Gambling on a Secret

by Ellwood, Sara Walter

“I don’t know.”

  She got out of the truck and headed for the stable despite the shimmery cocktail dress and sky-high shoes.

  He’d bet her outfit had a price tag at well over a thousand dollars. He caught up with her. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m checking on my horses.” She looked up at him. “How’s this going to affect Aurora’s pregnancy?”

  He slid his gaze from hers.

  “Dylan?”

  “Doc Evans expects her to abort.”

  A single fluorescent light burned in the breezeway of the stable. The three healthy horses flicked their ears and nickered a curious hello.

  Aurora’s stall was empty. Charli turned to him. “Where is she?”

  “In the corral. The best thing for her is to walk. If she lies down, she probably won’t get back up.”

  She immediately headed out the other door into the corral, and he followed. Zack Cartwright led Aurora around the outside of the rail fence. The horse would stop, paw at the dirt and shake her head, but he’d tug on her lead to force her to keep moving. When Zack noticed them, he led the mare over to the door.

  “How is she?” Charli rubbed her hand along the horse’s sweat-dampened neck. Aurora tossed her head.

  Zack patted the mare’s shoulder. “She’s getting tired. Doc gave her a shot of Banamine and said she should start calming down in about an hour or so. Now, we just wait for the poison to work out of her system. He doesn’t think she had enough to kill her, but she’s colicky.” When the sorrel dropped to her forelegs to lie down, Zack tugged on the line. “Oh, no, girl, we need to walk.”

  Dylan reached for the lead. “I’ll take over, Zack. Thanks, buddy, for coming out.”

  Zack relinquished the rein and patted the mare’s shoulder again. “I’m glad I was off duty and could help.”

  Charli stopped stroking the mare’s neck as he led her away. “Yes, thank you. I have no idea how I can repay you.”

  “Promise me when you decide to buy more horses, the CW gets your business, and we’ll call it even.”

  “You’ve got a deal. I still feel bad, though. Where’s your little girl?”

  “She’s with my mother. Don’t you worry, ma’am.” Zack glanced back at him and the mare. “Aurora’s a strong horse. Her sire and dam were good horses. She’ll be all right.”

  After Zack bid them a good night, Charli stumbled over the rough dirt to Dylan and the mare in her crazy strappy shoes. The floodlight cast the area in a harsh blue-white light. Mindless of her expensive dress and high-heels, she fell into step with him.

  He pointed to her shoes. “You’re going to break your neck in those things.”

  She stroked the mare’s neck as they moved along the fence with the horse’s head between them. “I’m used to waking in heels.”

  “Not in dirt and horseshit, you’re not. Go change. I’ll keep walking.”

  She hesitated for a moment and rubbed the restless mare’s shoulder. “Okay, I’ll be back.”

  She picked her way over the rutted ground in those stilts she called shoes. How the hell she walked in those things was beyond him.

  Ten minutes later, she returned wearing jeans, a t-shirt and boots. Now, she looked like she belonged in a barnyard. He hadn’t expected the intense twist of desire tying him up into knots so tight he ached.

  She took her place on the other side of the mare’s head. “How much longer do you think we should walk her?”

  “Until all signs of the stomachache pass. Another hour at least. Here.” He handed her the lead. “I’m going to call the rancher who sold the hay.”

  “But it’s two in the morning.”

  He shrugged. “If I sold bad hay, I’d want to know.”

  “I see your point.”

  “Don’t let her lay down.”

  He made his way back to the office and found the information he needed. At first, the rancher was rather indignant about being forced from his bed, until he explained the situation.

  “You’re sure no one else had trouble?” he asked when the rancher adamantly denied any other reports of poisoning.

  “I’m sure. I’m feedin’ my own livestock from that batch and ain’t got any problems, but I’ll talk to the folks I sold hay to. I’m sorry. Call me tomorrow morning, and we’ll talk more about this. I don’t want a reputation of sellin’ bad hay. I’m robbin’ Peter to pay Paul now as it is.”

  He assured the rancher there were no hard feelings and hung up.

  When he returned to the corral, he stood back in the shadows. Charli softly murmured to the mare. Aurora plodded along with her head low next to her mistress’s shoulder.

  Charli might have shimmered and looked every inch the part of a Texas lady in the lap of luxury of that fancy restaurant in Dallas. But did she know she belonged here with her cattle and horses instead?

  He walked through the gate and came up beside the woman and horse. “She seems better.”

  “Yeah. She’s calmed down over the past ten minutes. What did the rancher say?”

  He related the call to her.

  When he finished, she asked, “How much hay was fed to the animals?”

  He looked away. “The calves had some yesterday and today, the horses for a little longer. As soon as we–Doc and I–suspected it was the hay, I removed it all from the feeders. Zack brought some from the CW for the horses when he showed up with his men.”

  “Why wasn’t Kyle here?”

  “I don’t know where he is. He never returned my calls. And I needed to get to you...”

  “I–I appreciate you coming for me.”

  A tense silence settled between them as they kept the horse moving.

  After another half-hour of walking, they were exhausted, and the horse had finally calmed down enough for her to return to the stall. Dylan checked on the other three mares, making sure none of them was getting sick. She stroked Aurora’s face and neck. The mare nickered softly, and Charli let her nuzzle her palm.

  “It’s gonna be okay, Aurora. Please, hang in there.”

  When the sob broke loose, he looked at Charli. She’d held up well until now. The horse wasn’t out of danger, but they’d gotten over a significant hurdle. She let out another sob and the tears started.

  He gathered her in his arms, holding her close. “Shhh,” he murmured into her hair. She smelled of sweet, summer peaches. He moved with her out into the breezeway, closing the stall door behind him. “She’ll be okay, Charli.”

  Please, God, don’t let that be a lie.

  She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest. “What if they die? What if I lose them all?”

  He rested his cheek on the top of her head. “Doc Evans is the best vet in three counties. He’s treated jimsonweed poisoning before.”

  “I guess we should stay with her tonight.” She swiped at the tears with the backs of her hands, getting her emotions under control.

  “Yeah. But we can take turns.” When she would have pulled away, he held on. He responded to her closeness and knew she’d notice the growing bulge in his jeans, but he couldn’t let her go. “Let’s go in and have some coffee and decide who’s taking the first shift with her. Now that the medicine kicked in, she should be good until morning.”

  Charli shifted away, turning to lean on the top of Aurora’s stall door. The mare nuzzled her hand. “Will Dr. Evans return in the morning?”

  “Yes.”

  Satisfied they could safely leave the horses, she led him across the driveway and into the back of the house. She made coffee while he paced the kitchen. He should have stayed in the stable. His desire wasn’t the only thing bothering him.

  Naturally occurring livestock poisoning wasn’t common. The conversation with the rancher replayed in his head. Something about the entire thing didn’t sit right with him. And it was that something keeping him in the kitchen.

  She poured two mugs of coffee. “Who’s taking the first shift?”

  He stopped in his trek across
the floor and faced her. “I’ll stay in the stable tonight.”

  She held out a cup of coffee. “Hardly seems fair. I can take a turn.”

  “I know, but I don’t mind. I’ll drink this and take a cup with me. I’ll let you get to bed.”

  The cornflower blue of her t-shirt highlighted the blue flecks embedded in her green eyes, making them appear aquamarine. “I’m afraid, Dylan.”

  He set the cup on the table and wrapped his arms around her. She clung to him, pressing every soft curve against him. Fear and worry pulled the skin taut over her forehead. Hunger blazed to life in the depths of her eyes.

  Just step away before you make a huge mistake. She didn’t let him retreat. Charli ran the tips of her fingers along his stubbly jaw and down his chest between them. He swallowed as the lingering touch slammed into his groin.

  “Stay with me for a little while.” Her voice was warm as good Southern whiskey and just as intoxicating. “I don’t want to fight this thing between us anymore. I don’t want to be alone.”

  “Me either.” Slowly, he slid his hands over the soft cotton covering her back. She shivered and her lips parted.

  He lowered his mouth to hers, and she opened to accept the full thrust of his tongue. She tugged on his t-shirt, and skimmed her hands over the skin under the hem. He groaned deep in his chest as she raked her nails over the small of his back, jolting his already excited erection.

  When he tried to retreat from the battle of dueling tongues, she sucked on his, wrenching a long, deep moan from him. His hands held the curve of her behind, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted to touch her flesh.

  She broke the kiss long enough to pull his t-shirt over his head. Before he knew what she was doing, her hands were on his belt. He caught her by the wrists and stripped her of her shirt and bra. She tugged off her boots and shimmied out of her jeans between gut-twisting kisses.

  She stood before him wearing only a diamond studded belly button ring and a pair of stretch lace, pink panties. Freckles, millions of them, speckled the creamy porcelain of her skin. Like springs caught in a blacksmith’s fire, her red-gold hair fell around her face and shoulders and down her back to her waist. The sexy pout puckering her lips and the heavy-lidded eyes caught and held his.

  He knew she wasn’t innocent, but something about the way she looked made him think she was far more experienced than he’d initially thought.

  “Are you sure we should do this?” His voice came through as a low rumble.

  Charli flashed him a wicked grin. She skimmed her right hand over the Special Forces tat and the puckered nipple on the left side of his chest. He shuddered when she leaned in and flicked her hot tongue over the point and ran her hands down his body to the fly of his jeans. She’d already opened the belt. She lowered the zipper and purred against his skin. “Don’t you dare get all noble on me now.”

  “I wouldn’t think of it.” He toed off his boots and shucked his jeans.

  “If you don’t have a condom, we can–”

  “I have one.” He pulled his wallet from the pocket of his jeans and removed a crinkled packet.

  “How long have you been carrying that thing around?”

  “For a while.” He looked down at the battered foil paper. He didn’t want to think about the night Brenda remarried, when he’d put it in his wallet. The night he’d almost slept with Julie Larson. Thank God, in the end, he couldn’t do it. He’d forgotten about the condom until the kiss in the bathroom.

  “I guess we have everything we need.” When she squeezed his hard-on, he groaned and the only thing he could think about was burying himself inside her soft heat. Charli ran her lips up his neck, along his jaw. She licked the shell of his ear. Her warm breath on his damp sensitive skin caused him to shiver again as she whispered, “Right or wrong, good or bad, I want to have sex with you right here and right now.”

  Then she stroked the length of his erection.

  He sucked in a hissing breath and tugged at her panties. They fell to her ankles, where she stepped out of them. Thinking beyond the primitive need pounding through his veins was impossible. He lifted her onto the edge of the table.

  “Dylan.” She moaned, arching into him, when he nibbled first one taut nipple and then the other. Her fingers flexed in his hair, holding him close to her.

  Under his hand, the skin of her inner thighs was buttery soft. He stroked her hot, slick sex. She arched into his hand and called his name again when the first quakes of orgasm shattered her. He let her ride out the waves until his erection pulsed with painful need.

  With unsteady hands, he sheathed himself in the condom. While he kissed her long and deep, she wrapped her legs around his hips. He thrust forward the same time she pulled him to her. They both groaned at the connection, breaking the kiss. He moved within her fast, hard and deep.

  Her head fell back, and she gazed at him through heavy-lidded eyes. The erotic beauty of her lips parting on a moan, the long auburn lashes over passion-darkened eyes, and the hungry flush of her freckled cheeks made his knees weak. Fire boiled in his low belly. She flexed her fingernails into his shoulders, and her muscles tightened around him, drawing him deeper.

  He caught one of her rosy nipples between his lips again, pulling the hard raspberry into his mouth. She clutched at his shoulders, let out a high keening sound, and shuddered around him as he pounded deep inside.

  She was slick and so hot that he thought he might burn up before the end. Combined with the contractions of her inner muscles, the sensations wrenched a release out of him that curled his toes. He cursed and trembled as he emptied himself into her. Struggling to fill his lungs with air, he rested his forehead on her shoulder, afraid he’d slide to the floor in a boneless heap.

  She turned her face and placed a kiss next to his ear. “Wow. That was amazing.”

  “You feel so good. I want you again.” He kissed her.

  She held him close and sucked on his tongue. When she moved on him, she felt too good.

  He pulled away and stared down into her eyes. “Damn. Please tell me you’re on some kind of birth control?”

  “I wish I was. I want you again, too.”

  “That isn’t what I meant.” He pulled out of her.

  A slow pucker troubled her brow when she looked down at his softening erection.

  “Shit.”

  * * * *

  Her breath caught as he muttered the curse. Charli swallowed hard and stared at the broken condom, mentally counting days. “Oh, no.”

  He moved away and grabbed his clothes from the floor. After hopping off the table, she gathered her things, then followed him into her bedroom. Dylan went into the bathroom, and she picked up the silk robe from the bottom of her bed, quickly pulling it on. She wrapped her arms around herself and paced the floor.

  When he came out, he was dressed, except for his boots. His eyes narrowed on her, and he growled, “So, let me get this straight–right now millions of my little soldiers are marching upstream hoping to find the princess at the castle?” His remark didn’t warrant a response. He turned and ran his hands through his hair. “How possible is it you could get pregnant?”

  She trembled and tightened her arms around her middle. “I had my period not quite two weeks ago. What are we going to do? You know...if...”

  He strode past her, his hands fisted. “I can’t believe it. I knew this was a mistake. The last thing in the world I’ve ever wanted was a kid.”

  She flinched at his words, but when he stopped and turned on her, she jumped back at the wintery hardness of his eyes.

  “How long have you been planning this?”

  “Planning what?”

  He took two steps toward her. “The grand seduction. Almost every morning you answer the damned door looking like something from my fantasies. You come on to me tonight. You didn’t get Ferguson in bed, so you settled with me, is that it?”

  “No!” Tears of humiliation and fear scalded her eyes, but she’d be damned if she let them f
all. Squaring her shoulders, she fisted her hands by her side and skewered him with a glare. “I won’t deny I wanted you. But don’t you dare blame this all on me. It was your condom that broke. Dammit!” She grabbed the hair at the side of her face and spun away from him. “I sure as hell don’t want a baby any more than you do. Not now.”

  “What’s going on with you and Ferguson?”

  The crushing pain pinching her heart caused her anger to crash and burn out like a meteor falling to earth. Did he honestly think she’d sleep with Leon?

  She faced him and fought the tremor in her voice. “Nothing is going on between Leon and me. I went to dinner with him, but nothing else would, or has ever happened between us. I’m as concerned as you are that right now, as you so eloquently put it, your ‘little soldiers’ are swimming upstream, hoping to hit the jackpot. But you don’t have to insult me. I’m not a slut.”

  She sniffed, but a tear rolled over the dam of pride with which she’d tried to hold back a tidal wave. “The last thing I’ve ever wanted was an unwanted pregnancy, especially since I was one.”

  His face lost some of the hardness, and his voice was gruff. “That’s why you never mentioned your father. You don’t know him.”

  “My mother was nineteen when she and a rodeo cowboy from Texas had a fling. I didn’t know my father’s name until after Hank died. It was among a box of Momma’s letters I found. There’s an old Polaroid in there of my sperm donor, too. I look a lot like him.”

  “Charli...”

  She held up a hand. “I’m a big girl. We had sex, and we both knew the consequences going into it.”

  She blinked to keep more tears from slipping past her crumbling self-control. She’d wanted Dylan, and she’d gone after him, probably confirming his belief she was capable of indiscriminate sex. Hugging herself again, she tried to keep the sharp pain from ripping her apart. “I’m sorry I seduced you.”

  “Charli,” he rasped when she turned away.

  She didn’t face him.

  “If the worst happens, I won’t do what your father did to your mother. I would never abandon my responsibilities.”

  Closing her eyes at the ache in her heart from the conciliatory words, she paused in the doorway of her bathroom. “Don’t worry about it. Good night, Dylan.”