a verbal caress. She felt her cheeks heat with a blush as he smiled that slow, devastating smile and moved back. His hands covered hers on his chest, rubbing lightly before he stepped away.
“That’ll be Jones with the new stock. I have to go.”
“Okay.” Forming coherent sentences was beyond her at the moment.
“Can we talk about this later? Say, after dinner, on your back porch?”
Surprised, she nodded. “I’d like that.”
Cody tipped his hat, flashing her another of his drop-dead-sexy grins, and headed for the pickup and trailer just pulling up beside the barn. Some of the other men emerged from the dark barn, and Cassandra fled into the house, wondering what had just happened. Had the other men seen Cody kissing the daylights out of her in the middle of the front yard? Or had they been working until the trailer pulled up?
Cassandra suddenly felt like a teenager again, caught necking with her high school boyfriend. But Cody wasn’t her boyfriend. Heck, she didn’t know what their relationship was…but she wanted to find out.
She’d had an inkling he was watching her, from time to time, since he’d started working at the ranch, but this was the first time he’d made a move on her. A little thrill tingled through her. She’d been right. He had been attracted to her—it wasn’t just wishful thinking on her part. But could he be as attracted to her as she was to him? Well, perhaps she’d find out later tonight.
Cassandra hugged the residual tingles from his kiss to herself as she went back to her kitchen. She hadn’t been kissed like that in…well…in far too long. All of a sudden, the day looked even brighter than before, and she was looking forward to the evening.
Cody was walking funny as he made his way to the stock truck. Damn. He’d finally gone and done it. He’d kissed Cassandra…Cassie…the woman he’d been dreaming about ever since he’d first seen her, just a few days ago. He’d been unable to stop thinking about her ever since then, and he’d wondered if she was some kind of witch. That would explain a lot. Maybe she’d put a spell on him to promote his obsession.
But that wouldn’t wash. She was as innocent and beguiling as a kitten. His wolf had gotten one sniff of her delicate scent and fallen in love, wanting to follow her around like a puppy.
He’d watched her since coming to the ranch. He’d stalked her in both his human and his wolf forms. At night, he’d shifted into his fur and prowled the entire length of the land, spending more time than he probably should have outside Cassie’s window, wondering what she was dreaming about when she made those sexy little sounds in her sleep.
Thinking about those sounds wasn’t helping ease the strain on his trousers any. He had to get back to work and focus on the matter at hand. There were three new horses in that truck that had to be eased out, made comfortable, and settled in before nightfall. It was already midafternoon. He had his work cut out for him for the rest of the day, and then, later this evening, he’d be prowling, again, trying to get to the bottom of whatever was going on here.
He’d decided one thing already. There definitely was something strange happening on Cassie’s ranch, but unless he was very much mistaken, she had no clue that someone was misusing her land and betraying her trust. He didn’t blame her for not knowing. It was pretty clear to him that she was a city girl who had no real understanding of what it took to run a ranch of this size.
She had enough money after the sale of her business to hire people to figure all that stuff out for her. The problem was she’d put her trust in the wrong person or persons. Even after a few days of investigation, Cody still had no clear idea of exactly who was doing what, but he would find out.
Chapter Two
Cody settled the horses into their stalls. He and the foreman, Rich, had spent the afternoon checking out the new stock, which Rich hoped would be the basis for a new breeding program. Three mares, all of good lineage, and here on a trial basis. The owners of the very pricey horses were willing to partner with Rich, based on his reputation and past performance with their animals.
Apparently, Rich had come from a much larger operation where he’d