Free Against Her Odds: when dedication meets desire by Natalie Love Page A

barn. Ain’t that
where farmers hang out?”
    “How should I know where farmers hang out?”
she asked in frustration, but Ben didn’t hear her. He was rummaging for his
camera equipment. With a shrug, Val headed toward the barn. It was as good a
place to start as any.

Chapter Two
     
    Mitch pointed toward the lambing shed.
“Think somebody’s looking for you, Case.”
    “Yeah?” Cason didn’t look up from the fence
post he was replacing. He was glad Mitch had noticed the sagging area. They
didn’t use this part of the pasture much, but he expected more lambs this year
since he’d increased his stock. All if would have taken was for one of them to
lean against the post and he’d have had stock roaming all over the place.
Wrangling lost sheep was about the farthest thing from fun that existed. They
were cute, but they could be dumb and he’d hate for any of them to get hurt.
He’d also hate to waste a day tracking them down.
    “Yeah. Didn’t you say something about some
reporters?”
    “Damn.” Cason pushed his glove down and
looked at his watch. “Why didn’t you tell me it was getting so late?”
    “You can see the sun, same as I can,” Mitch
replied with a grin. “I might be your second in command, but nobody ever said I
had to babysit you.”
    Cason laughed. “See you later on.”
    “I don’t get to be on TV?”
    Cason swung himself over the fence. “We
both know I’m the pretty one.”
    “You ain’t the smart one, that’s for sure,”
Mitch returned. “We’re already replacing one post here, the last thing we need
is to do another one.”
    With another laugh, Cason headed for the
shed. When he got there, he saw the woman in question trying to light a
cigarette and having no luck in the stiff wind.
    He came to a stop on her left, blocking the
wind for her. “Can I help you with that?”
    “Thanks,” she said, her cheeks coloring a
little in embarrassment. “I’m trying to quit you know. I swear it.”
    “Yeah, me too,” he admitted as he pulled
his own pack from his jeans pocket. “Down to three a day, but I’ll make an
exception so you don’t have to smoke alone.”
    She handed him her lighter with a grin and
he took it, glancing down at it appraisingly. It was a good lighter, heavy and
encased in silver that was engraved with her initials. It looked to him like
everything about her was elegant.
     
    “V. M. T,” he said. “I’m gonna guess
Veronica Morgan Taylor.”
    “Not even close. But good try. Valerie
Michelle Turner.” She held out her hand and he took it.
    He discovered that he really liked her
smile. She had full lips and there was a very slight gap between her front
teeth, which were otherwise straight and perfect. He also liked her blonde hair
which, unless she dyed her eyebrows too, was natural. A person didn’t see too
many women with that pretty straw blonde unless it came from a bottle. Her dark
brown eyes made it even more interesting. She was a little overdressed for a
sheep farm in that tailored to fit suit, but it sure did show off her curves.
All in all, Valerie Michelle Turner was a very beautiful woman.
    He would have been surprised to know that
she was appraising him in much the same way. Becky had said he was cute. She
hadn’t said was that he was close to six and a half feet of sexy cowboy. He wore
a dark brown Stetson to shade his eyes from the sun, but she could see that his
hair was light brown underneath it. He had startlingly bright green eyes and a
dimple flashed in his left cheek when he smiled. His red and black work shirt
hugged his broad shoulders and his low riding work worn jeans looked great on
him as well.
    A tingle ran down her spine as his hand
gripped hers. She considered herself pretty experienced with men and she
certainly wasn’t the swooning type, but he made her wish she was. She indulged
in a brief fantasy about him crushing her to his chest, romance novel style,
and then snapped herself out of it.
    “I’m going to assume