Page 9 of Texas Made
“About a year ago I dated a woman I thought might be ‘the one,’” he said, making air quotes.
“What happened?”
“She wasn’t.”
She punched his arm lightly. “Not good enough.”
“She was smart and gorgeous and I was this close—” he held his thumb and pointer finger about an inch apart “—to falling crazy in love with her.”
“So what happened?”
“She hated the ranch and hated horses.”
Jaclyn simply stared at him. “Didn’t you know that before you started dating?”
“No.”
“How could you have gone out with her for any length of time and not realize that?”
“It wasn’t hard,” he said with a wicked grin.
Jaclyn rolled her eyes. “That’s such a male thing to say.”
“I am a male.”
Yes, he certainly was.
“Your turn.”
She sighed. “My boyfriend broke it off with me. He said I was a workaholic and no fun to be around.”
“He was one of the people who told you that you were working too much.”
“Yes. And sure, I work a lot. But you can’t run a successful company without a lot of hard work. You should know. You work all the time too.”
“Notallthe time. I’m not working right now.”
“Funny thing, neither am I.” The words were no sooner out of her mouth than she slipped on some leaves on the bank of the stream. Before she could catch herself, Marshall had grabbed her, his arm around her waist holding her next to him.
“Steady there,” he said. “I should have warned you. The banks are slick this time of year.”
She looked up at him. Good Lord, the man had arms of steel. Whatever she’d intended to say had fled her mind as soon as he put his hands on her. They stood so close to each other she felt the heat coming from him.Kiss me, was all she could think. For a moment, their gazes locked, he started to lean down to her.Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me.
He didn’t. Damn it.
Instead he let her go and turned toward the horses. As soon as they reached them, they mounted and headed home. Shortly before they reached the barn Jaclyn said, “I enjoyed that. Thank you.”
“I did too. Maybe there’s something to this not working all the time.”
Later, after they’d taken care of the horses and Jaclyn had gone back to the cottage, she thought about that afternoon. Damn it, why hadn’t he kissed her? They’d had the perfect opportunity. It was almost as if he’d started to then thought better of it. Was he not attracted to her? If not, why had he asked her riding and to the gala? A horrible thought occurred to her. What if he thought of her as he did his sisters? Maybe he was just being nice to his sister’s friend. Probably because of Damaris, no matter what he’d said.
She thought about the look in his eyes when he’d first seen her that afternoon. She knew male appreciation when she saw it. And then, when he’d given her a boost, he’d let his hand linger on her calf a little longer than had been absolutely necessary. No, she might not be sure what he felt about her, but it was definitely not brotherly. Thank God.
Marshall obviously needed a push. And she knew just the thing to do it.
Chapter Four
“What’s going on?”Jaclyn asked Marshall the following day. She’d been awakened at the crack of dawn. After pulling on jeans and a sweatshirt, she went looking for Marshall.
