Brody stared after him, then slowly stood. There were times when Brody wondered how Cal handled all the pressures of running the station. So many people depended on him. His parents took a share of the station income. Then there were the stockmen who expected to be paid. Teague’s practice wouldn’t make decent money for a few years, so he traded vet services for room and board. And now Brody was sponging off Callum. From now on, he’d make a better effort to pull his own weight.
The kitchen was already noisy when Brody walked in, filled with the usual dinner guests-the stockmen, Teague and Mary, and now Gemma and Payton.
With women at the table, the conversation had become much more civilized. Brody dislodged one of the jackaroos from the chair next to Payton, then sat down beside her. Unlike the majority of the men, Brody unfolded his serviette and placed it on his lap instead of stuffing it down the front of his shirt.
“What exactly is a B and S?” Gemma asked.
“Bachelors and Spinsters Ball,” Teague explained as he grabbed a piece of bread and slathered it with butter. “All the unmarried people get together for a weekend of silliness. If you’re not an Aussie, I don’t think I’d recommend it. Foreigners might not have the fortitude to survive the weekend.”
“But it sounds like fun,” Payton said, leaning forward and bracing her elbows on the table. “I always loved balls and dances and cotill-” She stopped short, as if she’d suddenly revealed too much. Forcing a smile, she continued, “Is it formal or semiformal?”
“Tell her, Teague,” Brody insisted, chuckling to himself. Though Payton hadn’t said much, she had revealed something of value this time out. She’d either enjoyed a high-class upbringing or she was a professional princess. He’d never known a single person who’d been to a real ball.
“It’s not really a ball, the way you’re thinking,” Teague explained. “And by silliness, I mean debauchery.”
“It’s more like a big outdoor party,” Callum explained.
Teague nodded. “There’s music and drinking and…well, the whole idea is to get pissed, have a good time and hopefully enjoy a shag at the end of the night.”
Gemma and Payton looked at each other, shocked expressions on their faces. “Have sex?” Payton asked.
Teague nodded. “Yeah, I guess that’s the point. Lots of blokes bring their swag along for just that purpose. Life gets real lonely in the outback.”
“What is swag?” Gemma asked. “Money? Do you pay for sex?”
“It’s a sleeping roll,” Brody explained. “Camping gear. Believe me, you don’t want to go to the B and S. It gets feral.”
“Filthy is a better word for it,” Mary said as she set a bowl of peas next to Brody. She took her spot at the far end of the table. “If you don’t want to get dirty or pawed, I wouldn’t recommend it. And the loos are disgusting.”
“I heard they’re going to do something about that,” Callum commented. “The organizers reckon they’ll get a better class of sheilas if they guarantee clean toilets. They’re going to hire someone to keep them tidy.”
“I remember last year, Jack made his own loo with a milk crate and a dunny seat,” Teague said. “All the girls were wild for it. He’d let ’em use it, then try to charm them out of their grundies. Such a player, our Jack.”
The lanky stockman shook his head, his long hair falling into his eyes. “I won’t be able to compete with trailer toilets,” Jack said glumly.
“It might be fun,” Payton said. She turned to Gemma. “What do you think? When in Australia, do as the Aussies do?”
Gemma laughed. “We’d have to get something nice to wear.”
“I have dresses,” Payton said. “I need work clothes. I can’t wear Davey’s castoffs forever. Not that I don’t appreciate the loan,” she said, giving the kid a warm smile.
“I have to fly to Brisbane in a few days. I could take you shopping,” Teague offered.
“Hang on there,” Callum interrupted. “Gemma and Payton are not going to Bachelors and Spinsters.”
“We won’t participate,” Gemma said. “We’ll just go to…observe. Think of it as sightseeing. Or anthropological research.”
“If you want to see the real sights of Australia, I’ll take you,” Teague said. “Queensland is beautiful from the air.”
“There’s an idea,” Callum said. “You’d be much safer in a plane piloted by our brother than at Bachelors and Spinsters.”
Brody slipped his hand beneath the table and smoothed his palm along Payton’s thigh. “We could always send Mary to the ball. It’s about time she got off this station and had a bit of fun. There are plenty of blokes who’d fancy a dance with our Mary.”
The older woman’s cheeks turned bright red and she hushed the laughter around the table. “Maybe I will,” she said, giving them all a haughty expression. “I’d venture to say I could outdance all you boys.”
The rest of the dinner conversation focused on the sights that every visitor in Australia needed to see, the Bachelors and Spinsters forgotten. Everyone at the table had an opinion about the finest tourist sights, both in and outside of Queensland. By the time they’d finished dessert, Teague had a long list, starting with a trip to Brisbane.
As Mary began to clear the table, Brody pushed back, then slid Payton’s chair out for her. The rest of the hands looked at him in disbelief. “What are you all gawking at? Some of us here have good manners,” Brody said.
The men quickly scrambled to their feet and rushed to Gemma’s chair, but Callum waved them off. In truth, Brody’s actions had nothing to do with manners. He wanted Payton all to himself and the faster that happened the better. But she seemed determined to keep him waiting.
“I’m going to help Mary clean up,” she said, taking his plate and hers.
“Go along with you now. I have all the help I can handle,” Mary said. “Davey promised to lend a hand.”
Brody squeezed her elbow and pulled her along, out the backdoor to the porch that ran the width of the house. He found a dark corner and pushed her back against the house, then kissed her long and hard, his hands trapping her arms on either side of her head, his hips pressing into hers.
“I’ve been wanting to do that since I sat down next to you.” He groaned.
Payton clutched the front of his shirt, then pushed up onto her toes and kissed him back. “Me, too,” she said breathlessly. “I know where we can go. Someplace private.”
This time, she pulled him along. They headed toward the stables, now dark and silent. When they got inside, Payton fumbled around in the gloom. “There’s a flashlight here somewhere.”
Brody grabbed it from a shelf above her head and flipped it on, holding it under his chin. “It’s called a torch,” he said.
Payton held out her hand and he gave it to her. They made their way down the length of the stable to an empty stall. She slid the door open and stepped inside. To Brody’s surprise, she’d laid blankets over a mound of straw and arranged a few bales for seating.
“You did this?”
Payton nodded. “When you left to take the phone call. I figured we wouldn’t have any privacy in the bunkhouse with Gemma there.”
“And what do you plan to do with me once you’ve lured me inside?” he teased.
“I think we should get to know each other a little better,” she said. She caught the front of his shirt and pulled him toward her. “There’s so much I don’t know about you. So many questions I have to ask.”
“You want to talk?”
She nodded.
“I don’t know anything about you,” he said, smiling down at her. “Tell me something. Anything”
“My birthday is August tenth,” she said. “I’m going to be twenty-six.”
“Something more interesting,” he demanded, his breath warm against her mouth.
“I broke my arm when I fell off my horse. I was seventeen. I had to have surgery.” She pointed to her elbow. “I have a scar.”
He ran his fingers through her
hair and she closed her eyes and tipped her head back. “Something more intimate,” he urged, pressing his lips to her throat.
“I lost my virginity in a stable. The Grand Prix in 2001. A month before I broke my arm. I was seduced by a Brazilian stable hand with the most beautiful blue eyes.”
“Funny,” Brody replied. “I lost mine in the back of my mother’s car after footy practice. I was fifteen and she was older. Eighteen, if I recall.”
Payton worked at the buttons of his shirt and when they were all undone, she looked up at him. “What else?”
Brody chuckled. “I think we can leave the questions until later.”
“So you know what you’re doing?” she whispered.
Somehow, he found her question incredibly intriguing. “Yes,” he replied as she slid his shirt over his shoulders. “I know exactly what I’m doing. Do you?”
She nodded. “Close the door.”
Brody moved to do as she asked, then froze. Hell, he didn’t know what he was doing. He hadn’t even bothered to bring along protection. “Sorry,” he said, turning to face her. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
He tugged his shirt back on, then took the torch from her hand. He jogged back to the house and when he got to the kitchen, he found Mary sitting alone at the table, reading a magazine and sipping a cup of coffee.
“Back so soon?” she asked.
“It’s a little chilly out. I need to get a jacket for Payton. Wouldn’t want her to catch a cold.”
“You’re a gentleman,” she said, glancing up. “And I hope you’ll use a condom. Safe sex and all.”
Brody stopped short. Mary had slipped into the role of mother to Callum and Teague after their own mother had moved off the station. And now that Brody had returned, she’d welcomed him as a surrogate son and was equally as protective. “Yes, I won’t forget that. Not that it’s any of your business.”
After retrieving the condoms and a jacket from his room, Brody jogged back out to the stables. He found Payton standing at the stable door waiting.
“What was so impor-” She stopped when he held up the string of three condoms. “Oh. Well, that’s probably a good idea.”
He drew her into his arms and they stumbled toward the stall. After they stepped inside, Payton pulled the door closed. The light from the torch, when reflected off the walls of the stable, was just enough to see by. Suddenly, he felt nervous, just as he had the first time he’d been with a girl.
This was silly. There had been plenty of women in his life since then. But none of them had ever affected him the way Payton did. Was it because she was still a stranger? That couldn’t be it. Or was it because she seemed more exotic, different from the women he usually took to his bed?
She was well educated, he knew that much about her. Though she chose to work in a stable, Brody suspected that she’d probably never done a hard day’s work in her life before arriving at the station. And there was the sense that Payton Harwell was the kind of woman who wouldn’t give a guy like him a second glance out in the real world. She was seriously out of his league.
So why was she here, trying to seduce him? What did she really want from him beyond having a shag? Brody stood in front of her and cupped her cheek in his hand. Was it just an undeniable sexual attraction they shared? Or was it more?
He’d find some of his answers in her touch, in the feel of her body. And the rest, he’d leave for later. Spanning her waist with his hands, he pulled her body against his, then reached down and drew her leg up along his hip.
Her breath caught in her throat as he stared down into her eyes. Burying her fingers in his hair, she fixed her gaze on his mouth. “Well, then,” she murmured, “I guess we’re both ready now.”
P AYTON ARCHED against the stable wall, reveling in the feel of Brody’s hands on her body. It was so simple to want him. She didn’t even think before falling into his arms. Maybe there was something in the water here in Australia. Or maybe it was just the man, Payton mused.
Something had changed inside her. For such a long time, she’d tiptoed through life, afraid to make a mistake, fearful that she might disappoint her parents. She’d been their only child, her difficult birth the cause of her mother’s inability to have another baby. So there’d been a lot of pressure for her to be perfect.
But from the moment she’d hopped on that flight in Fiji, she’d felt a burden lift from her shoulders. Her parents would never forgive her, so there was no use trying to appease them. She could be whoever she wanted to be now. And she wanted to be wild and passionate, a woman who took chances and lived life.
She looked up into Brody’s eyes. This was what she wanted, and not just his gorgeous face or his beautiful body, his penetrating gaze or his playful smile. He was what a real man was supposed to be-strong, confident and just a little bit dangerous. His muscles were hard and his hands rough.
Was that what she’d been looking for? Payton wondered. A man who had the power to possess her completely? Except for that very first time, she’d never made love outside the confines of a bedroom. But here she was, in a stable again, anxious to shed her clothes and feel him move inside her.
Here, everything seemed so much more real, more intense. She didn’t feel sheltered and protected anymore. Instead, she’d become wild and uninhibited, like this land and the people around her, taking pleasure in the simplicity of everyday life-and everyday desires. This was her chance to start again. The ties to her past were gradually fraying.
Drawing a deep breath, Payton kissed him, this time making certain he understood her need. She slowly let her leg drop down along his hip, until she stood squarely in front of him. Then she tore at the buttons of his shirt.
He was as anxious as she was to get rid of the garment and a moment later, it lay on the straw at their feet. Payton ran her trembling hands from his shoulders to his belly and back up again. Then, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his warm skin, just below his shoulder.
What began gently gradually turned desperate. With every kiss, every caress, Payton wanted him more. He found the hem of her shirt and tugged it up, the fabric bunched in his fists as his hips pinned hers against the side of the stall. Slowly, Brody sank lower until his mouth was on her bare belly.
Payton’s fingers furrowed through his hair and his lips trailed higher. He pulled at the lacy bra she wore and when his mouth captured her nipple, Payton cried out in surprise. A wave of sensation washed over her and for a moment, she wasn’t sure she could stand.
Holding her tight, Brody tumbled them onto the blankets, pulling her on top of him. His fingers worked at the elastic that held her hair in check, freeing it to fall like a curtain around them both, and then he yanked her shirt over her head.
Payton sat up, straddling his hips, and ran her hand through her hair. Reaching behind her, she unhooked her bra and shrugged out of it. A tiny smile played at the corners of her mouth as she saw his expression shift.
“God, you are beautiful,” he murmured, smoothing a hand over her shoulder to cup her breast. He rubbed her nipple to a hard peak and Payton closed her eyes. She didn’t want to wait any longer. He could seduce her slowly some other time. Right now, she needed to satisfy a craving deep inside of her.
Payton pushed to her feet, standing over him, her gaze fixed on his. She kicked off her shoes, then slowly shimmied out of her jeans. There wasn’t any hesitation or any insecurity. She knew exactly the effect she had on him.
She reached out for him and pulled him up beside her. Her fingers worked at his belt and then his zipper and when he was standing in just his boxers, Payton let out a soft sigh. “That’s better,” she said.
He reached out and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her against his body. Brody’s mouth came down on hers, his kiss deep and demanding. His hands skimmed over her. He knew exactly where to touch to make her ache with desire.
They fell back onto the blankets, Brody rolling her beneath him until his body was stretched out over hers, his hip
s cradled between her thighs. The delicious sensation of his weight sent a shiver through her limbs.
There were a lot of things Brody said that Payton didn’t quite understand. They came from different worlds, and yet their desire for each other needed no translation. Her pulse racing, his hands searching, the anticipation growing between them until it was almost too much to bear.
As he moved above her, his shaft hard between them, Payton remembered her first time and the strange mix of fear and desire and excitement she’d felt. It was like that now with Brody, as if she were just a teenager, still in possession of her virginity.
She sensed this experience wouldn’t be like anything she’d ever had before. He was different. But even more important, she was different. Something inside her had changed the moment she’d run away from her wedding. And it was time to see exactly what it was.
However, Brody seemed intent on taking his time. He smoothed his hands over her bare skin, sending shivers of sensation coursing through her body. His lips drifted lower until he drew her nipple into his mouth again.
Payton couldn’t take it anymore. Holding him close, she rolled on top of him. Then she straddled his hips, feeling the hard ridge of his cock between them.
“We can do it that way, too.” He grinned.
She reached for the condoms lying on the blanket next to them. His erection pressed out against the cotton fabric of his boxers, but she didn’t take the time to pull them off. The need to feel him inside her had overwhelmed any thought of seduction.
After tugging the waistband down, she sheathed him, then drew her panties aside. A moment later, Payton slowly sank down on top of him, closing her eyes and holding her breath until he’d buried himself completely. She’d never taken control like this, but she knew exactly what she wanted and how it would feel.
Liberated, she thought as she slowly released her breath. Sex had always been an obligation with Sam, but now it was a basic need, a desire so strong that she’d lost any sense of propriety.
When she opened her eyes again, he was staring at her, passion burning in his gaze. “Don’t move,” he warned.
Brody Page 6
