Capturing the Cowboy's Heart (12 page)

“Uh, hello.”

“Heard we had ourselves a visitor.”

We?
  “
Danners
?”

“Yep.”

He smiled past his cigarette, but instead of the friendly gesture putting her at ease it made her uncomfortable.  Perhaps it was because she couldn’t stop thinking about Cade’s warning to steer clear of th
is
man.

“Right pretty for a reporter,” he muttered as he pushed off the tree.

“Thank you.” 
I think.
  She held out her hand.  “Lacy Dalton.”

He took it without hesitation.  “Pleasure.”

She glanced toward the barn.  “I really should be going.  Cade’s waiting for me.”

“I’ll bet he is,” he murmured as he released her hand.

Though she couldn’t see his eyes, she felt his gaze sweep over her before he turned and walked away.  Despite herself, Lacy shuddered.  Staying away from
Danners
was one piece of advice she would gladly follow while she was there.

She hurried to the barn, already late for her first day of acting as Cade’s ranch hand thanks to the miniature flood she’d caused in the kitchen and then her unexpected encounter with
Danners
.  In her haste, she nearly stepped on a tan and white kitten that came running
out
to greet her.

She stopped and knelt beside the mewling kitten.  “Aren’t you just the sweetest little thing?”  The little ball of fur brushed against her jeans, purring contentedly.  When she reached down to pet it, the kitten darted away.  She watched as it slipped beneath the pasture fence. 

She gasped in horror. 
There were bulls in there.
  Shooting to her feet, she ran
to the fence, calling out to the meandering kitten.  It meowed once and then continued on its trek across the field. 

She looked past the
tiny ball of fur
to the hulking form of one of Cade’s bulls
off in the distance
.  Then her gaze shot back to the helpless kitten.  She couldn’t just stand there and let it get trampled to death.  She had covered the running of the bulls in
Spain
and knew just how much injury those animals could inflict.  The kitten
would
n’t stand a chance. 

Though her heart was pounding, fear didn’t keep Lacy from slipping through the fence rails.  She
hurried
toward the curious kitten, which had stopped to investigate a lone flower that sprouted up from the sea of grass. 

“
K
itty,” she called out softly
as she bent to scoop the kitten up
.  The bull
raised its massive head and
snorted, its attention now fully on her. 

Lacy froze in fear
,
realizing
she was about to die.

CHAPTER
SIX

Cade looked up from the horse he was tending to.  Something had Charlie Bull in a tizzy.  His first thought was if the bull wanted something to complain about he should try spending five minutes alone with Lacy Dalton. 

Laughing, he left the stall and stuck his head out the barn door to check on his prize bull.  His heart stopped. 
There in
the pasture
stood Lacy Dalton
, looking terrified as
Bluster, his prize bull,
stared her down from
its
favorite spot on the hill.

“Son-of-a...”

Bluster
bawled once and stomped his foot, staring at Lacy with wild eyes.  

“What?” Burk said as he raced up beside Cade to look out.

“Dalton’s in
there
with
Bluster
!”  Cade broke into a run, his heart pounding furiously against his chest.  He vaulted over the fence.

“Get Lacy!” Burk called after him.  “I’ll distract
Bluster
.”

Cade cut across the field.  “
Dalton
, get out of there!”

She
didn’t move. 
Was the woman crazy or just testing her ability to make him that way?

Oh, God, not now.  For once in your life, Dalton, do as you’re told.
 

Bluster
shook his head and snorted louder this time, sending a spray of mucus into the air around him.  He lowered his head then raised it again as he trotted toward the intruder.

Burk pulled out his neckerchief and waved it in the air, hollering to the bull. 

At this point, Cade was in an all
-
out sprint.  Lacy turned to him as he barreled down on her.

“Cade—” His name rushed from her lips as he tossed her over his shoulder and ran for the fence.  “What are you doing?”

“I’m saving your damned neck one more time.”  He glanced back over his shoulder just in time to see
Bluster
ground his hoof
in the dirt
, then break into a run, head lowered. 

“
Cade, I’m going to drop it,” she shrieked.

Drop it?
  No, he was going to drop her if she didn’t stop squirming.  And he had no intention of doing that.  His goal was to get them both out of the pasture
with
all
their body parts intact. 
When he reached the fence
he dropped Lacy over it and then launched himself headfirst over the top rail
behind her
. 

Air rushed from his lungs as he hit the ground and rolled, ending up
on
top of Lacy.  The pounding of hooves thundered by behind him and then faded away.

Bracing himself above her, h
e looked down at her, his heart pounding.  “Is insanity a prerequisite for becoming a journalist? 
Never mind. 
Don’t answer that. I already know the answer.”  

She had nearly gotten them both killed and all he could think about was how easy it would be to kiss her.  All he had to do was lower his mouth...

With a groan,
he
pushed
away, rolling
onto his back in the grass beside her.  “
Dalton
, what in the hell were you doing out there?  You nearly scared the life out of me.”

“Saving a kitten,” she said, her voice trembling.

He turned his head to look at her.  “Saving a what?”

“
Her.
”
  She pointed to the tiny ball of fur now wandering off toward the barn.  “She
went into the pasture with your bulls.”

“You followed a kitten into a pasture filled with bulls?”

“I couldn’t
stand by and let it
be trampled.”

“No, get yourself trampled instead
,” he said with a frown.  “
Geezus, Dalton, those are barn cats.  They can take care of themselves.  Unlike you.”

“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself,” she replied, her voice catching.  “I have for a very long time.” 

He didn’t miss the
look that came into her eyes.  One of loneliness?  Need?  Heartache?  “Damn it, Dalton,” he ground out as he
reached out to drag
her
up against h
im
, covering
her mouth with his.

Her hands came up as if to push him away, then curled into the front of his shirt.  She returned his kiss with the same reckless abandon that drove him.

He eased her back onto the grass and moved over her, deepening the kiss.  He could feel her heart beating wildly beneath his own as
she
clung to him.  Her body arched into his and a hunger he hadn’t felt for a very long time consumed him.  

He groaned as her lips parted, beckoning him to taste her. 
L
ord, how he wanted her.  That realization had
him
pulling away.

“Cade?” she said, breathless from their kiss
,
her tawny eyes glazed with passion.

He
scrambled
to his feet.  “You could have been killed
.
Hell, I could have been killed.”  He walked over to the fence and braced his hands on the top rail.

“
That wasn’t my intention,” she said shakily.

Needing to collect himself, he kept his back to her.  “Getting gored is not a pretty sight.  Neither is having your head or body crushed by the hooves of an angry
eight hundred pound bull
.” 
Sighing, he
turned to find Lacy out cold.  “Ah, hell.” 

He moved to kneel beside her. 
Reaching down, he stroked
her cheek.  “Come on,
Dalton,
wake up.  You’ve got work to do.”

As usual, she didn’t listen to him.

“Some ranch hand you’re gonna be.”  He pushed the sun-kissed strands of hair from her face and then ran his thumb over her lips. 

Lacy stirred, her long lashes fluttering open.  “
What happened
?”

“You fainted.
  That’s what happened.
”

She sat up
slowly
.  “I was listening to you rant and it suddenly sank in what could have happened
if
...”  She glanced toward the pasture, her
going even
paler
.

He
helped her
to her feet and t
hen he bent to retrieve his hat.  “Just consider yourself damned lucky that I got to you before
Bluster
did.”  If anything had happened to her...

She offered a wan smile.  “You’re not exactly a knight on a white horse, but in this instance I’ll gladly settle for a cowboy with a bad disposition.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Burk called out as he hoisted himself over the fence next to Lacy and Cade.  “I’m still in one piece.  No holes.”  He started past them.  “You two just go on about your arguing.”

“We weren’t arguing,” Lacy replied as she brushed bits of grass from her clothes. 

“
Only wh
en you two were kissing,” he replied with a chuckle as he walked away.

Cade frowned.  He had been so distracted by Lacy and those damned kissable lips of hers that he’d completely forgotten about Burk.  Granted, his friend could take care of himself.  That wasn’t the point.  This constant distraction was making him careless, something he couldn’t afford to be.

“Thanks for the help with
Bluster
,” he called after his fiend. 

Burk waved and kept on walking.  “Anytime.” 

He
turned back to Lacy.  “It’s a good thing
Bluster
didn’t kill you or I would’ve had to put him down.”  Several years before, one of his bulls had taken the life of a young rider and he still carried the guilt of it.

“You mean kill it?”

“Yeah, and he’s my best bull.  I wouldn’t have been too happy about having to do that.”

Her posture grew visibly rigid.  “Well, it’s a good thing your precious
Bluster
didn’t kill me.  How would I have rested in peace knowing my death caused harm to that...that foam slathering cow!”

“Bull,” Cade corrected.

With a snort of displeasure, Lacy left him standing there and stomped off toward the barn, cursing him and all cowboys in general
as she went
. 

Lacy threw open the barn door, nearly knocking Burk over in the process. 

“Whoa, there
, little lady
.”  He closed the barn door behind her.  “Take it easy.  You’re gonna spook the horses.”

“Sorry.” 

“You can’t be that anxious to start working.  What’s up?”

“Cade is what’s up.”  She rubbed her temples and sighed.  “I’m sorry.  This isn’t turning out to be a very good day or week for that matter.”  She was still shaken from the passionate kiss she and Cade had shared. 

For a brief moment, she had felt wanted.  Needed.  And that was a dangerous thing to allow to happen.  Sooner or later, those you care about go away and leave you to pick up the pieces
alone
.  Just like when her parents died, and then her grandfather.  And now, her grandmother was leaving her, too.    

“Don’t judge him too harshly,”
he
said, his words cutting into her thoughts.

She looked up at him in amazement.  “How can you put up with his mood swings?  One minute he’s happy and having fun and the next he’s ready to fight.”

“You saw Cade having fun?”