“Oh,you kinky girl, you.”

Helaughed. The rich, deep sound sent shivers down her back. Damn, the man could turn me inside out and upside down. She hadn’teven known him very long. This wasn’t good. How would she feel after beingaround him for several days? She hadn’t quite decided how long she planned tostay at the ranch, but she knew it would be more than a day or two. Theopportunity to have firsthand knowledge of cowboys, how they work, etc. wasn’tsomething she wanted to pass up. “So?” she asked, her bravery waning now theywere back at the ranch.

“Happytrail, huh? I’ve never heard anything referred to as that before. Explain whatyou mean.”

“Youknow. The trail of hair usually linking chest hair to pubic hair.” Her faceflamed with heat. How did one discuss this kind of thing with a man?

“Ohthat!” He laughed again. The bastard.“Yes, I have one. Wanna see?” He started unbuttoning his belt buckle as sheshrieked.

“No!I mean not here.”

“I’llshow it to you any time you want.”

“You’rejust teasing me now, Joel. It’s not funny.”

“I’mnot teasing. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of men nude before or in onlyunderwear, right?”

“Wellyes. Some have them and some don’t. I’m curious about you since the hero in myhead is turning out to look a lot like you.”

“Aw,how sweet. I’m the hero in your next book?”

“Itall depends on how the days I’m here at the ranch turn out.”

“Howdo you want them to turn out?” He waggled his eyebrows and grinned.

“You’rean impossible flirt.”

“Yep.”

“Ibet every mama in this town turns their daughters’ head away from you and yourbrothers when you hit Main Street. The whole lot of you arelike this, aren’t you?”

“Definitely,but the mamas are after every one of us to marry their daughters.”

“Really?”His eyes crinkled at the corner as he glanced out the window.

“Itlooks like Dad is headed to the barn. Let’s go see what’s up.”

“Oh.Great!”

Shemet him around the front of the car seconds later. He grabbed her hand again tohelp guide her to the barn he said, since darkness had fallen in an inky blackcurtain on the ranch. Soft country music wafted from the speakers next to thebonfire where several people sat around the crackling light. They would gothere after the barn, she hoped. She hadn’t been to a bonfire since summer campapproximately fifteen years before. S’mores? Hmm.She’d have to ask Joel if they had chocolate, marshmallows, and grahamcrackers, but then again, if she had her choice, she’d take the chocolatedessert they had at dinner. The smooth chocolate and whipped cream mixture waswhat chocolate dreams were made of.

“Careful.It’s so dark you can hardly see your hand in front of your face. Without aflashlight, you could twist an ankle or something.”

“Butlook at all the stars.” She stopped so she could look up at the night sky.Billions of stars winked off and on lighting up the sky. “Look! A shootingstar.” She closed her eyes to make a wish though she couldn’t believe shewished for a kiss.

“Whatdid you wish for?”

“Ican’t tell you or it won’t come true.”

“Sureyou can. I won’t tell a soul. I promise.”

“Allright. I wished you would kiss me.”

Shecould see the white of his teeth as he smiled. “Is that all?”

“Yes.”The word came out in a soft whisper.

Hestepped in front of her and slipped his hand along her cheek to bury his fingersin her hair. God, it felt wonderful. Theslight tug on her scalp set her heart to racing a hundred miles a minute. Aflutter started in her belly, spreading lower until she felt on fire from his touch.She closed her eyes as his warm breath spread across her lips. Her lips partedon a sigh, accepting the warmth of his mouth. His lips were soft, yet strangelyunyielding, like he wanted to absorb her strength through her mouth. One of hishands rested on her hip, pulling her into the curve of his body. His chest felthard beneath her hands. The soft brush of his tongue on her lips parted them tohis invasion. She wanted this, needed to feel alive, needed to be a womanagain.

Asoft moan escaped her as he took the kiss deeper, bringing both of his hands upto cup her face.

Thesound of wolf whistles brought her back to the present as she heard thecatcalls from his brothers near the fire. Joel stepped back, breaking the kiss.

“Sorry.”

“I’mnot. It was totally worth it.”

Helaughed and grabbed her hand again as they continued on their way to check onthe foal.

Thebarn came into view when they rounded the corner of the house. The large, twostory structure with wide doors stood outlined by the moon in the background. Asingle, bare light bulb in the middle of the row of stalls reflected the black,wrought iron parts of the upper doors where the horses could stick their headsthrough. The barn was pretty fancy from what she knew about barns. Woodsurrounded the bottoms of the stalls and each one had a sliding door. One offto the right stood open. She could see Joel’s dad crouched on the floor next tothe mare’s head.

“Howis she, Dad?”

“She’slaboring pretty hard, son. I hope she foals soon.” His big hands ran down theheaving sides of the mare. “I think the foal is pretty big for her, but shecould drop it shortly.”

“Doyou mind if I stay and watch?” she asked.

“Oh,hi. I didn’t see you there.” He glanced back down tothe mare. “You can stay as long as you like but it might be a while yet.”

“Idon’t mind.” She took out the ever-present notebook from her purse and jotteddown information. She wanted to get the whole thing on paper for her next book.There’s nothing like having a cowboy helping with a laboring horse to make thecowboy image stick in the reader’s mind. She wrote more details, the positionof the horse, the coloring of her coat, the rapid breaths, the concentration onJoel’s father’s face, the worry line along his forehead like laugh lines aroundhis eyes and mouth. It mesmerized her how he ran his hands on the mare’sstomach, calming her in the process. She could see the horse physically relaxas he worked them down her side. She would have to ask more questions when allwas said and done. Details like the gestation period for a horse, whether theycould be ridden during pregnancy, how big a normal size foal is. All of this importantinformation she needed…eventually. For now, the process looked worrisome forthe two men.

Joelcrouched down next to his father, balancing on the balls of his feet. “Want meto check her?”

“Sure.Maybe you can tell if things are progressing. I haven’t checked her in a bit.”

Joelstood and grabbed a long, plastic sleeve from the shelf outside the stall. Oncehe had it slipped on, covering his shirt to his armpit, he kneeled near thehorse’s rump and moved her tail out of the way. A lump formed in her throat ashe slid his hand into the back of the horse.

“Appearsit’s in the right position,” he said. “I can feel the hooves and they seem tobe right side up. Its nose is right there, too. I think she’ll deliver soon.”He peeled off the sleeve and tossed it into a bucket in the corner.

“We’lljust watch and wait then.”

“Dohorses normally deliver without complications?” she asked with her pen posed towrite down his answer in detail.

“Yes,”the older man answered. “The horse does all the work most of the time, althoughwe do have to step in occasionally. There are times where they come nose first or with their hooves upside down, which canbe a problem. With something like that, we call the vet.”

“Fascinating.”The horse grunted as her legs flailed for a few seconds. Mesa could see herside ripple with a contraction. Moments later, two tiny hooves appeared.

“Lookslike it’s time,” Joel said, moving away from the horse.

Witha gush of fluid, the foal made his entrance into the world. Slimy mucus hung fromits body. The mare struggled to her feet, and then began licking the foalclean.