She received more than one raised eyebrow at her half-ownership status, but the men were all very friendly and helpful in explaining their areas of expertise. Rick stayed with her while Colt went off to see to a newborn calf. She let her gaze follow Colt as he dismounted and helped the calf get moving on feeding for the first time.

  “Are all chores shared equally among the cowboys?” she asked Rick, curious to see Colt so intimately involved in the workings of his ranch.

  “If you’re asking can any cowboy step in and do any job on this ranch, then the answer is yes. We all have jobs we’re assigned to do, but—” He nodded his head toward Colt, his brown eyes crinkling in the corners. “Even the boss gets in there and does anything and everything to get the job done for his ranch.”

  A fissure of guilt washed over Elise at his words. No wonder Colt was resentful. He’d worked hard for this ranch and here she came waltzing in and telling him she planned to keep her half, which was nothing more than a piece of paper, not the hard-earned, sweat-rolling-down-your-back, aching-muscles kind of ownership Colt experienced. Hell, she’d be pissed, too. She squared her shoulders. Well, she’d just have to show him she could be a valuable asset to the Lonestar in her own way.

  Rick pulled off his hat and wiped his brow with the back of his sleeve. He turned his weathered face toward her. “Yep, there’s always a fence to be mended, vitamins to be dispensed to the livestock, or hay to be baled. The work is a joint effort of all the ranch hands.”

  Before he placed his hat back on his head, he squinted against the sun, making the wrinkles embed deeper around his eyes. Elise guessed him to be in his early fifties. “What do you know about ranching, Miss Hamilton?”

  Elise cut her eyes over to Colt, thankful he was out of hearing range and answered honestly. “Very little.” She smiled sheepishly. “But I’m a fast study and I’m eager to learn,” she finished with sincerity.

  “Well, then, that’s half the battle, Miss Hamilton.” Rick smiled. “How about a little ranching 101?”

  Elise grinned back. “I’m all ears.”

  Rick’s deep voice took on a proud inflection as he began the lesson. “The spring and fall are our calving, branding and roundup seasons, and summer is the time for baling hay.”

  He stopped talking and met her gaze. “Did you know a cattle rancher depends on the weather just as much as a farmer does for his crops?” When she shook her head, he continued, “The rancher needs the rain to water the land so the cattle will have good grazing grass.” Rick swept his arm out across the pastures toward the livestock. “A good portion of the Lonestar’s stock is bred right here, but Colt also attends auctions several times a year to purchase additional bucking stock for the rodeo.”

  When Rick delved deeper into the ranch lifestyle, Elise was amazed at how much she didn’t know about ranching. And the information she learned from the foreman was all just normal routine ranch life. The rodeo part of the ranch added a whole new dimension.

  Colt mounted his horse once more and trotted over to them. “Ready to go, Elise?”

  Elise nodded and thanked Rick for his time. He winked at her conspiratorially saying, “Anytime, Miss Hamilton.”

  As Colt took her around to other areas of the ranch, they slipped into a more comfortable rhythm—Colt the teacher and she, the avid learner. The one thing that became evident as they traveled every area of the ranch was the love and pride he had for the Lonestar. She could appreciate that. She also loved the outdoors, always had.

  Elise never really felt like she fit in with the rest of her family. Yeah, she could mingle with the best of them at the latest high society party or charity ball, but her heart wasn’t really in it—well, maybe the raising money for charity part, but she could do that without all the other trimmings. She didn’t want to become a society wife, even if that was what her father wanted and expected of her.

  That world wasn’t for her. She wanted to do something with her life. Run a business, put her heart and soul into it. Prove to herself she could be self-sufficient and successful as well. Okay, so inheriting a ranch that was already in working order, and apparently good working order, wasn’t exactly running “her own” business. No, she didn’t have a veterinarian degree nor did she grow up on a farm. But she was smart. She did have undergraduate degrees in business and computer science. And the rodeo portion of the Lonestar was a business. There were ways she could help out. She just needed to figure out the best way to prove to Colt she was valuable enough for him to want to keep her around.

  As they neared the stables, a little devil on Elise’s shoulder whispered, Come on. You know you want to do it. She slowed her horse and let Colt move ahead of her a good five feet or so as she reached for the rope on the front of Jack’s saddle.

  Colt turned in surprise when the rope landed over his shoulders to drop down around his arms. “Gotcha.” Elise grinned as she pulled the trailing end of the rope taut, tightening the loop around him.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Colt glowered at her.

  Elise grinned at his expression. “Just trying to show you how handy I can be.”

  Just then, Mace walked by and let out a low whistle.

  Colt sent him a look that would have withered a lesser man.

  Mace winked at Elise and turned to his brother. “Now, why are you sitting there, glaring at me when you have a gorgeous woman who has you tied up in ropes and wants to show you how handy she can be?” He turned his suggestive gaze back to Elise. “I certainly know what my response would have been.”

  “Mace!” Colt barked.

  His brother continued walking, his hands raised in the air. “I’m going, I’m going.”

  When Colt glanced at her, she had a hard time holding back her laughter. He pulled the rope up over his shoulders and let it drop to the ground. “Where’d you learn to do that?”

  “I have a friend who grew up on a farm.” She winked. “Let’s just say, she showed me the ropes.”

  Colt turned his horse and walked him back toward her. His leg brushed up against hers, his knee touching the top of her thigh as his blue eyes penetrated hers. “What do you want, Elise? Why are you here?”

  Heat spread from his leg to hers, making her heart pound at his blatant male virility and serious eyes. You, her body wanted her to say. Instead, logic dictated she rein in her revved-up libido. “I want to help you run the Lonestar ranch and rodeo.”

  Interest stirred in his eyes before it was quickly masked. “No.”

  “But you said yourself that you need help,” she said, keeping her tone light.

  “No, I didn’t,” he countered, his expression turning hard.

  “Yes, you did. You told Mace you needed at least one brother to help you run the Lonestar.”

  He narrowed his eyes on her. “You don’t know the first thing about running a ranch, Princess.”

  “How would you know what I do and do not know? I’ll bet you assumed I didn’t even know how to ride a horse a couple of hours ago.” Okay, so she was bluffing about the ranch part, but she’d learned a lot today. That counted for something. She noted the muscle ticcing in his jaw again. Bam! She’d pegged him. Sure enough, she had her answer—he always clenched his jaw when he was angry.

  “I don’t need your kind of help, Elise.”

  “What kind of help is that?” she asked, feeling slighted.

  His eyes softened. “I can’t afford you, Princess.”

  Why did she get the feeling he wasn’t talking about the ranch anymore? “Listen, if you’re worried about paying me, don’t be.”

  “Why?” His eyes flashed in anger. “Because you’re so pampered you can just fly on over to little ol’ Texas and dabble at playing cowgirl until you get bored?”

  Elise’s spine stiffened. “Is that what your attitude is about, Colt? You think I’m playing until I get bored?”

  “If the shoe fits, darlin’,” he drawled.

  She pulled on Jack’s reins, backing the horse up. Lifting her foot out of the stirrup toward him, she said, “You see this? It’s a boot, Colt, not a glass slipper. It may not be dusty and worn like yours, but I’m going to prove you wrong,” she finished in a determined voice as she slipped her foot back in the stirrup and kicked her heels into Jack’s sides, trotting him into the stables.

  Chapter Two

  Colt sat in an Adirondack chair on his deck, enjoying his morning cup of coffee. The sun had just begun to peek up over the horizon. Putting the cup to his lips, he surveyed his land. The fifteen acres of property his house resided on were not part of the Lonestar ranch. Situated on a hill along the edge of the Lonestar property, the house, a two-story rambling log cabin with a huge deck across the back and a stone fireplace lining one side, was his sanctuary. It belonged to him and him alone. He’d paid for it in blood, literally.

  Before his dad passed away, Colt had been a reigning rodeo champion. Calf roping and saddle bronc riding were his claim-to-fame events. He didn’t mind giving up the circuit to raise his brothers. The rodeos had served their purpose. The winnings paid for his home and land. Mace lived at the ranch and Cade lived on the road, following the rodeos. The slant of the sun across the deck told him it was getting late. Time to go to work. Colt drained the rest of his coffee and headed for his truck.

  He drove his silver Ford 250 pickup truck the mile from his house to the ranch office. Elise invaded his thoughts as he made the final turn into his parking space. She must have left the ranch after she took off yesterday because he hadn’t seen her again. He was glad to see her gone. He didn’t need her to try to prove him wrong. Her green eyes, infectious smile and sexy, throaty laugh were way too inviting.

  He’d tossed and turned in his bed all night long, thinking about her lips and just how kissable they were. Setting his jaw, he pushed all thoughts of Elise Hamilton from his mind and hoped the next time he saw her would be when she handed him the papers selling her half of the ranch to him.

  Colt entered the office and said his usual, “Good morning” to his secretary, Mabel, as he put his hat on the rack by the door.

  “Good Morning, Colton,” she responded with a smile. She tilted her gray head and gave him a concerned look. “You look a little tired, dear. Are you feeling well?”

  “I’m fine.” He didn’t want to be reminded of his sleepless night. “Any messages?”

  “Yes, there’s a message from Jim Peterson. He wanted to meet to go over the proofs from the last rodeo.” She handed him the pink slip of paper.

  “Why didn’t Mace take the call?”

  She cut her eyes back to the half-closed door of Mace’s office where the sound of laughter floated to the front of the office. “Well, he was otherwise occupied, so I just took the message. If you want, I can give this to Mace.”

  “No, that’s okay. I’ll tell him myself.” Colt’s boot heels dug into the carpet as he walked back to his brother’s office and pushed open the door.

  Elise sat in Mace’s chair in front of the computer. Mace leaned behind her, his arm slung across the back of her chair in a casual manner. He looked at the computer and smiled at something she showed him.

  “Colt,” she looked up, her smile bright. “I just figured out how I could make myself useful.”

  I’ll just bet you have. “Oh, really?” he said, trying to sound as bored as he possibly could when all he wanted was to tell Mace she was off limits. She was his. His gaze, as he flicked it to his brother, must have held some kind of territorial gleam, because his brother backed away and gave him a telling smile.

  “Mace, Jim Peterson called. He wants to meet to go over the proofs from the latest rodeo. Seeing as how you’ve taken over PR duties, I thought you might want to call him back personally.”

  Taking the pink slip from Colt’s hand, Mace said, “I think Elise might be on to something. Check it out while I go call Jim.”

  Elise beckoned Colt with a wave of her hand. “Come look at this.”

  He moved around the desk and stood behind the chair, looking at the computer screen. “It’s the Lonestar’s website,” he stated the obvious.

  Elise laughed as his stoic manner. “Well, give the cowboy a star! No, here’s what I wanted to show you.” She proceeded to pull up other rodeo ranches’ websites, pointing out differences in them.

  Colt put his hand on the desk and leaned forward as she pointed to the idea others had used of selling tickets to the rodeos right over the Internet. “Why doesn’t the Lonestar do that?” She turned her face to look up at him.

  “We have a person contracted to run our website,” he replied. “To be honest, it wasn’t something I thought much about.”

  “Well, you should,” she admonished in a light tone and turned back to the computer screen.

  As she clicked into the screen to show him how easy it was to buy a ticket online, he had to admit she was right. It would help to increase ticket sales by making advanced selling easier. He leaned closer. The smell of her shampoo mingled with her own natural scent was an enticing combination. The scent reached in and wrenched him right in the gut, well, in this case, right in the groin as the tightening of his pants could attest to.

  She continued to talk about websites and webmasters and ticket sales and all he could think about was what her eyes would look like as he touched her. Would the green color change when she was aroused? Colt shook his head to clear his lustful thoughts when something she said did get his attention.

  “You could save the outlay of cash to have your website revamped to include selling tickets online.”

  “Really, how can I do that?”

  Elise turned her gaze to him. “Haven’t you been listening to me, Colt? I can do all this for you. I have a degree in computer science. All I did was work with web programming languages.”

  He looked into her sincere eyes. “You really want to do this, don’t you?”

  “If you’re asking if I really want to help, be a part of the Lonestar and carry my weight, then the answer is yes.”

  Colt wondered about his sanity as he answered, “Okay, but only until the website is up and running. There are no other jobs here for you, Elise.”

  Elise glanced up at him. “We’ll see about that,” she said with an enigmatic smile before she turned her attention back to the computer screen and started taking notes on the pad of paper in front of her.

  * * * * *

  Elise rolled over in bed and groaned at the incessant ringing of the telephone. Lifting her head from the pillow, she opened her bleary eyes and glanced at the window. Still nighttime. Her head pounded from her late night vigil in Mace’s office the night before as she finished up her notes for the revisions on the website.

  Glaring at the annoying phone, her gaze shot to the alarm clock. 5:30! Who in the world would be calling her at 5:30 in the morning?

  Leaning over, she picked up the phone from her nightstand. “Hello?”

  “Elise?” It was Colt. “Get up and get a move on, woman.”

  “What?” she mumbled, her voice sounding raspy.

  “As part owner of the Lonestar, you have responsibilities to attend to. I’ll meet you at the ranch in half an hour.” With that said, he hung up the phone.

  Elise set the receiver in its cradle and clenched her teeth at his presumption. Counting to twenty, she had to remind herself…she did ask for this. This was her chance to prove to Colt she was serious about staying.

  With a sudden burst of energy, Elise jumped out of bed and headed for the shower.

  * * * * *

  As she pulled her red Audi coupe up beside his truck, Colt walked to her car in long, purposeful strides.

  “You’re late,” he commented, irritation obvious in his tone when she opened her door.

  Elise looked at her watch as she climbed out of her car and gave him a patient look.

  “I’m one minute late.”

  He turned on his heel, calling over his shoulder, “Come on. There’s a lot to do before the workday gets started. Every minute counts.”

  Elise followed him over to the stables. No one was around. Well, of course not! Who would be up at this ungodly hour?

  Colt handed her a pitchfork. “Here, put some hay in the stalls for the horses.”

  Elise gave him an incredulous look.

  His eyebrow shot up. “Not above doing a little hard work, are ya?”

  She clamped her lips shut to keep the retort that sprang to mind from escaping. Turning on her heel, she headed for the broken up bale of hay. As she shoved the pitchfork into the straw, she imagined it was Colt’s rear end. At least that brought a smile to her face.

  Thankfully, someone had at least cleaned the stalls and that wasn’t her assigned task for the day. While she shoveled hay, Colt fed and watered the horses. After an hour, she stopped and brushed her hand across her brow. The smell of the stables and the fresh hay assailed her nostrils, causing a smile to ride up her face. She forgot how much she loved the smells, well, minus the odor of manure, of course.

  “Hey, get to work, slacker,” Colt called out from over one of the stalls.

  She stuck out her tongue before she started moving hay again.

  Colt looked back down, but she thought she saw a smile before he turned his head.

  Ten minutes later, Sam walked into the stables. A surprised look crossed his face when he looked at the pitchfork in her hand.

  “Mornin’ Miss Hamilton,” he said respectfully as he turned questioning eyes to Colt.

  “Mornin’ Sam.” Colt walked over and took the pitchfork from her hands.

  He handed the tool to Sam and escorted her out of the stables. “I guess it’s time for us to get to work.”

  Elise rubbed her sore hands on her jeans. “Anything else?”

  He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “Not right now.”

  She saluted him and sauntered off toward the office.