The Reluctant Texas Rancher. Cathy Gillen Thacker

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СКАЧАТЬ HEARD BOOT STEPS crossing the rough ground, and turned as Liz approached.

      The reluctant look on her pretty face told him all he needed to know. He had a temporary job. Likely over her objections.

      “I’m ready to start anytime,” he drawled, eyeing her in a way it would have been unwise to do earlier, before he got the job.

      Her rich auburn hair was just as thick and silky as he recalled. It was a little shorter now, falling only to her shoulders. But the classic cut and side-swept bangs suited her as much as the slight flush to her cheeks, the hint of temper in her pine-green eyes, and the determined set of her soft, bow-shaped lips.

      His presence obviously flustered her, as it always had, in a way he found irresistible.

      What was different was that he felt a little off his game around her, too.

      As if his ordinary way of tackling people and problems wouldn’t work.

      To get to know her, to understand the way she ticked, he would have to dig deeper, get past her resistance—as he hadn’t been able to do when they were teens.

      And given what they needed to accomplish, the sooner he was able to do that the better.

      “Tonight, if you want,” he continued.

      Liz scowled, looking even less thrilled about that. “They figured as much.” She cocked her head sideways and sized him up with a wary glance. “You know they expect you to move out here, for as long as you choose to work for the Four Winds Ranch?”

      Nodding, Travis ambled closer.

      She might be struggling to handle her family, or contain him, but she was still sweet and sharp, with a way of beckoning him near that went far beyond simple chemistry.

      Pushing the attraction away, he said, “The ad posted in the feed store said the position included room and board and being on call 24/7.” Which made it perfect for him … and his goals.

      Liz huffed, clearly as annoyed by his accommodating attitude as she was by his presence. With only a cursory look at the cattle grazing in the pasture beyond, she wheeled around and took off in the opposite direction. “Don’t get too excited,” she said, tossing a mocking glance over her shoulder. “You haven’t seen your quarters yet.”

      Travis admired the sway of her slender hips and the purposeful way her long legs ate up the ground. He caught up with her, so they were walking side by side. “Does this mean I’ll get the room next to yours?”

      Liz shot him a drop-dead look and headed toward the one-room log cabin behind the barns. En route, they passed the main ranch house, an angular, U-shaped domicile made of rough-hewn timber and flat-cut stone, with wide porches on the front and back. “Actually, you’re getting my room. Or what was my room, once I clear my stuff out. You’ll be bunking in the old homestead.”

      He was close enough to smell the jasmine scent of her perfume. Not a good thing, given what it did to his libido.

      He eased back as they reached a field of knee-high grass, interspersed with Texas wildflowers. “Well, that’s exciting.”

      “Not really.” Mirroring his ironic tone, Liz paused to open a gate in the weathered wood fence. “It’s very primitive.”

      He shrugged. “There’s something to be said for whittling life down to the very basics.”

      As he was doing today.

      It made you reevaluate. Think about what you wanted versus what you needed. It made it easier to set a goal and develop a plan to go after what you had to have to be happy.

      Travis was ready to do that, and more.

      Liz latched the gate behind them, then carried on. “You say that now,” she predicted. “You may be singing a different tune later.”

      She really didn’t know him. “Does it have indoor plumbing?”

      She slanted him a glance from beneath those thick auburn lashes. “As well as electricity. But no real kitchen. So you’ll have to take your meals in the main house with us, unless you want to get by on whatever you can store in the minifridge and whip up on a hot plate or microwave.”

      He ignored her attempt to discourage him. The way her shirt cupped her breasts was not so easy to disregard.

      Folding his arms, he tried to ignore the pressure starting at the front of his jeans. “Thanks for the option, but I’m not much of a cook.”

      Amusement glimmered in her eyes. “Somehow I suspected that would still be the case.”

      Okay, that was definitely a dig, but he wasn’t going to apologize for the single-minded dedication he had given to his path in life. It had gotten him where he wanted to go, and then some. The fact that some of it had recently derailed was his fault, sure, but being here would fix that.

      “Faye Elizabeth, on the other hand, is legendary for her culinary skills,” Travis continued, with lazy insistence. That was one bonus for being on the ranch, right there.

      Liz rolled her eyes. “And there is nothing my grandmother likes more than an appreciative audience for her efforts.”

      “She’ll have that in me,” he promised. These days, he would take his pleasure where he could get it.

      Liz paused at the door to the homestead. “My question is why are you really doing this?” She eyed him skeptically. “And don’t give me that you-just-want-to-be-a-rancher-and-ride-the-open-range bit again, Travis Anderson. Because I’m just not buying it!”

      Chapter Two

      For a moment, Liz thought Travis wasn’t going to answer her. Then he reached into his pocket for his wallet, took a twenty-dollar bill and handed it to her.

      She gazed into his intelligent gray eyes, wishing he wasn’t such a fine example of masculine intensity. But he was. With the kind of good looks that only got better with age. The sensuality of his lips perfectly complemented his other bold, handsome features. And the rest of him was just as fine. He was six foot three inches of solid, indomitable male, and he used it to his advantage.

      Which made his arrival back in Laramie County all the more perplexing.

      Doing her best to control the sudden hitch in her breathing, Liz looked down at the bill in her hand and remarked with humor, “I’m dying to know what this is for.”

      He took off his hat as he followed her inside. “I want to hire you to represent me.”

      Was he serious? The brooding look in his eyes said he was.

      Liz watched him run a hand through dark, tousled hair, which was several weeks past time for a cut. “Well, then it’s going to cost you a heck of a lot more than twenty dollars,” she said, setting her lingering physical attraction to him aside. “An initial consultation is two hundred dollars.” And there were other reasons she should say no, too.

      Travis nodded amiably. “Consider that a down payment for helping me clear my name and get my career back on track.”

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