Free A Real Cowboy Never Says No by Stephanie Rowe Page A

that. To explain what Gary meant to him was to go places he didn't go with people, especially not a woman he barely knew.
    Awkward silence settled between them, and he shifted. He had no idea what the hell to do with her. He hadn't been lying when he'd said that he didn't know what to do with a woman in his house. He was so out of his league. "How are you feeling?"
    "Fine." She sighed, and he suddenly noticed how tired she looked. There were shadows under her eyes, and her shoulders were slumped.
    "You're tired." He walked over to the front hall where he'd dropped her luggage. "Sorry for being an insensitive ass. I'll take you to your room." He swung her bags off the floor and headed down the hall toward the bedrooms. His suite was at the far end, taking up one entire end of the house. "This way."
    There were two guest bedrooms. One in the basement, and one right next to his room. The basement would give her privacy and space. It even had a kitchenette so she could make her own meals, and its own bathroom. He'd never even have to see her if he put her down there. They could both live their lives and do their own thing. It would be like not even having her in the house.
    He glanced over at her as she walked beside him. His gaze fell on her mouth, and he remembered what it had been like to kiss her. She seemed to sense his perusal, and she caught his eye. Neither of them spoke, but a sensual awareness slithered down his spine and wrapped itself around his gut.
    This wasn't simply a woman. It was Mira Cabot, the woman who'd been a part of his consciousness for over a decade.
    She wasn't going in the basement.
    She was going in the room next to his.
***
    Mira awoke at midnight, her heart hammering.
    The moonlight was streaming across her bed, casting an eerie glow across the rustic furnishings. A light breeze was making ripples flutter across the surface of the navy bedspread. For a moment, she forgot where she was, and then the events of the last two days came flooding back over her. How could she forget? She was in cowboy country now, shacking up with the father of her child...potentially. Possibly about to embark on the façade of her life...
    Not something that happened to a girl every day.
    Sighing, she rolled over onto her side, staring out the window. What had awakened her? The utter silence of the night? The lack of fluorescent lights outdoors? Or the sense of sheer isolation descending upon her like a great weight suffocating her? Was she running away like a wimp? Or taking the brave plunge of a woman who would fight for those she loved? Or was she simply just a confused sod wandering cluelessly through life?
    Yeah, any of those could have been enough to drag her out of a well-needed sleep. She'd never been a good sleeper through stress—
    An eerie haunting howl drifted through the night. She bolted upright in bed, her heart hammering as the creepy sound sent chills racing down her spine. What in heaven's name was that?
    Another howl filled the night, and she listened intently, trying to discern what it was. Wolves? Or was it the tortured ghost of an old west outlaw who had met his demise on the gallows and then committed his eternity to haunting the progeny of all those who had betrayed them?
    Wolves would probably be better.
    There was another echoing howl, and then another, until the night was filled with the mournful wail of the wild animals.
    Definitely wolves. Beautiful, but also chilling.
    She climbed out of bed, and padded over to the window in her bare feet. She peered outside, searching the night for four-legged shadows. It had been dark when she'd arrived, and she'd been too tired to look around, but now that the moon was full, it was casting the ranch into silvery, glistening shadows.
    There was a massive barn several hundred yards away, and numerous corrals, some with grass and others with soft-looking dirt for riding. Beyond the barns stretched dark hills with rocky outcroppings, the perfect place for