Her Cowboy's Caress (Taken by Cowboys: Part 1) A Billionaire Western Romance Read Free Page A

were
shaking. Slowly, she looked up. Lauren was fumbling in her bag for
her pack of cigarettes a few feet away.
    “You know what, Lauren? I’ve had it up to
here with you and this job,” she said. “I’m not going to be bullied
by you anymore. Consider this my two weeks’ notice. I quit.”
    The look on Lauren’s face alone made it
totally worth it.
    The next two weeks had been surprisingly
easy. Lauren and the other girls in the office had been almost nice
to her, as if Jess’s quitting made them realize how unfairly they’d
treated her. That, or they were just glad to see her go. She didn’t
really care which.
    Quitting had given her a heady sense of
recklessness. Right after putting in her notice, she’d gone online
and signed up for a month’s stay at Getaway Guest Ranch. Screw
it , she thought as she filled out the form and put in her
credit card number. I’ve been saying I need to get out of this
city. This is my chance. The stars are finally aligned.
    Dani had been shocked to hear about Jess’s
plans. “You quit your job to do what ?” she’d asked that
night at Lucky’s, her cosmo forgotten. “You’re going where ?”
    She knew it didn’t make sense, picking up
and going to Big Horn, Wyoming. It sounded more like a quarter-life
crisis than a reasonable plan. Yet it didn’t feel like chance.
First she’d been staying up late night after night watching
Westerns, dreaming about a cowboy adventure (while hating every
minute of her job at the same time). Then that brochure had come in
the mail like a sign. The conversation with the mysterious man had
sealed the deal. His voice had pulled her like a dragnet.
    Standing in line at security now, though,
she didn’t feel quite so confident. The more she thought about it,
the crazier it seemed. Leaving her job and going to spend a month
in Middle-of-Nowhere, Wyoming, riding horses and singing “Home on
the Range” around a campfire? What was she thinking? What would she
do when she got back?
    Oh, well. She couldn’t think about that now.
Her turn in line was approaching. She drained the last of her
coffee and took her ID and boarding pass out of her bag. Soon she
would be whisked through security, and then she would find her way
to her gate, buy a magazine and a pack of gum and board the plane.
Whatever lay in store after that was hers to discover.
***
    Nate opened the door to the office and
walked in on exaggerated tiptoes, screwing up his face and
shielding his eyes when Spencer looked over at him. Then Nate saw
the coffee cup in front of him. He let out an exaggerated sigh of
relief, wiping invisible sweat from his brow.
    “Thank god I’m safe,” he said, grabbing a
mug from one of the hooks that hung over the counter and pouring
himself a cup from the coffeemaker. “I know better than to try and
talk to you before you’ve had your first cup of coffee.”
    Spencer gave him a wry smile. “That much
hasn’t changed over the years.”
    Nate threw himself into a chair across the
table from Spencer, pushing his sandy-blond hair out of his eyes.
While Spencer kept his hair neatly combed back, Nate was
perpetually in need of a haircut. “So what’s on tap for today?”
    Spencer pulled the clipboard closer to him
and flipped the page. “After breakfast you’re leading a day ride.
I’ll be taking another group out fly-fishing. Leisure activities in
the afternoon, and tonight there’s the usual Friday campfire after
dinner.”
    “Sounds good,” Nate said. “Sam delivered a
new stock of flies and leaders in the supply shed, so make sure to
grab them when you go get the rods.”
    “Will do,” Spencer responded.
    The two men sipped their coffee in
companionable silence, each thinking about the day ahead. It had
become a tradition for them to meet for coffee before the day began
and they got swept up in the tasks of running the guest ranch.
Their morning meeting was a way to keep organized and talk about
any issues that had come up. It was about