One Hot Cowboy Read Free

water away. His dick liked that
    just fine, too, which reminded him how
    wrong all this was. She was supposed to
    get her fine ass back to Lonesome, but she
    wasn’t supposed to be here .
    He’d always had a prickly relationship
    with Rose. When they hadn’t been locked
    in a silent power struggle, they’d fought
    outright. She didn’t acknowledge any
    authority, even when she should. She’d run
    with his younger brothers, got in trouble
    with them, and, even when she’d done that
    running on Blackhawk Ranch, she hadn’t
    wanted to listen to his rules.
    Hell, she hadn’t wanted anything from
    him at all.
    This time, though, he’d have to figure
    out a way to make her take what he had to
    offer. He didn’t want to break her heart,
    didn’t want to tell her that Auntie Dee
    hadn’t left her much of an inheritance, not
    money-wise. It would be simpler and
    easier to just write Rose a big check for
    the old place and let her haul her sweet ass
    back out of town. She wasn’t a stay-put
    kind of woman anyhow, so she probably
    already had her exit planned.
    He shouldn’t feel guilty about what he’d
    done.
    Auntie Dee hadn’t had any biological
    family left. Hell, that was why Cabe had
    made her the offer he had—he’d reverse-
    mortgage her place, give her the money she
    needed to live, and he’d get her land when
    she passed on unless her estate paid back
    the money. She wouldn’t take his money
    any other way, and Cabe figured he could
    always use more land. Especially land
    with an aquifer beneath it. Sure, he’d kept
    their arrangement quiet, but that was
    because it was nobody’s business but his
    and Auntie Dee’s. Auntie Dee had had her
    pride.
    “You finally came home, darlin’. It’s
    about time. Past time, actually.” He
    drawled the words, wondering if he should
    share the truth with her right now. That
    Auntie Dee’s place was going to be his,
    not Rose’s, unless Rose had a whole lot of
    cash saved up somewhere. That wasn’t
    fair, letting her come down here all
    unawares, but she hadn’t returned his calls
    and he wasn’t explaining this in an e-mail.
    Now, it seemed even less fair to tell Rose,
    while she was naked and vulnerable.
    Unfortunately, the naked part still had
    him thinking things he shouldn’t.
    Naked . This was Rose Jordan he was
    thinking about. Rose Jordan he wanted to
    scoop up out of that water and lay out in
    the back of his pickup. He’d make her
    holler as he ate her right up. He’d bet that,
    when Rose Jordan came, she came as
    wholeheartedly as she did everything else.
    This was his land.
    His territory.
    And, whether Rose Jordan realized it or
    not, she was now his, too.

    Cabe Dawson, in the flesh, packed a
    brute-force sensuality that made no bones
    about the raw power of the man. Sure and
    confident, he ran this ranch and everyone
    on it. Cabe had been a mostly benevolent
    dictator—Rose had always acknowledged
    that—but he’d never forgotten he was the
    man in charge, and he’d always done what
    he believed was best for Blackhawk
    Ranch.
    There’d been no place for her in that
    world of his.
    She’d never belonged to Cabe Dawson
    like that, and he’d never seen her as more
    than just another one of his younger
    brothers’ friends. He might yell, but he
    wouldn’t hurt her. Anger and relief—and
    some other unwelcome emotion—flooded
    her. Before she could think it through, she
    wound up and chucked the shampoo bottle
    at him.
    “You scared me half to death, Cabe!”
    she yelled.
    He fixed her with a hard stare as one
    hand shot up effortlessly and caught the
    plastic bottle, setting it down carefully by
    her things.
    She was different now, she reminded
    herself. She didn’t need or want his
    attention. Not anymore.
    “Hell, Rose,” he drawled. “This is my
    land. I’d ask what you’re doing here,
    except it’s obvious. You shouldn’t be out
    here, swimming all by yourself,” he
    pointed out calmly. That calm voice was
    the voice of