To Tempt a Cowgirl (13 page)

Gabe laughed. “She’s also my assistant, but at the moment she’s on vacation. Or she’s supposed to be. She’s as good at vacations as I am.”

“A horse seems like a very generous present.”

“You have no idea how much she does for me.” Another dubious look and he added, “She’s my right-hand woman. I depend on her when she’s not on vacation.”

“Will she be joining you here in Montana?”

“I guess I should have said she’s more of a virtual assistant.”

“Ah.”

“And she and my best friend are still friendly. They just had trouble being married.”

Dani finally sat down on the other end of the log, her smooth legs stretched out in front of her. “I wish things were friendly between my sister and her ex, but no.”

“Divorces tend to be that way in the beginning.”

“Have you been divorced?” He shook his head. “Are you married?”

“Nope.”

“You never know,” Dani said, looking off into the distance.

“Been hit on by a lot of married men?”

“Not many, but I’ve seen it happen,” she said without looking at him.

“And you wanted to make sure I wasn’t one of them.”

“Like I said...” She gave an eloquent shrug.

“The deputy came to see me.”

Dani sent him a sharp look. “He didn’t hassle you, did he?”

“Thanked me for looking out for you.”

She gave a small snort. “He said he was going to check you out, as if you might be a suspect in the standpipe assault. I told him not to. Of course he did as he damn well pleased. As always.” Her mouth tightened before she said, “He couldn’t care less if you looked out for me.”

“And I imagine you don’t particularly like being looked after?”

“I don’t mind an ally, of my choosing.”

He smiled and gazed into her eyes. “Well, you know where to find me if you need me.”

* * *

L
OOK AWAY.

But it was so damned hard not to stare at those amazing gray eyes. Closer to the color of storm clouds than steel, with flecks of pale gray and white, yet somehow conveying a sense of warmth. No, make that heat. Dani cleared her throat. “Would you let me know if he stops by again?”

“Sure.” Gabe picked up a weathered stick and idly drew a line in the sand near his feet. “Is he territorial or something?”

“He’s still getting over losing the ranch. He thought he was going to get a piece of it in the divorce settlement. When that didn’t happen, he got—” her mouth curved wryly as she met those gray eyes again “—cranky?”

Gabe gave a soft laugh. “Very tactfully put.”

“He took one of Dad’s old tractors. We’re still waiting for him to bring it back.”

“Think he will?”

“Allie just contacted the lawyer, so, yes. Eventually.”

Dani decided against telling him that she and Allie were fairly certain that Kyle had been behind the broken standpipes. She didn’t think he was a danger—just a man prone to tantrums. She liked Gabe, but she didn’t know him. Didn’t know if he was any good at keeping a secret—although instinct told her he was.

“But you two got along all right?”

Dani smiled a little. “He always treated me like I was twelve. Or stupid. I could never decide which. He acted as if I needed the guidance of someone older and wiser. He treated Allie the same way. For a long time we viewed his behavior as protectiveness, but eventually we all realized he was a control freak. And a lazy one at that.”

“Probably didn’t do the marriage a lot of good.”

“No,” Dani agreed softly. It was time to change the subject. Her sister’s failed marriage wasn’t something she needed to discuss. She let out a breath and tossed a small pebble in the water a few feet away, watching the ripples.

“I can leave if you want to swim, although it’s not good to swim alone.”

She laughed as she said, “Yes. This river is almost four feet deep in places.”

“You might get a leg cramp.”

“And need to be rescued?” she asked wryly. He shrugged a shoulder, his eyes holding hers in a way that told her he was game for a good rescue. A low, slow burn started deep inside her, telling her that she was just as game.

“You could go swimming, too.” She couldn’t believe she just said that—or maybe she couldn’t believe the tone she’d just said it in.

“I don’t have anything to wear.”

If he thought she was going to ask him to skinny-dip with her, he was about to be disappointed, because Dani was making a Herculean effort to get herself back under control. Not that she would have minded seeing him naked, but it would only complicate matters right now. She couldn’t, on one hand, say that she wasn’t interested in getting friendlier than they already were, and then on the other to invite him to swim in the nude.

But maybe if she turned her back until he got into the water...

Dani gave herself a mental shake. “Next time come prepared,” she said.

“I will, now that I know this place exists.” He looked at her, standing next to the water and feeling more awkward by the second, then glanced over his shoulder at the house. “I do have work to do. Got a new project.”

“I bet that’s a relief for a workaholic.”

“You can’t begin to imagine.” He hesitated for one more long second, then said, “Be careful.”

Dani couldn’t help laughing. “I’ve been swimming here for over two decades. It’s safe. And if it wasn’t Gus will rescue me.”

The big dog lifted his head at the sound of his name, as if to assure Gabe that he wasn’t unconscious and was up to lifeguarding.

“See you around, Dani.”

“Yeah, see you,” she echoed. She stood where she was at the water’s edge until he disappeared from sight and only then did she shuck out of her shorts and shirt. Slowly she waded into the water, letting it cool her overheated skin. And since it wasn’t a particularly hot day, she had no illusions as to why she was warm.

* * *

D
ANI WAS AN ATHLETE
. The muscles of her legs and arms were long and smooth, her backside well toned, as was to be expected from someone who rode horses for a living. What he hadn’t expected was his inability to stop thinking about how good she’d looked in cutoff jeans, with her hair hanging loose around her shoulders instead of in a braid down her back.

She’d sought him out at the river, brought along a towel as a prop, yet had openly admitted she’d followed him there. However, she couldn’t bring herself to swim until he’d left.

Mixed messages. She didn’t know what she wanted and right now, neither did he. He had a job to do: he needed to broach the subject of a sale. In his head, before meeting her, he’d thought that he’d get to know her in some capacity, find out what had tipped the scales, kept the sisters from selling before, then address that issue.

So far he hadn’t even managed to discover why they had been on the brink of selling and then backed off. And it wasn’t all because Dani was cautious and he didn’t want to spook her. It was because...

Honestly, he didn’t know.

And that bothered the hell out of him.

The phone rang about an hour after he’d returned from the river, while he was staring blankly at his project, waiting for some kind of inspiration.

“How’s it going?” Stewart asked without a hello.

“Slowly.”

“Not the answer I was expecting.”

“I need time to lay more groundwork.”

“I thought that was what you’re doing.”

“I am. Danica is not a very trusting person and I don’t want to send her running in the opposite direction by making the suggestion of a sale too soon.”

“Serena says she’s training a horse for you.”

“It provides a good reason for contact.” Although he was beginning to see that he didn’t really need a reason. He was well on his way to seeing her simply because he wanted to, because it made him feel good to be around her.

“And that you’re threatening Serena with that same horse.”

“Hey, everyone needs a pet.”

Stewart laughed, but it turned into a cough. “Just...get this done. All right? I don’t mean to push you, but I want this deal settled before fall.”

“You know I’m going to give this everything I’ve got.” Because it was important to the old man, it was important to him.

But after Gabe hung up, he found it impossible to shake the dark, rather guilty feeling enveloping him. He wasn’t being totally honest with Dani, but she needn’t ever know. It wasn’t as if he was doing her harm. In fact, until a couple months ago, she’d wanted to sell. He just needed her to come around to that way of thinking again—to understand that selling would give her a better life. She and her sister could afford that arena, they wouldn’t have the property tax bill that had to be eating them alive and they’d be able to afford furniture.

If she agreed to this sale, everyone would come out a winner. And that was the thought he was going to hold on to.

* * *

G
ABE SHOWED UP
at the Lightning Creek Ranch at four o’clock the next day, the time Dani said she’d be working Molly. Sure enough, she was leading the mare into a round corral just as he drove up. She unsnapped the lead rope, leaving the horse alone, and crossed the gravel to meet him halfway.

“Properly dressed, I see,” she said, smiling down at his new cowboy boots, the ones he’d bought for the horse sale where he’d “bumped into” Dani for the first time.

“When in Rome...”

She flashed a smile at him and a jolt of gut-level attraction shot through him. Oh, yeah. This was good...if he wanted to let Stewart down. If he could just settle this damned deal, then he could move on to other matters with no conflict of interest. Yeah.

“I used to work her first thing, but I shifted her in the rotation so she goes last.” The dimple appeared next to her mouth as she said, “So you can get some sleep before you come over.”

“I appreciate that.” Gabe fell into step with her as she headed back to the pen. “I’ll have you know, though, that I fell asleep at midnight last night.”

“And got up at...?”

“Eight.”

She gave a soft snort. “I’d already worked two horses by then.”

“You know, I do have a regular schedule when I’m back home. Here, though, I just fell back into the old pattern.”

“Don’t you get bored over there, living alone?”

“I could ask the same question.”

She cut a quick look his way as she opened the gate. “I have the horses. And Gus.”

“And you prefer horses to people.”

“Most people,” she said, picking up a longish stick that had been lying on the ground at the center of the arena. She clucked to the mare and the horse obediently started moving around the pen.

Conversation was over, but the last comment stuck in Gabe’s brain. It probably shouldn’t have made him feel as good as it did. She may have been referring to anyone. But she wasn’t. It was pretty damned clear that she’d been referring to him.

As Gabe watched, standing a few feet back from the corral, Dani moved Molly in both directions at a walk, trot and canter, sometimes letting her stop. A couple of times she dropped the whip on the ground and approached the horse, who met her halfway for soft words and scratches behind the ear.

After the warm-up, Dani saddled the mare and repeated the process. At the very end of the lesson, she mounted and rode her around the pen using only the halter.

“I did the ground exercises before you got here,” she said as she led the mare back to the gate. Gabe opened it and she brought Molly out. “If you come earlier sometime, you can see those, too.”

“Yeah. That’d be interesting.”

“Hey, Dani!”

Gabe and Dani turned in unison to see a short teenage girl open the door of a white car. “I’m out of here. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye.”

Gabe turned back to Dani. “You’re not so alone after all.”

“That’s Kelly. She’s my babysitter.” Gabe lifted a questioning eyebrow and she explained, “A person can get hurt working horses, so it’s not safe working them alone. Kelly comes over around noon and stays until four studying.”

“What about the morning?”

“I figure at the very least she’ll find me.”

“Not a pretty picture.”

“I send a text before and after each ride to my sister.” She pushed her hair back from her forehead. “Sounds overboard, I know, but we knew someone who got seriously injured working a horse and it left a mark.”

“As well it should.”

* * *

D
ANI WISHED SHE
hadn’t told Gabe about her friend who had gotten hurt while working a horse alone during her college internship. It might have been the obvious concern on his face, or maybe the fact that for a minute it felt as if he was going to reach out and touch her. Whichever it was, she needed to step back. She wasn’t ready to get touched yet...was she?

“So,” she said as she led Molly to the hitching rail and tied her. “That’s what a lesson looks like.” She hooked the stirrup over the saddle horn and began loosening the cinch, superaware of the guy standing a few feet away, silently watching. Emphasis on silent. What was he thinking? Dani pulled off the saddle, balanced it on her thigh, then pulled the blanket off with her free hand. She held it out to Gabe.

“Do you mind?”

“Not at all.”

Together they walked to the shed she used as a tack room and Gabe opened the door. Dani stepped into the small space, hefted the saddle onto the rack, then reached out for the blanket, thankful that he didn’t follow her inside. When she reemerged, Gabe shut and latched the door.

“You know, if you ever need an emergency sitter, I’m available.”

More time with Gabe? More time to feel torn between looking and acting? Dani met his eyes directly as she coolly said, “Thanks for the offer.”

“But no thanks?”

“Kelly is very dependable.”

“No doubt,” he said with an easy no-pressure smile that made the backed-into-a-corner feeling start to evaporate. “Like I said, in an emergency.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I need to turn out Molly. I’ve been thinking about putting her in with Lacy. They made friends over the fence and Lacy has a larger area.”

“I don’t mind,” he said in a surprised tone.

“It’s in the contract that I won’t put horses together.”

“Why?”