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played at wild. Still, Ray wouldn’t trust that horse with anyone else, no matter how experienced a horseman. Diablo’s volatility with everyone but Ray had sent more than a few men to the hospital over the years. He wouldn’t chance another being hurt. And for some reason he didn’t care to explore, the idea of Travis hurt bothered him more.
    Ray shook his head. “Nope. Any horse but.”
    “You know I do this for a living, Ray.”
    “Of course. And so do I. But that doesn’t change the fact I won’t chance anyone’s safety with that animal.”
    “Ray—”
    Ray stopped and faced Travis. His voice snapped. “Are you going to argue with me?”
    “No, of course not. But training horses like that, it’s what I do best.”
    “He doesn’t need training.”
    “But Hollis told me n—”
    “This is starting to sound like arguing.”
    Travis squared his shoulders infinitesimally. “I’m not arg—”
    “ Travis .” Ray used the man’s name like a weapon and received the desired effect. Travis snapped his mouth shut. “Whose ranch are we on here?”
    Bronze fire flashed in Travis’s eyes, and a muscle ticked in his clenched jaw. He pursed his lips, looking for all the world like a rattler poised to strike. Instead of being annoyed with the man for arguing with him, Ray found it…arousing. Damn it all to hell and back.
    With a firm tone and pointed enunciation, Ray said, “My ranch. My horses. My rules.”
    Facing off, the sudden urge to grab the man by the back of the neck and pull him in for a hard kiss shocked Ray. Travis threw his hands up in surrender, though Ray doubted the acquiescence would last. The enticing fire in the other man’s eyes abated, replaced by that mischievous glint Ray was too quickly becoming familiar with—and tempted by. A crooked half smile popped a dimple in Travis’s cheek.
    “Fine.” Travis matched Ray’s verbal delivery. “ Boss .”
     
    The sun had reached its highest point in the sky when Ray’s stomach began to growl. He was working a big bay gelding with curious brown eyes that was proving to be one of the better horses he’d handled in a long time. Some horses he just clicked with. Those were the ones he had the hardest time letting go.
    With their training session at an end, Ray stood in the middle of the pen and waited. The big bay sauntered over to him, nickered softly, and nudged his shoulder. Ray smiled and scrubbed the animal’s strong jaw.
    “You’re just a big pushover, aren’t you?”
    Ray turned away from the horse, who followed right on his heel like a well-trained dog, and reached through the railing for the bucket of carrots he’d left on the other side. Running his hand over the thick, muscular neck, he handed the gelding his treat for a job well done. He returned the horse to the herd and made his way over to the other pen where Travis was working with a red dun mare.
    Ray swiped at a light sheen of sweat under the band of his hat with a bandanna he’d pulled from his back pocket.
    “Time for lunch, Travis.”
    “Few more minutes,” Travis said without turning away from his charge. “She’s just about got it.”
    Ray leaned his forearms on the railing and crossed one booted foot over the other to watch the famous Travis Morgan at work. That effortless swagger he’d noticed when Travis was walking along the shoulder of the highway translated into a quiet confidence with his equine counterpart. His every movement, every sound, had been sharply honed to earn trust quickly. But then, Travis wouldn’t be the best trainer in the country if he didn’t command that sort of respect.
    It was impressive to watch the man communicate, understand, and intuitively anticipate the skittish mare to settle her with ease. Given how the man’s kinetic energy had so unsettled Ray, he was somewhat surprised it had the opposite effect on the horse. Perhaps it was the man’s focus.
    Which drew Ray’s focus from horse to man.
    The heat of the afternoon sun