Page 17 of Waiting for the Rancher
“What?” Confusion edged the word.
“You got a hankering for him?”
She sat forward and buried her face in her hands. “Oh my.”
“What do you know about him?” Ross was a good worker and a fine young man. But he’d only started working at the ranch last year after giving up on gold mining, and Maverick didn’t know much about his past. He was gonna have to change that if Hazel was interested in him.
She shook her head, her braid swishing back and forth and bumping him.
He tugged at it. “It’s a perfectly reasonable question.”
“If you’re my father.”
“I’m practically your brother.” Was he, though? The direction of his thoughts this week hadn’t been brotherly.
“Brother. That’s right.” She dropped her hands and fell back into the mound, sending a soft cloud of dust into the air—one filled with the scent of hay. “I always really needed another brother.”
In addition to Sterling, she had three other brothers. Even though two of them were currently out east attending universities, Hazel had never lacked brotherly attention. The whole Noble clan was mighty protective of their women and particular about the men Hazel and Scarlet were allowed to fraternize with.
“So,brother.” Hazel emphasized the word a little too much. “What wisdom can you impart to yoursister?”
“About what?” She was taking the sibling thing a little too far now. Because honestly, he didn’t want to be her brother anymore, and he most certainly didn’t want her to be his sister.
“We agreed you would teach me how to flirt.”
Prickles of protest formed along his spine. “Ain’t never agreed to that.”
“It was implied.”
He shook his head. “No way, no how—”
“Please, Maverick?” Her fingers brushed his arm, halting not only his words but his thoughts.
“I’m severely lacking the skills in winning a man.”
“You don’t need to win a man.” He scrambled to form a coherent sentence with her touching him. Why was her simple touch affecting him so much all of a sudden? “The right fella needs to win you.”
“It hasn’t happened yet.”
“It will.” He wouldn’t be the one to inform her that Sterling had all but threatened to castrate any of his ranch hands who even looked at Hazel or Scarlet. In fact, Sterling had made it mighty clear that none of the area miners better look at his sisters either.
Maverick hadn’t complained about Sterling’s carefulness when it came to Hazel and Scarlet. He felt the same way about his sisters—that there wasn’t anyone who’d ever be worthy of having them as wives.
Hazel released an exasperated sigh. “I’m twenty-one, and no one has ever come courting me.”
“You’re plenty young.”
“It’s not that I’m in a hurry to get married. I love what I do here.” She gave a pointed look at Tiny standing at the trough, munching on hay while her baby wobbled at her side. “But maybe it’s time to start thinking about finding someone.”
Why did the thought of herfinding someoneirk him?
“So teach me all you know, O wise master.” Her tone was soft and teasing, as were her eyes. In fact, those bronze-colored eyes of hers were so light and warm, he felt suddenly like he was drowning in melted honey-butter.
He had to shake himself free, which was difficult since the only place he wanted to be was there, staring into her eyes the rest of the night. “I ain’t gonna teach you to flirt,” he whispered. “Sterling already wants to kill me. If he learns I’m filling your head with ways to seduce men, he’ll not only kill me, but he’ll feed me to the wild critters.”
Hazel clamped a hand over his mouth and quickly glanced around the deserted barn. The dozens of stalls were quiet on either side of the haymow, the horses at rest. Dark shadows hovered in every corner, but no one else was around to hear their conversation.
Her wide eyes turned upon him and were now filled with censure. “I’m notseducinganyone,” she hissed.
