Marriage at the Cowboy's Command by Ann Major Page B

he’d simply dig in his heels and put off telling her for even longer.
    Thus, several more days passed without him referring to the matter at hand and with her biting her tongue to keep from drilling him. Even after she threw away her crutches and was able to resume her full routine, never once did he allude to his mysterious solution other than to ask if she’d reconsidered any of his other options.
    When she’d said no, he’d seemed almost content to settle down to ranch life. When he wasn’t making international calls or working on his laptop, he made himself useful by helping with Daniel and assisting Manuel with the heavier work. He didn’t complain, either.
    But with the passing of more days and nights—interminable, sleepless nights—she felt the raw, too-intimate, highly charged sensual cravings between them build.
    Last night when he’d come out of the hall bathroom, shirtless, he’d nearly bumped into her. She’d caught her breath and barely managed the willpower to skitter down the hall into her own room and bolt the door.
    This morning when she’d caught a glimpse of him through the cracked bathroom door as he’d shaved, his dark head cocked to one side and his white shirt unbuttoned, the mere sight of so much tanned muscle had sent tingles through every nerve in her body. She’d known the sensual joy of his body. The man lured her, as only the drug of choice can lure an addict who knows its pleasure full well and has been forced to do without for too long.
    That evening after supper, she was grumpy as shefaced still another sleepless night brooding over a man she did not want to want. He’d had another conversation with Al Johnson without telling her what they’d talked about. She wanted to know what he was up to, but some crisis had erupted in London. For more than an hour, he’d been holed up in her dining room behind closed doors, engaged in a tense overseas conference call with several of his top London executives.
    She didn’t want to eavesdrop, but his deep, hard voice carried. Apparently, the employees at Kommstarr, his most recently acquired company, didn’t like the massive changes he was instigating. Never had he sounded more ruthless than he did when he insisted his executives slash jobs and budgets and make lists of assets to be sold.
    These were people’s lives he was dealing with! She couldn’t help but wonder what chance her horse farm had. Would he coldly demand that she sell her darlings? After all, they were mere horses.
    He had to think his solution would upset her, or he’d tell her what it was. How could she lie awake longing for such a tough, arrogant brute? Maybe she was better off not knowing what he intended for Wild Horse Ranch.
    She had to tune out his impending decision or she would go crazy dwelling on all the scenarios she could dream up. Summoning her willpower, she marched to Daniel’s room, thinking she’d read her son a chapter of Harry Potter, only to find her precious darling curled up on his bed, with his blanket pulled up to his chin. She didn’t like the way his green eyes burned in his thin, flushed face.
    â€œMommy, I’m c-cold,” he said through teeth that chattered.
    â€œHoney! What’s the matter?” When she leaned downand felt him, his forehead was hot. “We’d better take your temperature,” she said before rushing to the bathroom to find the thermometer.
    Luke was closing his phone and stepping out of the dining room when she dashed back into Daniel’s room with the thermometer.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?”
    â€œI think Daniel’s got a fever.”
    Luke stood over her as she took Daniel’s temperature.
    â€œHe’s got a fever. I’ll give him a cool bath and some medicine,” she said. “If he’s not better in the morning, we’ll call Dr. Williams.”
    After bathing him, she gave Daniel a hug and