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bellowed in outrage. Wasn’t it enough that he’d spent the past week seeing that feisty female creep into his dreams each time he bedded down on the hard ground? Damn it, he didn’t even like Boston McKnight all that much. Well, sure, she was strikingly attractive with that body built for sin, those thick-lashed green eyes, that shiny chestnut hair and lush mouth that all but begged to be kissed—if only to shut her up. Her defiant attitude rubbed Quin the wrong way. He liked his women soft-spoken and engaging.
    That did not begin to describe Boston.
    â€œShe’ll pay dearly for this prank,” Quin muttered as he lurched around, then stormed off. When a thought shot through his mind, he stopped short, then wheeledback to his cowhands. “Anyone else planning to join the McKnight spread?”
    â€œWe weren’t asked,” Skeeter replied. “Just Rock.”
    Growling under his breath, Quin made a beeline for the house to enjoy the long-awaited bath he’d promised himself. He breezed inside, greeted by the same silence that had met him for the past two years. His housekeeper, who only showed up three days a week, had taken a job in town so she wouldn’t have to travel to and from work each day. Quin hadn’t been home long enough to replace her. Now he was alone in the gigantic three-story house, thanks to his selfish siblings jumping ship after their parents’ tragic deaths.
    Although his stomach was growling something fierce, Quin finished his bath, then dressed quickly. He stuffed his feet in his boots and his shirttail into his breeches, then hurried downstairs. He grabbed his best Stetson from the hook beside the door and breezed outside to fetch a horse. Not Cactus, he mused. His favorite mount was as exhausted from the roundup as Quin was.
    Ezra Fields, the lanky, bearded cowboy who had signed on more than two years earlier, was waiting with a fresh horse. “Figured you were headed for the McKnight spread,” Ezra drawled. “Figured you’d want to give ole Cactus a rest.”
    â€œThanks,” Quin murmured as he descended from the porch.
    â€œDon’t know what that McKnight gal is trying to pull,” Ezra remarked as he handed over the reins. “She came riding astride on her dapple-gray thoroughbred to see Rock.”
    Riding astride? Now why didn’t that surprise him?
    â€œShe flashed a big smile and showed off her shapely figure in trim-fitting breeches and shirt.”
    That sounded like something that hellion would do. Divert a man’s attention while she pulled her clever stunts.
    â€œShe could’ve lured more cowboys to join her but she turned all her charm on Rocky Rhodes that day,” Ez went on to say. “You think she’ll be back to hire away more cowhands while you’re out? You think she’s trying to undermine the 4C?”
    Well, I do now! She is going to catch an earful from me, Quin thought resentfully.
    â€œNo telling what that seductive woman promised as fringe benefits to lure Rock away,” Ezra commented. “You know how bashful Rock is around women. I’d call him a pushover. Not like you. You don’t back down to nobody.”
    Quin bounded onto the saddle and thundered off. Ezra was probably right. Boston had used her charm on Rock, who rarely worked up the nerve to ask a woman to dance at the occasional town social. Poor Rock, he thought. Boston would chew him up and spit him out if he crossed her.
    Well, she won’t have the chance, Quin vowed resolutely. He would get his ranch foreman back before that sneaky female sank her claws into Rock and ripped him to shreds.
    The moment Quin reached the McKnight Ranch, he headed directly to the house. Aggravated though he was, he noticed the house and veranda boasted a fresh coat of white paint and construction had begun on the newaddition. But he wasn’t here to admire the changes. He wanted to have it out with