Devils on Horseback: Lee, Book 4 by Beth Williamson Read Free Book Online Page A

bit back the urge to make a face at what she’d allowed to happen to her barn.
    Lee was looking down at the pitchfork, turning it back and forth in his hand while Sophie peered up at him with her brow furrowed. Neither one of them acknowledged her.
    “Hello? Water?”
    This time he must’ve actually heard her because his head snapped up and his gaze slammed into hers like a bullet. His brown eyes were full of pain and pride—a dangerous combination, one Genny knew too well.
    “Thirsty?” she asked with forced cheer. Without waiting for a response, she brought the bucket over to him and set it on the floor. Glancing at his threadbare pants and noting they would be the first to get burned, she filled the dipper and held it up to him.
    “I’m much obliged, Miz Blanchard.” The sweet southern drawl fell so easily from his tongue, she wasn’t sure it was as sweet as it sounded.
    He brought the dipper to his mouth and Genny froze in place, mesmerized by the play of muscles, skin and lips as Lee drank the cool well water. As he tilted the dipper, drops ran out the sides of his mouth, then slowly dripped onto his chest.
    She wanted to lick them off.
    Damp blond curls peeped out from the opening in his shirt. The smell of the barn faded away as the scent of a man washed over her. She wasn’t one to lose her head over a working man, or any man for that matter, but there was something about Lee that plucked her strings.
    “Much obliged.”
    Genny realized he was holding the dipper out to her and she was standing there like an idiot. “Th-hanks. I mean, you’re welcome.” She threw the dipper back into the bucket at her feet, splashing water on both of them.
    Jesus Lord, have mercy! Did she have even an ounce of grace around this man? When she peered up at his face, Genny swore his mouth twitched in a smile or maybe even a laugh.
    “I’m sorry, Lee, I didn’t—”
    “What happened to calling me Mr. Blackwood?” This time there was no humor in his voice. It was low and sexy, a bedroom voice that raised an army of goose bumps up and down her skin.
    Without thought, likely a good thing, Genny swayed toward him, pulled by whatever attraction drew them together. It was an elemental connection, something that felt as old as a river and as impossible to control. His nostrils flared as if he’d scented her as well. She felt like a bitch in heat.
    Her breath came out in short bursts; she couldn’t suck in enough air to fill her lungs. When she came within six inches of him, she could see just how beautiful his eyes were. A dark brown, they also had gold flecks embedded in them. Lee was like a secret mine in a mountain, rich with treasure but difficult to reach without tools and a hell of a lot of work.
    Genny didn’t seem to care about any impediments or even the fact she was about to kiss a man who was also her employee. Her eyes drifted closed as the heat from Lee’s body permeated hers, raising her temperature too.
    “Mama, I’m building a harness for Mr. Blackie.” Sophie’s voice was more shocking than if someone had thrown the bucket of water on Genny.
    Judging by the startled way Lee stepped back a foot away from her, it was just as shocking to him. What the hell had she been thinking?
    “Blackwood, honey.” Genny didn’t like the way she sounded raspier than usual, but there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it without the aid of that cold water.
    “So I told him he needed a harness like Ned.” Sophie held up some old traces from Ned’s former companion horse, Eloise. “Can’t we make these into somethin’?”
    Genny turned to Lee and tried to gauge his reaction to the suggestion. He shifted his weight and stared back at her with an intensity that saluted the goose-bump army.
    “We can try if that’s what Lee, I mean, Mr. Blackwood wants.”
    “What I want doesn’t mean spit.” He nodded toward Sophie. “The girl had a good idea so just do it.”
    Genny had no idea how to take tack from an