Cowboy to the Rescue

She gave him a tentative smile. Talking honestly about Delbert Logan was something new for her. As a young girl, she’d often lied to her friends so they wouldn’t know about her father’s condition. Later on, as she’d grown into womanhood, she’d avoided talking about him altogether. Now, she sometimes had to remind herself that her father was becoming a different person. For the first time in her life, she could speak proudly of him. “He’s not had a drink in over five years, and he’s working at a good job. I never thought he’d find the determination to turn his life around, but he has. And that makes me very happy.”

By now they were in a hallway that led to the kitchen, and when he paused and turned to her, she was suddenly reminded that the two of them were entirely alone in the big house.

“I’m glad for you, Christina,” he said, with a gentle smile. “And I apologize if I was prying. You didn’t have to tell me all that about your father. You could have told me to mind my own business.”

The idea that he understood how difficult it was for her to talk about her father’s problem suddenly made it all very easy, and she gave his arm a grateful squeeze.

“It’s all right,” she quietly assured him. “It’s nice to be able to say good things about my father. I only wish my mother could get herself on a better track.”

“What does that mean?”

She urged him to keep walking toward the kitchen, and as the two of them strolled along, she said, “It means that my mother is nothing like yours. She’s been married six times. Who knows? The next time I call her, it might be seven.”

“Whew! And I was concerned about Mom marrying a second time.”

She sighed. “Your mother is a steadfast saint compared to mine.”

“What’s up with your mother and all the marriages?”

Christina shrugged. “She’s looking for something to make her happy,” she said wearily. “Unfortunately, she believes she’ll find it in a man.”

“Ouch. You sound very cynical. Do I need to apologize for being male?” he teased.

She tried to laugh. “No. Just never compare me to my mother. I’m not a man hunter.”

“That’s not true,” he countered as they reached the swinging doors of the kitchen.

Halting in her tracks, she turned an offended frown on him. “I beg your pardon?”

“You are hunting a man,” he explained. “Your brother.”

She visibly relaxed. “Oh. Yes. But that’s different.”

Taking hold of her hand, he passed his thumb softly, sensuously over the back of it. “So what you’re trying to tell me is that you’re not looking for a husband?”

Her head bobbed jerkily up and down as a nervous lump thickened her throat. They were walking on treacherous ground, and the fact that there was no one around to interrupt them made her even more wary. “That’s right. Setting out to deliberately find a spouse is…well—”

“Unromantic?”

“Yes. Love doesn’t happen by design.”

The dimples in his cheeks made Christina wonder if he was finding her attitude very amusing, or if he was simply enjoying this intimate exchange with her. Either way, her heart was fluttering so madly, she wondered what was keeping her from fainting.

“And you think love is an important ingredient for marriage?” he asked.

Just hearing him say the word “love” was enough to steal Christina’s breath. Which made her feel like even more of an idiot for reacting so strongly to this man. “It’s the essential ingredient. Now, do you think we can go in to our supper? This conversation is ridiculous.”

His smile slowly turned suggestive. “The conversation might be senseless, but this isn’t.”

Christina was trying to make sense of his words when she suddenly found his hands on her shoulders and his head lowering to hers. Stunned by the idea that he was about to kiss her, she mentally shouted a warning to herself to turn her head, to step back and away from him. Yet her body refused to obey the signals of her brain. Instead, she felt her chin lift and her lips part before the totally male taste of him shattered her senses.

Like a merry-go-round moving ever so slowly, Christina stood stock-still, her breath stuck somewhere in the middle of her chest as his lips made a soft, thorough foray of hers.

Heat rushed through her body, setting off tingling explosions along her skin, behind her eyes, even in the tips of her fingers. Mindlessly, she began to kiss him back, began to want and need the connection to continue.

She was drifting to some sweet, heavenly place when he finally lifted his head. The shock of the separation instantly jerked her back to the reality of the dimly lit hallway and his serious face lingering just above hers.

Licking her burning lips, she hauled in a hoarse breath. “Maybe you ought to explain what that was all about.”

With a forefinger beneath her chin, he closed her mouth, then traced the curve of her upper lip. “You might not be looking for a man, Christina, but I’m looking for a woman. And I’m trying to figure out if the woman I’m looking for is you.”

Chapter Four

Confusion swirled inside Christina. She couldn’t deny it was flattering to have a sexy man like Lex attracted to her. Yet she realized the foolishness of taking him seriously. He could have most any woman he crooked his finger at. Besides, her work was her life now, she reminded herself. Mike had cured her of trusting another man with her happiness.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not for the taking,” she said quietly.

The disappointment that flashed in his eyes was at complete odds with the teasing curve to his lips. “Who says?”

She’d already heard through the ranch’s rumor mill that he was every bit as much a playboy as his flirtatious manner implied. And she supposed some women would find him an exciting challenge. But Christina had learned the hard way that changing a man’s fundamental values was impossible.

“I do. I didn’t come here for your entertainment.”

Shaking his head with dismay, he said, “I wasn’t thinking of you as my entertainment, Christina.”

His kiss had been like a violent earthquake to her. But not for anything would she let him know the upheaval going on inside her. It was too embarrassing.

“Really? I got the impression you think I hand kisses out like chocolate drops,” she said dully. Then, turning away from him, she pushed through the kitchen doors.

He was quick to follow, and she tried her best to ignore his giant presence as she walked over to their waiting supper, which was laid out on the long pine table.

“Christina, I suppose I should apologize to you. But I wanted that kiss. I snatched it. And it felt too damn good to feel sorry about. I do apologize if I upset you.”

She was making too much of an issue out of the kiss, she told herself. The best way to deal with it and him was to keep things light. But how could she do that when the taste of his lips had woken some sort of latent hunger inside her? Now, each time she glanced at his face, all she could think about was kissing him. “At least you’re honest—I appreciate that.”

He eased down in the space across from her. Then, after studying her for long, tense moments, he released a heavy breath. “Do you think I’m a bad guy or something?”

Christina reached for her napkin and hated the fact that her fingers were still trembling. She didn’t want to be vulnerable to any man. Especially a devil-may-care guy like Lex Saddler.

Keeping her eyes averted from his, she smoothed the piece of white linen across her lap. “No. I’ve heard rumors about you, but I don’t deal in rumors. I make up my own mind about people.”