When he leaned back and tipped her chin up, she felt his breath on her mouth, saw the midnight blue of his eyes, and all reason fled.
He kissed her, gently at first and then with a rough need. Samantha put her hands to his face, tracing his strong jaw with her fingers, and kissed him back, amazed at her own fervor.
“Samantha,” he whispered, pulling back to look into her eyes with a warmth and fire that stilled her. “I didn’t ask to buy the ranch because I wanted you to keep it—I wanted you to stay.”
She stared at him in shock and he smiled the slow, satisfied smile of a gambler who’d put all his chips on the table, finally content to trust his luck.
“I... I didn’t know,” she whispered, trying to absorb his revelation.
He leaned over and whispered back, his mouth so close that his breath caressed her ear, “I’ve wanted you since that first day. I’ve wanted to kiss you every day since then.”
She’d never felt the power of words like this. Each syllable teased her and heated her until she felt like she’d agree to anything he asked. But he didn’t ask. He just took. Brought his mouth to hers and bit her lip gently, then caressed the tiny bruise with his tongue. Kissed her deeply, hands tangled in her hair, curved around her jaw, his mouth savaging hers. The feel of him surrounding her was her undoing.
Jack wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her onto the kitchen counter. He stood between her thighs and ran his hands up her back to her shoulder blades, kissing her again. His taste was potent, scotch and heat, and she kissed him back fervently, reveling in the feel of his mouth.
Samantha closed her eyes and then there was nothing but feeling. And no matter how he kissed her, she was somehow left wanting even more.
Her hands gripped his shoulders, then his back, as she tried to pull him closer. Jack wrapped his arms around her and pulled her off the counter so she was clinging to his shoulders, her legs wrapped around his waist. He carried her up the stairs, kissing her the entire way.
He’d wanted her to stay. The words freed something inside of her. She pulled at his shirt and the buttons on the worn flannel scattered around them and her hands were on his chest, feeling the soft hair there, sliding down over the taut strength of his stomach. She bit into the muscle of his shoulder and he gasped in pleasure, staggered a step and bumped her into the door frame.
“Ouch!” There was a sharp pain in the back of her head.
“Samantha, I’m so sorry...” Jack kissed her cheek and set her down on the ground carefully, rubbing his palm gently over the back of her head.
Her head ached and her desire fizzled. What was she thinking? The bump had jolted her back to reality—this thing between them couldn’t happen. They’d been here just last weekend. And when she woke up the next the morning, savoring the memory of those kisses, she’d found Jack confronting Rob Morgan. It had felt horrible, and Samantha had spent all week feeling so profoundly relieved that they’d only kissed.
And now, Jack said a few of the right words, after so many wrong ones, and she was going to sleep with him? Was she ever going to learn to be more careful? She thought about Rob and the fire. The way she’d trusted him from the beginning. The way she’d trusted Mark.
Even though tonight’s events had proven that Jack was right about Rob, who knew what tomorrow would bring? She didn’t want to regret, didn’t want to feel the hurt she’d felt last weekend, or worse. She looked at Jack’s torn shirt, amazed at the damage she’d caused. She’d completely lost control and that just wasn’t safe.
“I can’t.” It came out almost as a sob. “This doesn’t make sense. We can’t do this.”
They stood, her forehead to his chest, catching their breath. Samantha kept her eyes closed. She knew that if she looked at him, and saw the fierce desire in his eyes, she wouldn’t be able to walk away.
“We can do this,” Jack said quietly. “If we want. But we should stop, if there’s doubt. I can wait for you, Samantha.”
“Don’t wait,” she told him, fighting the tears that were welling up. “There’s no point. Good night, Jack.” She turned and stumbled down the hall toward the guest room on reluctant legs.
* * *
SAMANTHA DIDN’T WANT to open her eyes yet. As she drifted toward the surface of sleep, she nestled deeper into the down pillows and pulled the comforter close. The light behind her eyelids and the tantalizing smell of coffee told her it was morning, but her mind was having trouble catching up. Something felt different. Slowly, like fish rising to the surface of a pond, events of the previous night began to ripple through her tired brain and she opened one eye, then another, to find herself in Jack’s guest room, its arched windows showing her the peaks of mountains and the green of pines.
She took in the vaulted ceilings with their wood beams, the fireplace, the plaster walls glowing softly in the morning light. She sat up in bed and her hands went to her flushed cheeks as she remembered the many kisses they’d shared.
A visceral memory of how good it felt to run her hands over his muscular body shredded what composure she presently had. She wanted Jack in a way she’d never wanted anyone before. And he wanted her, too. And she’d told him no. She’d told him there was no point, no future. And she’d done the right thing. So why did she feel so much regret right now?
Samantha rolled over and pulled the covers over her head. After Mark, she’d promised herself to be more careful, to protect her heart. Yet she could feel herself stepping right back onto the Jack Baron emotional roller coaster. Despite her brave words last night, she knew that it was going to be very hard to walk away. “You idiot,” she groaned into the pillow. “You absolute idiot.”
* * *
JACK WAS MAKING CAPPUCCINO in a cowboy hat. Samantha leaned on the kitchen island and took in the sight of him in his flannel and denim, wrestling with the home espresso machine.
He offered her a cup and she saw that he’d swirled the coffee through the milk to make a pretty leaflike pattern. “You are full of surprises, Jack Baron!”
He shrugged. “When I moved here I missed espresso. The only option was to figure out how to make it myself.”
“If I had known, I would’ve been banging on your door begging every weekend!” Samantha took a sip. It was heaven.
“Hey, if it keeps you coming around, Frisco, I’ll keep making ’em.”
His words warmed her more than the coffee, but she knew the right thing to do was to stop him from thinking that way. She shouldn’t keep coming around. It just didn’t make sense.
“Jack, thank you for last night.”
He turned with his own cup in his hand and leaned on the counter, all long grace. “No problem.”
“And I’m sorry... I mean...” She realized she was stumbling around trying to find the words. “I don’t regret anything. It felt so incredible, what we did together. I... It shouldn’t go further.”
“Okay,” Jack said mildly. He took a sip of coffee, set the cup down on the counter. “Did you hear what I told you last night?” he asked.
“I heard you say a lot of things.” And some of them had just about melted her.
Jack stood and came toward her, and the purpose that sharpened his eyes to the deepest blue was back. He took her mug and put it on the kitchen table, and lightly rested his broad hands on her shoulders. “I said that I wanted you, Samantha. And I still do, more than ever.”
He paused and slid his hands down to take hers. “Last night was incredible. And I didn’t want to stop what we were doing. But I don’t want to be with you when you’re distracted by doubts. When I make love to you, you’ll be there with me one hundred percent. I won’t have it any other way.”
“When?” Samantha teased to cover the fact that her knees were about to give way. She found a stool and sat down before she fell over. She picked up her coffee mug again. “You
sound pretty certain about that, Cowboy.”
Jack’s eyes lit with a smile as he leaned against the counter. He was six feet of pure confidence. “I guess I am.” He seemed amused at the idea. A thoughtful look crossed his face. “I guess I am,” he repeated.
He kissed her on the top of her head and she leaned her forehead against his chest, breathing him in, wanting more of what she shouldn’t have.
He kissed her hair once more and then tipped her face up so she looked into the warmth of his eyes. “I have to go feed the horses and get a few things done. But can I do that honesty thing again first?
She laughed. “Um...sure. Do the honesty thing.” It had certainly worked out well for her last night.
“I want to take a trip with you.”
“A trip?” She pulled back and retrieved her coffee. “Where to?”
“Into the mountains. On horseback. Do you camp, Frisco?”
“No. Well, I did, with my grandparents. But since then I’ve developed an addiction to boutique hotels, sheets with high thread counts, that sort of thing.”
“Will you try? I want to be in the wilderness with you.”
She wanted to be in the wilderness with him, too, but that didn’t mean it was a good idea. She couldn’t stay on the ranch and be with him even if she wanted to—it wasn’t realistic. So why make the whole thing worse by spending even more time with him?
“You’re scared, aren’t you?” he asked, and his eyes were piercing. He leaned in and kissed her, searing her skin, making her want, making it hard to think straight. She clung to him.
“I know it doesn’t make sense, Samantha. I know it isn’t necessarily gonna make things easier between us, but I want to have that time. Away from the ranch and away from everything that’s happened here lately.”
Samantha turned away from Jack and went to the window, looking out at the morning light on the peaks. Maybe the kiss had rattled her brain. Because all she could think was that someone like Jack would never come into her life again. Of that she could be certain. “Yes,” she answered, marveling at her own daring as she said it. “I’ll go.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
JACK HAD A very nice view of Samantha’s straight back as they road up the narrow mountain trail. She was easy in the saddle, talking to Apple and looking around at the scenery. He left her to her thoughts, letting her take in the high meadows that gave way to the brief foothills of coarse rock dotted with sage, mesquite and an occasional hardy cactus. She’d been through so much stress. He just wanted her to find peace under the huge sky and in the endless supply of clear, pine-scented air.
The campsite was on a bluff over a big creek. The water had cut a deep bed for itself over the hundreds of years it had run there. Aspen lined the edges just a few yards farther up, but he deliberately chose a spot under open sky so they’d be able to watch the stars at night. In the autumn there were meteor showers, and he was hoping that they’d have a chance to catch one of nature’s most spectacular shows.
They talked quietly as they set up camp and turned the horses out to graze in the meadow. The late-afternoon shadows told him the sun was setting so he took her hand and led her uphill to where a large boulder jutted out and up. They clambered onto it and watched the fiery colors lighting up the high peaks.
Jack watched Samantha take it all in. Her skin was a rosy velvet after a day in the sun. Her lips were full, and curved in a faint smile. For the first time he noticed a dimple on the side of her mouth and knew he’d look for it deepening the next time he made her laugh. He couldn’t resist brushing a knuckle over it and she turned to look at him questioningly. “What’s going on in that formidable brain of yours, Samantha?”
She gave him a bemused look. “I don’t think it’s possible to call it formidable at this point. But I guess...” She looked back at the mountains as the last rays of the sun flung themselves over the highest crags, lighting them golden. “It’s just that this is so beautiful. You’d think that after the fire and everything with Rob, I’d be upset. But instead, I don’t know when I’ve felt so peaceful.”
“I’m glad you feel it,” he told her. “I do, too. That’s what made me decide to live here, you know. I drove everywhere—Colorado, Wyoming, Montana. I knew I wanted mountains but nothing seemed right. Then I got here and I spent a day hiking around and I knew.”
“That must be nice, knowing like that. I feel like I don’t know much of anything anymore.” Her expression was solemn.
He put his arm around her and pulled her close. “You will. You’ll figure it out.”
They watched as the sun disappeared behind the peaks and felt the sudden chill of its absence wash over them. She shivered and pulled her jacket closer.
“It’s getting late,” Jack said. “Let’s put on some warmer clothes and I’ll make some dinner. Then there’s something I want to show you about this place.” He offered a hand to help her up and they walked toward their camp.
Soon they were building a small fire and the smell of cooking steak filled the air. Jack looked at Samantha across the flames, curled up with her arms around her knees and he knew, more certainly than he’d known anything before, that there was nowhere in the world he’d rather be right now.
Maybe she’d be gone by tomorrow afternoon, maybe she couldn’t say when she’d be coming back, but for now it was enough to be in her presence, to drink in her beauty, to see her smile and unwind a little around him. As her defenses fell away in the clear mountain air, the warmth she kept so guarded most of the time shone through, and it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
* * *
SAMANTHA WATCHED as the campfire flames wove in and out of oranges, yellows and some deep and indefinable blue. The golden light illuminated Jack’s cheekbones; his fierce, angular face was a web of shadows and light. He looked like some kind of primitive god, but one dressed in jeans and Gore-Tex. It almost took her off balance, the way every cell in her body yearned for this man.
It was a weekend of flames, Samantha thought. Last night they’d been brought together by a fire and now she could feel the warmth from the campfire on her face, and a steady heat within her, banked now, but ready to flame again at his touch.
Samantha didn’t know how such a fire could ever be extinguished. Maybe, she thought, if she finally had a fling with him, she could put it out, or at least tamp it down. Life would be so much more comfortable if she could.
“A steak for your thoughts.” Samantha jumped a bit as a slab of meat on a tin plate was placed in front of her. “It’s not exactly fine dining,” Jack said as he returned to his side of the fire and speared the second steak off the grill.
Samantha inhaled the rich, smoky smell and cut into the thick steak. He’d cooked it to perfection, and it melted in her mouth as she chewed, savoring the deep flavors. She opened her eyes to find Jack watching her with a slightly dazed expression. “It’s delicious.” She cut into another bite. “And you are wrong, this is definitely fine dining.”
He chuckled at her lavish compliment and cut into his own meat. “I’d still like to know what you were thinking back there.”
“It wasn’t important.” Fortunately it was too dark for him to see her blush. Something caught her eye in the deepening dusk and she glanced up in time to see a star sailing across the heavens. “Shooting star!” she exclaimed, pointing toward it as it disappeared. She was grateful for the change of subject.
“You must be on the lucky rock.” Jack walked around the fire and sat beside her. They put their plates aside and Jack pulled the saddles over so they could lie back against them and watch the sky. “It’s a meteor shower. Look, there’s another one!” He pointed to a tiny glimmer that was zipping along the horizon.
Jack’s hand found hers. His grip was warm and strong and Samantha had the strange and unfamiliar feeling that she was right where she
should be.
The sky was awash in a glory of glimmering stars that cascaded from horizon to horizon, crystalline sparks sharp in the clean, thin mountain air. Another traveler shot across the sky, this time leaving a trail of light behind it. She gasped and Jack laughed.
“Isn’t it incredible?” he asked.
She loved this sky, with its flying stars and its clarity. She loved the solidity of the granite beneath her, and the sound of the nearby creek bubbling through the quiet of the high mountain night. This was a big reason the thought of selling the ranch wove knots in her stomach. She’d made the mistake of falling in love with these mountains, these meadows. And now she was falling in love with Jack. Samantha gasped and sat up suddenly.
“You okay?” Jack tilted the brim of his hat up to study her face, concern etched on his own. “Samantha?”
She shook her head, trying to fight the growing certainty of her feelings as she stared at his long, lean frame stretched so gracefully on the rocky ground. A flash of firelight lit his face and she could see the dark intensity in his eyes as he sat up and repeated the question. “Are you okay? Are you cold?”
She hadn’t known she had these feelings. She didn’t want these feelings. There was no way she could be falling in love with Jack Baron. He was a crush, an attempted fling, a friend, a pipe dream, but not someone she could ever truly be with. She wanted him desperately, there was no doubt about that, but she’d vowed she wouldn’t set herself up for such certain heartache.
She took a few deep breaths until she was able to answer in what she hoped was a nonchalant tone of voice, “Maybe I am a little cold.”
He stood immediately. “Well, I can fix that for you.” He held out his hand. “Come on.”
A Ranch to Keep Page 22
