Free The Dangerous Gift by Jane Hunt

the tray onto the coffee table, sloshing a few drops of coffee onto it. “Here’s the coffee you insisted upon, Darleen.”
    Darleen smiled but didn’t touch her mug. If he didn’t need her support with the dude ranch, he would…Jared curbed the impulse to pour the steaming coffee over her. His thoughts centered on Jen as he muttered monosyllabic answers to Darleen’s inane questions.
    Darleen rose and stood against him. Her strong, musky perfume made him gag. “See you tomorrow. I need to get back to the ranch.”
    “I think that’s for the best, Darleen.” When she offered her blushed cheek for his kiss, he bent his head towards her.
    At the last moment, she turned and faced him so their lips met. The kiss’s expert thoroughness left him cold. “We’re over, Darleen. You know that. Why are you playing games? You haven’t got Jennie to upset now.”
    Darleen pouted as if sensing his disinterest. “You’re so cruel to me, Jared. You know what you mean to me.” She stormed off through the open glass doors, her bad mood obvious when she gunned the silver truck’s engine and left in a cloud of dust.
    Jared sighed. Perhaps he could manage the dude ranch without Darleen’s help. She was too high-maintenance, especially now that he no longer desired her. As he glanced up the stairs and thought about Jen, his heartbeat quickened. She was the one he wanted now, but there was no future there. His bridges were well and truly burnt as far as Jen was concerned, and he only had himself to blame.
    Jared closed his office door. He deserved incarceration with the ranch accounts. Tomorrow he would persuade Jen to return to England. Whatever the personal cost, at least he could concentrate on the dude ranch and ensure the Unicorn stayed solvent.
     
    ***
     
    Jared ignored the unsorted receipts as he debated why computerized accounts still meant processing paper receipts. He’d worked late into the previous night, until his eyes were sore and he couldn’t focus. A restless night’s sleep full of erotic dreams had left him horny and tired. The following morning, invoices and receipts that still covered his desk left him in a foul mood. He looked up in response to a gentle knock on the office door. “It’s open.”
    Jen, the star of his dreams, entered. His heart rate quickened, and his jeans tightened uncomfortably. Jen’s hips swayed under the lemon, cotton sundress, which clung to her slim curves and teased him with glimpses of toned thighs. Rock hard, his cock jerked with each step of her tiny feet as she closed the distance between them. Only the protection afforded by his desk kept his secret.
    “Morning, Jared. You started early.” Jen lifted a pile of receipts from the floor and placed them on the only space on his desk. Jared’s gaze followed her descent as the split in the dress revealed a slender, toned thigh just begging for his touch.
    “About six outside and then stuck in here since eight.” Jared stretched to reinforce his point as his hand worked feverishly under the desk, adjusting his now painfully constricted erection in his snug jeans.
    “I could help you.” Jen blushed and looked out the window, apparently unable to meet his gaze.
    His erection jerked, and Jared gripped the desk and willed his body back under his control. What was that about? Could she see what he was doing? His voice came out husky as he imagined her fingers touching his cock. “Maybe, but we must talk about your shares in the Unicorn and what you plan to do. Uncertainty isn’t good for the ranch.”
    “I know. Can I go first?” Jen continued without waiting for his reply. “I’m staying in Texas, on the Unicorn. Annie and Ralf wanted me to help with the ranch, and I can’t walk away.” She perched on the back of a chair, and her dress tightened across her thighs as she absently stroked the fabric covering them with her long, thin fingers.
    Jared looked away before he drooled or replaced her fingers with his own. Damn