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.Lines like that, right out of a cowboy’s mouth, will lend flavor.Believability.Buyers will love it.Besides, you heard Mr.Maverick.He’s concerned I’m from the city.I have to prove to him I can market a western corporation or I could very well find myself on the unemployment line.”Bonner shook his head.“He wouldn’t have hired you if he didn’t think you could do the job.”Wow.Phone still in her hand, Casey turned her full attention to Bonner.“Thank you.It means a lot to hear you say that.”“It’s the truth.From what I’ve seen so far, you’ll be fine.” Bonner shrugged and gazed at the action as the cowboys continued to herd the cows to the vet.Casey had received lots of compliments from many men throughout her career.Some sincere, some pure flattery and bullshit, but none of them had made her want to jump the man, not like Bonner’s plainly spoken words just had.Her heartbeat sped.She realized they were in the midst of an awkward silence as he glanced back at her, and she tried to talk her woman parts out of inviting Bonner’s man parts over to play.Damn, she felt like a horny teenager again, only the object of her attention was no boy.He was all grown up and all man.Trying to get control of her libido, she scrambled for a safe topic.She glanced down at her phone.No signal.“I just wish I had some kind of connection.I can get one, maybe two bars on my cell phone if I lean it against the window of my bedroom, otherwise, it’s pretty much worthless.My tablet’s not picking up a signal.I feel cut off from everything I need to do my job.Do you have cell service out here?”“Here? Don’t know.Never checked.” He pulled out his phone and glanced at the readout.“Nope.”“No? Aren’t you worried?”“’Bout what?”“What if one of you gets hurt?” Casey’s mind spun with the possibilities, one more horrid than the other.What if they were on horseback, far from the ranch, farther from help, with no cell phone signal and no vehicle to take them to the hospital?He shrugged.“There’re usually the three of us working together.If one gets hurt, one will go for help and the other can stay to tend to him.”“But…to have no means of communication.” She’d panicked the one time her phone’s battery had gone dead, and she was in a taxi in midtown Manhattan at the time.Bonner glanced at her and shook his head.“You city folk are too dependent on your gadgets.Ranchers a hundred years ago didn’t have cell phones.Hell, most ranch hands twenty years ago didn’t.”Feeling a bit insulted by the city folk comment, even if she did wonder sometimes if she was becoming obsessed with technology, Casey planted her hands on her hips.He couldn’t possibly be as complacent about this as he pretended.“Then why do you have a cell phone?”“They were giving them away for free when you signed up.” He shrugged.“Works just fine in the bunkhouse.It’s useful sometimes.”“Oh really, like when?”“Well, last year I was at a stock auction and I saw this little black and white Shetland pony.The old man had just had a new great-grand-baby, so I called to ask if he wanted me to pick it up for him to give as a baby gift.”The old man.Casey laughed.“There is just so much about that sentence that sounded insane to me I can’t even begin to tell you.”This guy was the real deal, all right.Horseman.Cattleman.Cowboy.Lover? Mm, wouldn’t that be nice.“Why? What’s strange about it?” Bonner turned toward Casey, an expression of confusion on his face.“First, you talk about buying a horse like you’re picking up a loaf of bread at the grocery store.But more importantly, a pony? As a baby gift?”“I was on a horse before I could walk.” Bonner shrugged again, something he seemed to do a lot around her.Apparently her city folk questions left him without answers.She took him in from the felt of his hat to the leather of his boots.Cowboy to the bone.And boy did she ache to get to know every inch of him better.On a horse before he could walk.That skill at riding horses had to transfer to the bedroom.No? All that hip motion and thigh power.“Mm.I have no doubt.” The comment came out a bit more sultry-sounding than she’d intended.Bonner cleared his throat.“Look, Miss Harrington—”“Call me Casey.”He let out a huff of a breath.“Miss Casey—“ Not exactly what she’d meant but it certainly had its charm.“—I realize I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I know a few things.I know cattle and I know women.”Her brows shot up.This was cowboy gold.The woman in her wanted to take a step closer to better absorb the cowboy aura of him.While the marketing director in her itched to write it all down, she was too fascinated by what he was saying.She didn’t want to risk distracting him from finishing so she nodded.“Okay.”“What I’m trying to say is, I don’t mix business with pleasure.” Bonner shook his head.“As much as I’d like to, and believe me…I’d like to.”As much as he’d like to.Her chest tightened at the knowledge he felt the attraction between them too, even though the rest was not what she’d expected him to say.Though, maybe she should have expected him to hold himself to a high moral standard.The cowboy code and all that.More surprisingly was Bonner’s ability to read her.She’d been caught daydreaming, imaging him and her naked under her Maverick Western red and black buffalo plaid cashmere sofa throw.This cowboy had not only noticed, but had interpreted her thoughts correctly.It was all very intriguing.His speech may be slow, but his mind was quick as a whip and he sure as hell had her pegged.Her cheeks heated with a combination of embarrassment and desire.She wasn’t backing down though.She didn’t get where she was in life by giving up easily.“So let me make sure I have this straight.You’re assuming I’m interested in you and you’re turning me down, all in the same sentence?”“Yes, ma’am.”Huh.Men didn’t turn her down, yet this man was doing just that.Somehow that only made her want him more
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