by Melody Anne
She lay on the couch and waited for the painkillers to kick in. Half an hour later, she dared to open her eyes again. There was still a minor pulsing in her temple, but she could actually move without shards of pain ripping through her.
Going back upstairs, she got ready for the day. After her meltdown yesterday, she felt vulnerable, exposed. Today she was going to take some of that back. Today she would prove that she could be a good owner of this place — that even though she didn’t want to belong here, she still did.
She was going to corner Joe, and she was going to learn how to run a combine. Come hell or high water, when it came time for the harvest, she was going to help do it. She would feel useful, like a part of the team, needed.
With the wall around her heart slowly crumbling, she needed to feel this way, needed to feel something other than like a spoiled brat, or like a city girl, as Colt enjoyed saying in such a mocking tone.
With dogged determination, she showered, got dressed and made her way back downstairs to brew a fresh pot of coffee. It wasn’t going to be an easy day, but she planned to learn something. And whoever refused her today was going to be fired on the spot — it was just that plain and simple.
No, she didn’t want to be a tyrant, but if she was going to run this place, she had to draw a line eventually, and today was that day. And that line was only inches from every single one of her employees’ toes.
Stepping outside, Brielle felt good about being up just as the sun was coming over the horizon. Though she had vowed never to let it happen, she found herself moving over to the quaint rocking loveseat on her porch and sitting down.
Sipping her coffee, she took in deep breaths of fresh mountain air, and she waited for her day to begin. When she watched a rider appear over the crest of a hill, his form perfect, his horse moving quickly, she zeroed in on the man and horse.
As the man came closer, she discovered it was Colt, and a little thrill shot through her. She hadn’t wanted to see him today, had wanted to run and hide after telling him her sob story, but as he drew nearer, she couldn’t feel anything other than glad.
That was something she hadn’t thought would happen.
When he stopped in front of her house, their eyes connected, but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking or feeling from the expression on his face. Was he happy to see her? Was this business or personal? She hated that she had to wonder, hated that she even cared.
“Good morning, Brielle,” he said as he dismounted. “I hope that you had a good night’s sleep.”
“I did, actually,” she lied. “Sorry for the breakdown yesterday.” She didn’t know why she was apologizing. He’d been the one to push her, but it was easier to say the words than to sit there in silence while he watched her.
After taking the steps two at a time, he joined her on the rocker, pressing his leg up against hers.
“I’m glad you opened up to me. It seems no matter how whole we are, there are things from our past that stay with us. For you, it’s your mother abandoning you. For me, it’s the loss of my brother and parents. Maybe it doesn’t haunt us every single day — maybe it makes us a little more approachable. I don’t know. I’m not a psychologist. What I do know is that I couldn’t quit thinking about you last night.”
At his words, she found herself holding her breath. What did this mean? She wanted to ask, but she was still so unsure of everything, and she didn’t want to seem clingy, needy, emotional.
“How about we have a truce of sorts? I’ll quit throwing things at you that are ridiculous, and you…” He paused as a grin split his lips. “Well, you forgive me for being an ass?”
“Hmm. I think I can do that if…” Her own lips turned up as she felt real happiness suffused her for the first time in a long while. “If you agree to muck the stalls all day.” There. That was good payback. She hadn’t seen him do it once, and she’d been in the barns a lot over the last month while trying to chase down Tony.
“That’s just cruel. I was going to show you the harvesting equipment today, but if you’d rather I muck barns…” He trailed off and the slick devil knew he had her.
“I was planning on having Joe show me,” she said, but she knew Colt would be more knowledgeable. The guy seemed to know how do to everything.
“Well, in that case, you seem to be all set.” He kicked out his feet and slumped down, pulling his cowboy hat over his eyes and looking as if he were going to take a nap right there on her swing.
“Okay. Fine. I do want you to show me, Colt.” She’d give him his small victory.
“That’s a smart woman. I know all about the equipment,” he said before turning to her and winking. “And I know just how to use it.”
When she blushed at his words, he laughed, slung an arm around her shoulders, and leaned back again. Brielle knew she could either pull away or angle herself just a little closer.
As the birds sang their morning melodies, she decided she’d rather snuggle. If only for this moment, the two of them had a truce, and it was a truce she didn’t feel like breaking. The last month hadn’t been pleasant, but it was now early July, and it looked as if things were finally turning around for her, or at least beginning to.
As she lay comfortably in Colt’s arms, they watched as the sun rose over the mountains, as people began to wake and walk outside, and then it was time to move. Brielle wasn’t ready, but as he stood and then turned to help her up, their fingers linked together for a few moments and she felt peace.
She could leave his arms right now because she had no doubt she’d soon be back in them again.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
RUNNING THROUGH THE high grass, Brielle couldn’t keep the laughter from spilling from her lips as Colt chased after her. This was one game of cat and mouse in which the mouse desperately wanted to be captured. But she wasn’t about to make it too easy on the cat.
“Give up!”
“Not a chance, Colt.”
She rushed around the back of the barn, and searched for a hiding spot. She wasn’t quick enough. Her breath was knocked from her lungs when Colt caught up to her and lifted her into the air.
“Gotcha!” he said triumphantly before setting her back on her feet and spinning her around. Then the teasing stopped. His head descended and his lips captured hers.
For two entire weeks, they’d spent their days with him showing her how to run the ranch, and then the two of them played games during the evening and long into the night. Sometimes it was playful, sometimes passionate, and sometimes mellow. But, for those fourteen nights, Brielle had slid easily into Colt’s arms without a thought of telling him no.
“It’s time for bed,” he murmured after this latest cat-and-mouse game, and trailed his mouth down the side of her neck.
“I was thinking about watching a movie,” she teased.
He carried her the couple of hundred yards back to the house, all without breaking a sweat. Once inside, he kissed her again, and then walked to the living room couch, and the only movie playing was the one they created… All without lights, camera, or…wait, there was an abundance of action.
The next morning, a rare occasion when Brielle woke before Colt, she gazed down at him while he slept. She’d never actually told Colt he could stay over, but she’d also never told him he couldn’t. He somehow just ended up there in her bed every night without fail.
Yes they made love — a lot of it. But some nights they sat in the living room and played board games or, yes, actually watched a real movie, or talked for hours on end. And then it was time to sleep and he was walking her up the stairs.
Neither of them had defined their relationship. Neither spoke about a future — or even a present, when it came down to it. Brielle was terrified to open herself up to this man any more than she already had, but it seemed much too late even to think about closing herself off.
She’d never actually been in a “relationship.” Yes, there was the guy from college, her first lover, but that had only been a few time
s, and they were never a real couple. They’d just dated, and because all of her friends had gone on and on about how great sex was, she figured she ought to experience it.
When it still wasn’t spectacular after a few tries, she’d decided that pairing was over and done with. The guy hadn’t been heartbroken. He’d just moved on. Later, there was the man she’d met in Paris. Now that had been better sex, but afterward she’d still felt almost hollow inside. Sure, her body had been satisfied, but nothing like this. What she shared with Colt...it was something she couldn’t put into words.
And so she was in bed with a man in what most would term a relationship, but she had no idea where the two of them stood. It wasn’t as if she’d change her life for him. She wouldn’t stay in Montana after she’d made a success of the ranch, and he was a country boy through and through.
Just thinking about this filled her with panic. She wasn’t ready to put a label on what the two of them had together, but she also wasn’t willing to let him go.
As she glanced at the clock and realized it was nearing nine in the morning, her heart began racing. Her father was scheduled to arrive in less than an hour, and no way in hell did she want him to come in and find Colt.
She couldn’t even explain to herself what the two of them were; how could she explain it to her dad? She’d finally been speaking to her father over the phone, was finally losing some of the resentment she’d been holding on to, and she didn’t want to ruin their fragile new beginning by having him think she was shacking up with a man she’d known such a short time. But the bed was so warm, and she was having a difficult time untangling herself from her lover. Wait. Was that the right word?
“Good morning.”
Startled, she looked up and found those bright hazel eyes open and looking right at her, and he had a lazy smile on his lips. His arms tightened and he pulled her closer.
“No. I haven’t brushed my teeth,” she said, turning away.
That didn’t stop him. He chuckled, and then his hand was tangled in her mussed hair and he was pulling her on top of him and bringing her mouth to his. Within seconds, she forgot all about her morning breath, and she was lost in the intoxicating scent of his masculinity.
When he released her mouth, she felt the hard evidence of his desire pressing against her core. “Mmm,” he purred as he slid his hands down her back and pressed them against her behind, letting her feel the effect she had on him — in full. But she still tried to wriggle away.
“I can’t, Colt. I have to get up.”
“I’m already up, darling, so let’s play.” He flipped the two of them over so she was lying on her back with his arousal firmly — oh, so firmly — between her legs, his hips moving against hers in the most pleasurable way. If they hadn’t both been wearing pajama bottoms, he’d already be inside her, and why not? She was wet and ready.
“I really can’t. My father will be here soon, and I don’t want him to find me in bed and tussling with you.”
“You’re an adult. I’m sure he knows you have sex, Brielle.” He began nibbling on her neck.
“You obviously don’t have a daughter. I don’t think any father wants to believe his daughter ever has sex,” she said with a small laugh as he moved down her neck and kissed the spot right between her breasts.
He paused and she nearly groaned in frustration, but pausing was what she needed him to do. She had to climb from this bed, get him out of her house, and take a nice long hot shower. It would take her the entire hour to work up the courage to face her father.
Yes, she had learned more about the ranch, but not enough. She was so afraid he was going to deem her a complete failure. She could tell herself that it didn’t matter, but she knew it did. She knew that she didn’t want her dad to look at her like the spoiled brat he thought she was.
For years she’d done everything she could to make him and her brothers believe she didn’t give a damn, but after only a couple of months in Montana, she was rethinking her entire life. What people thought about her mattered. What her dad thought about her mattered.
This visit had to be a good one. It just had to.
“Please, Colt. I…” She didn’t want to beg him, but she was so close to caving in and that would be disastrous.
He must have read her body language, because he stopped and rolled off her, then sat up, pulled her onto his lap, and held her close. The sweet embrace was almost her undoing.
“I’m sorry, Brielle. You’re right.” He kissed her temple while rubbing along her spine. After a few moments, he let her go, sliding out from beneath her and standing up.
“I’ll get out of here so you can have time with your dad.”
Was that hurt in his voice? Did he think she was ashamed of him? She would never want him to think that. “Wait, Colt!”
He had put on his jeans and was moving toward the bedroom door, but he turned and looked at her. She couldn’t read the expression in his eyes, but she needed to say something. She feared that if she didn’t, he might walk from the room and then she’d never see him again.
“I…” She paused, at a loss for words. “You know that I don’t care that you’re a ranch hand, right?”
His eyes widened as he looked at her for a second and then took a step closer. “Are you sure about that, Brielle?” His gaze seemed to burn right through her.
“Of course that doesn’t matter. Your working for me has nothing to do with the fact that I don’t want my dad to find you in my bed. You could be the prince of a foreign country, the president of the United States, a lawyer, doctor, anything. It wouldn’t matter. All that would matter was that you were in my bed. My dad already thinks so poorly of me. I just…”
Why was it that she always revealed too much of herself to this man? He, however, was oddly quiet about himself and especially about his emotions.
Heck, she didn’t even know where he slept when he wasn’t in her bed. Maybe if he wanted to climb into her bed again, she should make him begin sharing more with her. Yes! He was definitely going to have to start telling her things about himself, or they weren’t spending one more night together.
“I think I actually believe you,” Colt said as if surprised.
“I would hope so,” Brielle replied, her eyes narrowing. She was sick of people judging her and thinking she came up short.
Walking back to her, he lifted her from the bed, and pulled her into his arms. “Brielle Storm, you are not what I expected,” he told her with a real smile, then leaned in and gave her one solid kiss. Then he dropped her back onto the bed.
She was speechless.
“I’ll leave now before I lose my good intentions and begin ravishing you,” he said. Before slipping through her door, he looked back at her one more time. “I’ll be back later.”
And then he was gone. Brielle didn’t quite know what had just happened, but she sat there in a daze as she listened to him humming all the way down her stairs. It was several minutes after she heard the click of her front door closing before she managed to get up on her wobbly legs and drift into the bathroom.
A twenty-minute shower cleared some of the cobwebs from her brain, but not nearly as many as she needed for a visit with her father. Oh well, ready or not, the time had come. She was just putting the finishing touches on her makeup when her doorbell rang.
CHAPTER TWENTY
THERE’S A GREAT diner in town where we can have lunch.”
Brielle was exhausted after spending the first half of the day with her father, showing him the ranch, and all that she knew about it. She’d had a fake smile plastered on her face all morning, and it was really beginning to wear on her.
Her father hadn’t been judgmental, hadn’t made her feel like less of a person, but she was trying so desperately to impress him that her shoulders were tight and her body was on full alert. What if he decided right now that she just couldn’t do this?
It wouldn’t take much for him to pull the plug on the whole operation. Yes, the business was
in her name, but he supplied the money to run it, and she’d never be able to get that kind of capital on her own.
Before she’d arrived and even into her first couple of weeks here, she’d have been pleased if he decided to take her away from this place. But that wasn’t the way she felt now. She needed to finish this, needed to see it through. She was actually learning about the ranch now, and she desperately wanted him to notice that. And it was making her a nervous wreck.
“I’d love to try the local food,” Richard said with what she thought was his first genuine smile since his arrival.
“Great!”
The two of them walked toward her front drive, where his fancy rental SUV was sitting. She would give just about anything to ride in the nice leather seats and with actual air conditioning blasting from the vents, but the devilish side of her wanted to give her father a taste of his own medicine.
“We’ll take my truck, Father. After all, you got it for me,” she said with a wide-eyed smile.
Richard looked over at the rusty orange heap, and she could see that he had serious doubts about getting in, but she had to give the man credit. He didn’t argue; he just wrenched open the troublesome passenger door and climbed up onto the ripped vinyl.
“I’m sorry, Brielle. I didn’t realize this truck was in such poor condition,” he muttered when she finally managed to get the engine started.
“Don’t worry about it, Dad. She runs fine,” Brielle said. No. She hadn’t had a change of heart where the truck was concerned. She hated the temperamental thing, but if she had to endure riding around in it, she was going to make sure her father got the same privilege.
He said something under his breath that she didn’t quite catch, but she just smiled as she threw the truck into drive and went down the bumpy road just a little too fast. The ride into town was a teeth-jarring one, and Brielle couldn’t be sure, but she could almost swear she saw her father send up a little prayer of thanks when they parked in front of the diner.
