Free Billion Dollar Cowboy by Carolyn Brown

splashed it all over him.
    He dove in right behind her and beat her to the other end by one lap. When she came up for air and grabbed for the side of the pool her hands came to rest on his arms. She was still treading water with her feet when she opened her eyes to see him staring down at her. His green eyes went all dreamy and soft.
    His eyes slowly closed and thick brown lashes rested on his cheek. She really wanted the kiss but noisy teenagers jerked Laura back to reality. She moved away from Colton and was swimming toward the other end when Roxie and Dillon made it to the pool’s edge.
    “Where are your glasses?” Roxie asked.
    “Back in the dressing room. I can see well enough to swim without them,” she answered.
    Dillon wasn’t as tall as Colton, but he still dwarfed Roxie. He wore his blond hair cut above his ears with enough left on top to comb over for Sunday or let hang on his forehead any other time. His brown eyes seldom strayed from Roxie, and his smile was genuine and honest. His arms and body testified that he was used to hard work and his hands bore the calluses to prove it. Laura recognized Sunday jeans, boots, and Western shirt and wondered if he was in the same church as they had attended that morning. She didn’t remember seeing him there but there had been lots of people.
    The kids had barely made their way to the backside of the waterfall when Andy and Rusty arrived with two of the hired hands. They were already dressed for swimming in cutoff jeans and wasted no time crawling up the ladder to the diving board.
    “Hey!” Rusty waved from the end of the board.
    Laura made her way to Colton’s side and propped herself on the edge with her elbows. “Water is fine,” she called out.
    “We don’t mean to disturb y’all,” Andy hollered.
    “We were just getting ready to leave anyway. I’m going to take Laura on a tour of the whole ranch,” Colton said.
    “In one afternoon?” Andy Joe’s eyes widened. “That will be one fast tour.”
    Laura opened her mouth to say that she would rather stay behind and swim all afternoon but curiosity snapped it shut. Just how big was a billion-dollar cowboy’s ranch, anyway? And what other surprises might be hiding in the barns that he didn’t even consider luxuries? Being alone with him put her in dangerous territory, but she really did want to see the ranch.

Chapter 4
    Colton poured a cup of coffee and sat down at the dining room table. Roxie was the only other person up and around and she had her nose in a book. From the hunky cowboy on the cover, it didn’t have anything to do with schoolwork.
    “Granny know you are reading that?” he asked.
    “No, she does not,” Roxie said. “You ought to read it before she does. You old people might need a little refresher course in how to kiss and all that so the acting will be more convincing.”
    Colton grinned. “I’m not that old. I think I can remember how to kiss a woman. And what made you so sassy today?”
    “I’m not sassy. I’m just statin’ facts. If you know how to kiss a woman then you need to do it and quit just lookin’ at her with moony eyes.”
    The smile faded. “I am not lookin’ at her with moony eyes.”
    Roxie raised her eyebrows and looked at him over the top of the book. “You just blew the bottom right out of that commandment about not lying.”
    “I’m glad you have to go to summer school to make up for all those times you skipped school,” he muttered.
    “Me too. I get to see Dillon and enjoy his moony-eyed looks.”
    “You use that word one more time this morning and I’m sending Laura and Granny to shop at Tressa’s without you this afternoon.”
    Roxie tucked the book in her backpack, slung it over her back as she stood up, and flicked bread crumbs from her shirt. “I don’t reckon it would kill me.” She lowered her voice as she walked past him. “She’s coming in the back door and headed toward the office right now. There it is—your eyes are all