“Ready?”

“Yep,”she said, opening her door. “You know, you don’t have to go with me. I think Ican find my way back by myself.”

“Idoubt it with these roads at night. Besides, you can tell me more about yourwriting while you drive.”

Sheslid behind the wheel before she buckled her seatbelt. “You don’t want to hearabout my writing do you?” The car turned over with a twist of the key.

“Sure,”he said, buckling his own seatbelt. “It sounds interesting.”

Asshe backed out of the spot, she replied, “It’s not very interesting, really.”

“Whydon’t you let me be the judge of that? I’ve never met an author before.” Hepushed the seat back to accommodate his long legs. “So, explain to me what youwrite.”

“Itold you. I write cowboys.”

“Igot that part, but you said they weren’t like westerns, really.”

Heatcrawled up her neck, splashing red across her cheeks.

“Areyou blushing, Mesa?”

“Yes.You’re teasing me, Joel.” Her hands gripped the steering wheel tighter.

“No,I’m not. I really want to know what you write.”

Sheinhaled through her nose, blowing it out through her mouth in a rush. “Allright. I write erotic cowboy stories.”

“Erotic?”

“Romance.The guy and the girl meet, they have some kind of conflict, they split up, andthen they resolve things to get back together. In between, there is lots and lots of hot sex.”

“Oh.Sounds fun.”

“Theythink so, I’m sure. They certainly don’t argue with me when I’m writing it.”

“Thesepeople talk to you?”

“Ofcourse they do. They tell me their story. I just write it down.” She glanced atJoel. “I’m not crazy.”

“Okay.”

“Youdon’t understand. The characters are like voices in my head.”

“Okay.”

“Stopit.”

“No,really. It’s fine. Just let me out here. I’ll get a ride back to the house.” Helaughed at the sour look on her face as she scrunched up her nose. “I’mkidding, Mesa. I think it’s good you write books.”

“Youdon’t think I’m nuts?”

“No.We all have our little quirks.”

Quirks?“Authors are a bit over the top sometimes.”

“Iwouldn’t know. You’re the first one I’ve met, but if they are all pretty likeyou, then I don’t mind.”

“I’mnot pretty.”

“Sureyou are. I like my women curvy, and you have just the right amount of curves.”

“I’mnot your woman.” With a flip of her hair over her shoulder, she concentrated onthe road in front of the car. Texas junipers sped by the windows in the fadingdaylight. More longhorn cattle dotted the landscape. Blacktop stretched infront of the car for miles. She knew she’d been driving away from the main roadfor a while before she’d run out of gas.

“Don’tget testy. It’s a compliment.”

Heshifted in the seat, bringing her awareness of him into sharp view. Damn.

“Doyou not get complimented often? You should, you know.”

“Notmuch, I guess.” She shrugged. The sunlight had begun to wane, creating longshadows in the scenery. Rocks of all shapes and sizes sprouted from hardground. She’d have to ask Joel what kind they were so she could be accurate inher description, should she use it in a book. Inspiration flowed,abound in her imagination since she met him. The surroundings of the ranch, hisbrothers, him, all of them sparked something in her she’d been afraid had diedover the last year. Her writing had suffered—badly. Yes, she had a few best sellers,but her last book flopped. The next one needed to be stellar to bring back herfans.

Thebreakup with her longtime boyfriend, Kurt, hadn’t helped matters, but shecouldn’t fault him. The decision to call off their relationship came from her.He hadn’t liked it, but they parted on friendly terms. Their sex life fizzledout some time ago with her need to explore. She wanted more and Kurt had beensatisfied with missionary position. No fun. No excitement. Nothing. What wouldsex with Joel be like?

“Doyou write full time?”

Hisquestion brought her mind back to their conversation. Thinking about sex withJoel wasn’t where she needed to be. Well maybe it was, but she couldn’t act onit even though it had been a while since she’d been between the sheets withanyone. “Yes. It keeps me plenty busy.”

“Iimagine it kind of makes you a hermit, though. Sitting in front of your deskall the time.”

“Iguess. I don’t go out much.”

“Wheredo you live when you aren’t going to these conferences?”

“LosAngeles.”

“InL.A. itself, or one of the suburbs?”

Therehe went, stretching out his long legs again. Damn, the man looks good in apair of jeans. “A suburb. I have a small apartment with my cat.”

“Ah.A catlady.”

Herhead whipped around as her gaze locked with his. Those intense blue eyes staredback until she focused on the road again. “I only have one. I don’t considermyself a catlady.”

“Boy,you’re testy. I didn’t mean anything by it. I like cats.”

“Doyou have pets, other than your horse?”

“Ahorse isn’t a pet. It’s a working animal. Something required for my job.”

Sheraised a hand and said, “Sorry. I think of horses as pets. They can be bigbabies.”

“Oursaren’t pets.”

“Butyou love him, don’t you?”

“Yeah.He’s my buddy.”

“Thenhe’s your pet.”

Joellaughed. “All right. I’ll give you that. He’s my pet. I’ve had him since I wasyoung. My parents got him for me on my thirteenth birthday.”

“Didyour brothers get one, too?”

“Yeah.We all three got our own. Before, we would ride one of the stable horses. Jetis my horse.”

“Jet?But he’s red.”

“Iknow. He fit the name ’cause he’s quick. He’s a cutting horse.”

“Youdon’t mind if I pick your brain while I stay with your family, do you? I’mrealizing even though I write about cowboys, horses, bullriders,and all things western, I don’t know everything I should to make my booksauthentic.”

“Sure.I don’t mind.”

Sheglanced his way and smiled. “Have you ever ridden a bull?”

“Afew times, yes. In high school, mostly. We all didthose crazy-ass things during our younger years.”

“Youmake yourself out to be this old man. What are you? Twenty-five?”

“Twenty-eight,but when you’re doing rodeo for a livin’, it makes you old fast. Ever realizethere aren’t a lot of old rodeo guys? It’s a hard life.”

“Anyof your brothers do professional rodeo?”

“Nah.We have too much work to do around the ranch.”

“Oh.”

“Ranchin’is a hard life too. Don’t get me wrong.” He wiped his palms on his pant legs.“We get up before dawn most days and don’t get to bed until late.”

“I’msure you all have a normal party life though, right? I mean, all work and noplay makes Joel a dull boy.”

“Weget around,” he said with a crooked little grin on his lips.

Shewanted to kiss it right off his mouth.

Thelights of San Antonio came into view as more businesses sprouted up along thesides of the road.

“Whathotel are you staying at?”

“TheMarriott near the airport. The conference is being held there in the businesssuites and ballroom.”

“How’sthe conference been?”

“Prettyboring, actually. I was hoping for more reader interaction, but it’s beenmostly panels and such. There is a book signing tomorrow, but I think I’ll skipit for the research the ranch offers me.” She pulled down the road toward thehotel. The Marriott stood five stories high and encompassed the whole block.Concrete walls and steel framed windows, painted a bright yellow with whitetrim, outlined the hotel. Native bushes lined thewalkways. She pulled into a space and shut off the car. “Do you want to waithere? I don’t have much to repack.”

“Ican help you bring the stuff down if you like.”

Hmm…a sexy man in a hotel room witha bed? So not a good idea.“Why don’t you wait in the car? It’ll only take me a minute.”

“Okay.If you’re sure. I came to help, you know.”

“Yeah,but you don’t need to see all my underwear and stuff strung all over the room.”