How to Lasso a Cowboy by Shirley Jump Page A

kind of job. Especially when you have so much creativity.”
    â€œYeah, well, it can be hard to make a living off ofcreativity.” Hadn’t he learned that lesson firsthand? He didn’t need to live it again to drive that maxim home. He’d already seen where selfishly pursuing dreams instead of dependable income got a man. And right now, his family was depending on him. That was something he wasn’t going to explain to Sophie, or anyone else.
    Even if her comments gave him a flash of pride, and sent his mind down that what-if path for a second.
    â€œAnyway, thank you again,” he said. Hoping she’d leave. Hoping she wouldn’t. “No, thank you, Harlan. I appreciate you letting me get the word out. And for not bashing me on the air.”
    A twinge of guilt flickered inside him. “Darlin’, you gotta know I was only joshing. I don’t really think you’re that terrible.”
    â€œYou don’t?” The words came out soft, almost…vulnerable.
    He stepped closer to her, even as he told himself not to, told himself he didn’t have time or room for a woman in his life. He reached up, and cupped her jaw, his gaze locked on hers. Damn. She had about the greenest eyes he’d ever seen. “Not at all. I’m just doing a job, playing a character. I don’t really think that about you.”
    She opened her mouth as if she was going to reply, but didn’t say anything. He stared at her parted lips, desire pounding in his veins, and wondered if she would be as passionate in bed as she’d been on his radio show.
    He wanted to know that answer. Now.
    He leaned in and traced her bottom lip with his thumb. Everything inside him whispered only one message: kiss her.
    â€œYou are…distracting,” he said. “And tempting.”
    What the hell was he doing? He needed to get a grip. To get focused again.
    The first song ended, and a commercial for a bank came on, sending a karmic reminder to Harlan. Concentrating on the beautiful Sophie Watson meant not concentrating on business.
    Which in the end, meant letting down Tobias.
    â€œI’m sorry,” he said, and stepped away from her. He turned toward the counter, picked up a sheaf of papers and rifled through them without seeing a word on the pages. “Uh, thanks again for coming in today.”
    Confusion washed over her face, then she colored, and anger flashed in her eyes. “You’re welcome. I’ll get out of your hair now.” Then she turned on her heel and left.
    Leaving Harlan to do what he should have been doing all along—get back to work.
    Â 
    It took three hours of sawing, nailing and sanding in his garage woodshop before Harlan had worked the morning out of his system. The dogs had curled up in one of the shadowed corners, snoring lightly while they waited for their master to stop taking out his frustrations on a sheet of plywood.
    Sophie Watson. Who’d have thought that woman could so easily get under his skin? He’d been so sure, when they’d been paired up by Mildred, that it would become an epic disaster. Especially given the way that first date had ended.
    He hadn’t expected to care about her. To wonder what made her tick. No, she’d simply been a means to an end—a topic of discussion on his show, something he could forget the minute the microphone was off. But she’d lingered in his mind, as stuck there as a piece of gum on the bottom of his shoe. Only sweeter. And definitely less annoying. But still a distraction he didn’t need.
    He’d spent the rest of his morning at the hospital withTobias. His brother had been in good spirits, talking about going home soon, but guilt had fallen on Harlan’s shoulders anyway. Guilt that he hadn’t been here before the accident. Guilt that he hadn’t done more to boost the station in the weeks since. And most of all, guilt that he had let Tobias down all those years