My nervousness was quickly replaced by a different kind of nerve jangling, breath- stealing awareness as Cy’s hand curled around my calf. He bent his head down and fiddled with the straps and buckles that would adjust the length of the stirrup. I had boots and jeans on but I felt the imprint of every single one of his fingers where they pressed into my leg. Once he that the fit right, he guided my foot where it belonged on the side of the horse but not before those fingers tightened and then brushed their way all the way up the curve of my leg to the back of my knee. I gasped and shot him a wide-eyed look that made him smirk up at me knowingly. The horse snorted and shifted his big body under me. I was sure he could feel the heat and tension that was pinging and bouncing between his rider and the man who had trained him.

I watched him carefully as he made his way to the other side to repeat the process, and this time when he curled his fingers around my leg, I asked, “Don’t you have your hands full with another redhead? Do you collect us and play with whichever one isn’t boring you at the moment?” When I was scared and uncertain, I could be vicious. I had a lot of weapons at my disposal but my razor-sharp tongue was often the one I leaned on the most. I was lashing out because I wanted him to be as unsettled and off center as he made me. I thought throwing the woman he was so gentle with, the one who he showed such easy affection to, would be a good diversion. It wasn’t. The man saw right through me like I was made of glass.

My foot was shoved in the stirrup and he stepped back with a scowl. “What nonsense are you going on about now, woman?”

I met him scowl for scowl and tilted my head in the direction of the beautiful wooden home that housed the even more beautiful woman from the night before. “Brynn. She’s gorgeous and she can make a mean stack of pancakes. Do you think she would approve of you telling me I have a cute ass and all the fondling you seem so inclined towards in the morning?” I felt my mouth tighten and my chin lift defiantly. “I’m not interested in being a convenient distraction while you’re stuck with us until your brother shows up. Whatever games you’re playing to keep yourself amused, stop it right now.”

His lips twitched, and when he opened his mouth I was positive he was going to tell me I had the wrong idea about everything, that Brynn was their cousin or half-sister or something else entirely that would explain the light and gentle way he was with her. What I got was a sexy half-grin that made those fluttering places inside me start to throb.

His voice was pitched low enough that I was the only one who could hear his gravelly growl. “Oh, you’re one hell of a distraction, Leo, and there isn’t a goddamn thing about it that is even slightly convenient. I don’t play . . . games or anything else. I’m all business, just ask my brothers.” He tapped the horse I was perched on with his palm. Boss started to move just like the other horses everyone else was mounted on were doing. “Remember to keep a firm hold on him. He’ll be good to you but you need to show him who’s boss.”

I cut him a look over my shoulder as the horse started a slow trot around the corral. He was grinning at me. The flash of his teeth against that dark scruff across his jaw made him look like the bad guy who had eliminated the hero and knew he was going to get away with every wicked thing he could think of. There was knowing in that smile. There was taunting and provocation in it. There was satisfaction and intent in that smile, and it made my skin pebble up in reaction, and had desire running thick and free through my veins.

He was right. There was absolutely nothing convenient about any of this, but that didn’t stop me from watching him as he moved to a very pretty white and gray horse. He swung himself up in the saddle like he had been doing so since the day he was born. Even mounted on the horse and handling the animal like it was second nature, he still didn’t look like any kind of cowboy I had ever imagined . . . he looked so much better.

Not Quite Easy Rider

Getting back on the horse was harder on my body than I realized it was going to be.

Even back when I rode pretty much every day after school, I had never spent more than a couple of hours in a saddle and that was in a perfectly maintained corral, in an arena that was made for the animals to practice jumping and cutting around barrels. I’d never ridden a trail or been on one of the big animals as they traversed uneven terrain, fighting to find their footing, as the ground shifted from open range to hilly backcountry.

The brothers’ vast property was impressive and seemed endless when we started our journey just as the sun was fully taking its place over the mountains in the distance. Fenced in fields of green that housed bored-looking cattle and adorable little creeks and ponds made up the first part of our morning ride, which I quickly figured out was the easy part of the trip. By early afternoon, the ride shifted to a narrow trail that cut through a dense thicket of trees and started to sharply incline. Boss was sure of foot and reluctantly stayed in line where we lumbered along between Emrys and the Upper East Side mother. He pulled against my hold on the reins whenever he had to step over something on the trail or whenever the horse in front of us sped up. He did not like to follow and I couldn’t say I blamed him. I was sick of staring at the unflappable woman in front of me, with her perfect posture and her lack of any kind of discomfort. She should strive to have as much control of her marriage and her husband as she did over her horse. I was sweaty from the midday sun and already knew I was going to be aching and saddle sore as soon as I got down from Boss’s back. I was also irritated that Meghan had let her too young daughter maneuver her way up to the front of the line so that she was riding right behind Cy and the pack mules he was guiding with a steady hand. The girl hadn’t stopped peppering him with questions since we took off.