by Stacey Kayne
"Too late for second thoughts, angel girl." He leaped, and Skylar gasped at the instant feeling of weightlessness, just before she splashed into the cold river. Tucker's arms released her as they both swam up to the surface.
'Tucker Morgan!" Laughing, she clung to him with one arm as she pushed her wet hair away from her face. "You're crazy!"
"So I've been told. I suppose that makes us an even match. You're definitely the most mind-bending woman I've ever known."
Skylar eased back.
"That wasn't a complaint," he assured her, pulling her back against his chest. "You've been drivin' me wild ever since you pulled your gun on me."
She smiled and felt his body tremble as she coiled her legs around his waist, allowing Tucker to tread water for the both of them.
"The water's deep here," he said, his legs moving in an easy, steady rhythm to keep their heads above the water.
"You don't think I can swim?"
He smoothed his hand across her thighs. "A man can hope. I like having you cling to me."
Skylar smiled and brushed a kiss across his mouth.
"I'm starting to think I might have jumped over the wrong cliff by mistake," he said against her lips, "and this is heaven. You better pinch me so I know you're real, sweetheart."
"I'd rather kiss you," she admitted, and kissed him deeply. When the kiss ended, she drew his lower lip between her teeth. She skimmed her tongue across his lip before releasing the captive flesh, drawing a low groan from Tucker.
"Now I'm certain of it," he said in a thick voice. "I'm in heaven."
This isn't heaven, it's another illusion. A wonderful, beautiful illusion she intended to embrace, for it would be over too soon. "Do you still have the soap and cloth?"
Tucker grinned, enjoying the playfulness in her tone and the open desire in her gaze. He held up the soap and cloth, showing that he did.
She flashed a sinister grin, and before Tucker could figure out what she was up to, she snatched them from his hand and slipped under the sparkling veil of water.
She could swim, all right. She glided beneath the water's surface like a fish. Tucker swam after her, not knowing what her game was, but ready and willing to play.
He caught up with her in the shallows, and damn near swallowed his tongue when she stood and turned to face him. Her wet skin glistened in the sunlight, the pink crowns of her breasts beading into tight peaks. Her ivory skin blossomed to a soft pink. She sank down, shielding herself beneath the veil of water. He grinned at the sight of her shy smile, realizing again just how innocent she truly was, or rather, had been.
"Started worrying about that deep water after all, huh?"
Skylar lifted her hand from the water and extended a single finger, then curled it toward her, beckoning him to come closer.
Tucker swallowed hard, but the lump in his throat didn't budge. "You really gonna scrub my back?" he asked as he stepped closer, his voice thick.
She straightened, soaping the cloth as she waded toward him. Stepping close, she smoothed the cloth over his chest and up to his shoulder, leaving a trail of soapy lather, igniting a trail of sparks beneath his skin. The smile she flashed was anything but shy, and sent his pulse soaring.
"I intend to touch you as completely as the river has."
His heart thudded heavily against his chest, the water surrounding them suddenly feeling hot against his skin. Despite his feet being firmly planted on the sandy river bottom, he had the sudden revelation that he was the one in way over his head. Looking into the warm, bottomless pools of Skylar's eyes, he didn't give a damn if he drowned.
Crouched by the fire, Skylar kept her eyes fastened on the trout frying in the skillet. Flames licked over the edges of the cast iron, lighting up the shadows of dusk. In the distance she could hear the sounds of approaching horses.
Chance and Garret were still a good ways from camp, and already a blush was creeping into her face. Despite her silent assurance that neither of their brothers would be able to tell what she and Tucker had been up to, she hadn't convinced herself.
She felt different. She and Tucker had worked together all afternoon, taking care of chores and herding the mares to the river for a drink. Whenever their gazes met, she hadn't been able to fight her grin, or the surge of warmth she felt deep in her chest when he smiled back. After ushering the horses back to their temporary holding pen, Tucker had returned to the river to catch fish for supper. She had stayed in camp to prepare the rest of their meal.
Kneeling beside a warm, steady fire, she spooned clumps of dough into a skillet, while trying to block the memory of Tucker's tender lips and magical hands from her mind—but never quite succeeding. Their brothers would be back soon and she couldn't go on blushing every five minutes to the fanciful thoughts flirting through her mind.
Setting the skillet of dough aside, she glanced up as Tucker walked back into camp, a line of cleaned trout in his hand, a smug grin on his handsome face. He placed the fish on an empty plate beside her, took her by the hand and hauled her up. She was wrapped in his arms and lost in his kiss before she knew what hit her. Only when their lips parted did she realize the liberty he'd taken, and how easily she'd been overcome by his presence.
He couldn't do that!
"Are you, uh...feeling okay?" The concern in his gaze ignited another strain of panic. She supposed he was referring to her lost virginity.
She turned away and reached for the fish. "Just fine." She grabbed the sack of flour, settled near the fire and began to batter the trout, but she was far from fine. She had completely lost her damn mind. It wasn't like her to act without thinking about the repercussions of her behavior, yet she'd done just that.
The fish met a warm skillet with a loud hiss. Tucker sat beside her and began working on the tangled and frayed rope he'd abandoned earlier. It seemed he needed some clarification about their future interaction with one another.
He couldn't tip her world off-kilter whenever he pleased. This morning's escapade was an isolated incident. She couldn't imagine he'd contest the annulment. There was no reason to think they wouldn't be granted one, as long as they were both in agreement—today never happened.
They'd had their fun and now it was time to get back to business, reality. She was headed to Wyoming to get her
horses back and build a future for herself and Garret, not tumble in the grass with cowboys who were too handsome for anyone's good.
Handsome, sweet, and gentle, her mind added. Goodness but the man had tender lips. Lips he'd used to sip every last drop of water from her skin after they'd walked from the river.
Her flesh prickled at the memory, her body shivered.
"Skylar!"
She jumped, feeling the bite of a flame on her wrist just as Tucker shouted her name.
His hand closed over her arm and jerked it away from the fire. "Honey, watch that flame."
Honey? Damnation. He couldn't be calling her such things in front of their brothers! "I think I can fry fish without falling into the fire."
"You damn near caught your shirt on fire." He twisted the bottom of her singed sleeve so she could see the black marks in her new shirt. "Let me see your wrist."
Skylar tried to tug her wrist from his grip. "Listen, Morgan, I hope you don't think—"
"Morgan?" Tucker's look of shock quickly transformed to one of anger. "What the hell, Skylar? You can't—"
"At least they didn't kill each other."
Skylar and Tucker spun around at the sound of Chance's voice as he walked into camp leading a packhorse. "Garret, it looks like you won yourself five bucks. I was sure one of them would be skinned out and tacked to a tree before we made it back."
"Not quite," Tucker said in a dull tone.
"If you're hungry," Skylar said, tossing Tucker a hard look, "supper's about done."
"I'm starving," said Garret.
"Kid, you must have eaten a pound of dried beef in the last hour, not to mention the sack of sweets you hauled out of that m
ercantile."
Garret grinned at Chance as he crouched beside Skylar's saddlebags. "I'm still hungry," he insisted. "But I need to scrub up a bit."
Skylar forked the fish onto a plate then reached for the skillet she'd filled with clumps of dough.
"Hey, Sky?" said Garret. "Where's the soap?"
"The soap?" she repeated, recalling the exact moment she and Tucker had realized it was missing. They'd lost it somewhere between their extensive bath in the shallow waters and making love on the riverbank.
"Yeah, and the cloth."
"Oh, yeah. The soap and the cloth." She strained for a casual tone, sure that her voice was a few notches too high. "I lost them."
"You lost them?"
She tossed a quick glance over her shoulder at her brother. "Yeah. In the river."
"It was my fault," said Tucker, and Skylar's heart stopped beating. Her gaze locked with his mischievous green eyes.
He wouldn't! She'd kill him!
"I borrowed them," Tucker said. "You wouldn't believe the chewing she gave me over it." He flashed a grin.
Knowing he had actual bite marks hidden under his shirt and the bandanna tied around his neck, Skylar felt the flush in her cheeks shoot clear to the soles of her feet.
"I have spares," Tucker said. He stood and walked toward his own supplies, saying, "I'll replace what I lost."
After serving up the food she'd prepared, Skylar ate her supper in silence, too conscious of Tucker sitting barely a foot away from her as the others talked casually about horses and ranching. She could have kicked him for sitting beside her. He was fully aware that she didn't want him near her. Twice his elbow had bumped her arm as he ate his meal.
"What do you say, Sky?"
Skylar glanced up at Chance, not having a clue what they were discussing. "About what?"
"Breeding," Tucker supplied.
Skylar choked on her last bite of trout. With a strangled cough, she unclogged her windpipe. Tucker's hand repeatedly thumped her between her shoulder blades as she sucked in a gasp of air.
"Helps if you chew, darlin'," he said, handing her a cup of coffee, his palm now moving caressingly over her back.
She glared up at him as she took the cup, not the least bit amused by his teasing—in front of their brothers!
"I'd sure like the chance to pin either of your studs up with one of our mares," Chance said, forking his fish, not seeming to pay them any notice. "We could have some fine colts."
Hit by a startling realization, Skylar sucked down a scalding gulp of coffee, hardly noticing the pain of her throat.
Dear God! Coupling makes babies.
How could she have made such an oversight? They hadn't done it just once. Did that mean he could have made three babies? No. People don't have litters. But...Tucker and Chance were twins.
Oh God. What had they done?
"Sky," Garret said, pulling her from her thoughts. "Are you okay?"
She glanced up and found three sets of eyes focused on her. "Just fine," she said, forcing a light smile.
"So, what do you think, Sky?" asked Chance.
She twisted away from Tucker's hand on her back, thinking she couldn't have any babies. She had Garret to raise!
"Arabian sires could be big business," he added.
"That's the plan." She shot to her feet. "I'm sure we can work something out, Chance."
"Where are you going?" Tucker called after her as she started out of camp.
"To find the outhouse," she said without looking back. And to be sick. Her stomach cramped at the thought of the new mess she could have gotten herself into. How could Tucker do this to her? She'd trusted him!
Your first mistake, her mind shot back.
* * *
When an hour passed and Skylar didn't return to camp, Tucker began to think her departure had more to do with being peeved than having to pee. Bet she's with her horses.
He stood and started toward the meadow where the stallions were staked, leaving Garret sleeping in his bedroll and Chance fiddling with his ledgers beneath the lamplight. As Tucker neared the horses resting in the darkness, he saw Skylar's blond hair in the soft moonlight. She sat in the grass near her Arabians, probably telling them what a bastard he'd been.
Spotting him, she jumped to her feet.
"Thought I'd find you here."
Her pinched expression and tightly crossed arms confirmed his assumption. He'd done something to ruffle her feathers.
"Stop threatening me," she said as he reached her.
"Threatening you?"
"Dropping those hints in front of our brothers."
"Honey, I haven't been threatening you. Chance and Garret don't have a clue as to what's going on between us. I just love seeing your rosy cheeks."
She flinched away as he lightly brushed his finger across her cheek. "Tucker—"
"You're so beautiful when you're mad," he said, tugging her into his arms, silencing her with a kiss.
Caught up in the sudden taste of him, distracted by the feel of his body and a rush of masculine scent, Skylar returned his kiss, but only briefly before she gained some clarity and pulled away.
"Tucker," she growled, careful to keep her voice low, not wanting it to carry back to the others. "You can't do that!"
"Why not? No one's around. Don't tell me you weren't enjoying that kiss as much as I was."
She stepped farther away from him, chagrined by her lack of control. "I'm stopping it right now. It ended at the river."
He stuffed his hands into his pants pockets. "Is that so?"
"Yes."
"It's hands-off from here on in?"
"Had a great time, but the fun's over. It's back to business."
Skylar felt a rush of relief. "Exactly. I'd like to forget it ever happened."
"That's not likely. A man doesn't forget your kind of passion."
"I'm sure you'll manage," she said, certain he'd forgotten such experiences with countless women.
"Don't bet on it."
She tensed at the sight of Tucker's irritation. What did he have to be mad about?
"What we shared wasn't your run-of-the-mill roll in the hay."
Something very close to hope sparked inside her. She wanted so much to believe their joining had been special to him, something more than mere physical fulfillment. But she knew better. She'd overheard him and Chance discussing their take on marriage more than once, a loathing so deep in their tone she'd felt it. "What would you call it, Tuck?"
"Hell, I don't know!" he scoffed, taking a step back. The combination of caution and confusion in his eyes added to the wariness welling up inside her.
Tucker didn't want any permanent attachments. She'd been aware of the fact long before she'd given herself to him, but that didn't keep the slow slide of pain from crashing against her heart. If she became swollen with child, it would be her burden, not his. She was already bearing all she could handle.
"We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow and a lot of ground to make up " she said, turning toward camp. "Good night, Tucker."
Chapter 16
"Do you plan to ignore me the rest of the way to Wyoming?"
Skylar glanced over her shoulder as Tucker rode up beside her. "I do," she said with flat honesty. She'd been doing her best to do just that for the past two days.
"Well, I don't intend to make that an easy option."
Heaven help her, she'd noticed! His heated gazes and intentional bumps and nudges throughout the day had been driving her mad.
Determined to get her point across, Skylar kept her gaze straight ahead, but she could feel his eyes burning into her. After a few minutes of listening to the cool breeze rustling in the trees and the steady rhythm of moving horses, she gave in and glanced at the man riding beside her. His lips curved into a seductive smile.
"Stop looking at me like that," she ordered, the swirling sensations deep inside her driving her to distraction.
"Like what?"
"You know very well
like what."
Tucker leaned toward her, his green eyes shining with mischief. "Like we're lovers?"
Skylar's body tensed with alarm. Blood rushed to her face in a wave of heat. "We are not!"
Tucker laughed, holding her gaze as his horse trotted along beside hers. "Honey, we're lovers three times over. Ain't no two ways about it."
Horrified by his candid statement, Skylar glanced about, checking the location of their brothers. Both were well over thirty yards off, separated by the moving herd, but Skylar felt self-conscious of Tucker's proclamation being overheard by the wind and horses.
"Damn you, Tucker! Don't say things like that, and stay away from me." She urged her horse into a faster pace. Tucker followed suit, staying right beside her.
"I don't see what you're so bent about, Sky," he said, all humor gone from his voice. "We both had a good time. There's no reason we can't be friends. I think we should give it a try. What do you say?"
Skylar took one look at his handsome face, saw the seductive smile hidden in his eyes and said, "No."
"Why not?"
"Because I know what being friends means to you. I'm not proud of my behavior the other day, nor am I some harlot you can throw to the ground whenever the mood strikes you."
"I don't see you as any such thing! I see you for what you are. A strong, intelligent, desirable woman. You don't have to treat me like I'm invisible to discourage further intimacy between us."
She risked looking up at his luminous green eyes and knew he sure as heck wouldn't be the one to discourage any further intimacy between them. "I think I do."
Hearing the huskiness in her voice, a grin tugged at Tucker's mouth, but he had better sense than to let it break free. "Am I that much of a threat to you?"
"Don't flatter yourself. I tend to be overcautious is all. It's already been proven that I can't think worth a handful of spit when you're touching me, so I aim to stay away from you. You'll have to find some other easy woman to be your passion fancy. The last thing I need is to arrive in Wyoming jobless, penniless and with a randy cowboy's babies in my belly."
Skylar flicked her reins and urged her horse into a hard pace. Tucker watched her ride off, feeling quite put in his place, and fully insulted.
