Free Cowboys Down by Barbara Elsborg Page A

off?” Jasper asked.
    “Yep. Hang it on the hook.” It was the older guy who spoke this time.
    Jasper shut the door on Zander and offered him a mint.
    “Did a good job there,” the guy said as he came up behind him. “Makes a change not to have to take over.”
    “Thanks. I’m Jasper.” Jasper offered his hand and the man shook it with a smile.
    “The guy who threw up. I’m Gunner.”
    Oh Christ. “Am I going to always be known as the guy who threw up?”
    Zander snorted. Traitor.
    Gunner laughed. “Until you earn yourself a new name.”
    Note to self: “Guy who fucked the owner’s son” had a nice ring to it.

Chapter Five
    While the guests ate lunch and exchanged stories about their morning ride, Jasper sat and listened, thinking how he’d freak them out if he told them what he and Calum had been up to. Nearly been up to. Except he had an unhappy suspicion that the chances of finding himself with his arms around the cowboy didn’t look good. No sign of Calum at lunch, though Jasper tried not to read anything into that.
    He considered going fishing that afternoon with Matt and Paul until Melissa and Janie decided to go. The thought of it set off Jasper’s headache again. The two couples wanted to do the Jeep tour. Jasper wouldn’t be joining them either. Nor did he want to go for a ride in case he ended up with Ring. When he’d booked this, he hadn’t thought he’d be the only single. He’d imagined several people riding together every day. Jasper slunk back to his room and changed into his swimming trunks. With a bit of luck, he’d have the pool to himself.
    Jasper sighed with relief when he saw he’d been right. Almost. Calum’s dog appeared from nowhere, her tail wagging.
    “Hi, Bessie.” Jasper rubbed her head and the dog arched her shoulders so he’d scratch behind her ear. “We friends now?”
    She rolled onto her back and presented her belly. Jasper laughed. He snagged a blue towel from a neat pile on a table and laid it on a lounger. Bessie moved to lie in the shade beneath. Jasper gave her a final stroke and then slid into the cool water, dropping beneath the surface to wet his head. He enjoyed swimming, liked imagining life was different as he did a slow crawl for lap after lap. Jasper didn’t often get the chance to swim in the open air under warm blue skies.
    As he swam, he thought about Calum. What was he supposed to do when he saw him? Pretend the kiss, the touching, the offer to suck his cock had never happened? Treat him with civil cordiality? Spend the rest of the week riding as the third wheel with Ring and the sparkly twins? Jasper thought he’d rather not ride, except being on Zander had reminded him of what he’d been missing. And it is my fucking holiday.
    If there were fewer guests than usual, maybe he could ask Erik to send him out with Gunner.
    Swimming relaxed his body but not his mind. Jasper couldn’t stop thinking about Calum, wanting Calum. It had been a long time since Jasper had been with anyone, which was probably the reason for his current slobbering. If it hadn’t been for the fact that Calum seemed just as keen until his sudden departure, Jasper would be worried he’d lost his touch. There had been something between them. So why hadn’t Calum appeared at lunch.
    Jasper hoisted himself out of the pool to find Bessie still lying under his sun lounger and Angie sitting on the one next to it threading beads on a strand of thread. She was a really pretty girl, but Jasper could see there was something not quite right in her expression, as though the world she saw was not the same as the one seen by everyone else. She wore a pink T-shirt and denim cut-offs, and looked longingly from Jasper to the pool.
    “I’m not allowed in the water without supervision,” she said.
    Jasper dropped onto his lounger and brushed the water from his face. “Can you swim?”
    “Yep, I can swim real good. Calum taught me.”
    He glanced around before he asked his next