Rancher's Choice

by Kylie Brant

  The darkened house seemed oddly still as they entered, and to Kaly their footsteps up the stairs echoed loudly. Jackson led her past her bedroom door and down the hallway to his own. When they reached it he looked down at her once, kissed her softly and guided her into his room. Then he closed the door and pulled her into his arms. His head came down and he claimed her mouth with the passion that had been building in him all evening. He allowed his desire full rein, able to fully indulge them both for the first time in days. His tongue went in search of hers, sucking at it, enticing it to return his play. They stabbed at each other with their tongues, using them as sensual weapons in a war of delight. When Jackson felt Kaly melt totally against him, he tore his mouth away.

  He pushed her jacket to the floor and deftly unzipped her dress, pushing it down her thighs. He looked at her and his breath caught in his throat. She was completely bare except for a tiny scrap of panties, little more than lace and elastic, and her sandals. His hands swept hungrily up her waist to her breasts, which he cupped with both hands. His breath soughed out roughly at the exquisite pleasure of kneading her softness in his big hands. He was perilously close to the edge already, and Kaly’s actions didn’t help his control. She was impatiently pulling at his tie, in an effort to open his shirt. Jackson shrugged his jacket away, his hands and Kaly’s fumbling greedily, trying to undress him so they could feel each other totally.

  Jackson began to chuckle at Kaly’s frustrated attempts to disrobe him. He was minus his suit jacket, but the tie was only loosened, the buttons on his shirt partly undone. He grabbed her hands in both of his, bringing them to his chest.

  “Slow down, honey, we’ve got all night.” He was speaking as much for his own benefit as hers. “C’mere, I’ve got an idea.” He swept her up in his arms and strode to the bathroom off his room, pulling her sandals off on the way. He set her on her feet in front of the Jacuzzi, reaching down to turn on the jets. Kaly turned doubtful eyes to his. He leaned down to drop a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Just try it, please? For me?”

  Kaly felt a strange mixture of shyness and daring, standing partially nude under his avid gaze. “One of us is a trifle overdressed for this party, wouldn’t you say?”

  Jackson grinned, delighted at her playfulness. He spread his arms wide, indicating surrender. “Go ahead, honey. I’m all yours.

  Kaly was battling her own inherent modesty. But she longed to see him, just once, lose that iron control that was so much a part of him before she lost her own. While they maintained eye contact, she swayed closer to him. She reached for his tie and, without taking her eyes from his, very slowly pulled the tie from its loop. She smoothed the edges of it down the front of his chest before leisurely pulling it, inch by inch, from his shirt.

  Jackson’s eyes narrowed intently as he recognized the game she was playing. He felt his temperature skyrocket at her deliberately sensual moves.

  Kaly took his tie and placed it around her own neck, letting the ends trail provocatively over her breasts. His eyes were fixed on the tie, as she meant them to be. Her hands reached for him again, trailing down his shirtfront, before moving with agonizing slowness to his remaining buttons. She unbuttoned each languidly, pausing to press a kiss to each new inch of skin she bared. When the shirt was completely undone, she smoothed the sides away to bare his powerful torso. She bent and moved her lips softly to him, exploring the broad expanse with meticulous precision.

  Jackson’s eyes slitted shut and his big fists clenched. His chest was taut with the iron will he was exerting, and Kaly nipped a hard muscle daringly. When she looked up at him, he appeared like a man on the edge of exquisite agony. The skin was pulled tightly across his cheekbones and his mouth was taut. A sheen of perspiration shone on his tanned face.

  Kaly pushed the shirt over his thick shoulders, down over the hair-roughened forearms, and let it flutter to the floor. Her hands passed back up his skin in a reverse journey, over his arms, up to his biceps, which she squeezed testingly. She moved up to his powerful shoulders and kneaded soothingly, before moving her hands down his chest and circling each nipple with a forefinger. Kaly pressed her face to his chest and nuzzled the soft dark hair that grew there, like a cat wishing to be stroked. Her hands continued their erotic exploration, descending his torso with deliberate slowness. She reached the waistband of his pants, her fingers splayed on either side of the button. She caressingly ran her thumbs up and down either side of his zipper.

  A throaty growl emanated from Jackson’s throat, and Kaly glanced up to catch him watching her in the predatory way a wild animal eyed its prey. Her fingers trembled on the button on his waistband, and she almost tore it off in the clumsiness brought on by his heated gaze. She pulled the zipper tab down a fraction at a time. A muscle jerked in his cheek at her actions; otherwise he was motionless. Her hand shook as she lowered the tab, her knuckles brushing the hard proof of his desire. She completed the zipper’s descent, revealing a sliver of black cotton briefs, and Kaly felt her nerve almost desert her. She tried to garner her flagging resolve and pressed a kiss into the dimple of his navel, before using her tongue to stab the indention bravely.

  This last act of precious torture broke Jackson’s control, and he grabbed her by the shoulders almost bruisingly, pulling her up his body and kissing her with fierce intensity. Kaly reveled in this sign of his passion. He broke the kiss to mutter, “You enjoy tormenting me, don’t you?”

  Kaly was feeling a newfound confidence, assured of her own powers. Jackson might be able to bring her to mindless passion and earthshaking, rapturous releases. But she had found that she, too, could affect his big body mightily, and the knowledge was heady.

  “I expected you to be able to last longer than that, Jackson,” she purred tauntingly. “I barely got started.”

  He grinned wickedly. “We’ll see who can outlast whom, honey. You want to lay odds?”

  He quickly bent and removed his shoes and socks. He stripped the dress pants off and tossed them carelessly out of the way. Kaly’s breath literally stopped. The briefs were not capable of hiding his straining manhood, and it sprang forth easily as he removed them. Nestled against a thatch of dark hair, it was mute testament to the passion she’d unleashed in him.

  “Now who’s overdressed?” he asked. He wrapped an arm around her back and brought her close to him, flattening her breasts against his powerful chest.

  Kaly’s head dropped back over his arm as she arched further into his caress. She sighed delightedly at the rapturous feeling of hair-roughened muscle tickling the tender tips of her nipples. Jackson removed her panties with one sweep of his hand before turning away to step into the frothing water. He took her hand to help her in and he sat, pulling her onto his lap.

  The hot bubbly water was almost too much for Kaly’s already sensitized skin. Jackson’s manhood was pressed intimately against her hip, and she shuddered delightedly at the combined pleasure of the frothing bubbles and the solid mass of his body. He bent his head to kiss her repeatedly, his tongue pleasuring her mouth even as his hands began to roam her body. His hands cupped her breasts, fingers playing lightly with her nipples, rolling them between thumb and forefinger, stroking and kneading lightly.

  Kaly moved gently in his lap, buoyed by the water and rocked by the sensations he was causing in her. His touch was torching her nerve endings, once again causing her response to flare out of control. His mouth explored her jaw, her neck and shoulders, making her shudder with desire. She moved closer against him, and Jackson groaned at the sweet pressure against his throbbing length. He turned her so that she faced him and took her mouth demandingly, pausing only to change the slant of their kiss.

  Kaly already felt light-headed, and she moved fiercely against him, needing a release from this sweet agony. Jackson felt her desperation and lifted her, so that her breasts were even with his mouth. He took his time, caressing each before drawing one puckered nipple into his mouth and suckling strongly.

  A tremor shook her as sh
e felt each pull of his mouth deep in her womb, and she rocked against him, unconsciously seeking more. He paused to switch to her other breast and Kaly gasped. She was beyond words, a writhing mass of sensitized flesh that sought relief from the unbearable sweetness. Callused fingertips found the slippery folds of her femininity, and he stroked gently before sliding one long finger inside her. She sobbed as she felt the tight bar of passion in her abdomen draw even tighter. She pressed her breast closer to his mouth, encouraging a firmer caress. Her hand crept down and she touched him, velvet and steel, and as her hand closed around him, Jackson’s mouth released her, unable to contain the hiss of his breath between clenched teeth.

  He buried his face in her breasts, nuzzling, turning his head to kiss first one, then the other. “Kaly—” his voice was thick with need “—I can’t wait anymore. Are you ready?” He positioned her hips above his, deftly easing into her a little, before leaning back against the tub.

  She hesitated in the unfamiliar position, sensing that he was giving her control this time, not trusting himself not to hurt her. But her own raging desire didn’t allow for shyness to stop her for long. She experimentally slid her hips down, and his gasp mingled with hers. She watched him through half-lidded eyes as she moved to take more and more of him. His eyes were tightly closed; perspiration dotted his forehead and upper lip. Kaly sensed he had almost exhausted his restraint.

  She began to move, slowly at first, then harder and quicker as her own passion began to take over. The tight knot in her abdomen grew tauter until she was sobbing with need, Jackson’s fingers hard on her hips. Each movement drew the knot tighter. Jackson pulled her hips closer to his as his own control burst, and he lunged upward, lost in the quest for fulfillment. Kaly clung to his shoulders, shaking with need, until a forceful thrust sent her spinning into space, and her body seemed to explode in a kaleidoscope of colors, waves of ecstasy shimmering to the outreaches of her body.

  Jackson continued to thrust wildly until he groaned, his big hands clamped tightly to her hips as his own need exploded and his body shuddered blissfully.

  They held each other close, limp and exhausted. Long minutes later, Jackson roused himself enough to remember where they were. The hot water was draining the little strength they had left.

  Reluctantly they separated and climbed out of the tub. He rubbed Kaly gently with a large bath towel, before wrapping her in it. He knotted another towel carelessly around his hips before scooping her up in his arms and striding to the bed. He laid her on it and turned off the lights, then dropped his towel and got in beside her.

  Kaly was still feeling the aftershocks of their lovemaking, but she was dazedly aware of his intentions. “Jackson,” she said, avoiding his mouth as he pulled her closer to him in the big bed, “my clothes? I can’t stay here tonight.”

  He easily kept her captive in his arms, subduing her feeble attempts to sit up. “Relax.” He pressed a soft kiss below her ear and she shuddered wildly. “I’ll take you back to your room before dawn. I want to sleep with you in my arms tonight.”

  Kaly felt herself responding to the sweet spell he so easily wove around her. She was astounded that she was capable of passion again so soon. There was nothing she would like as much as sleeping with him all night again, with one big arm keeping her close to his chest. But still she was apprehensive. She didn’t want anyone to suspect where she had spent the night. She tore her mouth away from his and he continued down her throat, finding the hollow at its base where her pulse paced quickly and kissing it gently.

  “I’m not sure...I don’t...” She broke off weakly as he filled his hands with long tresses of her hair and rubbed his face sensuously in them.

  “You always smell so damn good,” he muttered. “Even your hair smells wonderful.”

  Kaly’s protests subsided as she felt herself being pulled in by the undercurrents of his recurring passion.

  He found the knot in her towel with one hand and loosened it, pulling the sides open to reveal her nude form to him. He rolled her under him, and Kaly’s eyes fluttered closed as he moved against her once again in a compelling caress.

  Kaly hummed to herself as she slid the last of the volumes back into place in the bookcase in the office. She’d been using them to research some facts for Jeff’s book. Things were going well on the manuscript. So well, in fact, that Jeff planned to take the day off to drive Carrie to the city.

  The thought of how close she was to finishing her collaboration with Jeff brought a slight frown to Kaly’s face. She cherished every extra day she could get with Jackson. They had been spending all their free time together, going out to eat and to movies, and horseback riding. She smiled as she remembered one particular picnic at Cherry Stream. He’d managed to talk her out of all her inhibitions, and her clothes, and into skinny-dipping with him. The memory still had the power to send heat through her body in remembered pleasure.

  Each moment she spent with him found her more in love than ever. And sometimes the depth of her emotions terrified her. She wondered how long she could keep her feelings a secret from him. For she knew it would take just a hint of them to send him running for the hills. She had no doubts about how Jackson felt about her. He had told her things when they were in bed together. He had said that he wanted her, that he needed her. Just remembering the guttural rasp with which he had delivered those words brought a delicate shiver. But he had been depressingly reticent about anything more personal.

  Which meant only one thing, of course. She had known what she was in for with Jackson Roberts, and the knowledge hadn’t deterred her. She had been warned about his reputation many times. She had warned herself. But she had been unable to withstand the temptation he held for her, and she had no one but herself to blame for her situation.

  She loved him in a way she’d never dreamed possible. But she knew that nothing had changed for him. A woman had hurt him, and a part of him would always remain scarred and bitter from the experience. He would not allow himself to trust a woman again, much less settle down with one. It was this certainty that kept her from voicing her love for him. It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep from telling him when they were straining together for passion’s release, or afterward, when the tenderness she felt almost made her weep.

  Engrossed in these dismal thoughts, she was startled to feel arms wrap around her from behind. Jackson hugged her close to him and kissed her neck.

  “Mmm. I’ve been waiting to do that all day. It gets harder and harder to take you back to your room every morning.” Suddenly he seemed to realize how stiffly she was standing, and he turned her around in his grasp, tilting her face up to his. His gaze was perplexed.

  “Kaly? Is something the matter?”

  She shook her head, but broke away from him. Moving over to her desk, she busied herself with straightening its surface.

  Jackson watched her silently for a moment. Every instinct told him she was hiding something from him, even in bed. Hell, especially in bed. Their lovemaking grew more fantastic every time, though he always thought that would be impossible. But she seemed to try to close a part of herself off from him, to hold a piece of herself separate. It puzzled and infuriated him. Sometimes the desire to take her completely was so strong he was afraid he’d hurt her with the strength of his passion. Always her response was everything he could desire. Yet still that niggling feeling remained.

  He was getting that same feeling now, and he was quiet as he attempted to puzzle it out. Kaly, distracted by his extended silence, glanced at him. “What’s wrong?”

  “That’s what I’m wondering,” he responded slowly.

  “What brings you in the house in the afternoon?” she inquired with forced normalcy.

  “A cute little green-eyed blond about this high.” He gestured to his shoulder. “You know her?”

  Kaly shook her head, her earlier morose thoughts fading. When she was close to him, all her fears disappeared. “ ‘Fraid not.”

  “Too bad,” he
sighed in mock disappointment. “She’s lured me away from my work by refusing to stay out of my mind. I figured since she was such a distraction, anyway. I’d take the afternoon off and spend it with her. But since she’s not here—” he stalked her toward her desk purposefully “—I think you’ll do nicely.”

  She shrieked as he reached out to bring her close to him. “You are filthy,” she said as he tried to rub his dusty cheek against hers. “You’re in desperate need of a bath.”

  “Is that an invitation?” Jackson asked interestedly. “ ‘Cause if it is, I’ll let you scrub my back for me. And anything else you feel like scrubbing, too.”

  “Fat chance.”

  Jackson heaved a long-suffering sigh. “Just like a woman. Issue an invitation, get a guy all heated up, then welsh out.”

  Kaly choked. “That wasn’t an invitation. And it seems to me it doesn’t take a whole lot to get you all heated up, either.”

  “It doesn’t take much from you,” he affirmed. “Especially since I have vivid memories of how well you do in a hot tub.” He nibbled at the sensitive cord on her neck. “Can I at least interest you in spending the rest of the afternoon with me? I’ll let you pick what to do.”

  A sudden thought struck Kaly. “I think I’ll take you up on that offer, cowboy. How soon can you get cleaned up?”

  “It wouldn’t take much time at all if an extra pair of hands wanted to help me.” he said persuasively.

  But Kaly only reached up and dropped a light kiss on his chin. She ducked under his arm and headed for the office door. “I’ll meet you back here in exactly thirty minutes,” she told him.

  Chapter 12

  Kaly hurried back downstairs. The thirty minutes she had given Jackson were almost up, and she and Peg had managed to spend them fruitfully. A basket was packed, and a quick phone call to the barn had ensured that their mounts would be saddled and waiting. Thinking of her plans for the day lightened her step.