Page 24 of A Cowboy Of Her Own

“Okay.” She walked behind the bushes and peeled off her jeans then her T-shirt, all the while peering over the bush to see Roark with his back still turned. There was no way,no way at all,she would take her bra and panties off too. Taking a deep breath, she called out to him. “Okay, I’mcoming out. Please don’t turn around.”

“I won’t. I promise. Come on, I’d like to get in there sometime before tonight.”

“Okay, here goes,” she muttered then ran out, jumped into the pond and came up squealing. “It’s freezing!”

She’d thought about needing a cold shower and now she got one.

“Just a tad, I suppose. A spring runs through it.”

Priscilla turned to watch him sit on the bank and pull his boots off then his socks. He stood, his gaze meeting hers, then unsnapped his jeans and lowered the zipper. When he started to shove them down past his hips, she quickly spun around.

“Chicken,” he taunted with a laugh.

“You could be more than I can handle, Roark Callahan.”

“Only one way to find out, darlin’,” he said from somewhere behind her then she heard a splash, and knew he was in the pond with her.

Oh, this was a bad idea. A very bad idea. She screamed when something brushed against her leg and Roark came up from under the water in front of her.

“Don’t scare me like that,” she scolded splashing some water at him.

Roark laughed and shook his head to dispel the excess water from his hair. “You are jumpy as hell and frankly, I’m surprised. You don’t seem like the type.”

“I’m not, but I’m wondering what the hell I’m thinking by being here with you alone. I don’t know you from Adam and I’m in here almost naked.”

“Almost?”

“I couldn’t bring myself to remove my bra andpanties. I’m sure you have your—” She stopped talking when he shook his head. Then she swallowed before continuing. “You’re… naked?”

“As the day I was born, sweetheart. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

Mentally groaning, she refused to look down even though she didn’t think she’d be able to see anything through the water anyway. Or could she? She turned to look toward the shore.

“Blast, I left my soap with my clothes,” she mumbled.

“Go get it,” he said with a big grin.

“If you were any kind of gentlemen, you’d offer to go get it for me.”

“Darlin’, I am no gentlemen but for you, I’ll turn my back.”

“Never mind, I’ll just use yours. Where is it anyway?”

“On the bank.” He chuckled.

“Oooh!” She splashed water at him making him laugh.

“All right, I’ll get it.” He swam away from her and she watched him start to walk out of the pond but then he glanced over his shoulder. She quickly turned around and heard him laugh. “You don’t have to turn around. Like I said, I’ve got nothing to hide.”

Priscilla turned to watch him walk up on the bank. Damn. The man hadn’t lied. He definitely had nothing to hide, at least not from the back. Clenching her hands into fists, she bit her lip as she watched him stride to her clothes and pick up the soap. Shereallywanted to bite that ass. She quickly spun around when he turned to face her then she heard a splash. She could hear himswimming up behind her then he held his hand out over her shoulder with her soap in his palm. Turning, she looked up into his beautiful eyes. His gaze dropped to her lips and she impulsively ran her tongue along her bottom lip. His eyes shot up to hers. At that moment, all she could think was that if he didn’t kiss her, she’d drown him. Plain and simple.

“Roark,” she whispered as a shiver, not from the chill of the water, ran through her.

“I shouldn’t…”

“Yes, you should.” She ran her hands up his chest and then tangled them into the wet hair at his nape to pull him to her.

“Priscilla,” he murmured with his lips hovering above hers then he pressed his lips to hers and groaned deep in his throat when she touched her tongue to his. His arms wrapped around her and pulled her tight against him.