Vicki Thompson - In The Cowboy's Arms

Ah, yes, bedtime. Between the dancing, the beer and finally being alone with her, he was losing the battle with his sexual attraction. She’d be in the bedroom next to his and that would make falling asleep a challenge. When he’d arrived, his mom had asked him if he wanted to bunk in one of the cabins for nostalgia’s sake. Knowing he’d be interfering with the cleaning and preparations for the summer school kids, he’d decided not to.

Now he wished he’d opted for the cabin. His mom had obviously accepted Geena, and for all he knew Rosie had put them adjacent to each other on purpose. It would be like her to think it served him right for being so unwelcoming. He wasn’t feeling unwelcoming anymore. Life had been so much simpler when he’d thought of Geena as the enemy instead of a sexy woman who might or might not be seeing someone.

She took another deep breath, which strained the buttons on her jacket.

He’d been fascinated by that jacket all evening. It revealed a slight bit of cleavage, and near as he could tell, she wore nothing but a bra or a camisole underneath. She didn’t really need a blouse because the jacket provided decent coverage, but he’d thought about what he’d see if he unfastened the buttons.

He needed to get off this train of thought and buy a ticket on another one. Her outfit was no more seductive than any she’d worn in meetings they’d had regarding his career. But those meetings had taken place in her office and not during a cool evening when a silky breeze wafted over them bringing the scent of wild grasses and pine trees.

“You’re upset because I invaded your territory.” Her voice was soft and weary.

“That did upset me.” He wasn’t angry now but chose not to say that.

“If I’d only hoped to convince you to go along with my original plan, then coming here would have been obnoxious, but that’s not why I booked those flights.”

“Then why did you?”

“First of all, I realized that Briana isn’t going to let go of this. If you haven’t gone online then you might not know, but she’s come up with a cutesy slogan and she’s plastering it everywhere.”

Okay, this topic might effectively cool his jets. “I’m afraid to ask what it is.”

“Run, Forrest, run.”

“Oh, for God’s sake.” Just as Geena had predicted, he’d been branded a coward. “That’s sickening.”

“I agree, but the plain truth is that you’re not going to be able to ride this one out. She’s portraying your silence and your absence as an admission of guilt and she’s spinning stories about how you lusted after her during the filming of Preston’s Revenge.”

His stomach pitched. “That’s a damned lie.” So much for the seductive ambiance of the porch.

“I know it is.”

“How?” Their discussion in her office came back to him along with the anger he’d felt at being wrongly accused. “You weren’t there.”

“No, but I—”

“Geena, you’ve always been a straight shooter before. Please don’t twist yourself into a pretzel because you like my family and you want to smooth things over.”

Her chin lifted and she met his gaze. “That is not the case and I resent your implication.”

“And I’m suspicious of your sudden turnaround! How can you be so sure I’m telling the truth?” He took a step closer. “Maybe I spent every available moment on location trying to seduce her while she valiantly fought me off.”

A flame burned in her eyes, which were definitely green, like he’d thought. “I’m trying to apologize, damn it. You didn’t try to seduce her and you didn’t kiss her outside that café. A gentleman wouldn’t do those things. I allowed the photo to convince me of something I should have known wasn’t true. But I finally figured it out.”

This was turning into an effing roller coaster. “So you’ve decided I’m a gentleman?”

“I didn’t just decide. You’ve demonstrated it from the beginning with your yes, ma’am behavior and your respect for everyone in my office, including the cleaning lady. She made a point of telling me that you showed up late one afternoon after we’d all left and you offered to carry out the trash.”

“Who wouldn’t?”

“Most people, Matt. So obviously you didn’t initiate that embarrassing scene in Burbank and you didn’t hit on her during the filming. It doesn’t fit your profile. It’s not you.”

“God, that makes me happy. You can’t imagine how happy.” Vindicated. Damn, that felt good.

“Because I hadn’t put that together, I insulted your sense of honor. No wonder you stomped out of my office. I’m surprised you didn’t end our business relationship.”

He smiled. “That was my original goal when I thought I’d be escorting you back to town. First I’d get you a hotel room and then I’d fire you.”

“Good thing Rosie asked me to stay, huh?”

“I wasn’t in favor of that, either.”

“Yeah, she robbed you of your chance to fire me.” She gazed at him with an expression that bordered on tenderness. “You can still do that if you want, although Rosie seems to think you need me.”

The warmth in her eyes brought him right back to the thoughts he’d been having until the discussion turned ugly. Drawn by that warmth, he drifted closer, within touching distance. “I probably do need you. I have no idea how to deal with this fiasco. Anyway, I can’t fire you with Rosie around. She’d give me hell for it. The others wouldn’t like it, either. You made some friends in there.”

“Nice to know.” For some reason her glasses misted up. She took them off. “How about out here?”

He was a goner. “I’ve always liked you. That’s why it bothered me so much that you believed I’d caused that scene.”

“I’ve always liked you, too.” She moistened her lips. “That’s all the more reason I should have stopped to think before I jumped to conclusions.”

The gesture caught his attention and he noticed her lipstick had worn off. He’d never seen her without it. Because of that, the natural pink of her bare lips was more arousing than if she’d stripped naked. The sweep of her tongue had left her mouth with a satin sheen that begged to be savored.

“Rosie thinks there’s more to it.”

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