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“We’ll be one big, happy family all summer.”
    Cash took a menacing step toward Carter. “You ain’t part of the family. If I see you around I’ll kick your sorry—” Gemma grabbed Cash’s shirtsleeve and tugged him out of range.
    While Gemma and Cash argued, Macie glanced at a grinning Carter. “Why’re you smiling like that? He’d like to scalp you.”
    “I noticed. Your dad’s a bit protective, huh?”
    It was a surprise to her.
    Carter moved until he loomed over her. “I am curious as to where he’s keepin’ your chastity belt.”
    “Funny.”
    “He won’t think so when he realizes nothin’ will keep me away from you this summer, Macie.” The sexual heat in his eyes changed the color from sky blue to indigo.
    “Nothin’.”
    “A little sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
    “Yep. And I’ve got a few belts and ropes to keep you right where I want you, in case you need a little convincin’.”
    Sweet, hot pleasure rippled through her.
    Carter’s warm, firm lips grazed her ear. “I’ll come to you tonight, okay?”
    “That’s not a good idea.”
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    “It’s the best idea I’ve had in a long time. Be ready.”
    “For what?”
    “For me to be the man to give you everything you’ve ever wanted.”

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    Lorelei James

Chapter Five
    Gemma and Carter were lost in their own thoughts on the way back to the Bar 9.
    Once they hit the sagebrush and wide-open spaces of Wyoming, Gemma sighed. “Sorry to spring this on you, Carter. I was afraid if you knew I was lookin’ for another fulltime foreman—”
    “—that I’d bail on you? Come on, Gemma, you know me better than that. I promised I’d be here all summer. Despite the shitty opinion Cash has of the McKays, you know we always keep our word.”
    “That you do.”
    “What’s really goin’ on?”
    She didn’t take her eyes off the gray ribbon of bumpy road. “I wasn’t sure he’d say yes.”
    “So? It ain’t like he’s the only man for the job. Shoot, there’s lots of guys around here more than qualified.”
    Gemma angled her chin from Carter’s shrewd eyes so he couldn’t see her blush.
    “Hellfire and damnation. He is the only one you wanted, ain’t he?”
    She paused. “Yup.”
    Carter sighed. “I ain’t gonna ask why.”
    She probably couldn’t give him a good answer on that one even if he did ask.
    “Just so you know, what happens between the two of you after the barn door closes ain’t my business. You don’t hafta worry ’bout me blabbin’ your private business to everyone or pokin’ my nose in where it don’t belong.”
    Gemma looked at him. “Thanks.”
    “But that goes both ways.”
    “Meaning?”
    “Meaning, I won’t stay away from Macie just because her father wants me to.”
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    Lord. He was just as bull-headed as the rest of his family. She waited, knowing he wasn’t finished.
    Carter drummed his fingers on his thigh. “Remember last week when I was cleanin’
    stalls like the devil possessed my soul, and you asked me what the hell was wrong with me?”
    Gemma nodded.
    “It was her.”
    “Macie?”
    “Yeah.”
    “How’s that possible? Didn’t you just meet her today?”
    “Yep. This is gonna sound dumb, but she’s been in my head for the last month. This fuzzy image in my mind that’s only partially there. Been drivin’ me crazy, tryin’ to capture her. I’ve tried painting her, sketching, working with clay. When I saw her today?
    Flesh and blood and real? At first I thought I’d gone completely ’round the bend.”
    Gemma couldn’t withhold a shiver. “That’s some spooky serious shit, Carter.”
    “Don’t I know it. Normally I don’t believe in that kinda karma and fate voodoo crap, but I ain’t about to chalk it up to coincidence neither. Nor am I gonna let the new foreman chase me away from his daughter just ’cause he thinks he