Tall, Tanned & Texan

A great day.

A scary day.

She forced aside the last thought.

Exciting, not scary.

Of course, both caused massive bursts of adrenaline and a faint, light-headed feeling so it was understandable how she could confuse the two.

She pulled out the latest fashion magazine she’d bought at the newsstand—after reaching for Sports Illustrated and giving herself a mental hand slap—and flipped to an article that debated the benefits of lip gloss versus lipstick. Then she heard something…

It took her all of two seconds to realize it wasn’t just the cramped space that reminded her of her high school days.

It was the deep, husky voice that slid into her ears.

“…wouldn’t say I was the greatest tackle to ever play pro football. Maybe one of the top five…”

It couldn’t be.

Deanie closed her eyes for a long moment, her heart beating frantically, as the past pushed and pulled at her.

“Hey there, Teeny.”

The familiar voice echoed in her memory and she practically smelled the sharp aroma of cattle and hay that had filled the corral where she’d watched her brother and his best friend practice steer wrestling techniques every afternoon after school.

“…I managed to hold my own, but there were a lot of players just as good…”

She forced her eyes open, drew a deep breath and twisted to peer over the top of her seat.

Rance McGraw had been the hottest, hunkiest boy to ever wear a Romeo High School football jersey. He’d been the youngest and the wildest of the notorious McGraw triplets, the star of Deanie’s adolescent fantasies and a few adult ones, as well. He’d been sweet and charming and charismatic, and one of the best steer wrestlers to ever win first place at Romeo Junior Livestock Show and Rodeo. He’d also been the boy Deanie had wanted desperately to marry and live happily ever after with.

Wanted, as in past tense. She’d given up her infatuation with him a long time ago.

Sixteen years was a long time, however, and the boy had turned into a hotter, hunkier man.

The man now sitting two rows behind her.

She swallowed and tried for a deep breath. But while her brain issued the command, her lungs wouldn’t cooperate. Neither would her eyes. She willed them to look away, but they kept staring, drinking in the picture he made, his tall, muscular form barely contained in the narrow seat.

With his dark hair and good ole boy smile, Rance was the spitting image of his two handsome brothers. He had the same strong jaw, sensuous lips and sculpted nose. At the same time, there would be no mistaking him for the other two. Being a fraternal triplet, he didn’t have blue eyes like Mason or green ones like Josh. Rather, his gaze gleamed as bright, as bold, as intoxicating as a shot of Jack Daniels whiskey.

Even more, Rance had his own style that set him apart. He wasn’t the classic clean-cut cowboy type like the other McGraw men. Rather, his dark hair hung down to his shoulders. He wore a bright Hawaiian print shirt unbuttoned, a white NASCAR T-shirt beneath. She couldn’t see without giving herself whiplash, but she’d be willing to bet that he wore his signature board shorts, long and frayed around the edges, and a pair of flip-flops.

The only indication of his cowboy roots was the beat-up straw Resistol that he’d been wearing since the age of sixteen. It had belonged to his father who’d died that year. The hat looked worn and faded now, a Coors Lite patch stitched to the brim in between a patch for last year’s ESPN Extreme Sports Games in Colorado and another advertising the bungee jumping finals in South America.

The media still referred to him as a cowboy, however, because of his do-anything attitude and I-don’t-give-a-damn appearance. Rance was an ex-pro football player who now owned a chain of extreme sporting good stores and still made the news with his passion for the outrageous. Just last year she’d seen him on TV hang gliding over a sea of hungry sharks.

Crazy.

Not Rance, mind you. She understood his competitive drive better than anyone because she knew the circumstance behind it. His parents had died when he’d been sixteen, and a little of his heart had died with them. He’d been trying to revive it ever since with a constant supply of adrenaline rush.

No, Deanie was the crazy one.

Her heart pounded. Her vision blurred. Her hands even trembled.

And all because of the fact that Rance McGraw was this close and, despite every argument to the contrary, Deanie still wanted him more than her next breath.

She didn’t know whether to crawl across the seat and kiss him for all she was worth, or kick his ass sixty ways to Sunday.

On the one hand, she’d vowed to abandon her hellion ways and conduct herself in a more ladylike fashion from here on out.

On the other hand, she’d offered herself to Rance once before and it had gotten her the ultimate rejection.

She weighed the two options for several frantic heartbeats.

Better to go with plan B.

Deanie unfastened her seat belt and pushed to her feet.

2

WHEN IT CAME TO WOMEN, Rance McGraw had never been a man to turn tail and run the other way.

He liked women. Hell, he loved ’em and he wasn’t the least bit shy about it.

He loved the silky feel of a woman’s hair trailing between his fingers. The softness of her skin against his lips during a deep, hot kiss. The rasp of her nails up and down his back as he plunged deep inside her body. The soft, sweet, breathless sound of her voice as she begged for more…

Yep, he loved women, all right. As thoroughly and as often as possible. And they loved him.

Deanie Codge, in particular.

She’d been head over heels for him since the day he’d paired up with her brother, Clay, for the annual steer wrestling competition.

Rance had been eight years old when he’d gone home with Clay to practice. Deanie had been four, and hell-bent on joining in the wrestling match. When Clay had captured her in a headlock to teach her a lesson and force her to leave them alone, Rance had gone to her rescue.

It was the biggest mistake of his life.

Free of her brother’s hold, Deanie had stared up at him with wide, adoring blue eyes, and the damage had been done. She’d followed him around from then on, clear up until the night he’d graduated high school and left for college.

A vision pulled him back and he saw her standing on the grassy bank of McGraw River, her long, dark hair hanging down around her shoulders, her pale, naked body shimmering in the moonlight.

He didn’t remember much about that night except that he’d started out at Dorie Jackson’s graduation party with his buddies and a keg of beer. He wasn’t sure exactly how he made it out to the creek or what happened to the dozen or so guys he’d been party-hopping with. The evening was just a blur up until that moment when he found himself alone on the riverbank with Deanie.

His senses had sharpened then and he’d drank in the sight of her, from the faint stirring of her hair to the goose bumps that had chased up and down her pale arms, to the pucker of her ripe, rosy nipples. He’d heard the slight gurgle of water where it fed from the underground spring, the buzz of crickets and the thunder of his own heartbeat. He’d smelled the vanilla and sugar scent of her Sweet Honesty perfume. He’d tasted the surprise on his own tongue and he’d felt the sharp tightening of his groin.

That had been the first time he’d ever seen her naked. And the last.

Hell, that had been the last time he’d seen her, period. He’d been back in Romeo only a handful of times over the past sixteen years and he’d always made it his business to steer clear of Deanie Codge.