Page 26 of Cowboy Seeks Husband

Which put him and his open fly right in Walker’s path. Roan wanted to zip up fast but was afraid that’d only draw attention to it, so he stayed still where he was.

“Morning,” Walker said. When Victor walked past him again, brushing against Walker’s body to reach into his wardrobe, Roan noticed Walker’s cheeks were tinged a little red too. Victor’s washboard abs didn’t leave anyone unaffected, apparently.

Walker was wearing a cowboy hat, and he took it off. “Sir,” he said, with a little nod in Victor’s direction and then quickly looked away again. His eyes met Roan’s, but he drifted on, taking in Antoine’s lump under the covers. “I know I’m barging in unannounced, sorry about that.” He said it like,saw-ree, and Roan died a little inside from the cuteness. “But like I said, we’re making an early start this morning. You have half an hour to get ready.”

Antoine sat up, the sheet still over his head. “I call next shower,” he yelled, then he shuffled out of the bed, wrapped in the sheet, bumbled into a wall, then the open door, until Roan grabbed his shoulders and pointed him in the direction of the bathroom. “Peter,” Antoine yelled, banging a small fist against the door. “Your time’s up.”

“You can come on in,” Peter called out. Antoine hesitated for a second, then opened the door and disappeared inside.

“I’ll see y’all downstairs.” Walker’s grin was downright evil. “On the tractor.”

As soon as Walker left, Roan zipped up his jeans and smoothed his Henley down. He really hoped Walker hadn’t noticed Roan standing there with his underwear hanging out.

But what was Walker expecting to see when he walked into their bedroom unannounced? And besides, witnessing Victor in all his glory had probably erased everything else from his mind. So unfair how hot the other guys were.

Wait. Why did Roan care? He wasn’t here to actually win.

Victor caught Roan watching him shimmy into a tight pair of jeans and a sleeveless shirt. He grinned like he knew exactly what Roan’d been thinking.

Instantly, Roan understood something about the show. Even though it didn’t matter who won or what the final outcome was, not in the scheme of his motivations for being there, anyway, it would be so easy to get swept away in the urge to win this thing. A part of him ached to beat out everyone else and justdominate. Either because he didn’t like most of the other suitors much or because he was a competitive person at heart. It didn’t matter.

His reasons for making Walker Reed want him to stay had already changed from needing to stick around for the money to wanting the guy to actually like him better than these other yahoos. If he couldn’t beat his mom’s cancer, at least he could beat backstabbing Antoine and sexually aggressive Victor. He could winsomething.

Maybe not Walker’s heart, but one more week on the ranch longer than these jackasses?

Yes. That he could do. Barf or no barf.

He straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin. He was Roan Carmichael, devoted son to a fierce woman and a true fighter, and today, at least, he was going towin.