“Doyou always open doors?” she asked after he’d settled himself in the seat again.

“Yep.”

“Ididn’t think men did those kinds of things anymore.”

“Southerngentlemen do, but I don’t know any other way to be, so there you have it.”

“It’snice.” She smiled and he relaxed.

“I’mjust a simple, country boy.”

“Perfectfor what I’m needin’.”

“Andwhat might that be?”

Chapter Four

“Inspiration,Joel. For my next book.”

“Ah.”He quirked an eyebrow at her as she flushed in embarrassmentfrom the little smile on his lips.

“Men,”she whispered under her breath.

“Whatdid you say?”

“Nothing.”

Theyheaded out of San Antonio on their way back to the ranch. Quiet surroundedthem, so she flipped on the radio to a country music station and sat back in theseat, prepared for the long drive.

“Haveyou ever been married?” he asked, breaking into the low radio hum of the songplaying. His voice reminded her of a sexy growl. She totally needed to use thatin a book.

“Whatbrought that on?”

“Justmaking conversation.”

“No.I had a long-term boyfriend up until about six months ago.”

“Whathappened?”

“Wejust grew apart, I guess. We’d been dating about three years.” She glancedacross the car, then back to the road. “What about you?”

“Nope.I haven’t found the right girl yet. Of course, if Mom had her way, all of usboys would be married already and have a dozen kids each.”

Shelaughed. It felt good with everything her life had turned into lately. Hercareer had gone into the toilet after her last book. Her love life sucked. “Whyam I not surprised? Nina reminds me of my mother. She’s trying to marry me off,too. She was pretty upset about my breakup. More so than I was, I think.”

“Onlyone of our family has been married before. Jeff. It broke up a few years ago.”

“Whathappened?”

“Misha was a total ho bag. She tried getting half of us inbed with her. When she couldn’t accomplish that, she went after the sheriff.She succeeded there.” Joel rubbed his eyes with forefinger and thumb like hehad a headache.

“Ibet it’s a bit awkward for Jeff then if he ever gets stopped by the guy.”

“Thetwo of them keep clear of each other. Jeff caught them in bed together. The guywas lucky Jeff wasn’t armed at the time. Jeff just beat the shit out of the guy.”

“Hedidn’t press charges, did he?” she asked, her voice a slight pitch higher withworry. She liked his family even though she’d only met them a short time ago.They seemed close, like families should be. She loved her own parents, but theyconstantly seemed to be on her tail about one thing or another. When was shegoing to marry? What about children? Even though she was only twenty-five,shouldn’t she be thinking about her future? Did she plan on writing novels forthe rest of her life? She needed a day job to pay her bills. She’d been lucky.Her first novel took off three years ago and hit the NY Times Bestseller list,as did her second. Her third flopped…badly.

“No.Art knew better, even though he could have.” He sighed and shifted in the seat.“Jeff loved her.”

“I’msorry for him then. It’s not fair to put someone through the heartbreak. Justleave if you don’t want to be married to them.”

“Shedid want to be. She wanted the money and land she thought went with the Youngname, she didn’t want Jeff or their son.”

“Theymanaged to have a child? We wasn’t at dinner.”

“Yeah,purely by accident, I think. She hated being pregnant. Hated Jeff during thewhole pregnancy. They fought constantly. She made everyone miserable while theywere married. We were all thrilled when it broke up.”

“Noone noticed any of this before they got married?”

Heshook his head. “You couldn’t have told Jeff anything anyway. He never thoughtbadly of her, even when the rest of us could totally see her flirting. He kepttelling everyone she was being friendly.”

Silenceenveloped them for a minute as she contemplated how she would have felt had oneof her brothers gone through the same thing with a spouse. She probably wouldhave kicked the woman’s ass for hurting her sibling. “I’m sorry for his pain.”

“Weall were. I hated seeing him hurting, but I’m glad he saw her for what shetruly was. Unfortunately, because they have a child together, he still has tosee her on occasion.”

“Doeshe have custody?”

“Yeah.Mom and Dad made sure she didn’t take off with their grandson. He’s a cute threeyear old and gets into everything.”

“Ibet he’s a total cowboy, like his uncles and dad.”

“Yep.He has a set of boots, a cowboy hat, and the whole nine yards.”

“Ineed to get a picture of him. I bet he’s a doll.”

“Lookslike his dad.” He cleared his throat. “Do you want to be there when the foal isborn?”

“I’dlove to.”

“Evenif it’s in the middle of the night? It’s very possible it’ll come sometimetonight when you’re asleep.”

“Idon’t mind. Wake me up no matter what time it is. I’ve always wanted to see afoal come into the world.”

“Wecan check out her progress when we get back to the ranch.”

Thetime had flown. Before she knew it, they were pulling back up to the gate ofthe ranch. “See? I could have made it back without your directions.”

“Isee, but it does help having a GPS telling you where to go. They do get lostout here on the back roads.”

“True.”She laughed. “But I memorized some landmarks as we were headed into San Antonioso I’d be able to find most of the way back.”

“I’mglad I went. It was great to sit and talk to you. You’re an interesting woman,Mesa.”

“Thankyou.” She scrunched up her nose as they pulled up in front of the hitching post.“I think.”

Helaughed and leaned over to kiss her cheek. Goose bumps rose on her arms whenthe smell of his cologne reached her nose. Of course, he had to wear herfavorite scent, damn him.

“Itwas a compliment. We’ll have to talk more tomorrow, but for now, let’s get yousettled in your room. Hopefully, you can get a few hours of sleep before thefoal is born.” She bit her lip. “What?”

“Canyou get into the kitchen?”

“Sure.Why?”

“I’dlove another one of those dessert things we had at dinner.” She smiled hopingshe could persuade him to sneak into the kitchen to swipe one of the decadentchocolates for her sweet tooth. She had a terrible one, especially right beforebed. Ice cream usually calmed her cravings at home, but here, she needed toimprovise, if only she could get Joel to go along.

Thewarm chuckle coming from his mouth made her smile. She liked his laugh. Hell,who was she kidding, she liked everything about him from the top of his sexycowboy hat to the tip of his cowboy boots—the man had it all. Those lips madeher want to kiss him into tomorrow. His chest made her want to bury herselfagainst those muscles. She wondered what he’d look like without a shirt. Did hehave chest hair? A lot? A little? She knew he had a six-pack. No cowboy wholooked as good as he did, didn’t have a six-pack, or sex-pack, as she liked tothink about it. He had some of the prettiest blue eyes she’d ever seen on a man,along with eyelashes any woman would kill for. What would his hands feel likestroking her skin?  Did he have a sexyhappy trail? God, I want to find out.A heavy sigh escaped her lips.

“What?”

“Nothing.I just had a thought.”

“Anythingyou’d like to share?”

“Really?I shouldn’t because it would totally embarrass me.”

“Aboutme?”

Heatcrawled up her neck as she blushed.

“Ah.It was about me.”

“Totally.”

“Share.”

“Nope.”

“Whynot?”

“Becauseyou don’t need your ego stroked, I’m sure.”

“SureI do. Stroke me, baby.”

Sherolled her eyes and smiled.  I know he doesn’t need a bigger head. “Allright. I totally pictured you without a shirt and I wanted to know if you had alittle happy trail like most men with dark hair like yours do.”