One Night with a Red-Hot Rancher: Tough to Tame / Carrying the Rancher's Heir / One Dance with the Cowboy

“Is it ‘Halo: ODST’?” Dead-Eye asked. “I beat it.”

“Yeah, on the ‘easy’ level, I’ll bet,” Chet chided.

“I did it on ‘normal,’ for your information,” he huffed.

“Well, I did it on Legendary,” Kell murmured, “so shut up and take care of my sister, or I’ll wipe the floor with you when I get back on my feet.”

Dead-Eye gave him a neat salute. Chet shrugged.

“See you later,” Cappie said, kissing her brother’s cheek again.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“On a job interview,” she said gently. “Brenda’s boss might have something part-time.”

“Are you sure you want to move back here?” Kell asked.

“Yes,” she lied.

“Good luck, then.”

“Thanks. See you, Kilraven. Thank you, too.”

He grinned. “Keep your gunpowder dry.”

“Tell them.” She pointed to her two companions. “I hate guns.” “Bite your tongue!” Kilraven said in mock horror. She made a face and went out the door, her two companions right behind her.

Bentley met them at the elevator. “Where are you going now?” he asked her.

She hesitated.

“Job interview,” Rourke said for her.

“You can’t leave the clinic,” Bentley said curtly. “I don’t have anybody to replace you yet!”

“That’s your problem,” she shot back. “I don’t want to work for you anymore!”

He looked hunted.

“Besides, Kell and I are moving back to San Antonio as soon as he heals,” she said stubbornly. “It’s too far to commute.”

Bentley looked even more worried. He didn’t say anything.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” she added.

“Dr. King’s filling in for me,” he said.

“Until when?”

His pale eyes glittered. “Until I can convince you to come home where you belong.”

“Please. Hold your breath.” She walked around him and into the next open elevator. She didn’t even look to see which direction it was going.

It was going up. She was stuck between two oversize men and two perfume-soaked women. She started to cough before the women got off. The men left two floors later and the elevator slowly started down.

“Wasn’t that heaven?” Rourke said with a dreamy smile, inhaling the air. “I love perfume.”

“It makes me sick,” Chet muttered, sniffing.

“It makes me cough,” Cappie agreed.

“Well, obviously, you two don’t like women as much as I do,” Rourke scoffed.

They both glared at him.

He raised both hands, palms-out, in defense and grinned.

The elevator stopped at the cafeteria again and Bentley was still there, smoldering.

Cappie glared at him. It didn’t help. He got on the elevator and pressed the down button.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Cappie asked him.

“On a job interview,” he said gruffly. “Maybe they need an extra veterinarian where you’re applying.”

“Does this mean that you’re not marrying me?” Rourke wailed in mock misery.

Bentley gaped. “You’re marrying him?” he exclaimed.

“I am not marrying anybody!” Cappie muttered.

Bentley shifted restlessly. “You could marry me,” he said without looking at her. “I’m established in a profession and I don’t carry a gun,” he added, looking pointedly at the butt of Rourke’s big .45 auto nestled under his armpit.

“So am I, established in a profession,” Rourke argued. “And knowing how to use a gun isn’t a bad thing.”

“Diplomats don’t think so,” Chet muttered.

“That’s only until other people start shooting at them, and you save their butts,” Rourke told him.

Chet brightened. “I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

“Come on,” Cappie groaned when the elevator stopped. “I swear, I feel like I’m leading a parade!”

“Anybody got a trombone?” Rourke asked the people waiting around the elevator.

Cappie caught his arm and dragged him along with her.

They took a cab to the veterinarian’s office. The car was full. The men were having a conversation about video games, but they left Cappie behind when they mentioned innovations they’d found on the Internet, about how to do impossible things with the equipment in the Halo series.