Tempted by the Texan

“Do you think you’re ready to take a chance now?” she asked, looking cautious.

He wasn’t going to lie to her, but he couldn’t tell her that wasn’t the only reason holding him back, either. “Darlin’, I doubt I’ll ever be able to get past that part of my life,” he said honestly. “But when we made love, it wasn’t just a meaningless one-night stand and I don’t ever want you to think it was.” Wrapping his arms around her, he gave her a quick kiss. “Like I told you the other night, I can’t offer you anything beyond the here and now. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want you.” He knew she wasn’t happy with his answer and he couldn’t say he blamed her. “I know that isn’t fair to you and I’ll understand if you decide you want to cut your losses and leave.”

“No, I’m not leaving.” She gave him a smile that caused his heart to stall, then start beating like a war drum. “I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s like to manage a working cattle ranch.”

“It’s a nice day,” he said, setting her on her feet. He stood up and put his arms around her. “What do you say we get out of the house and take a ride around the ranch so you can see what you’re going to be managing?”

“Ride as in on a horse?” she asked, looking a little apprehensive.

He nodded. “Is that a problem?”

“It might be, considering I don’t know how to ride,” she said, laughing.

“You can’t live on a ranch without learning to ride a horse,” he teased. “We’ll ride double today and I’ll start teaching you next week when we have a little more time.”

“I’ll get my jacket,” she said, pulling away from his arms.

“Meet me down at the barn,” he said as he watched her climb the stairs. “I’ll go ahead and get my horse saddled.”

As he left the house to walk down to the barn, Jaron felt better about telling Mariah what he could regarding his background. By no stretch of the imagination had he been transparent about his past, but his explanation seemed to be enough, at least for now.

He had no doubt the day would come when she’d want the whole story. But he intended to put that off as long as he could and enjoy what time he had with her.

Ten minutes later, Jaron swung up into the saddle, then lifted Mariah up to sit across his thighs. Putting his arms around her, he picked up the reins and, nudging Chico into a slow walk, guided the horse out of the feedlot. They hadn’t ridden fifty feet from the barn before he was wondering what the hell he’d been thinking. Her delightful little bottom rested snugly against his groin, causing him to react in a very predictable way.

He had considered putting Mariah on one of the older, more docile mares, but decided against it. She wouldn’t have known what she was doing or how to control the animal on the outside chance the horse got spooked. For her safety and his peace of mind, he would rather teach her to ride in the round pen, where he had more control over her first lesson than out in an open field.

“Is that a creek up ahead?” she asked, seemingly oblivious to his predicament.

He did his best to ignore the signals his body was sending him and concentrated on answering her questions about the ranch. “There are two creeks,” he said, shifting in the saddle to relieve some of the mounting pressure. “One here in the south pasture and one winding from the northeast to the western side of the property.”

“Good for watering livestock,” she commented. He found her determination to learn all she could about managing the ranch and all of the research she’d obviously done on the subject endearing.

He kissed her temple. “That’s one of the reasons I bought this place. Besides being close to all of my brothers, it had good pastures for grazing and adequate water for the herds.”

As they continued the tour of his ranch, he answered a good two dozen questions or more about the property, and by the time they turned back toward the house an hour or so later, he felt that Mariah was going to be a great ranch manager. Her questions and observations had been insightful and she’d even offered a couple of suggestions on the goals they had set.

But the ride was starting to take a real toll and he decided it was time to head back to the house before he lost what little sense he had left. Every time Mariah moved, the pressure building in the region south of his belt buckle increased, and he had enough adrenaline pumping through his veins to lift a tractor.