He looked down into her eyes; his own had turned a deeper shade of sapphire blue. His sexy five o’clock shadow made her want to rub her hand against the rough surface. Tiny tremors skittered through her body as he gently brushed his fingers across her, teasing her, running the pads of his fingers up and down her most intimate places in a slow, tantalizing rhythm.

  “You’re hot and wet, responsive to my touch. I want to know what it’s like to be inside you. I’m jealous of my own damn hand right now.”

  Elise gave a nervous laugh at the fierceness of his tone combined with his humor. But her laugh hitched in her throat when he immediately thrust two fingers deep inside her core. She couldn’t help the gasp that escaped her lips as he added his thumb to the mixture, finding her hot spot and applying just the right amount of pressure.

  Elise tried not to cry out as her body spiraled and finally spasmed around his fingers, but she just couldn’t do it. Colt must have sensed she couldn’t hold back for he covered her mouth with his, thrusting his tongue against hers at the same pace his fingers moved within her, slow and sure, drawing out every tremor.

  When the overwhelming spasms stopped, he withdrew his hand saying in a gruff voice, “Look at me, Elise.” Elise’s body still shook from the orgasm he’d just elicited from her, but she managed to meet his gaze. He gave her a sexy smile that was all too cocky as he said, “I like the fact you couldn’t keep quiet. It’s a helluva turn-on to know I can make you lose control like that. Want to go for round two?”

  Elise placed her hand on his jeans where his hard flesh pushed against the fly of his pants. She raised an eyebrow and gave him a saucy grin. “I don’t know how much more you can take, Colt.”

  Colt’s laugh sounded forced even to himself. “Maybe you’re right. Care to go for a ride?”

  She gave him an innocent look, blinking her eyelashes for effect. “Does that mean I get to be on top?”

  He meant his truck and she damn well knew it. Colt chuckled and helped her slide out of the booth.

  When he pulled the door open for her to exit the bar, a draft of warm Texan heat blew in, causing her dress to lift up in the air. Elise let out a startled gasp and pushed the front of her dress back down. Colt immediately moved flush against her back as they walked through the door to keep the back of her dress from flying up and exposing her naked backside.

  Once they were outside, Elise laughed. “I was feeling a little too footloose and fancy free in there.” She turned and put out her hand. “Can I have my underwear back now?”

  They were alone in the dark parking lot, standing beside his truck, the muffled country music floating back to them from the bar. Colt pulled her underwear out of his pocket and gave her a devilish look. “These?”

  Elise reached for her black lacy underwear, but he held them aloft with one long finger. “Nah, honey, I don’t think so. Why bother when I’m just going to take them right off you again anyway?” He crushed the soft material in his hand and put the underwear to his nose, closing his eyes and inhaled. When he opened his eyes he felt a rush of satisfaction to see Elise’s lips part in surprise at his thoroughly intimate gesture.

  Colt shoved the underwear back in his pocket and pulled her soft body against his harder one. “Faint smells may prime me, but I’m a very visual and sensory man. I want to experience you firsthand.”

  Elise ran her hands up his arms and across his shoulders. Pulling his head to hers, she whispered in his ear, “Well then, you’d better get a move on, darlin’ because I’m one ahead of you.”

  She pushed away from him, her seductive laughter floating behind her as she moved to the passenger side of the truck. Colt immediately followed her and opened the truck door for her to climb in.

  Her voice reflected surprise as he grasped her hand, “Oh, a cowboy and a gentleman. What a treat!”

  “I didn’t realize they were mutually exclusive,” he replied in an amused tone as he smoothed her skirt across her backside while she slid into the seat.

  She gasped as his hand cupped her rear end and turned laughing eyes his way. “Okay, a cowboy who plays at being a gentleman so he can cop a feel.”

  Colt gave her his sexiest grin. “I take my opportunities as they arise, Elise. Doesn’t mean I’m not a gentleman.” He pulled the seatbelt and snapped it closed around her before he shut the door and moved around to his side of the truck.

  As he turned his truck onto the highway, he glanced her way. Elise had turned very quiet. He hoped he hadn’t somehow offended her.

  When his gaze met hers, she gave him the best come-hither-look he’d seen in a long time. Holy hell, he wanted her. She moved restlessly against the leather seat, her green eyes beckoning him. Her movements reminded him of a sexy cat, calling to her lover with her sensuous, lithe movements.

  “I’m way too far away over here, Colt,” she complained as she moved to unbuckle her seatbelt.

  “Uh-uh, Elise. Keep the seatbelt on. We’re almost to the ranch.”

  She licked her lips, then pouted. “I was hoping to even the score.”

  Colt groaned at her suggestion. “We’ll have plenty of time—”

  His cell phone started ringing on the floor of his truck. Colt leaned over and picked it up. “Tanner, here.”

  “Colt, it’s Rick. One of your prize bulls is actin’ funny. Thought you might like to check him out.”

  “Call Evan. Tell her to meet me there. I’ll be there in a few.” Colt swore as he hung up the phone. His gut clenched in disappointment at the shitty news.

  “I take it our date is off,” Elise quipped. “Is everything okay at the ranch?”

  Colt shifted his gaze to her. He wanted to throttle someone. Of all the rotten luck.

  “Sorry, Elise, but Rick needs my help. Duty calls.”

  Once he’d driven up the long drive leading up to the ranch, he stopped the truck and cut off the engine. Propping his arm on the steering wheel, he faced Elise, regret in his voice. “You don’t know how sorry I am.”

  “Oh, I think I do,” she laughed softly in the dim light of the truck. Suddenly, her eyes brightened and she squared her sexy shoulders. “Tell me what’s wrong. I could help you.”

  Colt shook his head and smiled as he ran a finger down her cheek. “Elise, if you come along, I’d spend all my time looking at you instead of helping out like I should.” In his mind, there was no need to drag Elise into this. It could be a bad run of luck, but it smelled more like Riley’s doing.

  Leaning over to brush his lips against hers, he said in a low, dark tone, “I know you’ll be worth the wait.”

  * * * * *

  Feeling more than a little tired as she drove up to the Lonestar the following Monday, Elise thought about her long weekend, or at least that’s what it felt like—long!

  After she left Colt on Friday, she’d arrived home to find no less than five messages on her cell phone from her parents. She’d shut off her answering machine a week ago because her father kept leaving her messages asking when she’d be coming home. Then he’d started calling her cell phone instead. Hence the reason she left it at her apartment. Every message on her cell phone related to her parents wanting to make sure she would be back from her vacation before the late summer party. According to them, they’d planned it as a special occasion.

  Elise knew she had to tell her parents in person that she had made a new life for herself away from Virginia. She also had a few more of her things in storage she wanted to have shipped down to Texas. Her parents’ persistence just stepped up the timeframe sooner than she’d expected.

  The next morning she’d taken the first plane flight out to D.C. She’d considered giving Colt a call to let him know she’d be gone for a few days, but they weren’t in a relationship. Plus, a phone call from her might have given him the impression she perceived them as a couple and as such felt the need to check in with him. Not!

  Ugh, going home hadn’t been a pretty scene.

  “You’re going to what?” her father had railed.

  “Now Fred, don’t go getting your blood pressure up,” her mother said in a calm voice as she smoothed her blonde bobbed hair against her neck. “What Elise meant was that she wanted to spend the rest of her summer tending to her investment.”

  “That’s not what I said,” Elise interrupted as frustration knotted her stomach at her parents’ complete disregard for her hopes and desires, once again. “I said that I plan to move to Boone permanently. It’s my home now.”

  “Look here, young lady,” her father began, drawing his bushy, dark brown brows together in a frown. “You so much as even think of moving to Texas for good and you can kiss your inheritance goodbye.”

  Elise had stiffened at her father’s ultimatum. Once again he’d tried to use the lure of money to keep her in Virginia and working for Hamilton’s. The problem with his plan was that she didn’t care about the money.

  She’d narrowed her gaze on her father, then tilted her chin in a defiant manner. “I’ll be back here at the end of the summer for the party. I haven’t forgotten my obligation to the Save a Heart Charity. If I have to give them the donation from my own funds, so be it.”

  Her father had snorted in anger at her response, then he nodded as if pleased with himself. “Twenty thousand dollars is a lot of cash, Elise. You might have done well when you sold your share of that dot com company you helped start, but somehow I doubt you have that kind of cash lying around.”

  She’d refused to answer him and had to listen the entire rest of the weekend as her father hounded her about her duty and responsibility to Hamilton Industries. In her heart, she understood he wanted her to help maintain and manage the fortune he’d amassed over the years. Unfortunately, she couldn’t force herself to live that life just to please her father, especially not now that she’d found the perfect life for herself at the Lonestar. She’d decided that no matter what happened between herself and Colt, she knew her heart belonged in Texas.

  Leaving D.C. on the red-eye last night, she’d gotten very little sleep on the plane. Needless to say, this morning she was beat.

  When she walked into the ranch office and shut the door against the early morning heat, she turned to greet Mabel and saw the secretary jerk her head toward Colt’s office, a warning expression on her face.

  “Mabel, is that…?” Colt called out as he stepped into the doorway of his office.

  “Where the hell have you been!” he barked at Elise. He crossed his arms over his chest as a frown creased his brow.

  “Well, happy Monday morning to you, too, Colt,” Elise quipped.

  As Colt’s frown turned into a scowl, she asked, “Is something wrong with the website?” She cut her gaze over to Mabel to remind him they had an audience.

  Colt must have realized her intention because he immediately straightened and lowered his arms. “Uh, yeah.”

  Elise laughed. “Okay, I’ll go take a look at it.” She turned and walked down the hall feeling the weight of her long weekend dragging her body down.

  Sighing, she sat down in her chair and booted up her computer. Colt had been right on her heels and was now demanding her attention. Closing the door behind him, he stood there, his stance tense, anger emanating from his body.

  “Where have you been?” he repeated.

  “Is there a problem, Colt?” She looked up from her computer.

  He waved his hands in the air. “Problem? You’ve got me wound tighter than a stallion downwind of a mare in heat with no way to get at her and you ask if I have a problem?”

  “You did say I would be worth the wait,” she said with a smirk, even though her heart raced at his words. Damn, his metaphor was effective.

  “For the whole weekend!” he said, his voice growing louder. When she arched her eyebrow, he immediately lowered his voice. “I tried calling you several times and when I didn’t get an answer, I got worried and drove over to your apartment. I wanted to make sure you were okay. Imagine my surprise when your neighbor told me she thought you left town. You could have at least called.”

  “And said what?” she countered. “‘Sorry, I can’t make it for a jollies session, but I have something I have to take care of.’ It’s not like we’re in a relationship, are we?”

  She had him stumped there. Colt seemed to be at a loss for words. She could tell this man was used to getting what he wanted when he wanted it. Good. She liked to keep him guessing.

  Looking back down at her keyboard, she began typing once more. “If you want to keep tabs on me, buy me a pager.” She gave him a meaningful look. “Preferably one that vibrates.”

  Colt turned on his heel, opened the door and stalked off down the hall.

  Three minutes later, Elise looked up from her keyboard. The sensation of someone watching was just too great to ignore. Mace leaned casually in the doorway.

  “I’ve seen the looks between you two. If you don’t do something soon, the man is going to rip someone’s head off. He’s been meaner than a rattlesnake all morning and not at all likable to be around.”

  Elise laughed at Mace’s doomed version of Colt’s situation. “Mace, worry about your own love life.”

  Mace pushed off the doorjamb. “Hey, no problem there, darlin’.”

  “So I gather,” she teased.

  “What can I say? I’m just the kind of guy the girls fall all over.” He gave her a wide grin, not at all apologetic.

  Elise scanned his six-foot-one, muscular body from the top of his light brown, sun- streaked hair to the tip of his scuffed boots. He was leaner than Colt, his muscles less bulky, but there was something in his green eyes that called to a woman’s heart. He had dreamy eyes. “I guess I can see where some women might find you attractive, Mace.”

  Mace raised his eyebrows. “Just some women?”

  Elise laughed at his cockiness. “Yes, some women. You can’t possibly have them all to yourself.”

  Mace turned to go. “Yeah, but it sure is fun tryin’.” He walked off toward his office chuckling.

  Elise turned back to her computer. Mace was right. She should try to make it up to Colt. She waited until eleven-thirty and then told Mabel she had to run an errand. Knowing Colt typically worked through lunch, she went out and bought sandwiches for them.

  The office was quiet when she got back. Mabel and Mace must have gone out to grab something to eat. She reached up and lightly rapped on Colt’s closed door.

  “What!” he barked.

  Oh boy. This was going to be fun.

  Elise opened the door with a flourish and said, “Lunch is served,” as she walked in carrying a white paper bag.

  Colt looked up from his desk, his eyebrows pulled together, frustration written all over his face. “Unless it involves you, naked and laid out like a sampler platter, I’m not interested.”

  Her insides turned to butter at his vivid description. He might be blunt, but the man certainly did have a way with words. “You have to eat, Colt.”

  Colt grunted as he looked at the bag in her hand. “What’s that?”

  She held up the bag. “I brought you a sandwich.”

  Chapter Six

  After Elise handed him a sandwich, Colt watched with growing anticipation as she sashayed behind his desk and settled her lovely butt on the surface. As she proceeded to eat her own sandwich, he looked up into her face. She had her dark hair pulled back in a clip, giving him a full view of her face. It was such an expressive face with high cheekbones and a stubborn chin. But right now, her lips were driving him wild. As she chewed and stared down at him, it was all he could to swallow the food in his mouth.

  He didn’t want her to know how much it bothered him that she left without so much as a word to him. He’d spent a long Friday night with Evan trying to figure out what was wrong with his bull. The animal was so agitated he’d acted stoned. Evan—the best vet around to be so young—decided to test his urine. Sure enough, faint traces of Jimson weed laced the sample. Even though the animal’s urine only had enough of the toxic plant to whack him out, he was so messed up, he was throwing himself against the barn and the barbed wire fence.

  Anger boiled through Colt at the discovery. The hallucinogenic wild plant only grew in the spring and it was summer. This stunt had Riley written all over it, but there was no way to prove the bastard did it.

  Coming home in the early morning hours, he knew it was too late to call Elise. He fell into bed with the knowledge he’d see her the next day and they’d have all weekend together. When he’d discovered she’d left town, he didn’t like the sense of panic that gripped him. He knew his raging emotions stemmed from the fact he hadn’t been able to touch her, to slide against her sweet flesh the way he wanted.

  Over the course of the weekend, Colt had moved from irritated mode to “maybe it was for the best” mode. By the time Sunday rolled around, he’d started to wonder if she’d changed her mind about Texas and gone back home to stay. If she really had left for good, maybe it was best he didn’t get to know her better. While he was doing his laundry that weekend, her panties fell out of his jeans back pocket. He picked them up and frustration filled him all over again until it slowly burned into simmering anger. He admitted to himself he’d never wanted a woman as much as he wanted Elise.

  By Sunday night he still hadn’t heard from her, nor did she answer her phone, he began to worry. But he didn’t know who to call since Marie was on vacation. He’d decided to give her until Monday and then he’d dig out his documents with her home address in Virginia to call her family and check on her.

  When he’d seen Elise waltzing into the office this morning as if she hadn’t just taken off without a word and left him hanging, his temper flared. Now that he knew she was fine, his libido kicked in once more. She’d offered, then not shown to deliver. And he sure as hell wanted to take her up on that seductive offer, damnit.