LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

as she was going out. She’d have to be extra careful.

      She faked a yawn. “Well, have fun, but don’t stay out too late. Since tomorrow’s Sunday, I think I’ll sleep in.”

      “Don’t forget that we’re going to work Bandera at ten. Time for me to see what I’ve gotten myself into.”

      Bandera was the new chestnut stallion her father had purchased during his last trip to Dallas. He’d been delivered today, and from the glimpse Cassie had seen of him from her bedroom window, his sleek red coat and her father’s auburn hair would make an arresting, impressive sight.

      “Is Ethan supposed to help?” Cassie couldn’t resist asking.

      Her father shook his head. “The horse doesn’t need to be broken. He just needs some manners.”

      “You will be careful, won’t you? You’re too old to be getting bounced.”

      “Brat! Not too old to keep young stallions and impudent daughters in line,” he said, reaching out to tweak her nose. “I know how to keep my mind in the middle. But don’t worry, I told Ethan to make sure Bandera stays tranked until we give him a workout tomorrow. Just a small second dose to keep him calm. I don’t want all that pent-up energy exploding under me before I get a read on him.” Her dad gave her an odd look. “Why do you ask if Ethan’s involved?”

      “Just curious,” Cassie said with deliberate nonchalance. Had she been foolish to mention Ethan’s name? “I like watching him work the horses.”

      “Stay away from him. He could use some manners, too.”

      “I don’t—”

      “I mean it. He’s too rough around the edges to associate with anyone but the crew.”

      “Dad!”

      Cassie couldn’t help that surprised response. Her father never spoke about anyone this way. She tried not to look defensive or hurt, but the remark worried her a little. Once she was married, it would be crucial that the two men she loved most in the world get along.

      “He seems very nice to me,” she said quietly.

      “I didn’t say he wasn’t nice, although he seems to like horses better than people. I said he was rough around the edges. He’s good at what he does and he learns quickly. He could make something of himself one day when he’s ready to settle down, but that’s a long way off. Stick to men like Josh.”

      Predictable men like Josh, she amended in her head.

      To cut the conversation short, Cassie produced another yawn and caught the edge of her door. “I’ll see you in the morning,” she said.

      He chucked her on the chin and started to turn away.

      “Dad.” Impulsively, she caught his arm, and when he turned back, she looked him directly in the eyes. Her senses were dull with misery at the realization that, after tonight, nothing between them would ever be quite the same. “You do know I love you, don’t you?”

      He grinned. “Love you, too, cupcake. More than life itself.”

      She rose up on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. Her throat suddenly felt tight at the thought of leaving him, deceiving him. But what else could she do?

      Her decision had been made. She’d finally gotten up the nerve to follow her heart, and she wouldn’t change her mind.

      Not even for a father she loved dearly.

      PRECISELY AT MIDNIGHT, Cassie slipped down the stairs, suitcase in hand. She didn’t think her father had returned from the Wheeler place yet. The ranch truck wasn’t parked out front, and there was definitely no snoring coming from his room.

      Careful, Cassie. The first real adventure of your life. Don’t blow it now.

      She quietly let herself out and hurried along the path to the horse barn. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Not from fear, really, although it would be horrible if she was caught; mostly it was excitement that left her breathless with anticipation. In a matter of hours she and Ethan would be married, starting a brand-new life together. The night felt as though it held magic.

      When they’d first met a year ago, he’d seemed so foreign, so different from the usual men who came looking for work at the ranch. He had shown up to apply for one of the wrangler jobs, without a horse, a dog for company or even a well-worn duffel bag. He didn’t look or act like the other hands on the Flying M. The crews who worked the herds were either grizzled older men with a lifetime of scars and tall tales behind them, or college kids playing cowboy until school started again.

      Ethan seemed to be neither. At twenty-one, he already had the physique of a man, with the soft edges of boyhood filed down to toned, lean muscle. He was handsome, but in a rough, slightly battered kind of way that actually made him seem better-looking than if he’d been conventionally attractive. And that devilish twist to his mouth—that made him seem slightly dangerous.

      She’d heard that he didn’t smoke or drink, and he kept to himself, never joining the other men who went into town on Saturday nights. Her father said he took his job seriously, which was a good thing, because everyone knew Mac McGuire didn’t put up with slackers on the Flying M.

      Initially, when their paths crossed, Ethan had been respectful of her position as the owner’s only child, but he still unnerved her. He seemed so self-contained, almost secretive. Sometimes she had caught him watching her—a glimpse of soulful blue eyes under those long, dark lashes that perfectly matched his silky-looking black hair. She’d pretended to ignore his surveillance, but inside she had shivered.

      He still made her shiver—though for completely different reasons now.

      The barn door creaked open on rusted hinges. Several of the horses along the corridor moved restively and stuck their heads out of their stalls. Midnight visitors were uncommon at the Flying M.

      She found Ethan in the tack room, and slipped up behind him to place her hands over his eyes. “Guess who? And if you say any name but mine, the wedding’s off.”

      He turned and grabbed her up, grinning. “Hey there, darlin’. What’s your name again?”

      She laughed softly and punched his arm. He responded by giving her the kind of kiss she’d never experienced from anyone but him. He smelled of leather and spice and a heated male energy that sent tingles through her stomach.

      She bathed in the heady delight of his touch, his scent, the nudge of his thighs against her legs. Her body hummed and sizzled, sparked by nothing more than simple contact, and he knew it instantly because he kissed her again, more slowly, more thoroughly this time.

      She nestled against him, and when his hands pushed under her thin blouse, cupping her breasts, she almost stopped breathing. He was coaxing her body to life, his eyes speaking volumes of need and want and desire, and Cassie couldn’t help but answer.

      Slowly, savoring every murmur and sigh, she let her head fall back. She clutched his dark hair in both hands, bringing his head down. Ethan’s mouth came against the pulse point at her throat, stroking with his tongue, teasing, raking his teeth lightly against her skin until she felt consumed by fire.

      She let her fingers trail along his strong back, thinking of all the ways she’d daringly slide her hand down his body the next time they made love. They’d been intimate twice before, but she had been embarrassingly unskilled and nervous. Tomorrow, she would find the courage to be the aggressor.

      She adored the weight and shape of him, the coiled strength of his biceps and the taut muscles of his stomach. His fingers were callused, and their texture as they moved over her body made a quick, jittery thrill trip through her.

      She wanted more. She wished desperately for it.

      But when Ethan’s hand slipped to the top button of Cassie’s jeans, her hand stopped him. She straightened as best she could, and though her body protested the separation, her brain demanded they go no further.

      “We

Скачать книгу