by Kristi Gold
“You needed your sleep.”
Blessedly she smiled. “I guess so, considering I was up most of the night, thanks to you.”
He leaned and kissed her softly on the lips. “No. Many thanks to you.”
She stretched and draped her arms around his neck. “I think I used parts of my body that I haven’t used in years.”
“Then you are in pain?”
“Nice pain. Very nice.”
Unable to help himself, he kissed her throat and couldn’t resist kissing her breasts. “Perhaps I should do something to alleviate that pain.”
“Sorry. We don’t have time for that now,” she said, then bolted out of the bed, leaving Sam alone to deal with his own discomfort and the emotional wall she had seemed to raise.
After slipping on her robe, she faced him. “I have to put Sunny through some more ground work if I’m going to have her saddled by the end of the month.”
Just as well, he decided. If he had his way, they would stay in bed all day without regard for their responsibilities. How easy that would be, now that he had rediscovered the pleasure of making love with Andrea. But he could not disregard what he had to do, not only today but also in a matter of weeks, as much as he would like to forget what awaited him at home. “Riley is in the barn. He’s agreed to assist me in making it more serviceable.”
She grabbed a brush from the dresser and ran it through her hair with a vengeance. “I can’t afford to pay Riley.”
“I will see to that.”
Tossing the brush aside, she simply said, “Fine, I’m heading to the shower,” then left through the door.
Sam was shocked she had not protested his financial offer. Perhaps she was finally beginning to see that his money could only aid in her future and that of their son’s.
When he again returned to the stable a few moments later, he discovered that Riley had almost finished removing the old bedding from the first stall in preparation to replace the rubber matting beneath.
Riley looked up and leaned against his shovel, then stroked his too-long mustache. “Andi still sawin’ logs?”
Sam frowned. “She is awake at the moment.”
He chuckled and scooped another shovelful of bedding into the wheelbarrow. “I forget you don’t always understand the language. Guess it’s because I remember the way it used to be when Paul was still around. You were more loose back then. Relaxed. Even the way you talked.”
That was before he had carried the weight of a kingdom on his shoulders. “I have been away for a long time.”
An uncomfortable silence hung between them until Riley spoke again. “Did Andi tell you about me and Tess deciding to get hitched?”
“Yes. Last night. Congratulations to you both.”
“Tess told me you’re about to do the same come end of the summer.”
“It has been arranged.”
“That’s a strange way of putting it.”
Sam saw it exactly as it was, an arrangement. No emotional ties. No vows of love. “I prefer you not speak of this to Andrea until I have a chance to inform her.”
Riley lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “That’s your business, I guess, but I’m thinkin’ she deserves to know.” He appeared to go back to work, but before Sam could leave to gather more wood to brace the stalls, Riley stopped his departure. “You know, Andi’s dad was a good friend of mine.”
Sam paused and faced the open stall once more. “I remember.” He wondered where the conversation might be leading, yet he suspected it would come in the form of a lecture.
“I think he would’ve liked you a lot.”
Sam had not bargained for that presumption. “It is my understanding he was a very good man.”
“The best. And he thought the sun rose and set in Andi. Now, I’m not saying he didn’t love the boy because he did. But Paulie was more like his mother than Bob—into book learning and that sort of thing.” Riley smiled. “Andi was just like her dad, and the apple of his eye. According to him, she could do no wrong.”
Sam greatly related to that. “She is a good woman.”
“Yep, which is why I have to say something to you.”
Exactly as Sam suspected. “I am listening.”
Riley raked off his cap and forked a hand through his silver hair, then shoved it back on his head. “Chance is a good kid. He deserves the best. He deserves a dad like Andi’s. I’ve tried to be there for him, to teach him what I know and that ain’t too much. But I’m too old to keep up, which is why I’m telling you that if you can’t fill those shoes, then maybe you should consider stepping aside to let Andi find someone who can be there for him all the time.”
Sam silently cursed Riley’s interference, but he understood that it came out of protectiveness for Andrea and Chance. He also realized there was much logic in his assertions. “I will consider your advice.”
“That’s good. But I also know how hard it is to ignore a woman like Andi. Tess is much the same. Strong-willed, hard-headed, wild but in some real nice ways. It’s not easy to let that kind of woman go.”
Yet that’s exactly what Sam had to do—let her go. He’d known that all along. He had known getting involved with her again would be a grave mistake. But he had become involved, and now he would have to deal with severing their emotional ties when the time came.
“I promise that whatever I decide to do about my son, it will be best for all concerned.”
“I’m counting on that, Sam.” Riley set the shovel aside and wiped his hands on his jeans. “I’ve got to go do a few things back at the Hammonds’ place, but I’ll be back at sundown.”
“I will try to finish this stall before you return.”
“You do that.”
Sam stepped aside and allowed him to exit, but before he reached the open door, Riley turned once again. “And one more thing, Sam. Since I was Andi’s dad’s best friend, I want you to know that I’m standing in for him.” He pointed a crooked finger. “And if you hurt her, you’ll have to answer to me.”
With that he was gone, leaving Sam to ponder his words. He had no intention of hurting Andrea, if he could avoid it. But the closer they became, the more the risk increased that he again would shatter her heart. And most likely do a great deal of damage to his own.
Seven
After lunch Sam headed to the stable to resume the repairs. Andrea had only made a brief appearance in the house, grabbed a sandwich then returned to work the horses in the round pen, barely acknowledging him or her aunt.
As Sam neared the barn, he noted the red truck belonging to the man named Caleb parked in the drive. He approached the entrance slowly as he heard the sound of Andrea’s laughter, pausing outside to listen. He acknowledged that he had no right to intrude, yet he couldn’t stop his eavesdropping.
“Dinner would be great,” Andrea said. “But it will have to be in a couple of weeks. Chance will be home and my guest should be leaving.”
Her guest? Sam experienced a pang of anger that she considered him only a guest, then admonished himself for such foolishness. He was a guest, not a member of the family. Only a friend, a stranger to his son. Her lover for the time they had remaining, if he had any say in the matter.
That thought sent him forward, but he hesitated once more when the man began to speak. “I’ll give you a call next week, unless you decide you want to get together sooner.”
Sam could only imagine what this Caleb had in mind for Andrea, and he couldn’t contain the spear of jealousy hurling through him. That jealousy thrust him into the barn to find Andrea and Caleb facing each other at the stall containing the filly.
Andrea turned and met Sam’s gaze, then smiled. “Speak of the devil, here he is now.” She gestured toward him. “Caleb, this is Sam, a family friend.”
Sam reluctantly accepted the handshake offered by the cowboy but did not return his smile.
“Nice to meet you, Sam,” Caleb said. “Andi tells me you’re some kind of a prince.”
“A sheikh,�
� he said as politely as his current mood allowed.
“That’s great.” He gave his grin to Andrea. “Keep up the good work, Andi. I’m pretty pleased with you so far.”
Sam wondered what other pleasure he had in mind for Andrea. Forcing the thoughts away, he moved aside and gladly let the man take his leave.
When they were alone once again, Sam lost the tenuous grasp he’d placed on his control. “You will be dining with him after I leave?”
Andrea picked up a plastic box containing supplies and walked into the tack room. “Looks that way.”
Propelled by his insane envy, Sam followed her inside. “Will Chance be in attendance?”
“Yes,” she answered curtly.
“Does our son like this man?”
“He’s not been around him all that much.”
“Then you have no way of knowing if this Caleb will be an acceptable suitor.”
Andi dropped the box at her feet and turned, leaning against the saddle set atop the stand. “I personally don’t think Caleb is an appropriate suitor, because he’s married and has two kids.”
“He has a wife?”
“Yes, he has a wife, and she’ll be coming with us. Are you satisfied now?”
Sam was still reluctant to trust the man. “I’m admittedly concerned about his motives regardless of his marital status.”
Andrea rolled her eyes to the ceiling, then turned her back and began oiling the saddle. “Look, Sam, Caleb is a nice guy. He’s really done me a favor by letting me train his horse, and that’s the only thing he’s asked of me.”
“To this point.”
She faced him, twisting the rag in her fist. “I don’t know why you keep thinking he has other things in mind. You don’t even know him.”
He knew his type, and he knew how tempting Andrea could be. She was tempting him greatly now with the fire in her eyes and the clothes she wore, a sleeveless rag of a shirt cut short at her midriff, giving him a glimpse of her navel, where her jeans rode low at her shapely hips. The cowboy might be wed but he was still a man. And Sam had no right to judge anyone, considering what he had done with Andrea last night, knowing he was bound to another. Considering that he had not yet had his fill of her, as if he ever would.
“I will not mention it again,” he conceded, though he knew he would think about it often in the days to come, as well as when he returned to Barak. He would think about her often, wondering if she would find her way to another man’s arms, another man’s bed.
But until that time she was his, and although it would be inadvisable to pursue a physical relationship with her, he was not strong enough to resist. He had no intention of resisting. If all he could have was a few stolen moments, then so be it.
Sam could only stare at Andrea as she cleaned the saddle, bending down now and then to retrieve supplies for the task. His body raged with need when the denim pulled tight over her hips, revealing the shape of her buttocks. Her hair was secured and bound high on her head in a band, leaving the back of her slender neck fair game. Sam imagined kissing her there. Kissing her everywhere.
“Do you need my assistance?” he asked.
She sent him a coy look over her shoulder. “I’ve cleaned so many saddles I could probably do it blindfolded.”
“I assume you could do many things blindfolded.”
Andi froze with her hand midswipe when she felt the heat of Sam’s body at her back. A pleasant tremor crept up her spine as he tugged the bandanna from her back pocket then snaked it across her shoulder and over one breast before drawing it up slowly.
“Should we see if it is true that you are skilled without the benefit of sight?” His voice was a warm, midnight breeze at her ear.
Before she could respond, he placed the cloth over her eyes and tied it, throwing her into darkness, throwing her body into a carnal tailspin.
“You’re really going to make me clean the saddle blindfolded?” she asked, her voice little more than a croak, knowing that’s not what he’d meant at all.
Taking her by the shoulders, he turned her around and nudged her back against the saddle. “I propose that we ignore the saddle for more pleasant endeavors.” He softly kissed her with an added sweep of his tongue across her lower lip. “I want you to concentrate on what I am doing to you.”
A wave of heat ignited low in her belly then alighted between her thighs. “I’ve been working, Sam. I’m hot and sweaty.” A feeble protest that she hoped he would ignore.
“So am I,” he said. “But my hands are clean.”
His hands were wonderful as he skimmed them down her sides, grazing her breasts. “What about Tess?” She worried they might get caught, yet that prospect heightened her desire.
“Tess has gone to the market,” he whispered as he laved his tongue over her earlobe. “Riley will not return until sundown.”
When she clutched his arms to secure herself, he pulled her hands away and held them at her sides. “Do not touch me yet,” he said.
Andi gripped the metal stand to remain upright when her knees threatened to give way. She stood and waited for the longest moment until Sam caught her hands once more and placed a kiss on each palm before resting them against his face.
“Touch me now, Andrea. Remember me.”
How could she ever forget him? Heavens, she had tried, but without success. She was tired of trying.
On that thought, she explored his wonderful face with her hands, a face that had invaded her dreams in great detail so many nights before—details deeply engrained in her memory and her heart. She traced a finger over the strong plane of his nose, the bow of his beautiful, full mouth, the solid jaw covered by a spattering of whiskers. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t see him now—he would always be with her, branded into her brain.
Gliding her hands down the column of his throat, she continued on to his chest, pausing when she realized he had removed his shirt, much to her delight. His skin was damp and hot beneath her palms as she set a course across the crisp hair and on to his nipples that peaked into tiny pebbles beneath her fingertips. She traveled down his abdomen, and his muscles clenched when she circled a finger in his navel. Intending to continue her erotic exploration, she slipped her fingertips beneath the band of his jeans, only to have him stop her as he gripped her wrist.
“Raise your arms,” he said.
As if a master puppeteer was controlling her, she complied, leaning back against the saddle for support while he tugged her shirt over her head, leaving her completely naked from the waist up. He ran a fingertip across her chest from shoulder to shoulder, much the same as she had done to him. He traced her breasts with sensuous strokes of his fingertips, with agonizing slowness as he decreased the circles when he reached her nipples.
“You are very beautiful in the daylight,” he said in a deep, slow-burn voice that complemented his avid touch.
“This isn’t fair,” she said on a broken breath. “You can see me but I can’t see you.”
“You only need to feel at the moment.”
No problem, Andi thought as the heat of his mouth engulfed her nipple. She bucked at the pleasurable sensations, giving everything over to feeling. He paid equal attention to both breasts as she molded her hands to his scalp and followed his movements. Then suddenly he raised his head and commanded, “Turn around.”
She did as she was told, bracing her hands on the saddle to regain her ground. Sam tracked his way down her spine, first with his thumbs then with his lips, leaving a trail of wonderful chills in his wake. Tuned in solely to Sam’s sensual torture, it took Andi a moment to realize he had slipped one hand between her and the saddle. She felt the downward track of her zipper and went weak with anticipation, and weaker still when he lowered the denim to her thighs, taking her panties with it. A wisp of warm air whisked over her now-exposed bottom, but it was nothing compared to the heat Sam generated as he pressed more kisses to her lower back, then kissed her bottom.
Andi lowered her chin to her chest, s
avoring the feel of his mouth, gasping at the tiny nip of his teeth that he soothed with his tongue.
“A very nice dessert,” he added with a low chuckle that sounded from deep within his chest.
She couldn’t argue that point. This was much better than a hot-fudge sundae with whipped cream and nuts. Better than anything she had imagined to this point.
After working his way back up, he cupped his palm between her thighs while feathering kisses across the back of her neck, yet he only toyed with the cover of curls. Overcome with the need for him to pacify the insistent throbbing, she pressed against his hand in encouragement.
Andi couldn’t stifle the moan of frustration when he took his touch away. “Patience,” he scolded. “I will see to your needs but first I must see to something else.”
When she heard the sound of his zipper followed by the rattle of paper, Andi realized that Sam had planned this all along. Planned to make her mindless with wanting despite his initial opposition. And more important, he was ruining her for other men. Convincing her with every kiss, every touch, that no one would ever measure up to him. But she really didn’t care. She only cared about right now, the absolute need, the undeniable ache that could only be relieved by this particular prince.
He was soon flush against her back, returning his hand to the place that wept for his attention. This time he delved into the damp folds until he found her center to caress and cajole with firm yet tender fingertips. She was soon caught up in a whirlwind of sensory details surrounding her—freshly cut hay, mingled with the scent of leather and Sam. She heard his shallow breathing and the sounds of horses chomping their hay. But all sounds, all smells disappeared as he fondled her straight into oblivion.
The climax began to build and build, and she only knew that she wanted him inside her now. Reaching back to grasp his hips, she pulled him forward, and he entered in one sharp, enthralling thrust, bringing about an earth-moving climax.
She turned her face toward him and accepted his deep, penetrating kiss. His tongue captured the rhythm of his body as he explored her eager mouth while he moved inside her, stifling her gasps as he filled her completely.
