Texas Brides: The Rancher and the Runaway Bride & The Bluest Eyes in Texas

by Joan Johnston

  Her attraction to Burr surprised her more than a little. After all, he was a gang member from Houston who had somehow become a Texas Ranger. And he certainly looked the part.

  Appearances.

  Lindsey, who had spent her life being judged by her looks, was appalled to realize she had been equally judgmental of Burr’s outward trappings. There must be more to him than what showed on the surface. Otherwise, why had she been so drawn to him?

  Maybe she found Burr so fascinating because he was different, because he came from the wrong side of the tracks, because he was dangerous. Burr possessed a different kind of power than her father wielded, but there was no doubt Burr Covington was a powerful man. And one who was far more likely to get himself shot than any politician or businessman or financier she could have chosen to fall in love with. And yet, she had been willing to give in to the powerful attraction she felt toward him.

  He had made it clear he wasn’t interested.

  That was another totally new experience for Lindsey Major, debutante and governor’s daughter. Normally, men fawned on her and begged for her favor. She refused them; they didn’t refuse her. She felt humbled, humiliated, and hurt by the Ranger’s rejection of her.

  Those feelings lasted about as long as it took Lindsey to acknowledge them. They were replaced almost instantaneously by annoyance and determination. She had spent a lifetime using her famous eyes to cajole, entreat and demand what she wanted and rarely failed to get her own way. She didn’t want Burr Covington, but she did want a little revenge to assuage her ego. It would be a simple matter to get him to admit he wanted her and then refuse his advances.

  Lindsey figured she had about seventeen hours to bring Burr Covington to his knees.

  Chapter 4

  LINDSEY WOKE TO A STEADY thudding sound, which she finally recognized as an ax striking wood. She got out of bed, crossed to the curtainless window and looked out onto the backyard of the cabin.

  Burr was dressed in nothing but a pair of worn jeans, and goose bumps rose on her arms at the sight of him. He had shaved, and she was surprised to see that he looked almost handsome. The broken nose gave his face character, she decided. His hair, free of the ponytail, was plastered to his forehead by sweat and hung in damp curls on his bare shoulders.

  He had been working hard enough splitting logs that his muscular torso glistened. Her gaze was drawn to a crystal drop of liquid as it rolled downward across a washboard belly toward his navel. She noticed the scabbed-over cut near his ribs where Epifanio had slashed him with his knife. It wasn’t the only mark on his body. There was also a scar near his collarbone that looked suspiciously like a healed bullet wound. She wondered whether he had gotten it as a kid in a Houston gang, or during his duties as a Texas Ranger.

  As she watched, he paused and wiped his forehead with a bandanna he pulled from a rear pocket of his jeans.

  And noticed her staring at him from the window.

  She leapt back out of sight, then realized that was foolish, since he had already seen her. She took a deep breath, shoved the window open and leaned out, unaware that the V-necked T-shirt she was wearing gave Burr a revealing glimpse of female pulchritude. “Good morning,” she called.

  “There’s coffee and cereal in the kitchen,” Burr replied curtly. He began swinging the ax again.

  She had been dismissed.

  Whatever second thoughts Lindsey might have harbored about her plan to bring Burr Covington to his knees flew out the window along with a fly that had been buzzing by her ear. So he thought he could ignore her, did he?

  You’re being childish about this, Lindsey.

  Am I?

  The man is only trying to do his job.

  That Ranger has insulted me for the last time.

  He doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who’d ever kowtow to a woman.

  Just wait. I haven’t been labeled the girl with the bluest eyes in Texas for the past seven years without learning a few things about how to manipulate the male of the species.

  Lindsey stripped off the overlarge T-shirt she had slept in and took a quick shower. Then she put on the T-shirt, jeans and tennis shoes Burr had bought for her in town, using some tissues to cushion the blister on her heel.

  She didn’t normally have more than toast and coffee for breakfast, but the colorful box of sugar-coated kids’ cereal on the table looked tempting. She poured herself a bowl, doused it with milk, then surprised herself by eating ravenously. Maybe being kidnapped had given her an appetite. As she munched the last few bites of cereal, Lindsey pondered how she could best seduce the Ranger.

  Now you’re going to seduce him?

  How else am I going to lay him low?

  How about an intellectual argument?

  Somehow that wouldn’t be the same.

  It sure sounds safer than bearding the lion in his den.

  He may look like a lion, but by the time I’m through with him, he’ll be following me around like Mary’s little lamb.

  It dawned on Lindsey that while she had gathered a large male following over the years, she had done nothing purposely to garner their attention, other than having blue eyes, of course. Unfortunately, Burr hadn’t fallen under her spell. For the first time, she was going to have to do something other than flutter her eyelashes to attract a man. Since everything else about her was rather ordinary, she wasn’t sure exactly what she was going to use for bait. Maybe having an intellectual discussion with Burr wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

  Burr was immediately aware of Lindsey when she headed out the back door toward him. She had a graceful walk without the limp. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail that made her look a lot younger and more approachable. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, either. She looked about twenty and as innocent as a lamb. However, he knew that wasn’t possible. A woman like Lindsey Major was sure to have put a few notches in her bedpost. Not that it was any of his business. Besides, having been around more than a little himself, he was in no position to be throwing stones at glass houses.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” Lindsey asked when she reached Burr’s side.

  “I need to haul some of this wood inside, but otherwise, I’m done here.”

  “I’d be glad to help with that, but do you suppose we could go for a walk first?”

  Burr’s gaze shot to her feet. “Are you going to be all right in those shoes?”

  “If not, I’ll just take them off and go barefoot.”

  Burr noticed Lindsey was looking everywhere but at him. He set down the ax and mopped his chest and back and under his arms with the T-shirt he had taken off when he had started working.

  An enchanting flush rose on Lindsey’s face.

  Surely this isn’t the first time she’s seen a man working without a shirt! Burr thought. But she was clearly affected by the sight of him, so he stuck his arms in the plaid Western shirt with folded-up sleeves that had come off at the same time as the T-shirt and buttoned a couple of the buttons.

  “I’m ready when you are,” he said.

  She gave him a gamine smile and headed off toward a cluster of pecan trees in the distance that surrounded a pond deep enough to swim in. He followed after her, wondering why she was being so friendly all of a sudden. He didn’t think she had changed her opinion of him overnight, so he was naturally suspicious of her intentions.

  He kept his eyes on her, which was easy, considering how her fanny moved in the tight-fitting jeans. There was a sexy little sway to her walk that was as enticing as any perfume he had ever smelled. He realized that if she had walked off a cliff, he probably would have followed her over the edge. The sunshine did something magical to her hair, revealing a dozen different shades from red-gold to golden chestnut. He saw the pleasure on her face as she closed her eyes and tilted her head back, basking in the sunlight.

  Burr felt his body responding to the woman in front of him. More disturbing, however, was the way his mind recorded all the sensual data about her. As a Ranger, he was
used to making snap judgments about people based on their actions. The way she walked told him she liked being a woman, and that she had a great deal of self-confidence. The sun-streaked hair told him she spent a lot of time outdoors, and that she probably had an expensive hairdresser. And the way she turned her face up to the sun told him she was a sensual person, ready to greet with open arms whatever life had to offer.

  He tried to make that evaluation of Lindsey Major mesh with what he had read about her and what he had experienced so far in her company. The pictures didn’t match.

  “Penny for your thoughts?”

  Burr hadn’t even realized Lindsey had stopped. She was facing him with her hands on her hips. He took one look at the beautiful woman in front of him and said, “Why aren’t you married?”

  “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

  “I suppose not. I just wondered why a beautiful woman like you hasn’t found herself a husband and settled down to raise a family.”

  “I’ve already got a family.”

  Burr frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  Lindsey turned and started walking toward the trees again, and Burr fell into stride beside her.

  “Since the Turk killed my mother five years ago, I’ve been responsible for raising my younger brother, Carl, and my sister, Stella.”

  “Seems to me your father ought to be doing that.”

  She turned and gave him a bittersweet smile. “He doesn’t have the time. He’s a public servant who takes his duties seriously. I also act as my father’s hostess at dinners. You can see why I don’t have time to go hunting for a husband.”

  “I wouldn’t think you’d have to go hunting,” Burr said frankly.

  Lindsey glanced sideways at Burr, and his heart jumped. Her eyes seemed to invite all kinds of things he knew she couldn’t possibly intend. Her next words suggested she meant everything her sultry gaze had conveyed.

  “I haven’t met anyone I was interested in getting to know.” She paused. “Until you.”

  Burr stopped in his tracks. He was used to keeping his feelings to himself, but it took a great deal of effort to keep the astonishment—not to mention the suspicion—off his face. “I find that a little hard to believe.”

  “You’re…different.”

  Burr smirked. “I see. Is it the broken nose or the tattoo you find so fascinating?”

  “That’s not fair!” Lindsey retorted.

  The heat in her face told him he had hit the nail on the head.

  “I’m sure there’s more to you than your appearance suggests,” she said, compounding her error.

  Burr laughed out loud.

  “I was trying to compliment you!”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever been damned so well by such faint praise.”

  “What I meant is that I don’t think I’ve seen the real Burr Covington yet, and I’m curious what’s behind the ‘bad boy’ facade.”

  “What you see is what you get.”

  She shook her head, sending her ponytail swinging in the breeze. “I’m convinced there’s more to you than meets the eye, and I’m determined to get to know the real Burr Covington before the day ends.”

  “What’s the sense of that?” Burr asked. “After I return you to your father this afternoon, we’ll never see each other again.”

  “It doesn’t have to be that way,” Lindsey said in a quiet voice.

  Burr’s lips curled in a cynical smile. “What kind of rig are you running, Blue Eyes? What is it you want from me?”

  She looked at him with those stunning eyes, and he felt his heart skip a beat. He hadn’t expected to be as vulnerable as the rest of the pack that worshipped the bluest eyes in Texas. But he found himself wondering what it would be like to wake up to those eyes every morning for the rest of his life. He shook his head to break free of her spell.

  “Well?” he demanded. “What is it you want?”

  “I’m attracted to you,” she blurted. “I thought—”

  “Oh, no, you don’t. I am not, I repeat, not getting involved with the governor’s daughter. I’m supposed to be guarding you, for Christ’s sake!”

  He didn’t know quite how it happened, but she took the few steps to reach him and laid her hands on his chest and looked up at him, her lips parted.

  “I want you to kiss me,” she said in a husky voice.

  Burr’s hands clamped down on Lindsey’s arms so hard they were liable to be bruised when he let go. But, hell, better that than the other alternative, which was to kiss the woman—which he had to admit had crossed his mind as a potentially pleasant experience—and damn the consequences.

  “We are not going to do this.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you are who you are, and I am who I am.”

  “That’s not a very good reason to deny ourselves.”

  “Then I’ll give you a few more. I grew up in a gang in Houston—you grew up as Texas royalty. I live life in the trenches—you amble along up top. And this situation is only temporary. You wouldn’t look twice at me if we weren’t stuck here together.”

  Her eyes flashed, and she stabbed a forefinger against his chest. “Hogwash. The only thing that matters is whether or not you’re as attracted to me as I am to you. Are you?”

  He let her go and forked a hand through his hair in agitation. “All right, I’m attracted to you! Is that what you wanted to hear?”

  She grinned from ear to ear. “It’s a start.”

  “Just remember you asked for this.”

  Burr captured her in his arms and lowered his mouth to hers. He felt her catch fire when he put his tongue in her mouth to taste her, but he didn’t stop there. He had wanted to hold her breasts since he had first caught sight of them. He shoved his hand up under her T-shirt and palmed her flesh. She made a sound of protest before arching into his hand. He used his other hand to hold her close while he rubbed himself against her with a body that was stone hard. When he let her go at last, there was a stunned look on her face.

  He took a step back and let out a shuddering breath. “Is that what you were after, Blue Eyes? Be sure it’s what you want before you start playing games with me again.” He didn’t recognize his voice. It was harsh and grated like a rusty gate.

  “I wasn’t…I didn’t mean…” Her denials fell flat because she had goaded him, and she had meant to provoke exactly the response she had gotten. Only the encounter had been far more devastating for her than she had imagined. She felt shattered. Overwhelmed. Aroused. And afraid to act on what she was feeling for fear of the consequences.

  “Now you know the real difference between the two of us. I’m not into playing games, Blue Eyes.”

  “And you think I am?”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “I wasn’t thinking about the differences between us when you were kissing me.”

  “That’s good, because when I look at you I see a woman I want to get so deep inside I can’t see daylight, a woman I want underneath me panting and scratching and as eager for me as I am for her. How about it, Blue Eyes? You ready for that?”

  Burr watched Lindsey’s jaw drop. Then she whirled and fled back to the cabin as fast as her legs could carry her.

  You’re a damn fool, Covington. She was asking for it. You should have given it to her. Why did you scare her off?

  She doesn’t know what she’s getting into. I would be taking advantage of her at a vulnerable time.

  She came on to you.

  She’s a woman who doesn’t know what the hell she wants.

  You had your chance to make love to her and you blew it.

  Yeah. Sometimes those are the breaks.

  Acknowledging his folly didn’t make Burr feel any better. He headed toward the pond situated among the pecan trees. He needed a dip to cool off. He couldn’t remember a time when he had been so turned on by a woman. Why the hell did it have to be her? They had nothing in common. There was absolutely no future for the two of them. He simply wa
sn’t the kind of man who chased after windmills.

  LINDSEY HAD BEEN SHOCKED and not a little shaken by Burr’s prompt and devastating response to her sexual invitation. She was used to a more civilized male creature, one who would ask permission and accept limits. Burr had given her fair warning and then taken what he wanted from her.

  Not that she had protested much…or at all. In fact, she had quickly found herself a willing participant in anything and everything he’d had in mind to offer her. And she had to admit there was every bit as much give as there was take in what he had done.

  So why did you run, Lindsey?

  The answer to that was simple. She had been frightened by the powerful feelings Burr incited. She had no explanation for her attraction to the Ranger. She only knew she wanted to feel his arms around her, wanted to put her arms around him and hold him close. She was as appalled as she was astounded that she could be so attracted to a man like him. He didn’t mince words; he didn’t play games. He had a tattoo, for heaven’s sake! But his need for her, his intense desire, was a strong aphrodisiac.

  She had thought she could tease the lion and escape unharmed. But this beast had sharp teeth and dangerous claws that could drag her down and destroy her if she let him.

  She remembered the avid look in Burr’s eyes as his hand had cupped her breast. It was impossible to forget the taste of him, the rough feel of his tongue as he probed her mouth, the way his teeth caught her lower lip, and how her body had drawn up tight as he sucked on it. Her hips had met his thrusts and sought more of the delicious feelings as he brushed against her through two layers of soft denim.

  Lindsey had fooled around in high school, done a little petting, but she had never gone “all the way.” Somehow, the things her mother had told her about saving herself for marriage had made sense. Since she had expected to meet her future husband in college, that hadn’t seemed like such a long time to wait.