Becca nodded. “I’m glad you’re so adamant about that. I love horses and hate to see any animal abused.” Then she spun around and looked back at him. “I don’t understand.”
Jake frowned. “What?”
“You have all this,” she said as she waved her arms around. “Yet you still want my ranch.”
“I told you I didn’t want it or need it.” Jake’s jaw clenched.
“And I told you that I don’t believe you. You would love me to leave before the six months are up so you can swoop in and buy it a lot cheaper than what I could sell it for at auction. You’re hoping I’ll get so bored that I won’t care what happens to it.” Her voice rose at the end of her rant.
She had fire in her. He liked that.
Jake stalked toward Becca, making her step backward until her back was against the barn wall. He stopped in front of her and leaned his face down to hers. “Anyone ever tell you that you talk too much, Red?”
Her chin came up. “Why? You think you can shut me up?”
His mouth lifted in a slow smile as he cupped her face in his hands. “I’ve wanted to do this since the first moment I saw you.”
She was shaking her head no, but Jake didn’t care. He had to taste those lips. When his mouth touched hers, he growled low in his throat. Her hands pushed at his shoulders but then slid around his neck as he picked her up and her legs wrapped around his waist. His hands moved to cup her butt and pull her closer. He felt her heat against his erection as he rubbed against her. She gasped against his mouth. How had he kept his hands off her for so long? Pressing his lips to hers, he brushed the seam with his tongue and when she rewarded him with a little moan, his blood raced like fire through his veins. “Open,” he commanded against her mouth. When she did, he slipped his tongue into the honeyed depths of her mouth and mapped it as if he planned a return trip.
* * * *
Becca had never felt like this. He was hot and hard against her, and she wanted more. Unable to stop, she lifted her hips against him. With trembling hands, she ran her fingers through his silky black hair, knocking his hat to the floor. He groaned in her mouth as he deepened the kiss, running his tongue along her lips and taking her bottom lip between his teeth. Becca moaned as his tongue moved slowly into her mouth. Too many clothes were between them. She wanted to rip them off as he kept bucking against her, driving her need higher and higher. Becca tore her mouth from his as she felt the pressure building deep inside her. Throwing her head back, she tensed, knowing she was about to explode.
Jake moved his mouth to her neck and gently bit her.
“Jake…” she exclaimed on a low moan.
“Let it go, Becca. Let go, baby,” he whispered against her skin.
She cried out as her orgasm hit her. Wave after wave of pleasure coursed through her body and she trembled hard. Becca dropped her head onto his shoulder as the flutters low in her belly began to subside.
Oh, God! What had she done? Becca stiffened in his arms. She was mortified. She’d wrapped her legs around him and ground against him until she’d come like some floozy. Slowly, she lowered her legs to the floor and he let her go. Without looking up, Becca moved away from him.
“Becca…” Jake reached for her.
She shook her head and ran from the barn.
Chapter Four
A week went by before Becca saw Jake again. He’d called a few times, but she hadn’t answered. Once he even came by and knocked on the door but she refused to answer it. Thank God, he hadn’t used his key. Her embarrassment was so great that she refused to leave the house.
Just remembering how her body had reacted, and how her face had flamed hot as she drove home that day was enough to make her never want to leave home again. Her tears of frustration were humiliating enough and she could only imagine what Jake must have thought of her. She’d never experienced anything like that before, not with any man, especially not Steve. Thank goodness he’d never tried. She’d had orgasms before but never one as strong as that and not anything like that. Hell, what they’d done wasn’t even real sex. What haunted her was the thought of what it would be like to be with him for real.
As she sat at the kitchen table, Becca saw a truck with a horse trailer pull up to the barn. She watched Stan walk from the barn toward the truck with a big smile on his face.
“Oh, no,” Becca groaned when she saw Jake step out of the truck. Both men walked to the back of the rig. She gasped when she saw the beautiful horse Jake led from the trailer. She didn’t care how embarrassed she was, Becca was going out there to see that horse.
She quickly put her coat on and hurried out to the barn where Jake had taken the horse. When she stepped inside, he turned to look at her. He smiled at her and she blushed to the roots of her red hair. Visions of the last time she’d been this close to him flamed in her mind. Becca tried her best to ignore him.
“What’s going on?” She looked to Stan for an answer.
“Jake brought his stud over to breed with Daisy, one of Hattie’s horses,” Stan explained.
Becca almost groaned aloud. She wanted to tell Stan never, under any circumstances, to use the word stud and Jake in the same sentence. To her utter chagrin, Becca heard Jake chuckle as if he’d read her mind. The man was dangerous. Lethal, in fact. He made her weak in the knees and breathing difficult just by looking at her.
“I thought mares were only in season from April to October?” Becca asked Stan. He started to answer, but Jake beat him to it.
“They are, unless we fool Mother Nature. We put the mare under artificial lights, then her biological calendar tells her it’s spring, and she comes in heat. It’s an eleven-month gestation. There’s a little girl that wants a horse for Christmas and her daddy is going to make sure she gets her foal.” Jake shrugged. “He’s a good friend and a client of mine, so I told him I’d take care of it.”
Becca thought it was nice of him to do that. Why did he make it so hard not to like him? She nodded and started to leave the barn.
“Where are you going? You’re a ranch owner now, you need to see this,” Jake called after her.
Becca turned back and narrowed her eyes at him. “See what?”
“The breeding.” She saw he was trying not to smile.
Damn him!
Becca knew he thought she wouldn’t watch and honestly, she didn’t want to but to prove him wrong, she walked toward them.
Jake gave her a nod as Stan led the black horse to the corral where the mare was. The stallion was prancing around and raising his nose in the air. He could smell the mare in heat.
“That’s how I feel around you,” Jake leaned down and whispered near her ear.
Becca stopped so fast that Jake almost ran into her. Her whole body reacted to his words. It was driving her crazy how just a few words could send her blood racing and want to make her grab him by the hair and kiss him until he groaned. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to calm down. Becca hoped he never discovered how she felt about him. She wasn’t going to give him that power. “As I said before, in your dreams, Stone,” she said even as she felt a flush rise on her cheeks.
“Why didn’t you answer the door or take my calls?”
Still not looking at him, she addressed Stan as she moved to walk beside him. “So how long does the breeding usually take?”
The sound of Jake’s laughter behind her made her clench her jaw in frustration.
Later, while Becca sat in the window seat in her living room, her face still felt as if it were on fire. The breeding hadn’t made her blush, it was the fact that Jake had watched her watch it that had brought the fire to her cheeks and elsewhere.
She leaned her head back against the wall and banged it against the wood. How was she going to get through six months of this? There was no way she was going to give in before then and once the time was up, she wasn’t selling. No matter what the offer was. She had come to love this big house.
When her cellphone rang, she hoped it was Olivia, but made a face when she s
aw it was Steve.
“Hello, Steve.”
“Becky! When are you coming back to me?” He laughed.
Never! “I’m not leaving until June, Steve. How many times do we have to go over this?”
“Whoa, honey. Calm down. I was just kidding.” He laughed again, which left her feeling unsettled.
Great, put a guilt trip on me.
“I’m sorry, Steve. It’s been a very long day and it gets boring.” She knew the minute the words came out of her mouth, it was the wrong thing to say.
“That’s why I need to visit you. We’d have fun…if you know what I mean?”
God, he made her feel ill. What had she ever seen in him? She should have listened to Olivia. Becca was so glad she’d never slept with him. She sighed. “Steve, that’s never going to happen, I’m sorry. It’s over between us. I’ve decided to stay here.” It was a small lie but she had to get it through his head. “Please don’t call anymore.”
Becca heard him objecting but she didn’t care, she simply hung up.
It was getting harder and harder for her as the days went on. She was alone, all alone in a strange town where the community still gave her the cold shoulder for something that wasn’t her fault. Was it worth it to explain the facts to everyone? Emma had been shocked to find out that Becca hadn’t actually known Hattie.
Silently, the tears fell as she put her head against her drawn up knees. Outside, the wind howled and snow blew by the window.
As if her seclusion wasn’t enough, there was Jake. Why did she feel such an attraction for him? He was just a man. A man who just by looking at her was able to take her breath away. A man she wanted like no other, and he was a cowboy.
A damn cowboy!
Becca shook her head. It didn’t make sense. She was around attractive men every day. They came into her coffee shop en masse. Several had asked her out, but she’d always turned them down. Until Steve, that is.
She shook her head again. What a horrible mistake he turned out to be. He’d seemed so nice, taking her to dinner and the movies. Chaste kisses goodnight. He’d never pushed. Now, he was beginning to scare her. Becca prayed he wouldn’t call again. If he did, she just wouldn’t answer. It’s the way it had to be, she needed to prove her point. It was over between them.
Becca jumped when the phone rang. Slowly, she reached for it and looked at the screen. Steve’s name appeared. She felt sick. Pressing her lips together, she turned it off. Tomorrow she would call Olivia and let her know about Steve. Becca was certain he’d go to the coffee shop and try to get Olivia to tell Becca to call him. She shivered. He’d definitely frightened her. His insistence gave her a bad feeling.
As the storm raged outside, Becca added more logs to the fire. She would sleep in the living room again, just in case the power went out. Spring couldn’t get here soon enough.
The next day, Becca decided it was time to bag up Hattie’s clothes and shoes. She planned to take them into town and have Emma help her with giving them away. She was sure Emma would know who would want them and if no one did, she’d donate them to a local charity. Taking a deep breath, she started with the dresser. It was mostly underwear, T-shirts, and sweatshirts. After emptying that, she went to the closet and pulled the dresses from the hangers, adding them to the bag.
Becca ran her hand along the shelf, found a box there, and dragged it down. She took it to the bed and opened it. What she saw inside made her breath catch. It was full of pictures. Pictures of herself as a child, from the time of her birth up until the year her parents had died.
Where had these come from? If Becca’s father hadn’t been in touch with Hattie, who had been? The answer came when she turned one over and saw her mother’s handwriting. Becca - age six. Her mother had been the one to keep in touch with Hattie. It was incomprehensible. Had her father known?
Becca continued going through the box. Her school pictures were there, all the way through to graduation. Snapshots of her at home, playing outside, or sitting on her parents’ laps. She remembered all of them. She ran her finger over her mother’s writing.
Memories and questions were running through her head when she heard Stan calling her name so she walked downstairs with the box in her hands. Stan smiled at her, but when he saw the tears on her cheeks, his smile faded.
“Is something wrong?”
Becca shook her head and handed him the box. Stan lifted the lid, and he blew out a long breath when he saw the pictures. Becca looked at him.
“You knew about this?” Her voice trembled. He didn’t answer. “Stan, please.”
“Yes. I knew your mother kept in touch with Hattie. It wasn’t just the pictures. Sarah called Hattie, at least once a month.” He took a deep breath. “And she sent pictures all the time.”
Becca practically collapsed onto a kitchen chair. Sadness for the time that was lost made her heart ache. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Stan pulled out a chair and sat down. “I wanted to. I just didn’t know how.”
“What happened between my father and Hattie? I want to know, Stan.” Touching the pictures, Becca wished she could turn back the clock. Thoughts of what might have been haunted her.
“Just what happens at a lot of family ranches, Hattie wanted her son to take over, and he didn’t want this life. Your father made a lot of money in real estate, and he wanted to travel. You and your parents went all over the world.” He picked up a picture of her, at age five, standing in front of the Eiffel Tower. “The three of you lived here on the ranch until you were three years old. That’s when the big argument happened. I knew when your dad came back from college that he was different. The ranch didn’t mean as much to him anymore. He’d gotten a taste of the big city life.”
“I wish I could remember. Truthfully, I can’t imagine either Mom or Dad here.”
Stan reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Your mom was born and raised on a farm outside of Clifton. She met William when she was fifteen and fell in love. He loved her, too but being nineteen and in college, she was too young. After college, he came home and married her. She got pregnant right away and you all lived here.” Stan cleared his throat. “Will met a man in town one day who talked him into going into business with him. Will told Hattie about it and although he had a business degree, the thought of buying real estate and flipping it appealed to him. He made a lot of money doing it.” He shook his head. “It tore Hattie apart and she told him if he left, he was never to come back. You and your Mama both cried the day he took you away. Hattie talked about selling the ranch. I talked her into keeping it, and I’m glad I did. After a while, she got better about things, but she missed you all so much. A few years later, she tried to talk to your dad but he wouldn’t talk to her. He told her she’d made her choice and he’d made his. Damn shame, all of it.”
Becca felt the tears rolling down her cheeks. “So you knew me?” She squeezed his hand.
Stan nodded. “I used to put you up on the horse with me and ride you around the corral.”
Becca smiled. “I wish I could remember that. If it was my father’s choice that we left here, why does everyone in town hate me?”
Stan seemed surprised. “I’m sure they don’t and if they do, it’s because they don’t know your daddy kept Hattie from you. Didn’t he ever mention her?”
Becca shook her head. “The one time I asked about his parents, he just said they were gone and that was the end of it.” She stood up to get a tissue and dabbed her eyes with it. “What did you come in for, Stan? I’m sorry, did you need something?”
Stan stood. “Yes. I wanted to ask if you would mind going over to Jake’s for me to pick up a bridle that Wyatt fixed for me.”
She frowned. “If Wyatt fixed it for you, why does Jake have it?”
“Wyatt gave it to him when Jake was at his house. I just don’t have the time to run over there right now, and Daisy won’t wear any other bridle for some damn reason.”
Becca felt a thrill rush through her. Seeing Jak
e again was dangerous. She’d been avoiding him like the plague. However, with the way Stan was looking at her, his eyes filled with hope, she knew she had to do it.
Becca sighed and nodded her head. Stan returned to the barn and Becca made the walk to the truck as if she were walking to a hangman’s noose. She hoped he wouldn’t be home when she got there. Things would be easier if one of his ranch hands could just get the bridle for her. Because if she came face to face with Jake, she had no idea what would happen.
Pulling out of the driveway, Becca headed out for Jake’s place. The sun shining on the snow made it appear as if someone had sprinkled tiny diamonds on it. Bare fields ran along the road on the right side. Brown stalks of weeds and grass poked through the snow.
Becca slowed when she spotted a deer standing in the field looking her way. Pulling the truck over, she watched the beautiful animal staring in her direction. She’d heard they didn’t have very good eyesight, but it seemed to be looking right at her. The deer turned its head to look behind it, and then ran into the woods. Becca didn’t see anything that would have scared it.
Shrugging, she pulled back onto the road and proceeded on to Jake’s place. It was five miles from hers, even though their land connected. Becca knew that was the reason he wanted Hattie’s property. She slapped her hand against the steering wheel in annoyance and determination. Jake Stone was not getting her land if she had anything to do with it.
A few minutes later, she pulled up to Jake’s home. She hadn’t noticed it before but the log home with the wraparound porch was beautiful. Rocking chairs waited patiently on the porch for warmer weather. Smoke poured out from the stone chimney. The lodge style house was rustic but impressive.
Taking a deep breath, Becca got out of the truck and one of the ranch hands walked toward her. As he drew closer, he smiled as he put his fingers to his hat.
“Can I help you, ma’am?”
Becca smiled back. He was young and very good-looking, and he knew it. When she asked about the bridle, he shook his head and told her she needed to ask Jake about it. Just the very thing she didn’t want to do.
Jake (Men of Clifton Montana Book 1) Page 5
