LITMIR.BIZ

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before we take her and her mother to rejoin the herd, I should have her name put on her ear tag instead of a number?” he asked, grinning as he reached out and caught her to him.

      She placed her hands on his chest and started to tell him that was exactly what she thought he should do, but she stopped short when several fat raindrops landed on her face. “We’ll be soaked to the bone by the time we get back to the house,” she said when it started raining harder.

      Chance grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her along in the direction of the barn. “We can wait it out in there.”

      Sprinting the short distance, a loud clap of thunder echoed overhead as they ran inside. “That rain moved in fast,” she said, laughing.

      “Unless it’s a big storm front, it should move through just as fast.” He stared at her for several seconds before he took her by the hand and led her midway down the long center aisle to a narrow set of stairs on the far side of the feed room. “There’s something I want to show you.”

      When he stepped back for her to precede him up the steps, she frowned. “What is it?”

      “Trust me, you’ll like it,” he said, smiling mysteriously.

      “I’m sure that’s what a spider says to a fly just before it lures him into its web,” she said, looking up the stairs to the floor above. She didn’t know what he had up his sleeve, but she did trust him and smiling over her shoulder at him, climbed the stairs to the hayloft. When they stood facing each other at the top of the stairs, she asked, “Now, what is it you wanted to show me?”

      He walked her over to the open doors at the end of the loft. “We’ll have to wait until it stops raining and the sun comes back out,” he said, taking her into his arms.

      A shiver coursed through her and not entirely from her rain-dampened clothes. The look in Chance’s eyes stole her breath and sent waves of goose bumps shimmering over her skin.

      “Chance, I don’t think this is a good idea,” she warned. “I’m not interested in an involvement.”

      He shook his head. “I’m not, either. All I want is for both of us to enjoy your visit to the ranch.”

      “I need to talk to you about the PR campaign,” she said, reminding him that she wasn’t giving up on him being the family spokesman.

      He nodded. “I promise we’ll get to that soon. But right now, I’m going to kiss you again, Fee,” he said, lowering his head. “And this time it’s going to be a long, slow kiss that will leave both of us gasping for breath.”

      Fee’s heart pounded hard in her chest when his mouth covered hers and a delicious heat began to spread throughout her body as she raised her arms to encircle his neck. True to his word, Chance took his time, teasing with tiny nibbling kisses that heightened her anticipation, and when he finally traced her lips with his tongue to deepen the caress, Fee felt as if she would go into total meltdown.

      As he explored her slowly, thoroughly, he slid his hand from her back up along her ribs to the underside of her breast. Cupping her, he lightly teased the hardened tip with the pad of his thumb and even through the layers of her clothing the sensation was electrifying. A lazy tightening began to form a coil in the pit of her stomach and she instinctively leaned into his big, hard body.

      The feel of his rigid arousal nestled against her soft lower belly, the tightening of his strong arms around her and the feel of his heart pounding out a steady rhythm against her breast sent a need like nothing she had ever known flowing from the top of her head all the way to the soles of her feet.

      Her knees wobbled, then failed her completely as he continued to stroke her with a tenderness that brought tears to her eyes. She had been kissed before, but nothing like this. It felt as if she had been waiting on this man and this moment her entire life.

      The thought frightened her as little else could. Pushing against his chest, she took a step back to stare up at him. “I’m not good at playing games, Chance.”

      “I’m not asking you to play games, Fee.” He shook his head. “We can have fun while you’re here, and when you go back to L.A., you’ll have the memory of the good time we had. As long as we keep that in mind, we should be just fine.”

      She stared at him for several long seconds as she waged a battle within herself. He wasn’t asking for anything more from her than the here and now. But there was one problem with his reasoning. She wasn’t entirely certain she could trust her heart to listen. Lowering his head, he kissed her again.

      “I do believe, Fee Sinclair, that you have the sweetest lips of any woman I’ve ever known,” he whispered close to her ear.

      Another tremor of desire slid through her a moment before he pulled back and pointed toward the open doors of the loft. “This is what I wanted you to see.”

      Looking in the direction he indicated, Fee caught her breath. A brilliantly colored full rainbow arched across the bluest sky she had ever seen.

      “It’s gorgeous,” she murmured.

      “Did you know that in some cultures the rainbow symbolizes a new beginning or a new phase in a person’s life?” he asked, kissing her forehead as he held her to him and they watched the vibrant prism fade away.

      She swallowed hard as she turned her attention to the man holding her close. What was it about being wrapped in Chance’s arms that made her feel as if she was entering a new phase in her life—one that she hadn’t seen coming and was powerless to stop? And one that made her extremely uneasy.

       Five

      Standing at the ice-cream counter in Buckaroo Billy’s General Store on the outskirts of Cheyenne, Chance glanced through the window at Fee and his niece seated under a big yellow umbrella at one of the picnic tables outside. Cassie was talking a mile a minute and it seemed that Fee was somehow keeping up. That in itself was pretty darned amazing. The kid usually had him confused as hell by the speed she changed subjects. He loved her dearly, but sometimes Cassie had the attention span of a flea and hopped from one topic to another faster than a drop of water on a hot griddle.

      Paying for their ice cream, he juggled the three cones and a handful of paper napkins as he shouldered open the door. “A scoop of chocolate fudge brownie for you, princess,” he said, handing Cassie the frozen treat. Turning to Fee, he grinned. “And mint chocolate chip for you.”

      “Uncle Chance!” Cassie exclaimed, pointing to his vanilla ice cream. “You were supposed to try something new this time.”

      “Where’s your sense of adventure, Mr. Lassiter?” Fee asked, laughing.

      “I like vanilla,” he said, shrugging as he dropped the napkins onto the table and sat down. He should have known Cassie would remember he was supposed to try a new flavor. The kid had a mind like a steel trap. Grinning, he added, “But next week, I promise I’ll leave what I get up to you two. How does that sound?”

      Cassie’s red curls bobbed when she nodded her approval. “I like that. I’ll ask Momma what you should have when she gets home.” True to form, she looked at Fee and took the conversation in another direction. “My mommy and daddy are on their moneyhoon. That’s why I’m staying with Grandma Marlene.”

      “You mean honeymoon?” Chance asked, winking at Fee. He could tell she was trying hard not to laugh at Cassie’s mix-up, the same as he was.

      “Yeah. They went on a boat.” Cassie shook her head. “But I don’t know where.”

      “After much debate, Hannah and Logan went on a Caribbean cruise,” Chance explained to Fee.

      She smiled at his niece. “That sounds like a nice honeymoon.”

      “They’re going to bring me back a present,” Cassie added as she licked some of the chocolate dripping onto her fingers.

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