Capturing the Cowboy's Heart (28 page)

He reached up and raked a hand back through his hair before turning to Lacy who was perched on her knees be
side
him.  The look in her eyes tore at his heart.

Love.

“Dalton...what happened between us this morning...”  Damn, this was hard.

She offered a sweet smile as she
stretched out alongside of him and curled an arm around his waist. 
“Yes?”

Don’t!  Don’t even look down at that beautiful, naked body.
 
If he did, his
resistance
would be damned.  As if
it wasn
’t already. 

He
forced himself to ignore the soft, round breasts pressed so intimately against his own bare chest.  But his nether region had other ideas as it sprang to life like a divining rod, drawn to the liquid heat he knew
he’d find waiting for him.

“Dalton,”
he said with a troubled sigh as he slipped away from her grasp, “
it shouldn’t have happened.”

She looked up at him in confusion.  “What?”

“Us...that is,
we
shouldn’t have happened.  This morning shouldn’t have happened.”  He got to his feet, bringing her up with him.

Shouldn’t have happened?
 
His
words pierced her heart.  Lacy felt a familiar burning in her eyes.  While she was cherishing what they had shared, Cade was regretting it.  She studied him for a long, drawn out moment before she was able to speak again, “Are you upset about Burk having caught us?  Because he didn’t seem too bothered by it.”

“It’s not that.” 
T
he frown she had seen so often since arriving at the ranch had returned
, cutting even deeper into his face
.
 
Without any more explanation, h
e
scooped her lingerie and robe up from the floor and handed them to her.  “You’d best get dressed.”  His tone was tender, yet un
yielding
. 

“
O
f course
,” she said shakily, fighting t
he tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.  She refused to let
him
see the true depth of her feelings
and just how badly his emotional withdrawal from her had hurt her
. 

He grabbed for his briefs and stepped into them.  “I’m sorry,
Dalton
.  I never meant for this to happen. 
I sure as hell n
ever meant to hurt you.”

She dropped her lingerie on the bed and pulled on the robe, holding it together with trembling fingers.
  “Don’t worry, Cade. 
I’m a big girl.”  She moved past him to the dresser.  “This morning was just what it was...this morning.  No promises were made.  We were just two consenting adults seeking pleasure.”

“Lacy...”

“
Please go
,” she blurted out
, keeping her back to him.  “
I need to get a shower.”

“I’m sorry
,” he said, his tone lace in regret.  A second later, th
e door c
licked
shut behind him.

Lacy
bit back a sob.  Cade had barely left the room and she already missed having his strong arms wrapped around her.  Arms that would never hold her again. 

CHAPTER
TWELVE

If she were lucky, she would be trampled by a runaway bull before she ever had to face Cade again.
  E
very time Lacy dared to close her eyes, he was there, his eyes glazed over with unspent passion as he made love to her. 
She hated that he affected her this way.  Left her weak in mind and body.

The warm water
gradually
eased the tension from her body
that morning
, yet
it didn’t diminish the memory of Cade’s touch.  Every
trickle of water that ran down her bare skin
made her want
. 
Tilting her face to the stream of water above her, she
groaned in misery.  She had slept with her assignment
. 
A major no-no. 

She reached out to adjust the water temperature to as hot as she could stand without it burning, but even that failed to clear her thoughts of Cade.  She had been attracted to him from the first moment she set eyes on him despite his grizzly mood.  Then as she got to know the real
man behind the scowl
, that attraction grew.  But she never imagined it leading to this.  To them. 

And like a fool, she had fallen in love with Cade.  Damn his stubborn pride, sexy eyes and tight jeans!

Something soft fell against the heels of her feet and she turned to find her robe lying at the bottom of the tub.  It had slipped from where she’d slung it over the curtain rod. 

Cursing her rotten luck, she shut off the water and wrung out her robe, then re-hung it to dry.  Grabbing a towel, she wrapped it around her and stepped
out over
the
side of the
old claw foot
bath
tub.

Cracking open the bathroom door, she peeked out into the hall, finding it empty.  She listened for a moment.  Silence. 
She breathed a sigh of relief. 
Cade and Burk
must have already gone
out to the barn. 

Flipping
off the bathroom light
, she s
tepped out into the hallway
.  She had
barely taken two steps toward her room when a whistle sounded behind her. 

Lacy jumped and spun around
, clutching the towel to her still damp body
.  There, standing in his bedroom doorway, was Burk, a wide grin splitting his face.

“Burk!”  She gasped
.

“You always go traipsing about as naked as the day you were born?” 

“I’m not traipsing anywhere,”
she
replied in irritation.  “I just finished getting a shower.  And for your information, I’m not naked!”

He
leaned against the open door, arms crossed
, grinning from ear to ear
.  “You and Cade had quite a night, huh?”

Her cheeks flamed.  “That wasn’t what it looked like.”

“Don’t reckon that argument would hold up too well in court since I saw it with my own two eyes.  Well, maybe not
it
, but enough to know what I know.  And it’s about damned time.  You two been eyeing each other up since the day you
met
.”

He had it all wrong.  “
What happened between us will never happen again.”

“Don’t
be embarrassed.  C
ade made sure I didn’t see
anyt
hing. 
And I have to say
it’s about time some
woman
got
that man
into bed.  Now maybe he’ll lighten up a little bit.”

She was going to cry if she stood there any longer.  Turning, she fled back into her room and
slammed the door behind her.
  W
hy hadn’t Cade just
walked away
instead of letting her make a total fool of herself?
 
Because he’s a man and you practically threw yourself at him. 

Letting the towel drop to the floor, she walked over to the dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans she had purchased while in Deep Creek and a pale pink, scoop-necked T-shirt.

She considered packing up her things and taking off, but she’d made a deal with Cade.  And like it or not, she intended to see it through. 

*
             
*
             
*

“Burk,” Lacy greeted stiffly when she entered the barn to begin her chores.

“What’s the matter? 
Someone
get up on the wrong side of Cade this morning?”  He burst into a fit of laughter.

“Unless you
have a desire to sing soprano. 
I suggest you forget everything you know
,” she warned as she turned to shut the barn door
. 
“
It never happened.  Got it?”

“Got it.”  He smiled as he walked over to her.  “You really got to him you know.”

“Sure, got his hormones all raging, just like a couple of teenagers.”

“No,”
he
said, shaking his head.  “You’re wrong.”

“It was a mistake.  Cade made that very clear this morning after you left.  Let it go.”  She walked away, not wanting him to see the tears in her eyes. 

“
I’m sorry, Dalton
,” Burk said, the laughter
leaving his eyes
. 

“I don’t want your pity.”

“
I’m here if you need to talk.”

S
he couldn’t talk about her feelings for Cade right now.  They were
far
too raw.
  Looking around the barn, she asked,
“So, what fun chore
do I get to learn about today?”

He frowned.  “You don’t have to do this.”

“I made a bargain.  I’m holding to it.
  Don’t you dare treat me any differently than before.
”

He nodded. 
“
Today we’re mucking
out stalls.
”

If making her muck out the stalls was Cade’s attempt to send her running back to Denver, he had another thing coming.  “
I can hardly wait.” 

“You won’t be so eager when your back starts aching from all the shoveling
.
”  Burk walked over to get the wheelbarrow that was propped up against the barn wall.  “
First, we
take the dirty straw
and
put it in here.” 

He wheeled it over to where she stood and pointed toward the door.  “When it’s full, wheel it outside to the compost pile and dump it.  Do it until all the dirty straw is outta the stalls.”  He handed her a pitch fork and a shovel.  “Think you can manage?”

“I can manage.”  She started away then stopped, turning back to Burk.  “Was this Cade’s idea?”

He didn’t have to answer.  The expression on his face said it all.  “
It’s part of the job.”
He
pulled a pair of work gloves from his back pocket.  “You’re going to be needing these.”

“Thanks.” 
She
thrust the tools into the wheel barrow and pushed it toward the first stall.

Lacy did her work without complaint, not that there was anyone around to complain to.  Burk was off checking fences and who knew where Cade was.  He’d been avoiding her all day.

Despite her resolve to stay, she
finally accepted the inevitable.  She couldn’t
remain at the Flying T.  Not
with Cade shutting her out the way he had.
  It wasn’t about the story anymore.  And if she didn’t get the column with
Bustin’ Loose
it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
 
Right now it was about emotional survival.

Returning to the
house
, she got a
quick shower.  Then she
set to work packing her
bags, determined to be gone before
Cade and Burk finished their work and returned to the house. 

It was all she could do to hold the tears at bay when she
stepped out onto the porch, wheeling her suitcase behind her.
  She stopped, staring blankly at the spot she had been parking in since coming there and her shoulders slumped.  She had forgotten that the truck she’d purchased the day before was still in the bar parking lot. 

Lacy released the handle of her suitcase and sank down onto the porch step in defeat.

“Dalton?” Cade
called out as he moved toward her across the yard.  His gaze zeroed in on her suitcase and the carry-on bag stacked atop it and then shifted to her face. 
“What are you doing?”

“
I was leaving,” she said, her voice quivering. 

He settled onto the step beside her and looked out over the yard. 
“You can’t
leave
.”

“
Clearly,”
she said in frustration
.
  The last thing she wanted to do was ask Cade for a ride into town.  She’d wait for Burk to get back.
  “
Not having a vehicle here put a huge kink in my plan.”

“I’m glad,” he said.