“Leave Kay alone, Brance. I’m not kidding.”
“I haven’t touched her.”
“Keep it that way.”
“Jeez!” Gavin pulled back onto the road, and Brance continued to look at him like he was crazy. Finally, just before they got to Grayson’s, he said, “Before you tried to kill me, I was trying to make the point that you need to do something besides work. If you don’t want to team rope with me, why don’t you take that pretty lawyer of yours out?”
It was Gavin’s turn to look at Brance like he was crazy. “Why would I take Lucy out? Hell, I don’t even want her as my lawyer.”
“My bad. I thought I saw some sparks flying between the two of you last night.”
“You thought wrong,” Gavin said, pulling the trailer in and backing it up to Grayson’s stables.
Grayson Abernathy bred horses, and his horses were some of the most sought after in the state. But as knowledgeable as he was about breeding them, he knew nothing about training them, so he left that part up to Gavin.
Grayson came out of the stables as the two men were climbing out of the truck. “Well I’ll be a son of a gun! Is that Brance Duncan?”
“The one and only.” Brance shook the other man’s hand and said, “It’s good to see you, Gray.”
“You too. I wasn’t sure we’d ever see you around here again. I heard good things about you on the circuit this year.”
“It was all true,” Brance said with a grin.
While Brance and Grayson talked, Gavin was convincing one colt about two years old, and then the colt’s sister, a filly of about three, to get into the trailer. Once he had them both in and was closing up the back, he looked at Brance and exclaimed, “Thanks for the help.”
“You’re the horse whisperer. I didn’t want to get in your way.”
Gavin just shook his head, and then he and Grayson talked for a bit before they headed back to the ranch. As they drove up next to the breaking pin, Brance said, “Don’t look now, but I think I see your lawyer bottle feeding a piglet.”
“Jesus, Kayla acts like this woman is family.”
“Maybe that’s a good thing. Kay’s got pretty good instincts.”
“Kayla’s naïve,” Gavin said. “She wants to see the good in everyone.”
Gavin got out of the truck, and Brance got out and followed him. “Why is that a bad thing?”
“Because it will get you taken advantage of,” Gavin told him as he opened up the pen.
“Not everyone is looking to take advantage of someone,” Brance replied.
“Maybe not, but if you’re not careful, you won’t be able to tell them apart.”
“And then you’ll end up doing five years for a crime you didn’t commit, right?”
Gavin gave him a dirty look and glanced over toward the sty to make sure Kayla and Lucy were still over there. “Do not say that in front of my sister.”
“Why, Gavin? What’s the big deal? Do you really think that it would change how Kayla feels about you as her brother to know what happened?”
“I have no idea,” Gavin said. “But since she’s never going to find out, it doesn’t matter, does it? Get that fence.” Gavin got back in the truck and pulled the trailer forward so that Brance could close the gate. He stopped in a few feet and put his head out the window. “Come on. I want to drop the trailer off and get Satan and ride the fence line. I need to make sure there aren’t any new breaks while I have sunlight to fix ‘em.”
“I think I’ll wait for you here,” Brance told him.
“Why?”
“I was just going to see if Kayla needed any help with anything while I was here,” he said.
“She’s fine.”
“Stop being so damned suspicious, Gavin. I’m not going to touch her, okay?”
Gavin sighed. “All right, I’m sorry. I’ve just been a little stressed out lately.”
“I know, and it’s fine. Truth be told, I wouldn’t trust a guy like me with my sister either. Wait up a second; Kayla’s waving at you.”
Gavin had the urge to just drive away. He was sure it had something to do with Lucy or the lawsuit, and he didn’t want to hear it. “Hey, Gavin!” Kayla was hollering at him from twenty feet away.
“What?”
“Lucy still needs pictures.”
Lucy was still all the way over by the hog sty. She had set the little piglet down, but she was still staring adoringly at them over the fence. “So take her out there. I don’t have time.”
“You’re not going to ride the fence line this afternoon?”
“Yeah, but…”
“That’s perfect then. I’ll saddle Dante and send her over on him.” Dante was Kayla’s horse. Gavin had gone to Wyoming several years back and returned with two feral mustangs. They were both black, and both of them had the temperament of the devil himself. Kayla named one Satan and the other Dante. By the time Gavin finished training them, they were the two best horses that either of them ever owned.
“I don’t think she’ll be okay with that. She was nervous riding with me the other day.”
“She’ll do fine,” Kayla said. “She grew up riding horses. Go on, I’ll send her over. I’ll pack y’all a lunch and put it in the saddle bags.”
Damn it! “All right. In that case, Brance, maybe you should come along.”
“Why’s that, you need a wing man?”
“Brance is having lunch with us. Mike and Clint should be in soon. Then I’m putting them all to work fixing the side of that barn,” Kayla said.
Gavin suddenly didn’t mind leaving him behind. He smiled at his friend and said, “Okay then, have fun.”
Chapter Eleven
Gavin had Satan saddled and his tools in the saddle bags by the time Lucy came riding in on Dante. He had to admit that she looked pretty damned hot in her jeans and long-sleeved t-shirt, which hugged her sexy curves. She had plenty of them to hug too, and he liked that much better than the stick-figure women that seemed to be so popular. The camera she had strapped and hanging around her neck bounced against her chest as she trotted up beside him, and he had to force himself to look up at her face. Her long auburn hair was tied at the nape of her neck with a yellow ribbon that matched her shirt, and as he let his eyes travel down her body once more, he realized that the ropers she wore on her feet actually looked like they’d been worn before. For some reason he found that sexy. He felt a stirring in his core and in other places that he had to check as she asked, “You ready?”
He cleared his throat and said, “Yeah, let’s go.”
He climbed up on Satan and whistled to the dogs. Bo, Sam, and Clarence came running from behind the barn, and the seven of them started off down the fence line. They rode in silence, stopping every once in a while for Gavin to check a piece of fence or Lucy to take a picture. After nearly an hour of riding, they descended a small hill and followed it down to a cozy looking little valley. Gavin remembered how he loved this place when he was a boy. It used to be lush and green, but now it was as brown and dry as everything else. There were fifty or so head of Angus cattle grazing through the dry grass. A few of them bellowed at them as they rode past, but most of the cattle ignored them. Bo chased one or two away, just to show them who was boss, and Clarence bounded along after him. Sometimes Gavin wondered what the cattle thought of the goat who thought he was a dog. He glanced back at Lucy. She was watching the animals and smiling. Her green eyes sparkled in the sun, and no matter how much he didn’t want to notice, he couldn’t deny that she was beautiful.
He led her across the small valley and up a slope to another flat area. Just before they reached the river, he asked, “You hungry?” Lucy jumped at the sudden sound of his voice.
She recovered quickly and replied, “Yeah, I could eat.”
He slid down off Satan, and as she got down off of Dante, he realized that she was moving funny. She wasn’t used to being on a horse. She was probably sore as hell by now.
Holding onto Dante’s reins and lo
oking around, she asked, “Should I tie him up near the water?”
“Nah, he doesn’t need to be tied up.”
“Really? He won’t take off?”
“Nope, he had a good trainer,” Gavin said with a little smile.
Looking reluctant, Lucy finally draped the reins across the saddle horn and left the horse where he stood. She walked over toward the lines of salt cedar trees that grew all along the bank and even through the center of the river. Some of them were probably twenty feet tall, and others looked like they’d only recently spread and sprouted. There were faded white stumps from back in the days when they’d had the time and money to try and eradicate them. It had been an expensive, impossible task, so now they just tried to live peacefully amongst the water-suckers that the ranch had so aptly been named after.
She limped as she walked, and he suddenly felt bad for bringing her so far out. He should have thought about what a hard ride this would be for someone who wasn’t used to it. He watched her go stand between two trees and look down at the river. These days, it was a stretch to call it that. It was more of a trickle. After so many months of no rain, it moved listlessly along, barely even ruffling the delicate pink and white blossoms on the shrubs that had grown out across the middle of it. The stones that lay in the sand underneath it could be spotted from the bank since barely a foot or two of water covered them. The marsh plants on the sides that had survived the invasion of the salt cedar were now wilted and yellowed on the edges, and they hung close to the ground. He walked over and stood about a foot away from her.
“Are you really sore?”
She turned and looked at him. With a little smile she said, “I thought I was hiding it so well.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t think about it being such a long ride for you.”
“It’s okay,” she said, hobbling back toward him. He tried to keep a straight face, but she looked like she was walking on stilts. He felt his lips quirk up, and she asked, “Are you laughing at me?”
“No,” he said with a laugh. “I would never.” She put her hands on her hips and Gavin fleetingly let himself imagine replacing them with his own. “I’m sorry,” he said again.
“You don’t look sorry,” she said. She was smiling though, and he thoroughly enjoyed watching her hobble over to Dante and take the lunch Kayla packed for them out of the saddle bag. She had wrapped the Tupperware containers and thermos in a little wool blanket. Lucy unrolled it all, sitting the containers down on a large, flat rock and then she spread the blanket out across the crunchy grass. Gavin sat down and started opening the containers while Lucy walked around and stretched out her sore muscles. He looked up as she was reaching around to her back with her hand, trying to massage a muscle in her lower back. He knew that he shouldn’t touch her. He was sure that it was a bad idea, but he told himself he was only being a gentleman. After all, it was his fault she was so sore in the first place. She had her back to him as he walked up to her. He gently took her hand and moved it, replacing it with his. He braced himself a little, just in case she decided to slap or elbow him. Instead, she leaned back into his hand and moaned.
“God, that feels good. I’m so sore.” He laughed and let his hand move up her spine toward her shoulders. When he made it there, he put both hands on her and began to knead the tight muscles there. She moaned again and tipped her head to one side so that her entire long, sexy neck was exposed. He imagined attaching his lips to it, and he knew that he was in trouble. Lucy seemed to suddenly realize what was happening as well. She took a half a step forward and then turned to face him. With a small smile she said, “Thank you. Let’s eat.”
Gavin’s mouth was dry, and his pulse was racing. He had to swallow the lump in his throat before he could force out, “Okay.”
They went back over to the blanket, and with what looked like a great deal of effort, Lucy sat down. He took a seat on the other side of her and handed her a napkin and one of the sandwiches that Kay had packed for them. As she ate, she seemed to be trying to look at everything but him. Finally, she said, “It’s so beautiful out here. I think if I had a ranch like this, I would build my house right here.”
He stared at her while he finished chewing, and then he poured himself some tea into the cap of the thermos and drank it. “Yeah, it’s nice out here. But the soil shifts constantly, and there’s a lot of sand. I don’t think it would hold up the foundation of a house very well.”
“Hmm, then I guess I’d ride out here and have lunch every day.” She tried to cross her legs then and winced in pain. “Or maybe I would drive,” she said with a smile.
“You should ride every day while you’re here,” he told her. “The soreness will go away.”
She nodded, and they ate in silence then. Kayla’s sandwiches and potato salad were as amazing as ever. Lucy seemed to be enjoying the silence and the beauty of the land around them. The dogs and Clarence sat back at a respectable distance, and Gavin waited until Lucy finished eating before calling them over. He opened the containers that he knew Kayla had packed especially for them, sitting the one full of meat in front of the dogs and the one filled with cabbage and carrots in front of Clarence. He sat back on his elbows and watched them devour it. When he looked over at Lucy, she was staring at him.
“How did you get so good with animals?” she asked him.
He shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve just always felt like I get them and they get me.”
She picked up the thermos, but before she put it to her lips, she asked, “Should I pour you some more before I drink out of this?”
He smiled and said, “No thanks, I have enough.”
If he were going to tell the truth he would have to say that he was jealous of the damned thermos. All of a sudden he couldn’t get the idea of pressing his lips against her full red ones out of his head. It was causing all kinds of unwanted reactions in his body at the moment. She finished her tea and set the thermos down. Then she leaned back like he was on the blanket and stretched out her legs. That position wasn’t going to do anything for what was ailing him either. He closed his eyes for a second and tried to picture her with Heath Stevenson, thinking that would gross him out enough to calm his body down. Instead, the thought of it only pissed him off a little. When he opened his eyes and saw her with her own eyes closed, he just went for it.
He leaned over her and let his lips brush against hers lightly. Her lips were so warm. She opened her eyes, and for a second there was a look of complete terror in them, like she didn’t know what was happening. He was about to apologize when he felt her arch up off the blanket slightly and touch her lips back to his. His heart was hammering in his chest, and there was a queasy feeling in his stomach. He wasn’t sure why his stomach wanted to get in on this; he’d lost that nervous flutter around girls when he was sixteen.
They were just staring at each other now, each waiting to see what the other would do next. Again, it was completely new to him. He usually knew when a woman wanted him, and when he took her, there was nothing hesitant about it. This woman was different though. He wasn’t sure how or why, but she was different. He bent his head again and gave her another soft, questioning kiss. He felt her respond with her lips and place her hand against his chest right over where his heart was beating like a drum. He waited, thinking she was going to push him away. When she began sliding her fingers across his chest and up to his neck instead, he forgot all about not trusting her. He forgot that she has slept with the enemy’s son, and he forgot it was broad daylight and they were lying down on a wool blanket on top of the crunchy grass. He kissed her then with an unrestrained passion that he hadn’t felt in a long time. He let his tongue slide in between her lips. His right hand came up, and he let the backs of his fingers run along the soft, smooth skin of her cheek while his tongue danced against hers. She had her hand on the back of his neck now, pulling him tighter down into her as their kisses went deeper.
He let his mouth leave hers and travel dow
n the line of her jaw until he found her sexy neck. He ran his tongue along it until he reached the supple flesh between her neck and shoulder and kissed her there. He felt her shudder underneath him, and he sucked the flesh in between his teeth and ran his tongue across it as he held it there. That caused her to moan, and he felt that moan all the way down to his toes. He let his body slide over so he was lying next to her and not crushing down on top of her. He let one arm slide underneath her head, and the other one reached up to cup her face in his hand. He held her there for a second while her green eyes seemed to search his for something, and he decided that maybe he wasn’t the only one with trust issues. He waited for her body to relax and then he let his tongue run lazily across her bottom lip. She closed her eyes and turned so she was facing him, and she deepened the kiss on her own again. His hands ran across her shoulders and massaged down her spine. He found the small of her back and massaged across it before finding the bottom of her shirt and letting his hand slide underneath to touch the warm, silky skin there. Fireworks were going off in his head, and he felt actual pain in his parts down south because he wanted her so badly. His hand made it up to the clasp of her bra, and that was when the dogs went crazy.
Chapter Twelve
Gavin stood up and adjusted himself. It wasn’t hard for Lucy to see how much he desired her. He reached down and helped her to her feet, and then they both turned in the direction the dogs had run off into. “It’s probably a coyote,” he said. “They better hope it’s a big one.” He pulled her body back up against his and kissed her hard that time. Lucy knew she should offer some resistance, but the simple fact of the matter was that she just didn’t want to.
When he let her come up for air, the desire was thick in his hazel eyes, and his voice was husky as he said, “Hold onto that thought, I’ll be right back.” He whistled, and Satan came over and stopped next to him. He slapped his hat back on his head and slid his foot into the stirrup, climbing up on the animal’s back and taking off in the direction of the dogs. Something about the way he rode like he and the horse were an extension of each other gave her chills.
A Cowboy Worth Loving (Canton County Cowboys 1) Page 8
