The Pirate & The Adventurer & The Cowboy

across the room for a moment and then Julie looked anxiously at Margaret. "Rafe's going to grill Sean. I just know it."

    "I wouldn't worry. I have a feeling Sean can take care of himself."

    Julie looked briefly surprised and then she relaxed slightly. "You're right. It's just that I've been defending and protecting my dates from Rafe for so long, it's become a habit. I get nervous whenever he gets near one. He tends to stampede them toward the nearest exit. And now that I've actually decided to marry Sean a part of me is terrified Rafe will scare him off."

    "No chance of that," Margaret said cheerfully. "Sean won't scare easily." She turned back to study
Canyon
. "Why didn't you tell Rafe you were actually working for Sean?"

    "I wanted to make sure I could make a success of the job before I told either Rafe or my mother. This is the first position I've gotten on my own, you know. Rafe has always taken it upon himself to line up something for me. He had a job waiting the day I graduated college. Said it was my graduation present. Every time I quit one he used his business contacts to line up another one."

    "That's Rafe, all right. Tends to take over and run things if you let him."

    Julie sighed. "The problem is he's good at running business things. You can't deny he's got a natural talent for it. But when he gets involved in people things he's dangerous."

    Margaret laughed. "I know what you mean."

    "How are you two doing up there at the ranch without Mom or Connor to referee?"

    "We're slowly but surely reaching a negotiated peace."

    Julie smiled. "I'm glad. Difficult as my brother is, I want him to be happy. And he definitely has not been happy this past year. Margaret, I want to thank you again for what you've done tonight. You didn't have to go out of your way to help. It was very kind of you."

    "No problem. Rafe is basically a good man. He just needs a little applied management theory now and then. When it comes right down to it, he did it for you, Julie. You are his sister, after all."

    "No," Julie said with a smile. "He didn't do it for me. He did it for you."

    R afe shuddered heavily and muffled his shout of sensual satisfaction against the pillow under Maggie's head. The echo of her own soft cries still hovered in the air along with the scent of their lovemaking. A moment earlier he had felt the tiny, delicate ripples of her release and he had been pulled beyond the limits of his self-control.

    She always had this effect on him, Rafe thought as he relaxed slowly. She had the power to unleash this raging torrent of physical and emotional response within him. When their lovemaking was over he was always left with an incredible sense of well-being. There was nothing else on earth quite like it.

    Rafe rolled off Maggie's slick, nude body and settled on his back, one hand under his head. He left his other hand lying possessively on one of Maggie's sweetly rounded thighs.

    For a long while they were silent together, just as they always were when they rode into the hills at dawn. In some ways making love with Maggie was a lot like taking her riding, Rafe told himself. He grinned suddenly into the moonlit shadows.

    "What's so funny?" Maggie stretched luxuriously and turned onto her side. She put her hand on his chest.

    "Nothing. I was just thinking that being with you like this is a little like riding with you."

    "I don't want to hear any crude cracks about midnight rodeos."

    "All right, ma'am. No crude cracks." He smiled again. "Midnight rodeo? Where'd you get a phrase like that? You've been sneaking around listening to country-western music stations, haven't you?"

    "I refuse to answer that." She snuggled closer. "But for the record, I will tell you that you're terrific in the saddle."

    "I was born to ride," Rafe said with patently false modesty. "And you're the only little filly I ever want to get on top of."

    "Uh-huh. Keep it that way. Tell me what you talked about with Sean Winters tonight at the gallery."

    "It was men's talk," Rafe said loftily and was promptly punished by having his chest hair yanked quite severely. "Sheesh, okay, okay, lay off the torture. I'll talk."

    "Yes?"

    "We discussed business."

    "Business?"

    "Yeah. The business of the art world. It's real dog-eat-dog, did you know that? Bad as the corporate world. We also talked about the fact that he fully intends to marry Julie. With or without my approval."

    "And?"

    Rafe shifted slightly on the pillow. "And what?"

    "And