“Why?” she asked, opening the refrigerator.
“The saddlebags are going to be heavy and I don’t want you to have to carry them,” he said, quickly stepping out onto the back porch before he grabbed her and kissed her until they were both numb from lack of oxygen.
He muttered a curse and walked across the ranch yard toward the barn. The entire time he had been teaching her which poker hands to keep and which ones to fold, all he’d been able to think about was how much he wanted to do a whole lot more than just kiss her.
He shook his head at his own foolishness. What in hell was wrong with him? He’d gone over to Beaver Dam to get some much needed female attention and quickly discovered that none of the women appealed to him. Yet all he could think about was Taylor and the attention he’d like for them to give each other.
“Hey there, boss,” Roy Lee greeted him when Lane entered the barn. “Judd told me to tell you that he called the farrier and he’ll be here tomorrow to put new shoes on the working stock.”
Lane nodded as he walked down the barn aisle toward the man. “Thanks for letting me know. Where’s Judd now?”
Roy Lee took off his cowboy hat to wipe the sweat from his brow. “He took Cletus with him to check out the grazing conditions in the north pasture.”
“What did you do to piss Judd off?” Lane asked, eyeing the wheelbarrow and pitchfork Roy Lee was using to muck out the stalls.
“Oh, I’m not in hot water,” he said, shaking his head. “I volunteered to clean out the stalls.”
“Why?” Lane asked, frowning. If there was anything a cowboy hated more than just about any other ranch chore it had to be mucking out stalls.
“Somebody had to do it,” Roy Lee said, shrugging. “And Cletus was complaining that he’d cleaned the stalls for the last three days. I just thought I’d give him a break.”
Lane had a good idea why the cowboy was being so accommodating and it had nothing whatsoever to do with giving the other hired hand a break. “Blue will be gone for a while, so you’ll have plenty of time to get this one done,” he said as he opened the half door, snapped the lead rope onto the gelding’s halter, then led him out of the stall.
“Going for a ride?” Roy Lee asked, sounding a little too curious.
“We’ll be gone until sometime this afternoon,” Lane said, nodding.
“I’ll hang around close,” Roy Lee offered, his tone almost giddy. “You know, in case Ms. Scott needs help with anything.”
The man had just confirmed Lane’s suspicions. He was hanging around close to the house on the off chance he would get the chance to talk to Taylor.
“That won’t be necessary,” Lane said, tying Blue to a grooming post.
He started back toward the buckskin mare’s stall when Roy Lee insisted, “I don’t mind at all, boss.” He laughed. “You know how women are. They’re always changing things. She might decide she needs to rearrange furniture and wants me to move some of the heavier stuff for her.”
“Not today,” Lane said, leading the mare to the hitching post to be saddled along with his roan. “She’s going to be with me.”
Roy Lee’s cheerful expression quickly changed to one of disappointment. “Well, I guess I’ll get back to work then, boss.”
Lane almost felt sorry for the poor guy as he slowly walked back to the stall he’d been cleaning. It was clear the man had a huge crush on Taylor and had hoped to spend some time with her. But Roy Lee had no way of knowing that he made Taylor extremely uncomfortable by staring at her.
Of course, Lane had to admit that the young cowboy wasn’t the only one who couldn’t take his eyes off Taylor. Several times while they’d been playing cards, Lane had caught himself gazing at her, and not just to observe her tells. He’d noticed how her copper-colored hair framed her heart-shaped face and complimented her peaches-and-cream complexion. And he’d never seen eyes so green or filled with so much expression. He could tell exactly what she was thinking just by looking into their emerald depths and he couldn’t help but wonder how they would look filled with passion as he made love to her. His body twitched and his jeans suddenly became a little too tight in the stride.
Not at all happy with the direction his thoughts had taken, he yanked the cinch tight on Blue, causing the roan to grunt. “Sorry, buddy,” he muttered, patting the gelding’s bluish-gray coat.
Quickly saddling the mare, Lane untied the reins of both horses and led them out of the barn. He’d do well to stop daydreaming about his business partner and focus on teaching her to play poker. The sooner they played that game and the fate of the Lucky Ace was decided, the better off he would be. Otherwise he was going to be in a perpetual state of arousal and completely out of his mind in very short order.