Rolling Like Thunder Read online

  “Oh, right. You were wearing something like that when all of you were at the ranch in June and you Skyped me about Kickstarter ideas. FYI, the gray felt is a vast improvement over that battered straw thing.”

  “Thanks.”

  “What? No ‘thank you, ma’am’?”

  He decided to lay it on thick. Served her right. He gave her his most winning smile and his deepest drawl. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  She stared at him for a full three seconds. Then she swallowed and looked away. “You’re welcome.”

  Uh-oh. He’d meant it sarcastically, but apparently it hadn’t affected her that way. Unless he was mistaken, he’d just turned her on. And that could present a problem.

  Hell, who was he kidding? They’d always had a problem. From that first day in the coffee shop he’d been fascinated by her creativity and zest for life. He loved watching her talk and hearing her laugh. Her mouth was perfect and her skin was impossibly soft, not that he allowed himself to touch it except by accident.

  The thought of interacting with her on a personal level as well as a business one scared the crap out of him. If he once gave in and took her to bed, he’d never get a damned thing done. He’d made sure to focus solely on the business angle of their relationship, at least when he was awake. He couldn’t control his dreams.

  Then he’d met Alison. Quiet and methodical, she’d been the complete opposite of Chelsea. Alison had made it clear that she wanted him and had pushed for a commitment. He’d had some stupid idea that she was the kind of steady, safe woman he needed in his life.

  Marrying her, especially so quickly, had been a huge mistake. She hadn’t absorbed all his attention, but she hadn’t held his interest, either. She’d been understandably upset by his total concentration on his business. He felt damned guilty about that marriage.

  And he’d promised himself not to repeat his mistake. These days he only allowed two things to occupy his time: O’Roarke’s Brewhouse and his foster parents’ financial crisis. Making sure they weren’t forced to sell out was his priority this week. As the plane lifted into the air, he renewed his vow that Thunder Mountain Ranch would stay in the family.

  * * *

  CHELSEA GAZED AT white clouds piled up like whipped cream outside the window. And speaking of whipped cream, she wouldn’t mind being alone with a naked Finn and a can of the stuff. Their trip was minutes old and she was already in trouble.

  His lustrous dark hair and startling blue eyes had caught her attention immediately when they’d met in that coffee shop five years ago. His body was nothing to sneeze at, either. When he’d first arrived in Seattle he’d had a tan, but that had gradually faded. His sex appeal hadn’t faded one tiny bit, though. Finn O’Roarke was hot.

  Although they’d had chemistry from the beginning, he’d made it clear that he wasn’t interested in anything more than friendship and a business relationship. Disappointing, but she’d learned to live with it. At least she’d been able to see him often, and she’d noted with satisfaction that he spent all his time on work and didn’t date.

  Then the rat had showed up with Alison and in practically no time at all they’d been married. Chelsea had hated that with a purple passion, and when the marriage had predictably broken up, she’d decided enough was enough. She’d waited a decent interval and then she’d asked him out. He’d turned her down.

  That was so unfair. Just because Alison had complained about his lack of attention didn’t mean she would. She understood the constraints on his time and she had her share of those, too.

  But he’d retreated into his anal-retentive shell and wasn’t coming out. She longed to give him up as a lost cause, but he sent her checks every month and that guaranteed she couldn’t forget him. Then this situation with his foster parents had brought them back together and, once again, she was into him.

  Worse yet, he’d added a new level of hotness with his cowboy shtick. She hadn’t realized she was susceptible to cowboys. Or maybe it was only Cowboy Finn who made her heart beat faster. She’d find that out after being surrounded by a bunch of them for the next few days.

  Last month her first big challenge had presented itself. Logically she’d been the one to handle his calendar shoot and she’d counted on her irritation with his behavior to see her through. It hadn’t.

  She’d mostly blamed the shirtless part for her overheated state. Finn’s hair was the kind a woman itched to run her fingers through. Turned out he had a sprinkling of that same tantalizing dark hair on his rather impressive chest and it also formed a narrow path that led to the low-slung waistband of his jeans.

  The shoot had taken longer than necessary because she’d spent far too much time wondering what he kept hidden behind that denim fly. She suspected he had a package worth bragging about, but Finn wasn’t the bragging type. Of course that made him all the more tempting. After photographing him posing shirtless and wearing the Stetson, jeans and boots, she’d hurried home to commune with her vibrator.

  Sadly that was the extent of her sex life lately. After his quickie marriage, she’d indulged in a couple of affairs that had gone nowhere. The torch still burned for Finn despite all her efforts. She’d protected herself by being cool and sarcastic in his presence—until a moment ago when he’d given her that high-wattage smile and a sensuous “thank you, ma’am.”

  A man as beautiful as Finn shouldn’t be allowed to talk like that. He also shouldn’t wear yoked shirts that made his shoulders seem a mile wide and jeans that cradled the sexiest buns in Seattle. But he had no idea that he was a walking sexual fantasy. The flight attendant had fallen all over herself sending “I’m available” signals and he hadn’t seemed to notice. Now that she had the calendar, Finn might discover a phone number tucked into his hatband.

  But he was Chelsea’s for the next week, or as close to being hers as she’d ever experienced. He’d also left his precious business in the hands of his assistant, Brad. With luck he might learn that he wasn’t so damned indispensable, after all.

  But she couldn’t allow thoughts about sexy Finn to distract her from her first order of business—wooing TMA backers during the presentation at the Last Chance Ranch. She’d continued to work on the PowerPoint until after midnight, which had caused her to oversleep. Now that the plane was at cruising altitude, she could take another look at it.

  Finn, she noticed, was already engrossed in his Excel file. She’d retrieved her laptop and had balanced it on her fold-down tray when the flight attendant showed up with the calendar.

  All her attention was on Finn, who remained engrossed in his spreadsheets. “You’re Mr. April, aren’t you?”

  His head snapped up and he flushed as he stared at her in dismay. “Uh, yeah.”

  “Gorgeous.”

  He swallowed. “It was...we needed...”

  “What’s the deal with Thunder Mountain Academy?”

  “It’s this...this—”

  “A residential equine program for sixteen-to-eighteen-year-olds,” Chelsea said. “It’ll be a fabulous opportunity for kids who think they might want to build a career around horses. They’ll learn horse training and equine health care along with the daily maintenance required. In addition, we have a master saddle maker who’ll teach them the basics of that art.”

  The flight attendant blinked. “Sounds great, but I don’t have any kids. Can I just buy the calendar?”

  “It’s offered as a premium if you pledge a certain amount to the academy’s Kickstarter fund.” Chelsea pulled out a card with website information on it. “Here’s where you can do that. It’s all spelled out on the site.”

  “Thanks.” She took the card and reluctantly handed back the calendar. “Maybe some of my girlfriends will want to go together on it.” She glanced down at Finn. “I’m a beer drinker, too.”

  He cleared his throat. “Good.”

&nbs
p; “Don’t forget your hat when you leave the plane.”

  “I won’t.”

  “’Bye, now.” She fluttered her fingers at him and headed back to the front of the plane.

  “Good Lord.” Finn sank back against the seat and took several deep breaths. “Thanks for telling her about TMA. My mind went blank.”

  “I noticed.”

  “Obviously, I’m not prepared for the effect that calendar is liable to have.”

  “It’s not just the calendar.” Chelsea gazed at him. “So how long since you’ve dressed like a cowboy?”

  “About five years. Basically since I moved to Seattle. Why?”

  “Oh, it’s just that some guys get more appealing as the years go by and some get less. You might be in the first category.”

  He laughed and shook his head. “No. It’s the calendar. I just have to brace myself for the reaction to it from now on.”

  “If you say so.” She tucked the calendar back in her laptop case. Then she dug around for her earbuds because she wanted to hear the background music she’d chosen to accompany her PowerPoint, as well as the sound for the accompanying videos. At last she cued it up on the screen and put in the earbuds. “Back to work.”

  Finn tapped her on the shoulder and she pulled out an earbud. “What?”

  “Can I listen, too?”

  “Okay.” Sharing the earbuds meant leaning close to each other, but she wouldn’t mind getting his input even if it meant putting up with the warmth of his body, the delicious scent of his aftershave and the sound of his breathing.

  Once they were huddled together, she started the PowerPoint. Focusing on it with him so close wasn’t easy, but it was a good test of whether the presentation was any good. She’d opened with stirring music and the TMA logo: a horseshoe with the letters at the top created to resemble snowy mountain peaks. Next was a slide of the snowcapped Big Horn Mountain range with her shout line: Thunder Mountain Academy—Built on a Foundation of Caring.

  Rosie had sent her some old photos of the ranch during its years as a foster-care facility and Chelsea had created a montage along with some explanatory text. Finn as a teenager appeared in several of the pictures. She heard his breath catch as he watched.

  She’d introduced the next segment with the title “A New Era Dawns” and a brief explanation of the program. Then she’d included videos of Lexi, Cade’s girlfriend, giving riding lessons, plus one of Cade schooling a horse. Herb, a retired veterinarian, was shown delivering a foal. Ben Radcliffe would teach saddle making, and he’d sent some beautiful photos of his work. The academic benefits of the program were outlined, and then Rosie appeared in shots of an outdoor feast around a large campfire.

  A brief video tour of the ranch house, the barn and the four log cabins where the students would live rounded out the presentation. It ended with a picture of Rosie, Herb, Cade, Lexi and Ben all wearing T-shirts bearing the TMA logo as they stood smiling in front of the ranch house. The last slide was once again set against the Big Horn range and carried the slogan “Thunder Mountain Academy. Fostering respectful stewardship of our equine friends through experience and education.”

  The music swelled to a crescendo and faded as the image on the screen slowly disappeared. Chelsea thought it was pretty good. Not perfect, but then she was never completely satisfied with her work.

  Beside her, Finn took a deep breath as he removed his earbud. “That was spectacular.”

  “Oh, I’m not so sure it’s spectacular, but—”

  “No, Chels, it’s spectacular.” He settled his intense blue gaze on her. “And you’re not charging us a dime, either. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you.”

  As she looked into his eyes she could think of several ways, but he wouldn’t want to hear them. “Aren’t we supposed to meet the Chance family at a saloon called the Spirits and Spurs tonight?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  “Then once we get there, you can buy me a drink.” It wasn’t what she really wanted from him, but for now it would have to do.

  2

  FINN WOULD HAVE liked to watch the presentation again, but Chelsea wanted to polish it some more. She spent the rest of the trip, including the layover in Salt Lake City, tweaking it. And she accused him of being anal.

  After they landed in Jackson, they picked up the gray SUV she’d reserved and he drove to the little town of Shoshone while she continued to play with the PowerPoint file.

  “You’re missing the scenery.”

  “That’s okay.” She didn’t look up from the screen. “I’ll see it on the way back.”

  “Surely it’s done by now.”

  “Mostly, but every time I look at it I see one more thing I want to fix. The presentation tomorrow is super important.”

  “I’m well aware of that, but the version I saw on the plane should do the trick.”

  “It’s way better now.” Her fingers flew over the keyboard of her laptop. “There. That font pops more than the other one.”

  “There’s such a thing as working a project to death, you know.”

  She glanced up. “Did you really say that? You, a card-carrying member of Perfectionists Anonymous?”

  “I’m beginning to think you founded the club. I don’t remember you fiddling this much with the O’Roarke’s Brewhouse PowerPoint.”

  “That’s because I worked on it in the middle of the night and you weren’t there. How would you feel if something this important was riding on your expertise?”

  He contemplated that. “I see what you mean.”

  “Thank you.” There was triumph in her voice. “If you’d been the one responsible for this very important PowerPoint, you would have made me drive while you worked on it.”

  “Well, you’re going to have to stop because there’s the Bunk and Grub up ahead. We don’t have much time to check in before we head over to meet the Chance family at the saloon.”

  She turned off her laptop and tucked it into her carrying case. “Looks just like the picture on the website, a cute little Victorian. With a name like the Bunk and Grub, you’d think it would be more rustic.”

  “The Spirits and Spurs is rustic. We passed it on the way here.”

  “Is it close?”

  “A couple of blocks. We could walk it.” Then he thought of her high-heeled sandals. “Or not. I forgot about your shoes.”

  “If I can take the hills of Seattle in these I can certainly walk a couple of blocks on flat ground.” She glanced down at her outfit. “But are you sure I’ll be okay wearing this? Not that I have anything more Western and rustic to change into.”

  “Chels, you’d look great in a feed sack.” He wondered if he should have said that. But it was true. She had an instinctive sense of style.

  “Unfortunately, I didn’t bring a feed sack. I don’t even know what they look like, but I’m sure they’re rustic. Being a cowboy and all, you probably know all about them.”

  He laughed. “I do. Listen, whatever you brought will be fine, unless you decide to go riding while we’re at Thunder Mountain. Then maybe we should pick up a couple of things in Sheridan. Or you might be able to borrow a pair of boots from Rosie or Lexi, depending on sizes.”

  “Could we do that? Go riding?”

  “That’s up to you. Ever been on a horse?”

  “I have, but it’s been...jeez, fifteen years. I took some lessons. And I rode English.”

  “Huh. I didn’t know that.” He pulled into the parking lot beside the Bunk and Grub and shut off the engine.

  “I’ll bet there’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

  “Probably so.” He met her gaze. He’d deliberately avoided finding out too much for fear it would only create more connection between them. Like the riding thing. Although she hadn’t kept it
up, at one time experiencing the world on horseback had appealed to her.

  “If it isn’t too much trouble, I’d love to go riding when we get to Thunder Mountain. I’ll be rusty, but I think it would be fun to get on a horse again. If the horse is gentle, I should be fine wearing my gym shoes.”

  “Then I’ll take you.” He broke eye contact and reached for the door handle. “There’s a Forest Service road through the trees. You’ll like it.” And damned if it didn’t sound like a romantic thing to do.

  “I’m sure I will.” She opened her door and climbed out.

  The walkway around to the front door of the B and B was a series of stepping stones set in gravel, so Finn offered to carry both suitcases and Chelsea took their laptop shoulder bags. As he followed her up the steps to a front porch decorated with white wicker furniture and floral cushions, his mind was still on that ride along the Forest Service road.

  He hadn’t thought much about the second part of this trip, but now that he knew she had some riding experience, he wanted to show her everything—the little clearing where he, Cade and Damon had performed their blood-brother ceremony, the stream where the three of them used to camp when they were older, and the slope they’d cleared of trees so they could use it as a toboggan run in the winter.

  She’d like Cade and Damon. Finn was looking forward to seeing them again. So much had changed since he’d been there in June. Cade and Lexi had gotten back together, although still no word on a wedding. Damon had moved back to Sheridan to be with Philomena, the carpenter who’d worked with him on a fourth cabin for TMA last month.

  Finn had been back to the ranch a few times since moving to Seattle, but he’d always traveled alone. This would be the first time he’d ever taken someone there. Maybe it was fitting that Chelsea should be the one. She’d helped him make the transition to Seattle and now she’d be able to see where he’d come from. For her, at least, the picture would be complete.

  But he had huge gaps in his knowledge of her. He didn’t feel good about that. When it came to Chelsea, he’d been a coward. He should be able to get to know the woman’s background without forming an inseparable bond. As he walked through the front door of the Bunk and Grub, he decided to use this weekend to learn more about her.