Captive of the Cattle Baron (Selkirk Family Ranch Book 1)

by Irene Vartanoff

  To get away from the aggravation of men who wanted to use her, she’d stopped dating men who knew she’d been an actor. Jackson Hole had been pretty good to her for the past two years. No one had recognized her all grown up at age twenty-four and not wearing glamour makeup and clothing. She’d blended in. Now the shooting had spoiled it all. The tabloids had dragged out her past as a child actor, and put the sleaziest spin on it possible. According to them, she’d run away from a wild life in Hollywood and yet was having an equally wild affair with Caz. Long distance.

  Did Baron recognize her? Was that why he thought she was involved with drugs, because he assumed everyone involved with Hollywood was? An extreme notion even though he’d made no sign that he’d ever watched her sitcom. Unless he’d seen it recently in the ranch kitchen.

  For a few minutes outside, he’d finally seemed to back off from his half-baked notions. Then something got him even more wound up. What had she said to fan the flames of his suspicions all over again?

  ***

  Miss Betty knocked and called through the door, “Addie, are you all right in there?”

  She sat up. She’d been soundly asleep. She stumbled to the door and unlocked it. “Sorry.”

  “Dinner time. The boss went out. Said not to expect him back.”

  “Please don’t tell me he drove to Jackson Hole for dinner. Not when I need to get back there,” Addie said, hugging herself.

  “He went over the hill to the mess house, where the ranch hands eat. To play poker.”

  “That’s better.” It wasn’t, not really. She wanted to keep talking to Baron, but not have him blow up at her with his crazy suspicions.

  She spent a quiet evening alone after Miss Betty said goodnight and headed for her separate apartment. The housekeeper reminded her they’d be getting more company tomorrow.

  Addie turned on the television in the den and found the sleazy channel Caz had watched in his hotel suite. Sure enough, his story was mentioned as a teaser before each commercial break. Then, finally, the story devoted to him began. It was appalling. In footage from her old sitcom, she and Caz bickered at their kitchen table. Their TV mom watched over them lovingly. Then their TV dad came home from work and they made wiseacre remarks to him.

  He’d been a brilliant man but his sitcom role was to play a bumbling idiot. He’d died of a drug overdose a few years after the show ended. The tabloid TV announcer made much of the man’s death, wondering aloud if the actors on the show were under a curse.

  “Will Caz Cassidy’s missing lover appear when the trial begins?” The TV displayed grainy footage of Addie taken at her ranch. “Where is Adrienne Jelleff hiding? Keep tuned, or log on. In Wyoming, we’ll have live testimony in real time, as it happens.”

  She switched off the television. After her testimony was broadcast, she could never live anonymously in Jackson Hole again. She might as well sell and move on.

  “What are you doing?” Baron entered the room. His expression was hard to decipher. A mixture of tiredness and anger, perhaps.

  She indicated the blank TV screen with a wave of her hand. “How was your poker game?”

  “Miss Betty told you, huh?” He put his hands on his hips. “Waste of time.”

  “Isn’t playing poker with your employees somewhat unethical?”

  “They don’t see themselves as working for me. They follow my dad’s orders.” He said it as if it made him angry.

  She made a face. “I’m confused. I thought you ran this ranch.”

  He flopped down on the couch next to her, his long legs stretching out to tangle with hers. “I’m in charge now, but certain people…” He slanted a sideways look at her. “…don’t do as I say.”

  “Do your employees refuse to follow your orders?” She sat up straighter and edged a little farther from him on the couch.

  Baron put one arm along the back of the couch. “The ranch hands say, ‘Your daddy does it different’.”

  One large finger touched a strand of her hair, played with it. She repressed a shiver. She suddenly was very conscious of all her most feminine body parts, which Baron was eyeing hungrily. Her nipples peaked and a pang shot from them to her lower body.

  He’d told her something important about himself, but her thoughts were so scattered. He was too close.

  “Addie,” he breathed, and then he kissed her. His tongue quickly entered her mouth and she forgot about air, except to sigh. His arms pressed her against him. Her breasts swelled and nestled against his large chest. When he began to open her blouse, she regained her mind and stopped him.

  “No,” she said.

  Baron sat up, his expression angry. “I’ve heard that word too many times today.”

  “I’m not your employee. I can say no if I want to.” She wrapped her arms around her body, signaling that he should back off, trying to keep her unruly response to him in check.

  He rubbed the back of his neck, then sat up on the couch and grabbed the remote. “Message received.” He turned the set on again.

  She breathed a sigh of relief. As a bonus, the celebrity gossip show wasn’t on anymore.

  Baron clicked the channels up and down until he found the cop show Caz starred in. “Want to watch this with me?” he asked.

  “I don’t usually watch cop shows,” she claimed.

  “This one is okay. Cassidy’s quirky but cool.”

  Still, she hesitated.

  “It’s our chance to be in the same room for an hour without arguing,” he urged.

  “Since you put it that way.” She settled into the couch. Baron was right. When had they spent even one hour together peacefully? The only time was when she was asleep in his SUV. Otherwise, their relationship was a total contest of wills versus bodies. He issued orders and attempted to control her every action, and she resisted. He had the upper hand because she was stuck on his isolated ranch. She promised herself that if he didn’t offer to take her home over the next couple of days, she would take Miss Betty up on the implied offer to help her leave.

  Caz was his usual charming self as the episode unfolded. In between car chases and handcuffing perps, he romanced his female partner, plus a girl-of-the-week.

  “They’ve been building this storyline all year,” Baron said.

  “They’ll kill off the girlfriend, which will make him turn to his partner for consolation. Plus, they can tragically kill her, too, for added drama at the season’s end.”

  “You know a lot about television. Is watching what you do after a long day of talking to horses?”

  Oops. She took a veteran’s interest in television, paying attention the minute details the public never noticed. Better not suggest to Baron that she had a Hollywood connection. “I only watch while I use my treadmill,” she said.

  “Is that how you stay in such fantastic shape?” His eyes roamed her body.

  She ignored his meaning, trying to dial it down. “Limiting my movements to what won’t frighten a nervous animal can be frustrating. The treadmill burns it off.”

  “You don’t have family to care for?”

  She gave him a look that said she was onto his attempt to weasel personal information out of her. “I believe I told you I am not married and I have no children.”

  “You did, but you were plenty cranky when you said so,” he said with a half smile.

  “That’s because you were prying into my personal life.”

  “I’m interested. That’s all,” he said with a righteous air.

  She wasn’t buying, but she didn’t challenge him on it. The ads were over and Caz was romancing his latest lady. It got hot and heavy. Addie made to edge off the couch before Baron got ideas again. “I think I’ll leave.”

  “Don’t you want to see what happens next?”

  “It’s television. They’ll cut to one of those annoying bedroom scenes with people improbably clutching sheets to cover themselves.”

  He chuckled. “True. Television’s not realistic.”

  She stood, bu
t he pulled her down again, onto his lap. He shut the television, and tossed the remote away.

  “What are you doing?” she said, struggling to regain her balance.

  “What does it look like? Why don’t you relax?”

  She stared at him. He looked as if he intended to kiss her. Or more.

  “Since when do you and I relax with each other?” she asked.

  “If you’d just follow my lead, we’d have something.” He put one large hand on her neck, and stroked up to her jawline.

  She should move. She should resist. But once again she was mesmerized. His touch sent her nerves zinging. She waited for what he would do next.

  His hand went to the back of her neck and pulled her head down to meet his lips.

  Sensation engulfed her. In a dim corner of her mind, she remembered she should resist, but that voice was tiny. Every other part of her was shouting for more. More of his lips, more of his tongue, more of his hands on her as he turned and positioned her under him on the couch. His fingers found their way under her blouse and her bra. When they touched her nipples, she jerked.

  “You’re so responsive,” he muttered. “So hot.” He opened her bra and caressed her breasts, sending tingles throughout her body.

  Her body throbbed with the need to let him take more. Her will to oppose him was draining out of her. If she let this happen, she would be lost. So would he if he seduced his too-willing captive.

  Captive. She arched up and started fighting. “No. Don’t. Get off me.”

  He pulled back and she surged off the couch, panting, trying to cover herself. “This can’t happen.”

  He stood up and moved to take her into his arms again. “Why not?” he asked. “You want it as much as I do.”

  “Not this way,” she insisted, backing away. “I’m not the totally expendable girl-of-the-week.”

  He frowned. “I never said you were.”

  “We’ve got too much chemistry,” she said. “Any little thing sets us off.”

  “Chemistry’s a problem?” There was a smile in his voice and a knowing look on his face. She flushed inside at the implication that they would be hot together. That was the problem.

  “You abducted me and are holding me prisoner.” She backed farther away from him. Her blouse still revealed her breasts and their engorged nipples. He glanced at them desirously. Her nipples reacted by tightening. Her desire for him was a painful ache, but she must fight it. She wrapped her arms around her middle. “My body doesn’t rule me, Baron. My mind does. You don’t decide for me, and I don’t let my body decide for me, either.”

  She didn’t look at his crotch, which she was sure also showed the evidence of how eager he was. They’d come too close to having sex. She still panted for him. His breathing was heavy, too. In the silence of the room, her breaths were loud. Too loud and too suggestive. She’d fall back into his arms any second now unless she riled him up enough to back off.

  “I am your prisoner, not a guest on vacation.”

  “I like the sound of that,” he replied, taking a step closer.

  She rolled her eyes. “I hope you’re joking. I’m not into kinky.”

  “You don’t want to play games?” he asked lightly. He pulled her into contact with his body and began to kiss her again.

  “No. I can’t. I—promised him…” She sighed.

  He dropped his hands from her shoulders. “What man did you promise?”

  “I won’t tell you,” she cried. “I won’t.” She fled, afraid he touch her again and cause her body to give in despite all her fine principles.

  Chapter 7

  Addie spent the rest of the night fighting her body’s need to go to Baron and finish what they’d started. In her dreams, she and Baron were naked in bed together, driving each other crazy. She begged him to come to her, but he never did. More than once, she woke up throbbing, unfulfilled, needing Baron. Luckily she had no idea where his bedroom was, because she might have given in and gone to him. Her body was on high alert, demanding sexual fulfillment. It totally could not be trusted.

  In the morning she was up early and decided to go for a run. Not for good health, but to scourge her body out of its ridiculous ache for Baron Selkirk. She wasn’t the cold shower type, but the morning air was brisk. It helped.

  She began to enjoy herself as soon as she built up some speed. The physical frustration ebbed. She ran toward the highway, although running her maximum distance wouldn’t even get her to the front gate. She wasn’t a marathoner. Without a pedometer or familiar markers, she had to guess where to turn back. She would use her exhaustion as her guide.

  A few minutes in, she felt calmer. She was ready to stop punishing herself for last night. She spied a good turning point, the top of the rise. As she made a final sprint for it, the noise of a vehicle’s tires and motor came from behind her. She moved over to the edge of the drive and turned slightly, prepared to wave as it went by. Instead, Baron’s SUV screeched to a halt directly in front of her, churning up dust. He slammed out and got in her face.

  “Are you out of your mind?” he yelled.

  Tempted though she was to jog around him, she stopped. She leaned over, bracing her hands on her thighs, to catch her breath.

  “If you’re trying to run away, it won’t work,” he said. “The highway is still five miles away.”

  She straightened up. “You have a problem with me exercising?”

  “You’re still weak. You should rest.”

  “Then what was last night about? Do you think sex is restful?”

  As he reared back and color flooded his cheeks, she held up a hand. “No, don’t bother to answer.” She put her hands on her hips, fighting the temptation to poke him in the chest for emphasis. “Back off, big macho cowboy. I’m not a dainty little blossom.”

  “You can’t run away from this ranch. There’s nothing around for miles.”

  “I’m well aware that you want me to be your prisoner here.” She kicked the dust with the toe of her sneaker, and glared at him. He looked too good in the morning sunlight. His hair glinted from the moisture of his morning shower. His face, clean shaven, looked carved from stone by a master sculptor. His body was to die for, broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted.

  She pushed those thoughts away. “I’m exercising so my frustration doesn’t become intolerable. You got a problem with that?”

  He said nothing, just stared at her. Was he remembering how she looked last night with her blouse hanging open? How she sounded when he touched her? Her memory of those moments likely was in her eyes for him to see.

  She tried again, “I’m not that other person,” she said. “I’m not a drug user who spends her days looking for another hit.”

  “Get in the SUV. I’ll drive you back.”

  He held the door open, a courteous gesture if she didn’t know he was likely to pick her up again and stuff her bodily inside if she balked. She didn’t want him touching her, not when she was so sensitive to his touch.

  “I can run back to the house. I was about to turn anyway,” she said.

  He adjusted his hat to shield his eyes from the morning sun. “Miss Smith, would you please get inside?” he asked. “It’s too cold to argue out here, and Miss Betty has breakfast ready.”

  She relaxed. She couldn’t help smiling. “A classic case of ‘I’m cold, so you should get warmer?’ Okay, since you’re asking nicely.” She hopped into the SUV and let him close her door for her. It was warm inside.

  Once back at the wheel, Baron wasn’t in a hurry to start the vehicle again. He looked at her. “You confound me. When we met, you were unable to stand upright without assistance. When you walked away, you were unsteady.”

  She nodded.

  “Now you’re acting as if you have too much energy and have to burn it off somehow.”

  “I’m usually busy all day. A sedentary lifestyle doesn’t do it for me,” she said.

  He leaned back in his seat. “I was wrong about you.”

  �
��I was sick at that hotel. You didn’t know that was a one-off for me.” She shrugged.

  “Why are you making excuses for me? I’ve been a jerk.”

  “I can think of a few reasons, but I wouldn’t want you to get too puffed up.” Then she rolled her eyes at her slip of the tongue. “I didn’t mean…”

  Baron grinned at her. “Like the way I was last night.”

  Better not talk or think about last night.

  “What is this all about, anyway?” she asked. “Who in your life has a drug problem?”

  “Haven’t you wondered why I don’t have a girlfriend?”

  “Not much, considering how many times you’ve tried to kiss me,” she replied, smirking.

  “And more,” he reminded her, looking at her lips as if he wanted to kiss her again, right now.

  Memories of last night arced between them. Her body began to throb again. She must redirect this conversation to something safer. “Don’t try to distract me. You were appealing to my pity by saying you don’t have a girlfriend?”

  “I did,” he grimaced. “In college. We were together for years. She got the acting bug. Dropped out and took off for Los Angeles.”

  Addie held her breath. L.A. This story was not likely to end well.

  He braced one arm on the steering wheel. “I went out to visit her. She’d gotten a few bit parts. She claimed she was doing well. The next time I visited, she was different.”

  Addie recited the next act, knowing it happened to hundreds of young hopefuls who went to Hollywood looking for fame and fortune. “The constant rejections wore her down, so she got involved with the wrong crowd.”

  Baron nodded. “Soon she was doing drugs. I could tell right away. She started living with some strange guy, a real creep. She wouldn’t leave him, probably because he was her supplier.”

  Addie nodded, seeing the pain on his face as he remembered. His hands clenched on the steering wheel. His eyes stared ahead, looking at nothing.