simple sentence.
But she opted for discounting the possibility that he’d be looking forward to seeing her because she didn’t really believe that could be true.
And since that seemed to conclude what was needed of her—for the moment, at any rate—she said, “If there’s nothing else you need then, I’ll leave you to your shower.”
He smiled again at that and there was a hint of sexy amusement playing about the corners of his mouth that she didn’t quite understand. It wasn’t as if she’d said something suggestive, she thought.
And yet, once they’d said good-night and she’d left him in the chancellor’s cottage, the thought of Joshua Cantrell taking a shower did seem to linger in her mind in a way that wasn’t altogether innocent.
In fact, it wasn’t innocent at all when she began to imagine him sloughing off that leather jacket, that T-shirt, those jeans….
But Cassie chased the images out of her head by reminding herself that this was Joshua Cantrell she’d been on the verge of mentally picturing in his altogether.
Joshua Cantrell who, if Brandon Adams had been a world away from her, was at least two worlds away. Or maybe three or four.
But however many worlds away from her and hers he was, it was enough to remember that he, like Brandon, was not a man for her.
Joshua Cantrell was a successful, wealthy, sought-after man who showed up on magazine covers with a different woman every week.
A different beautiful woman every week.
And she was a country bumpkin.
Oil and water.
They didn’t mix.
And she wasn’t going to forget it.
Not ever again.
Chapter Three
“Umm, cowboys are coming.”
It was late Monday afternoon and Joshua was lying on a blanket he and his sister had spread under a tree in order to have a picnic in the shade. A tree that he’d thought was in the middle of nowhere when they’d pulled the motorcycle off the road a few hours earlier.
His eyes were closed, his hands were under his head and he’d been dozing while Alyssa read her biology textbook. But Alyssa’s voice snapped him from the brink of sleep and he opened his eyes to find that two men were approaching them on horseback. Complete with the boots and hats to prove his sister wasn’t exaggerating when she’d identified them as cowboys.
Joshua sat up, blinked to clear his eyes and then stood.
The two horsemen guided their mounts to within a few feet of the blanket and came to a stop.
“Hi,” Joshua greeted.
“You know you’re on private property?” one of the men asked without answering Joshua’s hello.
“No, sorry, I didn’t know. It wasn’t fenced off or posted. We were just out for the afternoon, having a picnic. We’ll get going, if we’re trespassing.”
“You’re trespassing, but so long as you’re not squattin’ you can stay a while. Just make sure you pick up after yourself.”
“Absolutely,” Joshua assured them.
Both cowboys were not much older than Alyssa and might not have been as accommodating had she not been there. But Joshua recognized the interest in the glances both men were tossing in her direction.
Apparently Alyssa hadn’t missed it, either. Or the fact that the cowboys were handsome cusses, because she set down her book and got to her feet, too.
“Can I pet your horses?” she asked.
Joshua could barely suppress a laugh at the change in her tone. That was definitely not how she talked to him. But now his eighteen-year-old sister was flirting. And it reminded him that she wasn’t a little girl anymore.
There was plenty of other evidence to prove that, as well. She was tall and slender, but had developed some cleavage he’d discovered her showing off underneath the tight tank top and overblouse she was wearing today. She’d also had her black hair cut into a style that was very short and edgy, and she was spiking it on top and in back—something much, much different from the long straight hair with bangs that had always made her look sweet and prim.
There was the addition of makeup, too. She wore a dark gray eye shadow, and a coal-black liner and mascara that caused her pale eyes to stand out much, much more. Plus she was wearing lipstick she hadn’t been using the last time he’d seen her, a month ago.
The stuffy headmistress at the all-girls boarding school she’d only recently graduated from wouldn’t have approved of the changes she’d made to become the college Alyssa. But Joshua reminded himself that he wasn’t her former stuffy headmistress. He was her brother. And he couldn’t deny that she was all grownup. Whether he liked it or not.
So instead of interfering with her playing coquette to the cowboys, he sat back on the blanket as Alyssa went to stand between the horses and their riders.
Joshua didn’t abdicate all his responsibilities or brotherly protectiveness, though. Rather than lie down or close his eyes again, he stretched his legs out in front of him, propped one ankle on top of the other, and crossed his arms over his chest, lounging against the tree trunk to keep watch on the proceedings.
His sister’s back was to him so only a word or two of what she said as she talked to the cowboys was clear to him. They were grinning down at her and answering her questions with as much coy teasing and flirting as Joshua figured his sister was dishing out. But it all seemed innocent enough and maybe because of that, his mind started wandering.
Well, maybe because of that and because the sight of one of the horses served to prompt his brain.
The horse on the right was a reddish-brown color. Almost the identical shade of Cassie Walker’s hair.
Russet—that was what the color was. The color of the horse and the color of the freshman adviser’s hair.
Cassie Walker had russet-brown hair. Really stunning russet-brown hair.
Hair so soft-looking, so shiny, that he’d kept trying to will the band that held it to break so he could know how long it was. How it looked when it was free. So he could see it fall around her face…
It had been such a kid-like thing to be wishing for. He couldn’t believe he was thinking about her again now—he hadn’t been able to think about much else since they’d met, and this wasn’t something he’d experienced in all of his adult life. Not even with Jennie. It was a useless waste of the thought process. Of brainpower. And yet there they were, as big as life—thoughts of Cassie Walker spinning around in his head, out of control. As out of control as he’d expect from some horny teenager.
Thoughts and images of her hair, her face, her body…
It wasn’t even a remarkable body or a strikingly beautiful face or more than pretty hair. It wasn’t as if she had the kind
