****
Cade Gallagher swore ripely as he studied the small drop of blood on his finger. True, it wasn’t worth crying over, but coming on top of the kind of day he had had, he could be forgiven for being a bit touchy. First, his truck had broken down about a few miles away from the rodeo, and then his cell phone battery had up and died—again; and what crisis would be complete without his horse getting a stone in its hoof?
He had only noticed it when he got to the rodeo and, exhausted as he was, he had had to get rid of the damn thing and sooth the poor animal. The last thing he needed was Caesar going lame just when this competition from hell was going to begin. If there was one thing Cade hated, it was the rodeo—and yet, here he was! He needed the money because that fool father of his had gambled away their entire savings and spent the rest of what he could scrape together on women right before he died two weeks ago.
Selfishness was something Cade had never been able to understand and had always abhorred which was why he hesitated to apply the word to his ‘dearly departed’ father. But when he considered the fact that they had been extremely wealthy until three months ago when his father learned he had less than four months to live due to his hitherto undetected cancer—and proceeded to squander everything that wasn’t nailed down—he didn’t know what else to think.
“You’ll be alright here, Boy,” he crooned, stroking Caesar.
He turned and bounded up the three wooden stairs leading to the door of the cabin, his grey eyes sweeping his surroundings. It was pitch dark outside and he was eager to have a hot meal and flop onto his bed. There wasn’t much chance of getting the first so he might as well settle for sleeping, he decided with a mighty yawn.
He slammed the door shut behind him, barely remembering to latch it behind. He stumbled over something in the middle of the room right next to the front door. He was so tired, he didn’t bother checking to see what it was as he staggered towards the bed in the middle of the next room. He carefully removed his clothes and hung them over the back of the lone chair in the room. Then he turned, stark naked, towards the bed and froze in his tracks. There was a girl—woman?—in his bed!
She had a tantalizing expanse of fair, baby-soft skin that made him go hard just looking at her. With an oath, he grabbed a blanket from off the floor and tried to cover her up. But just then, she muttered in her sleep and turned onto her back giving him a sudden eyeful of her huge thrusting breasts, an impossibly flat stomach, thin waist and a small nestle of curls at the juncture of her thighs that told him her blonde locks didn’t come from a bottle.
His arousal swelled even more insistently making him so hard it hurt.
Cade cursed aloud.
The woman’s eyes flew open and in less than one second, she registered the fact that a stark naked, strange man was leaning over her. She screamed immediately—an ear-splitting sound that made him go temporarily deaf—and then she reached for a pillow and swung it at him. It bounced off harmlessly, but was enough to give him pause. Then she rolled off the bed in a tangle of flying long limbs as she reached for an unseen gun and flipped on the bedside lamp in one fluid motion. He relaxed a little when he saw it was rock-salt. That motherfucker hurt as hell and could do more than its fair share of damage, but at least it was not an actual rifle.
“Okay, hold on—you’re in my bed. Why are you the one who gets to shoot me?”
That made her pause; she looked askance at him, “Your bed?”
He shrugged. His eyes scanned the rest of her. She had really luxurious, curly blond hair that hung all the way to her waist, beautiful white teeth that flashed every time she spoke, a face a man could stare at all day and a body straight out of his naughtiest fantasies. He would have her, he decided; maybe not tonight, but one way or the other he had to have this sexy, intoxicating, absolutely tantalizing woman. He would be gentle he decided, because she looked so fragile; her features were so fine they were almost porcelain.
He cleared his throat awkwardly as his dick swelled even more insistently against his thighs, “Perhaps we should get dressed; I’m sure we both look a tad ridiculous standing around naked with a gun waving this way and that between us.”
Wry humor flashed in her green eyes and Cade knew immediately that he liked her. She had not squealed and morphed into some shy miss desperately reaching for a blanket or something which was exactly what he had expected.
She stared at him coolly, her eyes for the first time noticeably flicking down the length of him. Her eyes assessed his face, which he had been told had character. He had a long aristocratic nose, firm thin lips, chiseled chin, firm granite jaw, and high bushy eye brows that lent him an air of raw masculinity that ladies seemed to love. Her gaze descended to his naked, hairless chest, past his small budded nipples, down his flat, washboard abs, and straight to his hard, erect rigid member. He expected her to flick her gaze up to his or look away modestly, instead she stared long and hard at junior before dropping her gaze the rest of the way to his hard, masculine legs.
When she finally looked up at him, her eyes were carefully blank but she had a slight pink tinge on her cheeks. He realized then that she was not as unaffected as she had made out. Good, he thought as a trickle of sweat worked its way down the middle of his back.
Slowly, he turned to reach for his clothes and she immediately barked, “Hold it right there, buster!”
“Just gonna reach for my clothes,” he said, his hands still raised comically in the surrender position.
“Guess again. Step over towards the bed,” she ordered briskly, waving the gun at him.
So, she wanted to search out his clothes before he reached for them, in case he had a weapon? Smart girl!
“You got it, ma’am,” he said mildly as he moved to obey her.
Her eyes still trained on him, she reached for his jeans; dabbed, dabbed. Nothing. She threw them over to him and he caught them on the fly, grinning. Next, she flung his tee-shirt to him. She didn’t send over his knapsack, he noticed.
She looked around the room, as though searching for something.
“Aren’t you going to get dressed, Sweetheart?” he drawled in a deliberately thick Texas twang.
Her eyes flashed green fire at him even as her cheeks heated up. He realized with an inward chuckle that her clothes were probably what he had stumbled over at the door.
He let the chuckle bubble to the surface unable to hide his mirth at her predicament.
“Well, the way I see it, Honey—” he said, flopping deliberately onto the bed, “you can either head on out to get your clothes, in which case I might arm myself before you return. Or you can send me to go get them in which case…” he trailed off, with a shrug and an insouciant grin.
She eyed him for a bit, then she slowly picked up his trench coat from the chair and wriggled into it with absolutely nothing else underneath. It was the singular most erotic thing he had ever witnessed and the top of his head almost came off, even as his dick pressed all the more insistently against his fly.
He swallowed.
“At this point, I’m gonna want to know your name. I don’t know about the fellas you’re used to honey, but I usually like to know who is sleeping in my bed.”
“Your bed?” she scoffed. “Of all the— This is my room.”
“Not according to my buddy, it isn’t. This here text says Room 15F.”
“Well unless your buddy is Wade Tyler, this isn’t your room!” she informed him, disbelievingly. Of all the nerve!
He paused, “My buddy actually is Wade Tyler. How the hell do you know him?”
Callie’s eyes narrowed as she thought about it. Wade had seemed especially accommodating and strangely acquiescing of her intention to attend the rodeo alone. What were the odds he hadn’t in fact sent this man after her to keep an eye on her? She had been waiting for the other shoe to drop since Wade honored to her request to go without him, hadn’t she? But to send this man to her room?
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Cade Gallagher. Yours?”
“Callie Tyler.”
“Callie? That’s a pretty name…I like it,” he said with a sudden smile that made her breath catch in her throat.
If she had thought he was handsome before, when he smiled, he was an absolute knockout. And what was he babbling on about her name anyway?
“Listen Cade, my brother never told me about anyone coming here. Plus, he would never send you to my room. He’s way too protective. Are you sure you’re not talking about a different Wade?”
“I know he’s a seven-time champion in bronco riding and team roping. Plus, he just had a baby girl, Laila, which he’s absolutely crazy about.”
That was her brother alright. Slowly, she lowered the gun, feeling drained without explanation. He made to rise from the bed, but she immediately trained the gun on him.
“Stay where you are,” she ordered.
She edged around the other side of the bed, away from him, and grabbed her phone. She dialed Wade’s number from memory and listened to the ringing. Wade picked up almost immediately.
“Did you send a man to my room?” she demanded the moment he said hello.
“We’re all fine over here, Callie; thanks for asking,” he muttered sarcastically.
“Well, did you?” she repeated, impatiently.
“Yes. His name is Cade Gallagher,” Wade said wearily.
“You sent him to my room?” she shouted, lowering her voice at the last moment.
“No. No. A different room. But it’s all booked so he’ll stay with you. He’s a perfect gentleman, don’t worry. He fell on some hard times so I set him up to compete with you in the rodeo. He could use his half of the prize money real bad.”
“I don’t believe this!”
“Relax, Callie. You’re safe with him.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Silence.
“Go on, Wade, why didn’t you tell me you were sending a perfect stranger to bed down with me?”
“He won’t do that. He’s a gentleman. Grew up right here in Texas.”
“So, you trust him because he’s got a Texas twang and good ol’ boy charm?” she asked.
It was a barb, but it seemed to sail right over Wade’s head.
“There are precious few things I won’t trust Cade with,” Wade assured her earnestly.
“Obviously, I am not one of them!” she spat bitterly, and then she hung up on him.
“So?” Cade asked, obviously haven eavesdropped shamelessly.
“You’re staying. But ground rules, cowboy, you sleep on the couch in the outer room. And just so we’re clear, if you ever attempt to touch me, I’ll cut off both your hands and any other part that sticks out!” she spat and then she disappeared into the little washroom and slammed the door behind her.
Silence.
Then, “Hey, what about my coat?”
Callie gritted her teeth. He was the most infuriating man alive; next to Wade!