Her Texan Temptation by Shirley Rogers

Her retort had wounded him. She’d seen the flash of regret in his eyes. So why didn’t she feel as if she’d scored a point, or at least regained a fraction of her pride?
    “Last night,” he clarified solemnly. He didn’t want to talk about two years ago. That was over. History. To apologize for what happened between them two years ago would require him to lie to her, and he couldn’t bring himself to do that. “It isn’t you, I swear. It’s me.”
    “Well, thank you, Deke. That makes me feel so much better.” She feigned a bright smile. “Now that you’ve gotten that off your chest, you can leave.”
    Annoyed that she’d so easily dismissed him, Deke shrugged his shoulders as he looked around. “I thought maybe I could lend you a hand. You shouldn’t be walking on that ankle yet.”
    “No, thanks.” She gave him a disinterested look, then started to turn away.
    He caught her shoulder with his hand and drew her to a halt. Despite an inner warning that told him he was treading on dangerous territory, Deke forged ahead with his plan to help her. “I could keep an eye on things around here, help take care of you.” Her eyes narrowed. “Just for today,” he clarified.
    Mary Beth’s curiosity got the best of her. “Aren’t you returning to the rodeo?” She prayed that he was. The last thing she needed was Deke hanging around, having him so near would be disastrous to her heart. She could resisthim—at least she really believed she could—if he wasn’t underfoot all the time.
    “I’ll be returning to competition tomorrow, yeah. Until then, I can help out around here.”
    “I don’t want your help.”
    The lie rolled off her tongue easily. The idea of someone watching over her was more appealing than she wanted to admit—even to herself. She’d never had the luxury of having someone care about her, think about or anticipate her needs. She’d always been the caregiver. The thought of Deke watching out for her was frighteningly alluring.
    Deke frowned. He should’ve known that she’d be stubborn about it. Heck, last night she’d almost broken her leg hopping back to bed instead of waiting for him to help her. “Whether you like it or not, you need help.”
    She shrugged his hand from her arm while she still had the ability to carry off an iota of bravado. “I don’t want to depend on anyone, and that especially includes you. ” The ranch was probably going under, anyway. She might be able to delay it for a while, but the end result seemed inevitable.
    Deke’s jaw hardened. “Accepting help never seemed to bother your father.”
    Mary Beth drew in a sharp breath. How dare he compare her to her father! It was true that Hank Adams had always been quick to call on neighboring ranchers for help, but she was nothing like him.
    Nothing. And she resented the implication.
    “Leave my father out of this,” she warned him. More disturbing was the fact that Deke had the power to hurt her. She had to say something, anything, to get rid of him, to get him out of her life. He was a complication she didn’t need. “Having your help for a day won’t make a bit ofdifference around here,” she insisted. “I’ll be on my own after you’re gone.”
    “It will make a difference,” he pressed, already regretting the crack he’d made about her father. He was trying to gain ground with her and instead he was losing it. “It’ll give your ankle a chance to heal. Maybe I can help you find someone to take over for Clyde.”
    Mary Beth could hardly admit that she didn’t have the money to hire someone to replace her ranch hand. “My ankle’s not that bad. I can do my own chores.”
    “Let me see it,” Deke stated.
    “What?” she asked, her eyes widening.
    “Let me see your ankle.” He didn’t wait for her to agree. Giving her a choice would only cause more aggravation between them, and Lord knew they’d had enough of that already. Bending down, he lifted her foot and pulled her boot off before