Dan (Texas Rascals Book 9) Read online

  Leaving Raleigh feeling more mixed up than ever. She needed time to herself, to think, to ride. “Can I take one of the horses out?”

  He lifted a hand as he stopped and turned back. “Sure. Anytime. You’re in charge of them, remember?”

  “I’ll take that chestnut,” she said, inclining her head in the direction of a sassy, bright-eyed mare. “What’s her name?”

  “Little Bit of Sunshine.”

  “I like her.”

  “Pete calls her Sunny.”

  Striding over to the stall, Raleigh picked a bridle off the wall and placed it on the frisky mare. She led her out of the barn and into the exercise yard.

  “Do you mean you’re going riding right now?” Dan asked.

  She could feel the intensity of his stare warming her back. “Yep. I think better astride a horse.”

  “Bareback?”

  “It’s the only way to fly.”

  Positioning a booted foot on the bottom rung of the gate, Raleigh boosted herself onto the horse’s back. The mare whickered and tossed her mane, eager to be set free.

  “Would you mind opening the gate?” she asked Dan.

  “Certainly. You’re coming back, aren’t you?”

  “Hmm,” she replied, wheeling the mare out onto the open prairie. The chestnut, happy at being given her head, kicked her hooves in the air and sprinted over the grass burned yellow in the summer heat.

  “Go, Sunny, go,” Raleigh urged, leaning forward against the mare’s neck and savoring the feel of the wind rushing through her hair.

  Casting a glance backward, she saw Dan in the distance, still watching. Her heart hitched at the sight of him, and her lips tingled, remembering what his mouth had felt like on hers.

  Forget him. Forget the attraction. And most importantly forget that kiss. She didn’t want to think, wanted only to ride and ride and ride.

  Orange tongues of sunlight streaked the sky. A crow cawed from a mesquite. Sunny’s long, dark mane whipped at her face, but Raleigh didn’t mind the tiny stings. It invigorated her. She pressed closer in the mare, taking comfort from the animal the way she could never take comfort from people.

  Raleigh sorely missed her own horse, a beautiful palomino named Lucky. Pa had bought the horse for her thirteenth birthday. She’d been forced to sell Lucky along with their mortgaged farm when Pa died. One more heartache in a relentless string. One more reason not to take a chance on love.

  Her wayward thoughts drifted back to Dan. The man confused her. How could her body want him so desperately when he was the last thing she needed?

  An uncertain misery simmered inside her. She believed herself unshakeable when it came to men. After Jack, she’d had no choice but to lock down her heart. She couldn’t afford to lose herself to poor judgment and runaway lust.

  But Dan had gotten to her.

  She felt ashamed. Betrayed by her own weaknesses. Here was the question. Was she really angry with Dan or rather, her own hormones’ treacherous betrayal?

  7

  The incessant heat eased as summer melted into fall and cottonwood trees shed their golden leaves. Bales of freshly harvested hay dotted the fields. The mass of sunflowers crowding the landscape wilted and died. School started again and with it, the appearance of a rumbling orange school bus at the end of the dirt road each morning and evening.

  Dan sat at his desk, staring at the Quicken spreadsheet but not really seeing it, completely lost in thought.

  It had been two months since Raleigh Travers and her younger brother had moved into his log cabin. Two months of fighting a growing, almost unquenchable fire burning inside him. Two months of denying his need for her.

  Absentmindedly, he tapped his teeth with the end of a pencil and sighed. Try as he might, he could not reconcile the monthly expenses. The invoice for the feed bill sat in front of him. Fidgeting, Dan got to his feet and went to the window.

  Outside, Raleigh worked on taming a skittish mare. Watching her ride, he marveled at her natural talents with the sturdy animals.

  Dang, but she was good.

  In no time, she had whipped his flagging stables into shape, shoeing all the horses he’d bought along with the ranch, exercising them daily, doctoring their wounds, repairing the aging stalls. He was amazed at her rapid progress. No cowboy could have made a better hand.

  She slid off the mare, hitched her to the horse walker, then stretched sexily in the sun.

  He stifled a groan. Keeping his desire under wraps proved much tougher than he’d imagined. How he ached to hold her, kiss her, make love to her, slow, sweet, and easy.

  Go take a cold shower, McClintock, and get over yourself. Yeah, he’d been doing that every day for the past two months. A temporary fix at best.

  Tossing her braid over her shoulder, Raleigh glanced up and caught him staring at her. Gulping, Dan stepped back from the window.

  She sauntered up the walkway toward the house, her fingertips tucked into her back pockets in that endearing gesture of hers. Excitement surged through his veins like a strong tonic. Not once since she and Caleb had moved into the cabin had she been back to the big house.

  Why was she here?

  Dan stood motionless, waiting for her knock. When the sound came, he hurried to throw open the door.

  “Morning, Raleigh,” he greeted her, hoping he appeared nonchalant. It wouldn’t do for her to guess the depth of his feelings. If she had any idea what he’d just been imagining, she’d pack up and be off the ranch in a flash.

  “Can I talk to you?” Her steady, gray-eyed stare blistered a trail to his heart. She was different from any woman he’d ever known—strong, independent, self-reliant. How had she gotten that way? She intrigued him.

  “Sure, come on in.” Standing aside, he held out his arm.

  Her boots echoed on the parquet tile as she stepped over the threshold. She wrapped her arms around herself in that protective habit of hers.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” he offered.

  “Glass of water would be nice.” She plucked a blue bandanna from her pocket and mopped her face.

  “Have a seat. I’ll be right back.”

  When he returned, Dan found her leaning over his desk studying his computer screen.

  “You’re six thousand dollars in the hole,” she said.

  Dan came over to close down the page. “It’s not your worry.”

  “Oh, no?” She raised both eyebrows. “You go down, Caleb and I go down with you.”

  “Here’s your water.”

  She took the glass from him, seated herself on the edge of his desk chair, and took a sip. He tried his best not to stare at her shapely figure.

  “If the ranch goes bankrupt, we’ll no longer have a place to stay, and remember, you promised me ten percent of the yearly profits. If there are no profits, I’m as broke as you. I’d definitely say it’s my problem.”

  Dan stuffed the bills in the desk drawer, then plunked down on the fireplace hearth in front of her. “Fair enough. I’ll level with you. Yes, I’m experiencing a financial crunch I hadn’t anticipated.”

  She swung her leg, eyeing him thoughtfully. “Want to know what I think?”

  “Sure.”

  “You’re going about this all wrong.”

  “Oh, yeah?” She thought she was a business expert? Never mind that he had an MBA.

  “Yep.”

  Dan cracked his knuckles. She was too darned distracting. He couldn’t help but notice the way her tank top strained across her pert breasts and flattered her thin waist. He wished she wouldn’t wear those barely-there tank tops, although he knew it was simply a matter of comfort while she worked outside in the heat.

  “Dan?” She leaned forward and snapped her fingers in his face.

  He caught a whiff of her fresh, natural scent and immediately thought of haystacks, sunshine, and wild horseback rides across sandy fields. He blinked. “Huh?”

  “Did you hear me?”

  “I’m sorry, what were you
saying?” He shook his head to dispel the erotic fantasies. He had to stop thinking like this, no point in torturing himself.

  “I said, you’re going about this business all wrong.”

  “Explain?”

  “You need to be more practical. I realize you’ve got this grand dream for the future, and you’ve got a boatload of self-confidence that it’s all going to work out, but the fact remains, you need cash today.”

  “Go on.” What would it hurt to listen to her suggestions? Dan picked up his pencil and tapped it restlessly against the hearth.

  “I came in to bring you a list of supplies we’ve run out of.” She removed a folded piece of notepaper from her hip pocket and handed it to him.

  The paper was still warm from her body heat. It rested in his palm like melted butter. She had tight, controlled handwriting. He studied the list. Mostly tack and medicine for the horses. The total came to four hundred dollars and some change. She was right. He needed money now.

  “What do you suggest?” he asked.

  “First, consider utilizing the horses right away instead of waiting for the dude ranch to open. Have them earn their keep.” Her auburn ponytail swished against the top of her shoulder as she moved her head. He wanted to pull that tie from her hair and watch it cascade down her back.

  As if she read his mind, Raleigh drilled a hole through him with her gorgeous gray eyes, her pillowy lips turning down in a watch-it-cowboy expression. Hello, there was that hacked-off look that had shown up less and less over the last two months.

  He tapped the pencil faster against the bricks of the hearth, feeling sweat collect at his collar.

  She reached out and touched his hand. “Could you stop? That’s driving me crazy.”

  The feel of her skin against his constricted his throat. Soft sprouts of escaping tendrils framed her face, tempting him to brush them away. Her full mouth lay far too close.

  Grasping the pencil firmly in his hand, he heard the crack of wood as it snapped between his fingers.

  “Your wish is my command,” he croaked.

  She slid off his chair and got to her feet, seemingly oblivious to her effect on him. “You know,” she said, “I do have a few ideas for bringing in more money, if you’re interested.”

  “Bounce ’em off me.” Dan tossed the pencil pieces into the wastebasket, then dusted his hands and sat up straighter, palms planted on his knees.

  “Offer stable boarding. We’ve got the space, and I’m a trained farrier and horsewoman, so you can include my services along with the boarding fees. Caleb can help with the exercising and grooming. I know at least three people looking for a good place to stable their horses.”

  Dan nodded. “We could advertise on local social media sites. Marketing, that’s the key. Why don’t you call those folks you know and offer our stable services for whatever fee you think they’ll be willing to pay.”

  “You don’t mind?”

  “Why would I mind? It’s your idea. Run with it.”

  Raleigh shrugged. “I didn’t want to overstep my bounds.”

  “Hey, like you said, it’s your worry, too.”

  “There’s another way bring in money this fall and winter,” Raleigh continued, ticking off the options on her fingers.

  “Spill it, Travers,” Dan said, his spirits soaring. Heck, how could the dude ranch fail with someone as bright and hardworking as Raleigh on his team?

  “We’d have to get a few rooms in the house ready fast,” she mused.

  “What is it? You’ve piqued my interest. Don’t keep me in suspense.”

  “Hunters.”

  “Hunters,” he repeated, the concept appealing to him. Why hadn’t he thought of it?

  “Sure. There’s plenty of city fellas looking for a place to get away from it all—the job, the rat race, the wife and kids. What better place than here? Plus, there’s always day hunts for the locals.”

  “You think it would work?”

  “Sure. Pete and I both know how to dress game. It would be fairly cheap to do targeted advertising on social media. Of course, we need to get a move on. Bow season opens next month.”

  “We could advertise in gun shops and the feedstore,” Dan suggested, getting into the swing of things.

  “Now you’re cooking.” Raleigh grinned, and Dan realized just how infrequently she smiled. The disarming sight delighted him to his toes.

  “We’d have to build some deer blinds. Two or three should do it. If you and me and Pete got right on it, we could erect them in a few days.”

  “This is great stuff, Raleigh. I can’t believe I was so shortsighted about the ranch’s money-making potential. Any other suggestions?”

  “I could give riding lessons to kids and saddle-train horses.”

  “Excellent ideas.”

  “You really think so?”

  “Sweetheart, you’re an answer to my prayers.” Belatedly, he realized he’d called her “sweetheart.” Cringing, he glanced sideways at her to see how she would react. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

  An enigmatic look crossed her face, but she said nothing.

  “Anything else?” He shifted uncomfortably.

  “We could host a hayride, barbecue, barn dance. Have contests and games. Charge a flat fee for large groups like the high school or local churches. Believe me, there’s not much for kids to do in this town. The community would support it. I know they would.” Raleigh rubbed her palms together.

  “What kind of money do you think these projects might net us?”

  “Depends. Maybe several thousand a month, but at least we’d have a steady income while we readied the dude ranch for opening in the spring.”

  We.

  He liked the way she said it, as if they were a team.

  “Travers,” he said with heartfelt enthusiasm, “you’re magnificent.”

  And she was.

  While he was a head-in-the-clouds dreamer, cooking up grand schemes, she was a nuts-and-bolts, hands-on pragmatist. Together they made a terrific pair. Two halves of a whole. He thought of his skeptical father and smiled. Success, after all, was the best revenge.

  Euphoria dissipated his earlier pessimism.

  He hopped up. “This is going to work. You’re a godsend.” Without thinking, he pulled Raleigh into his arms and spun her around the room. He didn’t realize his mistake until he felt her stiffen against him.

  Her gray eyes clouded like a pewter mist. Up went her blasted wall. A wall that confused and disturbed him. One minute she was laughing and carefree, the next, serious and distant. He promptly set her on the floor and stepped back.

  “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

  “It’s okay,” she mumbled. “You got caught up in the moment.”

  An awkward silence descended over them.

  “I better get back to work. I only came in to give you that list.” She indicated the desk with a wave. Her chest rose and fell in a sharp, rapid rhythm.

  “Thank you for the ideas. I really appreciate your input.”

  She studied her boots. “Just protecting my own interests.”

  He wanted to tell her not to be afraid of him. To allow the attraction stirring between them to simply happen, yet he sensed she wasn’t ready. Considering his own track record when it came to romance, he should be the one drawing away, but somehow, he couldn’t let pain and loss stop him from pursuing something special. If she would only let him in, tell him her secrets.

  “Raleigh?”

  “Yes?” She raised her head to face him.

  “Seriously, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Then she was out the door, leaving Dan alone with dangerous thoughts of love.

  8

  Raleigh, Pete, and Dan spent the next two days building deer blinds.

  Personally, Raleigh was against hunting, but it was the fastest way to earn cash. And that was her ultimate goal—help Dan turn a profit as quickly as possible, co
llect her share of the earnings, and clear out of here before she got any more involved than she already was.

  Then she would have enough funds to start rebuilding her father’s farrier business. Which was all she’d ever wanted in the first place.

  They worked side by side for hours, stopping only for a sack lunch and occasional hydration breaks. To Raleigh’s dismay, Dan had removed his shirt early on, and she’d spent the better part of the afternoon trying to avoid staring at his superb body.

  Several times she caught herself studying his glistening torso after he’d stripped off his shirt in the heat and the seductive way his muscles moved in concert as he busily hammered the wooden structure.

  Forcibly, she returned her attention to her work, only to find her gaze straying back to his chest a few minutes later. The man was ripped perfection. Bronzed skin. Shoulders broad enough to block out the sun.

  They finished just before sunset, all three stepping back to admire their handiwork.

  “We could establish a seasonal schedule of events; what do you think?” she asked Dan, placing her hands to the small of her back and stretching out the kinks.

  He didn’t answer.

  “Dan?”

  “Huh?” He snapped to attention, that dreamy, faraway look in his eyes.

  “Earth to McClintock. Come in, McClintock,” she teased.

  “Sorry,” he apologized. “My mind wandered.”

  “Well, herd it back to the present millennia, okay?”

  Pete chuckled. “Keeping Dan’s head out of the clouds is an uphill battle.”

  “I prefer to think of it as brainstorming.” Dan grinned sheepishly. “What if we bought a chuckwagon and had old-fashioned cattle drives for the guests.”

  “You don’t have any cattle,” Raleigh pointed out.

  “And if you think I’m cooking on a chuckwagon, you’re sadly mistaken.” Pete snorted.

  Dan waved a hand. “I’m thinking about future projects. We’d hire a cook, of course. We’re going to have to do that, anyway.”

  “I hate to be the voice of reason,” Raleigh said. “Oh, who am I kidding, I love being the voice of reason. If we don’t start bringing money in soon, there won’t be a future.”