Diamond Spur Read Free

resting it on his propped-up leg. He looked
    good in Western clothing. Faded jeans and a worn black Stetson, leather boots curled up and
    matted with dirt from long use and a dusty chambray shirt made him look like a handsome
    desperado.
    He was handsome to Kate, anyway—even if his high cheekboned face had overly craggy features and he wasn't shy about speaking his mind. He was dark-eyed, dark-skinned, with a deceptively lithe build. Tall and powerfully muscled, Jason had one of those physiques seen so frequently on the screen and so rarely in real life. With the misshappen black Stetson pulled low over his eyes, he had that dangerous look. Kate came closer.
    "I wondered why Gabe vanished all of a sudden," he mused in a deep, south Texas drawl. His dark eyes cut upward to where his forearm was trying to look invisible. "My God, are we so hard up for help that we're kidnapping seamstresses?"
    "I'm a designer, not a seamstress," Kate pointed out pleasantly, smiling up at the tall man. "And if you don't think I can throw a calf, stand back and watch me. My daddy was foreman of this outfit before Gabe was, and he taught me all I know."
    Jason's dark eyes softened as they searched her creamy complexion, lingering on her thick, dark eyelashes. "I guess he did, but most of these calves outweigh you, honey," he murmured dryly.
    His casual endearment made her heart dance, but she kept Jason from seeing it. "Your arm's bleeding," she remarked, nodding toward the bloodstained sleeve.
    "NO!" he exclaimed in mock surprise.
    "You need to see a doctor," she continued, unabashed.
    "It would be too embarrassing for both of us if I bothered Dr. Harris over a little scratch like this," he said reasonably. "If you don't, I'll stand here all day and get heat stroke," she sighed. "But just go ahead and step over me while you work. If you don't bleed to death first," she added darkly.
    Gene would have laughed at that, but Jason didn't crack a smile. Jason's younger brother, Gene, was a live wire, ever since his marriage to Cherry Mather. But Jason had always been the quiet one, the deep one. He hardly ever smiled, except when Kate was around.
    "I don't have time," he muttered. "Yes, you do," she said stubbornly. She put her hands on her hips and moved closer, staring doggedly up at him. At close quarters, the effect he had on her nerves was dynamite. She'd always had a kind of
    crush on him, but suddenly it was being translated into something new and deliriously physical that attracted her and frightened her, all at once.
    She didn't know that her proximity was giving him some problems as well. Little Kate who'd always been like a little sister was beginning to make him nervous and irritable. He'd avoided her lately for that reason. Now here she was, getting on his nerves again, when he needed it least.
    "I told you, my arm's all right," he said curtly, his voice more cutting than he meant it to be, because her unconscious posture was bothering him. Her firm young breasts were all too visible under the thin fabric of her shirt, and the tight belt she wore with those tailored jeans brought his dark eyes down over her tiny waist and full hips and long, graceful legs. That made him madder and he forced his eyes back up to hers.
    But she wasn't looking. She'd taken possession of his arm while his attention was diverted.
    She unfastened the cuff and began to roll the sleeve up. "Go ahead and growl, I don't mind." Touching him even in this casual way made her tingle all over, so she resorted to humor to hide her reaction. Her green eyes danced up to his. "I'll give you a peppermint stick if you let me drive you to the doctor, Jason."
    As usual, her light teasing knocked the fire off his temper. He gave in, chuckling in spite of himself as he watched her dark head bend. She was so full of fun, so unlike him. She bubbled through life, always finding the bright spots, while he brooded in the shadows. She'd always been able to make him laugh. Nobody else