The depth of the newcomer’s voice rooted her in place. Taylor couldn’t have moved if the hem of her jeans caught fire. She couldn’t turn. Couldn’t face the man at her back.
Joe laughed, the sound part wheeze, part cough. “Quinn, this here’s Taylor Williams.”
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Williams,” he said, voice cool and detached.
Oh, man. “Somehow I doubt that’s true, Mr. Monroe.”
“Is it safe to assume you’re the climber I’ve been exchanging emails with? The one who recently hired me to obtain his recertification?” His voice, the pitch deep but smooth, sent a shiver up her spine.
“Her recertification, and yes. That’s me. I’m her.”
“You didn’t tell me you’re a woman,” he said, the accusation clear.
“It shouldn’t matter, seeing as my gender has nothing to do with my ability to get up or down a mountain, Mr. Monroe.”
“Since you’ve discussed my prick and its tricks with our local grocer, you’ve invoked the discussion on gender. It also seems more personal if you go ahead and call me Quinn.”
Taylor closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands. Only one thought ran through her head. The burning heat of abject humiliation would keep her warm when the desert nights grew cold.
* * *
QUINN MONROE HADN’T expected Taylor Williams to show up early. He also hadn’t expected Taylor to be, well, a woman. But from the slim column of her neck to the end of long, seriously toned legs and the very fine ass parked right between the two, Taylor looked like she was all woman. That Old Joe had been giving her the standard spiel about Quinn’s reputation was further proof. The grocer must’ve taken to her quickly. Otherwise he never would’ve felt the need to warn her to mind herself around him. Unless Joe was just screwing around. You never could tell with him.
Curiosity ate at Quinn and he wondered if her face was as expressive as the unblemished skin of her neck. The red flush that had raced across that pale expanse had been telling. It struck him then that she was incredibly pale for such a highly accomplished climber. Clearly she’d been out of the sun long enough to lose the tan every climber sported. But why? Only way to get the answers he wanted was to ask. Crossing his arms over his chest, he let a smile play around his lips and unquestionable desire burn in his gaze. “If you’re going to disparage my capabilities, Ms. Williams, at least face me when you do.” When she hesitated, he said softly, “Turn around.”
She turned her head just enough to keep him from seeing her face when she answered. “We’re not on the mountain yet, Mr. Monroe. You don’t dictate what I do and don’t do until I’m geared up and paying you for your expertise.”
Sassy and able to shrug off his surliness. He liked the combination. She’d need it once they hit the mountain, where he would call every shot. Further intrigued, he found himself closing the distance between them and pushing her a little harder. “According to Old Joe, my reputation is that I have specific expertise you don’t have to pay for.” High school reputations died hard in a small town...if they died at all. “To get it, you’ll have to turn around.”
Ah, that got her going.
Spinning, she faced him, her hazel eyes bright with fury and her mouth working silently.
Then, in a voice so deep and sultry he felt it wrap around him like a silken noose, she lit into him. “Excuse me, Mr. Monroe, but did you just proposition me? I’m your client, not some...some...two-bit, cheap-thrill, ‘experience-seeking’—” she emphasized it with air quotes “—tour-on out here looking to ‘climb your mountain’ and stroke your ego every step of the way as you critique my physical form instead of critiquing my climb approach. Clear?”
Joe laughed so hard Quinn couldn’t help but worry the old man would choke on his dentures.
Whatever.
Quinn consumed Taylor in one visual gulp. She was roughly six inches shorter than his six foot three, fine boned and lean with defined muscle, but she owned her body and her space like she was his size. Tendrils of hair escaped the edge of her ball cap to trail down her neck and over her shoulders, and he had the most ridiculous urge to see her without the hat. He wanted to set that mass of wavy hair free, wanted to know how long it was, wanted to see it frame her face.
An erotic image of it playing across her bare breasts caught him off guard and he shook his head. He didn’t react to women. They reacted to him. It had been the natural order of things since eleventh grade, when twelfth-grader Marcy Jacobs had hauled him into the tack room in her parents’ barn and taught him things about older women. Not since then had he allowed a woman to cause every rational thought to vacate his brain, and he wasn’t going to start now. He just had to figure out how to retrieve the logical thoughts that had already fled without his consent. In the meantime, he looked her over with what was, at best, open interest and, at worst, carnal intent.
What happened next shocked him and left him scrambling to get his brain back in gear, if for no other reason than to save his pride.
She stepped into his space and glared up at him, going toe-to-toe without batting an eye. “I know you did not just tell me to turn around so you could...could...take my physical measure and decide whether or not you deem me worthy of your bag of tricks.” When he didn’t answer, because he couldn’t, she shoved him hard enough he was forced to step aside as she stormed past him on her way to the door. “You’ll have to excuse me, Mr. Monroe. The collision of your reputation with your self-adoration has created a testosterone-dense fallout that’s making me nauseous. I need some fresh air.”
He watched her long-legged strides eat up the pavement as she crossed the street. She yanked open the door to a familiar truck—the same one he’d stopped to help on the highway—and all but launched herself inside, slamming the driver-side door closed behind her. Reverse lights flared, she backed out of her parking spot and, with a chirp of tires, took off down Highway 39.
“You just made a colossal mistake, boy,” Joe hooted.
Quinn glanced over at Old Joe and went with the one thing he knew to be true. “Yeah? Well, she’s my client.” The first client he’d had since he’d gone live with his new adventure guide business and website. He needed this climb to go well. Months spent racking his brain had yielded little in terms of ways to help his mom make ends meet. The only thing that made any sense at all was to put his skills to use locally. He more than wanted this venture to work. He needed it to. Quinn had to find a way to bring in the extra income his dad had earned cowboying for others in order to cover the lean years on their own small place, and no one was hiring Harding County’s version of the prodigal son.
“She’s a woman who deserves respect, is what she is.” Joe looked up with a kind of seriousness that wasn’t at all common on that old face. “I know you and your mama have been through hell. Especially your mama. I can’t imagine losing my wife, Josie, after more than sixty years married.” He shook his head, light glinting off his pate. “But if gossip’s right and you intend to stick around and help your mama keep the family ranch running, you’re going to have to set aside your pride, and not just this once, mind you. There’s no room for pride when you’re clawing your way up from hell’s own belly.”
Quinn stared at his boots, considering.
“Hurts to have your pride lashed by an old man’s tongue, I know. My old man was brilliant but brutal with it, so I’ve been there and more than once.” Old Joe leaned on the counter. “Go on after her and tell her you’re sorry. It’ll likely hurt your pride, but no man’s pride has ever caused him to bleed out. Besides, it’s your best shot of making something of this climbing thing.”
Quinn’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “Make something?”
Joe waved