“Love licks.”
“I don’t know about that. More like I’ve been branded.”
A faint smile flickered across Call’s lips. “I’m not sorry. In fact, I kind of like it. Did I hurt you?”
“No.” There was an ache between her thighs that she couldn’t quite describe to herself, let alone tell him about. She thought of it more as an emptiness, a vague reminder of the use he’d made of her body. Of the use she’d allowed him to make of her body, she corrected. Nothing, not a solitary thing he had done to her, had been without her permission. Even when she didn’t quite know what she was asking for, the response was always what she wanted. “You didn’t hurt me at all. I’m just a little...” Her voice trailed off as she backed away from explaining.
“Tender?” he asked.
She nodded.
“I was too rough, then. I don’t mean it as an excuse, but I lost my head last night.”
“Really?” It was hard to fathom. He’d seemed so controlled.
“Believe it,” he said and pointed a finger at her. “You bear some responsibility for that. I’m not saying it’s all on you because I know better, but knowing better doesn’t necessarily mean doing better.”
“Truly,” she said, moving his pointer aside. “I don’t know how you could have done any better.”
Call gave a shout of laughter that startled Mary Ann into bolting to the other end of the corral. “Look at her go. Did you see that? She doesn’t look a bit puddin’ footed to me.”
“I saw,” said Laurel. “I think she was faking. Craving your attention.”
“Well, it worked.” He set his hand on Laurel’s knee and squeezed. “And, no, you don’t have to limp to get me to notice you.”
Laurel gently put his hand aside, and looked back at the house to see if anyone had noticed. “Rest her today anyway. I don’t want to risk her coming up lame on the trail.”
“Of course.”
Laurel looked down at his hand and wished she could have let him keep it on her knee. “Do I smile enough at you?”
Call arched an eyebrow. The question had come out of nowhere. “Define ‘enough.’”
“Mrs. Lancaster says I smile at Rooster and the boys more often than I do you, especially when you’re around. Do I? Because I never noticed.”
“I’d have to agree with her. I figured you were doing it on purpose, you know, to make it seem as if you don’t care when in actual fact you do, trying to throw me off the scent.”
“I would never—”
“Maybe not on purpose,” he said, changing his mind. “It could be something that was going on in your mind that you didn’t know about. I figure you were born with feminine wiles same as any other woman. I like your hair, by the way. Real pretty. It curls a little at the end and swings when you walk.”
Laurel forgot what she had been going to say. “How do you know it swings? Or has a curl for that matter? It’s behind me and I was walking toward you.”
“I saw you at the pump earlier, talking to Jelly. And, you know, the mannerly thing to do is say thank you when you get a compliment, not question its veracity like you’re the prosecution cornering a defendant.”
It didn’t matter that Laurel knew he was right; she didn’t appreciate being chastised. Flatly, she said, “Thank you.”
“Good,” he said. “It’d be better if you smiled when you said it.”
“No one else is around. I don’t have to smile.”
“Right.”
“And about those feminine wiles... you’re wrong, I don’t think I was born with any.”
“I don’t know why I thought I could distract you from that. If you weren’t born with them, you’ve acquired them and you use them to great effect. You can argue the point, but since I’m on the receiving end, your opinion is going to have about as much impact on me as water on a duck’s back.”
“Then there is no reason to waste my breath, is there?”
