following!
That mouth, which had featured so heavily in her fantasies, pressed slightly in reaction to seeing her. Recognition flared and Frankie’s heart began to pound. “NO!” She burst out again, this time more vehemently. “No, no, no, no!”
Spinning around, Frankie paced across the wide space between the horse stalls, the dirt floor covered straw and dust and…other things she wasn’t willing to identify at the moment. She ignored the scents of well cared for horses mingling with dust and leather as she stomped her foot. “This is not happening! He isn’t here!”
Standing in the middle of the wide space, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting the air slowly ease out of her lungs. But when she opened her eyes again, the man was still behind the massive desk of the stable manager’s office. But now, his expression had changed from one of stunned surprise to…amusement? Triumph?!
Still pacing, she shook her head, glaring at the floor. “It isn’t him! No. I left him back in Dallas and vowed never to see him again. Never! I don’t care how handsome he is or how charming, it simply doesn’t matter!”
She paced some more, struggling to focus on her breathing in a futile effort to calm her temper. Frankie simply couldn’t believe that Fate had such a twisted sense of humor!
“I didn’t have sex with him for a reason!” she muttered vehemently. “And that was a valid reason! So why? Why is fate putting him in my way again? I’m so close! So close to finishing this stupid job! Why would Fate do this to me?”
A deep male voice interrupted her thoughts. “You know that I can hear every word you say…right?”
Startled, Frankie spun around and glared up at the man she’d vowed never to see again. He’d moved from the chair to the doorway of the rough office, leaning a shoulder against the frame of the door.
She looked into those eyes – silver, she realized – and noticed the dimple on his left cheek as he unsuccessfully tried to hide his amusement…and groaned, closing her eyes as she realized what she should have caught back in Dallas. And she might have, if she’d been in her right mind!
“No!” She stomped her foot, shook her head, and sighed. Reluctantly, she lifted her gaze to meet his. “Why did it have to be you?”
He chuckled and pushed away from the doorframe, walking towards her. “Well, that’s an interesting question.”
Frankie held her breath when he reached out and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Frankie still hadn’t taken the time to get her hair cut, so now the curls were just past her shoulders, riotous and messy. But oh, she loved his touch!
She told herself to move away from him. She ordered her brain to move her feet, to duck from his fingers. But she did none of that. Nor did she understand why she stood there, letting him touch her.
“I guess I could ask you the same question.” He chuckled. “What is a city girl like you doing way out here, in the middle of nowhere?”
“This isn’t nowhere,” she shot back.
“Close enough,” he countered with a one shouldered shrug.
“Please tell me that you’re not Kade Wilson,” she pleaded.
He chuckled again. Frankie couldn’t stop the shiver of awareness that bolted through her system. She remembered that laugh. Remembered how sexy it had sounded when she’d first heard it so many months ago. Different city. Different moment. Different circumstances. Same sensuous reaction!
“I’m afraid I am Kade Wilson, honey.”
Her mouth opened and closed, as if she wanted to argue his point but wasn’t sure how. “But…you live in Dallas!” She blurted. “I met you in Dallas!”
He nodded, the sunshine making his dark hair gleam. “Yeah, well…I was only there briefly.”
Wait a minute! Had he just hesitated? It had been slight, but Frankie had heard it! What was he hiding? Frankie’s spidey sense kicked in. As a child, she’d learned to sense hesitations and lies. Because of her childhood, she’d made a career out of discovering those secrets!
So, what was he hiding?
Whatever it was, hopefully, it wasn’t her problem. Besides, just like back in Dallas, she wouldn’t be around long enough to get to know him well enough to care about his secrets.
Besides, Frankie had a job to do! A very important job worth a great deal of money. Edward Meyers, her bastard of a client, had offered her a bonus if she could convince the third son, the last of the