To Tempt a Cowgirl (18 page)

“He felt entitled.”

“Yeah. He did. He wanted the ranch to be a roaring success, started all these projects then either didn’t finish or finished them poorly.”

“Like the standpipes.”

“For one. And the roof on the shed.”

Gabe grimaced as he studied the slipshod job.

“He’s a planner, not a doer, and it drove Allie crazy. Eventually she couldn’t take it anymore.” She glanced down at the gravel. “There were other things, too. Battles of will, basically. All in all, they weren’t a good match. Just like me and Chad.”

“Your fiancé.”

“Ex-fiancé.”

“That’s right. The cheating asshole.”

Dani lifted her eyebrows. “You know him, then.”

Gabe smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners in a way they hadn’t when they’d first met. He was relaxing with her as much as she was relaxing with him.

And that meant...? That meant she was more drawn to him than ever. She halfway wanted to ask him to be there with her when Kyle came by that evening, but it was enough that he was coming over on a daily basis and doing her the favor of being there, just in case. She wasn’t going to push things. No, she was not.

“I finished my last horse,” she finally said to break the unsettling tension that was building between them as they silently regarded one another.

“All right. I’ll pack my stuff.”

“I’m not kicking you out.” The words came out a little too quickly.

“Are you inviting me to stay longer?”

Dani’s breath caught a little. “I’m not sure.”

Gabe took a few slow steps closer, stopping less than a foot in front of her and, even though he was no longer smiling, there was warmth in his expression that made Dani want to slide her arms up around his neck and pull him closer. “I won’t stay until you are sure.”

For a brief moment she thought he was going to reach out and draw her close—prove that he was indeed an excellent kisser. And she would have been okay with that.

Who was she kidding? She’d be all over that.

Instead he took a step back and although Dani stayed planted in the same spot, she felt her expression soften. “I appreciate you coming over,” she said.

“I’ve got to go,” he said, even though he once again stepped closer.

“I know,” Dani murmured as he reached out to gently take her face between his palms, just as she’d done with him a week or so ago. He lowered his head, took her lips in a gentle kiss that deepened almost immediately into something more. Dani slid her hands up his arms, over his surprisingly muscular biceps, to flatten on his hard chest, steadying herself as she leaned into his kiss.

It took her a moment to find words after he lifted his head, and when she did, it was an inadequate “Okay.”

“Couldn’t help myself,” he said.

Dani smiled a little as she stepped back, letting her hands drop to her sides. What could she say?
Stay? Kiss me again?
Both of those sentiments were ready to tumble off her lips, but she needed time more than she needed a hot-and-heavy makeout session.

“I think I’ll go now,” Gabe said, even though she guessed from the way he was looking at her that it wouldn’t take much to get him to stay.

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, her voice a touch huskier than usual.

“Yeah. Tomorrow.”

* * *

D
ANI WAS IN
the corral working Molly when Gabe arrived the next morning, laptop in hand. He wanted to walk over to the round pen and watch her train, but knew it would be best for his concentration, and probably hers as well, if he went straight into the house and started work.

Straight into the much emptier house.

Gabe paused in the doorway. The giant armoire was gone. What the hell? It’d been there at five o’clock yesterday. There was no way Dani could have hauled it to a different room without help.

There’s nothing saying she didn’t have help. She had friends, after all, but why move the behemoth?

Whatever. Gabe settled at the kitchen table and brought up a screen on his laptop. Soon he was deep into CAD, designing an ornamental bridge to cross the stream behind Dani’s barn. Another design he didn’t know if he needed, but it would be useful to have this stuff on hand if he did.

Gabe worked for a while before checking his messages. Neal had called that morning, worried. Stewart was still coughing and his color was getting bad—to the point that he’d finally agreed to move up his yearly physical to the next available appointment. He was now on a cancellation waiting list and the fact that he’d agreed to that concerned Neal as much as the coughing.

After setting the phone back on the table, where he could keep tabs on it, Gabe ran a hand over his face. He and Neal had agreed that stress was no doubt playing a lead role in whatever was wrong with Stewart—stress beyond the normal stress he’d dealt with every day of his long career. The kind of stress brought on by being betrayed by a trusted friend and associate and then needing—really, really
needing
—payback.

Gabe had to broach the subject of a sale with Dani. Soon. He and Neal were in agreement on that, but Gabe was still debating the best way to do that. Broach the sale and not alienate Dani, because it was becoming very important to him that he not alienate her.

And it was also clear that he needed to come through for the man who’d saved his life.

He worked for close to two hours, every now and then crossing the living room to look out the windows and make certain Dani was still where she was supposed to be. She got on a horse at one point and headed out across a field that would one day be a golf course, and Gabe noted the time on his watch. She worked each horse for an hour, so if she wasn’t back in an hour, he’d head out after her. Just in case, he set a timer. He did tend to lose himself once he was deep into a design.

When the timer buzzed, he crossed back to the window, frowning as he realized that the yard and corrals seemed still and empty. The horses were standing with their heads down, heels cocked in the heat. He started for the door, then caught sight of the big black-and-white dog trotting along the edge of the barn. A second later Dani appeared carrying a bridle.

He blew out a breath. He’d figured she was just late, but all the same, it was good to see her.

She started toward the house and he logged out of the program and shut his laptop. Time to go. He was so not going to push things, which was difficult, since he was a pusher by nature.
Driven
was a better word. He was driven to succeed, because failure felt too damned bad. Especially when other people were counting on him.

Dani’s boots sounded on the porch, then she pulled open the door. “I’m done for the day.” Her expression was open, but she folded her arms over her chest, closing herself off.

So he hadn’t been the only one who’d done some deep thinking the night before. He wondered if she’d come to a more definitive conclusion than he had, because right now, he had no idea what his next move was.

Gabe smiled at her and headed for the kitchen table, where he packed up his laptop before slinging his jacket over his shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She walked with him to the door, holding it open as he stepped outside. He paused briefly on the porch to look back at her with an amused smile. “By the way, I thought you were working on getting more furniture, not losing what you do have.”

“It couldn’t be helped. But the tractor’s back.”

“Kyle has the armoire?”

She nodded. “But that’s all he’s getting. There’s nothing else here for him to take and he won’t dare try for the tractor again after the lawyer threatened him.”

“Then he has no reason to come back.”

“Not one.”

And Gabe felt better for that.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

D
ANI HAD A
decision to make and Gabe was giving her the space she needed to make it. In the days after he’d kissed her in her living room, Gabe showed up almost exactly at ten, waved to her and disappeared into the house. After she finished her last horse, he’d amble down to the corrals and they’d talk about ordinary matters—her progress that day, or his—and all the while sexual undercurrents swirled around them. She’d never been more aware of the nuances of a guy’s facial expressions, or the way his muscles flexed when he leaned on the fence next to her while she discussed her equine clients.

And she wasn’t ashamed of the fact that she had relived “the kiss” more than once. He hadn’t been bragging when he said he kissed well and if she felt it necessary to review the evidence a time or two while debating her next move, so what?

Gabe didn’t push things. He was interested. She knew that from the way he’d start to touch her, then think better of it and drop his hand. And that, of course, only made her want to be touched. So what
was
her next move? Things were safe at the moment.

Was she good with safe?

Yes, to a degree, and that disturbed her. Was she going to allow her experience with Chad to screw up her life, her perception of others? Screw up her chance of discovering what else Gabe could do with those clever lips?

That seemed a sad prospect.

Dani always saved Molly for the last session of the day so that she and Gabe had something safe to talk about before he left. He usually waited until she’d untacked and was brushing the horse down before stashing his laptop case into his car and then walking down to join her. It was a surprise, therefore, to return from her hour-long ride on Saturday to find Gabe leaning on the fence, waiting for them.

“If you had to leave, you should have gone.”

“Nope. I’m done with my project, waiting for another, so I thought I’d take a breather.”

“How long until you get your next project?”

“Until I think of it. I’m doing some spec designs.”

“Ah.” She got down from Molly and rubbed the horse’s neck.

“How’s she doing?”

“She’s amazing.” She couldn’t help smiling at Gabe. “Want to try your skills on her?”

“Uh...”

“Just get on. I’ll lead her.”

“I can ride. It’s just been a while.”

“Twenty-five years?”

“Twenty-four.”

“She’s quiet. You won’t have any trouble. I wish my novice owner had brought me this horse instead of Lethal.”

“Lethal?” Gabe asked as he laid a hand on the mare’s neck.

“His real name is
Lieben
, German for ‘to love.’ It doesn’t quite fit him.”

“I’ll give her a try,” Gabe said.

“Great. Give me a second to adjust the stirrups. This saddle might be a little small for you, but it’ll do.”

* * *

D
ANI ADJUSTED THE STIRRUPS
, then walked around to the horse’s left side. “All right. We’re set.” Gabe went to stand beside her, trying to remember something, anything, about riding a horse. “Now you’re going to put your foot in the stirrup, grab the mane so you don’t pull the saddle off, then shift your weight up over the horse, like this—” Dani demonstrated, then dismounted “—so you don’t pull her over.”

“Lot of detrimental pulling possibilities,” he muttered as he put his hand on the horse’s neck.

Gabe followed her directions, grabbing the mane along with the reins in his hand and shifting his weight over the center of the horse as he mounted. Molly swayed a little, but stayed put as he swung his leg over. Automatically he gathered the reins, surprised at how natural it felt. Maybe there was still some of his innocent eight-year-old self somewhere deep inside.

Dani came over and adjusted the slack in the reins, covering his hands with her smaller ones as she pulled the leather through his fingers until she was satisfied. “Yes. Like that. Now give her a very slight nudge with your legs.”

He barely moved his heels and the horse calmly moved forward. He resisted the urge to grab the saddle horn, which would have been difficult anyway since he had the reins in both hands. Dani said nothing, but instead retreated to the edge of the pen, where she watched as he rode in a slow circle.

“You have a good seat,” she called.

“So do you,” he called back.

She laughed. “Probably not talking about the same thing, are we?”

“Maybe not,” he agreed, amazed at how right it felt being back on top of a horse. Molly wasn’t nearly as tall as Dozer had been—or at least he didn’t think she was—but his memory may have been warped by his only being about four feet tall at the time he’d ridden the Thoroughbred. But he felt just as...
free
was the best word he could think of...now as he had then.

“You’re either a natural or you had lessons you didn’t tell me about.”

“Just a few rides on my foster sister’s horse.”

“She taught you well.”

“I was eight.”

“You remembered, so she did something right.”

“She put up with a needy eight-year-old.” Gabe glanced at Dani as he rode by.

“I can’t see you as ever being needy.”

“I worked hard not to be, but at that age, sometimes you crack.” He rode on past, but not before catching the thoughtful look on her face. He didn’t like sharing, never had, and now he had her thinking. He didn’t want her thinking about his life, feeling sorry for him or anything.

“You want to trot?”

“Not really,” he said, recalling Dozer’s bone-jarring gait with a mental grimace.

“She’s smooth.”

“Fine.” He nudged and she started to trot. Gabe started to bounce. Oh, yeah, just as he remembered.

“Don’t use the reins to balance yourself. Sit back on your seat and let your abs take the shock.”

“Trying...” His teeth clacked. Posting. Jenny had taught him to post.

“You need to be supple in the waist, not tight. Let yourself bend.”

Uh-huh. Bend...

Molly had a nice slow trot and after a few more teeth-clacking steps he made a serious effort to relax his middle, and follow the movement of the horse. The jarring diminished.

“Don’t lean back,” Dani called.

“So much for being a natural.”

“Don’t be so freaking hard on yourself.” She folded her arms, watching him with a critical eye. “There, you’re sitting better. Feel it?”

“I do. And I’m ready to stop.”