One Night with a Red-Hot Rancher. Diana Palmer

      After a few minutes, kissing was no longer enough. His hand moved in at the base of her spine and half lifted her against him, so that her belly ground against his in the rapt silence of the vehicle, broken only by the force of their audible breaths, and her soft moan. She could feel him wanting her. It had been exciting with Frank, but not like this. She wanted what Bentley wanted. She was on fire for him.

      He unfastened the buttons on his shirt and pulled her against him, so that her soft breasts ground against the hair-roughened muscles of his chest. His hand moved her hips against his in a slow, anguished rotation that made her moan louder.

      “Oh, God,” he bit off, shivering. “Cappie!”

      Her nails were scoring his back as she held on for dear life and began to shudder. “Don’t stop,” she whimpered. “Don’t stop!”

      “I’ve…got to!”

      He moved abruptly, pushing her back into her seat. He opened the door and got out of the Land Rover, standing with his back to her as he sucked in deep breaths and tried to regain the control he’d almost lost.

      Embarrassed, Cappie fumbled her bra closures into place and pulled her sweater down. She was still shaky. It had been a near thing. Thank goodness they were parked in her driveway instead of on some lonely road where there might not have been as much incentive to stop. Despite her passionate response to him, Cappie didn’t move with the times. Did he know that? Was he hoping for some brief fling? She couldn’t. She just couldn’t. Now, she reasoned with something like panic, he wouldn’t want to see her again, not if she said no. And either way, how was it going to affect her job? There was only one veterinary clinic in Jacobs County, and she worked for it. If she lost her job, she couldn’t get another, not in her field.

      While she was torturing herself with such thoughts, the door suddenly opened.

      “I know,” Bentley said in a strangely calm and amused tone, “you’re kicking yourself mentally for taking advantage of me in a weak moment. But it’s okay. I’m used to women trying to ravish me.”

      She stared up at him wide-eyed and speechless. Of all the things she expected he might say, that was the last.

      “Come on, come on, you’re not going to get a second shot at me in the same night,” he teased. “I have my reputation to think of!”

      Her mind started working again, and she laughed with relief. She picked up her purse and scrambled out the door, her discarded coat over one arm.

      “Listen,” he said gently, “don’t start brooding. We got a little too involved, too quickly, but we’ll deal with it.”

      She hesitated. “I’m not, well, modern,” she blurted out.

      “Neither am I, honey,” he said softly.

      She could have melted into the ground at the husky endearment. She blushed.

      He bent and kissed her with tender respect. “I know what sort of woman you are,” he said gently. “I’m not going to push you into something you don’t want.”

      “Thanks.”

      “On the other hand, you have to make me a similar promise,” he pointed out. “I’m not going to keep dating you if I have to worry about being ravished every time I bring you home. I’m not that sort of man,’ he added haughtily.

      She grinned from ear to ear. “Okay.”

      He walked her to the door, smiling complacently. “I’ll see you at work Monday,” he said. He framed her face in his hands and looked at her for a long time. “Just when you think you’re safe,” he mused, “you jump headfirst into the tiger trap.”

      “You know, I was just thinking the same thing,” she said facetiously.

      He chuckled as he bent to kiss her again. “We’ll take it at a nice, easy pace,” he whispered. “But I know already how it’s going to end up. We’re good together. And I’m tired of living alone.”

      Her heart almost burst with joy. “I…I don’t think I could just live with someone,” she blurted out, still a little worried.

      He kissed her eyes shut. “Neither could I, Cappie,” he whispered. “We can talk about licenses and rings.” He lifted his head. His eyes were soft with feeling. “But not tonight. We have all the time in the world.”

      “Yes,” she whispered. Her eyes were bright with the force of her emotions. “It’s happening so fast.”

      He nodded. “Like lightning striking.”

      She felt her heart racing. But in the back of her mind, there was a sudden fear, a foreboding. She bit her lower lip. “You don’t really know much about me,” she began. “You see, when I lived in San Antonio, there was this man I dated…”

      Before she could tell him about Frank, his phone rang. He jerked it out and answered it. “Rydel,” he said. He listened, grimaced. “I’ll be in the office in ten minutes. Bring the cat right in, I’ll see it. Yes. Yes. You’re welcome.” He hung up. “I have to go.”

      “Be careful,” she said.

      He smiled. “I will. Good night.”

      “Good night, Dr. Rydel.”

      “Bentley.”

      She laughed. “Bentley.”

      He ran back to the Land Rover, started it and drove away with a wave of his hand. Cappie watched him go, then walked into her house, feeling as if she could have floated all the way.

      Monday morning, Cappie still felt light-headed and ecstatic. She’d half expected Bentley to phone her Saturday or Sunday, considering how involved they’d gotten when he brought her home from the carnival on Friday night. But maybe he’d had emergencies. She hoped he hadn’t had second thoughts. She was so crazy about him that she couldn’t bear to even think about having him reconsider what he’d said. But she knew that wasn’t going to happen. They were already so close that she knew it was going to be forever.

      So it came as a shock when she walked in the office and Dr. Rydel met her beaming smile with a cold glare that sent chills down her spine.

      “You’re late, Miss Drake,” he said curtly. “Please try to be on time in the future.”

      She looked as if she’d been hit in the head by a brick. Keely, at the counter, gave her a sympathetic look.

      “I’m…I’m sorry, sir,” she stammered.

      “I need you to help Keely with an X-ray,” he said, and turned away abruptly.

      “Right away.” She put up her coat and purse and rushed to join Keely, who was going in the room where they kept the medical cages. She took a hair band out of her pocket and scrunched her thick hair into a ponytail with it. Inside, she felt numb.

      “It’s Mrs. Johnson’s cat,” Keely explained, wary of being overheard by the vet, who was just going into a treatment room. “She stepped on his paw. It’s swollen, and Dr. Rydel is afraid it may be broken. Mrs. Johnson is no lightweight,” she added with a grin.

      “Yes, I know.”

      “She had to leave him with us while she went to see her heart doctor. She was very upset. She’s just getting over a heart attack, and she’s worried about her cat!” she said, smiling. Keely opened the cage and Cappie lifted the old cat. It just purred. It didn’t even offer to bite her, although it was obvious that it was in pain.

      “What a sweet old fellow,” Cappie murmured as they went toward the X-ray room. “I thought he might want to bite us.”

      “He’s a sweetheart all right. Here.” Keely motioned to the X-ray table and closed the door behind them. “What in the world is wrong with Dr. Rydel?” she whispered. “He came in looking like a thundercloud.”

      “I don’t