brush with commitment had left a bitter taste in his mouth. Kate was young and inconsistent and hell-bent on a career. She was a risk he couldn’t handle right now. He could fall in headfirst, but she wasn’t likely to. Not at her age.
He looked at Kate with a quiet, calculating intensity. “I didn’t mean for that to happen,” he said, his voice still too deep, too soft.
“Neither did I,” she managed unsteadily. She couldn’t think of another single thing to say. She felt tongue-tied and nervous and frustrated, still hungry for a kiss she’d wanted with desperate abandon.
Jason blew out a thin cloud of smoke, keeping his eyes on the road as they turned onto the long dirt track leading up to the Donavan house. “If you want the truth, I’ve been celibate for a long time,” he said bluntly, wanting to ward off trouble before it started. He looked at her deliberately and added, “I guess I need a weekend in the city.”
Murderous jealousy stabbed into Kate like a knife. She couldn’t even speak for it. Somehow she’d never thought of Jason in bed with another woman. Everybody knew there wasn’t a less likely playboy in the state, even if Jason was rich. But now she thought about it, and the mental pictures she saw were shocking and embarrassing and they hurt.
He glanced at her set expression as he pulled up in front of the barn, where she’d left her horse.
“What is it?” he asked.
She swallowed. “Nothing. I’d better get home and start supper.”
He caught her arm as she started to open the door. “You and I have never lied to each other,” he said quietly when she looked at him with visible reluctance. “It’s one reason we get along so well. Don’t hide your feelings from me.”
“This is different....” she blurted out.
“Tell me,” he persisted, his voice deep and slow and insistent.
Her lips parted as she met his level gaze. “I...don’t want to know.”
“About what?”
“About you. With other women.”
His breath came hard. He searched her eyes for a long, static moment. Everything around them vanished in the green mist of her eyes, the sound of her soft breathing. He’d meant to shock her, but now he didn’t like the flash of pain in those soft green eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she said abruptly, turning her face aside. “I had no right to say such a thing.” Her eyes stung. “Let me go, Jason!”
“For God’s sake,” he burst out, exasperated. He didn’t understand his own confused feelings. Her reaction to his blunt statement had thrown him off balance. She’d believed him. She’d actually believed that bald-faced lie, and it had hurt her more than he’d ever expected.
She shook off his hand and jumped out of the Bronco. “Hi, Red, did you put Kip in the barn?” she called to the young cowhand who’d seen them off, because Kip hadn’t been at the holding pen when they’d driven past it. Even upset, she’d noticed that.
“Yes, ma’am, Miss Kate, I sure did.” He grinned. “I even mended your saddle for you. That nail must have been uncomfortable, even in jeans.”
“It was,” she confessed, avoiding Jason’s interested gaze. “Thanks, Red, I’ll remember you in my will.”
“In that case, I sure would love a Rolls Royce,” the younger man said. “And a house in Florida, on the bay. And a few bonds....”
“Oh, shut up,” she laughed. “If I had half those things, I’d do my best to live forever and I sure wouldn’t be riding around Texas on saddles with nails sticking through them.”
“Well, it was just a thought,” he said. “I’ll saddle your horse.”
She murmured a thank you and started to follow him into the well-lit confines of the mammoth barn, where several horses were quartered in tidy stalls off a wide aisle neat with pine shavings.
“You didn’t mention anything about your saddle being worn,” Jason said from behind her.
She could feel the warmth from his tall, well-muscled body and it made her legs go weak. She felt tingly from head to toe and deliberately moved away from the close contact. It was all too devastating a reminder of how close she’d been to him in the field, of the flash of passion that had almost but not quite ripped away the fabric of their casual relationship.
“You’ve got enough on your mind,” she said evasively.
“Kate, don’t run from me.”
The quiet fervor in that statement brought her head around. She looked up at him with soft, searching eyes. He seemed really concerned about her, regretful almost.
She smiled at him. “Okay.” She sighed. “I’m a little off balance, that’s all.”
“You might not believe it, but so am I.” His dark eyes narrowed and he glanced toward the horizon, where the storm clouds had passed over without depositing a drop of rain. “Anyway, honey, the storm’s gone. And there’s no damage.”
She looked up quietly, searching his black eyes. “That’s right, Jason,” she said. “No damage.”
He touched her loosened hair, reminding her blatantly of his part in its dishevelment. She made him feel fiercely male, bristling with protective instincts that he didn’t even know he had. She trembled at the faint touch, and he wanted to hold her, to comfort her, to keep her safe from any threat, even from himself.
“This time,” he added, his voice deep with shades of feeling, his eyes darkening. “That can’t happen again.”
She searched his face, feeling lost and alone already. “I didn’t do anything,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to....”
He actually grimaced. “For God’s sake, I know that,” he ground out. “Leave it, Kate. Nothing happened.” He turned away, dismissing it from his mind. “Red!”
Before she could speak, Red Barton came hotfooting in, leading Kip.
“Here you go, Miss Kate,” he said, handing her the reins. “Mind that you don’t go near the border over toward Tanner’s, there’s likely to be a turrrrrrible explosion in the near future.” He grinned, glancing at the boss.
Jason sighed heavily. “Barton, I don’t know why in hell I don’t fire you,” he said absently.
Red frowned. “Neither do I, boss. I’ve studied on it for months, and I still haven’t come up with a decent reason for you to keep me on. But I’ll keep trying, don’t you worry.” He grinned again and tipped his hat to Kate. “I’ll just move those heifers out of range of that lovesick bull, boss, while you explain to Mr. Tanner how many cuts of meat you expect to get out of him.”
Jason pursed his lips. “Now that,” he mused, “is a hell of a good idea. We haven’t thrown a barbecue after roundup in a long time, and Tanner’s bull looks like good beef to me.”
“Mr. Tanner’s purebred black Angus who placed at the national Angus show last November?” Kate asked incredulously. “The same one he paid a hundred thousand dollars for? That bull?”
“Where have you been for the past fifteen minutes?” Jason asked with colossal patience. “Didn’t you hear Gabe? Yes, that bull. He got in with my purebred Santa Gertrudis two-year-old heifers that I was about to breed to my purebred longhorn bulls, and God knows how many of them he’s managed to breed. We haven’t checked that section for several days, so God knows when he got in there or how many of them he’s bred already!”
“That’s sure going to be rough on them heifers,” Red mumbled. “That Angus bull had a birth weight of over a hundred and thirty pounds, as I recall.”
“Absolutely.” Jason’s lips made a thin line as he thought about it and got even madder.