Page 84 of Texas Honor

“Sure. The helicopter, too. It’s a great time-saver when you’re moving thousands of head.” His pale eyes moved slowly down Maggie’s body, over the white knit short-sleeved sweater and the neat jeans that hugged her rounded hips and long, elegant legs.

“It’s hard work, too,” she said, burning under his frank appraisal.

“Very hard.” He lifted the cigarette to his mouth, glancing at Becky, who was talking softly to the calf while its mother watched with indulgent interest. “I get ill-tempered this time of year.”

“I did notice,” Maggie began.

He turned, crushing out the cigarette as he started toward her. “Did you?”

She backed up. Surely he wouldn’t...not with Becky watching!

He intimidated her back against a large oak tree and kept her there with just his presence. “What was that,” he asked politely, “about noticing I was ill-tempered?”

“You would have sent me packing, but for your mother,” she reminded him.

“Not really.” He smiled at her gently. “You started getting under my skin all over again, that first day. I might have let you get as far as packing, but I’d have found an excuse to keep you here.”

Her heart began to run wild. Becky wasn’t even watching.

Gabe moved a little closer, leaning one arm, the uninjured one, beside her head against the tree. The action brought him so close that she could smell the tobacco on his breath, feel the muscles cording in his powerful legs and chest.

His eyes dropped to her mouth. “I can almost taste the coffee on your breath,” he whispered. “And if Becky was a few yards down the creek, I’d ease my body down on yours and let you feel the effect you have on me in those tight little jeans.”

Her breath caught. “Gabriel!”

“Don’t try to pretend you don’t know it, either,” he continued. His eyes dropped. “That sweater doesn’t hide what you’re feeling.”

Maggie frowned slightly. Her eyes followed his, and she could see the tautness in her nipples even through the flimsy bra and knit top.

“You know, don’t you, that your body reflects desire that way?” he whispered, searching her wide eyes. “Why do you think men get so stirred by a woman who isn’t wearing a bra?”

“I... I am wearing one,” she began.

“It doesn’t cover much, does it?” He frowned. “Don’t go around the men that way,” he added suddenly. “I can’t afford to fire anybody this week.”

Her eyebrows arched. “But—”

“You have pretty breasts,” he whispered softly, holding her eyes.

She tingled from head to toe. Her breath wouldn’t let out. Gabe’s eyes were drowning her, she couldn’t get to the surface. The whole world was pale blue, and her body was trembling slightly, burning up inside. Her lips parted, and she made a soft, barely perceptible movement toward him.

“You shouldn’t talk that way to me,” she breathed.

“You shouldn’t let me,” he whispered back. “If you keep encouraging me, I’ll make love to you.”

“You can’t.”

“Sure I can.” He nuzzled her nose with his. “So can you. I don’t mind if you sleep with me.”

“There’s Becky.”

He smiled. “Becky is quite a girl. She’ll make a rancher before she quits.”

“That isn’t what I meant,” Maggie replied. She touched his chest, liking the feel of hard muscle under the warm shirt. “You’re very hairy there,” she said absently, and caught her breath when she remembered how his chest felt against her bare skin.

“You always seemed to like that,” he murmured, watching her. “At least you sure stared when I stripped off my shirt while I was working.”

She swallowed. “You...you’re very nicely built.”