Page 14 of His First Baby Rodeo

Who says Jeff has to find out?

Oh, there was a dangerous train of thought. Of course Jeff would find out. What would Mac do, ask El to hook up with him and keep it a secret from her brother? From his best friend? That was a terrible idea for both of them. He couldn’t allow himself to entertain it.

Besides, this was all probably crazy. There was no reason to imagine that she was thinking the same sorts of things he was. She wasn’t interested in him. Not like that. She had come here to do a job, and it would be completely out of line for him to give her any indication that he was attracted to her.

He wasn’t used to feeling like this. Usually it was the other way around — fans flocking to him, clamoring for his attention. He did his best to humor them, but there was an understanding that nothing was really going to happen. Even his biggest fans knew that they had no real chance with him.

Now he understood what it was like to be on the other side of that. It was maddening. He was used to having the power, to getting what he wanted. It wasn’t like him to have to withdraw his interest in a woman.

El was riding back to his side now, moving more easily than he was, which he attributed to his broken arm leaving him off-balance. Mac gritted his teeth and inclined his head at her as she pulled to a halt in front of him.

“This is so much fun,” she said. “I mean, it’s work too, of course, but if I’d known what a good time I was going to have, I wouldn’t have hesitated to take this job. Jeff was right — this was exactly what I needed. I really owe you one for having me here, Mac.” She grinned. “I think this is going to be a really special chapter in my life. I hope you feel the same way.”

He couldn’t afford to let himself feel the same way.

He scowled. “Look, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” he said. “But no, it’s not really going to be like that for me. This has all been a pretty serious catastrophe from my end. This rodeo season was supposed to be a big deal for me, and now I’m laid up at home and I can’t even run my own ranch. So no, I’m not especially happy about the way things are going. I wish I could tell you otherwise, and I’m not saying this to be rude, but this is not going to be fun for me. I’m sorry.”

El looked taken aback. “Okay,” she said. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Mac sighed. He wanted to tell her that she hadn’t really offended him, that he was glad she was enjoying herself and that he wished he could just let loose and have fun with her. Seeing her take such joy in riding… there’d been something really special about that.

But he knew better. He had to keep his distance. He couldn’t let himself be drawn in by his attraction to her. If he did, he ran the risk of making a mistake he wouldn’t be able to take back — and then Jeff would never forgive him.

They had to stay away from each other. It was the only way.

CHAPTER7

MAC

El was good enough at her job, Mac decided the next day, that he didn’t need to go out and supervise her.

Or maybe he was just making excuses. Maybe it was just easier not to be around her. He wasn’t sure. He sat in his study, the room in the house that had the fewest windows and none that overlooked any part of the grounds where she’d be, and turned the pages of a book he wasn’t really reading.

This was so annoying. Feeling as if he didn’t have the freedom to go anywhere he liked in his own house was maddening. And it was entirely his own fault, of course. There was no reason he shouldn’t go outside and spend time doing ranch chores. If yesterday had proven anything, it was that hedidhave the capacity for it. He hadn’t been completely taken out of the game by his injury the way he had once believed he had. He could still find ways to make himself useful.

But that wasn’t the issue anymore. The issue was that he couldn’t be around El.

He was beginning to wonder whether he might have to send her home — and that was something he definitely didn’t want to do. All other things aside, he really did need her help, and she had already been invaluable to him. He wasn’t anywhere near ready to give that up.

He was just going to have to figure out how to get past the fact that he was incredibly attracted to her, that was all.

He’d originally planned on taking his dinner into his study to avoid having to face her, but that felt weak and counterproductive, so when he heard her moving around the kitchen, starting to prepare her evening meal, he came out and went to join her.

She was sizzling beef tips in a frying pan on the stove, and she looked up when he came into the room. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Did I disturb you?”

“No, I was getting hungry.” He went to the fridge and rummaged around a bit, but he was overdue to go shopping, and it was immediately obvious to him that whatever he managed to put together tonight wasn’t going to hold a candle to her meal. After a moment’s thought, he pulled out a can of stew — it seemed like that was probably going to be the best he could do.

“I’ve got enough here to share,” she offered.

“Don’t worry about it.” He grabbed a saucepan.

“I mean, it’s kind of silly for us to make two whole separate dinners every night, isn’t it? I’m telling you, these beef tips are going to go to waste. There’s no way I can finish them all myself.”

“Then why did you make so much?”

She looked stung. He couldn’t blame her. She had just been offering to share her food, and he was being rude to her about it. But the last thing he needed was for her to create a pattern of the two of them sitting down to eat dinner together. That was so homey. It was…intimate.He didn’t want to establish anything intimate with El. He was already having more than enough trouble keeping his distance from her.

He dumped the soup into his saucepan and turned on the burner. El shrugged and went back to preparing her own meal.

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