To Tempt a Cowgirl

“Yeah. Maybe so.”

“No maybes, Dani. It’s odd.”

“This isn’t exactly something I want to report to the authorities.”

“Why not?”

“Because Kyle is a deputy sheriff.”

“All the more reason to report it. Especially if you think he might be involved.”

“He’s on vacation right now.”

“But where was he when these pipes got snapped? Call.”

She held his eyes for a moment, her troubled hazel gaze meeting his no-nonsense expression dead-on. Then she said, “You’re right. You want to come in while I look up the number?”

A break. She trusted him—at least enough to let him in her house.

CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_5a2df01c-9ef4-5c89-b690-7681dbe33ef6)

GABE FOLLOWED DANI through the front gate and up the walk to the two-story house. It was sturdily built, with classic Victorian lines, and he wondered if it would be possible to move it to a different location on the property. In the rough plans he’d drawn up, the main lodge would stand where the house was now. The fields beyond would become the golf course. The barns, fences and outbuildings would have to go.

Dani opened the door and then glanced back over her shoulder at him before walking inside. Her footsteps echoed, rousing the big dog enough for him to raise his head.

“You, uh, seem to be lacking furniture.” There was a recliner with a small folding table at one side, a ladder-back chair pushed against the wall with horse tack hanging from it and not much else. From what he could see, the dining room was empty except for a large carved armoire.

She looked around. “Yes.”

He frowned at her as she walked to the armoire and pulled open a drawer. After digging out a phone book, she riffled through it then punched the number into her phone. Tipping the receiver away from her mouth, she said, “The divorce wasn’t pretty. The only furniture that stayed are the things that Jolie and I—” She suddenly brought the phone back to her mouth and said, “Yes, hi, this is Dani Brody. I need to report an...incident, I guess.”

Gabe listened as she described what happened, idly surveying the tangle of leather straps hanging from the ladder-back. He doubted that the authorities were going to take her report too seriously, because the tone of Dani’s voice made it clear that she wasn’t convinced it was anything to worry about. But having her call the sheriff made him feel better. She was pretty damned isolated, living alone, and if someone wanted to screw with her, all she had for protection was that giant mutt, who appeared to be semi-narcoleptic now that he’d given Gabe the canine all-clear.

Dani hung up the phone and turned back to him with a small shrug. “They told me to report anything else suspicious.”

“Good. Now they have a record.”

“Yeah,” she said. For a moment they stood on opposite sides of the room. The awkwardness was becoming palpable and Gabe realized that she didn’t know what to do with him now that he was in her house. That deal about making friends slowly, no doubt. The last thing he wanted was her to feel self-conscious around him, so he smiled and said, “I’m glad you called. If everything’s okay now, I’d better get back to what I was doing. I have a deadline.”

“You need to work on your vacation skills.”

“I’ll make a note.”

“With an alert?” she asked mildly. “Practice vacation skills from nine a.m. to ten a.m.?”

“Something like that.” He paused at the door, debating for a split second before he said, “Call if you have other issues, okay?” When her expression started to close off, as if he was getting too familiar too fast, he added, “I’d jump at any chance to procrastinate from my project.”

He reached for the doorknob and her features relaxed—because of what he said, or because he was almost out the door?—and she took a few slow steps toward him as he walked out onto the porch. She stopped at the door, putting a hand on the frame. “I appreciate you coming. Sorry if my hostess skills are rusty.” She gave a soft snort, then smiled at him. “Who am I kidding? I was never a good hostess. That was for my sisters to handle.”

“Well, I’ve never been a big fan of anything fancy.”

“Your car says otherwise.”

His eyebrows lifted. “Touché. But there’s no getting around the needs of the Y chromosome.”

She laughed at that, a dimple appearing in one cheek close to the edge of her mouth, charming the hell out him. And making him very aware that he needed to get out of there a winner. “Good night, Dani Brody,” he said in a low voice before forcing himself to step outside. He needed to leave because it would have been too easy to stay and he was not going to blow this by overstaying his welcome—even if she had called him.

“Good night.” The door was closed before he looked back, but he’d definitely heard a husky note in her voice.

All in all he’d made some decent progress...but truthfully, he was glad she’d called for other reasons. The standpipes and the horse concerned him.

* * *

DANI STOOD BY the door, waiting until she heard the fancy car roar to life. Then she wrapped her arms around herself and took a few slow paces through her empty living room as the low rumbling purr disappeared into the distance. She shook her head. Dani, Dani, Dani. Get a grip.

This was the time to focus her energy on building and establishing her business, not being distracted by the hot vacationing guy next door.

You called him.

Indeed. And he’d been nice enough to come over and lend a hand. And that was where it stopped. A little neighborly help.

She still had mixed feelings about calling dispatch. Maybe this did need to be reported, but now Kyle would know something was up. Kyle, who had nothing to gain by sabotaging the place. So if it wasn’t Kyle, the only person who had anything even resembling a reason to vandalize the place, then...

Then it had to be a fluke.

She just wished she could still the small voice echoing what Gabe had said—two snapped standpipes?

* * *

EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, Dani went to Lacy’s pen, feeling ridiculously relieved to find the gate closed and the horse still there. During the long night, she’d let paranoia get the better of her, wondering if someone was sneaking around her place causing mischief, but now, standing in the warm sunshine, her fears felt overblown.

Lacy stood stock-still while Dani approached and crooned soft words as she moved closer, but when she raised her hand to pet the mare, the horse jerked her head back.

“It’s okay,” Dani murmured, leaving her arm outstretched until Lacy finally moved forward to touch the back of Dani’s hand with her nose. When she thought of what a trusting, confident animal Lacy had once been when she sold her, it was difficult to tamp down the anger. People like Len Olsen shouldn’t be allowed to own animals. But they did and there was nothing she could do about it, except try to rescue Lacy, bring her back to where she’d been.

“Ah, Dad,” she muttered. It would have hurt him as much as it did her, to see the only offspring of his favorite mare in this condition.

* * *

“I MADE CONTACT,” Gabe told Stewart during their first touch-base call early the morning after Dani had called him about the standpipes.

“It went well?”

“Yeah.” Not entirely according to plan, but he wasn’t going to argue with success. He also wasn’t going to tell Stewart that his car had almost gotten totaled by a horse or that he was making repairs on the Lightning Creek Ranch.

“What’s your read?”

“That this will take time.”