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faces were inches away—he could almost taste her fresh, minty flavor. And vanilla lingered around her. Would she taste like that too?
    She caught his hand. “Please, Hayden. I know I brought the gun to put the animal down, but I-I just can’t.”
    He stared at their joined hands—his so big, tanned, and rough against hers. The back of hers was spattered with freckles too, and a small birthmark graced her wrist, light brown and clover shaped.
    Fighting the urge to raise her fingers to his lips, he nodded. “All right. We’ll go back and get the pickup. Ride out for the calf.”
    Tears sparked in her eyes—the last sledgehammer in the door locking in his control. He leaned toward her at the same time she tilted her head upward.
    Without thought he brushed his lips over hers. Gently. Once. Twice. Kissing her was as easy as drawing breath. Her fingers clenched around his. He caught her nape with his free hand and hauled her into the kiss.
    A gasp burst from her as he angled his mouth over hers. Drinking from her sweetness. Vanilla, yes. Mint too. Pure, delicious woman—absolutely.
    He pressed on the seam of her lips with his tongue, and she opened with a soft moan. His cock battered his jeans. Sweeping the interior of her hot mouth with his tongue, he gathered more of her flavors even as his conscience screamed in his head.
    She’s off-limits. The boss’s daughter. I’ll lose the job, the hopes of raising prime bulls for competition.
    I’ll lose my mind.
    No, he needed a tight grip on himself always. The instant he loosened up, he was ripped off two-thousand-pound beasts and falling. He couldn’t afford to lose his hold on this job or his control.
    When he tried to move away, she followed him.
    “Hell,” he growled as he slammed his mouth to hers again. Lust pounded his veins. A roaring began in his ears as he dragged her up against him, drowning in the feel of her perky breasts and her tender arms looped around his neck as he ravaged her mouth with wild kisses.
    The wind soughing through the high grasses mingled with their gasps and moans. When the calf added a long mewl, they jerked apart.
    Remorse flooded Zoe Beth’s face. Hayden’s heart stopped, afraid the remorse was for their shared kiss. But she turned her gaze to the calf.
    “We’d better get it out of here,” he rasped, voice none too steady.
    A shiver shook her body. Hayden wrapped an arm around her, anchoring her against him once more.
    “Hayden…”
    He knew what she was going to say—the same thing he was thinking. They shouldn’t have kissed. Shouldn’t have given in to that magnetic pull.
    Zeroing in on her full pink lips again, he said, “Yeah?”
    “We can’t move this calf until the sun’s about to drop. We can’t risk it.”
    Ripped from his aroused state, he focused on her concerned expression. “Why not?”
    “Because this calf doesn’t belong to the Cole Ranch. This is Joseph Michaels’s animal. If we take it and someone spots us, we could—”
    “Be in a heap of goddamn trouble,” he breathed.
    She nodded. “You still want to go through with it?” She cast a look at the shotgun lying abandoned a few feet away.
    Hayden stared into her eyes, falling headfirst into the shimmering depths. Never wanting to surface.
    “I’ll meet you at the first bend of the driveway after dinner,” he said.
    A smile that was like the sun rising in the cold morning sky and heating the day spread on Zoe Beth’s beautiful face. “Thank you, cowboy.”
    He darted in and bit her lower lip. “Don’t make me regret it.”

Chapter Four
    Zoe Beth’s nerves still jangled from that toe-curling, mouthwatering kiss. She should be shocked at what she’d done—for the second time in a week, she’d tossed away her good sense. First by flirting with the ranch hands to keep Joseph Michaels—and her father—at bay.
    Now she’d allowed that dark need Hayden caused in her to carry her away.
    On foot, she rounded the bend in the long gravel