Cowboy's Caress

But it still took a force of will to yank her gaze up to his face.

Too bad that didn’t allow her any relief. Because the chiseled planes of his ruggedly perfect features only made her feel dizzy all over again.

“Need me for anything else?” he asked.

Needs were just what were churning inside her, but none he could meet in front of his daughter.

Or anywhere else, for that matter, without disrupting Carly’s plans more than they’d already been disrupted.

And she wasn’t going to let that happen.

“No, thanks. But thanks for helping me get my stuff down here.”

“How long shall I give you before I come back to wrap your ankle?”

“Half an hour?”

“Perfect.”

Yes, he was. Damn him, anyway.

“Come on, Evie, let’s do something with your hair,” he said to his daughter then.

The little girl skipped out ahead of him, clearly oblivious to her father’s effect on Carly. As was Bax, Carly hoped.

But only after they’d both left and closed the door behind them did Carly breathe freely again.

The trouble was, this time she couldn’t blame her response to Bax McDermot on lack of sleep. She had to admit that it was purely a reaction to something about the man himself.

But she had too much at stake to let it get beyond goose bumps and weak knees and itchy palms and dizziness and flutters in her stomach. She likened her reaction to sneezing when she got anywhere near ragweed—inevitable, inescapable, and over as soon as she got away from the ragweed or took her antihistamine.

She just needed to get away from Bax McDermot.

Which was exactly what she would be doing in just a few days.

In the meantime, she’d simply have to grit it out and keep reminding herself that she didn’t want anything to foul up her plans any more than they already had been.

Because unfortunately she didn’t think her antihistamine would be of any help with this particular reaction.

Chapter Three

Carly took the fastest shower of her life. Not an easy task when she had to do it standing on one foot like a flamingo lawn ornament. But there was absolutely, positively no way she was going to come face-to-face with Bax McDermot for the third time without being presentable.

With that in mind—actually with Bax in mind—she gelled her hair to give it body and let it air dry while she slipped into a pair of flowing rayon overalls in a red- and cream-colored batik print over a tight-fitting short-sleeve T-shirt.

She applied just enough blush to give her high cheekbones a healthy glow, mascara enough to accentuate every single eyelash and a pale gloss that guaranteed kissable lips.

Of course that kissable part didn’t matter, she assured herself, ignoring a second eruption of those stomach flutters at the thought.

By then her hair was dry, so she brushed it and pulled it to the top of her head in an elastic scrunchee and let the slight bit of natural wave on the ends have its way.

A scant splash of perfume was the final touch. Even though she knew there was no call for it, she couldn’t resist. She just rejected any thought that her desire to smell sweet and sexy and alluring had anything to do with the new town doctor.

She was in the midst of stashing the perfume bottle back in her carry-on bag when the knock on the cottage door came.

She took one quick look at herself in the full-length mirror on the bathroom door, approved of the improvement, and called “Come in,” in a voice she hardly recognized because it sounded so giddy and unlike her.

Bax only poked his handsome head through the door. “Are you ready for us?”

“Sure,” she answered after clearing her throat, this time sounding as calm as if she hadn’t just hopped around the place like a rabbit in fast-forward mode.

“You look ready,” he said, stepping inside and giving her the once-over as he did. Then he dimpled up with an appreciative smile that made her crazed hop worth it.

At least it would have if she’d been admitting to herself that she cared.

Behind him came Evie Lee, closing the door and turning to Carly, too. “Daddy wouldn’t put a pencil in my hair,” the little girl complained rather than saying hello.

Carly didn’t mind the omission. She was grateful for the distraction from Bax’s dimples and lowered her gaze to the child.

Evie Lee’s hair no longer stood up or was matted on one side. It was combed smooth all over, but merely left to fall loosely around her thin shoulders.

“Could you put the pencil in it now and maybe another time we could use a barrette?” Evie Lee persisted.

Carly looked to Bax for permission. “Do you mind?”

He rolled his eyes, shook his head and answered so slowly it was clear he’d been exasperated with the subject before ever getting to the cottage. “If she wants a pencil in her hair and you’re willing to put a pencil in her hair, then be my guest and put a pencil in her hair.”

“I’m willing,” Carly said with a laugh at his controlled loss of patience.

Since she was near the table and chairs where her suitcases were, she pulled the free chair out from under the table and sat on it.

Both the pencil Carly had used in her own hair earlier and her brush were close at hand so she motioned Evie Lee to stand in front of her.

Evie Lee came on a twirl of delight, stopping with her back to Carly.

It took only a few swipes of the brush to pull the silky tendrils off the child’s neck. Then Carly twisted Evie Lee’s hair into a loose knot at the crown and stuck the writing implement through it.

“There you go,” Carly said when she’d finished.

Evie Lee ran for the same mirror Carly had used moments before to check her own appearance and preened before it.

“Oh, that’s so cute!” the little girl said.

Carly laughed again, enjoying Evie Lee’s enthusiasm.

“What do you say?” Bax prompted his daughter.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” the child gushed.