try it,” he urged again, then took a long, long sip, grateful for the cold liquid. He rubbed the glass along his brow. Sweat poured off him. “If it works, then I’ll explain what I did. Otherwise, there’s no point.”
Move, think, talk, she instructed herself sternly when she realized she’d suddenly become glued into place again. Do anything but stare at him. He’s just a man. Lots of H2O, skin, hair, fat cells, that’s all.
But somehow, whoever had created Kevin Quintano had found a magical combination that took mere flesh and fashioned it into something temptingly delectable.
Shivers threatened to run up and down her spine, embarrassing her.
June looked away. She had to get a grip on herself and these strange thoughts that insisted on leaping around in her head. Who cared what he looked like? Could he fix her tractor? should have been the only thing on her mind.
Taking her keys out of her hip pocket, June got up on the tractor, frowned dubiously at the machine and inserted the key in the ignition. She turned it and, after a sputter, the engine coughed into life, where it remained until she turned it off.
“I did that the last time,” she told Kevin loftily, determined not to be impressed. “It didn’t turn over again.”
Kevin indicated the ignition. “Go ahead and try it again, then.”
Try it again. She was getting to hate that phrase. She didn’t know why, but it made her feel inept. Especially when she turned the key and the engine turned over again, this time without emitting either a sputter or a cough.
June sat in the tractor seat, letting the machine vibrate beneath her, a stallion wanting nothing more than to be set free.
Was Kevin like that?
Her eyes widened as her silent question sank in. God, where had that come from?
She wondered if she could be suffering from some sort of heat stroke. That had to be it. It was an inordinately hot day for the region. But she’d spent less time out in the sun than he had.
A mosquito buzzed around her neck and she slapped it away, relieved for the simple diversion.
“All right,” she said, getting off. “Now will you tell me what you did to it?” She fixed him with an almost exasperated look. “Or is this just a matter of the laying on of hands and healing the damn thing?”
She sounded awfully impatient for a woman who’d just had an important piece of machinery repaired. “No healing, no laying.” He laughed, pleased with his own effort.
Prolonging the moment, Kevin set the drained glass down against the back of the barn. He wasn’t ordinarily given to drama of any kind; that was exclusively Lily’s department. But the moment seemed to beg for it. Especially in view of June’s temperamental behavior. She needed to learn to mellow out a little.
“But you’re going to keep it a secret.” She frowned at him. This was so typical of a male.
He looked at her innocently, wondering what kind of people she was accustomed to dealing with. Had they treated her like an anomaly of nature because of her skills, or like a younger sibling who always insisted on doing what they did?
“Why would I do that?”
She blew out a breath, knowing she was being short-tempered. But given the situation, as well as the weather, it was hard not to. She thought of the walls she’d run up against.
“I don’t know, men are very territorial when it comes to sharing what they know, thinking that the puny female mind isn’t capable of absorbing those kinds of technical details.”
He studied June for a moment before answering. Temper made her features sharper. Also more vivid. “I never thought of your mind as puny, or particularly female for that matter.”
“I don’t know whether to take offense or be flattered.”
He made it easy for her. “No offense intended,” he told her.
Then, before she could say anything else, he launched into a detailed explanation of what he’d attempted to do and had obviously succeeded in accomplishing. He noted that, as she listened, a grudging admiration entered June’s eyes.
“No big mystery, really,” he concluded. “Sometimes the simplest details are the ones that are overlooked.”
Turning from her, he reached for the shirt he’d left slung over a nail on the fence that served as a makeshift corral. He’d been told that once this had been a horse ranch. He was about to put the shirt on again when June stopped him, all but grabbing it out of his hands.
“Wait, don’t.”
He didn’t understand what had made her spring into action like that. Looking around him didn’t make things any clearer. “What?”
She realized she’d put a little too much emotion into the entreaty. But that was because she hadn’t wanted to see him slip the shirt on just yet.
“I mean, it’s damp.” She turned it into a challenge. “You don’t want to put on a damp, sweaty shirt, do you, Kevin?”
“Don’t see as I have much choice.” His eyes swept over her. “I don’t think anything you might have would fit me.”
Why did she suddenly feel as if her throat was closing up, making it hard for her to swallow. Or breathe? “I can hang it up.”
He could just hear Jimmy if he came back to the house shirtless. He spread his arms out wide. “What do I do in the meantime?”
Stay just like that. This was getting out of hand. June censored herself. “I’ve got more work you can do while it’s drying—if you’re game.”
He had the time and he liked to work, so that wasn’t a problem. But he was curious. He looked around, as if to confirm his impression. “No other hired hands?”
Was that a judgmental tone she heard in his voice? Her own became defensive. “Not at the moment.”
He knew that as far as farms went, this wasn’t exactly huge, but it wasn’t tiny, either. And a lot of work went into running a farm. She had both a crop and several head of cattle. “Isn’t this rather a large undertaking for just one woman?”
Her eyes flashed as she raised her chin. “It’s not exactly like I’m hitching myself up to a plow and pulling it along the furrows.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice. “At least, not now that you’ve brought my tractor back from the dead.”
He got the feeling that she was waiting for him to rub her nose in it. He shrugged casually.
“You would have figured it out on your own if I hadn’t come along,” he assured her. Then, to her surprise, he placed his fingers on her chin and pushed it down slightly. “No need to get on your high horse, June. You take offense far too fast, especially when none’s intended.” Her attitude didn’t make sense to him. “I thought men would treat women like princesses here.”
“They do.” She let out a short, exasperated breath, but this time, it wasn’t directed toward him. “But
