Free Cowboys are Forever by Hope Whitley

just forget that spoiled and foolish woman he brought to this place once.” She shook her head. “He no longer has the tender feelings for that loco lady, you understand. But he cannot realize that all women aren’t like her.”
    Marielle felt herself blush. “Oh, Consuelo, you’ve got the wrong idea. Trey and I—-there’s nothing like that between us. Honestly.”
    Consuelo opened the bathroom door to leave. Looking back over her shoulder, she smiled knowingly. “Are you sure about that, senorita?”
    Marielle lolled happily in the healing water after the housekeeper went out. She sipped her tea and mulled over the conversation that had just taken place. She had denied any sort of romantic involvement with Trey, but she knew very well how powerfully attracted she was to him. The attraction grew stronger the more she got to know him. He was funny, intelligent, courteous, kind, and thoughtful. A bit arrogant and a little too sure of himself at times, maybe. But even that was attractive in its own way.
    That and more, she told herself dryly. He had all those sterling qualities. True. And Marielle could certainly appreciate all of his character assets. But the fact that he was the sexiest man she’d ever met, who could set her on fire with just one look from those dark bedroom eyes wasn’t exactly hurting things, was it.
    She giggled and swished her toes in the relaxing water. No, she thought dreamily. Those qualities didn’t exactly detract from his appeal. Still, no matter how appealing she found him, she had to stay grounded and keep her priorities in order. She’d moved up here to realize her dream of living closer to the land and eventually try to succeed as an illustrator of children’s books. Those were the goals she intended to stay focused on.
    But Consuelo’s question continued to haunt her as she finished her bath; and later, while she ate lunch with Trey and his ranch hands. The easy camaraderie he enjoyed with the boys, the evident respect and admiration they all seemed to have for him only added to her estimation of him. She was beginning to suspect that Peter J. Masterson III was someone it would be all too easy to fall in love with.
    Their eyes met across the big trestle table as he encouraged her to have another one of Consuelo’s excellent yeast rolls. She returned his look, caught and held spellbound by the fascination of his gaze. His look seemed to convey an unspoken message. A message—or an invitation? She wasn’t sure which. But it was unsettling either way. She wrested her attention back to the meal and their companions, striving to keep forbidden thoughts about her host under control.
    That night she lay in bed, looking at a pale moon through the bedroom window and thinking back over the events of the day. Despite wanting to put it out of her mind and go to sleep, her thoughts drifted again to the conversation she’d had with Consuelo and how she had assured the woman that there was nothing between herself and Trey. Now Consuelo’s question came back to her.
    Are you sure about that senórita?
    Was she?

“Hello?”
    “Sam!” Marielle cried happily, hearing her friends disembodied voice over the telephone line. “I finally got my phone on today and I couldn’t wait to talk to you. Boy, have I got a lot to tell you, girlfriend.”
    “Mari!” Samantha shrieked. “Mari, wow, it’s you! Finally! I was about to give up on you getting a telephone up there. What did they have to do, anyway—train mountain goats to string the wire?”
    Marielle laughed. “Nearly. Uncle Dan never installed a phone up here so it was a pretty big deal.” Then she filled Samantha in on the happenings around her new home, and moved on to the topic that she most wanted to discus: Trey Masterson.
    “You know that drop-dead gorgeous rancher I told you about in my letter?”
    “Yeah,” Sam answered. “You said he was good –looking but that you didn’t like him.”
    “Well, now I do like him,”