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The corners of her mouth deepened in a smile. “That’s exactly what you are. Disappointed?”
“Not in the least.” Jeans on, he sat on the ground and pulled on his boots.
“Good. Because when you leave, I don’t want you to go away mad.”
“But it wouldn’t bother you at all if I left with a broken heart, would it?” Sebastian picked up his shirt and unfastened the rest of the buttons.
A laugh bubbled from her. “And it’s very likely you will be brokenhearted, because you’ll leave the way you came, with empty pockets.”
“No one can fool you, can they?” He smiled.
“Actually, you did, but not for long.” After tugging on her last boot, Laura stretched out a hand so he could pull her upright.
Together they walked over to where the horses were grazing and gathered up the trailing reins. “In time you will become very bored with Boone,” Sebastian stated as he swung into the saddle.
“And why is that?” Laura asked, her enjoyment for this back-and-forth banter showing in her expression.
“Because you’ll find you can’t match wits with an unarmed person.”
She made a face of mock dismay. “Ooh, that’s an old joke, Sebastian.”
“But extremely accurate in this case.”
“He suits me,” Laura declared and pointed her horse toward home.
With their hair wet and clothes damp from the brief swim, neither was inclined to dawdle along the way. They cantered across the moonlit plains on a straight course to the Triple C headquarters and crossed the river just south of the barns.
After seeing to the horses and stowing the tack, they set out for The Homestead. Sebastian’s hand brushed the back of her hair as he companionably draped an arm around her shoulders.
“Your hair feels dry,” he remarked idly.
“Almost,” Laura confirmed and let her glance wander over the white-pillared facade of the big house, noting its many darkened windows. “I wonder what time it is.”
“Somewhere around midnight, I imagine. Hardly late by your standards.”
“By Boone’s it is. Ranchers are always early risers.”
“I’ve noticed that,” he murmured.
“Uncivilized, isn’t it?” Laura replied, tossing him a smile.
“Very,” he agreed. “Were you planning to call Boone—and ease your conscience a little?”
“Not for the reason you think. I just remembered he was supposed to call tonight.”
“Poor man,” Sebastian murmured in feigned sympathy, letting his arm fall from her shoulders as they started up the veranda steps. “No doubt he expected his loving fiancée to be sitting by the phone waiting for his call. Instead she’s off swimming nude in the moonlight with another man.”
“I don’t think I’ll tell him that.” Laura said, matching his teasing tone.
“I wouldn’t, either, if I were you,” he agreed, perfectly straight-faced. “I suspect he wouldn’t be very understanding.”
“Would you be?” she countered, stepping back as Sebastian opened the front door for her.
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
Having no quick answer for that, Laura walked into the house. The utter stillness of it had an immediate impact as she instinctively spoke in a hushed voice, “I think everyone’s asleep.”
“As you said, it is late,” he murmured. “Long past time for naughty little girls to be tucked into bed.”
