Page 26 of The Cowgirl's Secret Love
Not as in strength, because damn, the woman might outwork him at the rate she was going. No, it was that she hadn’t grown bitter in spite of all the barriers tossed in front of her.
He reflected on the changes in himself and wasn’t able to make the same claim. Yes, he’d learned a lot from Bruce Travers, and he counted all of that as good.
Hisbitterness—fallout from family disappointments—was the part Finn didn’t quite know how to deal with.
After three days of keeping his distance, it was time to remind Karen he expected an answer. He headed into town after lunch, coming back to meet up with Zach, who had left Karen and Josiah chatting in what would be the main horse barn.
Zach flashed Finn a thumbs-up. “You’re brilliant. She’s got exactly the right ideasandthe contacts we need to get this done. Between her and some of the comments Julia made the other night, I feel a lot more optimistic about meeting the challenge.”
“She’s the brilliant one.” Finn glanced at his watch. “What time did you tell her to knock it off?”
His friend frowned. “I didn’t. She’s a private contractor, so she can work whatever hours she wants to.”
Perfect. “Meet you at Josiah’s at six.”
Zach paused. “Okay. We’re not going together? I just had Delilah shipped in. Thought I’d take her for a spin beforehand.”
Finn thought about the shopping he’d just done, and a small smile snuck out. “Tell you what. I’ll call you if I need a backup plan.”
That got him a confused look for a second before Zach clued in. His friend grinned. “Break a leg.”
“You need to stop saying that,” Finn muttered even as he chuckled under his breath.
He waited until four-thirty, then with his afternoon purchases in hand, made his way to Karen’s cottage.
His brisk knock on the front door was answered with a yell. “On the back deck.”
A five-second stroll brought him around the edge of the small building. Karen reclined in the comfortable lawn furniture he’d made sure to purchase. Stuff that was a hell of a lot nicer than what was currently up at the main house.
She eyed him with confusion and a sweet hint of approval in her eyes. “Why are you all dressed up and ready to roll? Party’s not until six,” she pointed out.
“Brought you a present,” he said. He placed the basket in her lap then stepped back to admire her trim body. He didn’t care one bit that her T-shirt and jeans were dirty after tramping around the ranch all day.
“Finn. You shouldn’t have done that.” Indignation drifted in her tone until she started poking through the bottles and tubes he’d shoved into the wicker container. She gasped and held one up. “Oh my God, this is wintergreen foot cream.”
“You got the word about tonight’s footwear?”
Karen made a face. “I tried to get Lisa to tell me why we have to wear sandals, but sometimes my sister is just plain mean.”
Finn sat on the footstool in front of her and lifted her bare foot into his lap.
She tensed.
He sat there, motionless. Well, mostly motionless. Her skin was so damn soft he had to trace circles with his thumb against the inside of her arch.
“You want to grab a shower? Or get a massage first?”
The expressions dancing across her face just might kill him. She clearly wanted him to touch her, but indecision was there as well.
Finn squeezed her foot. “Just a rub, I swear. Let me take care of you.”
Karen swallowed hard. “Give me a minute.”
She leapt up and damn near ran into the house.
Finn sat back on the stool and concentrated on taking long, slow breaths, lowering his heart rate and shoving aside the need drilling through his system.
If it took a while for her to make up her mind, so be it. He was not some Neanderthal who couldn’t control himself.
