The Texan's Tennessee Romance / The Rancher & the Reluctant Princess: The Texan's Tennessee Romance / The Rancher & the Reluctant Princess

“Bet you wish that hot tub was already installed, don’t you?” he teased.

She smiled. “It would probably feel good tonight. But I suppose I’ll make do with a hot bath, instead.”

He had followed her to the sink, carrying his plate and utensils from dinner. When she turned, he was right there, standing so close they were almost touching, his gaze locked with hers in a way that made her breath catch.

“Am I going to get my face slapped if I say I wouldn’t mind joining you in a hot tub sometime?” he asked, his tone somehow whimsical and serious all at the same time.

“I don’t slap,” she replied a bit huskily. “I punch.”

He laughed. “Of course you do.”

And then his smile faded as he reached up to touch a corner of her mouth. “Have I mentioned how much I like these dimples?”

“You’re flirting again.”

He grinned. “I do have permission.”

She rested her hands on his chest. “So you do.”

He kissed her lingeringly. Her fingers clenched in his shirt. The man definitely knew how to kiss. Flexing her fingers, she noted the strength of the muscles beneath his shirt. Maybe he didn’t do a lot of manual labor, but he certainly stayed in fine shape. If a woman happened to be in the market for a vacation fling with a good-looking, great-kissing, charmingly entertaining young stud, Casey Walker was darn near the perfect choice.

Lifting his head very slowly, he smiled down at her, his eyes gleaming in a way that made her wonder if he was more talented at mind reading than maintenance work.

“I’m sure you’re tired,” he said. “I should probably go.”

Though feminine instinct urged her to detain him longer, she moistened her well-kissed lips and nodded with some reluctance. “That’s probably a good idea.”

She walked with him to the door. “Good night, Natalie,” he said from the open doorway. “I really enjoyed the hike. Thanks for letting me go along. Oh, and thanks again for dinner.”

“You’re welcome. For both.”

He looked at her mouth, then back up at her eyes. And then he gave a firm little nod, and closed the door behind him, refusing to give in to the temptation that she hoped had been as strong for him as it was for her.

Hearing his truck engine fade away down the mountainside, Natalie lifted a hand to her mouth. Oddly enough, she felt as though he had kissed her good-night with just a look.

Casey Walker was definitely proving to be a distraction. Much more than she had planned on, she was afraid.

Because it was still relatively early, Casey stopped by to talk to Kyle after leaving Natalie. He’d called first to make sure it was a good time, and Kyle had assured him that it was. Molly opened the door to him, greeting him with a smile and a kiss on the cheek. “Come in. Kyle’s reading Olivia her bedtime story. He’ll be down when he’s finished. How was your hike today?”

“We had a great time,” Casey replied, taking a seat in the living room with his cousin. “Beautiful scenery. Have you been up to the cascades?”

“Yes, Kyle and I went there once. It was breathtaking.”

“Really is. Well worth the trek up.”

“Did Natalie have a good time?”

“She seemed to.”

“Good. She needs to have little fun. She just seems so sad.”

Sad. It was a good word for what Casey, himself, had sensed in Natalie from the start. “I think she enjoyed the outing,” he said again, not knowing what else to say, since he had assured Natalie he wasn’t asking questions behind her back.

“Good. And maybe she’ll find a new job soon. I don’t know what happened, exactly, but Jewel was always talking about what a great position her niece had with that fancy law firm in Nashville. It must have been a bitter split for Natalie to be taking it so hard.”

As much as he had told himself he wouldn’t ask any questions, Casey couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Wait—Natalie worked for a law firm?”

“She’s a lawyer—like you. I, um, thought you knew that.”

“No,” he said grimly. “No, I didn’t.”

“Oh.” Molly bit her lip. “Maybe she didn’t want to talk about it. Maybe since you’ve still got that great position with the firm in Dallas—”

“We haven’t talked about jobs. She might not know what I do. Unless you’ve told her?”

“No, it never came up.”

“Well then, unless her aunt has mentioned it—”

“Jewel doesn’t know what you do for a living. You said you didn’t want to talk about work while you were here, so I just didn’t mention it.”

“So I guess Natalie doesn’t know.”

“No, probably not.”

“So, maybe we should just keep it that way for now.”

Molly lifted her eyebrows. “You don’t want to tell her?”

“I don’t want anyone else to tell her,” he corrected. “I mean, if she’s lost her position and is still upset about it, she’s probably not going to want to hear that the maintenance guy is an attorney with a big firm in Dallas.”

“Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense. I’ll tell Kyle to be sure and let you be the one to bring it up with her.”

“Thanks.”

“Speaking of your job, and I don’t mean the maintenance work…”

“Don’t you start, too,” Casey warned with a frown.

She blinked her big green eyes at him in a patented innocent-Molly look. “Start what?”

“Nagging me about going back to work. Mom calls every morning, Dad calls at night. Jason, Aaron and Andrew take the tag-team approach, and most of the aunts have checked in at least once while I’ve been here. Everyone’s afraid I’ve had a meltdown or something, and they all want to pipe in with advice before I ruin my life. The only ones who don’t seem concerned that I’ve taken a long vacation are my superiors at the firm.”

“Your superiors are hoping the vacation will help get your head together so you can come back in top form again. They know they have a potential gold mine in you, and they don’t want to give up on it too quickly.”

He shrugged, but he had to acknowledge she was probably right, as she so often was. Like her mother, Molly had a talent for cutting through the b.s. and getting straight to the heart of a discussion.

“You can’t really blame the family, though,” she continued. “It was unexpected of you to just drop everything and take off the way you did. They can’t help worrying that the setbacks you’ve had during the past few months have shaken your confidence in yourself. You know how strongly the Walkers believe in getting right back on the horse that threw you.”