Clay stared at his mother standing in front of him. “Mom, I look the most like Dad.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Dad died at fifty. I’m thirty-seven. I don’t intend to leave a wife with a houseful of children alone. It’s better this way. I enjoy being an uncle, and I like my own company.
“I’m as much a loner as Graham, only in a different way. I can stand dealing with people in business, but I need a respite after too much of it.”
His mother knelt in front of him and took hold of his hands. “You are not going to die at fifty.”
“How do you know? We didn’t expect Dad to die. He seemed healthy as a horse.”
“Get up.” She pulled on his arm. “I need some fresh air.” They put on their jackets, and his mother led him out and down the walkway to the gazebo. Once there, they sat at the picnic table and faced each other.
“I never told you or the others how angry I was at your dad after he died. I hid it from you. But I boiled inside. I’d begged him to go to the doctor on and off for a month.” She stared out over the small lake by the gazebo. “I’d caught him rubbing his chest several times. He kept saying it was nothing. He told me he’d pulled a chest muscle.
“Like the rest of us, he thought he was invincible. Just that morning, he agreed to let me call and make an appointment with the doctor. He was feeling better, or so I thought. He and Grace were going on a short ride.” She looked back at Clay. “You know the rest.”
“Why did he have to be so stubborn?” Clay asked and frowned.
“There’s no need to be angry with him after all this time. I used my anger to keep from grieving. Finally, I got counseling and it helped tremendously.”
She took Clay’s hand. “You are my firstborn and have a special place in my heart. As each of the others do for different reasons. I want to see you happy. Get rid of your fear, and for goodness’ sake, if you have symptoms of a heart attack, see a doctor. Better yet, get a good physical every year. Your brother will take care of you.”
He grinned at her. “I will make an appointment next week to have a checkup.”
She sighed. “Good.”
“You never told me where Susie had gone.”
“She’s out riding. Maybe you should join her.”
“Perhaps she prefers to ride by herself.”
“You never know.”
“Are you trying to play matchmaker?”
“Heavens, no, when did I ever interfere with my grown children’s lives?”
Clay raised an eyebrow at her, then grinned. “Don’t play innocent with me, Mom. I know all your tricks.” He waved and walked toward his car.
“No, son, you don’t know all of them,” she whispered to his back.
Chapter Twelve
“Hi, Sam. Did Susie go riding?” Clay walked across the sandy ground to the opening of the barn where Sam stood.
“She left about an hour ago. I suggested she ride to the north. The land’s more level and there’s several nice spots where she can get off her horse and rest. What did you do to upset her?”
“Nothing, she misunderstood a situation and I need to clear it up. I’ll borrow one of the horses in the barn. My stallion’s at my place.”
“They’re your horses, too, Clay. We all share what belongs to the general ranch.”
“I know.” Clay went in the barn and saddled a dark-brown mare.
Sam walked up behind him. “Are you serious about Susie?”
“Why do you ask?”
“She’s the type of woman who can be hurt bad if you’re fooling around.”
Clay glared at him. “How do you know so much about her?”
“It doesn’t take long to see she’s got a good heart. We all like her.”
“She knows I’m not the marrying type. I’ve reminded her more than once.”
“None of us were until we met the right woman.”
Clay got on his horse and looked down at his brother. “How did you know Sylvia was the woman for you? The two of you seemed like misfits at first.”
“With me, it happened fast. I picked Sylvia up to carry her into mom’s house and I looked into her eyes. My heart was never the same.”
“I don’t know. I like my solitude.”
“So did Graham. He couldn’t be happier than he is now with Gina and the baby. You might want to talk with him. But before you leave, let me give you a few items to carry with you.” Sam went in his office and returned with a sleeping bag for two and several bottles of water. You can sit and enjoy the view, and she may be thirsty. The winds have picked up. I think our Indian summer is about over. Next week is November.”
“Thanks, I think.” Clay studied Sam’s expression. “Are you trying to play cupid?”
“I sure hope not. The family might never let me live it down.”
Clay gave him a suspicious look. “I’m on my way. See you later.” The mare raced across the meadow. Fresh air scented with clover swept past his face. The feeling of peace and pleasure convinced him his move home had been for the best. He’d been away most of the past thirteen years except for short visits or the occasional vacation.
Lost in his own reverie, he almost missed the horse tied to one of the trees to the right of him. He headed in that direction, and then tied his horse beside the other one. In the middle of the hammock of trees, a creek flowed and at one end a large rock to the side fed the stream. A small waterfall filled a pond size area. The deep water was cool and refreshing. He and his brothers had skinny-dipped many times on a hot afternoon.
Clay walked quietly through the trees. He stopped when he saw Susie standing by the creek with her arms wrapped around her middle. She must have been deep in thought. She didn’t hear his approach.
Sunlight sparkled on the water and made her black hair shine. She’d raised her sweet face to the sun. When he got closer, she turned and stared in his direction.
“Go away. Let me enjoy my solitude.”
“After I have my say, if you still want me to leave, I will.”
Clay walked toward a grassy area and sat. He took off his boots and socks.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to feel the temperature of the creek. We’ve been having Indian summer weather this past week.” He stuck his feet in the cold water and pulled then back out. “Come sit beside me.”
“No. Didn’t you understand what I said? I don’t want you to join me.”
Ignoring her words, Clay walked toward her.
She put her arms out to keep him at a distance. “Stay back.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what, for showing up in Millie’s restaurant with your girlfriend? The one you took with you to help pick out your furniture.”
“We ran into each other in the store where I bought a desk and chair for my office. I hadn’t seen her in years.” Clay took another step closer. “She suggested we stop at Millie’s to eat. She had her own car. It meant nothing.”
Susie wrinkled her nose and frowned at him. “She looked like it was important to her. I noticed her proprietary hand on your arm.”
Clay reached out and pulled Susie into his arms. She stumbled and landed hard against his chest. He wrapped her snug in his grip. Then he tipped her head.
“You looked like a goddess standing with the sun kissing your skin and shining on your hair.”
“And you are too slick-tongued. I can’t believe a word you say.”
“Wait a moment,” he said. He let loose of her. “Don’t move.” Then he went to his saddlebag and got the sleeping bag and water. He handed her the water. Then he opened the bag and spread it on a grassy spot. “Please have a seat. I want to talk with you. I’ll work hard to convince you I’m telling the truth.”
“I don’t want to hear how you aren’t a marrying man. I got the message.”
“Susie, you have me so confused. I don’t know what I want. All I know is I don’t like it when you get mad at me, or when I hurt you. Can you give me time,
with no promises of the outcome, to see whether I might be wrong about the marriage thing?”
She sat and opened two water bottles. She handed one of them to him. “I am thirsty. Thanks.” Then she stared in front of her as though mesmerized by the waterfall.
“This is a beautiful spot.”
“It is. I didn’t realize until today when I came riding to look for you that I’m sure I’ll be happy being home.”
“You have a great family. I don’t understand how you’ve stayed gone so long.”
“Oh, I visited, but it’s not the same. At the time I was caught up in increasing our financial worth. I enjoyed the challenge. Lately the whole thing has gotten tiring.”
Susie faced him, her legs crossed. “My sister’s been determined I come to New York. I’d been unsettled about what I wanted to do with my life. When I turned twenty-nine, I decided it was time for a change. Being the bank president’s secretary for the rest of my life didn’t appeal to me.” She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “But being in any big city is not for me either. It didn’t take me long to know it’s a nice place to visit, but it’d never feel like home.”
Clay touched her face with his fingers. They brushed across her eyebrows and her lips. She tried to hide her reaction. Still, Clay saw the quick breath, and when his hand slid down her neck, her pulse raced against his touch.
Leaning forward, he kissed her sweet mouth. “Has anyone ever told you, you talk too much?”
He grinned when he asked her.
“Often.”
“I believe it.” She gazed at him with dreamy eyes. His heart did a flip-flop. Her heart pounded against his body, and her pink lips had parted. He nibbled on her bottom lip. She tried to cover the shiver, but he felt it.
Then he kissed her deeply. She was like water to a man dying of thirst. His tongue caressed the inside of her mouth and he tasted her sweetness.
* * * *
Susie thrilled to his touch. Her body responded like a flower opening to the sun. But she was wary. Would his changed attitude last or would he be the irritable boss later?
She hadn’t told him about her shop. I’m not sure why I’m hanging back.
Clay nibbled on her neck and brought her attention fully back to him and the feel of his hard body lying across hers. She stared into his beautiful eyes and joy swept through her.
While he kissed her shoulders, he unfastened her shirt and bra. He removed them and her jeans and panties. The cool breeze blowing through the leaves in the trees made her nipples tighten.
“Rose buds,” Clay said. His mouth covered one nipple and his hand cupped the other. She murmured her delight.
He sucked on her breast and a sizzle of electricity shot up her spine. Her pussy clenched with the desire to have his attention.
She clutched her hand around his stiff cock and her fingers rubbed across the crown. He took a quick breath.
Susie took the opportunity to push on his shoulders. “Lie back and let me pleasure you,” she said.
His hooded eyes studied her face. When he stared at her lips, it was like he kissed her. Then he rolled onto his back. She quickly straddled his legs and took his large cock in her hand. She stroked up and down his length while they stared into each other’s eyes. A sensuous light flared in his eyes and she closed her eyes to savor the moment.
Susie brushed her finger across the tip of his dick and tasted his salty essence. Then she took him in her mouth. His breath hitched and it pleased her to know she brought pleasure to him.
Her tongue licked around his cock as she moved slowly up and down his length. When she sucked, he groaned and his hands fastened in her hair.
“Your mouth feels exquisite around my dick.”
Susie took his words as encouragement and went faster. Her hand caressed his balls gently. His body stiffened, and she tasted more of his tangy release. Clay pulled her up beside him. They cuddled for a few minutes. Then Susie rose and walked to the water’s edge.
Clay stood behind her and placed the sleeping bag Sam had given him around her shoulders. He kissed her neck. “You didn’t let me satisfy you.”
“Bringing you joy is another kind of satisfaction.” She turned and kissed his chest then licked his nipples. “Get inside this big bag with me or you’ll freeze.” She opened her arms. Clay stepped inside and she closed her arms around him, bag and all.
“I want to make love to you. To feel my cock deep in your hot pussy.”
His sexual magnetism made him self-confident and appealing. She breathed in his masculine scent with her every breath, and her desire for him vibrated throughout her body.
He took the sleeping bag from around them and put it on the ground. “Get in quick. I’ll zip us up.” Soon they were snug and warm. But when his lips nuzzled her neck, she placed her hands between them.
“What is it?” he asked.
“There’s something I need to tell you before we go any further.”
Looking puzzled, he leaned his head back a bit to see her face better. “You sound serious.”
“Actually I’m excited, but I don’t know what reaction you’ll have. It doesn’t matter because I’m going to do this regardless. However, I wanted you to hear from me before someone else mentions it to you.”
* * * *
Clay studied her face. Whatever she was going to tell him was important to her. “I’m listening.”
“I talked to the local realtor, Samantha, about the shop you looked at and didn’t want. We met today. She took your mother and me to see the place.” Her words rushed over him. “It has an upstairs apartment. I rented both.” She smiled at him.
He wasn’t sure how he felt about her news.
“Whatever for?”
“I’m going to open a bookstore. I like this area and plan to stay. The apartment is clean and big enough. The best part is I’ll be close to my job.”
She took a deep breath at the end and he couldn’t stop himself from glancing down and admiring her creamy breasts with the pink nipples. He pushed aside his sexy thoughts.
“You have no family here. Why not start your business in New Mexico?”
“I have friends here. I’ve never been on my own, and this gives me the opportunity to learn more about myself. Oh yes, there’s one more thing.”
“You mean I haven’t heard it all?” She giggled and his heart lifted at the sound.
“Your mother, your sisters-in-law, and Millie and her friends are going with me to the town council meeting this Thursday. I’m going to suggest they decorate the main street similar to Wagon Wheel.”
“They won’t agree.”
“They’ll be outnumbered. It’s time the women of this town have more of a say in what happens here.”
“And as a newcomer, you think you know more about the town than women like my mother?” He heard the harshness in his voice and saw her pull back from him, both literally and figuratively.
“You mother believes it’s a wonderful idea. She’s even going to do some baking for my shop. I’m going to have a coffee area with pastries.”
“Mom’s been working hard all her life. She doesn’t need to be baking for you.” He got out of the sleeping bag and pulled on his jeans. “And if you think this will make me decide to marry you, you’re wrong.”
She stood defiantly in front of him. “You are such a jackass.”
The sun shone across her cream-colored skin and the wind blew her long, black hair around her. He bit his lip to keep from smiling. Susie was such a mixture of softness, caring, joy, defiance, determination, and stubbornness. She aroused a mixture of emotions in him. He didn’t know if he was coming or going, angry or in love with her.
“You’re staring at me with a strange look on your face. Don’t you have anything else to say?” She asked and leaned toward him.”
“Yes. I’ll be at the meeting on Thursday with a few friends.” He grabbed the rest of his clothes and started toward his horse.
“Are you just going to leav
e me like this?”
Looking back, he stopped midstride. She stood in all her naked glory with the sleeping bag on her shoulders. His gaze dropped from her face, to her breast, and on down to her small, delicate feet.
Taking long strides he strode back to her. Then he dropped his clothes, took off his jeans, and sheathed his cock. She didn’t move, but she watched him closely.
“Hell, no, I’m not leaving.” He yanked her into his arms and kissed her, ravishing her mouth. His hands rubbed up and down her back, from her curvy buttocks to the back of her neck.
He raised his head. “I don’t know if I’m angry or just hungry for you. Whatever, I want to bury my cock inside your pussy. Do you have any objections?”
“No, but I am cold. Let’s get in the bag and zip up.”
He threw the sleeping bag on the ground, lifted her and laid her down, and then he zipped it up around them.
* * * *
She saw the nerve jumping at the edge of his jaw. His blue eyes were almost black. He had a maddening hint of arrogance about him and yet that’s why she loved him so much.
I do love him. All my denying doesn’t work. I love him, and it scares me.
“I want you to make love to me,” she said, looking right into his eyes.
He buried his face in her hair and took a deep breath before raking his teeth across her earlobe. She shivered and her heart fluttered in her throat.
I’m unable to resist him. Whenever he touches me, my desire increases.
His kisses skimmed over her body until he got to her lower lips. Clay separated her folds and sucked on her clit. Then he licked her juices from her lower lips and put two fingers into her pussy opening.
Susie’s head thrashed side to side as he took her body higher and higher until raptures of delight danced along every nerve, sending her into a frenzy of need to have his cock inside her pussy.
“Fill me up,” she pleaded.
Clay’s compelling eyes riveted her to the spot as he put his cock at her opening and slowly moved in. Her pussy wept with satisfaction. Once he was seated fully inside her, he began to slide in and out. The pressure built. She’d explode at any moment.
The Billionaire Cowboy's Christmas Surprise [Wives for the Western Billionaires 10] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic) Page 9
