“Am I stepping in somebody else’s territory if I ask you to dance, honey?”

And didn’t that just fall right into her plan? She offered up her sweetest smile. “Nobody’s claimed me yet, cowboy, so I’m all yours.”

He held out his hand. “Then every guy in this place must be blind, because you’re sure the prettiest woman in here.”

Just what she liked—a man utterly full of shit.

“I’m Luke,” he said as he turned around and led her by the hand.

“Jolene.”

She followed him out to the dance floor, which was crowded as hell, but fortunately, it was time for a slow dance. Which meant cowboy Luke jerked her into his arms and became an immediate octopus, his hands all over her as they twirled slow and easy around the floor.

Jolene made sure to give him her undivided attention—or at least 95 percent of her attention. The other 5 percent was spent on Walker, who glanced up toward the bar and tracked his gaze to the dance floor, giving Jolene and her dance partner a decided scowl.

And wasn’t it perfect that Luke chose just the moment Walker was watching them to slide his hand down her back and grab a nice handful of both her ass cheeks.

Judging from the murderous glare on his face, if Walker had a six-shooter in his hand, Luke would be a dead man about now.

Yeee haw!

who the hell was the son of a bitch with his hands all over Jolene?

Gage elbowed Mason. “You know that guy?”

Mason frowned. “What guy?”

“I’m pretty sure he means the one with his hands on Jolene’s ass. Out on the dance floor,” Valerie said.

“Oh.” Mason searched the dance floor. “Don’t recognize him.” Mason turned to his wife. “He is kind of grabby, though. Want me to kill him?”

“Maybe Walker should do that instead,” Valerie suggested with a sly smile.

Walker shrugged and grabbed his pool cue. “She’s not my woman. No reason for me to get involved. If she wants some strange guy’s hands roaming all over her, that’s her business.”

Though he couldn’t concentrate on his shot and he blew it, scratching and losing the game. Shit. That’s what he got for paying more attention to Jolene’s ass than playing pool.

He let the next set of guys play and grabbed his beer, deciding not to look at the dance floor. But despite his resolve, his gaze drifted in that direction every few seconds, and for some reason he could easily spot Jolene in the thick crowd of dancers. Maybe it was her hair, loose tonight instead of in her usual pigtails, blond and wavy and trailing down her back, making him wish he could slide his hand down the length of it to see if it felt as soft as it looked.

Or maybe it was the turquoise halter top with silver studs that bared her back and the tiny tattoo barely visible above the waist of her jeans. He didn’t know what kind of tattoo it was, only that it was colorful and small enough that a man would have to be . . .

Fuck. Getting a hard-on in the middle of a crowded bar would be the worst thing that could ever happen to him.

“You know, if you don’t want another guy touching her, you should go in there and stake your claim.”

Walker shrugged and sipped his beer, determined not to let anyone know, especially Mason, of his attraction to Jolene. “There’s nothing to claim. Nothing going on between us.”

Mason laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’m not blind, idiot. You two have been dancing around each other for a couple years now. And Jolene doesn’t exactly make a secret of the fact that she’d like to wrangle you into her bed.”

Shit. He turned to Mason. “She tell you that?”

“Me? Oh, hell no. We don’t talk about sex. But she tells her sister things, and Valerie tells me.”

“I’ve never touched Jolene.”

Mason laughed. “I’m not stopping you.”

“She’s the boss. And you don’t dip into the well where you work.”

“Hey, that’s up to you. All I’m saying is that the two of you are distracted because of this attraction. The last thing I want to do is talk about your sex life, man. Handle it how you see fit.”

“Thanks, I will.” And standing around watching Jolene dirty dance with some stranger was more torture than he cared to deal with. “I’m heading back to the ranch.”

jolene caught walker’s exit out of the corner of her eye and sighed.

Damn man.

Okay, so this plan had crashed and burned.

She turned her attention to Luke-of-the-wandering-hands, tilted her head back and smiled sweetly at him. “Honey, you have about two seconds to get your hands off my ass, or you’ll be wearing your balls as earrings.”

Time for Plan B.

around two in the morning, as jolene was checking cattle in one of the pastures, she still hadn’t quite come up with what Plan B was going to be. Walker was proving to be more stubborn than she’d anticipated. She figured he’d see Luke-of-the-wandering-hands pawing her on the dance floor, his possessive cave-man instincts would kick in and he’d stomp over, jerk her away from Luke and kiss her senseless right on the spot.

Ha! And she’d had the nerve to accuse Brea of living in fantasy-land with her books. Obviously it was Jolene who needed a good hard dose of reality, because she’d been way off base with that flight of imagination. Walker had looked all right, and then done . . . nothing.

Maybe he wasn’t as interested in her as she’d originally thought. Or maybe he was, but figured she wasn’t worth fighting over.

Dammit. Why were men so hard to figure out? If he wanted her, what was so difficult about saying so, and then doing something about it? She was always straightforward about what she wanted. Was that a bad thing?

Her horse spooked as another rider approached. She pulled up on the reins and calmed Paradise down, then turned in the direction of the approaching rider. Who the hell was out this time of night, especially this far from the main houses?

She was surprised to see Walker coming up alongside her. And he was angry.

“What the hell are you doing riding out here by yourself this late?”

She arched a brow. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I couldn’t sleep so thought I’d take a ride.”

“This is one hell of a ride. What if you’d gotten bucked off and hurt?”

She patted Paradise. “My horse never bucks.”

“She would if a snake slithered in front of her. Come on, Jolene, you were born and raised out here. You know it’s not safe to ride alone at night, even on your own property.”

She lifted her chin. “Exactly. My own property. I can do whatever the hell I want, when I want. Besides, why do you even care, Walker?”

He went silent then, the brim of his hat and the dark of the moonless night hiding his expression. “You shouldn’t ride alone.”

“You said that already. And you’re riding alone.”

“I saw your horse was gone and came out to find you. It’s late. Thought something might have happened to you.”

“Awww, didn’t know you cared.”

“I figure someone has to look out for you since you suck at taking care of yourself.”

“I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time. I’m a big girl and I know exactly what I’m doing.”

“Is that why you let some guy you don’t know put his hands all over you at the bar last night?”

So he did notice. And from the sound of his voice and the narrowing of his eyes, he wasn’t at all happy about it. Perfect. “I haven’t needed a father in years. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a grown woman capable of making my own decisions.”

He inched his horse next to hers and grabbed the reins away from her. “I’m well aware you’re a woman. So was the drifter with his hands on your ass earlier.”

“You got a problem with that?”

His jaw was set so tight Jolene was amazed she couldn’t hear his teeth grinding together. But underneath the spitting anger was something else—something elemental that went beyond him trying to protect her. It fairly sizzled between them and he was damn blind if he didn’t recognize the sexual attraction between them.

He dropped her reins and skirted his horse away. “You should be careful not to ride alone, Jolene. You never know who could be out here in the middle of the night.”

“Afraid I’ll get ravished by some strange man on a horse?” She cast a pointed look in his direction.

He didn’t take the bait. “Let’s head back. It’s a long ride and it’s already late.”

Like a cold drenching rain to put out the fire that had torched between them, the spark was doused. Jolene pursed her lips, wondering what the hell she was going to have to do to get Walker to give up and take what she was so obviously offering. Maybe she should have been riding na**d. Too bad it was a little chilly tonight. Plus, riding na**d on the back of a horse just screamed chafing in all the wrong places, so she’d have to give up on that idea.

Instead, she rode in silence next to him and pondered that Plan B.

three

for some reason, and walker knew exactly what that reason was, he found himself working side by side with Jolene for the next several days.

Subtle wasn’t part of Jolene’s makeup. Then again that was one of the things he admired about her. She was straight-out-forward about her needs, desires and wants.

Sometimes he wished she would hide those desires a little better, especially relating to him, because it was getting harder to resist her.

“Harder” being the right damn word.

What man wouldn’t want a woman who could run a ranch at the age of twenty-six, who could manage roughneck cowboys with a steely-eyed look and a c**k of her hip, who could reduce the strongest man to a blubbering baby with her honeyed voice, who could get two dozen cowboys dragging their tongue in the dry dirt and willing to follow her anywhere as long as she’d cast a smile their way.

And the worst thing was, he really didn’t think she had any clue what effect she had on the men who worked for her. More than half of them wanted her, and she was oblivious to it all.

All of them except him. For some reason she wanted him, and damned if he knew why, since he’d done his best to completely ignore her. She could crook her finger at any one of half a dozen guys who worked for her and they’d be more than happy to give her anything she wanted.

Instead she had him glued to her side. Today they’d split up the hands to move cattle to richer pastures. It had been raining on and off the past few days, and this morning the sky had dawned clear and dusky, so Jolene figured they should move the cattle before another storm came in. They’d trekked off at dawn, six of them in one team, driving cattle from barren pasture into another rich and green with verdant grass.

Walker had to admit, he liked to watch her work, the way she directed the hands left, then right, hollering like a woman who knew exactly what she wanted and when.

Some men were intimidated by a woman in charge. Walker wasn’t. He just wanted to get her na**d and show her what it was like to have someone else take charge. Or maybe see what she was like in bed, if she wanted to take charge then. Because he liked control, too, and the clash of two dominant forces between the sheets could be like two bolts of lightning slamming together.

Damn. His dick twitched at the mental visuals of what it would be like, and that wasn’t what he needed to be thinking about, because no way in hell was he ever going to get Jolene na**d. Or have sex with her.

But it would be good. He knew it would. Right now she took off like hell for leather after an errant cow, whipping the reins from side to side, using her spurs to dig into her horse and race that cow down. She cornered it, turned her horse around and forced the cow back to the herd.

She didn’t sit on her ass and let someone else do the work. She dug in and did it herself.

Yeah, he’d sure like to see what she could do in bed.

Too bad he’d never find out.

They’d wrangled most of the cattle to the new pasture. Jolene sent the rest of the crew back to the ranch, then told Walker they’d double back to pick up any strays. With that many cattle, sometimes a few lagged behind or broke off from the herd, so double-checking was necessary.

Today was one of those odd spring days that dawned scorching and stayed that way. Coupled with the rain they’d had lately, it was downright hellish. Walker was hot and drenched under his clothes, and his horse had steam rising off his coat. The sooner they got back to the ranch the happier he’d be.

Despite sweat running down her back and drenching her shirt, Jolene didn’t seem to be bothered by the sun beating down on them. She rode easy, surveying either side of the land for wayward cattle. Walker contented himself with watching her backside in the saddle since they were on a narrow stretch of road, which meant they had to ride single file.

She sat erect in the saddle, her back straight, her hand holding the reins resting on her right thigh. Her shoulders shifted back, her head held high, her hat shading her face. Hell, she looked like she was showing the damn horse underneath her, not dragging like she should be. They’d all been up since before dawn and riding hard.

The woman had stamina. And there went his thoughts again, wondering how much stamina she’d show in the sack.

Shit. It might be hot as the infernal blazes of hell today, and his ass might be dragging, but he wasn’t too tired to think about sex. And his c**k wasn’t exhausted. It was twitching and raring to go.

“There.” Jolene pointed off to the left, down the hill. “I saw one.”

Walker surveyed the area, a hill-swept valley dense with trees and a creek winding through. “I don’t see it.”