Buck (Rope 'n Ride #1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

he’d baled a field of hay, pulled ten calves and branded a hundred ornery bulls.
    “So did I. Ryder’s a slave driver.” The barest hint of a smile around the corner of her full pink lips annoyed the hell out of Buck—especially since it wasn’t for his sake.
    “Ryder has a way of pushing a person for sure. Were you working on the water system?”
    “Yeah. I now know more about PVC pipe than I care to, but at least the animals have water spread over that field.”
    Buck nodded. The job she and Ryder had completed had been on the Calhouns’ to-do list for ages. The tank wasn’t enough for that many head of cattle and the pipes distributing it to various watering holes would help. Then they weren’t carrying water all over the damn place.
    “Ryder’s smart with engineering things,” she said, raising the glass to her mouth.
    Buck focused on the cool glass pressed to her plump lip. His balls clenched.
    “I agree on some levels.” He wasn’t about to be generous with praise for his brother when his fiancée—or the woman posing as his fiancée—had obviously enjoyed working with Ryder all day.
    She lowered the glass and gave him that look. The one that meant she wasn’t happy with him.
    He sat up straighter and met her gaze head on. If they were going to have a collision, best to do it right now—and off-camera.
    Or skip it altogether and get to the making up part.
    “What’s not to agree about? Ryder’s done a lot around this ranch that makes life easier and work quicker for all of you.”
    “When he’s not being a know-it-all momma’s boy, sure.”
    Channing shook her head. Honey blonde hair swished across her breasts, sending Buck into paroxysms of need. He couldn’t touch her, though. He drew his brows together and tried not to lose control.
    “What’s wrong with Ryder doting on your mother? I think it’s sweet.”
    “Jesus, not you too.”
    Her own brows tugged downward along with the corners of her mouth. “You’re jealous.”
    “What the hell’s there to be jealous about?”
    “Maybe the fact that I worked with Ryder all day and not you?”
    There it was. The thing eating at him all damn day. He must have crisscrossed the field a dozen times just to see what she and Ryder had been up to. Not that he suspected anything was going on. But he didn’t like having Channing away from his own side.
    “You’re imagining things,” he said.
    When she got to her feet, he swung his legs over the side of the lounge chair. “Where are you going? I thought we were having a conversation.”
    “We couldn’t have a conversation if the world was ending and we had to decide how to survive. I can’t do this, Buck.”
    She started away. In a flash, he was on his feet and wrapping his fingers around her wrist. The delicate bones did things to his insides and he caught a whiff of body wash—but not hers.
    His.
    She’d washed with it at some point.
    A dark smoky lust curled through his groin. He tugged her nearer.
    She dug in her heels. “No, we will not end up in bed, Buck. Not this time. Not ever again. We will pretend to be engaged, though God knows how, for the show. But after that, I’m out.”
    He worked his molars back and forth, grinding up the words he wanted to spout. Words like he didn’t understand her. What the hell did she need? And maybe she should pretend to be engaged to Ryder.
    He pushed a forceful breath through his nostrils. “We can hold a civilized conversation and we will, dammit.”
    “Let me go.”
    “Not until we’ve talked.”
    She wrenched her wrist from his grasp and he stepped back, feeling like an ass for restraining her. With a jerk of her arm, she sent the contents of her iced tea glass sailing over his face and neck.
    “There. We talked.” With that, she pivoted on her heels and strode the length of the porch. In seconds she’d jumped in her car and was spinning out of the driveway. Leaving him alone and covered in sticky tea when his smart-ass sister came