Diana Palmer - One Night with a Red-Hot Rancher

Cappie followed his glance. Keely smiled and waved. She waved back. Winnie Sinclair smiled wanly, and turned back to the booth. “Poor thing,” she murmured. “She’s so rich, and so unhappy.”

“Money doesn’t make you happy,” Bentley pointed out.

“Well, the lack of it can make you pretty miserable,” she said absently.

His hand reached down and locked into hers, bringing her surprised eyes back up to meet his.

She was hesitant, because Keely was grinning in their direction.

“I don’t care about public opinion,” Bentley pointed out, “and she wouldn’t dare tease me in my own practice,” he added with a grin.

Cappie laughed. “Okay. I won’t care, either.”

His strong fingers linked with hers, while he held her gaze. “I can’t remember the last time I smiled so much,” he said. “I like being with you, Cappie.”

She smiled. “I like being with you, too.”

They were still smiling at each other when two running children bumped into them and broke the spell.

Bentley drove her home, but he didn’t move to open the door after he cut off the lights and the engine. He unfastened her seat belt, and his own, and pulled her across the seat and into his lap. Before she could speak, his mouth was hard on hers, grinding into it, and his fingers were lazily searching under the soft hem of her sweater.

She wanted to protest. It was too soon. But he found the hooks on her bra and loosened them with one quick motion of his hand. Then he found soft flesh and teased around it with such expertise that she squirmed backward to give him access.

“Too quick?” he whispered against her mouth.

“No,” she bit off, and arched her back.

He smiled as his mouth covered hers once more, and his hand settled directly over the hard little nub that raised against his palm.

After a few minutes, kissing was no longer enough. His hand moved in at the base of her spine and half lifted her against him, so that her belly ground against his in the rapt silence of the vehicle, broken only by the force of their audible breaths, and her soft moan. She could feel him wanting her. It had been exciting with Frank, but not like this. She wanted what Bentley wanted. She was on fire for him.

He unfastened the buttons on his shirt and pulled her against him, so that her soft breasts ground against the hair-roughened muscles of his chest. His hand moved her hips against his in a slow, anguished rotation that made her moan louder.

“Oh, God,” he bit off, shivering. “Cappie!”

Her nails were scoring his back as she held on for dear life and began to shudder. “Don’t stop,” she whimpered. “Don’t stop!”

“I’ve…got to!”

He moved abruptly, pushing her back into her seat. He opened the door and got out of the Land Rover, standing with his back to her as he sucked in deep breaths and tried to regain the control he’d almost lost.

Embarrassed, Cappie fumbled her bra closures into place and pulled her sweater down. She was still shaky. It had been a near thing. Thank goodness they were parked in her driveway instead of on some lonely road where there might not have been as much incentive to stop. Despite her passionate response to him, Cappie didn’t move with the times. Did he know that? Was he hoping for some brief fling? She couldn’t. She just couldn’t. Now, she reasoned with something like panic, he wouldn’t want to see her again, not if she said no. And either way, how was it going to affect her job? There was only one veterinary clinic in Jacobs County, and she worked for it. If she lost her job, she couldn’t get another, not in her field.

While she was torturing herself with such thoughts, the door suddenly opened.

“I know,” Bentley said in a strangely calm and amused tone, “you’re kicking yourself mentally for taking advantage of me in a weak moment. But it’s okay. I’m used to women trying to ravish me.”

She stared up at him wide-eyed and speechless. Of all the things she expected he might say, that was the last.

“Come on, come on, you’re not going to get a second shot at me in the same night,” he teased. “I have my reputation to think of!”

Her mind started working again, and she laughed with relief. She picked up her purse and scrambled out the door, her discarded coat over one arm.

“Listen,” he said gently, “don’t start brooding. We got a little too involved, too quickly, but we’ll deal with it.”

She hesitated. “I’m not, well, modern,” she blurted out.

“Neither am I, honey,” he said softly.

She could have melted into the ground at the husky endearment. She blushed.

He bent and kissed her with tender respect. “I know what sort of woman you are,” he said gently. “I’m not going to push you into something you don’t want.”

“Thanks.”

“On the other hand, you have to make me a similar promise,” he pointed out. “I’m not going to keep dating you if I have to worry about being ravished every time I bring you home. I’m not that sort of man,’ he added haughtily.

She grinned from ear to ear. “Okay.”

He walked her to the door, smiling complacently. “I’ll see you at work Monday,” he said. He framed her face in his hands and looked at her for a long time. “Just when you think you’re safe,” he mused, “you jump headfirst into the tiger trap.”

“You know, I was just thinking the same thing,” she said facetiously.

He chuckled as he bent to kiss her again. “We’ll take it at a nice, easy pace,” he whispered. “But I know already how it’s going to end up. We’re good together. And I’m tired of living alone.”

Her heart almost burst with joy. “I…I don’t think I could just live with someone,” she blurted out, still a little worried.

He kissed her eyes shut. “Neither could I, Cappie,” he whispered. “We can talk about licenses and rings.” He lifted his head. His eyes were soft with feeling. “But not tonight. We have all the time in the world.”

“Yes,” she whispered. Her eyes were bright with the force of her emotions. “It’s happening so fast.”

He nodded. “Like lightning striking.”

She felt her heart racing. But in the back of her mind, there was a sudden fear, a foreboding. She bit her lower lip. “You don’t really know much about me,” she began. “You see, when I lived in San Antonio, there was this man I dated…”

Before she could tell him about Frank, his phone rang. He jerked it out and answered it. “Rydel,” he said. He listened, grimaced. “I’ll be in the office in ten minutes. Bring the cat right in, I’ll see it. Yes. Yes. You’re welcome.” He hung up. “I have to go.”

“Be careful,” she said.

He smiled. “I will. Good night.”

“Good night, Dr. Rydel.”

“Bentley.”

She laughed. “Bentley.”

He ran back to the Land Rover, started it and drove away with a wave of his hand. Cappie watched him go, then walked into her house, feeling as if she could have floated all the way.

Monday morning, Cappie still felt light-headed and ecstatic. She’d half expected Bentley to phone her Saturday or Sunday, considering how involved they’d gotten when he brought her home from the carnival on Friday night. But maybe he’d had emergencies. She hoped he hadn’t had second thoughts. She was so crazy about him that she couldn’t bear to even think about having him reconsider what he’d said. But she knew that wasn’t going to happen. They were already so close that she knew it was going to be forever.

So it came as a shock when she walked in the office and Dr. Rydel met her beaming smile with a cold glare that sent chills down her spine.

“You’re late, Miss Drake,” he said curtly. “Please try to be on time in the future.”