The Rancher's Cinderella Bride. Sara Orwig

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СКАЧАТЬ have to avoid kissing, does it?”

      “I know you’re laughing at me again. No, it doesn’t mean we won’t kiss. Maybe all the ladies you kiss fall in love with you, but I won’t, so yes, we can kiss.”

      “I’m so glad to get your permission,” he said, his voice filled with so much laughter she had to smile. “You’ve given me another challenge, Meg.”

      “Oh, no. Once again, that’s a fact. I’m not going to fall in love with you and you won’t with me. We’re definite opposites. Good night, Gabe. Thank you, and it was fun.”

      “Oh, darlin’, was it ever fun,” he said, suddenly sounding sincere.

      She turned to unlock her door. “I don’t think I’ll invite you in tonight. We’ll save that for next time, when I’ll show you my house.”

      “Sure, Meg. I’ll call you,” he repeated as he headed toward the steps.

      As he drove away, she closed and locked the door and leaned against it, lost in memories of his kiss. How could his kiss have been so sexy? Her lips still tingled and she wished she could have gone on kissing him. Had she gotten herself into a predicament with this fake engagement?

      It had never occurred to her she would have the slightest sexual response to Gabe. She had never even thought about kissing him. She had known him all her life without that happening and she hadn’t given it a thought.

      Till now.

      Tonight he had turned her world upside down. And she no longer saw him the way she had before. Would she ever in her life see him again without that hot, tingling response she felt?

      Gabe would be aiming for seduction. As he said, he liked a challenge. He also liked the ladies and parties...and a daredevil lifestyle that took her breath away, because it was the same as her brother Hank’s lifestyle had been, and that wild living had gotten him killed.

      Surely she wouldn’t succumb to Gabe; she wouldn’t go to bed with him. She had known him all her life and would never run the risk. One hot kiss wouldn’t make a difference.

      Except his kiss was different from all other kisses she had ever experienced. Not that there had been lots of different guys, but she suspected if there had been, Gabe’s kiss still would have melted her. “Mercy me,” she groaned. The man was sinfully sexy, and she suspected she’d never view him the way she once had again.

      What was she saying? She could not be attracted to Gabe. Absolutely not! Kisses were one thing. Falling into bed with him was another.

      She moved through her house, switching off lights and going to her room. She just needed some sleep. But when she crawled into bed, sleep was the last thing on her mind. She lay there, gazing into the darkness, her lips still tingling and memories burning their way into her thoughts. She may not want to admit it, but she still wanted to kiss him again.

      She sat up in bed. “I’m not going to fall into bed with you,” she whispered in the darkness. That wild, woman-chasing cowboy would be nothing but heartbreak. It was just one month. One month wasn’t a long time. Surely she could resist him for that long. It could be a lot of kisses though, because it wasn’t going to be just weekend dates. She planned to stay at his house with him. She’d simply have to guard her heart and keep kisses to a minimum.

      Did she have the willpower for that? She suspected it was going to be difficult to resist him. He wouldn’t have trouble resisting her, so maybe there was nothing to worry about. She just had to take care, remember who he was and how he felt about a serious relationship, and that wild lifestyle he had. He raised rodeo bulls for a living—big, mean, thousand-pound animals. He liked to compete in bull riding. He flew his own plane. He had a motorcycle and a sports car. And he loved the ladies and parties. There wasn’t a serious bone in his body.

      She had to make each date move things along to convince her family and Justin that she and Gabe were serious. The minute Justin was out of her life, she would thank Gabe and send the sexy hunk on his way.

      When had Gabe changed to a “sexy hunk” from the friendly kid she grew up knowing? She hadn’t been around him in the past few years because they moved in different circles after school. She knew a lot of local ladies loved going out with him. She paid little attention when one of her friends talked about wanting to date him. Such conversations left her slightly amused at most. But his kiss wasn’t amusing. It was sexy enough to wrap around her heart and carry it away.

      She punched her pillow behind her, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. “You may be my knight to the rescue, Gabe Callahan, but you’re going to be trouble,” she said in the dark, empty room. Moonlight spilled in the window. All she could see was Gabe’s blue eyes and his cocky smile. “About six feet, three inches of sexy male and you’ve already rocked my life. We’ll kiss, but I will not go to bed with you. I mean that,” she whispered, and sighed. She knew she’d better stick to that conviction if she wanted to get through this pretend engagement with her heart intact.

      She sighed again, getting up and opening a bottom drawer to rummage through sweaters. She pulled out a raggedy brown bear and shook it. Gabe had given it to her on her ninth birthday. “Why didn’t he stay the way he was when he gave you to me?” she asked the bear. “A nice kid I had fun with instead of this sexy man who makes me want to keep kissing him all night.”

      She hugged the bear that she had loved ever since receiving it, even taking it to college with her.

      She went back to bed and sat cross-legged, putting the bear in front of her. “I will get through this engagement and Gabe and I will have fun like we always have. I will not go to bed with him and when the month is over—or hopefully, sooner—I will thank him, give him a big present and we’ll go our separate ways. I am not going to fall in love with him like one of his women he’s had an affair with.” She poked the brown bear with her finger. “I promise and you’re my witness.”

      She’d bet anything that Gabe hadn’t even thought about their date or their kiss or anything else about her. He was probably wishing this month would zip on past. Either that or peacefully sleeping.

      She’d asked him to take her somewhere fancy next time and told him she would look more like the women he usually dated. Right now, she was a million miles from that look, but wonders could be achieved with the right makeup, a new hairstyle and some knockout clothes.

      She told herself that if she changed her look, more people would notice her, would see her with Gabe and believe their engagement.

      Who was she kidding? She knew the real reason for wanting to change.

      She was already annoyed with him for treating her as if she were a kid while she was having to fight an attraction to him. She’d make him see her as the grown woman she’d become.

      After all, wouldn’t it serve him right if he had a little fight of his own to deal with?

       Three

      Late Saturday night after he was home, Gabe sent a brief text asking Meg to go to a dinner dance at the Downly Country Club in honor of its renovation. She sent a return text immediately, accepting his invitation.

      He thought about their deal—a month-long fake engagement. Her request had surprised him. But it was her kiss that had stunned him, and from the wide-eyed look he had СКАЧАТЬ