Bachelor Cowboy by Roxann Delaney Page B

wasps and all, and pride keeps her from admitting she can’t do it all.”
    “I’ll be happy to help,” he told her. “What is it you need done? Working ground?”
    Aggie glanced at Kate, who shot her a pleading look. “Just getting the machinery ready—”
    “Getting the machinery ready for working ground,”Kate finished, not wanting Dusty to know anything about Aggie’s plan to lease the land.
    “I can do that,” he said. “Will Kate be helping?”
    Kate turned to face him. “Do you think I’d let you touch my machines without being there to make sure you were doing things right?”
    “I wouldn’t dream of it,” he answered with a grin. “But I have a question for you.” When Kate merely stood there looking at him, he continued. “How about taking a ride into Desperation for some ice cream?”
    “Sounds like a great idea,” Aggie said, before Kate could turn him down. “And take your time. I was planning to go into town to visit Hettie.”
    Kate stared at her aunt, wondering how she could get out of the corner she’d just been put in. “But what about the pies? There really isn’t time for me to run off for ice cream.”
    Aggie waved a dismissive hand. “Plenty of time for the baking. I’ll put what’s left of the pie crust in the fridge and cover the rest. Everything will be here when you get back.”
    Kate searched for another excuse, but found none. Knowing she was beat, she shrugged her shoulders in defeat.
    “Have a good time,” Aggie called to them as Kate walked through the door Dusty held for her.
    In his pickup, Kate sat ramrod straight, furious at having been railroaded into going with him, when she had been determined not to spend time alone with him. Aunt Aggie was treading on thin ice, and Kate wasn’t going to let this pass without telling her so.
    With a quick glance in Kate’s direction, Dusty startedthe engine and pulled out of the drive and onto the road. “I’m a Rocky Road fan, myself,” he said.
    “I only eat vanilla,” she replied without enthusiasm.
    “Vanilla’s good,” he agreed. “All those toppings to put on it. Can’t beat an old-fashioned banana split.”
    “I only like chocolate on it.”
    He let out a whoosh of breath. “You sure are in a sour mood today. Scoot over here by me,” he coaxed with a smile.
    She wasn’t falling for it. “We aren’t on a date, Dusty.”
    “We’re not?”
    “No.”
    “I’ll make a deal with you,” he said. “You scoot over here by me, and I’ll agree with you.” He slid a look over her from the toes of her boots to the top of her head and waited.
    She ignored her body’s response. “Let’s just get the ice cream.”
    They arrived in Desperation before she was forced to carry on any more conversation. For a weekday afternoon in the summer, the Sweet & Yummy Ice Cream Parlor, located a few doors down from her office in the recently renovated old opera house, was glaringly empty. She was relieved. There’d be nobody to see her with Dusty, no one to think something was going on between them. Far from it, if she had her way. She chose a booth in the corner, though, just in case.
    “You’re not very talkative today,” Dusty said, as they ate their ice cream in silence.
    “I have things on my mind.”
    “What things?”
    She met his gaze, determined not to let down herguard, no matter how hard he tried to get her to. With a smile she didn’t feel, she said, “Nothing that has anything to do with you.”
    For a moment he said nothing and only stared at her. “Damn it, Kate, what’s up with you? Would it help if I told you I’ve missed you since we finished harvest?”
    She didn’t want to hear that. He was making it more difficult to keep him at a distance. She had come to the point where she couldn’t trust herself around him. Over and over she’d relived how he’d held her when she’d gotten stung by the wasps. How tender he had been when he’d put the ice bag on her hand and wrapped it. She’d