Free Man on a Mission by Carla Cassidy

loneliness in his heart and filled him with the promise of possibility.
    Frowning, he focused once again on the report before him, trying to shove her out of his mind. But she refused to be banished. The warmth of her smile danced in his head, the beauty of her sparkling eyes was etched in his brain.
    He wanted her. The force and intensity of his desire hit him like a punch in the stomach. He raked a hand through his hair and drew in a deep breath.
    He knew little about her, had only spent a couple of hours with her, but he wanted her as he hadn’t wanted a woman in a very long time.
    Rachel’s desertion had left a bad taste in his mouth. After she’d left him, he’d gone out occasionally, but hadn’t any interest in the women he’d casually dated. April was different.
    When he’d ridden by her cottage and she’d been standing on her porch, her cutoff shorts had displayed the sinful length of her legs—shapely legs he could easily imagine wrapped around him. Her breasts had pushed impudently against the cotton of her T-shirt, as if seeking, demanding his attention.
    The words of the report before him disappeared as a vision of her face usurped them. He’d had to fight with himself in the car that morning as they’d driven to town, fight the impulse to reach out and touch the strands of her hair. He knew it would be silky soft and would hold the dizzying floral scent that surrounded her.
    Still Mark knew he’d be a fool to follow throughon the desire he felt for her. First and foremost, he was playing a role that wouldn’t make him particularly attractive to a woman.
    Second, he had no intention of attempting to be a forever kind of man to any woman. But most important of all he had a killer to catch and a ranch to save, and those two things took precedence over anything else in his life.

Chapter 5
    I t was after supper when April stepped outside on her porch and stretched. She’d spent most of the afternoon sitting at the table, going over Marietta’s file, and her body now protested the long period of inactivity.
    The evening hours stretched empty before her. Doreen had invited Brian to go into town with them for dinner, then spend the night with Ricky. Seeing Brian’s eagerness, she’d been unable to deny him the pleasure of spending time with his new friend.
    She was surprised to discover that with the coming of dusk had come a cooling of the temperature. Although it was still probably in the low nineties, after a day of heat over the century mark, the nineties felt relatively cool.
    Marietta’s file had held a lot of interesting notes, reports and maps. It was one map in particular thatheld April’s thoughts now. The map had depicted the structures on the ranch, with an arrow pointing to what was marked as an old barn. A note had indicated that Marietta had intended to speak to Adam about renovating the barn and using it for group activities.
    April peered out across the vast landscape before her, seeking the structure in question. But there was just enough of a rise in the land to prevent her from seeing anything that might exist beyond it.
    Now was a perfect time to explore a little bit, she thought. Brian was gone and there was still time before nightfall to do a little walking.
    Decision made, she went back into the cottage, filled a plastic bottle with ice cubes and water and grabbed the map. Back outside again, she took off walking at a brisk pace, occasionally glancing down at the map in her hand.
    She walked for about twenty minutes before slowing to a halt and taking several sips of her water. Looking ahead, she thought she spied the top of the old barn just peeking over the next hill.
    Her mind whirled with possibilities for the place. The guests could be transported back and forth by a horse-drawn wagon. The activities she could offer them in a barn were endless—dances, bingo, craft classes. She suspected the biggest obstacle