Capturing the Cowboy's Heart (17 page)

“Just trying to get the
all the mud
off you,” he replied with a devilish grin, then raised the stream higher, thoroughly soaking her.

She
squealed in protest.  “Cade Tyler, you’re going to pay for th
at
!”

“Do tell,” he taunted, keeping her at bay with a steady stream of water as he circled her.  “What are you gonna do
, Dalton
?  Hit me with your briefcase? 
S
tab me with your pen?  No wait, maybe you’ll
attempt
the most horrible torture known to man...
  Y
ou’ll sing to me!”

Bringing up her arm to shield her face from the water’s spray,
she
launched herself at him sending both of them toppling to the ground. 
Domino
ran around them barking and wagging his tail. 

Cade could barely breathe he was laughing so hard.  Water
soaked his clothes, both from the wet ground and from Lacy who was now lying atop him. 

Her
surprise attack had caused him to lose his grip on the hose and Lacy wasted no time in snatching it up.  Pinning him to the ground the way
Domino
had done to her earlier, she turned it on him.

“How come you’re not laughing now, cowboy?” she taunted as he sputtered below her, the water spraying all over his face and shirt.  Finally, she relented, turning the hose away.  She waited until he opened his eyes to lean forward and say with a grin, “Never underestimate your opponent, Tyler.  I can give as good as I get.”

Could she ever,
he
thought as he lay flat on his back with Lacy straddling him.  His gaze traveled downward to settle on the glistening beads of water that clung to her lips.
 
Then, without thinking, because that was becoming virtually impossible to do whenever
she
was around, he buried his fingers in the wet mass of honeyed hair that
hung down her back
and drew her to him. 

With a soft gasp of surprise, she
closed her eyes as his lips
moved
over
hers, tasting her, teasing her.

Driven by need, he captured her mouth fully in a hot,
hungry kiss.
 
Despite the
cold water seeping through his
wet clothes, his body burned
.  F
or her. 

As if reading his mind, Lacy arched up
into him with a needy moan.

T
here had to be no doubt in her mind now as to the power
she
held over him.  The proof of
it
strained
hard and thick
against the front of his jeans.

That’s when it hit him.  He was l
ying in the middle of the yard, in broad daylight, seducing Lacy Dalton.  Even worse,
she made him feel,
something he’d sworn never to let happen again
when it came to a woman
.

Cade ended the kiss
with a muttered curse, pushing her an arm’s length away though she still straddled his hips. 
She was there to do a story on his life, past and present, not roll in the hay with him.  No matter how badly he wanted to. 

He looked up
at her
, furious with himself for his lack of control where Lacy was concerned.  “Tell me something, Dalton, is kissing me part of
your
interview
process
?
  Because you’re pretty damn good at it.
”

She let out a gasp and scrambled to her feet.  “
I should be. 
I make it a habit of seducing every man I interview.  Be sure to read the article when it comes out to see how many stars you get for that performance!”

Her wet clothes molded to her shapely form, a not-so-subtle reminder of what he’d almost had.  Heat crept slowly and deliberately up
hi
s neck and his jaw tightened in the realization of how
badly he wanted her.  That knowledge
only served to fuel his anger with himself.  Mostly because he found himself wanting
her
more than he had ever wanted any
other
woman
-
Karen included.  

“Dalton...”  He wished to hell he could think straight, but his ability to do that ended the moment they fell and Lacy ended up astride him.

“No,” she cried out.  “Don’t say it.”

“Hear me out.” 
He
propped himself up on his elbows and searched for the
right
words to explain that it wasn’t her.  It was him.  He hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings, just push her away.  She was breaking through walls he’d put up, getting too close.  “I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have said that.”

She crossed her arms.  “No, you shouldn’t have.”

“Lacy, the kiss was a mistake, an accident.”

Her amber eyes glared at him
.
  “What are you saying, Cade?  That your lips accidentally fell onto mine?”  She tapped her bare foot on the wet grass.

He frowned.  The hole he was digging for himself just kept getting deeper by the second.  “That wasn’t what I meant.  It’s just that....  Well, I’m just not interested.”

“Not interested?” she
repeated angrily
.

“That’s right.” 

Her gaze slid down his prone form.  “Then I suppose that’s a roll of quarters you’re carrying around in your front pocket!”  Scooping up her wet shoes, she spun around and stalked off toward the house.

Cade looked down at his wet jeans and then back toward Lacy’s retreating form.  “Quarters, hell,” he mumbled.  “Half dollars.”  He dropped back onto the damp grass with a frustrated groan.

“You’re gonna have to do a lot better than that if you hope to beat
Domino
out for Lacy’s affection,” Burk said as he stepped from the barn.

Cade’s head snapped around.  “How long you been watching?”

“Long enough.”

“I’m not competing for Lacy’s affection,” he replied with a scowl.

“Coulda fooled me.” 
He
offered a hand to Cade.  “So you
planning to head
out to Vegas today?”

Cade got to his feet.  “Vegas?  Why the hell would you think I was going there?”

His friend’s
face split into a wide grin that had Cade regretting having asked.  “Can’t think of any other reason you’d be carrying
a roll of
quarters around in your pocket.  Unless...”

“You’re fired!”

“You can’t fire me,” Burk said calmly.  “You have to pay someone to fire them.
  I’m your partner, remember?
”

Cade muttered several more curses as he shoved past Burk and headed for the house, his wet clothes swishing as he went.

“By the way,” Burk called out, “my money’s on Lacy.”

“Go to hell, Burk,” he shouted back over his shoulder.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Cade.”  His friend’s laughter followed him
all the way to the
house.

CHAPTER
EIGHT

Burk let out a low whistle and shook his head as he eyed the empty kitchen chair beside him.  “Appears you really raised her hackles
the other day
.  Sure as hell glad I’m not in your boots.”

Cade turned to him with a scowl.  “Maybe Lacy doesn’t like your cooking.  Ever think of that?  Can’t say that I’d blame her.”

But it wasn’t Burk’s cooking that kept Lacy from
joining them for meals the past few days,
and it wasn’t Burk who was responsible for Lacy cr
ying herself to sleep that night after he’d sent her storming off into the house.
  He was the guilty one.

It had taken everything Cade had in him not to go to
her
when he
’d
heard her muffled
sobs
.  But he knew if he had gone into that room, he wouldn’t have left.
  So he forced himself to give her the space she needed.  And while he needed it, too, all things considered, he missed being around her.
 

As if conjured up and taken from his thoughts, Lacy appeared in the kitchen entryway, drawing both their gazes.  She was dressed in short shorts and a body hugging, cotton candy pink tank top that had Cade’s jaw unhinging.

He would have smiled at her, but she wouldn’t look his way.  It was clear Lacy was determined to avoid him.  Her expression gave away little about her current mood as she took
a seat
at the table
next to
Burk.
  Not beside him where she normally sat.

“Morning
,” Burk greeted her with a smile.  “
I’ll fix you
a plate
.” 
Not giving her a chance to argue, he
stood and walked over to the stove where he scooped an omelet and some bacon onto a plate.

“I could have gotten it
,” she muttered.

“I don’t mind
.”  He set
the plate
down
on the table in front of her.  “Hope you like mushrooms and green peppers.”

“
Love them
,” she replied, sounding more like the old Lacy.

“Coffee?” Cade asked, wishing
she
would smile at him the way she was smiling at Burk.

“Yes, thank you,” she replied stiffly.

He looked at Burk, half expecting him to make some smart ass remark, but he didn’t.  Instead, he walked over to the wall by the door where their hats hung and grabbed his off its peg.

“Well, I’m about as stuffed as a Christmas goose,”
he
said
, dropping his
hat onto his head.  “I’d best be getting out to the barn.  Someone’s gotta work around here.”

“Burk...” Lacy called after him.

“You hear that?”  He cocked his head and grinned.  “Cows are calling.  Gotta go.”  He was out the door in a flash.

She looked down at
her plate
as she cut her
omelet
into tiny pieces and then pushed them around
on her plate.

“You’d best eat up before your breakfast gets cold,” Cade warned, his chair creaking as he leaned across the table to fill her coffee cup. 

Their eyes met and she flashed him the closest thing he’d seen to a smile since their argument the day before.

“I’m sorry,” he said.  “About what happened the other day.”

“Me, too.”

Distracted by her warm smile,
he missed the cup he’d been aiming for
, pouring hot coffee onto the table
.
 
“Damn!”

He jumped up from the table and
raced for
the dishtowel draped over the front of the kitchen sink.
  When he turned, Lacy was already blotting up the spill
with a handful of napkins she had grabbed. 

She looked up at him.  “Are you all right?  Did you burn yourself?”

“It’s nothing,” he replied with
an embarrassed frown.
 

“Cade,” she gasped when she saw the reddened flesh.  “That’s not nothing.”  She moved around the table to take his hand in hers.  “You need to run cold water on this right away.”

He couldn’t help but
grin
as she led him like a mother hen over to the sink. 
Hi
s hand didn’t hurt much at all
, b
ut if it got Lacy to touch him he wasn’t going to complain.

“So what’s the diagnosis, doc?” he teased as she held his hand beneath the cool tap water.  “Am I going to live?”

She smiled up at him.  “You’re too ornery to die.”  Releasing his hand, she left him standing at the sink and walked back to the table.

For a moment, he’d actually considered kissing her again.  And he might very well have done so had Lacy not of walked away when she did.  He turned off the water and wrapped the dishtowel around his wet hand.

“Suppose you’re right.  I’d better go put something on this before I head back out.”  Truth was he couldn’t stand to sit there and watch the fork slide in and out of her mouth without wishing it were his tongue instead.

*
             
*
             
*

Cade shoved another bale of hay against the back of his truck bed.  Movement by the barn drew his attention.  He straightened and dragged a sleeve across his damp brow, watching as
Lacy
moved toward him.