The Cowboy

speak."
    "Even if he is, you can bet he'll be back in his own room by dawn. That's the way their generation does things. It's a matter of propriety."
    "Yeah? Well, our generation is different."
    She chuckled softly. "I'm not so sure about that." Her eyes sobered. "Please, Rafe. I think it would be better if I go back to my own room. It would be embarrassing for me in the morning if…" Her voice trailed off abruptly.
    Rafe grinned knowingly and ran his fingers through her hair. "You mean if everyone in the house finds out you surrendered after only one night back under my roof? Yeah, I can see where that would be a little embarrassing for you."
    She poked him in the ribs and scowled. "I did not surrender."
    Her eyes searched his face. She looked as if she was about to say something and changed her mind. "Good night, Rafe."
    He didn't like it but he didn't want to argue with her. Not now that things were finally all right again. "You always were a little shy about this kind of thing, weren't you?"
    "I prefer to think of it as circumspect."
    "Downright prudish if you ask me. You know what? You're just an old-fashioned girl at heart. But I guess I can put up with your modesty until we make things official." He dragged her head down for another slow, deep kiss and then he forced himself to his feet. He stretched broadly, flexing his muscles for the sheer physical pleasure of it. He hadn't felt this good in a long, long time. A year, to be exact.
    "You don't have to walk me back to my room. It's just across the patio. Won't take me ten seconds to get there." Margaret was already reaching for her swimsuit and a towel. He watched her fasten the bra of the suit and wrap the towel around her waist.
    "Hey, you're not the only old-fashioned one around here. I'm a little old-fashioned myself. I always walk my dates home, if I can't persuade them to stay until morning." He spoke lightly but when she gave him a strange, searching glance, he frowned. "Something wrong?"
    She shook her head quickly, her still damp hair clinging beguilingly to her throat. "No. I was just remembering something someone had said to me a couple of days ago at a book signing session. Something about cowboys being old-fashioned when it came to things like women."
    "Yeah, well, that's what I am when you come right down to it, Maggie, love. A cowboy."
    "But you're a very modern sort of cowboy," she said, as if trying to convince herself of something. "You run a large corporation and you routinely make multimillion-dollar deals."
    "I can also work cattle and break a horse."
    "You can order good wine when the occasion calls for it."
    "Yeah, but I don't drink it unless somebody's holding a gun to my head."
    "You know the best hotels to stay in when you travel."
    "I can also build a fire and skin a rabbit."
    "Rafe, I'm trying to make a point here."
    "So? What's the fact that I can move in two different worlds got to do with anything? Once a cowboy, always a cowboy. Take a look at your father. He was born and raised on a ranch. He may have gotten an engineering degree but that doesn't change what he is deep down inside. That's one of the reasons he and I get along. We understand each other."
    "Oh, what's the use. You may be right. I have to tell you the truth, Rafe. I never wanted to get involved with a cowboy, modern or otherwise."
    "Too bad, Maggie, love, because you are involved with one. For your own sake, don't go trying to convince yourself you've gotten hooked up with one of those new, sensitive, right-thinking males you read about in ladies' magazines."
    Margaret wrinkled her nose. "What would you know about the new, sensitive, right-thinking man? You don't read women's magazines."
    "I heard all about 'em from Julie once when she was trying to convince me to approve of some damned psychologist she was dating."
    "Rafe, did you ruin that relationship for her?"
    "I didn't have to. The guy ruined it for himself. She found out he was seeing someone else on the side and when she confronted him he told her he needed a relationship in which he could be free to explore his full potential as a human being."
    Margaret eyed him curiously. "What happened?"
    "What do you think happened? Julie's a Cassidy, too. Cassidys don't believe in open relationships. She gave him a swift kick in his new, sensitive, right-thinking rear."
    "Good for her," Margaret said automatically and then frowned darkly. "Still, you shouldn't judge the new, sensitive, right-thinking man by one bad