Free Her Unbridled Cowboy (Harland County Series) by Donna Michaels

make the mistake of thinking you
can land a man like Connor, because he likes his women more experienced and
receptive.”
    “Yeah, well, you ought to know.”
    Shoot. Did she really just say
that? Kerri’s stomach clenched tight. Never in her adult life had she said
something so catty. Or acted so immature.
    “That’s right.” Ashley smiled. “I do know, and I know how to satisfy him. So don’t go getting any ideas,” the
haughty blonde warned, poking Kerri with one of her red tipped fingers.
    She felt her lips tug into a smirk.
“You don’t have to worry about me, honey. I like my men more civilized. He’s
all yours.” She walked away leaving a dumbfounded Ashley to stare after her.
    Connor sure could pick ‘em .
Surely he wasn’t that desperate?
    Kerri walked back into the party
seething with anger. Not like her at all. She wasn’t normally an angry person.
Still, she didn’t know whom she was angrier at; Ashley, who after all these
years still made her feel inadequate despite everything Kerri had accomplished,
or at herself for stooping to Ashley’s level and acting like an immature twit.
    Both. Definitely both.
    Out of the corner of her eye, Kerri
caught Jordan motioning to her from across the room. Heading to her sister, she
worked on getting her emotions under control, trying desperately to apply her
motto. It didn’t work. By the time she reached her sister in the corner, she
realized, too late, Jordan wasn’t alone.
    Perfect. Why should things go easy?
Cole, Kevin and Connor were also there. Goodie.
    “What’s wrong, Kerri?” Jordan touched her arm while Cole frowned.
    “Yeah.” Kevin nodded. “You look
like you’re ready to spit nails.”
    The image of Ashley’s red-tipped
fingers came to mind.
    Connor stepped closer, concern
deepening the creases by his eyes. “Are you okay? Did someone bother you?”
    “Yeah.” She snorted. “Your girlfriend .
You need to keep a rein on your women, mister. I don’t appreciate being blindsided
by them.”
    The worry left Connor’s face, and
as his shoulders visibly relaxed, she noticed his gaze sparkled with suppressed
amusement.
    “What are you talking about, kiddo?
You know I don’t have a girlfriend.”
    “Tell that to Ashley,” she replied.
“You need to set her straight. She just cornered me and warned me off of you.”
    Jordan reeled back. “That bitch! You
want to borrow my dog?”
    Kerri laughed. Great minds. “No,
that won’t be necessary.”
    “Ooh…I smell a cat fight.” Kevin
smiled, rubbing his hands together.
    Smiling, Kerri shook her head.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but that won’t be necessary either.”
    Jordan’s gaze narrowed. “Why not?
What did you do?”
    She shrugged. “I told her she could
have him.”
    Kevin’s bark of laughter was
drowned out by Cole’s, and together, the two men chuckled in unison.
    A dark emotion skittered through
Connor’s eyes, but before she could name it, a neutral expression fell into
place.
    “You’re not my type either, darlin’,”
he said, settling down by the window, arms folded across his chest. “I don’t
care for city girls. Besides…” His gaze was lazy and lingering. “You’re like my
kid sister.”
    Kid sister. Right. Except her
body didn’t have sisterly responses to his. No. The handsome cowboy made her
toes curl with his deep, sexy drawl, and her heart race should his brown eyes
stare for too long. Yeah. Not sisterly.
    “Then this should be interesting,”
Cole said, smile still hovering around his mouth.
    Kerri watched Jordan turn to her fiancé and frown. “What?”
    “The mistletoe, of course.” Her
future brother-in-law pointed to the branch hanging directly above Connor’s
head.
    Kerri’s gaze bounced from the sprig
down to Connor, then to the others.
    They were all staring right at her. Oh, heck no. They’d all lost their friggin’ minds. “No way.” She couldn’t.
She just couldn’t. “You can’t be serious?”
    “Of course we are,”