Beware of the Cowboy Read Online Free Page A

He put
the truck in gear and started back down the gravel road.
    “I am now. But at one time I lived on a five-acre piece of
dust in the sticks, out west of Ft. Worth, near Benbrook.” She watched his
expression for any sign of condescension. She looked away when he only nodded.
    “A big shot in Dallas is a long way from a kid on a
piece-of-dust farm in Benbrook.” This woman impressed him more by the second.
He glanced across the truck to see her smiling out the window. Good. He liked a
woman who knew her own worth.
    “I don’t know about big shot. We still have a lot of work to
do. It’s not as if it will ever be Dean Petroleum or anything. I would say you’re the big shot around here.”
    “Hell, Dad’s the brains, not me. He made the company from
nothing, which is just like what you’re doing. I study him every chance I get.
I went to college but, even after all that, I learn more from hanging with the
old man than I ever learned from my MBA.”
    “MBA?” She practically choked. This guy was amazing. Not
only was he oh-so easy on the eyes, but she never imagined the hunk in the
chaps would have brains too.
    “Don’t look so surprised. I’m more than just a pretty face
you know.” They laughed as he pulled up to another big barn that was framed on
either side by sagging mesquite trees. “The baby barn.”
    He got out and moved around to her door, stripping off his
jacket as he walked. She was trying to get her shoes back on when he pulled it
open. “Don’t mess with those.” He tossed his dinner jacket over the seat then
scooped her out and carried her to the door.
    “What does it mean when you get carried across the threshold
of a barn?”
    He wiggled his eyebrows. “I’ll just have to show you.”
Setting her down on the soft loam of the walkway, he switched on the overhead
lights before taking her hand and leading her down a row of stalls. No woman
could resist the newborns. Hell, he couldn’t resist the cute little faces and tiny
hooves of the foals. He slid open the door to the fourth stall, eased the mare
to the back and clipped her halter to the tie-down on the back wall. “This one
was born three days ago. Her name’s Tilly.”
    Liza fell to her knees by the tiny foal. “She’s so beautiful!”
She held out her hand. “Hey, Tilly.” The mare nickered at them from the back of
the stall.
    The foal had already been handled plenty by the ranch hands
and didn’t shy away. Liza leaned in and nuzzled the foal, paying no heed to her
designer clothes as she moved on her knees across the stall floor. He was glad
his crew had done a good job mucking the stalls tonight. She was as graceful on
the floor of a horse stall as she was in evening wear at a society dinner.
Everything she said and did made him want her more.
    Not just that hot body—he wanted the woman inside.
    Leaving Liza baby-talking with the foal, Blake moved over to
the storage area, pulled out a soft horse blanket and threw it over a pile of
loose hay. He lit a battery-powered lantern and set it next to the blanket,
calling out, “I’ll be right back.”
    Liza heard Blake move back toward the door and suddenly the
barn was plunged into near darkness, leaving only a soft glow from nearby. Then
he was back, holding out his hand. “Come with me.”
    Liza looked up from the foal, taking her time to follow the
line of his slacks over his strong thighs and lingering on the nice thick tent
in the loose fabric. She tarried even more, looking over his strong chest that
the tailored dress shirt did such a wonderful job of highlighting. Then her
gaze finally rested on the hungry look in his eyes, bedroom eyes that shimmered
with desire in the dim lamplight. He wriggled his fingers, smiling wickedly.
“Come on.”
    He helped her to stand but didn’t pull her closer. Reaching
one hand up, he traced one side of the V-line of the vest she was wearing. When
he reached the bottom of the V, he slid one finger between the vest and her
skin and