Free Teaching the Cowboy by Holley Trent Page A

eased her back down. Maybe it was something he could talk Rufus through and get back to the matter of giving the schoolteacher a bit of a cowboy education.
    John closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. Nope. Not gonna happen.
    “Rufus, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Don’t let ’em leave. Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about it.”
    He swallowed hard and let Ronnie up as he shoved his phone into his pocket.
    She just shook her head, telling him to save it , as she refastened the buttons of her shirt.
    “I’m sorry, Ronnie. Two of my best ranch hands threatened to quit over some bullshit. I need to go talk ’em down.”
    She put up her hands in a Do what you gotta do gesture and straightened her shirt. “It’s fine. This is probably, no, definitely , a bad idea anyway.”
    “I don’t agree.”
    “John, I’m sure there are going to be many more things we don’t agree on. Should probably get used to it.” She stood and started patting her hair back into place the best she could without aid of a mirror.
    He wrapped an arm around her back and drew her in so close she had to tip her chin up to meet his eye contact. “You seemed to like it when it was happening.”
    “I liked it a lot. You’re a handsome man, and you have a lot going for you. Sexy. I’m flattered. That’s not the issue here.”
    “Tell me what the issue is so I can make it not be one.”
    She laughed and that pink tint flooded her cheeks. He wanted to kiss the cute right out of her, but restrained himself in that one thing. He did have some self-control, after all. Took him years to develop it.
    “I’ve been teaching since I was twenty-three, and I’ve never once had an inappropriate relationship with the father of one of my students. Don’t plan on starting now.”
    “There isn’t anything inappropriate about this.”
    “I beg to differ.” She wormed her way out of his embrace and fastened the buttons on her jean jacket. It was like she was throwing the deadbolt on. The symbolism wasn’t lost on him.
    “You’re a teacher. You should be familiar with multitasking.”
    “I don’t think this counts.”
    “Sure it does,” he said as he fixed his pants. “You can be a teacher and play nice with me at the same time.”
    “Play nice? Is that what we’re doing?”
    “Would you rather me call you my girlfriend? Seems a little premature for that. Shit, I’ve only known you for a couple days.”
    She narrowed her eyes at him and opened her mouth to make some retort, but before she could get it out, he clamped his mouth unto hers again.
    “Jackass,” she said against his tongue, but she didn’t fight him off. Nope. She teased him right on back. After about thirty seconds of tongue wrestling, he let her go and hurried toward the kitchen at a clip. He called over his shoulder before walking through the door, “Make sure you lock your doors at night. Wouldn’t want any drunk ranch hands over at the Erickson place stumbling in on you while you’re sleeping.”
    “I can take care of myself, John.”
    “Mm-hmm.” He closed the door and jogged toward his truck, hoping those ranch hands hadn’t already fled.
    Goddamn that stubborn woman.

Chapter Five
    S even o’clock the next morning, Ronnie lay in her bed with her pillow over her face to block out the morning light, phone to ear. “Phil,” she whispered, voice hoarse from the low humidity that had started dehydrating her body. “I think I got branded by a cowboy last night.”
    “Jesus, you need supervision at all times. You couldn’t wait a day before getting yourself into trouble? What happened?”
    “Well, nothing. Not exactly.”
    “Okay, who did you do this nothing with? Was it the ranch hand with the deep tan and turquoise eyes? He was nice to look at.”
    “I don’t think I’ve seen that particular character. I’ve been busy. Haven’t met much of the staff.”
    “So who?”
    Beat around the bush? Nah, why bother? You