Free 02 Buck Naked by Desiree Holt Page A

under her breath. She and Matt spent too much time getting in each other’s business, she thought. She was happy to have someone who cared enough about her to be concerned, but she wasn’t a teenager. She could take care of herself. At least she hoped she could. But Buck Montgomery was more male than she’d ever been even semi-involved with. And then there was that streak of…something…that froze him every so often. A darkness, almost.
    Don’t shred it to death. Take it one step at a time, remember?
    And the best way to do that was to change her clothes and get to her office. Besides the ranch paperwork, she was also on the committee for the Cattleman’s Ball and had her responsibilities there. The committee had an upcoming lunch meeting, and she wanted to be prepared.
    But as she pulled on jeans and a T-shirt, she couldn’t help the warm glow that suffused her as she remembered details of the night just past.
     
    Buck finished confirming his delivery with the feed store and decided to stop at Java Junction for a cup of coffee before heading back home. He could pick up a sandwich to take with him since his new hand would be arriving shortly after one o’clock. His insides seethed with a mass of conflicting emotions. He couldn’t remember the last time, if ever, he’d spent a night with a woman as sensuous as Amy Stark. One who pulled every emotion in the book out of him and made sex seem like…a lot more than sex.
    He wondered when she’d said she wanted to take it slow if it was her way of easing out of anything further. If something hadn’t clicked for her. Nope. Not that. He’d have been able to sense it. Maybe she had a history that made her cautious. He snorted. She ought to be damn cautious around him. He’d promised himself not to start anything with her, but the electricity between them was too great to ignore.
    Well, he’d also have to take it slow. And hope to hell his past never caught up with him.
    He’d just taken a seat at the counter and ordered his coffee when Fred Barnes slid onto the stool next to him.
    “Morning, Buck. How are things going?”
    Buck shrugged. “Okay, so far. Got the cattle I bought at that last auction coming in late this afternoon. Just arranged for feed to be delivered before then and hired my first hand. He reports today.” He took a deep swallow of his coffee. “And working on the house one little piece at a time.”
    Fred nodded. “Cattle first, then your own comforts. You’ve got the makings of a real rancher in you.”
    “Sure hope so. Otherwise I tossed a huge load of money down the drain.”
    Fred stirred sweetener into his coffee. Tasted it, nodded in satisfaction and slid a glance at Buck. “I hear you and Amy Stark had dinner together last night.”
    Buck turned to look at him. “Is there some kind of jungle-telegraph system around here I haven’t heard about? We weren’t even here in town.”
    Barnes took another sip of his coffee. “Apparently y’all ran into Cade Hannigan. He couldn’t wait to pass the word.”
    Buck stared down into his coffee cup. “He didn’t impress me as a man who gossiped. But he certainly had on his arrogant attitude. And Amy couldn’t wait for him to leave.”
    “I imagine so.” The older man shifted slightly on his stool. “He and Amy had something going a while back. I hear it didn’t end too pleasantly.”
    “Oh? Who broke it off, do you know?”
    Barnes hesitated a long moment before answering. “It seems they were getting pretty tight as a couple, although a lot of people were scratching their heads. Amy’s a really sweet, really sharp gal, and Hannigan, rich as he is, is just a snake in the grass. I heard a lot of people, her brother included, tried to get her to break it off.”
    “Why didn’t she?”
    “Oh, she did. Finally. The way I hear it, Cade told her he’d be gone for the evening on some business but they’d have dinner the next night. Amy decided to have girls’ night out with a few of