Canyon Shadows by Harper Vonna Page A

part of it; the pair had been trained to defend. And yet there’d been little of a warning in what they were doing, more like confusion, curiosity, even envy.
    Or maybe the intact males had smelled what was creaming her panties.
    “They don’t understand where you fit in,” she explained, hoping she was right.
    “We need to remedy that if they’re going to respond to me.”
    “Yes, we do. Mostly it’s a matter of them switching alliances from me to you. You’ll become the alpha in the relationship.”
    “That’s what you are?” he asked. “The alpha?”
    “Yes. Because Bruce and Tucker are male in every sense of the word, they want to be dominant. I’ve been working with them since they were puppies so they accept me as top dog in the relationship. It won’t take long for them to see you in the same light, mostly a matter of you taking charge.”
    “But it won’t happen overnight, right?”
    “Right. Oh, are you thinking you don’t have time to work with them now after all? You need to keep an eye on those men.”
    He dropped his hands from her shoulders, and despite her desire to feel him under her fingers again, she kept her hands to herself. However, she couldn’t stop herself from glancing down. Yes, there it was, an erection.
    “Sorry about that.”
    “It’s all right.” She winced at the lame comment. “I’m just saying maybe right now isn’t a good time for you to start learning how to handle the dogs. Maybe it’s more important to get Roe and the others to leave.”
    “I’ll deal with that if they don’t take off in a few minutes.”
    Even with her system still trying to right itself, she managed to concentrate on what he was saying. “What will you do? Call the sheriff?”
    “Not unless I don’t have a choice. Roe’s right. Sheriff Will’s in a rough spot, as are most of his deputies. Their roots run deep around here, which means they might not be crazy about having to support major changes to the area.”
    “I hadn’t thought of that. I haven’t been here that long.” Concerned she might get in deeper than she wanted, she struggled to find a way to change the subject. Unfortunately nothing mattered beyond her reactions to him, and his to her. It was all about sex, she told herself. Too long without a cock in her.
    Or was it that simple?
    Shading her eyes, she looked for the truck. Roe had found the steep, winding, and narrow dirt road leading down to the river and was already a quarter of the way there. Maybe her imagination was getting ahead of her, but she couldn’t help but think of the four men as outlaws sneaking up on their unaware victims.
    “Damn.” Maco reached for a cell phone clipped to his waist. “I’ve got to get them turned around.” He punched numbers. “Jason, get that backhoe loader to block the pickup. No, just have him park so the bastards can’t get around. I’ll be right down.”
    He turned toward her, his eyes intense and mouth hard, a man determined to protect what wasn’t capable of protecting itself. He’d had the same expression earlier when Roe had confronted the dogs and her. And yet with that determination was something else.
    Primal.
    “I’ll let you go,” she said because she had no choice. “Do you want the dogs and me to wait?”
    He took a step toward the horses, then stopped. “No. I’m sorry you came all the way out for nothing. I don’t know how long this is going to take, and if there’s trouble, I don’t want you around.”
    Knowing better than to argue, she backed away from him. Once he knew her better, she’d show him what she was capable of, if it came to that. “Call me if you can come to my place later, even this evening. At least we can get started.”
    “I can’t.”
    “Oh?”
    “There’s something—someone. It’ll have to be tomorrow, hopefully.”
    After nodding again, she told him to call to firm up plans. Once again something slipped over his features, an internal conflict maybe? Maybe it was as