Capturing the Cowboy's Heart

by Lindsey Brookes

  Could she ever, he thought as he lay flat on his back with Lacy straddling him. His gaze traveled downward to settle on the glistening beads of water that clung to her lips. Then, without thinking, because that was becoming virtually impossible to do whenever she was around, he buried his fingers in the wet mass of honeyed hair that hung down her back and drew her to him.

  With a soft gasp of surprise, she closed her eyes as his lips moved over hers, tasting her, teasing her.

  Driven by need, he captured her mouth fully in a hot, hungry kiss. Despite the cold water seeping through his wet clothes, his body burned. For her.

  As if reading his mind, Lacy arched up into him with a needy moan.

  There had to be no doubt in her mind now as to the power she held over him. The proof of it strained hard and thick against the front of his jeans.

  That’s when it hit him. He was lying in the middle of the yard, in broad daylight, seducing Lacy Dalton. Even worse, she made him feel, something he’d sworn never to let happen again when it came to a woman.

  Cade ended the kiss with a muttered curse, pushing her an arm’s length away though she still straddled his hips. She was there to do a story on his life, past and present, not roll in the hay with him. No matter how badly he wanted to.

  He looked up at her, furious with himself for his lack of control where Lacy was concerned. “Tell me something, Dalton, is kissing me part of your interview process? Because you’re pretty damn good at it.”

  She let out a gasp and scrambled to her feet. “I should be. I make it a habit of seducing every man I interview. Be sure to read the article when it comes out to see how many stars you get for that performance!”

  Her wet clothes molded to her shapely form, a not-so-subtle reminder of what he’d almost had. Heat crept slowly and deliberately up his neck and his jaw tightened in the realization of how badly he wanted her. That knowledge only served to fuel his anger with himself. Mostly because he found himself wanting her more than he had ever wanted any other woman - Karen included.

  “Dalton...” He wished to hell he could think straight, but his ability to do that ended the moment they fell and Lacy ended up astride him.

  “No,” she cried out. “Don’t say it.”

  “Hear me out.” He propped himself up on his elbows and searched for the right words to explain that it wasn’t her. It was him. He hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings, just push her away. She was breaking through walls he’d put up, getting too close. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

  She crossed her arms. “No, you shouldn’t have.”

  “Lacy, the kiss was a mistake, an accident.”

  Her amber eyes glared at him. “What are you saying, Cade? That your lips accidentally fell onto mine?” She tapped her bare foot on the wet grass.

  He frowned. The hole he was digging for himself just kept getting deeper by the second. “That wasn’t what I meant. It’s just that.... Well, I’m just not interested.”

  “Not interested?” she repeated angrily.

  “That’s right.”

  Her gaze slid down his prone form. “Then I suppose that’s a roll of quarters you’re carrying around in your front pocket!” Scooping up her wet shoes, she spun around and stalked off toward the house.

  Cade looked down at his wet jeans and then back toward Lacy’s retreating form. “Quarters, hell,” he mumbled. “Half dollars.” He dropped back onto the damp grass with a frustrated groan.

  “You’re gonna have to do a lot better than that if you hope to beat Domino out for Lacy’s affection,” Burk said as he stepped from the barn.

  Cade’s head snapped around. “How long you been watching?”

  “Long enough.”

  “I’m not competing for Lacy’s affection,” he replied with a scowl.

  “Coulda fooled me.” He offered a hand to Cade. “So you planning to head out to Vegas today?”

  Cade got to his feet. “Vegas? Why the hell would you think I was going there?”

  His friend’s face split into a wide grin that had Cade regretting having asked. “Can’t think of any other reason you’d be carrying a roll of quarters around in your pocket. Unless...”

  “You’re fired!”

  “You can’t fire me,” Burk said calmly. “You have to pay someone to fire them. I’m your partner, remember?”

  Cade muttered several more curses as he shoved past Burk and headed for the house, his wet clothes swishing as he went.

  “By the way,” Burk called out, “my money’s on Lacy.”

  “Go to hell, Burk,” he shouted back over his shoulder.

  “Welcome back to the land of the living, Cade.” His friend’s laughter followed him all the way to the house.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Burk let out a low whistle and shook his head as he eyed the empty kitchen chair beside him. “Appears you really raised her hackles the other day. Sure as hell glad I’m not in your boots.”

  Cade turned to him with a scowl. “Maybe Lacy doesn’t like your cooking. Ever think of that? Can’t say that I’d blame her.”

  But it wasn’t Burk’s cooking that kept Lacy from joining them for meals the past few days, and it wasn’t Burk who was responsible for Lacy crying herself to sleep that night after he’d sent her storming off into the house. He was the guilty one.

  It had taken everything Cade had in him not to go to her when he’d heard her muffled sobs. But he knew if he had gone into that room, he wouldn’t have left. So he forced himself to give her the space she needed. And while he needed it, too, all things considered, he missed being around her.

  As if conjured up and taken from his thoughts, Lacy appeared in the kitchen entryway, drawing both their gazes. She was dressed in short shorts and a body hugging, cotton candy pink tank top that had Cade’s jaw unhinging.

  He would have smiled at her, but she wouldn’t look his way. It was clear Lacy was determined to avoid him. Her expression gave away little about her current mood as she took a seat at the table next to Burk. Not beside him where she normally sat.

  “Morning,” Burk greeted her with a smile. “I’ll fix you a plate.” Not giving her a chance to argue, he stood and walked over to the stove where he scooped an omelet and some bacon onto a plate.

  “I could have gotten it,” she muttered.

  “I don’t mind.” He set the plate down on the table in front of her. “Hope you like mushrooms and green peppers.”

  “Love them,” she replied, sounding more like the old Lacy.

  “Coffee?” Cade asked, wishing she would smile at him the way she was smiling at Burk.

  “Yes, thank you,” she replied stiffly.

  He looked at Burk, half expecting him to make some smart ass remark, but he didn’t. Instead, he walked over to the wall by the door where their hats hung and grabbed his off its peg.

  “Well, I’m about as stuffed as a Christmas goose,” he said, dropping his hat onto his head. “I’d best be getting out to the barn. Someone’s gotta work around here.”

  “Burk...” Lacy called after him.

  “You hear that?” He cocked his head and grinned. “Cows are calling. Gotta go.” He was out the door in a flash.

  She looked down at her plate as she cut her omelet into tiny pieces and then pushed them around on her plate.

  “You’d best eat up before your breakfast gets cold,” Cade warned, his chair creaking as he leaned across the table to fill her coffee cup.

  Their eyes met and she flashed him the closest thing he’d seen to a smile since their argument the day before.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “About what happened the other day.”

  “Me, too.”

  Distracted by her warm smile, he missed the cup he’d been aiming for, pouring hot coffee onto the table. “Damn!”

  He jumped up from the table and raced for the dishtowel draped over the front of the kitchen sink. When he turned, Lacy was already blotting up the spill with a handful of napkins she had grabbe
d.

  She looked up at him. “Are you all right? Did you burn yourself?”

  “It’s nothing,” he replied with an embarrassed frown.

  “Cade,” she gasped when she saw the reddened flesh. “That’s not nothing.” She moved around the table to take his hand in hers. “You need to run cold water on this right away.”

  He couldn’t help but grin as she led him like a mother hen over to the sink. His hand didn’t hurt much at all, but if it got Lacy to touch him he wasn’t going to complain.

  “So what’s the diagnosis, doc?” he teased as she held his hand beneath the cool tap water. “Am I going to live?”

  She smiled up at him. “You’re too ornery to die.” Releasing his hand, she left him standing at the sink and walked back to the table.

  For a moment, he’d actually considered kissing her again. And he might very well have done so had Lacy not of walked away when she did. He turned off the water and wrapped the dishtowel around his wet hand.

  “Suppose you’re right. I’d better go put something on this before I head back out.” Truth was he couldn’t stand to sit there and watch the fork slide in and out of her mouth without wishing it were his tongue instead.

  * * *

  Cade shoved another bale of hay against the back of his truck bed. Movement by the barn drew his attention. He straightened and dragged a sleeve across his damp brow, watching as Lacy moved toward him.

  The morning sun played in her hair and made her eyes shine. And the sway of her hips... Why did she always have to look so damned sexy?

  “Done already?” he asked, ignoring the desire that flickered to life whenever she was around.

  She smiled. “I’m a fast learner.”

  Hers was the kind of smile that could bring a man to his knees, himself included. “I’m impressed.”

  That morning, she had managed to water and feed all the animals without any help from either him or Burk. It might have taken her twice as long, but she had done it all the same. And without one single flood.

  “So what’s next, ‘boss’?”

  Cade crossed the bed of his pickup. “As soon as I finish loading those bales of hay over there in the truck we’ll head out to the pasture to feed the cows.” He turned and reached for another bale, moving it toward the front of the truck bed as if it weighed nothing at all.

  “We?”

  “Sure. I thought you might like to see some of the babies close up since you’ll be with me. Just don’t touch, no matter how tempting.”

  “I’d love to!” She eyed the hay bales still waiting to be loaded onto the truck. “Do you need any help?”

  “Thanks, but these bales are too heavy for you. Not to mention they scratch like hell. I won’t be long.”

  She leaned back against the fence rail. “You certainly make them look light.”

  “Years of bending and lifting.”

  “Now I know why cowboys look so good in jeans.”

  He turned to find her grinning impishly. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “You should.” She started to laugh then sneezed.

  “Bless you. You getting sick on me, Dalton?”

  “No, I think it’s the hay.”

  “Just my luck, a ranch hand who’s allergic to hay.” He shook his head with a grin.

  “It won’t be a problem. I’ll just pick up some allergy medicine next time I go into town.”

  A short while later all the bales were loaded. Cade shucked his gloves and tossed them into the back of the truck. “Come on, Dalton, climb in.”

  She stepped around to the passenger side and opened the door. “You know, they really should make these things lower to the ground.”

  Cade moved to help her with a chuckle. “But if they did, we cowboys couldn’t sneak a peek up women’s skirts when we help them up onto the seat.”

  “Real funny, cowboy,” she said as he walked around to the driver’s side.

  “You think I’m kidding?” he said as he slid behind the wheel.

  “You’re serious?”

  He nodded.

  “You’re a dirty old man, Cade Tyler.”

  “I’m not that old,” he protested.

  “All right, so you’re a dirty young man who will grow up to be a dirty old man.” She reached down to adjust her shorts, tugging them further down her thighs.

  Cade chuckled as he pulled up to the fence. He jumped out of the truck and opened the gate. He couldn’t believe how gullible a big city girl like Lacy Dalton could be. She believed everything he told her.

  He stepped aside and motioned to her to take the wheel. “Pull through.”

  “What?”

  “Pull through,” he repeated. “Hurry up before the cows decide to make a run for it.”

  She scooted behind the wheel and put the truck in gear, pulling forward just far enough for him to close the gate behind her.

  “You planning on driving or are you just waiting for me to sit on your lap?” he asked her through the open window.

  “In your dreams.” She quickly scooted to the far side of the bench seat.

  Yeah, in his dreams was right.

  “You’d best lock your door,” he said as he climbed into the truck. “Wouldn’t wanna see you fall out.” If Lacy sat any closer to the door, she’d be sitting on the other side.

  He drove out into rolling hills that served as pasture for his herd. The second he stopped, the cows started toward it, their little ones following right behind.

  “You’re the pied piper of cow country I see,” she said with a giggle.

  “Don’t you believe it. They’d come to anyone who brought them their food.” Cade stepped out of the cab and made his way around the truck where he hoisted himself up onto the bed. There he began unloading the bales of hay.

  Lacy stepped cautiously from the truck. Several cows and their calves started in her direction and she looked to him worriedly.

  “You’re fine.” But he kept a close eye on her, knowing that trouble seemed to have a way of finding Lacy.

  “These little guys don’t realize how lucky they are.”

  “Dalton? You all right?” Call him crazy, but he was certain he’d seen tears in her eyes. And no one got that choked up over the sight of cows.

  “Sure,” she said, squinting. “Just wish I’d have grabbed my sunglasses. Bright light makes my eyes water like crazy.”

  “Like hay?” he muttered as he tossed another bale onto the ground below. She was so damn hard to read. Some people’s eyes were more sensitive than others, but he had a feeling Lacy wasn’t one of those people. Why couldn’t she just tell him what was bothering her? Her seesawing emotions were a dead giveaway.

  “There’s a pair of sunglasses in the glove box.”

  “Thanks.” She climbed up onto the running board and reached in through the open window to grab them.

  Jumping down from the bed of the truck, he cut the bindings on the hay bales and then stepped back alongside Lacy to watch.

  “They’re hungry,” she said as the small herd gathered around the hay he’d just given them.

  “Suppose they are”

  “Are you?” she asked, looking up at him through the dark lenses of his sunglasses.

  “What?”

  “Hungry?”

  He was, but it wasn’t food he was craving at that moment. It was another taste of her sweet lips. He felt himself losing the battle as he leaned toward her.

  “For lunch,” she clarified with a grin.

  He pulled back and turned away. “Yeah, a little. I’ve got to gather up the binding here so the cows don’t make a meal of them. God knows I can’t afford to pay another vet bill right now.”

  He stepped forward into the circle of hungry cows. “So about lunch... You know how to cook?”

  “I’m sure I could fix something edible.”

  He turned to her. “Who’d have guessed you have so many hidden talents, Dalton?”

  “Don’t act so surprised. I’ve
been on my own for a long time. I think I can handle it. Unless you’re afraid I’ll burn your house down.”

  “You’d better not,” he warned. “I can’t afford to build a new one.”

  “If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll make cold sandwiches.”

  “I won’t be long here.”

  “No rush. I’ll just walk back to the house while you finish up here.”

  “Stay out of trouble.” There was a whole lot of it just waiting out there for her to get into. At least, he had managed to keep Danners away Lacy. He didn’t trust the man around her. Hell, he didn’t trust himself around her.

  “Or what, daddy?” she called back playfully over her shoulder as she started across the field. “You going to spank me?” Waving a hand in the air, Lacy laughed softly and continued on toward the house.

  The thought of spanking her sexy little bottom had heat pooling thick in his groin.

  “She’s right,” he muttered to himself. “I’ve become a dirty old man.”

  * * *

  Jesse Danners pulled up alongside the sleek, black Mercedes and lowered his window.

  “You’re late.”

  “Couldn’t be helped, Mr. Brandt.”

  The older man scowled, his impatience evident by the tapping of his thick fingers on the steering wheel. “I’m not a man who likes to be kept waiting, Danners. I thought I’d made that clear when we began our association.”

  The last thing Jesse wanted was to get on Brandt’s bad side. He’d seen what the man was capable of. “It won’t happen again.”

  “See that it doesn’t.”

  “Yes, sir.” He’d been hired on by Brandt years before to do all his dirty work. The money Brandt offered him for his ‘services’ was good enough to risk going to prison again if he ever got caught. Not that he intended to get caught.

  Brandt’s vendetta against Cade Tyler began a few years back after his son was killed by one of Tyler’s bulls during a local rodeo. And he’d been trying to destroy the ex-rodeo star’s life ever since. Not that Danners cared. As far as he was concerned, Cade Tyler needed to be knocked off his high horse and he was enjoying helping Brandt do just that.