Page 45 of The Rancher's Cinderella Bride

“Dammit, Meg,” he said, frowning. He was going to the ranch, would get her big bag and bring it back here for her to pick up. Maybe he would see her again when she picked it up. Maybe he could even get her to stay for a while.

That thought wasn’t at all like him. What the hell had she done to him?

He refused to believe he could be in love with her. That would just be another disaster in his life caused by Meg. He didn’t want to give up his way of life, his fun car, his planes. Speaking of his planes... He called to get one ready. Instead of driving to the ranch, he’d fly—and try to get her out of his system. He’d lived without her for years. Surely he could do so again.

“Oh, right,” he said aloud. That was before they had kissed or gone to bed together. Her kisses were the most dazzling, bone-melting, instantly arousing kisses ever. And making love with her was the best.

Are you sure you’re not in love with her?

“No!” he said emphatically. At least, he hoped to hell he wasn’t. If he was in love—heaven forbid—she’d wreck his life. And she wouldn’t ever marry him because of the way he lived. He’d managed to live his entire life and not once fall in love. His first time couldn’t—wouldn’t—be with Meg. That would be disastrous. Sort of. He thought again about kissing her and making love and in minutes he was hard and wanting her.

If this was love, then love was hell.

He nearly ripped off his clothes and changed, then closed up his house.

If he wanted Meg in his life permanently, he’d have to get rid of his bulls—a fine living there. He’d also have to ditch his planes—she didn’t know he had two—also ditch his fast car and his Harley. If he married her, which was impossible, she probably wouldn’t want him to go out in the rain or snow.

“Damn,” he said aloud. It wasn’t really living if you were scared of your own shadow. He knew her feelings were 90 percent because of losing her brother, but Hank wouldn’t have wanted her to go through life scared of a lot of things.

Gabe got into his car to go to the airport and fly to his ranch. He was going to get her out of his life, out of his thoughts. He just couldn’t be in love. Even if she accepted his lifestyle—which she never would—he didn’t want to be tied down. That would mean the same woman for the rest of his life. He thought about Meg being with him all the time, in his bed every night, and he broke out in a sweat again.

He swore again as he got out his phone to call her, changed his mind and put it away. They had said goodbye and he was going to leave it that way.

He should have barricaded himself in his house the day he saw her coming up his drive to ask for his help.

Since he hadn’t done that, he’d think about other women who could cure him of Meg. Mentally he ran through a list of beauties he’d been interested in. That lasted about thirty seconds before Meg returned to his thoughts. He remembered how she had looked when she had opened the door and he had faced a stunning blonde that he hadn’t even recognized. He groaned, and wondered if she had changed his life irrevocably. He looked down at his speedometer and took his foot off the gas. He was going faster than even he thought his car should be driven.

He needed to get a grip and stop thinking about her. Even if he was in love, it couldn’t be serious and she would fade into the background soon. She had to, because right now his life was hell without her.

* * *

Meg tried everything. She threw herself into her business, working harder and longer in order to be so exhausted she would sleep at night instead of lying awake thinking about Gabe. But that didn’t work. She missed him. Without him, she felt a huge void in her life. She was beginning to think she wasn’t ever going to get over him.

He had called and told her he had her bag at his Dallas home. But she had appointments and schedules to keep, customers who wanted landscaping plans, and she hadn’t picked up the bag yet.

She was trying to forget him while at the same time she wanted to see him again. But she felt that when she went to get her bag it would be the last time she would see Gabe, and she couldn’t face that.

She looked at the picture a friend had sent her, the one she’d shoved into a pile on her desk. It was a picture of Gabe in the restaurant on his knee, proposing to her.

The picture made her laugh, but it also made her long to be with him and remember all the fun they’d had together, plus the hot sex. Just thinking about that made her want his strong arms around her. She threw the photo into the desk drawer.

After he called twice about her bag, offering to bring it to her, she decided she should go get it. She made arrangements to take time from the office, called Gabe and finally set a time to pick it up on Wednesday. It had been a week since she had last seen him but it seemed as if it had been months.

Wednesday morning, she wound up his drive to his Dallas house and saw him waiting on the porch for her arrival. He was in a white shirt without a tie, charcoal slacks and his black boots. Her pulse sped up as he came out to meet her.

“Hi, come in. You don’t have to grab your stuff and go. Let’s have coffee and you can tell me what’s happening.”

She wanted to decline the invitation, until she looked into his blue eyes and started tingling all over. Then she followed him inside.

“Nothing’s happening, really,” she said. “I’ve been busy with yards and pools, landscaping.” She shrugged.

She wasn’t sure how much he heard because his gaze was glued to her mouth. “I’ve missed you like hell,” he said.

“I missed you, Gabe,” she whispered, fighting the urge to throw her arms around him. He looked incredible with locks of his black hair falling on his forehead, a shadow of stubble on his jaw. The sight of him made her heart race.

“We wouldn’t have any kind of future together, would we?”

His question hurt because it just emphasized their differences. She shook her head. “No, because I still can’t take your lifestyle,” she said, thinking about her brother’s needless death, “and I know you can’t give it up.” They stared at each other in silence for a moment and she felt her heart break once again because there was no hope for a future together.

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