Free Dancing in the Moonlight by RaeAnne Thayne Page A

long moment.
    “What if it does?” His low-timbred voice sent shivers cascading down her spine.
    She drew in a sharp breath and decided to ignore him. Instead she gripped the hand railing and made her way down the three steps of the mounting block.
    “Running away, Maggie? I would have thought you had more spine than that.”
    She bristled. “I’m not running away. I have things to do—unlike some people, who apparently can spend all day mending fence and accosting unsuspecting women.”
    “I hope those things involve stretching out and taking the weight off your prosthesis.”
    “Eventually. I need to put my horse away first and make some notes in the ranch logs.”
    “I’ll take care of your horse. Go make your notes so you can take it easy.”
    She would have argued with him—on principle if nothing else—if she wasn’t so desperate to get away from him.
    “Thank you,” she muttered, though the words tasted bitter as a bad cucumber.
    While she was gnawing on it, she might as well devour the whole thing. “Thank you also for your help today. It would have taken me a week if I’d been on my own.”
    If she expected him to gloat or give her a bad time, shewas doomed to disappointment. He only nodded. “You’re welcome. I’m glad we got the fence line checked.”
    She nodded, wanting only for this day to be over. Aware of his gaze following her, she turned and made her way toward the ranch office in the barn.
    She had to hope he couldn’t see the wobble in her knees—both of them, not just the overworked left one.
    When she turned the corner of the barn and was certain he could no longer see her, she let out a long, slow breath and leaned a hand against the weathered wood planks.
    What was the point of that little demonstration? For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what he was trying to prove. If he wanted to show she had questionable taste in men, he’d certainly made his point.
    Dalton or not, the man certainly knew how to kiss. She still couldn’t seem to catch her breath.
    She pressed two fingers to her lips as if she could still taste the imprint of his mouth there, then shook her head at her own ridiculous reaction, far out of proportion to what had happened.
    Still, it had been an incredible kiss. She supposed if she’d ever given it much thought, she might have expected it of Seth Dalton. The youngest of the three brothers was the ladies’ man of the family, the one who left every woman in the county sighing and giddy.
    Whoever would have thought the quiet, studious doctor would have such hidden depths?
    Not that she would ever allow herself the opportunity to plumb those depths. That was the first and only kiss she would ever share with Jake Dalton, no matter how proficient at it he might be.
    Even if he wasn’t Hank Dalton’s son, she couldn’t let this happen again.
    Like it was some kind of grim lodestone, she rubbed the spot just below her knee where flesh met metal.
    It had been difficult to remember his surname all morning. He was a good companion and a hard worker, when he wasn’t manufacturing excuses for her to take a break.
    She saw right through his efforts. On the one hand, she had to admit she had been grateful to him for his sensitivity to the frustrations and the challenges she faced in doing things that had always been second nature to her six months ago.
    On the other hand, each time he had made up some silly reason to take a break had been another painful reminder that she couldn’t keep up with him, that her life had changed dramatically.
    Different was not the same thing as over, she reminded herself as she opened the barn door and walked inside. The barn smelled sweet and musty, a combination that instantly transported her back to her childhood.
    Dust motes floated like gold flakes in the sunbeams shining down from the rafters, and the air smelled of horses and new hay and life.
    She paused for a moment to enjoy the memories that rushed back, of chasing