Wedding Planner Tames Rancher!. Pamela Ingrahm

      A short laugh burst from her lips. “Yes, sir.”

      Wade looked annoyed, but Leah wanted to believe the distracted look meant he was upset with himself, not her.

      “I apologize,” he said. “It’s just nearly driven me crazy all evening to see that beautiful hair of yours all mashed back. I’ve been imagining it would look like liquid chocolate and feel like silk. It’s been all I could do to keep my hands off.”

      Her face flushed hotly. She always wore her hair up, unless she was at home or in an extremely casual situation. Without thinking, she put a self-conscious hand to her ear.

      “I’ll do my best tomorrow.”

      “Good. I’ll see you then.” Leaning forward, he placed a kiss on her cheek. “Good night, Leah.”

      She had the foolish urge to turn her face so their lips would meet.

      “Good night, Wade.”

      As she closed the door behind her, the silence of her professionally cleaned and decorated apartment surrounded her. She walked into the dimly lit living room and glanced around. For some silly reason, all she could think of was Wade going home to his daughter and the excited greeting of a beautiful collie. She, on the other hand, would say good-night to an expensive painting and curl up in bed with the printout her accountant had dropped by yesterday.

      Yep, she decided as she headed for her bedroom, she had it all.

      

      Wade settled into a comfortable cruising speed, noting absently that Highway 290 wasn’t crowded this time of night. It was too late for commuting traffic and too early for the drunks headed home. But Wade’s mind was bumper-to-bumper with jumbled thoughts.

      He couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him. He didn’t think he’d ever acted so irrationally with a woman before. The need to kiss her had just overwhelmed him, and he’d been helpless to resist the urge to pull her into his arms.

      He called himself a thousand kinds of fool. And the foolishness had to stop. There was too much at stake for him to be acting irresponsibly. His daughter’s happiness was more important than his hormones.

      But he couldn’t deny that that not-so-simple kiss had been a soul-rocking event, something of a shock to a man who thought spontaneous combustion was mere theory. Lord help him if he had been in a position to go any further. He doubted he would have come to his senses until he’d buried himself inside her and found release.

      He’d meant what he’d said. He was never impulsive. Yet even now, while worrying that his daughter was giving him the fastest-forming ulcer in history, his mind would not let go of the image of making Leah lose control with him, driving her mindless with passion underneath him. She was so contained, so self-assured, he wanted to rock her as deeply as she’d rocked him. He wanted her primal...not sleek and oh-so-correct.

      He shook his head sharply. Yes, he was attracted to Leah, but he’d just met her, for criminy’s sake. Of course, she’d thrown him off guard by not reacting to his “I’m the boss” speech as he’d expected, and there was nothing like surprise to intrigue a man. He’d been so sure she would disapprove of his motives. Not that approval or disapproval mattered, but she had empathized with him, and for the first time in months he felt a little less like bubblegum stuck to the bottom of a shoe.

      Oh, he’d definitely seen the wheels beginning to turn in her beautiful head when the discussion had inevitably turned to the damned tuxedo issue, but he was sure he could hold his own with her. No amount of coaxing from Myra Jo had changed his mind, so he doubted the machinations of the curvaceous consultant would have any better effect.

      He was sure of one thing, though—

      The sound of a siren and bright strobe lights in his rearview mirror jerked him rudely to attention.

      Without hesitation he pulled onto the shoulder and cut his engine while he rolled down the window. He was reaching for his wallet when he heard a vaguely familiar voice.

      “All right, Bobby Ray, I clocked you at ninety-two. I’ve caught your—oh! Mr. Mackey!”

      “Evenin’, Tim.”

      Wade looked out the window at a boy he’d almost raised. Tim Anderson’s folks were some of his best friends, and Tim and Myra Jo had gone to school together since grade school. Then Myra Jo had gone off to college and Tim had gone to the Department of Public Safety academy. Wade had even attended the boy’s graduation.

      “What are you doing in Bobby Ray’s Mustang, Mr. Mackey?”

      Wade got out of the car and leaned back against the quarter panel. He rubbed the tension lines on his forehead. “It’s a long story, Tim.”

      “Well, uh, did you know how fast you were going?”

      “No, Tim, I’m afraid I didn’t. I was daydreaming a bit.”

      “That’s dangerous at any speed, Mr. Mackey, but certainly at over ninety.”

      “I know, son.”

      “Well, if you’ll give me your word you’ll watch it the rest of the way home, I’ll let you go.”

      “I appreciate it.”

      Wade held his hand out to the young man, remembering the time when Tim had solemnly informed him that men didn’t hug. If he recalled correctly, Tim had been about seven.

      He’d almost slid back into his seat when a thought occurred to him. Stepping back out, he called to Tim. “How’d you know this was Bobby Ray’s car?”

      Tim’s laugh carried the few feet between the vehicles. “Bobby Ray and I used to drag out here in high school. I told him when I became a Trooper I was going to nail his butt someday. I thought I had my chance tonight.”

      “Sorry to disappoint you, son.”

      “No problem. You just slow down and drive more like a man your age should. You got that?”

      Wade chuckled. “Yeah, I got it. And you’re gonna get it, too, as soon as I catch you out of uniform.”

      “Now, Mr. Mackey, don’t make me haul you in for threatening an officer.”

      “You know me, Tim. I don’t threaten. I promise.” Tim laughed again as he slipped inside his vehicle and turned off his strobes. Wade indulged in another chuckle as he pulled back onto the highway, determined to set aside his obsession with one particular lady. No matter how beautiful she was, he wasn’t going to get a ticket. Or worse.

      “Drive like a man my age, my foot!” Wade snorted. “That pup thinks anyone over thirty is old, but I’ve got news for him.”

      He might have edged past forty, but he was hardly over the hill. He had a long life ahead of him.

      His smile faded. Long and alone, if the truth were told. Myra Jo was starting her new life, and he felt as if his had gone into limbo.

      He used to know exactly who he was and what he had to do. He was a single father, a son and a rancher. He used to get up every day before the sun, knowing he had a family to support and more bills to pay than money to pay them with. Now his baby was leaving, he was starting to parent his parents and he had people running the ranch for him. He was supposed to be free to do the things he wanted, but running the ranch was what he wanted.

      Did this mean he was in a midlife crisis? He’d always thought the midlife crisis thing was a bunch of hogwash people used to excuse their misbehavior.

      Hell, he decided he wasn’t sure about anything anymore.

      Except his inability to get his mind off one beautiful, elegant brunette.

      Three

      Leah checked her hair self-consciously before she left the sanctuary of her car. She’d spent the entire drive to Wade’s vacillating