Read Online THE RENEGADE RANCHER by Angi Morgan - Free Book Online Page A

you know.”
    “Drop it.” He meant her hand. He’d tell her what he’d discovered. He just needed sleep and some space between them. Preferably an entire room, maybe filled with his family.
    “I will not.”
    She pushed at his chest a little, nothing he couldn’t have withstood, just enough to get closer and make him need to back up. But soon there was nothing behind him other than a stack of horse feed. She kept pushing and he sat, the bag he was carrying falling to his side. He went from looking at the part in her silky hair to staring up at her heaving breasts in a blouse that had no business in a barn.
    Especially his barn.
    “Okay, okay. You win.” He threw his hands in the air, closing his eyes to block the view. Praying she’d back away with his surrender.
    Silence blasted through him. The point of entry was her hand. No longer just a finger forcing his retreat. Her palm had weight behind it. He could hear her breathing hard, smell the maple-coffee scent of her warm puffs across his cheek. If he opened his eyes, he’d see her closer than she’d been since he’d carried her to bed this morning.... If he did that, there’d be no stopping his body from doing exactly what it wanted.
    “Open your eyes,” she whispered.
    “Not a good idea.” His body was about to betray his resolve and if she took a closer look...
    “But you need to see this thing.” Her breathy whisper was having an irrational affect on his senses.
    “I don’t think so.”
    No way they were talking about the same thing. But when she shook his shoulder, he opened one lid and then the other. Her look of iceberg fright was the complete opposite of his volcanic heat. He tilted his head, but his hat got in the way.
    “Don’t move. It’ll get you.”
    By the look on her face it had to be a barn critter. “Is it a snake or a mouse?”
    “Just be still and maybe it will slither away.”
    “Sometimes those things hang in the rafters until a mouse creeps by. You don’t have to be afraid of—”
    Lindsey’s hand cut him off. Her stare moved behind his right shoulder and her body slowly inched on top of his. Within seconds she’d shifted and pulled herself onto his lap, and the simple rat snake disappeared under something in the corner.
    “You can stand up now.” And she should hurry up before he forgot what he wasn’t doing in this small space with a gorgeous woman on his lap.
    “But it’s...”
    “Hell’s bells.” He scooped her into his arms and marched into the sun before setting her on the ground.
    When he let go, her arms were still locked around his neck and his arms steadied her at a tiny waist. Satiny red shirt to sweaty T-shirt. Slacks to jeans. Designer belt to rodeo buckle. City high heels stood on top of his country Western boots.
    * * *
    L INDSEY WAS COMPLETELY aware of standing on Brian’s toes and pressing against every part of him. She didn’t want to move. Safe from the snake and other horrible four-legged crawly things, she kept her arms where they were for a much simpler reason.
    She liked Brian’s hands where they were. Maybe it was the whole knight-in-shining-armor thing—even though she hadn’t seen him near a white horse. But if her lips began moving, she’d babble nonsense and he’d never kiss her.
    And, man alive, she wanted to know how he kissed. Bad, bad, bad idea.
    Either way, she couldn’t get higher or closer to him. He’d have to bring his chiseled chin down on his own. The smolder in his eyes she’d seen earlier when she’d run down the driveway returned and she knew what was next. His head tilted to his right ever so slightly, he bent his neck and then...
    Tsunami tidal wave.
    Brian Sloane was a skilled kisser. He had controlling firm lips, just the right amount of curiosity mixed with pure desire. He applied the right amount of pressure on her back to tow her tighter against him without trapping her. She parted her lips and encouraged more exploration, doing a bit on her own.
    He