She smiled sweetly. “It’s okay, you know.”
“What is?”
“The ranch. You’re worrying about the ranch, aren’t you?”
In truth, he hadn’t thought much about the ranch today. All he could keep his mind on was Melanie. Guilt suddenly stabbed at him. “Mitch is a workhorse. Mom will probably have to drag him in for a meal. But I have no doubt the ranch is in good hands.” For the time being anyway, he thought.
“He’s worked with you for a long time?”
“Going on ten years now until he went to Baltimore a few months back. He started on the weekends when he was still in high school, filling in for me when I was out on rodeo, which was just about every weekend. Then full time when I decided to go pro. Been with us a long time. I hate to see him leave.”
“If he’s happy at Black Rock, why would he?”
“There comes a time when a man wants to dig his own roots, have something to give his kin. It’s been a dream of his to own his own ranch. He’s just come in to some money himself, so who knows?” He dunked himself beneath the surface of the water. When he emerged, Melanie was right beside him.
“I’m surprised you haven’t asked him for help.”
Stoney dragged his fingers through his wet hair to get it off his face. “I did.”
“I don’t mean as a ranch hand.”
“What? You mean money? I could never do that.”
“Why not? You said he just came into money. He wants to buy his own ranch.”
“I can’t sell the ranch. I won’t do it. It’s been part of my family for generations.” He heard his harsh voice, saw the startled look in her eyes and cursed himself.
She swam a few feet away from him. “Selling Mitch a share of Black Rock is better than losing the whole thing. You said you wanted to expand the ranch. Why not take on a partner?”
He thought about it for a moment. The idea had merit. Financially, it could put them in a better position to get back in the black. Finally, he pushed the notion aside. It was true he hadn’t thought much about marriage and children in recent years but he did want something to pass on one day should he ever have a son or daughter of his own. “It wouldn’t be Buxton land.”
Melanie dipped her gaze before looking up at him again. “Ah, roots. I forgot. Forgive me for saying this, but you may have no choice.”
“You think you’re so smart,” he said, teasingly, hoping to change the subject.
“As a matter of fact...”
“Okay, smarty, what made a debutante from Long Island want to be a Zoologist?” he asked.
She didn’t respond right away and finally gave him a half grin. “I have a thing about being in the company of wild beasts.”
He chuckled. “No really.”
“I’m serious. I used to go to the zoo when I was a kid. I always loved going. But it always made me cry.”
“Then why’d you go?”
“Because I couldn’t not go. I’d see the animals all caged up and I thought ‘I know how that feels’. I thought those animals where the only ones who knew how caged I felt.” She glanced over at him, and cocked her head. In the light of the moon, he could only see the silhouette of her face, but he was sure she was blushing. “You think I’m crazy, don’t you?”
“No.”
She splashed him with a spray of water. “Yes, you do.”
He stood up, towering over her and cupped his hands on the surface of the water, then began deluging Melanie with splashes. “Do you really want to start something?”
“Okay, okay, uncle,” she said, laughing, holding her hands over her face to shield herself.
He sank back into the warm pool, laughing, and muttered, “Chicken.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. One time when I was about nine, my mother had this charity event and one of the attractions they’d set up for the guests was a petting zoo. I was all dressed up in this frilly pink dress with white laced socks and patent leather shoes. I spent the whole time by the animal pen. I felt so bad because the animals were all huddled in these small corrals while everyone passed them by and gawked. I couldn’t stand it. I kept crying and asking my mother to free them. She was too busy socializing. So when no one was looking, I pulled the pen free and let all the animals out.” She covered her mouth with both her hands to muffle her giggles. He could see her shoulders shaking, making the water ripple around her from her motion. “You should have seen it. My mother was furious.”
He couldn’t help but chuckle, too, and the sound of their laughter echoed off the rocks surrounding the pool. It almost sounded surreal, and magical, and made him dizzy.
“There were these animals--goats and sheep, and there was even a small giraffe--running all over the place, jumping on people.” She dipped her head to just above the surface of the water, unable to contain herself. Lord, how he loved the sound of her laughter. Tears filled her eyes and after a second or two she wiped them away.
“You do cause quite stir when you put your mind to it, Sunshine.”
“I try. I knew then I wanted to work with animals. I wanted to go to Africa and see them in their natural habitat, free from the restriction of cages and fences.”
“So why come here? Why not just go to Africa?” he finally asked.
Her voice sobered. “My father is rich.”
“I knew that already.”
“He knows how to use his money to get what he wants.” She stretched her arms out along a boulder and tilted her head back against it for support. “A few of us in my graduate class were working with a professor who was looking for people to go to Kenya with him on an expedition. He’d just been awarded a grant, and he was taking a two-year sabbatical to study some of the wildlife. I was thrilled when he asked me to join his team. I couldn’t believe it. Two years in Africa!”
“So what’s stopping you?”
“I found out my father was the one funding the expedition. He never took my interest in Zoology seriously. He basically placated me, thinking I could use my experience for charity work later on when I married some stuffed shirt. He never dreamed I actually wanted to use my degrees.”
“You have more than one?”
She nodded modestly. “My masters focused on perissodactyla and artiodactyla animals.”
Stoney tossed her a wry grin. “Huh?”
She smiled. “Horses, rhinoceroses, camels, cattle. You get the picture. That’s how I met Professor Lawrence. When I told my father I was going to Kenya, he threatened to pull the money.” He heard her heave a quick sigh that held disgust. “I couldn’t believe it. After all I’d worked for, what everyone else on that team had worked for, he was pulling the money. Because of me. I couldn’t ruin it for everyone else by insisting I go, but I couldn’t allow my father to keep controlling my life. When does your life become you own?”
“At birth, I suppose.”
“That’s the way it should be, but that’s not the way it is sometimes.”
“I still don’t understand why you ended up here?”
“I was so angry when the professor confronted me with what my father had said. See, instead of coming to me, Dad went behind my back and demanded I be taken off the team.”
“Without talking to you about it first?”
She nodded. “Professor Lawrence was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He didn’t want to flat out tell me I couldn’t go. But he couldn’t stand how unfair the whole thing was, so he decided to tell me the truth in the hopes I could convince my father to change his mind.”
“But he didn’t,” Stoney said.
Melanie shook her head. “Not Edmund T. Summers III. He doesn’t want his little girl getting malaria, or being attacked by a lion or some such crud.” She took a deep breath to compose herself, seemingly conscious of her tirade.
“He loves you. You can’t blame him for wanting to keep you safe,” Stoney said softly. For a moment she went perfectly still. He wondered if she thought he was a traitor, understanding her father�
�s motives for protecting his daughter. But he did understand. It was exactly how his parents felt about him going back to bull riding.
“Sometimes living safe is like not living at all,” she finally said.
Her vulnerability struck Stoney deep in his chest and made it hard for him to breathe. He wanted to reach out and touch her, feel her hair spill into his hand, smell the scent of her skin as he kissed her...everywhere.
He turned his attention to the stars dimly lit in the sky above. If anyone had told him a week ago he’d be out in the wilderness with a beautiful woman like Melanie, as if he didn’t have a care in the world, he’d have laughed in their face. He felt like laughing now, except this was no joking matter.
She covered her mouth and yawned. “This was just the medicine I needed tonight. I could sleep for a hundred years now.”
“You should turn in. We have a long trek ahead of us tomorrow.”
“Close your eyes,” she said. He did as he was told, and he heard the sound of water sloshing about as she lifted herself onto a boulder. “Okay, I’m decent.”
He opened his eyes and saw that she was wrapped in a terry cloth towel that draped over her shoulders and hung just to the top of her thighs, giving him a sinfully good view of her long legs. Sitting in a pool of water, his mouth suddenly felt cotton dry.
“Aren’t you coming to bed, too?” she said softly, staring down at him as if waiting for him to follow.
He shook his head. “I want to check on the horses, make sure they’re okay before I turn in.” He knew his excuse was feeble. He’d spent much of the past few nights awake, listening to the sounds of the night as if it would give him some truths, some antidote for what was nagging at him. He’d even listened to Melanie’s rhythmic breathing as she slept, counting how many times she’d toss in her sleeping bag.
She hugged herself, pulling the towel tighter around her wet body. “Oh,” she finally said. “Goodnight.”
Their gazes locked for a brief moment. It didn’t take much to figure out what was on her mind. It made him grow hard.
Boundaries. They’d drawn them and had to keep them. She finally turned, walking the short way toward camp, and slipped into her tent. When he heard the zipper close, Stoney eased out a long sigh.
Tonight, he’d wanted her. More than he’d ever had. How in God’s name was he going to last the whole month if he couldn’t keep this longing for Melanie under control? It was then that he realized that these crazy feelings he had for Melanie was more than just typical male lust. He’d known that feeling before, given into it when the opportunity arose while on the rodeo circuit. But this was more. Much more.
Melanie was a special woman. In her he saw the light of a thousand candles lighting his way down a path he hadn’t thought he’d ever wanted to travel. And now suddenly, that was the only course he wanted to follow.
In the distance he heard the siren call of a wolf and wondered if he was calling his mate. He drew in a clean breath of mountain air, thinking only of how much he wanted to curl up in that tent with Melanie.
Boundaries.
Stoney waited until Melanie secured her tent before he climbed into his own. He dug into his duffel and pulled out the little battery operated lantern and hung it on the strap suspended above his head so that he could see what he was doing. The small beam of light quickly filled the small space.
He spread out his bedroll and quickly pulled on a dry pair of underwear and jeans. The sleeping bag was cold from being exposed to the elements. He crawled inside and felt the chill seep into his skin. But it would only take a few minutes for his body to be warm again beneath the flannel.
A few minutes later, he heard the sound of Melanie’s zipper being pulled and footsteps digging into the ground just outside his tent.
“Is everything okay, Melanie?” he called out, but didn’t get a reply.
Seconds later his eyes were drawn toward the sound of the zipper being pulled down. Melanie slipped into the tent carrying her sleeping bag.
“What are you doing?” he asked, leaning his upper body on his elbow. She was wearing the fresh pair of jeans she’d changed into and the wool sweater he’d seen her wear over the last few days.
“I’m cold,” she said, plopping her sleeping bag on the space next to him.
“You just took a hot bath,” he said, knowing she wasn't talking about that kind of cold.
“I'm still cold,” she muttered softly. Deep, dark eyes filled with suggestion and question looked down at him. It wouldn't take but a slight sigh to escape her lips and he'd be there, with her her every move, her every desire. He wanted it, too.
Instead, he looked at the sleeping bag and then at her, trying to keep his raging desire at bay.
“I know. I am, too.”
“Then let’s keep each other warm.”
And then she sighed. Just slightly. Enough for him to lose the last thread of control he had on his will. Lord, now he wanted her.
His breath hitched in his throat, and his heartbeat was like thunder in his ear. “Melanie, I told you-”
“I know.” She knelt next to him and began rolling out her sleeping bag with the zipper edge against his sleeping bag. “I heard everything you said the other night. I’ve been lying in this sleeping bag alone every night since, turning it over and over again until I can’t think about it anymore. There's just one problem.”
“What is it?”
She sat back on her knees and stared at him, her eyes saying all he needed to know. “I don’t know how you’ve been feeling but...I want you,” she whispered, flipping a strand of hair behind her ear. “I want you so much I can’t think. I didn’t mean for this to happen, and I don’t know how it did, but here we are.” She said the whole thing in one breath as if she had to or she’d lose her nerve.
He stared at her for a long moment, looking at the shadows the small lantern cast on the delicate features of her face, listening to her breathing. He could almost hear her heart racing like a wild stallion in an open pasture.
#
Chapter Eight
Melanie stared at Stoney with a deep longing that overwhelmed him and made the blood pump wildly through his veins.
“A man only has so much strength,” he rasped, hoping he could hang on to the last threads of his.
“Then give it up. I have.”
She leaned forward on her knees and kissed him gently on the lips, her hair spilling across his shoulders. He felt his control slipping away. Lord help him, but he had none where Melanie was concerned. He pulled her down on top of him, crushing her against his chest. She was everything he’d imagined she’d be. She was soft and delicate and wild and hot all at the same time. He took her mouth with a savage passion that set his soul on fire.
He wanted to touch her, to feel her naked against his flesh, taste every bit of her until she moaned with exquisite pleasure. There had been women, but none as lovely and beautiful or exciting as Melanie.
He cupped her cheek and kissed her neck, drinking in the sultry scent of her skin that was all her. No perfume masked her sweetness. He continued the trail of kisses, pulling at her sweater, until he reached the valley of her chest. Her fingers fumbled with the buttons of her sweater. He pushed her hands away and lifted it over her head in one quick movement.
He was still in his sleeping bag. Too much lay between them. He unzipped it quickly and rolled with her until he was on top of her, cradled between her warm, soft thighs.
“You really don't know how I’ve been feeling?” He took her hand and boldly pressed it where his arousal stretched hot and throbbing against his jeans. Her eyes flew open in surprise mixed with anticipation...and red hot desire. Yes, she was turned on by the power she had over him. She was filled with the same need that was driving him insane. “This is how much I’ve been wanting you since I first laid eyes on you.” He heard his ragged voice echo in his ear along with the sound of his raging heartbeat.
She pulled her hand away and reached behind her t
o unclasp her bra. Her breasts spilled out of the white lace fabric and she presented herself to him as if she were an offering. “Make love to me, Stoney.”
He didn’t need to hear her say the words. Her eyes said it all and more. But hearing the longing in her voice, feeling the urgency of her strokes against his chest, her fingers digging into his flesh of his shoulders, only surged him on.
He drew her taut nipple deep into his mouth and suckled, feeling her writhe beneath him, and he knew he was already close to release. He had to slow himself down. This was a woman worth loving and loving well. And he wanted to know every inch of her. He wanted to make her cry out in the night with the pleasure of being loved.
She arched her back and pressed his hand against her breast while he sucked and teased the other. Each moan of pleasure that escaped her lips surged him on.
She was pulling at him. “I want to feel you against me.” He pressed his chest against hers as she dug her fingers into his thick hair. He was in agony. Every bit of him screamed out for her. He wanted to be inside her, feeling her, loving her.
In an instant the earth seemed to tilt. Yes, he wanted to love her...because he did love her. It had been torture keeping himself away all these nights, knowing she wanted him, knowing how much he wanted her. But a man only had so much strength, and now he’d given himself up to it, and he was in heaven.
He kneaded her breast and slipped his hand down her flat stomach until he found the zipper of her jeans. Slipping his hands beneath the fabric, he pulled her jeans and lace panties down until she was gloriously naked before him.
He stood up on his knees and gazed at her, the way her hair fanned out around the flannel sleeping bag like wildfire, the way her body moved impatiently waiting for him. Waiting just for him. “You’re so beautiful,” he rasped against her ear when he joined her again.
She dug her fingers in his hair and breathed hard as he made a trail of kisses down the middle of her belly and stroked the soft flesh on the inside of her thighs. Cupping her derriere, he lifted her hips and loved her with his tongue where she was hot and moist and completely on fire. She bucked beneath him, digging her fingers into his hair and calling his name over and over again until finally, he felt her body tighten and felt her body spasm with completion.
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