Sunset Seduction - By Charlene Sands Page 0,5

the tagalong little sis on the rodeo circuit. Luke thought that Audrey had gotten a raw deal in life. Casey had been overly strict with her. Luke figured her brother was overcompensating, being mother and father to her. Casey had tried hard, but a lot of the time, he didn’t know what the hell he was doing when it came to his little sister.

Audrey compensated, too. She took to the animals and the animals loved her in return. They were a good match. Audrey had a special fondness for the rodeo horses. There wasn’t a one that didn’t temper its wild mood when Audrey walked up.

According to her application, after college, she’d worked for a veterinarian clinic in Reno for a couple of years before deciding to apply to equine vet school. Luke also noted all the charity and volunteer work Audrey had done through the years. She had listed animal shelters and horse rescues, and was part of the Freedom for Wild Horses organization.

Luke picked up the phone and punched in Casey’s number. “Hey,” he said when his friend answered.

“Hey.”

Luke owed his friend a favor for letting him crash at his Tahoe cabin last month. Being with his buddy helped his recuperation move along more quickly. Well, at least it’d been less mentally painful. Luke thought he’d go stir-crazy, not being able to do a dang thing with his arm in a cast and three cracked ribs making it hard for him to breathe. Up at the cabin, it was okay to do nothing but while away the time. Casey made it easy and they’d had a few laughs.

But he would have hired Audrey even if he didn’t owe Casey a favor. She was qualified and a hard worker. Audrey was true blue and a nice kid.

“I’ve got your little sis here. She’s working for me now.”

There was silence on the other end. And finally “She didn’t tell me that.”

Uh-oh. Luke didn’t like getting in between the two of them. “Yeah, well, it just happened. You must’ve mentioned that I was shorthanded on the ranch. Anyway, she showed up looking for work, and I hired her as a wrangler for a few months.”

“Hell, Luke. I don’t recall mentioning any such thing to her. I must be getting old and forgetful.”

Luke laughed. Casey was only thirty-three. “Hell, yeah, you are. You see any problem with her working here?” Not that Luke was asking permission. Audrey was twenty-four and making her own decisions now. He’d called Casey for an entirely different reason.

Casey hesitated. “Not at all, buddy. It’s just that she’s been acting a little weird lately. You know, sort of wanting to be by herself and all. I thought she’d come up to the cabin to spend the summer with me. She had this loser boyfriend in Reno and she finally dumped him. The jerk was cheating on her. My little sis really took it hard. I don’t think she’s over it yet. It was all I could do to restrain myself from knocking his stupid self from here to Sunday. Jackass.”

“Jackass is right.”

“Damn straight.”

“Well, she’s here now,” Luke said. “She’s going to be staying at the main house. You don’t need to worry. I’ll look out for her.”

“Like you always do. I appreciate it, Luke. And I’ll count on you to make sure none of those ranch hands break her heart.”

“Hell, she’ll be breaking theirs.”

Casey chuckled. “That’s all right, then.”

“Yeah, I hear you. Don’t worry about Audrey. And you come up anytime you want to visit. Stay at the ranch.”

“What, and leave my cabin? I got me a keg of beer, my barbecue grill and gorgeous women to stare at by the lake all day long.”

Luke’s mind flashed an image of one gorgeous woman in particular—a blonde with long, slender legs and a dazzler of a smile—who had crashed the lakeshore party Casey had thrown on Luke’s last night at the cabin. She’d shown up at his farewell barbecue and had caught his eye the second she’d walked over to join the festivities. She’d been with a small group of people and Luke never did get the woman’s name amid the fifty or so partygoers that Casey had invited. She’d come late and left early, but not before giving Luke half a dozen suggestive looks. He’d been ready to approach her, but had gotten sidetracked by someone interested in hearing about his rodeo days.

“You ever find out who that blonde was?” Luke had good reason to ask.

“You mean the