One Hot Cowboy by Anne Marsh Page A

for what it cost
    to raise them. Cabe barely broke even on
    his herd, but that herd mattered. He’d
    inherited a ranch full of cowboys and a
    disappearing way of life he wouldn’t let
    die. Not on his watch.
    So he watched her go and tried to work
    it all out in his head. She drove that
    battered Honda Civic of hers down the dirt
    road, headed nowhere in particular as far
    as he knew, and he wanted to be in the
    front seat with her. It didn’t matter where
    she was headed. For one insane moment,
    he wished he could consign the ranch and
    all his responsibility to hell.
    She’d stormed off. He’d stayed put. And
    wasn’t that the way it had always been?
    He looked down at the plans in his
    hands. When he looked at them, he realized
    he was holding plans for a home, not a
    house. She’d seen more than four walls
    and a roof.
    To hell with his plans and his heavy,
    endless responsibilities.
    Some
    things—some people —were
    worth fighting for.
    He got his ass into his pickup and
    followed her.
    Chapter Six
    R ose didn’t stop driving until Cabe could
    almost see Lonesome. Maybe she’d
    stopped at the rest area on purpose, or
    maybe she was just plain tired of his
    following her ass so closely.
    He just knew he wasn’t done with them .
    He wouldn’t let her run from him this time.
    Slamming the pickup’s door, Cabe strode
    toward the picnic table where she was
    waiting for him. Before she could move, he
    slapped his hands down on either side of
    her, caging her body between his arms and
    the table. A distant part of his brain—the
    logical part that hadn’t been turned upside
    down and inside out by this infuriating,
    fascinating, wonderful woman—warned
    him that this wasn’t his best idea.
    Rose Jordan didn’t need or want a
    Neanderthal cowboy. But to hell with that.
    “I took that reverse mortgage,” he
    growled, “because it was the only
    goddamned way Auntie Dee would let me
    give her money. She was proud, Rose. She
    wanted to give me something back.”
    “You should have told me right away,”
    she accused. “Why offer to buy me out
    when you already had that note? You know
    I can’t repay it. My home is all yours.”
    He leaned in further. “Because that
    house is your home, Rose. I don’t want to
    take that for you. I thought maybe that
    check would let you start over. Pick some
    other place.”
    “Coming home doesn’t work that way,
    Cabe.” Her gaze dipped slowly, and it felt
    like she was touching him, those gray eyes
    moving over his chest and down. “I wanted
    those four walls, those memories. So I’m
    not getting what I want. What I want to
    know is, what do you want? If we’re being
    honest with one another now?”
    “Right now?” he asked in complete
    surprise. “You. You made me wait a long
    time for you, Rose.” Getting a hand on his
    chest, she gave him a little push. She was
    touching him again, and he had it bad,
    because just that little brush of her fingers
    against the cotton of his T-shirt had his
    dick stirring in his jeans. He’d followed
    her to talk, he reminded himself. Nothing
    more.
    “No,” she protested. “I’ve been back in
    Lonesome for less than a month, Cabe. I
    haven’t made you wait at all.”
    “I’ve been waiting ten years for you,
    Rose,” he growled. “Halfway through high
    school, I looked at you and I should have
    been shot for the thoughts I had. You were
    too young. I was too old. I wasn’t ever
    leaving this ranch and you’d made it plenty
    clear you wanted your chance to get out
    there in the world and explore.”
    “But—”
    “No buts about it, Rose. I’ve been
    waiting a damned long time.”
    “I tried,” she interrupted. “Right before I
    left for college. I was waiting for you, too,
    and I tried. You pushed me away. I thought
    I wasn’t good enough, wasn’t who you
    needed or wanted, so I went.”
    “Christ,” he dragged a thumb over her
    lower lip. “You were years younger than
    me. You were still in high school