The Rancher's Rules

“Calm down. I forgot about the water-shower thing.” The hacienda had had many updates over the years, but the interior plumbing had last been seen to before he was born.

“You expect me to believe that? You have lived in this house your whole life.” She slammed the plate down on the counter with enough force that it should have broken. “First hot, then cold, then hot again. My skin is still trying to decide if you were attempting to scald me or freeze me to death.”

Tears sprang to her eyes and she swiped at them. “Damn it, Grant. I was not the one who started the kissing last night. You broke your own rule, and taking it out on me is not going to make that fact go away. You don’t have to torture me to within an inch of my life before I promise not to attack your manly virtue. I promise already.”

With that she pivoted and headed out of the kitchen. She stopped at the doorway. Turning her head, she pinned him to the counter with her stare. “If you run so much as a teaspoon of water while I finish my shower, I’m feeding your favorite boots to Maurice.”

He really had forgotten about the water thing. She was never going to believe him, though. She was right. He had started the kissing last night. She had responded with enough passion to keep him sleepless with longing for the next several nights, but she had not started it. However, he had not been the one to go all sexy in his eating habits.

She had to take responsibility for her actions. Well, actually, she had. So why did it bother him so much that she had promised to keep her hands off him? That was exactly what he wanted. Damn it. He needed to get his libido under control before he risked losing the one person in his life he would never willingly let go.

This morning hadn’t been a good example of how to maintain friendship in the face of desire hot enough to melt rock.

What he needed was a diversion. Something or someone to keep his mind off of Zoe’s delectable lips and even more delectable body. An image of Linda popped into his mind and he grimaced. Okay, so it hadn’t worked with her, but he was a problem solver by nature. One small setback did not justify junking an entire strategy.

His mind skimmed through the possibilities and settled on Carlene Daniels, the bartender at the Dry Gulch. He played poker with the owner and a couple of local high rollers every few weeks, and she always served their table.

She had a sense of humor, and dressed like a walking commercial for prophylactics, but she didn’t date much. She seemed to have a reputation, all the same, which was exactly what he wanted. A woman who knew the score and would help him get his desire for Zoe under control.

If he hadn’t given his ranch hands so much time off he would have left on a business trip, but that wasn’t an option right now. Which left Carlene.

Never one to wait when he’d decided to act, he grabbed the phone book to look up the woman’s number. Zoe couldn’t complain about him making a phone call while she showered.

Afternoon sun poured through the schoolroom window as Zoe picked up a bottle of white glue. She wiped the sticky mess around it with a damp paper towel. Her students had made Christmas decorations, and she had a mess of glitter, glue and little bits of colored paper to clean up. She didn’t mind. She needed time to think.

Her anger toward Grant had finally cooled about the time her first class of kindergartners had gone out to meet the midmorning school bus. She could not maintain fury when surrounded by five-year-olds ex-cited about Christmas.

Breakfast had been a disaster. He had done everything possible to make her feel as welcome as a coyote at a roundup. Running the water while she’d been in the shower had been truly inspired. It was something almost as good as what she might have cooked up.

She bit her lip and swept some glitter off the table into the trashcan she carried. For as long as she could remember Grant had been the only person in her life to accept her unconditionally. When she’d become a vegetarian and her dad had gone through the roof, Grant had bought her The Tofu Lover’s Cookbook. When her date had gotten sick the day of Senior Prom, Grant had taken her.

He had always been her knight in shining armor.

Remembering the hash browns that had about burned a hole in her tongue, she thought, Some knight! He’d gone from her hero to her sexual nemesis in the space of hours. Why was he so set on keeping their relationship platonic? He’d been every bit as involved in that kiss last night as she had.

And he wasn’t exactly celibate. She didn’t think he was a complete playboy. No one could afford to be in today’s age. But he was experienced. Light-years ahead of her. If only he knew. She’d tried dating in college, and even gone so far as to go to bed with one of her dates. She’d been feeling like an anachronism, being a virgin at twenty, but it hadn’t gone anywhere. She’d made a complete fool of herself, telling her boyfriend she just wasn’t ready, getting dressed and going back to her dorm room.