LITMIR.BIZ

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cottage—the one who was definitely off-limits to him. But still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t dream about her at night, wishing she was in bed with him while he stripped her naked and…

      “Damn.” McKinnon cursed when he saw the cut on his hand, thanks to the barbwire fence he was trying to repair on a section of his property. He should have been concentrating on what he was doing instead of fantasizing about Casey.

      Luckily for him the cut wasn’t deep, which meant it shouldn’t require stitches. But it would require him putting something on it. He had taken off his gloves to get a better grip on the pliers when the thing had slipped.

      “You okay, McKinnon?”

      He glanced over at Norris. “I got a cut from this barbwire and need to go up to the house to put something on it. I’ll be back in a minute.”

      Norris looked at the cut, saw the amount of blood and lifted his brow in concern. “Maybe you need me to take you into town so Dr. Mason can take a look at it.”

      “No, I’m up on my tetanus shots and it doesn’t need stitches. I’ll be fine.”

      “You sure?”

      “Yes, I’m sure.”

      “Okay. I don’t want Morning Star and the Judge to have my ass if something happens to you. Why don’t you stay at the house and let me and the boys finish things up here.”

      McKinnon lifted his brow, wondering if Norris was about to accuse him of being more of a hindrance than a help again. He would be the first to admit that his mind hadn’t been focused lately for thinking about Casey but still… “And you sure you and the guys will have the fence repaired by morning?”

      Norris chuckled. “Look McKinnon, I was repairing barbwire fences before the day you were born.” And for good measure the older man then added, “And I’m yet to get a cut on any of my fingers. Now go.”

      “All right, I’m going,” McKinnon said, moving toward Thunder.

      “I don’t know where your mind has been lately, but it’s been wandering quite a bit,” he heard Norris say, but refused to acknowledge the man’s comment by turning around.

      A half hour after cleaning his wound, applying antiseptic and putting on a bandage, McKinnon walked out of the bathroom, glad Henrietta had gone into town to do her weekly grocery shopping. If she’d seen the cut on his hand, no matter how minor the injury, she would have harassed him until he went into town for Doc Mason to stitch him up.

      He turned when he heard a knock at the door. Remembering that Henrietta wasn’t in, he moved through the living room to open it. Immediately his breath caught at the same time his pulse escalated and he felt a tightness in his jeans. Casey was standing there and the sight of her, the scent of her, suddenly made his skin feel overheated.

      He cleared his throat, forced the lump down. “Casey, is there anything I can do for you?” he said as normal as he could while trying to force from his mind all the things he would love doing for and to her.

      She seemed just as surprised to see him as he was to see her. “No. I was about to leave to go into town and wanted to know if Henrietta wanted me to pick up anything.”

      It was then that he took in what she was wearing—a dress that that he bet would ruffle around her legs when she walked. It was light pink and the color made her look totally feminine, alluring and desirable. And she had light makeup on, and even added a dash of color to her lips. Lips he remembered kissing once and would love kissing again.

      He cleared his throat for a second time before saying, “Henrietta isn’t here. She went into town to pick up the weekly supplies and groceries.” Then he checked his watch. “You’re through for the day all ready?”

      He regretted asking the question before it left his mouth—especially when he could tell from her expression it got her dander up. “Yes,” she replied, rather stiffly. “I put in a couple of extra hours this week and asked Norris yesterday if I could finish up early today. I have an appointment in town.”

      He frowned. “An appointment?”

      “Yes. A real estate agent has a couple of places to show me.”

      His frown deepened. “You’re moving? Our deal called for you to stay here in the guesthouse.”

      “I know what our deal called for, McKinnon,” she said, locking gazes and tempers with him, “and I plan to honor it,” she snapped. “I’m looking for a place to stay once my job here is finished.”

      “What about Corey’s place?”

      “What about it?”

      “I assumed that’s where you’d be staying since the reason you decided to move here was to get to know him better.”

      “But that doesn’t mean I have to be underfoot. Besides, he and Abby need their privacy,” she said, like that should explain everything.

      In a way it did. McKinnon knew exactly what she wasn’t saying. The couple was openly affectionate, but he was used to such behavior because his own parents were the same way.

      “I can’t live there permanently,” Casey added. “I need my own place. If I were to get a job I can’t be coming back and forth off Corey’s Mountain everyday.”

      McKinnon nodded. To get on or off the mountain you could only drive so far and then had to travel the rest of the way by horseback. At least that’s how things had been before Serena Preston had moved to town and started a helicopter business. In addition to doing private tours, she provided air transportation to and from those ranches higher up in the mountains twice a week. But using air transportation on a frequent basis could get rather expensive.

      “What happened to your hand!” Casey’s words cut into his thoughts and he glanced down to notice it had started bleeding again through the bandage.

      “I cut it on barbwire earlier.”

      “Aren’t you going to the doctor?” she asked, her voice sounding somewhat panicky.

      “Hadn’t planned on it,” he said, leaning in the doorway. “I’ve put something on it.”

      “But it’s bleeding.”

      “I noticed.”

      She looked at him with total exasperation on her face. “Your need to see a doctor for your hand, McKinnon. If you want I can take you there since I’m going to town.”

      He lifted a brow. “What about your appointment?”

      “It’s not for a couple of hours. The reason I was leaving so early was to do some shopping, but I can do that anytime. Getting your hand taken care of is more important.”

      McKinnon gazed at her for a moment, saw the concern etched on her face. This was the woman he had avoided for a week. The woman he went to bed dreaming about each night. The woman whose kiss still lingered in his mouth. The woman he wanted with a passion.

      The woman he could not have.

      But he wanted to spend time with her this afternoon. Find out how things had been going with her. He didn’t want to hear it secondhand from Henrietta or Norris. He wanted to hear her voice, smell her scent, invade her space…

      “McKinnon, do you want me to drive you to the doctor’s office in town or not?”

      Her words interrupted his thoughts and as he gazed into her eyes he made a decision. He would spend a couple of hours with her today but then tomorrow it was back to business at usual. He would put distance between them again. “You sure it won’t mess up your appointment time?”

      “Yes, I’m sure.”

      He nodded. “Then hold on, let me grab my hat.”

      * * *

      Casey drove while McKinnon sat in the seat next to her not saying anything, just absently

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