Roping the Rancher (Harlequin American Romance) by Julie Benson Page A

Play it cool, and Jess wouldn’t realize a thing.
    Right. Even Meryl Streep couldn’t pull off that performance.
    Jess glanced between her father and Stacy. A knowing grin spread across the teenager’s face. “I guess I interrupted something.”
    “No, I just got home,” Colt muttered as he shifted his stance like a kid caught in a lie.
    “I was asleep on the couch. I woke up when the front door closed. I’m a light sleeper. Then I wanted to talk to your dad about what happened at the police station, so we were sitting here talking.”
    So much for playing it cool. Shut up, Stacy. You’re rambling and making the situation worse.
    “I’d have to be blind to believe that bunch of BS.”
    Stacy cringed and refused to meet Jess’s gaze.
    Great acting job.
    “What was or wasn’t going on here is none of your business.” When Jess opened her mouth to say something else, Colt shook his head. “Don’t push me. My patience is wearing thin.”
    “I can’t believe this, Dad. After the lecture on dating you gave me the other day? I guess this is one of those ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ moments.” Then she walked over to her father, kissed him on the cheek and darted out of the room, her dog trotting behind her.
    “I didn’t think there was anything more embarrassing than my parents catching me making out with my first girlfriend. I was wrong.”
    “I can’t believe—” Stacy paused, wanting desperately to fan her heated face. I can’t believe we acted like a couple of horny teenagers. “You’re right about that.”
    He shoved his hands in his jean’s pocket and shuffled his feet. She stood, not knowing quite what to do now. Finally she said, “I’ll wake Ryan so we can go home.”
    “Let him sleep. Not point in closing this door now that the horse has gotten out of the barn. You can either sleep here on the couch, or I can bring Ryan home when he wakes up.”
    This time she listened to her common sense. “Dropping him off tomorrow would be great.”
    * * *
    A S S TACY PARKED by the Healing Horses barn, she told herself she could do this. She could face her fear of horses. Then she almost laughed. Today facing Colt seemed scarier than facing a horse.
    She’d kissed him last night. Not he kissed her. Well, not at first anyway. No, she’d been the aggressor.
    How would she face him? Pretend last night never happened.
    Like you pretended nothing happened when Jess caught you two making out? Because that worked so well.
    When she walked into the barn, instead of finding Colt, she discovered Jess. Please don’t let her bring up the other night. “Where’s your dad? He agreed to train me to be a sidewalker so I can help with Ryan’s therapy. I don’t want him thinking I’m late.”
    “Yeah, that’s one of his pet peeves.” Jess crossed her arms over her chest, and Stacy braced herself and resisted the urge to squirm. This was not good. “What are your intentions with my dad?”
    She’d known whatever Jess had been going to say would be something she didn’t want to hear, but never in her wildest nightmares had Stacy’s thoughts gone to “What are your intentions?”
    Beam me up, Scottie. Where was a good Chief Engineer with a transporter when a girl needed one?
    Stacy’s tongue stuck to the roof of her dry mouth and her mind raced to come up with a plausible answer. Intentions? As in for the future? Damned if she knew. While she might not know that, she’d sure known what her objective had been last night. She wanted to get hot and heavy with Colt.
    She couldn’t exactly tell his daughter that.
    Honesty. They say it’s the best policy. She could tell Jess the truth about the future at least. “I’m not sure what’s going on between your father and me. We’re so different, but when you and Ryan were in the game room last night we talked. I enjoyed his company. He’s a nice guy, but we barely know each other.”
    “That’s not what it looked like in the living room.”
    “It’s