"What makes you so sure?"

"Because he's a Texas Ranger."

"What?" Adam looked stunned.

Honey grinned. "He's working undercover to catch the rustlers who've been stealing cattle around here. I don't think he'll mind that I told you, but keep it under your hat, okay?"

Adam gave her a sharp look. "Did you know all along that he was a Texas Ranger?"

"I only found out myself this morning," she admitted.

Adam stuck his thumbs into the pockets of his Levi's. He pursed his lips and shook his head ruefully. "Looks like I've been a real fool. I thought that he- Never mind. I'll be going now. I've got some calls to make before dark."

"Adam," Honey called after him.

He stopped and turned back to her. "Yes, Honey?"

"Don't be a stranger."

A pained expression passed fleetingly across his face. He managed a smile and said, "All right. But don't look for me too soon, all right?"

"All right. Goodbye, Adam."

Honey worked alone the rest of the afternoon. She was grateful for Jack's absence because it gave her time to come to terms with Jesse's revelation that he was a Texas Ranger. Equally fortunate, she was spared Jesse's presence as well. He had left earlier to run some errands and hadn't returned.

Maybe it was better that they didn't spend too much time alone. Last night had been a moment out of time, almost too good to be true. It had certainly been too perfect to expect it to last. If only…

Honey thought about what she would have to give up to have Jesse in her life. Having a partner to share the responsibility of the ranch and to be there when she needed him, for one thing. She had sworn when Cale died that she would never marry another man who didn't put her needs, and the needs of the Flying Diamond, at least on an equal footing with his profession.

Although Adam's work as a doctor would have taken him away on occasion, his free time would have been devoted to her. He was wealthy enough to have hired a local man, Chuck Loomis, whose ranch had gone bust, to manage the Lazy S. Honey knew Adam also would have hired the help necessary to take care of the Flying Diamond and preserve it as a heritage for her sons.

Over the past fourteen years, Honey had fought the steady demise of her ranch. But her efforts alone-while Cale had been off fighting badmen-hadn't been enough to make all the repairs needed. The Flying Diamond was a shabby shadow of what it had been in the years when Cale's father had devotedly nurtured it.

She owed it to her sons to marry someone who could help her bring the Flying Diamond back to its former glory. Jesse could help her make it happen if he devoted himself full-time to running the ranch. But Honey couldn't imagine him being willing to leave the Texas Rangers for any reason, least of all because she asked it of him.

Even if she swallowed her pride and shouldered all the burdens of the Flying Diamond, she would still have to face the constant fear of losing Jesse to an outlaw's bullet. She couldn't bear the constant strain of not knowing whether he would come home to her at the end of the day.

The case Jesse was working on right now was a good example of what she could expect if he didn't quit the Rangers. He had told her the men he was hunting weren't just rustlers, they were murderers. They had killed a rancher in Laredo. If they ever found out a Texas Ranger had insinuated himself in their organization…Honey shuddered at the thought of what would happen to Jesse.

She hadn't forgotten what it felt like when she'd heard that Cale had been killed in the line of duty. She didn't ever want to suffer through that kind of anguish again. In the few weeks he had been around, Jesse had made a place for himself in her life and in her heart. She didn't want to contemplate how she would suffer if something went wrong and he was killed.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Honey nearly fell backward over the porch rail. Jesse reached out and caught her, pulling her into his embrace. Honey's arms circled his broad shoulders and she looked into his amused face.

"Nearly lost you," he said. "What were you daydreaming about?"

She wasn't about to admit she had been worrying about him. "I was just thinking what good weather Jack has for tubing on the river."

"You mean he's not home yet?"

"No," she said, embarrassed by how breathless her voice sounded. Honey flushed at the intent look on Jesse's face as it suddenly dawned on him that they had the place to themselves. She swallowed hard and said, "Where have you been all day?"

"Doing business for the Texas Rangers," he admitted. "But I'm all yours now."

The leer on his face made it plain what he hoped she would do with him.

Honey was tempted to start a fight, or do whatever else was necessary to make Jesse angry enough to leave her alone. On the other hand, she was also very much aware of the sensual lure he had thrown out to her. Their time together was coming to a close. It was hard to say no when he was here, wanting her, desiring her, with his eyes and his voice and his body.

He reached out and tugged on the waistband of her jeans. The top button popped free.

"Don't even think it," she warned.

"You can read my mind?"

"Enough to know you're crazy."

"Probably certifiable," he admitted. "But if you don't tell, I won't."

He made growling sounds and bit her neck, sending a frisson of fire through her veins.

She grabbed Jesse's face to try to make him stop whatever tantalizing thing he was doing to her throat with his tongue, but he caught her hands and forced them behind her. Twining their fingers together, he used them to pull her between his widespread legs where his arousal was evident.

"Jesse," she protested with a breathless laugh. "We can't. It's broad daylight."

"There's no one to see," he said, thrusting against her and causing her to groan as her body responded to the urgency of his.

She was running out of excuses for him not to do what she so desperately wanted him to do. "Jack might come home."

"Then we'll just have to go where he won't find us," Jesse murmured conspiratorially.

Honey thought he meant her bedroom, but he obviously had other ideas. She gasped when he threw her over his shoulder and headed for the barn.

"Not the barn!" she hooted.

"Why not the barn?" he said with a grin.

"Hay itches."

He stopped and rearranged her in his arms so he could see her face. "Sounds like you speak from experience."

The color rose on Honey's cheeks. When Jesse laughed she hid her face against his throat.

He murmured in her ear, "If you feel any itches anywhere I'll be glad to scratch them."

Honey giggled like a schoolgirl. She felt so carefree! If only it could always be like this, laughter and loving, with no thought of the future to spoil it. Honey nibbled on Jesse's ear and heard him hiss in a breath of air.

"Keep that up, woman, and we won't make it to the barn," he warned.

Honey was feeling in a dangerous mood. She teased his ear with her tongue, tracing the shell-like shape of it. She shrieked when Jesse teas-ingly threatened to drop her.

At the barn door he stopped and stood her before him so he could look at her.

When Honey caught sight of his face she knew she was playing with fire. His dark eyes were heavy-lidded, his features taut with desire. His nostrils flared and his hands tightened on her flesh. Her whole body tensed in response to his obvious sexual hunger.

Her fingertips caressed his cheekbones and slid up from his temple into the thick black hair at his nape. "I want you, Jesse."

Her words were like a match on tinder. Jesse's mouth came down on hers, his tongue thrusting in a mirror image of that age-old dance between men and women. Her fingers clutched at his hair, forcing his hat off his head. She grabbed hold of him as though to keep from flying off into the unknown. For nothing Jesse did to her from then on was like anything that had ever happened to her before.