Page 8 of The Cowgirl's Secret Love
He got a snicker for that comment, and some of the tension left her as she leaned back in her chair and lifted the footrest. She eyed him as intently as he’d examined her earlier.
Karen shook her head. “I’ve been had, but I can’t say I’m too annoyed. I wanted a place to stay for four months, and the fact that you own it is not the worst thing in the world. But I really hoped you’d gotten that out of your system. The whole bit about not telling me what your plans are orwhoyou are. It was annoying enough the first time we met.”
He offered a head tilt but didn’t say anything.
They stared at each other for a moment, eyes connected as memories flashed through Finn’s brain.
They’d had good times, but they’d also had misunderstandings, and while he’d pulled some strings to get them to where they were, here and now, maybe laying all his cards on the table was the best idea.
At least then she couldn’t claim she’d been caught unaware.
“You’re right. You need to know my plans. Got more than one—”
“Imagine that,” Karen said with a bite.
This time he did chuckle but carried on. “First on my list was a place for you to stay. A home base so you can enjoy time with your sisters and your new nephew.”
Karen dipped her chin slowly. “Not sure why that was onyourlist, but thank you. This place is exactly what I need. No matter how twisted it is that you’re the one providing it, I’m not about to turn down the offer.”
“The second thing on my current to-do list is to get this place up and running as soon as possible.”
This time she lost it. The controlled expression vanished into one of distrust and confusion. “This place? What’s it going to be, and why aren’t you out east in Manitoba running your family’s spread?”
It wasn’t time to talk about that issue yet, so Finn pushed down the anger that even thinking about his family home generated and focused on the most important part. “That’s a long story. Levi is running the Marlette homestead, and I’ll explain more later, but here and now, I bought this place to turn it into a dude ranch.”
This time her mouth hung open for a good ten seconds. “Get out.”
He raised a hand in the air. “Honest.”
Her expression was back to slightly amused. “Really. I hope you’ve got good people working with you, because, buttercup? Just being honest, you don’t have the charisma to pull off the ‘hey, city folks, of course I’m happy to help you ride these doggies, yeehaw and yippee-ki-yay’ gig without someone ending up pissed at you.”
Finn raised a brow. He was, however, charmed that she’d slipped and called him by the old nickname she’d teased him with.
She adjusted position to match him, her arms crossed and elbows on her thighs as she examined Finn intently. “All right, for the sake of brevity, let’s pretend I totally believe you on the running a dude ranch BS. What’s the next part of your unending plan?”
“Finish what we started, only the right way.”
He was jerking her around emotionally, and he knew it. Yet it was the only way to be upfront and honest.
Karen took a deep breath, focusing on the floor before she lifted her eyes to his and spoke with a great intensity. “We did finish what we started, Finn. When you came to Whiskey Creek ranch and we discovered there was something between us, we said it was a fling. Nothing else. One and done for the summer, and that’s what we did. September came. You went back to Manitoba, and I stayed in Rocky Mountain House, and that was it.”
“But it shouldn’t have been the end,” Finn insisted.
“You lived two provinces away. You had work to do. I had work to do, and that was just the way it was.”
Exasperation rolled for a moment before he decided to take a different tack. “Okay, fine. It was the end—of that summer. But,ma chérie, this is another summer. We’re here in a new place, with new plans. So, I’ve got a couple propositions for you.”
Karen Coleman was doingher best human imitation of a yo-yo ever. One moment up, unable to hide her amusement because Finn knew exactly how to poke her funny bone. Then he’d turned and tossed a grenade in front of her, and damn if she didn’t want to—
That was the problem. She didn’t knowwhatshe wanted or didn’t want at that point. Her thoughts whirled in confusion.
No, wait.
There was one thing that shewaspositive on. She had to keep Finn Marlette from finding out how much it had hurt when their summer fling had ended.
Because as much fun as it had been, she’d made a mistake, and her heart had gotten involved.
She focused on the man across from her, who had the ability to make her body sing with pleasure—or at least he had years ago. She doubted that was a skill set he’d let get rusty, damn him anyway.
