Seduction, Westmoreland Style - Brenda Jackson [22]
Passion. And that was what he was trying not to think about, especially when it came to Casey. He definitely had to toe the line. There was no way he could treat her like he treated other woman he wanted in his bed. First of all, he needed to get that idea out of his mind because it wouldn’t. And to be sure of that, he would start keeping his distance beginning tomorrow. The only time he would seek her out was when he needed to know the progress she was making with Prince Charming.
Satisfied that he had at least gotten that much cleared up and settled in his mind, McKinnon sought a comfortable position in bed and hoped like hell he got some semblance of a fairly decent amount of sleep.
Chapter 6
“Casey is doing a downright fine job with Prince Charming,” Norris said, glancing over at McKinnon.
“Is she?” McKinnon asked, trying to sound nonchalant but at the same time angry that his pulse rate always seemed to increase with the mere mention of her name. It had been a week since he’d seen her—at least up close. The day following the night they’d kissed, he’d made himself scarce, leaving it up to Norris to give her his expectations regarding Prince Charming.
He knew from Henrietta that she preferred taking her meals alone at the guest cottage, however, it seemed the two women had gotten rather chummy and shared lunch together at the big house every day. Once he’d known Casey’s schedule, he had adjusted his to make sure he wasn’t around when she was. But that didn’t really help matters because there were plenty of things to remind him of her presence. He caught the scent of her each and every time he walked into his home.
She had made things a little easy for him this past weekend by leaving on Friday evening to spend time on her father’s mountain, not returning until late Sunday. He had kept himself pretty busy going over breeding records but had found that every so often he would get up and look out the window as if anxiously awaiting her return.
And then at night whenever he went to bed, all he had to do was close his eyes to remember the feel of his mouth on hers, his tongue in that mouth and the flavor of her that seemed to be embedded in his taste buds. The bottom line was that he wanted to be with her the way a man needed to be with a woman.
Hell, he’d even gone into town a couple of nights ago to his and Durango’s old hangout, Haley’s Bar and Grill, but hadn’t seen a single woman he wanted to sleep with. The only woman he wanted was the one living in his guest cottage—the one who was definitely off limits to him. But still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t dream about her at night, wishing she was in bed with him while he stripped her naked and…
“Damn.” McKinnon cursed when he saw the cut on his hand, thanks to the barbwire fence he was trying to repair on a section of his property. He should have been concentrating on what he was doing instead of fantasizing about Casey.
Luckily for him the cut wasn’t deep, which meant it shouldn’t require stitches. But it would require him putting something on it. He had taken off his gloves to get a better grip on the pliers when the thing had slipped.
“You okay, McKinnon?”
He glanced over at Norris. “I got a cut from this barbwire and need to go up to the house to put something on it. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Norris looked at the cut, saw the amount of blood and lifted his brow in concern. “Maybe you need me to take you into town so Dr. Mason can take a look at it.”
“No, I’m up on my tetanus shots and it doesn’t need stitches. I’ll be fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Okay. I don’t want Morning Star and the Judge to have my ass if something happens to you. Why don’t you stay at the house and let me and the boys finish things up here.”
McKinnon lifted his brow, wondering if Norris was about to accuse him of being more of a hindrance than a help again. He would be the first to admit that his mind hadn’t been focused lately for thinking about Casey but still…“And you sure you and the guys will have the fence repaired by morning?”
Norris chuckled. “Look McKinnon,