And before McKinnon could stop her, she took off in the darkness, hurriedly walking back toward the cottage.
* * *
High up on a mountain, another individual was finding it hard to sleep. Corey Westmoreland stood at the window gazing out, wondering if all was well with his daughter. She had called earlier to say she had unpacked and liked the cottage she would be living in for the next few weeks. But what she hadn’t said and what he couldn’t help wondering was how she and McKinnon were getting along.
He turned when he heard the sound of feet touching the floor and smiled as he watched his wife—the woman he loved more than anything—softly walk over to him and right into his outstretched arms. “Sorry, honey, I didn’t mean to wake you,” he whispered softly against her ear, giving her a peck there.
“You’re worried about Casey, aren’t you?”
He nodded, knowing he couldn’t and wouldn’t keep anything from Abby, especially his feelings. “Yes. Clint and Cole are concerned, as well.”
“Is it because she’s taken the job with McKinnon?”
Corey shook his head. “No, McKinnon and Casey are going to have to work out their own problems in that area. What her brothers and I are concerned about is whether she’s come to terms with what Carolyn told her all those years ago. Casey’s been going through a lot emotionally since finding out the truth.”
Abby nodded as she cuddled closer into her
husband’s arms. “What I think Casey needs to help pull her life together is the love of a good man—and I believe McKinnon is that man.”
Corey shrugged. “He could very well be but he won’t let that happen. I told you about his medical history. Ever since he discovered that he’s a carrier of that rare blood disease, he made up his mind that he would never marry and father children. It was a hard decision for him. Then, a few years ago he met someone he thought would be the perfect mate, but once he told her the truth about his medical condition and his decision not to ever father any children, she left him high and dry. McKinnon has had a lot of hurt and pain in his life, Abby.”
“And so has Casey. That’s why they need each other.”
Corey shook his head. “McKinnon won’t see it that way.”
“I want to think that eventually he will. Everything happens for a reason. I think you and I are living proof of that. If it’s meant for them to be together then they will. All they need is time and opportunity, and with her living right there on his ranch, right under his nose, they will have that. McKinnon needs Casey as much as Casey needs him.” She lifted her head, looked into Corey’s face and smiled. “I have a feeling that before long, you’ll become the father of the bride.”
Corey returned her smile and pulled Abby closer into his arms. McKinnon was an outstanding young man but right now he was hurt and angry. He just hoped his daughter would be able to handle him. But then if anyone could, it would be a Westmoreland.
* * *
McKinnon slipped beneath the sheets after taking his second cold shower that night. He had gotten sweaty riding Thunder and hot after kissing Casey. If he thought he hadn’t been able to get to sleep before, he sure as hell wouldn’t get any now—not with memories of devouring Casey’s mouth and breasts so blatantly vivid in his mind.
She had tasted just like he’d known she would, and with a particular flavor that was all hers. And just the thought that she was a novice sent sensuous chills down his body. He wondered if the overprotectiveness of her two brothers was the reason for her lack of experience. He shook his head, dismissing that assumption. He had gotten to know Casey well enough to know that although Clint and Cole may have looked out for her over the years, it had been her decision regarding the level of her involvement with any man. Most women he knew at her age had been kissed hundreds of times—on every part of their body—and he couldn’t help wondering the extent of her knowledge. A part of him would love to find out, but another part—the one that knew maintaining distance between him and Casey was the best thing—fought the idea with a passion.
Passion.
And that was what he was trying not to think about, especially when it came to Casey. He definitely had to toe the line. There was no way he could treat her like he treated other women he wanted in his bed. First of all, he needed to get that idea out of his mind because it wouldn’t work. And to be sure of that, he would start keeping his distance beginning tomorrow. The only time he would seek her out was when he needed to know the progress she was making with Prince Charming.
Satisfied that he had at least gotten that much cleared up and settled in his mind, McKinnon sought a comfortable position in bed and hoped like hell he got some semblance of a fairly decent amount of sleep.
Chapter 6
“Casey is doing a downright fine job with Prince Charming,” Norris said, glancing over at McKinnon.
“Is she?” McKinnon asked, trying to sound nonchalant but at the same time angry that his pulse rate always seemed to increase with the mere mention of her name. It had been a week since he’d seen her—at least up close. The day following the night they’d kissed, he’d made himself scarce, leaving it up to Norris to give her his expectations regarding Prince Charming.
He knew from Henrietta that she preferred taking her meals alone at the guest cottage, however, it seemed the two women had gotten rather chummy and shared lunch together at the big house every day. Once he’d known Casey’s schedule, he had adjusted his to make sure he wasn’t around when she was. But that didn’t really help matters because there were plenty of things to remind him of her presence. He caught the scent of her each and every time he walked into his home.
She had made things a little easy for him this past weekend by leaving on Friday evening to spend time on her father’s mountain, not returning until late Sunday. He had kept himself pretty busy going over breeding records but had found that every so often he would get up and look out the window as if anxiously awaiting her return.
And then at night whenever he went to bed, all he had to do was close his eyes to remember the feel of his mouth on hers, his tongue in that mouth and the flavor of her that seemed to be embedded in his taste buds. The bottom line was that he wanted to be with her the way a man needed to be with a woman.
Hell, he’d even gone into town a couple of nights ago to his and Durango’s old hangout, Haley’s Bar and Grill, but hadn’t seen a single woman he wanted to sleep with. The only woman he wanted was the one living in his guest cottage—the one who was definitely off-limits to him. But still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t dream about her at night, wishing she was in bed with him while he stripped her naked and…
“Damn.” McKinnon cursed when he saw the cut on his hand, thanks to the barbwire fence he was trying to repair on a section of his property. He should have been concentrating on what he was doing instead of fantasizing about Casey.
Luckily for him the cut wasn’t deep, which meant it shouldn’t require stitches. But it would require him putting something on it. He had taken off his gloves to get a better grip on the pliers when the thing had slipped.
“You okay, McKinnon?”
He glanced over at Norris. “I got a cut from this barbwire and need to go up to the house to put something on it. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Norris looked at the cut, saw the amount of blood and lifted his brow in concern. “Maybe you need me to take you into town so Dr. Mason can take a look at it.”
“No, I’m up on my tetanus shots and it doesn’t need stitches. I’ll be fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Okay. I don’t want Morning Star and the Judge to have my ass if something happens to you. Why don’t you stay at the house and let me and the boys finish things up here.”
McKinnon lifted his brow, wondering if Norris was about to accuse him of bein
g more of a hindrance than a help again. He would be the first to admit that his mind hadn’t been focused lately for thinking about Casey but still… “And you sure you and the guys will have the fence repaired by morning?”
Norris chuckled. “Look McKinnon, I was repairing barbwire fences before the day you were born.” And for good measure the older man then added, “And I’m yet to get a cut on any of my fingers. Now go.”
“All right, I’m going,” McKinnon said, moving toward Thunder.
“I don’t know where your mind has been lately, but it’s been wandering quite a bit,” he heard Norris say, but refused to acknowledge the man’s comment by turning around.
A half hour after cleaning his wound, applying antiseptic and putting on a bandage, McKinnon walked out of the bathroom, glad Henrietta had gone into town to do her weekly grocery shopping. If she’d seen the cut on his hand, no matter how minor the injury, she would have harassed him until he went into town for Doc Mason to stitch him up.
He turned when he heard a knock at the door. Remembering that Henrietta wasn’t in, he moved through the living room to open it. Immediately his breath caught at the same time his pulse escalated and he felt a tightness in his jeans. Casey was standing there and the sight of her, the scent of her, suddenly made his skin feel overheated.
He cleared his throat, forced the lump down. “Casey, is there anything I can do for you?” he said as normal as he could while trying to force from his mind all the things he would love doing for and to her.
She seemed just as surprised to see him as he was to see her. “No. I was about to leave to go into town and wanted to know if Henrietta wanted me to pick up anything.”
It was then that he took in what she was wearing—a dress that that he bet would ruffle around her legs when she walked. It was light pink and the color made her look totally feminine, alluring and desirable. And she had light makeup on, and even added a dash of color to her lips. Lips he remembered kissing once and would love kissing again.
He cleared his throat for a second time before saying, “Henrietta isn’t here. She went into town to pick up the weekly supplies and groceries.” Then he checked his watch. “You’re through for the day all ready?”
He regretted asking the question before it left his mouth—especially when he could tell from her expression it got her dander up. “Yes,” she replied, rather stiffly. “I put in a couple of extra hours this week and asked Norris yesterday if I could finish up early today. I have an appointment in town.”
He frowned. “An appointment?”
“Yes. A real estate agent has a couple of places to show me.”
His frown deepened. “You’re moving? Our deal called for you to stay here in the guesthouse.”
“I know what our deal called for, McKinnon,” she said, locking gazes and tempers with him, “and I plan to honor it,” she snapped. “I’m looking for a place to stay once my job here is finished.”
“What about Corey’s place?”
“What about it?”
“I assumed that’s where you’d be staying since the reason you decided to move here was to get to know him better.”
“But that doesn’t mean I have to be underfoot. Besides, he and Abby need their privacy,” she said, like that should explain everything.
In a way it did. McKinnon knew exactly what she wasn’t saying. The couple was openly affectionate, but he was used to such behavior because his own parents were the same way.
“I can’t live there permanently,” Casey added. “I need my own place. If I were to get a job I can’t be coming back and forth off Corey’s Mountain everyday.”
McKinnon nodded. To get on or off the mountain you could only drive so far and then had to travel the rest of the way by horseback. At least that’s how things had been before Serena Preston had moved to town and started a helicopter business. In addition to doing private tours, she provided air transportation to and from those ranches higher up in the mountains twice a week. But using air transportation on a frequent basis could get rather expensive.
“What happened to your hand!” Casey’s words cut into his thoughts and he glanced down to notice it had started bleeding again through the bandage.
“I cut it on barbwire earlier.”
“Aren’t you going to the doctor?” she asked, her voice sounding somewhat panicky.
“Hadn’t planned on it,” he said, leaning in the doorway. “I’ve put something on it.”
“But it’s bleeding.”
“I noticed.”
She looked at him with total exasperation on her face. “Your need to see a doctor for your hand, McKinnon. If you want I can take you there since I’m going to town.”
He lifted a brow. “What about your appointment?”
“It’s not for a couple of hours. The reason I was leaving so early was to do some shopping, but I can do that anytime. Getting your hand taken care of is more important.”
McKinnon gazed at her for a moment, saw the concern etched on her face. This was the woman he had avoided for a week. The woman he went to bed dreaming about each night. The woman whose kiss still lingered in his mouth. The woman he wanted with a passion.
The woman he could not have.
But he wanted to spend time with her this afternoon. Find out how things had been going with her. He didn’t want to hear it secondhand from Henrietta or Norris. He wanted to hear her voice, smell her scent, invade her space…
“McKinnon, do you want me to drive you to the doctor’s office in town or not?”
Her words interrupted his thoughts and as he gazed into her eyes he made a decision. He would spend a couple of hours with her today but then tomorrow it was back to business at usual. He would put distance between them again. “You sure it won’t mess up your appointment time?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
He nodded. “Then hold on, let me grab my hat.”
* * *
Casey drove while McKinnon sat in the seat next to her not saying anything, just absently staring out the window at the endless miles of scenic meadows, pastures and mountains they passed.
He was frowning—as usual. She wondered how often he smiled. She’d seen him do so once when he had been standing in a group talking to her cousins. Spencer had shared some joke and all the men, including McKinnon, had laughed. But other than that one time, she was yet to see the corners of his lips crinkle up. She couldn’t help but wonder about both the sadness and anger she often saw in his gaze. She had asked Durango about it once but he’d shrugged saying he didn’t know what she was talking about.
And it was obvious McKinnon had avoided her this week. Even now she could tell that he was tense and angry about something, but she didn’t know how to go about breaking through his defenses. She was used to dealing with moody males, thanks to Clint and Cole. The moodiness she could deal with, but not the anger because she didn’t understand the reason for it.
A part of her knew it had something to do with the kiss they’d shared that night a week ago. Why had he gotten upset about it? They were both adults and he was the one who’d suggested doing it in the first place, saying a kiss was what they needed to sleep, and of course she’d gone along with it since kissing him was something she’d wanted to do for a long time. And he’d been right about the kiss. She had slept like a baby and had awakened the next day with a longing to see him, but he’d evidently regretted what they’d shared and had other ideas and began putting distance between them…until now.
“So, how are things going with Prince Charming?”
The sound of his voice jerked her back to the present. She glanced over at him. He wasn’t looking at her but his muscular body was reclined back against the seat staring straight ahead and the Stetson he wore low on his head shielded his eyes. Tight jeans were stretched across his thighs and the
blue shirt accentuated a strong, sturdy chest. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail and his profile was just as sexy as the rest of him.
Unwanted images were forming in her mind—especially of how wild and untamed he’d look that night in the courtyard. She wished the kiss they’d shared could have gone on and on since she had enjoyed it so much. No man had ever kissed her that way before and…
“Casey?”
Abruptly she was snapped back to reality. He was looking at her with those dark eyes of his and suddenly she was filled with this urgent, compelling hunger to kiss him again.
“Yes?”
“I asked how things were going with Prince Charming.”
And naturally when you asked I was thinking about something that I shouldn’t be. “We’re in the getting-to-know-you-better stage,” she said, forcing the words from her mouth through thick abated breath. “I’m walking him a lot to get a feel of his balance and taking note of those things that might distract him, make him not alert as he should be. I’m trying to develop a good impression with him—one that will last. He’s still somewhat tense and I’m trying to rid him of that. Once that happens then the bonding can begin.”
“What about working on his speed?”
Casey could see from out the corner of her eye that McKinnon was still looking at her but she refused to look back when she responded. “He has speed, McKinnon, otherwise Jamal would not have purchased him to use in the races. Once I get rid of the tension and the bonding starts, then he’ll do some amazing things, including increasing his speed. You’ll see.”
McKinnon got quiet again for a while. He thought about the reason she was going into town, frowned and then said, “Have you considered moving in with Durango and Savannah instead of getting your own place somewhere?” For some reason he was bothered by the thought of her living in the city alone. “I bet they’d be glad to have you as a guest for a while.”
Casey’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “For goodness sakes. They’re still newlyweds. I would feel like I’m imposing on them.”
Dreams of Forever: Seduction, Westmoreland StyleSpencer's Forbidden Passion Page 6
