Genell Dellin

“Then he pulled back and looked at her shirt again. “Is this really true?”She nodded. “Every word of it.”“Okay, then. I say you won’t.”“Won’t do what?”He bent his head to whisper into her hair, his breath hot against her ear.“Before lunch, you won’t go to bed with me.”Elle reached around behind her and turned off the burner on the stove.”

“He advanced on her to steal a quick kiss, then took her by the shoulders and just stood there for a minute, rocking back and forth from his heels to the balls of his feet, smiling down at her, looking her over.“Like your shirt,” he said.She’d forgotten what she had on. She glanced down and watched his finger trace the words that scrolled across her chest. Just that light touch of his, even through her shirt, made her shiver with longing.The message was SAY I WON’T. Above that, in smaller letters, “Tell me that I won’t do it . . and I will.”“That inspires me,” he said, with his most wicked grin. “You know how I love a challenge.”

“What’s your answer, Elle?”“Yes,” she said.“Then here’s the rest of what I’ve been doing during your party,” he said.He knelt and slipped the ring onto her finger.“I’ll never be able to wear this in the pen,” she said. “It’s so heavy I won’t be able to run with it on.”“No problem,” he said. “I’ll be right there outside the gate holdin’ it for you until you come back.”

“I realized something tonight when you were in the arena doing your thing.”She took another deep breath of the roses’ scent. “What was it?”“I love you, Elle.”Her eyes flared wide to search his and her heart stopped.“Do you love me?”“Yes, I love you, Chase.”Simple, sure, an indisputable fact she couldn’t’ve held on her tongue if she’d wanted to. But was she ready to love somebody who loved her back?Was she?“You had me since Spin Master,” he said, with that grin she loved. “But I didn’t know it ‘til tonight.”“Oh, well, then, I get it,” she said, smiling back. “You only loved me ‘cause I saved your life.”“I want you to save it again.”He stood up to pull something out of the front pocket of his starched jeans. He reached for her hand.“I’m asking you to marry me, Elle. Will you?”Tears blurred her vision. They caught in her throat. Oh, God, how could she ever be a wife again? But how could she ever leave Chase?She tried to buy herself a little time to think. “You said you don’t trust women.”“Only you. I trust you. I trusted you with my life the first time I ever saw you.”That made her grin. And then she felt very solemn. He was looking right into her soul, holding her hand in his big calloused one. She clung to it.“You’re in a league of your own, Elle. Not just was a bull-fighter, but in every way.”She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to think. She knew she loved him, but this was scary.“You’re not the marrying kind, Chase. You’ve told me that a dozen times.”“I changed my mind.”“I’ve been married, Chase. It didn’t last. I left him.”He lifted one big shoulder.“What will last is that I love you,” he said. “That’ll never change. I’ll follow you all over the country if I have to, just to get a glimpse of you. Just to hear you laugh. You can work as many rodeos as you want. You can do anything you want and even if I’m not there, wherever I am, I’ll be loving you. Until I die.”“You’re looking at me as if it’s a done deal,” she said, smiling.His grin broadened. “It is. I can convince you. I know I’m good.”She laughed.“You might as well save us some time. You know I got no quit in me.”“Yes, I do know that.”“So what do you say?”“The main problem is that you’re not the man who’ll do everything I say. I told you that’s what I have to have before I’ll marry again.”“How d’you know I’m not him? I’ve been pretty pliable here lately, wouldn’t you say?”“You are so full of it, Chase Lomax.”“You’re the one who told me I have to get a life after rodeo. Well, that’s exactly what I’m tryin’ to do, right here.”

“Her face was flushed and dusty, her hair was falling out of its restraints all around her face in ragged curls, and sweat trickled down in front of her ears.“You’ve never looked more beautiful,” he told her with a grin.“Keep it professional, buddy,” she said.Her tone was stern, but she grinned back. Her eyes shone at him.His heart flipped over. She looked at him like she loved him. Did she?If she did, was he going to break her heart? He was a master at that. He’d never failed yet.“I don’t know if you oughtta enter that contest in Vegas,” he blurted.Her smile vanished. “You think I’ll bolt? Or get skunked?”Mentally, he gave himself a thousand lashes with a bullwhip.“No, ma’am,” he said.“Then what?”He tried, but he couldn’t lie to her. “It’ll put you back in the game,” he said, “and then you’ll be gone.”Chase wheeled his horse and rode away before he could see her reaction. He didn’t want to know. Whatever it was, he wouldn’t have a clue what to do about it.”

“We’d better be careful to each put our own clothes on or we will have some explaining to do,” she said. “Maybe we should turn on the light.”That made him really laugh. “As if I could get one toe of mine into anything of yours.”“I was thinking mostly of my bra,” she said. “You sure did seem interested in it.”“I am,” he said. “First I think I’d like for you to quit wearing it but then I remember how much fun we had with it on. I just can’t decide.”“I’m not gonna participate in that experiment,” she said.“But what if I decide you should go without?”“Too bad.”He started pulling on his jeans, then put his brace back on.“Take some time to think about it.”

“Why don’t you call her?”“She doesn’t answer,” Chase said. “She may be somewhere that there’s no cell phone service or she may have her phone turned off.”He’d be embarrassed to say how many times he’d tried. That’s what guilt—in other words, meddling—did to a man.”

“You just don’t want to go to the barn in sweats with Elle there.Well, he hated to admit it, but that was probably the reason he was tottering back and forth on one foot and two sore armpits here in this insane closet that seemed about the same size as the house he and his dad used to live in.”

“He was so accustomed to being in the middle of the action it still took him a second to realize that they were waiting for him, Chase Lomax, to get out of the way. He couldn’t help them? He’d hinder their rescue—a small woman and a skinny kid?Right. He would.Feeling unreasonably humiliated, he lifted his crutches and clunked his way out into the aisle.”

“I hope you haven’t packed those ratty flannel pajamas of yours,” she said. “You probably won’t need anything to sleep in, anyhow.”Elle stood up, picked up a pad of Post-it notes from the desk, and threw it.“He’s broken all to bits. Give it up. He’s an invalid!”Carlie laughed as the note pad bounced off the door frame.“He’s a cowboy, honey. Nothin’ ever keeps them down for long.”

“Nothin’ bucks like a bull . . . rider.”

“Then she bent her head over at the waist and tossed her head around to separate the curls.The elevator stopped and she heard the door open. She straightened up to find some big guy in a ball cap and sunglasses right in her face, charging into the elevator before she could even get out of it. He had both hands full of carry-out bags—Mexican food, judging from the smell.She looked at them, her mouth watering. Yep. Enrique’s. The best in town.He whirled around to punch the door-close button.“Hey,” she said. “I’m getting off here.”Some girl outside in the lobby yelled, “We know it’s you, Chase. You shouldn’t lie to us.”Startled, Elle looked at the guy’s face and saw, just before he reached for her, that it really was Chase Lomax in ragged shorts and flip-flops.He grabbed her up off her feet and bent his head. Found her mouth with his.“Wait for us,” another girl yelled. The sound of running feet echoed off the marble floor, slid to a stop. “Oh, no!”Kissing her, without so much as a “Hi, there, Elle.” Burning her up. She tried to struggle but he had both her arms pinned to her sides.And suddenly she wanted to stay right where she was forever because the shock was wearing off and she was starting to feel. A lot more than she ever had before.The door slid closed. The girls began banging on it.“We know your room number, Chase, honey,” they yelled. “See you there.”Loud giggles.“We’ll show you a real good time.”The elevator moved up, the voices faded away. But Chase kept on kissing her.She had to make him stop it. Right now. Who did he think he was, anyway?Somebody who could send lightning right through her whole body, that’s who. Lightning so strong it shook her to her toes.He had to stop this now. But she couldn’t move any part of her body. Except her lips. And her tongue . . .When he finally let her go she pulled back and away, fighting to get a handle on her breathing.“What’s the matter?” he demanded.Her blood rushed through her so fast it made her dizzy.“You’re asking me? It’s more like, what’s the matter with you? How’d you get the idea you could get away with kissing me like that without even bothering to say hello?”She touched her lips. They were still on fire.“You have got a helluva nerve, Chase Lomax.”He grinned at her as he took off his shades. He hung them in the neck of his huge, baggy T-shirt that had a bucking bull and rider with Git’R’Done written above it. He wore ragged denim shorts and flip-flops, for God’s sake. Chase Lomax was known for always being starched and ironed, custom-booted and hatted.“I asked if you’re all right because you were bent over double shaking your head when the doors opened,” he said. “Like you were in pain or something.”“I was drying my hair.”He stared, then burst out laughing. “Oh, well, then.”His laugh was contagious but she wouldn’t let herself join in. He could not get away with this scot-free. He’d shaken her up pretty good.“Oh. I see. You thought I needed help, so you just grabbed me and kissed me senseless. Is that how you treat somebody you think’s in pain?”He grinned that slow, charming grin of his again. “It made you feel better. Didn’t it?”He held her gaze and wouldn’t let it go. She must be a sight. She could feel heat in her cheeks, so her face must be red. Plus she was gasping, trying to slow her breathing. And her heart-beat.“You nearly scared me to death to try to get rid of those girls. And it was all wasted. They’re coming to your room.”Something flashed deep in his brown eyes.“Now you’ve hurt my feelings. I don’t think it was wasted,” he drawled. “I liked that kiss.”