RESCUE AT CARDWELL RANCH by B.J. Daniels

to take some time off, leave the state or at least town for a while. There was no way he could keep her safe and he couldn’t just walk away.
    He got out and caught up to her, catching her hand to turn her toward him. “I have a favor.” She raised a brow. “I need a date for the wedding.”
    “Your brother’s wedding?”
    “Yes.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not your responsibility. I told you, you can’t keep me safe.”
    “It’s more complicated than that,” he said as he touched her cheek. “From the moment I first looked in your eyes...” His words died off. She was staring at him. He shook his head. “Maybe I can’t get you out of my mind—”
    “I know what you’re up to.”
    “I doubt that,” he said, and leaned toward her, his hand looping around the back of her neck as he gently drew her to him. “Because if you could see what I was up to, then you’d know I was about to kiss you.”
    He brushed his lips over hers, then pulled back to gaze into her eyes. He’d been captivated by those eyes two nights ago. That hadn’t changed. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
    “You don’t have to treat me as if I’m made out of glass and might break,” she said. “I’m a little battered right now, but I’m resilient and strong, a lot stronger than I look.”
    “Is that right?” He looped an arm around her waist and pulled her to him right there in the street between their vehicles. He kissed her like he meant it this time. Her full lips parted in surprise. Her sweet, warm breath comingled with his own. She let out a soft moan as he tasted her. Drawing her even closer, he deepened the kiss, demanding more.
    McKenzie came to him, fitting into his arms as she answered his kiss with passion. He felt desire race in a hot streak through his veins. He didn’t want to ever stop kissing her.
    But when she pulled back, he let out a shaky breath. “Wow,” he said and laughed.
    She sounded just as breathless. She met his gaze in the moonlight. “Hayes, what is this?”
    “ This? This is crazy. Worst possible timing ever.”
    McKenzie nodded agreement.
    “And yet, from the first moment I looked into your eyes...”
    She shook her head. “I...I really can’t.... Hayes, I’m not sure of anything right now and quite frankly, I’m suspicious of your motives.”
    “My motives for kissing you? It was just a kiss, right?”
    She studied him openly in the dim light.
    “Quite the kiss, though, wouldn’t you say?” he asked, grinning.
    She smiled at that. “Quite the kiss.”
    “Glad you agree. I’m still going to follow you home and make sure you’re all right.”
    She looked as if she wanted to put up a fight, but no longer had the energy to. “Thank you,” she said as she turned and started for her car. He watched her. She seemed a little wobbly on her high heels, strange for a woman who lived in them. He hoped the kiss had smacked her silly the way it had him. He’d kissed his share of women, but none had lit a fire in him the way McKenzie’s kiss had.
    As she reached the car, she hesitated. He saw her glance back at him, then reach for something on her windshield. His pulse leaped. Something was wrong. He was running toward her as she took what looked like a folded sheet of paper from under the wiper blade.

Chapter Eight
    McKenzie had been shaken even before she found the note. The kiss had her whirling. It had been a while since a man had kissed her. She couldn’t recall anyone who’d made her surrender so completely to a kiss before, though. She’d felt... wanton, and that wasn’t a word she would have used about herself. She’d also felt out of control and that scared her.
    Hayes had her blood running hot. He’d sparked something in her that made her ache for more. That alone was enough to turn her already crazy world upside down. She’d been content with her career, with her life, with an occasional date. Hayes had changed all that in just one kiss. Now she wanted...Hayes