To Tempt a Cowgirl (17 page)

“Enough said,” Mel replied on a heartfelt note, reminding Dani of how twisted up her sister had been before she and KC had come to an understanding about what each of them needed in life. “My biggest piece of advice is to move slowly.”

“Slowly.” She was doing that, but she was feeling the strong urge to stop doing that.

“Decide what it is you want out of this relationship—”

Dani gave a small cough. “I don’t think
relationship
is the correct word. He’s not here permanently.”

“Ah.” Mel cleared her throat. “Are you looking for permission to get laid?”

“I’m scared, Mel. Scared I’m going to use him or he’s going to use me.”

“Easy way around that.”

“Yeah?”

“Talk. If you can’t talk to the guy, you shouldn’t be, you know...” Her voice trailed off.

“Good point,” Dani conceded. “Very good point.”

After she hung up, Dani paced through the house a couple times, then finally turned on the water for a shower. Okay, so maybe she had been asking Mel for permission to get laid when she’d told her about Gabe. Maybe she’d wanted to hear, “Guys are always okay with sex with no strings. Go for it!” Instead she’d heard, “Communicate.”

Communicating meant figuring out exactly what she wanted and she didn’t know, which in turn meant she probably shouldn’t be moving forward. She didn’t want to use Gabe and she didn’t want a relationship.

So maybe she’d best just explain that to him.

Far, far easier said than done.

* * *

A
LMOST A WEEK
had passed since Dani had come to dinner at Gabe’s place, kissed and ran, and he hadn’t heard one word from her. Was it because of that one small kiss? Was she afraid of things getting out of hand?

If so, he had to do something about that. If she retreated too far, it would totally screw up his plans...and besides that, he missed her.

Finally he couldn’t take waiting anymore, so he walked across the fields to her house, glad he had a four-legged excuse named Molly.

Dani was in the pen with a horse he didn’t recognize, a large black gelding that wasn’t showing her a lot of respect. When Dani glanced over to see what had caught the horse’s attention and spotted him, she raised a hand, then immediately went back to work, moving the horse around the pen until he started paying attention to the fact that she was directing his movements—that she was the boss. She worked for another half hour and Gabe patiently stood several yards back from the pen, watching and waiting.

When she finally released the horse, she walked toward him coiling the lead rope. “Hi,” she said almost too casually. “Are you here to watch Molly?”

“I am. Where’s Kelly?” There was no small car in the drive, no music emanating from the partially open living room window.

“Volleyball camp.”

Gabe frowned. “Are you okay with that? Working with no one here?”

“I’m fine.” She came to lean her arms on the opposite side of the fence from where he stood. “I take precautions.” Her mouth moved sideways and then she said, “I’m actually overly cautious because of what happened to my friend.”

“I don’t think you’re overly cautious having someone here while you work.”

“It’ll be all right once Jolie’s home and until then—”

“You’ll take your chances?” Gabe lifted a speculative eyebrow.

“Everyone takes chances.”

He nodded, staring out over the pastures toward the mountains that rimmed the valley. “I was thinking...maybe I could come by for a couple hours in the afternoons, work on my laptop.”

Her expression barely changed, but there was no mistaking her retreat. A few weeks ago Gabe might not have read it, but today it was obvious to him and he needed to do something about it. This was about more than easing himself into her good graces. This was about safety. Dani’s safety.

“I don’t...”

“This is just common sense. I can work in your living room, like Kelly did.” She didn’t look convinced—not even close—and he suddenly wished he hadn’t told Neal about Jolie’s internship. Neal had worked some magic, the internship had been extended and Dani was here alone. The theory had been that if Jolie had a job, then she wouldn’t have such a problem selling the ranch. But Gabe hadn’t planned on compromising Dani’s safety.

“Look, it doesn’t matter where I work when I’m on the computer.”

“There’s no reason for you to do this.”

“Yeah. There is. I like you and I don’t want to see you get yourself into trouble.” He turned toward her, somehow resisting the strong impulse to put his hands on her shoulders, to make that connection he needed right now. When was the last time he’d needed any kind of connection?

“I appreciate the offer.” He waited, sensing she was on the brink of deciding one way or the other. “If I agree to this—” she pointed a finger at him “—and you have something else to do or it’s just not working, say so.”

“I will.”

She continued to regard him through slightly narrowed eyes. “All right, if you’re certain you want to do this.”

He smiled at her overly serious expression. “I can get my laptop.”

“I’m close to done today. Why don’t we start tomorrow?”

“When do you want me here?”

“Kelly used to come around ten.”

“I should be out of bed by then.” She opened her mouth, but he raised his hand, shushing her. “Kidding.”

“I bet.” But she smiled and the dimple showed and Gabe had to fight not to lift his hand and touch her beautiful face.

“I’ll stay out of your space,” he added, just in case she needed a final reassurance.

“And I’ll try to stay out of yours,” she said softly, so softly he thought he might have heard incorrectly, but one look into her serious hazel eyes told him he had not.

“Meaning?”

“I shouldn’t have kissed you the other night.”

Gabe stilled. “Didn’t live up to standards?”

“No...” she said slowly. “It felt like it might surpass standards.”

“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.”

* * *

G
ABE 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.

* * *

H
AVING
G
ABE 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.”