The Ranch Hand Read Free Page A

it’s something I’ve always wanted, and I know I’d be good at it.”
    Harlan nodded. “You will be.”
    She smiled, pleasure washing through her. His faith in her, and the simple way he’d said it, made her feel stronger, capable, good enough to pull it off.
    “Mind if I sit?” he asked.
    She scooted over and patted the blanket on the truck cab. “Don’t worry if we dent it. On this piece of junk, nobody’ll ever notice.”
    He laughed and climbed up next to her. He was so tall that he stretched his long legs out, stretched back on his boot heels as he sat on the cab. “How many head of cattle you planning to keep?”
    “No more than a hundred to start. And I want horses. I want to get back into horse training. I miss it.”
    He nodded again, slow and easy. “You always were good at it.”
    “Stop, you’ll make me blush.”
    He turned his head and looked at her frankly. “I’m not telling anything but the truth.”
    She had to glance away. She didn’t want him to read what was in her heart or see the emotions that had to be plain as day on her face. Thank God it was dark out.
    “You need help?” he asked, when she didn’t reply.
    She straightened a little. “No. Thank you, but no.”
    They were quiet for a while. She thought of a hundred things to say and couldn’t say any of them. She was wondering what would come next when he put his hand on hers where it rested on the truck roof. His skin felt delightfully warm. His fingers and palms were heavily callused, like worn leather, rough as old rope. And yet his touch set her heart to beating like mad, as if she were riding a horse at full gallop.
    She turned her hand to intertwine her fingers with his. He was looking at her. So close. His face so serious. With his other hand he pushed back his hat and leaned toward her. She tilted her chin, closed her eyes. Unlike the rest of him, his lips were soft against hers. His kiss deepened. She parted her lips and enjoyed every little bit of it. Finally he drew back, still watching her solemnly.
    “I’ve wanted to do that for two years,” he said.
    “Why…did you wait?”
    “If you’re leaving, then that was my last chance.”
    “I don’t believe in last chances,” she said. “I believe in new chances.”
    He smiled and touched her face. “I know you do.”
    He stood up on the truck bed and held a hand out to her. She took his hand and let him pull her to her feet. They stood together in the truck bed, but he didn’t hold her, didn’t pull her close.
    “So what now?” Her voice was little more than a whisper.
    “You go make your dream happen, that’s what.”
    “You can come around, maybe… I’ll always have a cold beer in the fridge. It’s a ranch hand staple.” God, she sounded so desperate. And foolish, tacking that last part on, trying to cover her feelings, making it seem less important than she wanted it to be.
    Foolish and desperate, and part of her didn’t even care. That part of her wanted to grab Harlan and kiss him. No, she wanted even more. She yearned to push him back on the truck bed and yank those jeans of his down, to tease him till he groaned and then ride him fast and hard, driving herself down on his cock, feeing his heat trapped inside her, driving off the cold. His heat held inside her, where it would be hers. For a while it would only be hers.
    “You reminded me of something, tonight,” Harlan said.
    “Oh yeah? And what’s that?”
    “I need to work harder than ever to get what I want.”
    There was a pause and a rising tension between them, growing in the silence.
    “What do you want?” she finally asked, hoping, desperate that he would say it. That he would say he wanted her as badly as she wanted him.
    “I’ve wanted my own ranch since I was fourteen. You reminded me that it’s within reach, if only I want it badly enough.” He smiled and looked toward the stables where Pike was, then turned back to her. “I’ll never forget that kiss.”
    He swung over