The Cowboy Claims His Lady by Meagan McKinney Read Free Book Online Page A

relations here who are cowboys?” Annette seemed amazed. “How utterly fascinating. You have no idea how far the average Londoner will go to live the life of a cowboy for just a week.”
    â€œI had no idea,” Lyndie conceded.
    â€œOh, darling. Look who’s here!” Annette jabbed her husband.
    All at the table looked to the chuck wagon. Bruce Everett was at the grill, getting his steak.
    â€œHe is the most fantastical person, don’t you agree?” Roger said to Lyndie. “All those rodeos. All those championship belt buckles. I feel like we’re living a Clint Eastwood film with him around.The ranch’s fees were worth double what we paid, just to experience what he can show us.”
    Lyndie glanced at Bruce.
    He glanced back.
    A strange unwanted shiver shook her very core. As much as she fought it, consciously, valiantly, she was succumbing. Desire crept up on her with every swagger of his hips, with every flash of his lazy smile. If she didn’t fight it, she might fall altogether.
    â€œWhat can he show us? I’m not that familiar with him.” Lyndie turned her attention back to her steak.
    â€œWhy, he’s considered one of the best cattle breeders in all of the West. He has a ranch a couple hundred miles from here. And he does have a legend around him,” Annette chimed in.
    â€œWe read that he once saved a pair of grizzly cubs from the highway by scooping a cub up in each arm and running them to safety. The man’s strong, because even a baby grizzly’s bloody heavy.”
    â€œAnd what did the mother think of all that?” Lyndie couldn’t help but ask.
    â€œShe was right smitten with him, like all the other of her sex,” Roger finished. “She just put her cubs in check and disappeared to the other side of the highway.”
    â€œCertainly sounds like a tall tale to me,” Lyndie commented drily.
    â€œMiss Clay. May I have the pleasure?”
    She looked over her shoulder and found the subject of their discussion standing—no, looming—over her.
    â€œMr. Everett,” she acknowledged as he sat next to her with his steak and his thick, muscular thigh pressing against her own, reminding her of all the things she was lonely for.
    Annette and Roger both gaped.
    Lyndie could only offer a weak smile.
    After all, there was so much to deny, and so very little to acknowledge.
    â€œHave you fully recovered from last night?” Bruce asked.
    Annette looked ready to swoon and Roger certainly needed to close his jaw.
    â€œHave you met Roger and Annette?” Lyndie asked in a perky tone. “They’re from London. Big fans.”
    Bruce nodded. “I met you on the trail. You both have a good sense of balance. That’s to be appreciated in a greenhorn.”
    â€œTh-tha-thank you,” Roger stuttered, his salt-and-pepper beard twitching with pleasure.
    â€œWe were just telling Miss Clay here how wonderful the ranch is,” Annette added. “She doesn’t seem to be as familiar with it as most.”
    Bruce slid Lyndie a glance. “She’ll find her way. Besides, she’s come highly recommended.”
    â€œBy my great-aunt Hazel,” Lyndie finished, trying to set it straight.
    â€œYes, Miss Clay is a businesswoman. She doesn’t feel the need to get back in touch with her natural side.”
    Bruce dug into his steak as if it were his last meal.
    Lyndie watched that hard, punishing mouth tear into the meat, and the memory of his kiss made her melt from the pit of her stomach all the way down to her knees.
    â€œNever lose touch, my dear,” Annette said. “For there’s nothing like a pink mountain sunset, or the sight of an elk with her young, to remind you what’s truly important.”
    â€œAnd that is?” Lyndie prompted, clinging to any subject that would free her mind from the fiery press of the muscular male thigh against hers.
    â€œGod. The spirit.