Free The Bachelor’s Surrender by Janelle Denison

pasture where the stretch of green grass seemingly disappeared over a small hill. “Will Chad be okay on his own out there?” she asked, worried that the boy might travel out of their sight.
    “He’ll be fine,” Rafe assured her, bracing his forearms on the top rung of the fence, the length of his body falling into a deceptively relaxed pose that took the pressure off his injured leg. “I’ve established his boundaries, so he can’t go far. And he’s proven that he knows his way around a horse, so I’m confident he can handle Bronwyn. She’s one of my most docile mares.”
    Silence settled between them, and Lauren struggled for a mutual ground of discussion, something light and easy that didn’t threaten this man’s emotional shields. Something to establish them as friends, which they desperately needed in order to make living with each other for the next week bearable.
    She concentrated on Chad, the one person they had in common. The boy was having a great time riding Bronwyn and showed no signs of exhaustion or boredom. He was a natural in the saddle, very fluid and exceptionally coordinated. Chad whooped in glee as he guided the mare past her and Rafe at a light, smooth gallop. His elation was infectious and made Lauren so happy her chest expanded with a soul-deep contentment.
    “You see that huge smile on Chad’s face?” she asked in a near whisper, unwilling to shatter the wonderful moment that wove through her. “All it takes is one of those carefree smiles from one of my foster clients to make what I do feel so gratifying.”
    He finally looked at her, and although she had to squint against the sun blazing behind him, there was no dismissing the mild curiosity in his pewter gaze. “What you do, meaning granting special wishes for foster children?”
    “Yeah,” she said, nodding. “Right now, here on your ranch, Chad doesn’t have a care or worry in the world, which is exactly the purpose of Bright Beginnings. I know it’s not much in the scope of what he’ll have to face in the future, but this week is something that will hopefully give him some fond memories to look back on.”
    He shifted, turning his upper body toward her, his height and the width of his chest blocking the sun from her eyes. She had the fleeting thought that those mammoth shoulders of his were not only appealing to look at, and even nicer to cling to as she had last night, they served a dual purpose in offering her shade from the sun’s glare.
    His gaze fell briefly to her mouth, and her lips tingled in response to that warm, visual touch. Too easily, she recalled the thrill of his kiss, the delicious heat and fiery passion that had ignited between them. She ached to taste him again, and maybe the next time they’d go slow, let the tantalizing hunger gradually build, and he’d glide those big, callused hands along her flesh, stroke his palms over her sensitized breasts . . .
    “Why do you do it?”
    Her heart leapt into her throat at his question, asked in a husky tone of voice that inspired all kinds of wicked answers. His intense stare unnerved her—she had the oddest feeling his thoughts had taken on a sensual spin, too, and he was trying to escape them.
    “Umm, do what?” she responded tentatively, hoping for a little more information before she made a complete fool of herself with her answer.
    There was the faintest hint of a smile in his eyes, and then it was gone, making her wish he’d allow such a playful gesture to form on his lips so she could see how breath-takingly gorgeous a simple grin made him. “Why do you go above and beyond your job to grant these children their special wishes?”
    Ahh, at least it was a simple, straight-forward question, and not one designed to throw her libido into overdrive as this man seemed to do too darn easily. Smoothing back a stray strand of hair that fluttered along her cheek from the breeze, she glanced back at Chad, remembering the inspiration behind Bright