But all that aside, she longed to know Gabe better, and she reached to retrieve the closeness they’d found during breakfast. “I could use some help mucking out the corral, if you aren’t allergic to a shovel; she said, keeping her tone light. “And if your back’s up to loading the hay in my truck, I wouldn’t turn down that offer , either.”

He nodded, but his openness had disappeared. “Okay. I need to get some clothes, take care of some odds and aids, but I can be back in less than two hours, if you want to put those things off until then.”

“Sure.” She stuck her hands in the pockets of the jeans she’d put on after her morning shower. “Want to help with the dogs too?”

“I can do that.”

She cursed silently to herself. He was like a desert tortoise-one loud noise and he pulled into that armored shell of his. She wished she could have known him without Neal being part of the picture, but, of course, she’d never have met Gabe without Neal. She wanted to probe into that whole business and find out what really drove Gabe to shadow Neal, but now was obviously not the time to get some answers.

He tipped his head toward her kitchen wall phone. “Can I make some calls?”

“Certainly.” She hated the formality that caused him to have to ask. While she rinsed the dishes she tried no t to listen in on the conversation, but it was tough not to hear because Gabe took no particular pains to keep his messages private.

He talked with someone named Diego and asked him to track down Parnell, who was probably sleeping off the night’s activities at his apartment. Then he covered the mouthpiece and turned to her. “I need to give my friend the number here, if it’s okay.”

“It’s okay.” She wondered if they’d bridge this gap between them once again or if they’d discover they were totally incompatible, that the night before had been a fluke, and they were better off going their separate ways. She sighed and began stacking the dishes in the dishwasher.

He hung up the phone and walked toward her. “I’ll be back about ten. Anything you need from town?”

She glanced up at him. “A half-gallon of coffee ice cream. I’ll get you some mo “

“Never mind that : He grabbed his jacket and started out the door. “Thanks for breakfast.”

After the door closed Dallas smacked her hand down on the kitchen counter so hard her palm stung. But she was glad she’d asked for the ice cream. It looked as if she was going to need that ice cream.

ALL THE wAY BACK to his apartment, Gabe lectured himself for being twenty kinds of a fool. Sure, Dallas had enjoyed last night as much as he had, but she wasn’t losing her head. She, at least, had the sense to put some distance between them. Not an impulsive person, that one. But he, on the pther hand, seemed driven by his impulses.

The pattern was becoming depressingly familiar. Once again he d allowed his emotions to rule where Dallas was concerned, and once again she’d brought him crashing back to reality. Now it was time to mop up.

Sparse Saturday-morrung traffic didn’t demand much of his attention, leaving him free to assess his situation with Dallas. The smart thing would be to stay out of her bed, but he knew himself better than that. With the experience of loving her so fresh, the excitement still humming through him, he couldn’t walk away from the chance of holding her again. Maybe in a ferv days, when the novelty had worn off, he d be able to walk away. Or maybe shed walk away herself. Probably she would be the one. But she wasn’t doing that now. For whatever her reasons, she wanted more or she wouldn’t have invited him back to share her chores. He was at least smart enough to figure that out.

But was he smart enough to get through this brief affair unscathed? His best chance, he reasoned, was if he didn’t allow her under his skin, didn’t repeat this mo ming’s idiocy of pouring out his heart to her. He’d explained why Anna had left him in terms that probably reminded Dallas’why she didn’t want a permanent relationship, either. She was a lot different from Anna, a lot more independent, but that didn’t mean she’d be happy with a guy who lived the way he did.

What was it she’d said? Maybe we’re overreacting. Once again, she wanted to downplay the threat of Parnell He could have told her about Celia, probably should have. Except he could guess how shed respond She’d accuse him of lacking objectivity and using

Parnell as a scapegoat. He couldn’t tell her yet. He needed to wait until there was a chance she’d believe Parnell raped Celia. Right now she was still clinging to the verdict she’d helped deliver.

In the meantime, he needed to remember to pick up his six-pack cooler from his apartment. She’d asked for ice cream, and he’d be damned if he’d bring it to her melted.

DALLAS WAS PUTTING AWAY the last of her clean clothes when Amber called.

“So?” Amber said. “How did last night go?”

“Uh…” Dallas should have expected Amber to call and find out what Gabe had thought of her security system.

“Okay, my imagination is going wild, so you might as well tell me: ‘

“He… thinks my locks are fine.” Dallas felt herself blushing. How could she admit to Amber that she, who always lectured about caution in relationships, had thrown it to the winds last night?

“Dallas! Something happened between you two last rught, didn’t it?”

You could say that. “Well, after he left he saw Neal’s car parked down the road and-“

“At two in the morning? I told you that guy was dangerous. Then what?”

“Um, Gabe came back and we decided, that is, it seemed the right thing to do at the time, for him to stay on the couch: ,

Amber was so quiet on the other end Dallas thought she might have been put on hold.

“Amber? You still there?”

“You little fox. You slept with him, didn’t you?”

Dallas’s shaky intake of breath was all the answer necessary.

“That good, was he?”

“Amber, I know you must think I’m out of my mind. He’s defirutely not my type. But I guess, with all that’s happened, I got carried away.”

Amber hooted with laughter. “Not your type? Lady, a hunk like that is every woman’s type. I saw you guys dancing together last night, and I kind of wondered if the two of you would get together. But then I decided you were too uptight to let that happen. Guess I was wrong, huh?”

“Amber, I-” She paused as Gabe’s battered truck pulled up outside the gate. “Listen, he’s back. I’ll have to go .”

“What? Is he staying there with you now? Dallas, you caxi t just leave me hanging. Tell me what “

Dallas watched Gabe come inside the gate, pet Gretchen and throw a ball she held in her mouth. Then he started toward the steps leading to her door. “Bye Amber. And please don’t make a big deal of this at work tonight, okay?”

“I can’t even tell Dave?”

“Doxi t you dare tell Dave. Goodbye: Dallas hung up the phone just as Gabe tapped on the door.

Her heartbeat had quickened from the moment his truck appeared outside her gate. His soft rap on her door sounded like a rifle shot, making her jump eqen though she’d expected it. Her sweaty palm slipped on the doorknob and she had to wipe her hand on her jeans before she opened the door.

He stood on her front steps, his worn black cowboy hat shading his mysterious eyes, a gym bag held loosely in one hand and a small cooler in the other. “Coffee ice cream, right? “

She nodded as he held out the cooler. She took it and their fingers brushed, a little flick of awareness that traveled to all the sensitive spots on her body. “I always do that, bring it home in a cooler so it won’t melt ” , she said.

“I figured you did: He held up his gym bag. “Where do you want me to put my stuff?”

“Oh, anywhere : She clutched the cooler with shaking fingers. He was back. Back to spend the day. To spend the night after work. To make love to her.

He met her gaze. The tilt of his hat gave him a renegade’s glance that seemed almost insolent. “I don’t want to clutter things up.”

She swallowed as that glance brought a trembling lightness to her limbs. She didn’t want to wait hours to feel his body entwined with hers. “You won’t.”

“I already have, havexi t I?”

Tension pulsed between them. He’d been gone a mere two hours, and she felt as if she hadn’t seen him in weeks. She wanted to touch him, be touched. “No,” she murmured. “No, you haven’t cluttered anything up.”

He tossed the gym bag to the couch. The hat sailed after it. “Then maybe I should start.”

She read his intent in his midnight eyes even before he took the cooler from her nerveless fingers and set it on the end table. When he reached for her she groaned.

“Was this on your agenda?” he asked, pulling her against him, letting her feel the hardening of his body.

She could only gaze up helplessly as his sculpted warrior’s lips descended on hers. At first his mouth was hard and demanding, but as she returned the force of his kiss with equal frustration, he gentled, skimming his hands over her body as if to connect with every inch of her.

Breathing hard, he lifted his head. “I thought about this every mile of the way back. I told myself you had work to do .”

“Damn the work.” She fumbled with the buttons of his shirt and pushed her hands inside the soft flannel. His heart thumped against the palm of her hand as she pressed it against his chest. She looked up and saw his mask had slipped once again to reveal the passion she stirred in him. Maybe they couldn’t talk without having him close himself off, but they could do this.

The Botcnty Hunter’ll5

She scratched her fingernails lightly across the hair sprinkled contours of his chest, and he drew in his breath. Reaching for her hand, he guided it down past the cold metal of his belt buckle to the straining denim over his erection. As she cupped him, he closed his eyes and shuddered.