of the stethoscope to Jolene, she discovered the position gave her a front row seat to study the worn denim of Tanner’s crotch. She liked how the material molded over his assets. She’d be willing be wager the backside would cup his ass just right. And—
“Is something wrong?”
Georgie startled. Hells bells. She’d forgotten to listen to the foal’s heartbeat. She held up one finger for silence, listened briefly and then stood.
“Nope. Nothing’s wrong. Momma and baby are doing great.”
The lines at the corner of his overly-sun-exposed face deepened as he glared. “Are you sure? You were listening for a long time.”
She stroked Jolene’s side. “I’m sure.”
Not like she could confess that she’d gotten distracted by his, um, jeans.
“Anything else, Doctor? I need to get back to work.”
“Nope. Enjoy all the casseroles.”
He gave her a single nod. “Thanks.”
*
Saturday morning, Georgie hit the alarm multiple times, trying to stay in dreamland a little longer. All night her dreams had been filled with a large, hot hand stroking her flesh. Fingers that had been roughened from work fondled her thighs. Thick, sculpted forearms that held her. A deep and uncomfortably familiar male voice whispered dirty, suggestive acts he wanted to do to her body. At one point, an orgasm hit her so hard she woke herself when she cried out.
She rolled to her back and stared up at the ceiling. Good lord, what a night. Obviously it’d been too long since she’d been with a man. For the past year she’d been totally focused on her career. Before that, she’d had Chris in her life, but now that she could see the past clearly, she could see that he hadn’t been there for her for a long time.
This stop in Whispering Springs was only for four months. Georgie wasn’t looking for everlasting love. However, a good friend with benefits situation might help the time pass.
Her treacherous mind immediately flashed a picture of Tanner Marshall. She shook that off and climbed out of bed. Tanner Marshall was not her friend. In fact, she was pretty sure being around her was a thorn in his butt.
She turned on the shower. Oh well. Another day, another dollar. She couldn’t worry about what one guy thought of her.
“Move it a little higher on the right side,” Tanner said. Winston Clark, the volunteer firefighter working with him at the county fair information table scooted the edge of the Whispering Springs Volunteer Fire Department banner up an inch.
“Like that?”
Tanner nodded. “Yeah. Looks perfect.”
Winston tied off the sign and hopped off the ladder to stand back and admire the banner. “I do good work,” he said.
Tanner checked his watch. Eleven a.m. “When are the rest of the crew getting here?”
“They’re here,” Winston said and pointed across the aisle.
Three volunteer firefighters were hanging a banner that read A Healthy Animal is a Happy Animal. Tanner groaned when he saw who was directing the work. None other than Dr. Firebug, herself. And damn if she wasn’t looking like Dr. Feelgood today. Dressed in a casual shirt and a pair of tight jeans that were tucked into cowboy boots, there was no question why his guys had headed across the aisle. Then she laughed at something Coy Rivers said and threw her head back, her long, curly red hair swinging just above her nice, round ass.
Tanner gritted his teeth. He didn’t have time for this kind of distraction.
“Be right back,” he said to Winston.
His boots had a loud clump as he stomped across the aisle. “Excuse me, men. If you don’t have enough to do at your own booth, I’m sure there are water hydrants around the county that can be checked today.”
Checking water hydrants was a punishment job, right up there with washing the entire firetruck by hand…alone.
“No, sir, Tanner. Dr. Greyson was having a little trouble getting her banner straight. Just being neighborly.”
“Fine. The banner’s hung. Hustle your asses back to your own spot.”
The three firefighters gathered up their tools, grabbed some cookies from the tray on the table, said their goodbyes and hustled across to the fire department booth.
Once they were out of earshot, he said, “I don’t mind lending my guys if you need help but I would have appreciated being asked first.”
Her mouth opened in an O, and then her eyes narrowed. “Look, Mr. Marshall, I didn’t ask the guys to come over. They volunteered. What was I supposed to do? Say no to three hunky firemen who want to help me?”
“Firefighters.”
“Sorry. Hunky firefighters. Of course not. They haven’t been over here but about five minutes so get the stick out of your ass.”
Tanner leaned against the table separating them. “Do I need to check your area for matches or any type of fire accelerant?”
Her mouth curled into an amused grin. She snapped her fingers. “Matches and gasoline. I did forget to bring something.”
He stood and chuckled. With a touch of his fingertips to his brim, he said, “Good day, Doctor.”
She nodded and turned her back to pick up a stack of flyers for the table. He had clearly been dismissed but he stood there admiring the denim covering her bottom before he left. With a silent wolf whistle in appreciation, he went back across to his area.
“Rivers. You’re first in the dunking booth, followed by Brown and then Jeffers. Enjoy, boys.”
All three guys groaned. The volunteer fire department was always short on funds. Complete fire turnout equipment ran close to ten thousand per man. Some departments required the volunteer to supply his or her own equipment. The Whispering Springs Volunteer Fire Department supplied a complete suit for each firefighter but lately, there’d been a lot of sharing among the team. This meant that instead of keeping the equipment they would need in their personal vehicles so they could respond directly to a call, some of the guys had to go to the station first and get what they needed. That slowed response time to a call dramatically. Tanner and the Chief were working together to raise more funding. They’d secured a federal grant that would pay for some, but not all, of what they needed. The fair provided the opportunity to raise additional funds.
Saturday and Sunday, the volunteer fire department was running a dunk tank. Various firefighters were taking turns on the bench. To show that he was in it with his guys, Tanner had even scheduled himself for late in the afternoon. He figured if four or five guys went before him, the novelty would have worn off and he wouldn’t get dunked as much.
“Hi guys,” a tall blonde said. “I’m Janet, Dr. Greyson’s assistant. She wanted y’all to have more cookies as a thank you for helping us get our banner up.” She set a Styrofoam plate of cookies on the table and then quickly picked it back up. “She said that Tanner would have to
approve it first.” She looked at Tanner with an arched eyebrow. “Well?”
His guys grumbled threats of mutiny if he turned down the cookies.
“Sure. Thank you.”
She set the plate on the table and the six guys working with him jumped on the cookies as though they hadn’t eaten in years.
Janet turned on her heel and headed back to the 4-H area where the delicious doctor was kneeling in front of a small boy while he petted a kitten she was holding. The child giggled and almost swooned into Georgie Greyson’s lap.
Georgie. What a horrible name for a woman. No way could he ever murmur a masculine name like Georgie during sex.
Not that it mattered in this situation. He wasn’t going to have sex with Georgina Greyson. Hell, he didn’t even like the woman. Granted, she had a rockin’ body with curves that begged to be stroked and hair so thick he could almost imagine it sliding down his body, but no.
Not just no, but hell no.
He knew all about women who put their jobs before their families. Women like Dr. Georgina Greyson. Women like his last three girlfriends. That he was attracted to her was totally irrelevant. He was looking for someone for the long term, not someone here on a stop between moves.
No. He wanted more than she could offer, so no reason to start something that had an expiration date.
*
Georgina could not believe how fast her stint in the 4-H booth passed. This morning, at the last minute, she went by the clinic and picked up three kittens and two puppies who needed homes, not that she would let them go today. Anyone who wanted to adopt one of the babies could come to the clinic on Monday and fill out the paperwork. The kittens and puppies had been a magnet for children and their parents.
As the end of her time in the booth neared, she ventured another glance across the straw-covered aisle. The firefighters had drawn a large crowd of people as they discussed fire safety and smoke alarms. She couldn’t help but notice the shocking number of young, attractive women who seemed enthralled with everything the firefighters had to say. Georgie would bet her last dollar that half of the women didn’t give a flip about fire safety. They did, however, seem to have an appreciation for the men doing the demonstrations.
What she couldn’t figure out was why some of the firefighters left the booth and came back later with wet hair.
“How’s it going?”
Georgie grinned and pulled Magda Montgomery into a hug. “Man, I have missed you.”
“You too,” Magda said.
“Where’s your hunky husband?”
Magda obviously loved that description of her husband as she beamed when she said, “Over there.” She tilted her head. “He’s talking to Tanner and Zack Marshall. How much longer are you going to be here? Reno has something he has to do for an hour. I was hoping you and I could get out and walk the midway while he’s busy.”
“I’m done,” Georgie said. “I’m waiting for Dr. Brian to come take my place. I’d love to do the midway. There’s so much to see.”
“And so much to eat.”
“Know what I want? A funnel cake. I haven’t eaten one of those in years.”
“Get this. I saw a vendor selling fried butter on my way over here.”
Georgie rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t even sound good, does it?”
Dr. Brian came strolling up the aisle licking a chocolate and vanilla swirl ice cream cone. “Howdy,” he said. “How’s the afternoon been?”
“Busy,” Georgie said. “I’m ready to hand it over to you. I’ll be back in an hour or so to get the kittens and puppies to take home.”
“Nah. Don’t worry about them. I’ll take them back to the clinic when I’m done. Any potential adoptions?”
“All of them, I think.”
“Great. Now you two get on out of here and enjoy the fair.”
Magda linked her arm through Georgie’s. “Let’s go.”
“Don’t you need to tell Reno you’re leaving?”
Magda grinned. “Nope. He’s gone.”
Georgie looked toward the fire department booth and sure enough. Reno was gone, as was Tanner…not that she cared if he was there or not.
As soon as they walked outdoors, Georgie’s ears were assaulted with children laughing, people screaming on the roller coaster as it plummeted over the top, parents calling to errant children running down the dirt path, and the barkers trying to lure customers to their games of chance. None of that caught her attention as much as the aroma of hot dogs, funnel cakes frying in oil, fresh popcorn piled into a glass box and the smoke from various barbeque pits around the area.
Her stomach growled. Magda looked at her. “Hungry, much?”
Georgie laughed. “I’m starved. I was running around this morning doing judging and I missed breakfast.”
“Well, before we start on all the junk food, how about something with a little nourishment?”
“You always did take good care of me.”
They found a trailer selling pulled pork barbeque sandwiches with fresh french fries. Ten minutes later, they were full of pork, potatoes, and Diet Cokes. They wandered down the midway dodging running children and teenage couples so wrapped around each other they could have been one person. Finally the funnel cake vendor came into view. Unable to resist, not that they tried very hard, they continued their walk while balancing paper plates of hot, fried dough sprinkled with powdered sugar.
“Yum,” Georgie muttered. “I love fried dough, sugar, and grease.”
Magda laughed. “Yeah, who doesn’t?” She took a big bite and then pointed. “There’s Reno. He’s helping out there today.”
“What is he doing?”
“It’s a dunking booth. The volunteer fire department is raising money for equipment.”
“So those are firemen in the booth?”
“Yep.”
Georgie laughed. “That explains all the wet hair I’ve seen today. Look at that line of women waiting to throw balls. Come on. Let’s see who’s on the hot seat.”
They got there in time to see Zack Marshall drop into the water, a big grin on his face. The women clapped and cheered as he climbed out. Georgie could see why. Zack wore only a tiny, barely there, lime green speedo and a smile.
“How’s it going, honey?” Magda said.
Reno gave her a quick kiss. “Great. Zack is quite a hit.”
“So I see,” Magda said. “Making a lot of money for the department?”
“Racking and stacking like we’re printin’ it fresh,” Reno said.
A loud cheer went up as Zack slipped into the water again.
“You realize they’re cheering for his climb out and not his splash in,” Georgie said.
Reno grinned. “Personally, I don’t think his ass is all that cute, but the ladies seem to like it just fine.”
“How much longer does he have on the plank?” Magda asked.
Reno checked the time on his cell phone. “Only a couple of minutes. You might want to hang around. The next one up will be some fun too.”
Before either woman could ask who, Tanner Marshall walked out from behind the tank. Dressed in a pair of board shorts, a tank top and flip-flops, he did not look excited to be going in.
“Tell me Tanner Marshall is next up,” Georgie said, her fingers crossed.
Reno’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “He’s next. Why?”
Georgie didn’t answer but watched as Zack climbed out of the box, throwing kisses to the ladies in the crowd. Then he took a deep bow and left. Tanner climbed onto the bench and scowled at the crowd.
Georgie dug in her purse, pulled out a fifty and handed it to Reno. “How many balls will that get me?”
“It’s three balls for five dollars or seven balls for ten. So…” He paused, doing the math in his head and said, “That’ll buy thirty-five balls.”
“That might be enough,” she said as she pushed the sleeves up on her blouse. “But if not, there’s more money where that came from.”
Chapte
r Four
‡
Tanner’s heart rate jumped as Georgina Greyson stepped up to the throwing line. Her thick hair rioted around her face as the wind picked up. She shoved it behind her ears and studied the bullseye target to his left as she bit her lip in serious concentration. Then she took aim and threw the ball.
It hit his cage with a loud bang.
He grinned. She couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.
Picking up her second ball, she aimed and fired. This ball went over the top of his enclosure.
“Give it up, sweetheart,” he taunted. “It’s obvious my good looks are distracting you.”
He could have sworn he heard her growl.
Georgie reared back and let her third, and then fourth, and finally fifth balls sail. Two hit his cage–and he wondered if she was aiming for his head instead of the release lever–and the final one landed short.
Really, he should have kept his mouth shut but it was just too much fun to watch her get red-faced and flustered when he goaded her.
“With your tiny hands and petite size, you’ll never get the ball to the target. Just give up while you’ve got some dignity left.”
Reno stacked five more balls in front of her.
She licked her lips. He fixated on her tongue as it flicked out and back in. A spark of lust ignited in his gut. Where did that come from? He wasn’t attracted to Georgina-call-me-Georgie Greyson. She wasn’t his type at all. He liked his women tall, blonde and experienced. She was petite, red-headed, and, as uptight as she was, he questioned if she’d ever had sex more than once.
Balls six and seven hit his cage, the ground and finally, nothing as the eighth ball sailed over the top.
He laughed. “Your lack of prowess is gathering quite a crowd. I do believe your city roots are showing.”
Balls nine and ten hit the cage directly in front of him. Yeah, he was pretty sure those two had hit where she’d aimed them.
His brother came strolling out from where he’d dried off and changed clothes. Zack’s grin grew as balls eleven and twelve missed the target.
“You’re still dry?” he shouted up at Tanner. “That’s no fun at all.”
