The SEAL's Secret Heirs(31)

She wanted space, didn’t she? Couldn’t give a woman any more space than to pretend he’d moved on to another one. If he timed it right, Grace would get an eyeful of exactly how much space he was giving her. He treated Emma Jane to a wide smile and put an elbow on the desk, right by her knee.

Emma Jane lit up, just as Grace appeared in the open doorway of his office.

“Thanks, sweetie.” Emma Jane smiled and ran one hand up his arm provocatively. He didn’t remove it. “That’s the nicest compliment anyone’s ever given me.”

Grace halted as if she’d been slapped. That’s when he turned his head to meet her gaze, acknowledging her presence, just in case she’d gotten it into her head to flee. She was right where he wanted her.

“Am I interrupting?” Grace asked drily, and Emma Jane jerked back guiltily as she figured out they weren’t alone anymore.

Yes, thank God. He’d have to deal with Emma Jane at some point, but he couldn’t lie—he’d much rather have Grace sitting on his desk and leaning over strategically any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

“Not at all.” Kyle stood with a dismissive nod at Emma Jane, whose usefulness had just come to an end. “We were just talking about how to increase our contact list in the Fort Worth area. We can pick it up later.”

“We sure can,” Emma Jane purred, and then shot Grace a dirty look as she flounced from the room.

“That was cozy,” Grace commented once the sales manager was out of earshot. Her face was blank, but her tone had an undercurrent in it that he found very interesting.

“You think so?” Kyle crossed his arms and cocked a hip, pretending to contemplate. “We were just talking. I’m not sure what you mean.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “Really, Kyle? She was practically draped over your desk like a bearskin throw rug, begging you to wrap her around you.”

Yeah. She pretty much had been. He bit back a grin at Grace’s colorful description. “I didn’t notice.”

“Of course you didn’t.” Her eyebrows snapped together over brown eyes that—dare he hope—had a hint of jealousy glittering in them. “You were too busy being blinded by her cleavage.”

That got a laugh out of him, which didn’t sit well with Grace, judging by the fierce scowl on her face. But he couldn’t help it. This was too much fun. “She is a nice-looking woman, I do agree.”

“I didn’t say that. She’s far too obvious to be considered ‘nice-looking.’” Grace accompanied this with little squiggly motions of her forefingers. “She might as well write her phone number on her forehead with eyeliner. She clearly buys it in bulk and layers it on even at ten o’clock in the morning, so what’s a little more?”

The more Grace talked, the more agitated she became, drawing in the air with her whole hand instead of just her fingers.

“So she’s a little heavy-handed with her makeup.” He waved it off. “She’s a great girl who sells cattle for Wade Ranch. I have no complaints with her.”

Grace made a little noise of disgust. “Except for the way she was shamelessly flirting with you, you mean? I can’t believe you let her talk to you like that.”

“Like what?” He shrugged, well aware he was pouring gasoline on Grace’s fire, but so very curious what would happen when she exploded. “We were just talking.”

“Yeah, you’re still just as clueless as you always were.”

There was that word again. Clueless. She’d thrown it at him one too many times to let it go. There was something more here to understand. He could sense it.

Before he could demand an explanation, Johnny blew into the office, his chest heaving and mud caked on his jeans and boots from the knee down. “Kyle. We got a problem. One of the pregnant cows is stuck in the ravine at the creek and she went into labor.”

Instantly, Kyle shouldered past a wide-eyed Grace with an apologetic glance. He hated to leave her behind but this was his job.

“Take me there.”

Liam had put Kyle in charge of the cattle side of Wade Ranch. This was his first real test and the gravity of it settled across his shoulders with weight he wasn’t expecting.

He followed Johnny to the paddock where they kept their horses and mounted up, ignoring the twinge deep in his leg bone, or what was left of it. He could sit in his office like a wimp and complain about paperwork or ride. There was no room for a busted leg in ranching.

Kyle heeled Lightning Rod into a gallop and tore after Johnny as the ranch hand led him across the pasture where the pregnant herd had been quartered—to prevent the very problem Johnny had described. The expectant cows shouldn’t have been anywhere near the creek that ran along the north side of Wade Ranch.