Seduction, Westmoreland Style - Brenda Jackson [35]
Damn it to hell, the need to feel her mouth beneath his again was almost overwhelming, although he’d been fighting the craving for days. Even now he could distinctively remember the warmth of her lips and how they would automatically part under his, the swift breath she’d take just seconds before his tongue mingled with hers and—
“And how are you handling her being here on the ranch?”
McKinnon gave Durango a look that grimly said he wasn’t handling it very well. “Your cousin is a beautiful woman who can be a distraction if I let her be one, Rango.”
Durango nodded. “And for you that’s a bad thing, isn’t it?”
McKinnon let out a deep sigh. “You of all people know that it could be if I were to let anything get out of hand. As long as we maintain an employer-employee relationship, we’re fine,” he said, knowing he hadn’t even been able to really do that. “I made a decision a few years ago that I knew would affect any future relationship I had with a woman. At the time I felt it was the right one to make. I still do.”
“Yes,” Durango said, closing the accounting books. “I understand and like I told you then, I support your decision. But having that procedure done wasn’t the end of the world. Why don’t you want to consider your other options?”
McKinnon didn’t answer. At least not immediately. When he did his voice was filled with the anguish he sometimes felt. “I have considered those options but I can’t expect every woman I meet to want to consider them as well, Rango. Lynette didn’t. Trust me, it’s easier this way.”
Durango leaned forward in his chair, his gaze fixed on his best friend’s features. “Choosing a life where you’ll spend the rest of your days alone isn’t the way, McKinnon. At one time we both thought living like that would work for us, but since having Savannah in my life, I’m glad things happened the way they did. I probably would have died a very lonely and miserable man. Besides, it can’t be as easy as you claim if I read correctly what I saw in your eyes whenever you looked at Casey that night at dinner. You want her in a bad way—that much was obvious, at least to me. But I think it might be a little deeper than that. I think you might be falling for her, McKinnon.”
“No,” McKinnon growled, denying Durango’s allegations as he narrowed his gaze at him. “You’re dead wrong on that one.”
Durango was silent for a moment and then he leaned back in his chair. “We’ll see.”
“Damn it, there’s nothing to see.” Exasperated and angry that he’d allowed Durango’s false assumption to needle him, he pushed out of his chair. “I’m going out,” he said tersely.
Durango lifted a brow. “Where?”
“To ride Thunder.”
He spun around on booted heels and before Durango could blink, an angry McKinnon had walked out of the room. Casey squinted against the brightness of the May sun when she saw the horse and rider slowly approach. She held her breath when she recognized it was McKinnon. Beneath the Montana sky, his hair was loose and hung around his shoulders, touching his chambray shirt. His jeans were worn and as far as she was concerned he looked perfect, all the way down to his boots, as he sat atop the huge horse with the rugged mountains as a backdrop. She swallowed and tried to downplay the fluttering that was going on in her chest. Seeing him reminded her of the heated kisses they’d shared, each one seemed to get bolder and more daring.
“Hello, McKinnon,” she said when he stopped close to where she was standing with her horse beside the stream. She had finished with Prince Charming early and decided to do a little riding. At least today she wouldn’t be eating alone since Savannah had invited her to dinner.
“Casey. You decided to go out riding I see,” he said, eyeing her. His tone was cautiously polite.
“Yes, and before you insinuate otherwise, I did give Prince Charming a good workout today.