To Tempt a Cowgirl

by Jeannie Watt

  “I see.” He put his hands in his back pockets to keep himself from touching her. He didn’t know what to say, which was something to think about, since he always knew what to say.

  “I don’t want to use you.”

  His eyebrows shot up as he took her meaning. “You mean like a sex object?” Because many parts of him had no problem with that at all.

  She smiled wryly. “Well, that wasn’t exactly what I was thinking, but it’s close.”

  It was all he could do not to ask how close. Silence hung between them for a moment and Gabe somehow kept his hands firmly jammed into his rear pockets. “Well, if you ever feel in need of a sex object, I’m just a phone call away.”

  “A phone call?” she said, lifting her eyebrows dubiously.

  “And in the meantime, I’m going to stay here while you work your horses and make sure you don’t get stomped. I don’t want fear of using me to get in the way of your safety.”

  “I’m not afraid. I’m...uncertain. About a lot of stuff.”

  And cautious. Very, very cautious. He reached out and tucked a few strands of golden-brown hair behind her ear, then cupped her cheek in his palm when she didn’t move away from his touch. “I know the aftermath of getting burned, Dani. I’ve been there myself. And I appreciate what you just told me.”

  “Honesty is important to me.” And hearing her say those words again made something shift in him uncomfortably.

  “Then I guess I’ll fess up and tell you that I’m a great kisser, but for the time being I’m going to make you take my word on it.”

  She lifted her eyebrows again, challenge lighting her eyes. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah, right up until you feel ready to make that phone call. Until then, I’m your safety guy.”

  * * *

  GABE SPENT THE next three mornings in Dani’s nearly empty house, showing up at ten as she’d asked, and leaving at two. She agreed to work her most challenging horses during that time, including Lacy, and other than pacing to the window every fifteen or twenty minutes to see how things were going, Gabe settled into working with remarkable efficiency in the nearly empty house.

  He liked being in her space. Liked knowing she was outside. There was something calming about having her close, which ironically also put him on edge when he thought about it. When had he ever experienced a feeling like that?

  Never.

  Finally, after the second day, he decided not to analyze and simply go with the feeling, see what shook out. And then Neal called.

  “How has Dad sounded to you during the past few calls?”

  “Impatient.”

  “No. I mean physically.”

  “The cough?”

  “Exactly!”

  “I thought he had a cold.”

  “It’s been going on for over a month.”

  “Have him see a doctor.”

  “Yeah. His yearly physical isn’t for another six months.”

  Gabe exhaled, putting his fist against his forehead, hoping this wasn’t going to turn into something serious.

  “I’m just...worried. Okay?” There was definitely a note of quiet anxiety in his friend’s voice.

  “And I’m working as fast as I can,” Gabe said.

  “What?”

  “I thought you were going to tell me that if he just had this property, he’d feel better,” Gabe said.

  “He will, but I was going to say something more along the lines of encourage him to see the doctor next time he coughs into the phone.”

  “I will,” Gabe said sincerely. “And I’m about to move forward on the acquisition.”

  “Excellent.”

  “Just don’t get his hopes up just yet.”

  “I won’t. Thanks in advance.”

  “No problem.” No problem at all, because Stewart was the closest thing to a long-term father that Gabe had ever had.

  * * *

  HAVING GABE ON the property made it difficult for Dani to focus on training, since her mind kept drifting to the man in her house and his assertion that sex was only a phone call away. Maybe they were on the same page, which opened up some interesting possibilities. Today, however, she managed to tear her mind away from Gabe and zero in on the matter at hand—putting her last hours in on the palomino gelding that would get picked up later that afternoon. The big golden horse represented her first finished contract and she was determined that he would be just as perfect as possible. If he wasn’t and Marti heard about it... But she wasn’t going to go there.

  After the round-pen session, she worked on quietly loading the horse in the trailer and then unloading him. After three perfect loads, she called it a day. As she closed the trailer door, she noticed the plume of dust as a familiar white SUV turned into her driveway. Her ex-brother-in-law.

  Excellent. Give her head a shake, she took the horse to her pen and released her without grooming. Kyle pulled up beside her trailer and got out of the vehicle, in full official-cop mode, which was bogus, since Dani was fairly certain he was there on a personal mission. Sure enough.

  “Have you talked to Allie?” he asked after a quick hello.

  “About the armoire? Yes. You can take it—just as soon as the tractor is parked back beside the barn where it belongs.”

  A corner of his mouth twitched as if he was surprised by her easy acquiescence. Allie had probably fought him long and hard, so he hadn’t expected Dani to simply roll over. “I can bring the tractor by tonight.”

  “Fine.”

  “You’ll be here?”

  “I wouldn’t dream of not being here.” She smiled at him, an anything-to-get-rid-of-you smile. “Could you give me an exact time?”

  “Eight.”

  “That’s rather late.”

  “I’m on duty until six and I have some business to attend to.”

  Dani shrugged. “Eight, then.”

  “You know that the armoire was supposed to be mine.”

  “And that you let Allie have it, only to renege. Yes, I’m more than aware,” she said carelessly. “Sometimes things work out that way.”

  “Yeah,” he said abruptly. “No hard feelings, okay?”

  “When have you and I ever had hard feelings?” The question hung in the air for a brief second and then Kyle’s chin lifted as his eyes focused sharply on something behind her. Dani didn’t have to turn around to know that Gabe had just come out of the house.

  Kyle’s demeanor shifted and he squared his shoulders as Gabe approached. Dani waited until she heard the crunch of his boots on gravel before she turned around. “Hi, Gabe. You’ve met Kyle, right?”

  The men regarded each other over her head. “Yes,” Gabe said slowly. “We’ve met.”

  “Yeah.” Kyle’s eyes remained narrowed, as if he was working extra hard to figure out just what the hell Gabe was doing there, in the house.

  Surprise, Kyle. None of your business. If he’d been the one screwing around on her property, then Dani was fairly certain he wouldn’t do that when there was an able-bodied guy on the place. And he wouldn’t have a legitimate reason to set foot on the property after tonight. Once he had the armoire, there was nothing else for him to take.

  Dani smiled sweetly at Kyle as Gabe came to stand beside her, close enough that if she’d leaned a few inches to the left, their arms would have been pressed together. For a moment the three of them stood in charged silence and then Kyle settled a hand on his utility belt.

  “I need to get going.” His radio came on then, reiterating the point, and he started to the vehicle. “I’ll see you later,” he said as he got into the SUV. He gave Gabe a brief salute, then closed the door and started the engine. Gabe stood planted where he was next to Dani as Kyle swung the rig into a neat three-point turn and then drove past them. Dani pushed her hands up into her hair, pulling it away from her face then letting it fall before turning to Gabe.

  “Well, you being here certainly messed with his mind.”

  “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

/>   “I’m thinking good.”

  “What did your sister see in him?”

  “They were high-school sweethearts and Allie needed security. Dad’s death hit her hard.” Dani ran her hands over her upper arms against the chill of the wind that was starting to pick up. “Kyle had his good points. He’s easy to talk to. Dependable in some ways.”

  “Some ways?”

  Dani exhaled. “It’s hard to explain. He had this idea that he was beyond doing things the way other people did—he wanted to skip a step. The one that involved paying his dues.”

  “He felt entitled.”

  “Yeah. He did. He wanted the ranch to be a roaring success, started all these projects then either didn’t finish or finished them poorly.”

  “Like the standpipes.”

  “For one. And the roof on the shed.”

  Gabe grimaced as he studied the slipshod job.

  “He’s a planner, not a doer, and it drove Allie crazy. Eventually she couldn’t take it anymore.” She glanced down at the gravel. “There were other things, too. Battles of will, basically. All in all, they weren’t a good match. Just like me and Chad.”

  “Your fiancé.”

  “Ex-fiancé.”

  “That’s right. The cheating asshole.”

  Dani lifted her eyebrows. “You know him, then.”

  Gabe smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners in a way they hadn’t when they’d first met. He was relaxing with her as much as she was relaxing with him.

  And that meant...? That meant she was more drawn to him than ever. She halfway wanted to ask him to be there with her when Kyle came by that evening, but it was enough that he was coming over on a daily basis and doing her the favor of being there, just in case. She wasn’t going to push things. No, she was not.

  “I finished my last horse,” she finally said to break the unsettling tension that was building between them as they silently regarded one another.

  “All right. I’ll pack my stuff.”

  “I’m not kicking you out.” The words came out a little too quickly.

  “Are you inviting me to stay longer?”

  Dani’s breath caught a little. “I’m not sure.”

  Gabe took a few slow steps closer, stopping less than a foot in front of her and, even though he was no longer smiling, there was warmth in his expression that made Dani want to slide her arms up around his neck and pull him closer. “I won’t stay until you are sure.”

  For a brief moment she thought he was going to reach out and draw her close—prove that he was indeed an excellent kisser. And she would have been okay with that.

  Who was she kidding? She’d be all over that.

  Instead he took a step back and although Dani stayed planted in the same spot, she felt her expression soften. “I appreciate you coming over,” she said.

  “I’ve got to go,” he said, even though he once again stepped closer.

  “I know,” Dani murmured as he reached out to gently take her face between his palms, just as she’d done with him a week or so ago. He lowered his head, took her lips in a gentle kiss that deepened almost immediately into something more. Dani slid her hands up his arms, over his surprisingly muscular biceps, to flatten on his hard chest, steadying herself as she leaned into his kiss.

  It took her a moment to find words after he lifted his head, and when she did, it was an inadequate “Okay.”

  “Couldn’t help myself,” he said.

  Dani smiled a little as she stepped back, letting her hands drop to her sides. What could she say? Stay? Kiss me again? Both of those sentiments were ready to tumble off her lips, but she needed time more than she needed a hot-and-heavy makeout session.

  “I think I’ll go now,” Gabe said, even though she guessed from the way he was looking at her that it wouldn’t take much to get him to stay.

  “So, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, her voice a touch huskier than usual.

  “Yeah. Tomorrow.”

  * * *

  DANI WAS IN the corral working Molly when Gabe arrived the next morning, laptop in hand. He wanted to walk over to the round pen and watch her train, but knew it would be best for his concentration, and probably hers as well, if he went straight into the house and started work.

  Straight into the much emptier house.

  Gabe paused in the doorway. The giant armoire was gone. What the hell? It’d been there at five o’clock yesterday. There was no way Dani could have hauled it to a different room without help.

  There’s nothing saying she didn’t have help. She had friends, after all, but why move the behemoth?

  Whatever. Gabe settled at the kitchen table and brought up a screen on his laptop. Soon he was deep into CAD, designing an ornamental bridge to cross the stream behind Dani’s barn. Another design he didn’t know if he needed, but it would be useful to have this stuff on hand if he did.

  Gabe worked for a while before checking his messages. Neal had called that morning, worried. Stewart was still coughing and his color was getting bad—to the point that he’d finally agreed to move up his yearly physical to the next available appointment. He was now on a cancellation waiting list and the fact that he’d agreed to that concerned Neal as much as the coughing.

  After setting the phone back on the table, where he could keep tabs on it, Gabe ran a hand over his face. He and Neal had agreed that stress was no doubt playing a lead role in whatever was wrong with Stewart—stress beyond the normal stress he’d dealt with every day of his long career. The kind of stress brought on by being betrayed by a trusted friend and associate and then needing—really, really needing—payback.

  Gabe had to broach the subject of a sale with Dani. Soon. He and Neal were in agreement on that, but Gabe was still debating the best way to do that. Broach the sale and not alienate Dani, because it was becoming very important to him that he not alienate her.

  And it was also clear that he needed to come through for the man who’d saved his life.

  He worked for close to two hours, every now and then crossing the living room to look out the windows and make certain Dani was still where she was supposed to be. She got on a horse at one point and headed out across a field that would one day be a golf course, and Gabe noted the time on his watch. She worked each horse for an hour, so if she wasn’t back in an hour, he’d head out after her. Just in case, he set a timer. He did tend to lose himself once he was deep into a design.

  When the timer buzzed, he crossed back to the window, frowning as he realized that the yard and corrals seemed still and empty. The horses were standing with their heads down, heels cocked in the heat. He started for the door, then caught sight of the big black-and-white dog trotting along the edge of the barn. A second later Dani appeared carrying a bridle.

  He blew out a breath. He’d figured she was just late, but all the same, it was good to see her.

  She started toward the house and he logged out of the program and shut his laptop. Time to go. He was so not going to push things, which was difficult, since he was a pusher by nature. Driven was a better word. He was driven to succeed, because failure felt too damned bad. Especially when other people were counting on him.

  Dani’s boots sounded on the porch, then she pulled open the door. “I’m done for the day.” Her expression was open, but she folded her arms over her chest, closing herself off.

  So he hadn’t been the only one who’d done some deep thinking the night before. He wondered if she’d come to a more definitive conclusion than he had, because right now, he had no idea what his next move was.

  Gabe smiled at her and headed for the kitchen table, where he packed up his laptop before slinging his jacket over his shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  She walked with him to the door, holding it open as he stepped outside. He paused briefly on the porch to look back at her with an amused smile. “By the way, I thought you were working on getting more furniture, not losing what you do have.”

  “It couldn’t be helped. But
the tractor’s back.”

  “Kyle has the armoire?”

  She nodded. “But that’s all he’s getting. There’s nothing else here for him to take and he won’t dare try for the tractor again after the lawyer threatened him.”

  “Then he has no reason to come back.”

  “Not one.”

  And Gabe felt better for that.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  DANI HAD A decision to make and Gabe was giving her the space she needed to make it. In the days after he’d kissed her in her living room, Gabe showed up almost exactly at ten, waved to her and disappeared into the house. After she finished her last horse, he’d amble down to the corrals and they’d talk about ordinary matters—her progress that day, or his—and all the while sexual undercurrents swirled around them. She’d never been more aware of the nuances of a guy’s facial expressions, or the way his muscles flexed when he leaned on the fence next to her while she discussed her equine clients.

  And she wasn’t ashamed of the fact that she had relived “the kiss” more than once. He hadn’t been bragging when he said he kissed well and if she felt it necessary to review the evidence a time or two while debating her next move, so what?

  Gabe didn’t push things. He was interested. She knew that from the way he’d start to touch her, then think better of it and drop his hand. And that, of course, only made her want to be touched. So what was her next move? Things were safe at the moment.

  Was she good with safe?

  Yes, to a degree, and that disturbed her. Was she going to allow her experience with Chad to screw up her life, her perception of others? Screw up her chance of discovering what else Gabe could do with those clever lips?

  That seemed a sad prospect.

  Dani always saved Molly for the last session of the day so that she and Gabe had something safe to talk about before he left. He usually waited until she’d untacked and was brushing the horse down before stashing his laptop case into his car and then walking down to join her. It was a surprise, therefore, to return from her hour-long ride on Saturday to find Gabe leaning on the fence, waiting for them.

  “If you had to leave, you should have gone.”

  “Nope. I’m done with my project, waiting for another, so I thought I’d take a breather.”