Have Cowboy, Need Cupid Read Online Free PDF Page A

another man had proposed to her.
    Because for just a moment she wanted to savor being in this man’s arms and not think about work.

    R AFE THREADED his fingers through the long strands of Suzanne’s silky hair, his breath locking in his chest.
    A fierce need to possess her overcame him, unlike anything he’d ever felt before.
    She was soft and sensuous and had the voice of a vamp. And God help him, he could get lost in those exotic brown eyes. They were like a sea of hot chocolate, rich and dark and mesmerizing.
    But holding her was all wrong.
    She was a Hartwell, the niece of a well-known town member, the daughter of a prominent Atlanta doctor. A rich, well-bred girl with more money and more education than him. For goodness’ sake, the damn sapphire ring on her hand alone could pay for all sorts of farm equipment, not to mention that her hands were delicate, uncallused, and she was used to men with hands that weren’t hardened or dirt-stained from the land. And damn it, she didn’t seem like the footloose and fancy-free type that slept around, either.
    And right now he had nothing to offer any woman except a one-night stand.
    Suzanne Hartwell would undoubtedly want more. He knew her type. Driven by career, not family. She wanted the nice things in life. Things he had no way to give a woman.
    Plus, her daddy would probably kill him if he found her dancing with a run-down cowboy in a dive called the Dusty Pub.
    As if to cement his reservations, the door to the bar opened and in walked Slim Wallace, the man who’d told Rafe in no uncertain terms today that he was going to lose everything. Slim’s words scraped over his consciousness like a razor over raw skin— You might as well declare bankruptcy. Let me take over the ranch and move on, Rafe. It’s too late.
    Damn it. It wasn’t too late. The Lazy M was his ranch. His legacy. The land had belonged to his father and his daddy before him and his daddy before him. Somehow they had all managed to hold on to the place because the McAllisters believed that if a man had land, he had a place to build a life. Without it, a man couldn’t survive.
    And he would not be the one to let it all go.
    He suddenly realized the music had stopped. Suzanne had stilled in his arms and was looking up at him with big doe eyes, her expensive perfume so intoxicating he’d pulled her to him in a viselike grip. He glanced down in horror, immediately releasing her. He could not drown his sorrows in her soft, tempting body.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “What’s wrong?” she asked in a low voice.
    He shook his head. His problems were his own. A woman like Suzanne Hartwell would never understand.
    They had shared one dance. That was all they would ever have.

    S UZANNE STOOD on the dance floor alone in stunned disbelief as Rafe slipped out the barroom door. After that soul-hugging dance, he had mumbled a hasty apology and a goodbye, claiming he had forgotten something he needed to do, then run for the door as if she had suddenly pulled out handcuffs and tried to arrest him.
    Had something really come up? Something to do with his ranch? His sick mother?
    She tried not to think about the ailing Mrs. McAllister.
    The thought resurrected memories of her own mother, those last few days of her illness stirring the hot pot of emotions that always simmered close to the surface at the thought of her.
    Refusing to allow the pot to boil over, she wove through the crowd and found her table, then slumped down on the bar stool, wishing she’d had more time with Rafe.
    To pump him for information, she told herself. Not to dance or hold him or dream about finding heaven in his arms.
    Steepling her hands tent-style and leaning her head into them, she closed her eyes and shut out the images that swirled through her mind, steeling herself back in control. She hated feeling vulnerable. James had taught her to attack, to go in for the kill, to eliminate the human element of a business situation, evaluate all the data,