by R. C. Ryan
Phoebe circled the table, topping off cups of coffee. “Would you like your dessert here, or in the great room?”
“The great room’s fine with me.” Cole pushed away from the table, and the others followed suit.
Josh led Sierra into a room with comfortable sofas arranged around a massive, four-sided fireplace. A log blazed, filling the air with the wonderful fragrance of evergreen and woodsmoke. Large floor-to-ceiling windows revealed a spectacular sun setting over the peaks of the Tetons.
The older family members lounged on the sofas, while the younger ones settled on cushions on the floor, keeping their backs to the warmth of the fire.
Phoebe carried in a tray of brownies smothered in ice cream and drizzled with raspberries. While the others helped themselves and made little sounds of appreciation, Phoebe handed Cole a dish of plain raspberries.
“What’s this?” He shot her a thunderous look.
“Your dessert.” She set a steaming cup on the side table.
“And I suppose that’s some kind of unleaded, decaffeinated, and tasteless swill that you’re trying to pass off as coffee, too?”
Phoebe merely smiled. “The doctor said you’re allowed one cup of coffee a day.”
“And the rest of the day?”
“This,” she said simply.
Jake interrupted. “Drink your poison, Pa. And stop whining.”
The others enjoyed his joke.
“Whining, am I?” Cole studied the chocolate square on his son’s plate, mounded with ice cream and fruit, and then looked down at the measly dish of raspberries in his own hand. “You’re all going to be sorry when you’re bloated and lazy, and I’m fit and trim and running circles around all of you.”
“That’s right, Pa.” Quinn raised his own dish in a salute. “I know I’d much rather be eating your dessert than mine.”
Cole brightened. “You’ll trade?”
“Sorry.” Quinn nudged his wife, and the two of them laughed together. “But since Cheyenne went to all the trouble of baking these brownies, I’m honor bound to do my part just so all her hard work isn’t in vain.”
“A hero and a martyr,” Josh deadpanned. “See what marriage does to a man?”
Jake snorted. “That’s just pitiful.”
Quinn shot his brothers a quick smile. “Yeah, but it earns me plenty of points with Cheyenne. And she has the nicest way of rewarding my heroic behavior.”
“A very sweet reward,” Cheyenne said with a purr.
“More information than we wanted.” Jake pressed his hands to his ears before glancing at Josh. “If this is what marriage does to a man, I’m going on record right now and declare to one and all that I intend to remain a bachelor forever. How about it, Josh? You willing to join me?”
Josh chuckled. “You don’t see me settling down, do you?”
Jake crossed the room to high-five him. “Way to go, bro. And now, I’m heading off to bed.” He turned to his father. “I’ll be hitting the trail at dawn with a crew of wranglers.”
Cole looked surprised. “I thought you had to check your schedule.”
Jake pointed to his cell phone. “I did. My day is clear.”
Cole shook his head as his youngest son started toward the stairs. “What’s the world coming to? Fancy phones that act as secretaries, calendars, even weather maps. Pretty soon we’ll just program our phones to herd the cattle back down from the hills.”
Jake paused to turn and grin. “I’m betting there’s an app for that. And if not, some clever nerd will come up with it soon.” He lifted a hand. “’Night, all. And Sierra?”
As she glanced over, he winked. “It was nice meeting you. Since I’ll be on the trail before you’re awake, I’ll say good-bye now.”
“Good-bye, Jake. It was nice meeting you, too.”
And it was, she realized. Josh’s family had been a most pleasant surprise. Fun and funny, and as relaxed and comfortable as though she’d known them for a lifetime.
CHAPTER SIX
Cole turned to his oldest son. “You and Cheyenne staying the night, or do you have to get back to her place?”
“We thought we’d sleep here and then head back after breakfast.”
“Smart move.” Josh exchanged grins with Quinn. “That way you get to enjoy more of Ela’s corn bread before you face morning chores.”
“That’s the plan. And Cheyenne thought of it first.” Quinn lifted his wife’s hand to his lips for an easy kiss. “If you don’t mind, we’ll say good night now. We put in a full day on her ranch before coming here.”
The rest of the family deposited their dessert plates and empty cups on a wheeled cart near the door of the kitchen before heading toward the stairs.
Josh turned to Sierra. “I’ll just get our gear and be right back.” A minute later he returned with both their backpacks.
Sierra hesitated and called to his family’s retreating backs, “Will I see all of you in the morning, or should I say my good-byes now?”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart.” Big Jim winked at her. “The one thing you can count on in this family is finding everybody around the table for breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day.”
“Then I’ll save my good-byes for the morning.”
After calling good night to the others, Sierra followed Josh up the stairs and along a hallway.
When he opened a door and stood aside, she stepped past him into a room as large and welcoming as the rooms she’d seen downstairs. While Josh deposited her gear in the walk-in closet, she took the time to study her surroundings.
A king-sized bed was mounded with pillows and a down comforter. One wall was dominated by a stone fireplace, where logs and kindling were already in place on the hearth. Across the room was a desk and chair tucked under a wide window affording a glorious view of the Tetons standing tall and majestic against a red-tinged sky.
An open door revealed a luxurious bathroom that resembled a spa, with a rainforest shower, jet tub, and a pile of fluffy towels.
Josh stepped up beside her. “As I said, no hot tub, but I hope this will do.”
“Oh, Josh.” She turned to him with a dreamy smile. “I can’t wait to climb into that tub.”
“I don’t blame you.” He ran a hand over the beard stubble that added to his rugged good looks. “I wish I could join you.”
She started to laugh until she caught sight of the smoldering look in his eyes.
“Usually I prefer to take my baths alone. Especially until I get to know my bath partner a lot better than I know you. Sorry.”
“Not nearly as sorry as I am.” He grinned, softening the look.
He started to turn away when Sierra stopped him with a hand on his arm. Only a touch, but the intense expression on his face had her backing up.
“Changed your mind about sharing the bath?”
“No, I…” Her hand went to her throat. “I just wanted to say thank you for bringing me here.”
He gave her a slow, appraising look. “You do have a way of making a guy want to do nice things for you.”
“I know you’re only teasing, but you don’t know how grateful I am, Josh.”
His tone gentled. “You’re welcome.”
“I really enjoyed meeting your family. They’re all so warm and welcoming. They made me feel like it was the most natural thing in the world to have an overnight guest barge in without warning.”
“They’ve always been that way with our friends. Knowing that you were my guest made you theirs, as well.” He arched a brow. “Now, about that bath. I could stay and scrub your back.”
She managed a laugh. “Nice try, Conway.”
He shot her a dangerous smile, causing her heart to tumble. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
As he started to turn away she dropped a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve been a real lifesaver. Thanks, Josh.” Without warning she stood on tiptoe and, as she had outside her car, brushed a quick kiss over his cheek.
At her kiss he
went as still as a statue. His voice was unusually gruff. “Do you always thank people with a kiss?”
She flushed. “It’s just a reflex action, I guess. In Paris, everyone kissed on the cheek. But even before that, my parents believed that all of life should be spontaneous, without a thought to the consequences. The headmistress at my first boarding school was absolutely horrified when I kissed my ancient professor on his withered old cheek in front of the entire class.”
He chuckled. “I just bet she was. Did you get a detention?”
“I said it was my first boarding school. Actually, it was the first of many.”
“Are you telling me that you kissed all your professors?”
Now it was her turn to chuckle. “Not at all. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I’m proud to say I rarely make the same mistake twice. Still, I seem to mess up more than most of my friends. At any rate, you can trust me when I say that little kiss was just a friendly gesture.”
“I think I really like the way you express friendship.”
She took a quick step back. “Does that offend you?”
“Is that what you think?” He closed a hand over her upper arm, sending a sudden rush of heat along her spine. “That I’m offended by a kiss?”
She flushed. “I don’t know what to think. When I kissed you, you didn’t try to kiss me back. Most men I know usually return my kiss on the cheek with one of their own.”
“And that’s what you’d like?”
She found herself mesmerized by the cool, appraising look in his eyes. “I… certainly wouldn’t refuse you. It’s considered quite proper in Paris.”
“Well then.” His lips curved, and the look in his eyes went from cool to blazing in the space of a heartbeat before he blinked, veiling his feelings from her. “This isn’t easy for me to say. But I don’t think either of us is ready for that yet.”
“For a simple kiss?”
He gave her a smoldering look, and she felt the heat all the way to her toes. “Trust me. If and when I choose to kiss you, it won’t be a simple peck on the cheek.” He touched his index finger to her lower lip, causing it to tremble. “But I have to admit, I’m sorely tempted to taste your lips.”
He turned away then and in quick steps, walked to the door. Over his shoulder he called, “Good night, Sierra. Sleep well.”
He closed the door with a quiet click.
She stood perfectly still, wondering at the fact that the mere touch of his fingertip to her lips had sent the most amazing shock waves through her system.
Even after his footsteps receded along the hallway, she remained where she was, telling herself to breathe in and out, until her heart rate returned to normal.
When she felt in control, she sank down on the edge of the bed, wondering what had just happened. A fall from a high, sheer peak of the Tetons would have been less shocking than what she had just experienced at the hands of Josh Conway.
And he hadn’t even kissed her.
It had all happened in less than a second.
She couldn’t help wondering what he could do to her in an hour.
Outside Sierra’s door Josh picked up his gear and made his way to his room. Once inside he stashed his backpack in the closet and kicked off his boots while unbuttoning his shirt, which he balled into a heap and tossed on the bed. Barefoot and naked to the waist, he stalked to the window and leaned a hip against the sill to stare at the Tetons, silhouetted against the rosy sky. Though he was staring at the mountains, they weren’t what had his attention. His mind was on the woman in the room down the hall.
There was no denying the attraction. From the first moment he’d seen her, dressed in body-hugging leggings and a turtleneck, that mane of honey hair spilling around the face of an angel, he’d been hooked.
He couldn’t say exactly why he was so reluctant to kiss her.
It wasn’t for lack of wanting to. But he’d forced himself to resist.
That first time, outside her car, he’d been caught unaware by the hot flare of lust that had slammed into him. The feelings had caught him completely by surprise. He’d been hungry to touch and taste and feel that lithe, willowy body pressed against his.
It wasn’t just her looks that had snagged his interest. Sierra might be beautiful, but she was also smart and funny and ambitious. All the things he admired in a woman. But she was different from any other woman he’d known. Maybe it was her very different background. He was intrigued by the idea that she’d been on her own in boarding schools since her earliest years.
He thought about their first meeting, when he’d found her in that tent, not hurt or afraid as he’d expected, but angry as a spitting cat and armed with nothing more than a piece of plastic. What a display of bravado.
She was very guarded about her life. Except for Paris, and a childhood of boarding schools, he knew next to nothing about her. She appeared to be a woman completely on her own as she made her way through the maze of life’s challenges. And yet, life hadn’t made her bitter or brittle or angry as might have been expected. Instead, she was a breath of fresh air. Like one of those beautiful circus high-wire creatures who danced high above the audience without a safety net.
The moment he’d met her, he found himself intrigued. There was just something in his nature that made him eager to protect her.
He’d told her that he’d brought her here to spend a night in comfort before moving on. And it was true, as far as it went. But now that he’d had a chance to spend some time with her and to observe her interaction with his family, he wanted to know more about her. He wanted to know the woman behind the expressive eyes and gorgeous face.
He marveled at the ease with which she met total strangers and found out as much as she could about them without any effort whatever. He’d been touched by that little laugh when she’d called his grandfather Big Jim. As though it were a private joke that only the two of them shared. The expression on her face as she’d watched and listened to his family at the dinner table, and later in the great room, had been priceless. As though she were privy to some secret Stone Age society that she had just come upon in some remote part of a strange new world, and she was eager to know more about them.
What surprised him the most about Sierra was the rush of absolute desire unleashed each time she touched him. It was as though he’d been waiting for her for all his life so that they could unlock all the secrets of the universe together.
Together.
He gave a rough shake of his head to dispel such thoughts. He’d obviously been spending way too much time on a frozen mountaintop. He was a loner by choice. He liked it that way. And yet, what he was feeling was something so new, so puzzling, he kept turning it around and around in his mind, looking for answers, or at least a few sensible questions.
This wasn’t like him at all. He’d always been the calm, deliberate one in the family. He might love climbing, but he’d never felt afraid or vulnerable. He always knew exactly where he was going. But suddenly, he wasn’t as sure of his life as he’d been just days ago.
Sierra wasn’t just another pretty woman. There had been plenty of those in his life. There was something different, something special, about her. He was forced to admit that, whether he liked it or not, he was, quite simply, hooked.
Dangerous, he cautioned himself. He knew almost nothing about her except that she was married to her career. She was ambitious, uninhibited, and, as far as he could determine, not interested in being in a relationship, brief or otherwise.
This was a puzzle. One he couldn’t seem to put together neatly.
He swore and turned away from the window.
She was like a pretty little hummingbird, flitting from flower to flower, yet never landing. And tomorrow, she would be gone from his life, as quickly as she’d come.
Tomorrow he would drive Sierra to Paintbrush to rent a fresh car for the drive to Casper, after which he’d have a lifetime to contemplate all the mysteries of life and whether or not he should have followe
d up her innocent kiss with one of his own.
The truth was, he wasn’t at all certain how to behave around an irrepressible free spirit who happened to have the face of an angel and the body of a temptress. And that was why he’d backed away from what she seemed to be freely offering. Whether it was a kiss, or much more, it went against his code of honor to take from someone who wasn’t in complete control of her situation.
She had just come off a tough climb from the Tetons during a savage storm. And something she’d found in her rental car had frightened her. What she needed was a haven. A good night’s sleep, and then she could get on with her freewheeling lifestyle.
It was a waste of time thinking about what might be. In the morning she’d be gone, never to be seen again.
What he needed was to put her out of his mind, and the best way he could think of would be to engage in some good, old-fashioned ranch chores first thing in the morning.
There was nothing quite like mucking out a few dozen stalls and loading a mountain of dung into a honey wagon to bring him back down to earth with a thud.
He shucked his jeans and showered before climbing into bed, hoping to find some peace of mind in sleep.
Instead he spent a long, miserable night thinking about the beautiful angel with a broken wing who’d fallen from the sky and landed smack in the middle of his orderly life.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sierra dragged her heavy gear down the stairs and left it beside the closed kitchen door.
She tried to ignore the sinking feeling at having to leave so soon. It would have been interesting to witness the day-to-day operation of a real working ranch and to get to spend more time getting to know this fascinating family.
This life couldn’t have seemed more alien to her if she’d just landed here from another planet. The people, the countryside, the lifestyle, were so different from anything she’d ever experienced. She itched to capture them through the lens of her camera.
Especially Josh. He was, in her mind, the epitome of a real Western cowboy, with that tall, lanky frame, that rugged, handsome face, and those piercing dark eyes that could frost over with a single look or, in a blink, crinkle with laughter.
