Capturing the Cowboy's Heart (18 page)

The morning sun played in her hair and
made her eyes shine
.
  And the sway of her hips...
  Why did she always have to look so damned sexy?

“Done already?” he asked, ignoring the desire that flickered to life whenever she was around.

She
smiled.  “I’m a fast learner.”

Hers was the kind of smile that could bring a man to his knees, himself included.  “I’m impressed.”

That morning,
she
had managed to water and feed all the
animals
without any help from either him or Burk.  It might have taken her twice as long, but she had done it all the same.  And without one single flood. 

“So what’s next, ‘boss’?”

Cade crossed the bed of his
pickup
.  “As soon as I finish loading those bales of hay over there in the truck we’ll head out to the pasture to feed the cows.”  He turned and reached for another bale, moving it toward the front of the truck bed as if it weighed nothing at all.

“We?”

“Sure.  I thought you might like to see some of the babies close up since you’ll be with me.  Just don’t touch, no matter how tempting.”

“I’d love to!”  She eyed the hay bales still waiting to be loaded onto the truck.  “Do you need any help?”

“Thanks, but these bales are too heavy for you.  Not to mention they scratch like hell.  I won’t be long.”

She
leaned back against the fence rail.  “You certainly make them look light.”

“Years of
bending and lifting
.”

“Now I know why cowboys look so good in jeans.”

He turned to find her grinning impishly.  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You should.”  She started to laugh then sneezed.

“Bless you.  You getting sick on me,
Dalton
?”

“No, I think it’s the hay.”

“Just my luck, a ranch hand who’s allergic to hay.” 
He
shook his head with a grin.

“It won’t be a problem.  I’ll just pick up some allergy medicine next time I go into town.”

A short while later all the bales were loaded.  Cade shucked his gloves and tossed them into the back of the truck.  “Come on,
Dalton
, climb in.”

She
stepped around to the passenger side and opened the door.  “You know, they really should make these things lower to the ground.”

Cade moved to help her with a chuckle.  “But if they did, we cowboys couldn’t sneak a peek up women’s skirts when we help them up onto the seat.”

“Real funny, cowboy,” she said as he walked around to the driver’s side. 

“You think I’m kidding?” he said as he slid behind the wheel.

“You’re serious?”

He nodded.   

“You’re a dirty old man, Cade Tyler.”

“I’m not that old,” he protested.

“All right, so you’re a dirty young man who will grow up to be a dirty old man.”  She reached down to adjust her shorts, tugging them further down her thighs.

Cade chuckled as he pulled up to the fence.  He jumped out of the truck and opened the gate.  He couldn’t believe how gullible a big city girl like Lacy Dalton could be.  She believed everything he told her.

He stepped aside and motioned to her to take the wheel.  “Pull through.”

“What?”

“Pull through,” he repeated.  “Hurry up before the cows decide to make a run for it.”

She
scooted behind the wheel and put the truck in gear, pulling forward just far enough for him to close the gate behind her.

“You planning on driving or
are you
just waiting for me to sit on your lap?”
he
asked her through the open window.

“In your dreams.”  She
quickly
scooted to the far side of the bench seat.

Yeah, in his dreams was right.

“You’d best lock your door,” he said as he climbed into the truck.  “Wouldn’t wanna see you fall out.”  If Lacy sat any closer to the door, she’d be sitting on the other side. 

H
e drove out into rolling hills that served as pasture for his herd.
 
The second he stopped, the cows started toward it, their little ones following right behind. 

“You’re the pied piper of cow country I see,”
she
said with a giggle.

“Don’t you believe it.  They’d come to anyone who brought them their food.”  Cade
stepped
out of the cab and made his way around the truck
where he hoisted himself
up onto the bed
.  There he began unloading t
he bales of hay.

Lacy stepped cautiously from the truck.  Several cows and their calves
started
in her direction
and she looked to him worriedly.

“You’re fine.”  But he kept
a close eye on her, knowing that trouble seemed to have a way of finding Lacy.

“These little guys don’t realize how lucky they are.”

“Dalton?  You all right?”  Call him crazy, but he was certain he’d seen tears in her eyes.  And no one got that choked up over the sight of cows.

“Sure,” she said, squinting.  “Just wish I’d have grabbed my sunglasses.  Bright light makes my eyes water like crazy.”

“Like hay?” he muttered as he tossed another bale onto the ground below.  She was so damn hard to read.  Some people’s eyes were more sensitive than others, but he had a feeling Lacy wasn’t one of those people.  Why couldn’t she just tell him what was bothering her?
  Her seesawing emotions were a dead giveaway.

“There’s a pair of sunglasses in the glove box.”  

“Thanks.”  She climbed up onto the running board and reached in through the open window to g
rab
them.

Jumping down from the bed of the truck,
he
cut the bindings on the hay bales and then stepped back alongside Lacy to watch. 

“They’re hungry,” she said as the small herd gathered around the hay he’d just given them. 

“Suppose they are”

“Are you?”
she
asked, looking up at him through the
dark
lenses of his sunglasses.

“What?”

“
H
ungry
?
”

He was, but it wasn’t food he was craving at that moment.  It was another taste of her sweet lips. 
He
felt himself losing the battle as he leaned toward her.

“For lunch,” she
clarified
with a grin.

He
pulled back and turned away.  “Yeah, a little.  I’ve got to gather up the binding here so the cows don’t make a meal of them.  God knows I can’t afford to pay another vet bill right now.”

He stepped forward into the circle of hungry cows.  “So about lunch...  You
know how to
cook?” 

“I’m sure I could fix something edible.”  

He turned to her.  “Who’d have guessed you have so many hidden talents,
Dalton
?”

“Don’t act so surprised.  I’ve been on my own for a long time.  I think I can handle it.  Unless you’re afraid I’ll burn your house down.”

“You’d better not,” he warned.  “I can’t afford to build a new one.”   

“If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll make cold sandwiches
.”

“I won’t be long here.”

“No rush.  I’ll just walk back to the house while you finish up here.”

“Stay out of trouble.”  There was a whole lot of it just waiting out there for her to get into.  At least, he had managed to keep
Danners
away Lacy.  He didn’t trust the man around her.  Hell, he didn’t trust himself around her.

“
Or what,
daddy
?
” she called back
playfully
over her shoulder as she started across the field.  “
You going to spank me?”
  Waving a hand in the air, Lacy laughed softly and continued on toward the house.

The thought of spanking her sexy little bottom had heat pooling
thick
in his groin.

“She’s right,” he muttered to himself.  “I’ve become a dirty old man.”

*
             
*
             
*

Jesse
Danners
pulled up
alongside
the sleek, black Mercedes
and lowered his window.

“You’re late.”

“
Couldn’t be helped
, Mr.
Brandt
.”

The older man
scowled, his impatience evident
by the tapping of his thick fingers on the steering wheel
. 
“I
’m not a man who likes to be
kept waiting,
Danners
.  I thought I’d made that clear
when we began our association
.”

The last thing
Jesse
wanted was to get on
Brandt
’s bad side.  He’d seen what the man was capable of.  “It won’t happen again.”

“See that it doesn’t.”

“Yes, sir.”  He’d
been hired on by
Brandt
years before to do
all
his
dirty work.  The
money Brandt offered him for his ‘services’
was good enough to risk
going to prison again if he ever got caught.  Not that he intended to get caught.

Brandt
’s vendetta against Cade Tyler began a few years back after his son was killed by one of Tyler’s bulls during a local rodeo.  And he’d been trying to destroy the ex-rodeo star’s life ever since.  Not that
Danners
cared.  As far as he was concerned, Cade Tyler needed to be knocked off his high horse and he was enjoying helping
Brandt
do just that.

“You
see to
the fence?”
Brandt
asked
gruffly
.  

Why a
man with Brandt’s wealth
wanted a rundown place like the Flying T was beyond him
, b
ut
as long as getting the old man what he wanted lined his pockets he’d make damn certain it happened.
  “I
took care of it,
but they’ve already gotten it repaired.”

“
But he lost some cattle
before they got the fence back up?”

Danners
hesitated
in answering
, knowing
the old coot
was
n’t going to be happy with what he had to say.

“Danners,” Brandt growled.

“
No
,” he conceded with a frown.  “They discovered it before any cattle could wander out.”

“Son-of-a-bitch!” 
Brandt
’s
round face turned bright red, a stark contrast to his
thick,
white hair.  “
I’m disappointed in you
,
Danners
. 
It’s a good thing I bought that magazine.  Maybe that pretty little
reporter I sent
in
to get the dirt on Tyler
can do what you seem inept to do.”

Danners bristled at that.  He’d done everything the rich bastard had asked of him.  It wasn’t his fault Tyler was a hard man to bring down.

“Once I get Lacy Dalton’s i
nterview
, I’ll make a few changes to it and
deliver the final blow
to Cade Tyler,” Brandt continued, his eyes gleaming with his lust for revenge.

“
I wouldn’t be too sure of that
.”

Hard brown eyes pinned him. 
“What do you mean?”

“Tyler has
warned your sexy little journalist to steer clear of me.”

Brandt raised a thick brow.  “So he’s suspicious of you?”

“Far from
,” Danners said cockily.  “
It appears he’s taken a
shining to Lacy Dalton.  The man can’t
keep his eyes off her.”

The older man’s
harsh
expression eased
and a
low chuckle rumbled in his barreled chest.  “So I was right.  I knew when she came in to interview for that job she would be the perfect distraction. 
Tyler might hate reporters, but he is a man.  One who’s been without a
female
for a
very
long time.
”  He
grinned triumphantly.