Amazing. The horse acted part dog, part cat, eagerly luxuriating at the touch of Boone’s strong, gentle hands. Sometimes the colt would almost seem to lean toward Boone as if begging for more.
Boone smiled. Boone laughed. He moved and talked, praised and caressed, strong and in command but the strength never misused.
And Maddie couldn’t help but wonder how much it mirrored the way Boone would make love.
You’ll never find out, so just stop wondering. Even if Boone had given her a single sign of welcome, the idea was futile. She already knew enough about Boone to know that he took life very seriously. Even if he would indulge in a meaningless fling, instinct told her that he would never do it here at the ranch. And that’s all it could be, a fling, a temporary affair. She would be gone in just a few weeks.
Besides, Maddie herself wasn’t the type for casual sex. Hot, yes—oh, yes. Meaningless, no. She led with her heart, no matter how she had tried to change. It was why she’d sworn off men for the foreseeable future.
Part of the reason she’d come to Texas had been to take a hiatus from men. Cowboys weren’t her type and she’d expected to confront no temptations.
But Boone was not an easy man to ignore. A new layer emerged every time she was around him. Good looks she could forget—New York was full of good-looking men. But Boone was full of contrasts—rugged but gentle, hard but haunted, a man whose rough edges were proving to hide surprising pockets of tenderness.
Except around her, of course.
It didn’t matter. She would be gone soon. Maddie turned back to the green beans, concentrating so fiercely that she started at the voice behind her.
“Ma’am?”
Maddie almost lost her balance. She rose to face the man she’d been told was the foreman. “Yes?”
Fiftyish and tanned from long hours in the sun, the man grinned a craggy smile. “I’m Jim Caskey, ma’am. I’m the foreman around here.”
“I’m Maddie Collins. Pleased to meet you.”
“Same here.” He shifted on his feet but didn’t speak again. He studied the ground.
“Is there something you need, Mr. Caskey?”
His head jerked up. “What? Oh—no, no. Nice day, don’t you think?”
Maddie resisted the urge to laugh. One of the hardest things to get used to was the pace of life around here. Conversations moved as slowly as everything else. But she was learning. She scanned the sky. “Yes, it is. Hot, though.”
He looked relieved, as though they’d discovered a common language. “Don’t think it’ll rain. Prob’ly tonight, though. My knee always knows.”
“Your knee?”
“Yes, ma’am. I got this trick knee from when I rode bulls and it’s better than that radar they got over in Abilene.”
“Really?” She pinched her thigh so the pain would keep her face straight. “It never misses?”
He shook his head. “Purt’ near perfect record.”
“Wow. That’s amazing.” They stood in silence for a long moment. “Can I help you with something, Mr. Caskey?”
“Please call me Jim, ma’am. Mr. Caskey’s my dad.”
“Okay—Jim. Do you think you could call me Maddie? Ma’am makes me feel as if I could be your mother.”
His face creased in a wide grin, his eyes sparkling. “Oh, trust me, ma’am—uh, Maddie. My mother never looked anything like you. Fact is, me and Sonny, we can’t help noticin’—”
“Sonny is the other gentleman who works with you?”
“Yes, ma’am—uh, Maddie. But he’s married, too.” Jim’s eyes lost their sparkle. “I mean, his wife’s real nice and all, just that you should know…”
Maddie wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep her face straight. If there was a point to this conversation, she wondered if they’d reach it today. “I understand, Jim. I’ll try to keep my hands to myself.”
The man looked honestly horrified. “Oh, I never meant that you would—” His face went redder than the tomatoes beside her. He cleared his throat. “Actually, it’s just that I noticed—well, me and Sonny noticed that you sure seem to like this garden. Seems odd for a city girl.”
Maddie resisted a sigh of frustration. “It’s a treat to take food straight off the plant instead of the grocery shelves.”
“Well, my Velda’s got peach trees and I brought you some of her peaches, if you think you’d like them. But if you don’t, that’s all right.”
“Fresh peaches?” Maddie’s heart thumped.
“Picked this morning.”