Angus and Colin worked silently as they fed the animals, mucked the stalls and turned the horses out to pasture.

“Well, how did your family date go?” Colin asked on the way back to the house. “Did having a kid along cramp the Angus McFarlan style?”

Angus shot his brother the finger, having no intention of telling him what had transpired between him and Gwen. Hell, he was still struggling to keep from hardening every time he thought about how completely Gwen had given herself to him. “Have you called Brody to apologize and ask him to come home?”

“What’s that got to do with your date?” Colin grumbled.

“Nothing. I just want to know what you’re doing to fix what’s broken between you and Brody.”

“You talk to him.”

“I’m not the one who pissed him off enough he’d stay away from home for eight years. You better get on it or the two months Mom gave us will be over before you even find him.”

“Fine. I’ll call him tonight.”

“Call him now.”

“Don’t push me.”

Angus ground to a halt. “I sure as hell will if you don’t get off your high horse and call him.”

“You don’t have to bite my head off.”

“Then grow some testicles and apologize. Family is all we have, and we haven’t been acting like much of one lately.”

Colin’s lips slipped upward in a smirk. “You’re sounding more like Mom than yourself.”

“Well, maybe it’s time I wasn’t myself.” Angus walked away feeling more conflicted than ever.

“Not yourself?” Colin chuckled. “Does it have anything to do with one hot chick who rocks a tight, gray skirt?”

“It has to do with me.” Angus stopped, sucked in a deep, steadying breath and went on, “My life has been on hold for far too long.”

“On hold? You’ve been working your ass off making this ranch work, and look at all you’ve accomplished. A sustainable business and the best quarter horse breeding program in the country.”

“At what cost? It’s like Mom said, who would I leave it to? What’s the use of building up a great legacy if you don’t have a family to pass it on to?”

Colin’s eyes widened. “Wow, Mom really got to you, didn’t she? And Gwen. And how good she made baggy jeans and an old shirt look… Yeah. I can see she rocked your world. But I’m not ready to settle down. The way I see it, I’m three years behind you on the power grid. That’s three more years of living and loving every female I can get my hands on. Why settle for one?”

“You’re wasting time. We have two months before Mom sells the place. I don’t plan on being homeless when I’ve put too damned much time and effort into this place. And I want my children to know where they came from and have a place to call home.”

“Okay, okay.” Colin blew out a breath. “I’ll call Brody.”

Already riled and anxious about his date that night, he didn’t have time for all the drama that had dragged on far too long between his brothers. Angus blasted through the door and didn’t slow down until he hit the shower. His mother was right. The three of them had needed a swift kick in the pants to make them grow up and see that life was passing them by.

Angus hadn’t asked for it, and had convinced himself he didn’t want it, but he’d gotten a second chance at the woman he’d fallen in love with so long ago. He’d be damned if he squandered it this time around. He’d also be damned if he let his brothers’ rift be the reason his mother sold the family ranch.

At fifteen minutes after seven o’clock, Angus was dressed in his best blue jeans, boots and a crisply ironed, white, button-down, long-sleeved shirt. He’d dusted off his best cowboy hat and polished the belt buckle he’d earned during the one year he’d ridden broncs on the rodeo circuit. As he passed the living room, he heard childish giggles coming from under a half-dozen blankets strung across the living room. The sound warmed his heart.

“Dalton?” he called out.

The little boy’s auburn head appeared from beneath the draped edge of a blanket. “Sir?”

Angus squatted down next to him and peered into the tent city. “This is some setup you have here.”

“Uncle Colin helped me build it. Wanna come in?”

“Maybe later. Where is Uncle Colin?”

“He’s getting a shower and Memaw is making hot dogs for us.”

“Memaw, is it?” She’d gone on a cooking strike for her own sons, but she’d feed a stranger’s son. Angus smiled. Figures. The woman had a big heart, especially where children were concerned. And little boys had always been her favorite. Angus wondered how she’d react if she had a granddaughter. He wondered himself how he’d like having a little girl trailing around behind him in the barn. “Hey, Dalton, what kind of flowers does your mama like?”

The boy shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“How about what color of flowers does she like?”

He smiled and announced, “White.”

“White?” What woman liked plain white flowers?

“Whenever she gets them from the store, she lets me pull the petals off until the last one.”

“You pull off the petals?”

“Yes, sir. The white flowers with the yellow in the middle.” He ducked back into the blanket fort.

Colin appeared barefoot in a clean T-shirt and jeans. “Did you decide to stay and play in the fort with us?”

“No.” Angus straightened. “I’m leaving now.”

“Go get ’em, tiger.” Colin slapped his back a little harder than was necessary.

“Hey, what kind of flower is white with yellow in the middle?” Angus asked.

“White with yellow in the middle?” Colin gave him a blank stare.

“The kind you can pull petals off,” Dalton said from beneath the blankets.

Colin grinned. “Daisies.”

With the answer he needed, Angus headed for the phone in the hallway and dialed Bunny Leigh, the owner of Temptation’s only flower shop.

“Sweet Temptations, this is Bunny.”

“Bunny, it’s Angus. I need flowers,” he said without preamble.

“Now? The shop closed two hours ago.”

“I know. But I’ll pay double if you can get me a dozen daisies.”

“Double?” Bunny cleared her throat. “Is your mother in the hospital? You tell Mrs. McFarlan I’ll be by tomorrow to visit.”

“No. My mother is perfectly fine.”

“Then why the emergency flowers?” Bunny gasped. “Wait. Didn’t you go to the highest bidder last night? And wasn’t she your old flame?”

News traveled fast in a small town. Gritting his teeth, Angus bit out, “Can you get me the flowers or not?”

“Hey, you’re cranky. Is it because you’re not getting any and you hope to by giving her daisies? I’m telling you. Sex bribes come better in full, lush, fuck-me red roses. I can set you up with two dozen, just say the word.”

“I don’t want roses, and they aren’t sex bribes. I want a dozen very sincere daisies. If you don’t have them, just say so.”

“Oh, I have them.”

“Holy hell, Bunny, stop teasing me, already.” Angus took a steadying breath. “Will you sell them to me tonight?”

“Sure. What time do you need them and do you want them delivered?”

“I’ll pick them up in fifteen minutes.”

“You don’t give a girl much time to think about it, do you?”

“That’s the idea,” he muttered as he ended the call.

“Mona, what am I going to do?” Gwen had called an emergency meeting with her old school chum and only confidante. “I can’t go out with him.”

“Why not? You paid for him.” Mona’s eyes narrowed. “Or is it because you don’t trust him?”

“Hell no. I trust him. It’s me I don’t trust!” Gwen paced the small bed-and-breakfast room in nothing but her bra and panties. “Besides, I don’t have anything to wear!” She threw her hands in the air and paced faster.

“Hey, hey.” Mona stood in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. “Snap out of it. You could probably wear nothing at all and suit him just fine.”

“I know!” Tears sprang from Gwen’s eyes. “Damn. I swore I’d never cry over that man again.”

“And all these years you thought he didn’t care about you. He’d never gotten your note and he thought you’d run out on him without so much as a goodbye.”

“Exactly. Now you see why my life is so fucked up. I can’t afford to let go of the old hurt. It was the only thing holding me together.”

Mona pulled her into a tight hug. “Oh, baby. You can’t hold on to that hurt. It was groundless.”

“I have the worst luck with men.”

“Two men. One due to a misunderstanding. The other due to a mindless mistake in Vegas. You were young, depressed and looking for love in all the wrong places.”

“Damn right I was.”

“I remember. I found Grant at a rodeo. It wasn’t Vegas, but a girl can do some pretty stupid things at a rodeo. Things didn’t work out for us at first.”

“But everything worked out fine in the end between you and Grant. Why can’t everything work out fine for me?”

“It can if you let it.”

“No. I won’t subject Dalton to the heartache. If he gets used to having Angus around, he’ll be devastated when we break up and he doesn’t come around anymore. And if it works out between Angus and me, how can I expect him to take in another man’s child? It’s hard enough to be a parent to your own children, much less someone else’s.”

“Honey, Dalton is the sweetest little boy in the world. Angus will love him. Especially since he’s the spittin’ image of the woman he loves.”

“He doesn’t love me.” How could he when he’d thought she’d dumped him without a word all those years ago? God, what a waste. “Hell, it’s been seven years. He’s probably had at least that many lovers since me.”

“That cowboy wouldn’t have expanded the dates if he didn’t have feelings for you.” Mona shook her. “Woman, he freakin’ doubled them! That says something.”

“I’m so confused.” Gwen shoved a hand through her heavy mass of hair. “I’ll never be ready in time. Hell, I haven’t even done my hair.”

“All you really need to do is brush it and leave it down. When you wear it up, you look older than you are.” Mona hugged her. “No offense, but you look uptight.”

“I am getting older, and my hair is completely unmanageable when I don’t put it up.”

“Wear it down,” Mona commanded.

Gwen popped a salute at her friend. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Tell you what, I have a dress you might be able to wear.” Mona spun and sprinted for the door. “I’ll be right back.”

“Why don’t I come with you?”

Mona laughed. “You’d be arrested for indecent exposure. You get yourself a cup of tea while I run across the street. I’ll be back in three shakes.”

After Mona left, Gwen’s panic levels rose exponentially. Without someone to talk her down off the ceiling, she clung to the rafters. Making herself sit in one of the two easy chairs in the room, she pulled her wallet out of her purse and dug a photograph out of a hidden pocket.

The picture was of her and Angus that summer when she was only twenty-one and he was twenty-five. Mona had taken it of them kissing. They looked so in love it brought tears to Gwen’s eyes. “I can’t do this.”

“Yes, you can,” Mona said from the door, breathing hard. “And I have the perfect dress for you to wear.”

“What if he takes me four-wheelin’ on the flats out by the lake?”

“Then you hang on tight.” Mona patted her arm. “Don’t worry, Angus is seven years older than the last time you dated. He’s not going to take you mud ridin’ or four-wheelin’. My bet is he’ll take you somewhere the two of you can stare at the moon or each other, whichever melts your butter. Then he’s going to turn that horse-whisperin’ magic on you and charm you right out of your panties.” Mona held up an accordion of condom packets. “That’s what these are for.”

“Mona! There will not be sex tonight.” Though she protested, her loins ached at the very thought. Hell, he’d given her a breath-stealing orgasm with Dalton nearby. “Fuck! Now you’ve got me thinking about it.”

“That’s right.” Mona grinned. “You’ll be in a full lather by the time he arrives.”

“I already am,” Gwen wailed. “I’m trying to come down from it. Holy shit. I can’t handle this much stress.”

“Sweetie, you’re not handling this reunion very well. Take a deep breath and let it out .”

Gwen sucked in a shaky breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t feel any better.”

“Well I do. That was a whole two seconds you weren’t freakin’ out on me.” Mona shoved the dress into her arms. “Now, go try on this dress. It’s a surefire way to get laid tonight. I guarantee it.”

“What part of I don’t want to get laid did you not understand?”

“Blah, blah, blah. You’re not foolin’ me, even if you are foolin’ yourself.” Mona unzipped the back of the dress and held it up for Gwen to slip into.

Gwen had to shimmy into the formfitting dress that hugged her body like a second skin. The front neckline plunged halfway to her belly button, displaying a lot more boobage than she’d shown in public since she was two and playing in her wading pool in the nude. The back plunged so low she suspected her butt crack showed.

“Lose the bra,” Mona said.

Gwen unhooked her bra in the back and slid the straps from her shoulders, then slipped her arms into the dress. “I can’t wear this. It screams fuck me, all over the place. And look at this.” She plumped her breasts. “The girls are barely covered.”

A knock on the door made Gwen jump. She glanced at the clock and nearly had a cow. “Shit, he’s early.” She adjusted the bodice of the dress to cover as much as possible, marched to the door and yanked it open. “You said eight o’clock—” Her words lodged in her throat at the sight of the gorgeous cowboy carrying an embarrassingly large bouquet of daisies.

“I was in town early so I thought I’d see if you were ready.” He glanced behind him. “I can come back in fifteen minutes.”

“No. No.” She stepped aside. “Come in.”

“These are for you.” He held out the flowers. Her favorites.

When she took them, the shock of electricity blasted through her all over again. It had been that way seven years ago, and the same held true today. The man made her insides melt and butterflies war in her stomach. What was it about Angus McFarlan that turned her world upside down with just one of his smiles? It was going to be a lot harder than she originally anticipated to walk away from the man this time. Of that she was certain.

But damned if she could do it now.

“Ahem.” Mona cleared her throat. “I’ll just be going.” She stepped around them to slide through the doorway. “Angus, treat my girl right. And I don’t mean all gentlemanly and the like. Treat her right.” She winked at Angus, and then turned to Gwen. “Call me when you get a chance. I want all the details. That’s right,” she whispered to Angus. “We share everything.” She waved her fingers. “Toodles.”

With Mona gone, Gwen had nothing standing in the way of her and Angus. Her nerves tightened and she dove for the strappy stilettos Mona had brought with the dress. “If I’m overdressed, I can change into the jeans your mother loaned me.”

His gaze swept the length of her, from her hair tumbling about her shoulders, down the dress’s plunging neckline to the tips of her bare feet. “You look great.”

Her cheeks heated at his compliment. “Where are we going?”

“I thought I’d take you to dinner at the steak house and then back to the Ugly Stick Saloon. If I recall, you like to dance.”

“I do.” She smiled up at him. “And if I remember correctly, I taught you how to two-step.”

“You had the broken toes to prove it.”

She wiggled her toes, remembering, and feeling more relaxed than she had before he’d arrived. “Well, then, let’s get going. I’m hungry.” If they kept it light and kept to public places, she might make it through the night without pouncing his body and begging him to fuck her like there was no tomorrow.

According to plan, they ate at the steak house, talking over dinner about the people they both knew from Temptation and about the changes that had occurred over the past seven years to the town and the Ugly Stick Saloon.

Gwen had a single glass of wine, determined not to overdo it after having tied one on the previous night. Not knowing what would happen between the two of them after their four dates, she wanted to savor every moment.

“What about you?” Angus asked. “How did you come to own your own business at such a young age?”

“Seems I have a knack for knowing which products will take off and which won’t. It was a small company with a limited budget and marketing plan.” Gwen smiled. “The owner was in her late sixties and ready to retire. She wanted to sell the company to someone who had vision and could take it to the next level.”

Angus nodded. “You were her choice.”

“That was the beginning. I had to come up with the business plan and financing to buy it. With her help and a lawyer friend of mine, we made it happen. Three years and thirty additional employees later, I’ve increased sales three hundred percent and we’re moving for the second time to a larger building.”

“You seem very happy.”

Gwen shrugged. “It’s been a challenge to get the right people in the right positions. I finally feel I can take a vacation and not worry that things aren’t being run the way I would if I were there twenty-four-seven.” She leaned back, twirling her wineglass in her fingers. “What about you? Are you still contracting with the engineering firm in Dallas?”

He nodded. “I am.”

“I don’t know how you have time, with a full-scale quarter horse breeding operation and cattle ranch.”

“I have two full-time ranch hands who help keep me sane, and who take over when I’m on deadline or have to make a trip to the firm in Dallas. But I’m not managing nearly as many people as you are.”

“You’re managing a large number of animals and acreage, which has its own headaches.”

His lips curled in a half smile. “Having worked in Dallas in a large engineering firm, I find that I’m much happier working with horses.”

Gwen laughed. “I think it suits you much better. You always had a way with them.”

“And you always had a way with people.”

Her chest swelled. Since her parents had died before she purchased the company, she really had no one with whom to share her triumphs.

“You should be proud of your success, Gwen.”

“Thank you. And so should you.”

He shrugged. “I do what I do because I love it.”

“Same here. I figure if you don’t love what you’re doing, you’re not doing the right thing.” Gwen’s heart warmed. She blamed it on the wine, but suspected it was more the company. As they finished eating, the warmth morphed into something more. In her mind, she imagined several different scenarios, all of them more graphic than the last, each including some form of undress and bodily contact.

By the time their table was cleared and Angus held her chair, Gwen’s pulse was hopping and her nerves had stretched to a hypersensitive level that had her nearly panting in anticipation.

Angus offered her his arm.

Gwen nearly sizzled with the jolt of electricity that passed from where she touched him, through to her very core. Though he was being the ultimate gentleman, Gwen reacted as if he were stroking her body with the tips of his fingers and his tongue. Her pussy creamed and thrummed with a pulsing need she could no longer deny. She’d been foolish to set the ground rules of no kissing and no sex, when she was ready to throw in the towel, admit defeat and get naked.

“We don’t have to go to the Ugly Stick if you don’t want to,” she offered, praying he wouldn’t think she’d rather end the night there. Other more intimate ideas plagued her mind to the point of obsession.

“Good. I’d rather not share you.”

Gwen slowly released the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding and smiled at his comment. It sounded promising.

“I have a better place in mind.” Angus held open the door to his truck.

“You do?” God, she hoped wherever it was, there was a bed involved.

“Yes, ma’am.” He tipped his cowboy hat.

“And where is that?” she asked, her voice as light as she could make it between gritted teeth as she struggled to restrain herself from out-and-out attacking him. What was wrong with her? Had seven years of abstinence taken their toll? Surely she was capable of controlling her baser instincts long enough to get through the rest of the evening. She feared her iron will and self-control were quickly ebbing away like sand beneath her feet at high tide.

“You’ll see when we get there.”

Excitement pooled low in her belly, making her blood burn with the possibilities the evening might hold.

He drove away from Temptation on a highway headed north. After he’d gone what seemed like five miles, he turned off onto a dirt road.

As they bumped along, Gwen held on to the oh-shit handle above her head and laughed. “I’m beginning to wish I’d brought those jeans.”

“I promise not to make you hike in those shoes.”

“I’m going to hold you to that promise.”

The dirt road wound through gnarled live oak trees and crossed a dry creek bed where Angus stopped the truck.

“This is the place?” Gwen asked, glancing out the window at an unremarkable scene barely illuminated by the stars shining overhead.

“Not quite.” He twisted a knob on the dash. “Just shifting into four-wheel drive.”

A nervous chuckle rose up her throat, escaping into the cab.

Angus shot her a look, his brows twisted. “Something funny?”

“Mona swore you wouldn’t take me four-wheeling. I knew better.”

He stepped on the accelerator and grinned. “You won’t regret it.”

Part of her already was, knowing the more time she spent with him, the worse it would be when she went back to Dallas, leaving him behind for good. After this one date, she wouldn’t hold him to the others. Driving to and from Dallas every weekend would be too much trouble. He had his life, the ranch and his horses. She had Dalton, her business and soccer-mom duty.

But, for this one night, she could pretend it was just the two of them and a sky full of stars.

Angus drove up a steep hill.

Gwen held on, leaning forward to see what was on the other side of the hill. “We’re not going to drive off a cliff, are we?”

“Not today,” he assured her.

“Good, I didn’t want to orphan Dalton because I went on a date.”

“You worry about him, don’t you?”

“I’m all he has.” She stared at the dirt track ahead of them. “Mona’s his godmother. If something happened to me, she’d take him.”

“It’s good to have backup.”

The truck topped the hill and the view took Gwen’s breath away. “Wow. You know how to pick the spots.”

The hilltop was a mesa, overlooking the valley and a small lake reflecting the moonlight off its surface like a silvery path to heaven.

Angus switched on the radio and tuned to a country-western station. “Come on.” He pushed open his door and climbed down.

“Really? You said I wouldn’t have to hike.”

“I said I wouldn’t make you hike. I also promised I’d take you dancing. I live up to my promises.” He rounded the truck and opened her door.

When she started to step down, he wrapped his big hands around her waist and lifted her out, settling her on her feet. Then he took her hands in his, settled one on his shoulder and clasped the other. The moonlight softened his rugged features with an indigo-blue tint. If possible, he was even more handsome than the first time they’d met.

She moved in his arms and smiled up at him. “They’re playing a waltz.”

“Perfect,” he said, drawing her closer, his feet barely moving.

“The music?”

“No.” He abandoned her hand and dragged her body against his. “You.”

She stiffened, resisting, for a moment, the magnetic attraction of the cowboy who’d won her heart so many years ago. How could it be they’d ended up in the same saloon on the same night? What were the odds she’d come to Temptation and he’d be up for auction at the Annual Cowboy Auction?

“What made you want to be one of the cowboys auctioned off? It doesn’t seem like something the old Angus I knew would ever consider.”

“And I wouldn’t have if my mother hadn’t set me up.”

“How did she get you to go to the Ugly Stick Saloon on ladies’ night?”

He didn’t say anything, but his arms tightened around her. “What’s it matter? I was there, you were there. Now we’re here. Let’s dance.”

She laid her cheek on his chest and listened to the beat of his heart, hammering fast and hard. If she wasn’t mistaken, he was holding back, not telling her something she suspected was important.

The music played on, his body was warm against hers and she relaxed, inhaling the scent of Angus. She’d give herself this night. One for the memories she’d have to be satisfied with until Dalton graduated high school and she could think of a life for herself.

Gwen slipped her arms around Angus’s waist and leaned into him, absorbing his heat, her body generating more on its own. The moon and stars were doing their job and the music sealed the deal. It was a night to rekindle an old flame.

Beware your heart.