Bachelor Cowboy by Roxann Delaney

neither was anything serious.
    “My mind is made up,” he told Tanner, as he pulled up in front of his house and killed the engine. “I’m going back to riding bulls. Nothing is going to stop me. Not Kate Clayborne or any other woman.”
    In spite of his concern for her, Dusty didn’t see Kate the next day. Aggie drove the truck without complaint, but he noticed at the end of the long day that she was limping even more than usual. He didn’t even see Kate at dinner. Since Dusty was no longer working near the house, Trish had brought dinner and the evening sandwiches to the field. He hoped Kate’s hand wasn’t hurting her too much, but he wasn’t sure what was worse, that or her avoiding him because she didn’t want to see him. And he didn’t know why.
    The next day, Aggie again appeared to drive the first load of wheat to the elevator. Kate arrived to take the next load, and Dusty made it a point to leave the cab to ask about her hand.
    “Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” he asked at the truck window. “Is it still hurting?” He tried to take a look at it, but she kept it hidden.
    She wouldn’t even look him in the eye as she fidgeted with the truck’s controls and started the engine. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”
    “I am worried about it,” he admitted. “It happened at my house. How can I not worry?”
    Kate turned to face him, a frown pulling at her mouth. “Afraid I might sue?”
    “Sue?” he said, his throat closing to choke him at the thought. “No, it never crossed my mind. For crying out loud, it hasn’t crossed yours, has it?”
    “It might have.” Shoving the truck into gear, she drove away.
    But he’d noticed the look on her face and knew it had been the pain talking.
    They finished cutting the last of the wheat late thatafternoon, and he never got a chance to talk to her again. Maybe it was a good thing, he decided. He had told Tanner that Kate wasn’t the woman for him. No woman was. But he had a hard time not thinking about her.
    With harvest over for the year and finding himself again at loose ends, Dusty spent the next day working diligently on his house. He worked until dark and was physically exhausted, but he felt good. His ribs didn’t bother him, even during the most strenuous tasks, and he figured maybe he’d finally healed. The headaches came and went, with no rhyme or reason, and he did his best to ignore them.
    Bone weary but invigorated by the progress he’d made, he fell into bed, planning what work he’d do on his house the next day. He tried not to think of how often he’d wished Kate had been there to help him. Every time he had passed the spot where she’d been stung, his heart had felt heavy. He tried not to think of her in those late, dark hours of the night. Lying in bed, his hands folded under his head, he concentrated on getting back on the rodeo circuit, competing in the bull riding competitions and maybe a little team roping with Shawn. But it wasn’t long before his thoughts became more about bright blue eyes and a sprinkling of freckles splashed across a pert nose.
    When sleep didn’t come, he wondered if he needed something besides remodeling to keep him busy. He had hoped Aggie might ask him to help with the plowing and disking of the ground that would be needed to get the fields ready for fall planting, but she hadn’t. He missed breakfasts and dinners at the Claybornes’, not only the food, but the company as well. He missed Kate andwondered how she was getting along. Punching his pillow, he prayed for sleep and fought the images of her that drifted through his mind.
     
    K ATE WAS BUSY making pies and cakes for the upcoming bake sale before Desperation’s annual box social. The swelling in her hand was gone, and baking gave her time to think. But there was one problem. She was thinking things she had no business thinking about.
    When she heard the sound of a vehicle in the yard and then the knock on the kitchen door, she knew