Four

      Jeremiah couldn’t believe his good fortune. Hell, his mind was still reeling from the impact of what had happened. Having been down on his luck for so long with mounting bills, a dying cattle market and a decaying ranch, he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

      Yet a niggling thought in the back of his mind warned him that Bridget Martin didn’t belong here, that something was not quite right. Her reaction when he’d mentioned Charolais cattle had set off an alarm.

      She even looked out of place. She wasn’t typical of the women who had shown up for the auction, an auction he still couldn’t believe he’d taken part in. But that was another story altogether, one that was moot now that he had joined in this idiotic scheme.

      It rankled, though, that he’d let his friends cajole him into taking part.

      “Ah, come on, Davis, be a sport,” one of the guys had said. “Hellfire, you’re in the same shape as the rest of us, stuck here without womenfolk—and no hope of any ever being here unless we take matters into our own hands.”

      Drastic matters, Jeremiah had thought at the moment of that conversation, and his opinion hadn’t changed. He still felt like the high school nerd who couldn’t get a date.

      But even as he ridiculed himself, he couldn’t stop the unwanted and foreign sensations that invaded his insides as he watched Bridget Martin walk toward the ladies’ room, her stride perfection in motion.

      He knew he should turn away from the sight of her deliciously rounded buttocks and the way they filled out her jeans with no room to spare. He took a deep breath, endeavoring to calm his racing pulse.

      What the hell was happening to him? He’d never reacted to a woman with such speed or sexual precision in his entire life, not even his wife, God rest her soul.

      Jeremiah paused and wiped the sweat from his brow, even as Bridget disappeared behind the ladies’ room door. Too bad his erotic thoughts didn’t disappear, as well.

      When he’d walked up to her and sat beside her, her perfume—delicate, like her—had slapped him in the face, though in retrospect it had actually been a caress.

      At close range, she’d been breathtakingly lovely. She was fair-skinned, with short red hair that was kind of wild, but that, he assumed, was the latest style. It didn’t matter, because it set off huge brown eyes, narrow cheekbones, a perfect nose and a slightly full lower lip that gave her mouth a sensual pout.

      However, it was when she’d taken a shuddering breath, throwing her full breasts into prominence, that he’d felt that first sexual jolt, causing his head to spin. And not just his head, he’d been forced to admit. He’d felt the heat spin down into his lower body, and his jeans had tightened in certain areas. He’d wished then that he’d had several beers instead of just two.

      He wished that same thing now as he watched her exit the rest room, looking miserable. But then, he was miserable, too, but for a different reason. Of that he was sure.

      He cursed, then waited to see if she would walk toward him, expecting her to ignore him, then bolt. If she was smart, he told himself, she would do just that. This whole bizarre scene was out of touch with reality, yet for the moment, he didn’t care. Bizarre or not, he didn’t intend to let her disappear.

      And it wasn’t just because he was horny, either. Yeah, right, Davis, his conscience contradicted with intense scorn.

      He paid it no attention as he strode toward her.

      “How about something to drink?” he asked, struggling to come to grips with his out-of-control libido.

      Her breath escaped in a rush even as she looked at him. “Look, Mr. Davis, I don’t—”

      “Why not be a sport? People drink things in Texas, don’t they?”

      “Of course, but I’m taking—”

      “Hey, I know this is awkward as hell, but for the time being, let’s pretend we’re at a barbecue and that we just met under normal circumstances.”

      She didn’t meet his eyes. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. We need to talk. You see, I have no—”

      “If you’re about to say what I think you are, then I need a beer. And you can have some punch. You owe me at least that much, since you outbid women who were serious about all this.”

      “Fair enough, Mr. Davis.”

      In spite of the fact that he knew in a short time he would never see her again, he chuckled. “Don’t you think you’d best call me Jeremiah? After all, you paid a thousand dollars for the right.”

      Her face turned beet red, and when she spoke, her tone was curt. “For charity, not for you.”

      “Yeah, you keep reminding me of that. So how ’bout that drink?” he pressed, choosing to ignore her last statement, especially as it riled him a bit. Maybe he wouldn’t let her off the hook so easily, after all. His gut told him that she had no intention of going through with this deal. Oh, he felt sure she would write the check to charity. If the truth be known, he would bet she could afford to write a check for a hell of a lot more. But that wasn’t the point. Her holier-than-thou attitude rankled him big time.

      Maybe he would make her squirm a little before she bolted, just as he was squirming now. The thought brought another smile to his lips.

      “So, are you game? A cup of punch is mighty cheap payment for a thousand bucks.”

      “Oh, all right,” she muttered, “but then we have to talk because…I have no intention—”

      He wanted to grab her arm and tell her he got the message, but he restrained himself. Instead, he gestured that she should precede him, keeping his smile “ intact, though it was forced.

      A few minutes later, he had a beer and she had a cup of punch. He had maneuvered them to a secluded place away from the band, the dancing and the food line. The atmosphere was far from quiet, but at least they didn’t have to raise their voices to hear one another.

      Jeremiah decided