Guilty Pleasure by Michelle Freeman, Gayle Roberts

Chapter 1 – Meeting the
Handsome
    The first
time Ann saw Jason, he had a sheep between his legs. The sheep’s name was Molly,
and she seemed perfectly relaxed as Jason expertly ran the shears over her body,
removing her wooly fleece in one large bundle. Ann, however, was anything but
relaxed as she watched Jason. There was a distinct increase in her heart beat,
a fluttering in her chest she hadn’t felt in a long time.
    Jason was
tall, with a broad chest, and very tan. He was also incredibly attractive, so
much so she almost dropped the pitcher of lemonade she had brought from the
house to go with the picnic lunch beneath the trees. And he was young. You’re
at least ten years older than he is.
    Molly
belonged to Ann, one of several hundred pure-bred Jacob sheep that she owned as
part of her sheep ranch, and one of several hundred sheep that needed shearing
each year. Ann had no experience with shearing and left that to Ben Crenshaw
and his small crew. But for Ann’s ranch, he’d brought only Jason. The job was
small enough for just one man to do over two days.
    Ben traveled
to the area farms during shearing season as an itinerant sheep shearer. He’d
told her last year he’d be retiring after one more season and that he’d be
turning his business over to his nephew, Jason. Ann hadn’t been outside when
Jason had been setting up this morning; she’d actually never been introduced.
She’d been talking to Ben, going over some mundane detail, something she now no
longer remembered. I’m not sure I’d have survived even shaking hands with
him.
    She watched
Jason expertly flip Molly on her feet, the ewe giving herself a shake before
walking off to join her flock-mates in the pasture. As Jason stood, he looked
directly at her. She found herself looking into a pair of startling green eyes,
beneath a shock of sun-bleached hair. He smiled at her, a smile that sent a jolt
of heat through Ann’s body. She was caught off guard, swallowing hard, managing
a small wave in return.
    Then he
stretched, working the kinks out of his back and shoulders, muscles flexing.
That was too much for Ann; she was totally undone. She fled the barn, back to
safety beneath the big oak tree outside, anything to take her mind off Jason.
    Everyone
was taking a break for lunch, Ben talking with Paul Monroe from a nearby ranch,
who had come by to help out. Shearing was a nice time. Everyone made the rounds
from farm to farm: the shearing crew, neighbors, and various relatives from the
city who wanted to get a taste of country life all showed up. Everyone brought
something to eat, so lunch was a big affair. Ann set down the lemonade with
shaky hands and busied herself with paper plates and cups, even though there
was really nothing that needed doing out here.
    “Excuse me,
ma’am?” She turned at the sound of a man’s voice. “Is there a place I can clean
up before lunch?” Jason was standing a few feet away, all green eyes and long
legs. He had his t-shirt over his shoulder, jeans riding low on his hips, displaying
smooth tan skin over those well-muscled arms and very masculine chest.
    “Oh, sure.”
Ann shook herself, realized she was staring. “This way. You can use the
bathroom in the house.” What in the world is wrong with me? She’d seen
men before, handsome men, even dated some of them, and married one once. But
Jason was obviously something completely different, triggering a cascade of
sensations in her body she’d thought long gone.
    “I can just
clean up at the faucet, if you point the way. I don’t want to tromp through the
house.” Jason took a step closer. Ann found herself lost in those eyes.
    “It’s okay.
You’re not any dirtier than anyone else.” She managed to extend her hand. “My
name is Ann Franklin. I missed meeting you earlier.”
    Jason shook
her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Jason Mitchell.”
    Ann led him
up the steps and across the porch into the house. “Right here. You can use