Landing the Lawman (The Hills of Texas Book 5)

by Kadie Scott

  Logan sent her a smile. “I was able to get ahead on two other cases that have come across my desk. You’re a very easy patient, I must say. I hope I was helpful.”

  The heavy medications they had Carter’s mother on had her sleeping most of the day, which had made plenty of time for him to get things done.

  “I still can’t get over that lasagna,” Beth said with an appreciative roll of her eyes.

  “Yeah,” Autry said. “How about that?”

  The man still managed to look suspicious anytime he looked at or talked to Logan. Though Logan hadn’t figured out quite why beyond some brotherly overprotectiveness. As far as Carter’s family was concerned, his presence here was more about what he needed from Carter than what he could do to help around the house.

  “I know,” Carter said, and gave him a bump with her shoulder. “I didn’t figure you for a cook.” She had sat down beside him at the table, her sweet scent winding through his senses, her warmth tantalizingly within reach. He had no doubt she’d sat there on purpose.

  He was starting to regret cooking that stupid lasagna. “I like to cook. Plus, isn’t that what people do when somebody is sick, make meals?”

  “Well, it was a lovely thought, and delicious,” Evelyn said. “You’ll have to give me your recipe.”

  “It was my mother’s. I’m sure she would love to have shared it with you herself.”

  Beside him, Carter stopped chewing and turned a gaze on him that held way too much appreciation. Logan just kept from squirming in his seat. Evelyn Hill, even sleeping most of the time and in pain when awake, was the type of woman one wanted to do things for. So he wouldn’t take that back, even to make Carter stop looking at him that way.

  The thump of the back door was quickly followed by a called out greeting, and Jennings walked into the kitchen through the mudroom. “Are y’all running late, or am I running early?”

  Autry snorted. “You haven’t run early since Ashley gave birth.”

  Jennings smacked his brother in the back of the head, then nodded at Beth with a significant look. “You’re next, little brother.”

  As soon as they finished eating, John helped Evelyn back to their bedroom so she could get some more rest. Beth headed out to town with Autry at the wheel. She wasn’t teaching for these last few weeks of school, excused by the doctor for her final weeks of pregnancy, but she had a checkup. Plus, they had to take Dylan to school.

  Together, Jennings, Carter, and Logan—after he changed into some borrowed ranch clothes and boots—headed to the barn.

  “What do you need us to do?” Carter asked Jennings.

  “We just moved the bulk of the herd from the east pasture up to the north to be treated for ticks. The hands will be taking all day to run the cattle through the treatment. We’re still missing about twenty head, if you can head out to the east pasture and track them down, that would be a huge help.”

  Carter settled a beat-up straw cowboy hat over her head, her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail at her nape, and damned if she wasn’t about the sexiest thing in a hundred miles. “Can do.” But she paused and turned Logan. “It’s probably been a while since you’ve been on horseback, you good?”

  “Like riding a bike. I’m sure it’ll come back to me.” He kept to himself the fact that he had never planned on getting on another horse after his parents had passed away and he’d been forced to sell their family ranch.

  Jennings went off to work on the dipping process with the hands. Left alone, Carter led Logan into the still cool shade of the barn. Although the heat was already coming. Early May, but they’d see temperatures in the nineties today. At least it wasn’t too humid at the moment.

  All business—for which Logan was grateful—Carter worked side-by-side with him to saddle up two horses. She left him for a little bit to go back into the house and get a sack lunch and bottled water to put in their saddlebags in case this took more than the morning. Easier than coming back to the house for lunch and having to head back out afterward.

  After asking about his riding skills, she put him on a big gray gelding named Oscar, with a calm temperament but still young enough to have the energy for the day. Carter got on a gorgeous paint—mostly white with black and caramel patches—who sidestepped in a prancing motion as Carter mounted making her giggle even as she firmly brought her horse under control. “Mae,” she reprimanded the horse softly.

  “Your horse?” Logan asked.

  He refused to acknowledge that her easy control over the large animal was damn sexy, too. His dick wasn’t really listening though. If this kept up today was going to be an uncomfortable ride.

  Carter flashed him an easy grin that did nothing to quiet his libido and patted her horse’s neck. “Yes. Mae West is mine. My older brother, Will, helped me train her.”

  “Wouldn’t that have been a better name for a palomino?”

  Carter chuckled. “I know she’s not a blonde, but she’s got Mae’s attitude. You’ll see. If she could speak, she would definitely say things like, ‘A hard man is good to find.’”

  Had she said that on purpose? Logan almost rolled his eyes. Of course she had. Not that she could possibly know about the state of his body, but he knew Carter. She wouldn’t pass up a chance to tease.

  “Mae West didn’t say that,” he said.

  “Look it up,” she dared him.

  Carter kicked her horse into an easy walk heading through the mowed but still green grass of the paddocks closest to the house, barn, and riding arena set up for Will’s horses, apparently.

  Logan shook his head at her back, but followed, kicking Oscar into a trot to catch up, then slowing as he reached the woman trying to drive him slowly mad.

  “Maybe your parents should have named you Mae West,” he said. Then hid a grimace. The words had come out before he thought them through.

  “I’m not a blonde.”

  “I’m talking about the attitude.”

  A lazy smile graced Carter’s mouth. “She was a woman after my own heart. Even in an era where women were supposed to be ladylike and not talk of such things, she was brash, and bold, and unapologetic.”

  Logan considered why it was that Carter appreciated those things about the classic film star. “Was it hard growing up the only girl with four brothers?”

  She flicked him a glance he found unreadable. “Hard? No. My parents never treated me as different or less than, and neither did the boys.”

  Something lingered in her voice though that Logan couldn’t quite pin down but somehow knew there was more to the story than she was letting on. “So, you were treated like one of the boys? I never thought of you as a tomboy.”

  “I was expected to work alongside everybody else. Same, same. I wasn’t particularly fond of cooking.” She raised her eyebrows at him. “So I preferred to be outdoors working on the ranch rather than inside with Mom, who loves taking care of the house. But, to my brothers’ aggravation, I got hit with the girly stick. I’m quoting them. Apparently, it made things rough for them, trying to keep the boys away from me in high school.”

  “I don’t doubt it.”

  She sat straighter, flirting outrageously with her eyes. “Why, Mr. Cartez. That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

  Logan gritted his teeth at the blatant flirtation in her tone, especially because he wanted to take her up on it, tease her back, maybe scoop her off that horse so that she could straddle him instead.

  Damn. He didn’t need images like that in his head. Not today. Not with a woman who’d managed to wiggle into his heart without him knowing. Carter was… important to him. But she wanted more, and he wasn’t ready.

  I want you. The husky timbre of her voice teased the edges of his mind along with the words that seemed to echo around in his head, bouncing off his skull, and tugging at something primal inside him that he had to ignore until he was more certain.

  The long line of fence ended, opening into a wider pasture of rolling green hills dotted
with cedar and live oak trees. The breeze blew gently over them, ruffling Carter’s hair, and Logan was taken back to his childhood with an abruptness that left him a little bit stunned.

  Memories he buried with his parents smacked him in the solar plexus, flashing through his mind in Technicolor detail. The clean, fresh smell of the air, the cattle wandering the fields mooing softly, the satisfaction at the end of the day knowing he’d worked hard. The gruff lines of his father’s face, always stern but never harsh. His mother’s smile as they tromped inside and the hardy smells of her cooking.

  A tight ache wrapped around his heart and squeezed, making it hard to breathe.

  Damn, he missed them.

  “We can move across the field quickly. It’s even terrain, and the horses know it well. You up for it?” Carter asked.

  Happy for an excuse to outrun his thoughts, rather than answer, Logan kicked Oscar into an easy gallop.

  Carter’s surprised laugh floated to him, followed by the sound of her horse’s hooves as she pursued. And damned if the tight ache didn’t ease under a forgotten exhilaration of flying across a pasture on horseback.

  Or maybe it was the woman behind him.

  Chapter Ten

  Since they’d been home, watching her brothers tease and love on their wives the emptiness of Carter’s own life sort of reared up and kicked her in the chest. She’d thought her career was enough. Maybe not.

  But right now, she wasn’t going to worry. Carter slowed her horse, pulling up beside Logan who’d stopped at the edge of a line of thick trees to wait for her. Laughter bubbled up and out of her because, at least for this moment, she was well and truly happy. Not that happiness was a thing she lacked in her life, but not like this.

  It could be so good between them. Didn’t he see that?

  Except, she’d seen Angela’s name on his phone. Again. Seen something about getting together when he was in Austin. Was that what was going on? Was Angela back in his life? She hated that she was jealous and doubting at the same time. Neither sat well with her personality.

  “You sure do sit a horse,” she commented casually.

  “Thank you, ma’am.” Logan touched his finger to the brim of his hat.

  She grinned, even as she debated for a second saying what exactly was on her mind. No doubt he’d run again, but she was done holding back. “It makes me want to crawl into your lap and do some naughty things.”

  Logan’s dark eyes turned hotter, all the intensity focused solely on her. A look so filled with heat her own body tightened in direct response, her skin suddenly more sensitive, nipples hard.

  “You promised to be a good girl.”

  Damn. In other words, he was still fighting this being anything more than a casual fling? Carter swallowed, the carnal part of her wanting to just give in. Because there was no doubt in her mind that he’d be up for it.

  Carter sent him a saucy grin. “I did. You’re worth the wait.”

  Logan grunted. A sure sign he wasn’t happy. With what though? Her? Himself?

  She let Mae West have her head and the mare walked along, leaving Logan and his horse behind. Carter could practically feel Logan’s stare drilling holes into the back of her head, but she also heard when he kicked his horse back into a walk and they continued on their way.

  The rest of the morning they spent tracking down the missing head of cattle. Grueling work, despite being only spring. By midday they’d found and grouped about eighteen of the twenty. Deliberately Carter led them to a spot where one of the streams that ran through their property and pooled into, not a swimming hole exactly, but a place that she and her brothers had always come to cool off when they were out this way.

  After making sure the cattle were going to stay where they were, she found a spot in the shade for the horses and dismounted. Logan followed suit.

  He groaned as his feet hit the ground, then squatted, no doubt working out the kinks in muscles that hadn’t been used this way in a long time. Carter hid a secret smile. Coming here had been a brilliant idea on her part. Instead of acting on the idea though, she pulled out her lunch and water, then made her way near the banks of the pond and sat down to eat.

  Logan did the same, and they ate quietly for long moments, scarfing down food to replenish the reserves of energy they burned. “This is a nice spot,” he said.

  Carter nodded slowly, allowing her gaze to drift out over the peaceful water and across the greens and browns dotted with bursts of wildflowers in color. The soft breeze lifted her hair off the back of her neck, a welcome relief. “One of my favorites.”

  “I bet.”

  “You know,” she said. “There’s nothing better for sore muscles than a dip in cold water.”

  Logan stopped chewing, eyeing her suspiciously. “You’re not going to get me naked.”

  She aimed an offended frown his direction. “That’s not what I was thinking. You can stay in your boxers.” She pointed this out with the air of someone of taking the higher ground. “If you’re going to make it the rest of the day, it’s a good idea.”

  She popped the last bite of sandwich in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully as he stared at her not bothering to hide his suspicion.

  She put a hand to her back arching it in a long easy stretch. “Actually, it’s been a long time since I’ve done this much work on horseback. I might take advantage of it myself.”

  “Carter…” He groaned her name.

  So he was hurting as much as she was keeping to the good girl rule? Fine by her. “I’ll stay in my undies and bra. You don’t have to look.”

  Logan glanced between her and the pond, which would be enticing given both his sore muscles and how dusty he was, reeking of leather and horse and sweat.

  “I’ll tell you what… Why don’t we take turns? One of us can go look for the rest of the cattle, while the other one takes a dip for say fifteen minutes. Then we can switch.”

  Logan blew out a long breath. “Fine.”

  “Why don’t I go first?” she suggested.

  Instead of answering, Logan got up, packed his saddlebag with his leftovers and mounted. “I’ll be back,” he said.

  He strode away with determined purpose. Probably determined to get away from her. Carter’s smiled dimmed as he trotted away. With a sigh, she stood and undressed quickly. Since he wasn’t here, she felt no need to be modest, deciding it would be more comfortable not to be riding in wet undies, and stripped completely.

  She gasped in shock at the chill of the water as she slid in. She always forgot how this stream, fed by a natural cool springs, stayed cold all year. Unlike swimming pools which, in Texas, heat turned to tepid bathwater by mid-June. But it didn’t take her long to adjust to the temperature and she sighed in bliss as her muscles unclenched and her skin lost the layer of dirt she’d accumulated through the morning.

  She was tempted to relieve some of the sexual tension throbbing through her body with her own two hands. That man really did know how to sit a horse.

  Watching him work was a thing of beauty. Watching his mind work, even on horseback as they debated where the cattle might be hiding, was even more of a turn-on. But she missed their easy friendship, too.

  Was she ruining a good thing reaching for an impossible thing, on the mere hope it would be a great thing?

  If anything, he was drawing further away from her. She could see he wanted her, but maybe not enough, and that was what kept him from taking her up on her offer.

  “Dammit, Carter.”

  Carter jumped at the sound of Logan’s voice and whirled to face him raising her hands to cover her breasts. “Shit, you scared me.”

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Logan dismounted, looping Oscar’s reins over a tree limb.

  “I didn’t expect you to come back so early,” she accused.

  “Like hell you didn’t.” His hands went to his shirt, starting on the buttons as he toed off his boots.

  Carter’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

&n
bsp; “A man can only take so much,” he muttered more than answered. “Just remember you made the moves here, not me.”

  This wasn’t how she wanted things to go, though. “I honestly wasn’t trying to tease you.”

  “Too bad. Mess with the bull, you get the horns.”

  Carter’s lips twitched. “You didn’t just say that.”

  To her surprise, he let loose with a low chuckle, his shoulders loosening up. “I did. You’d drive a saint to cuss.”

  A second later, he’d stripped off all his clothing, pulled a condom from his pocket, and stood at the edge of the pond, his erection jutting proudly from his body. “Tell me now if you don’t want this.”

  Heat rush through her on a wave of anticipation, because this might not be the way she wanted it, but she still wanted it. Wanted him.

  He moved into the water, purpose in every stride and the hard line of his jaw. As soon as the water hit midthigh he grimaced. “Fuck, that’s cold.”

  She glanced down with a sly smile. “Is that going to be a problem?”

  That earned her a glare as he pushed further into the water at a faster pace. Carter had no idea what he’d do first, but she definitely wasn’t expecting him to grab her by the waist and lift her up, the water helping buoy her weight.

  “I’ve been thinking about this all damn day. Wrap your legs around me,” he ordered.

  And, dang, if that didn’t do it for her. As she moved to obey, he aligned his shaft at her entrance. “Please tell me you’re ready.”

  “More than ready.” The words came out huskily, and she didn’t care.

  Feeding himself to her an inch at a time, in a slow, torturous slide, he eased into her body drawing her closer until he was fully seated inside her, his arms wrapped around her, holding her close.

  Carter looped her arms around his shoulders, shuddering at the sensation, the fullness of him, and the heat scorching through her veins. The cool slide of the water against her skin was almost sinfully delicious in stark comparison.

  Logan grunted, almost as though he were in pain. “This isn’t me agreeing—”

  She shushed him by kissing him, then drew back. “I know.”