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“No?” she said. “You think you could do better?”
Denver rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Probably.”
“Good. Have at it.”
Denver’s gaze returned to hers and his eyes had darkened. “Okay. But maybe we should make this more interesting,” he drawled suggestively.
“It’ll be plenty interesting. I guarantee it.” She climbed onto the top rail of the fence for a better view.
“I was thinking in terms of a small wager—”
“I don’t gamble.”
One corner of Denver’s mouth lifted provocatively. “Sure you do, Tess. Unless you’ve changed.”
Her throat constricted for a second, and she looked away. “What’s the bet?” she asked, hating the breathless tone to her voice.
“Simple. If I get him to accept the saddle and walk calmly, I win.”
“And what’s at stake?”
“Name it.” His eyes glinted magnetic blue.
Tessa had trouble finding her voice. The heat in Denver’s gaze was equal to that of the late-afternoon sun still warming the valley floor. “Okay,” she finally said. “If you can get him to take the saddle and walk docilely around the ring, you win. But if he won’t take the saddle, you lose.”
“And my punishment?” he asked, squinting up at her, his sensuous mouth curving suggestively.
Tessa could barely breathe. “If you lose, I—I’ll expect you to work on the ranch the next week—shoulder to shoulder with the hands.”
“And if I win,” Denver said slowly, touching the side of her jaw with his finger, letting his hand slide slowly along it, “I’ll expect you to spend a weekend with me in California!”
“That’s impossible,” she said quickly. The thought of spending a weekend completely alone with him caused her heart to hammer. “I—I can’t be gone that long and—”
“And you’re afraid of what you’ll find out about me and maybe yourself,” he suggested, leaning lazily over the top rail of the fence, his elbow nearly touching her thigh.
“That’s not it! I have work here! Who’ll run the ranch if I leave?”
His face turned hard. “Your father,” he bit out. “After all, Curtis is the ranch foreman. That’s what I pay him for.”
“Dad can’t do it alone.”
“He’ll have Mitch and Len and the rest of the hands.”
“If you win.”
“Oh, I’ll win all right.” A slow smile spread over his face, and with the grace of an athlete, he strode across the paddock and started talking softly to the horse.
Tessa bit her lip and crossed her fingers. She couldn
’t lose—not after she’d promised to go with him to L.A. Come on, Frenzy, she silently pleaded, don’t let me down. Show him who’s boss!
As if he’d heard her, Frenzy reared and shrieked. Head high, nostrils flared, he galloped past Denver at breakneck speed. The ground shook.
Tessa wanted to whoop, but Denver, his eyes steady on the colt, kept after him, talking low, moving slowly. The lathered roan pawed the ground nervously and sprinted past Denver in the opposite direction.
“That’s it—” Tessa said.
“Not yet.” With the patience of a lion stalking prey, Denver kept walking, gradually making his way until he reached the dangling lead rope and slowly picked it up. Then, each move deliberate, he wrapped the leather around his hands, approached the horse and placed a calming hand on Frenzy’s quivering coat.
