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“I hope so.” The window went up and she drove out of the lot headed in the direction of Old West Town.
Behind him, Warrick heard someone else enter the parking lot. Someone who coughed.
He spun around to see who it was, remembering Isabelle had fearfully stiffened in his arms after hearing someone in the courthouse cough. Someone she thought had been following her. A man dressed in black quickly got into a vehicle two rows away.
Unfortunately, Warrick didn’t get a good look at the vehicle, the license plates, or the guy, but he’d certainly take on the role of protector if he got involved with Isabelle.
Or rather when he got involved with her. It was only a matter of time now that he’d tasted her. Rules or not.
Chapter Three
Isabelle raced to work, embarrassed to have let Warrick tempt her so fully that she forgot all sense of time.
When she arrived at Jessica’s office—where they regularly met each night—both Gray and Jessica were already waiting. “I’m sorry to be so late. It took longer than I thought to get the plates for my car.” And to kiss the prosecutor senseless so we could almost have sex on his desk. She’d still be there now if she’d thrown caution to wind and pressed for gratification.
Her cheeks warmed at the memory of her butt digging into the edge of his desk before Warrick lifted her to sit on top. She relived how she’d pulled him into her body for a deeper kiss. Isabelle forced those wayward fantasies of Warrick out of her head to face her coworkers.
“No problem,” Gray said. “I was telling Jessica about a new feature we might be offering our guests. It’s actually a new project I want the two of you to work on together for the hotel.”
“Oh? What is it?” she asked.
Jessica spoke this time. “Gray and a nearby rancher are teaming up to offer guests who want it a chance to tour a working ranch. You know riding, roping, round ups, and the like.”
“Any form of cowboy antics seem to be very popular with our clientele, not surprising in a reproduction of a rip-roaring old Western town like this one,” Gray added.
Isabelle brightened. That sounded like fun. She knew just the rancher she wanted to team up with, too. His initials were Colton Landry. She smiled to herself and quickly shoved that idea to the back recesses of her mind. No time for that right now.
“Tell me more,” she said, taking out her pen and notebook, doing her level best to deflect her true feelings.
Gray said, “A friend of mine has a large spread due east of Old West Town. Recently, he built a more updated house and a modernized barn on the other side of his spread, but kept the older ranch house and out buildings intact because his great-grandfather built them. He didn’t want to tear them down for sentimental reasons, obviously. He also didn’t want them to remain neglected moving forward, so I suggested he let us use them for tours. Win-win.”
“That’s a really great idea, Gray.”
“Thank you. I have a few good ones on occasion,” he said with a laugh. “I set up a meeting for tomorrow at the site.”
Isabelle pulled out her pen, opened her work notebook, and started writing. “What’s the rancher’s name?” she asked, pen poised to record it.
“Colton Landry,” Gray said.
Isabelle’s pen popped out of her fingers and into the air when she gripped the barrel too tightly. The sound of it rattling along the hardwood floor was the only sound in the room. She looked up at Gray, leaned down to retrieve her pen, and put her attention immediately on her notes as her face got very warm.
Gray’s eyes narrowed. “Problem?” he finally asked quietly.
“No,” she said in a tiny voice. Isabelle cleared her throat. “No problem at all.” Adding a smile to help convince herself as well as her boss she wasn’t a love-smitten teenager, in love with a boy at school.
Jessica looked amused, and Gray gave her a funny look as well, but then said, “I told him I’d send one of my managers out to the old ranch house to tour the place and get the lay of the land, so to speak. You two can duke it out and decide who has to go out there tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll go out there, if you want,” Jessica said quickly.
“No,” Isabelle said even faster, and a bit too loudly. “I’ll go. Have you already set up a specific time to meet or should I call and set one up?”
Gray and Jessica exchanged an amused glance that Isabelle chose to ignore. Could she be more obvious about her interest in this project? Likely not. Did they know she was ready to achieve more than simply getting the lay of land? Did they suspect she was already lusting after their possible new business partner who was also a very gorgeous cowboy?
