Cowboy's Kiss

by Victoria Pade

  When he reached her, he slid his hands inside her robe, laying it open to pull her naked body up against his, and kissed her again, playfully this time.

  But when that playfulness turned more heated, he stopped and propped his chin on the top of her head.

  “Beth and Ash are bringin’ the baby home today. What do you say to cookin’ a special dinner for tonight?”

  “Instead of mucking out horse stalls or slopping pigs or—”

  “Instead of all that.”

  Was he letting her off the hook for the hard chores just for the day, or had last night made such a difference in their relationship that he was telling her a permanent change was in order? And if it was a permanent change, what did that mean?

  “I’d like to cook for them today,” she answered, meaning it but sounding a little tentative just the same.

  Jackson didn’t seem to hear the tentativeness. “Good. Then I’d better get out of here before Miss Meggie comes snoopin’.”

  He kissed Ally’s forehead and reluctantly took his arms from around her, clasping her shoulders to move her away from the door. “See you downstairs.” Then, with a cautious glance to make sure the hall was clear, he left.

  Ally felt an instant disappointment to have him gone and had to fight the urge to follow him.

  But it wasn’t only thoughts of Meggie coming back and catching them that stopped her.

  There was also a little wave of panic about where things between them were going from here.

  * * *

  “Mighty fine food,” Linc said for the dozenth time that evening as he, Kansas and Danny, and Ally, Meggie and Jackson were leaving Beth and Ash’s house.

  Everyone added their praises, even Jackson—with no comment about the chateaubriand being froufrou.

  “I enjoyed doing it,” Ally assured them. “I had a day full of my three favorite things—rain, cooking and Meggie as my assistant chef.”

  Jackson’s expression seemed to deflate slightly, as if he’d expected—or maybe just hoped—to be one of the three. Not that he’d spent much time with her. He’d popped in periodically but had mainly kept to the barn.

  Still, Ally hoped she hadn’t inadvertently struck some sort of blow. He’d been warm and funny and nice when they had been together during the day. And he’d passed the evening helping her with the food and tossing her secret glances and intimate smiles that had set off sparks to dance along her nerve endings. The last thing she wanted to do was answer all of that with anything that would hurt his feelings.

  “Remember,” Linc said as they all stood at the door to go, “anytime you want to come cook at the honky-tonk—”

  “And make Jackson hire six men to do my job around here?” she joked.

  That made everybody laugh, including Jackson.

  A loud clap of thunder interrupted this exchange and when it passed, the good-nights really did get said, along with a reminder about the Native American ceremony Ash had scheduled at dawn the next morning to name the new baby.

  Outside in the yard, Linc and Kansas said a second set of farewells to Ally and Jackson and then went to where their car was parked near the garage.

  But rather than heading for the house, Jackson looked up at the starless black sky with its low-hanging, ominous clouds, obviously assessing the weather to come as Ally and Meggie waited for him.

  The rain had stopped about an hour before they’d gone to Beth’s place, so Jackson and Meggie had taken the horses from the barn to let them loose in the paddock beside it. Now he went from checking out the sky to studying the animals.

  “This storm is going to start up again. We can’t leave the horses out in it. If they get anxious enough they’re liable to try jumping the fence,” he said as Ally and Meggie followed the direction of his gaze to where five of them were in various states of agitation. “We’d better get ‘em back inside.”

  Ally had her hands full of the platters and bowls she’d used to cart food. She lifted them just enough to remind him. “I’ll set these in the kitchen and be right out.”

  Jackson nodded and then squeezed Meggie’s shoulder. “Come on then, Miss Meggie darlin’, you and I will get started ourselves.”

  They headed for the barn while Ally went on her way to the house, smiling at this latest version of one of Jackson’s pet names for her daughter. First it had been Miss Meggie, in an old-fashioned courtliness, and now it was Miss Meggie darlin’.

  She could tell it tickled her daughter, because every time he said it, Meggie flashed a tiny smile that illustrated how special it made her feel. A feeling Ally understood completely.

  Jackson might be slow to show that quiet, understated charm of his, but when he did, it was potent and irresistible, and all the more flattering because it wasn’t something he did readily or in an offhand manner or to just anybody. It was as if it came from the core of him and was shared only with those he let in that far.

  Another crash of thunder hit so hard and close the house rocked as Ally quickly put the dirty utensils into the dishwasher. The first drops of rain were beginning to fall again when she went back outside, but in just the time it took her to reach the paddock where Meggie and Jackson were, rain was pouring once more in heavy sheets that made it hard to even see through.

  “Go on up to the house, Meggie,” she heard Jackson call to her daughter as Ally climbed the rail fence and hopped to the ground on the other side.

  Lightning lighted up the sky so brightly it was blinding, and not a breath later, thunder hit with the force of a cannon. The horses that were still out in it whinnied and snorted and moved jerkily, as if they didn’t know where to go to escape what was frightening them. The gelding Jackson had a hold of by the cheek piece of the harness shied even from him, but he held on tight and tugged the animal into the barn.

  Ally didn’t know if Meggie was ignoring Jackson’s order or just hadn’t heard it, but she was still hanging on tight to the reins of the filly she called Sunshine, trying to pull her into the barn. Sunshine was clearly the most scared of the lot and the small child was having trouble keeping her grip on the harness the animal was new to.

  “I’ll take her in. You go up to the house like Jackson said,” Ally shouted from across the paddock through the noise of thunder and rain, as she headed in her daughter’s direction.

  But Ally was still some distance away when another boom struck. She saw Sunshine rear back on its hind legs, yanking Meggie’s arm sharply, jerking her nearly off the ground. Even through the noise of the storm, Ally heard her daughter’s gasp of surprise and pain.

  “Let go!” Ally shouted, breaking into a run.

  Meggie did, falling to the ground just as the animal came back down, catching the little girl’s temple with a front hoof.

  And then Sunshine reared again.

  Everything appeared to happen in slow motion for Ally, who couldn’t seem to run fast enough through the pounding rain and muddy earth as those hooves hovered in midair, directly over Meggie, pawing at the rain like a kitten at a dangling twine ball. Only this was no kitten. This was a terrified animal with a great deal more weight and power behind it, even if it was only a very young horse.

  “No!” Ally shrieked as those hooves began to lower.

  And then Ally slipped and fell flat.

  She scrambled back to her feet but still she was yards short of her child when, again, Sunshine’s front half lowered.

  This time a hoof clipped Meggie’s elbow, where the little girl had curved it over her face to protect herself.

  “Roll away!” was all Ally could think to advise as she again rushed to help.

  But just then Jackson came from out of nowhere at a full run, his boots maneuvering the mud better than Ally’s slippery-soled loafers. “Hya-hya!” he shouted along the way, the words and the deep, loud voice finally shooing the animal to veer in the opposite direction just as Ally reached Meggie, dropping to her knees beside her.

  Meggie’s cut arm shook as she took it away from her
face. Her eyes were wide, her skin ashen with fear, and blood from her temple had already flooded her hair.

  Without thinking about the wisdom in moving her daughter, Ally grabbed her up into her lap and held on tight, mindlessly rocking her as if she were a baby whose minor fussiness could be soothed that way.

  But Jackson took command and cut it short. “Let’s get her inside,” he said through the din of the storm, bending over and taking the little girl from Ally’s arms to head for the house.

  * * *

  Within an hour Ally knew Meggie wasn’t seriously hurt.

  Jackson had called the emergency number and the town doctor had come out to the house. After a thorough check he’d declared Meggie cut and bruised, but okay.

  Ally gently cleaned her up, gave her a pain reliever and tucked her into bed—her and the entire contingent of dolls and stuffed animals that her daughter had once again situated all around her. She also made sure Mutt was at her feet before she’d close her eyes and go to sleep.

  For a few minutes Ally stayed by her bed, watching her, working to believe everything really was okay, trying to stop the internal shaking that was still rumbling through her like her own private earthquake.

  Maybe being here wasn’t what was best for Meggie after all, she thought.

  But she knew now was not the time to consider it. She was too jittery, too scared to make any kind of decision.

  And standing there studying the rise and fall of her daughter’s chest to make sure she was breathing wasn’t helping anything, so she finally pressed a soft kiss to Meggie’s brow, tucked in the already tucked-in covers and left the room.

  “How’s our girl doin’?” Jackson’s question greeted her as she carefully closed the door behind her. He was waiting in the hall, his arms crossed over his chest, his back against the wall.

  She knew the doctor had to have filled him in before he left, but as if Jackson actually might not know what was going on, she said, “We were lucky. Both her head and elbow were only grazed. And her shoulder wasn’t dislocated, just wrenched. It’ll be sore for a few days, but she won’t even need a sling. She has quite an egg on her head, though. Living on a ranch might be helping the inside of it, but I’m beginning to wonder how dangerous this place is for the outside of it.”

  Ally had intended that to be a joke, but neither of them laughed. Probably because it had too much of a ring of truth to it to be funny.

  Instead, Jackson’s brows dipped down in a frown, and somehow she knew what he was thinking—that just when he let his guard drop with her, she’d take off the way his ex-wife had.

  And suddenly Ally realized that he might be right. That somewhere during the time since Meggie had been hurt, the thought of leaving here had begun to seriously tease at the fringes of her thoughts.

  Jackson pushed away from the wall and stood up straight, tall, proud. And distant. “Life here isn’t only hard, it’s hazardous, too,” he agreed, though not in the warning, ominous way he’d said it before. Just as a matter of fact. “That’s something you’d better take into consideration.”

  Before either of us gets in any deeper, Ally added mentally. “Did Meggie do something wrong?” she asked, searching for a reason, for a way to convince herself that the hazards could be avoided.

  “Nope, she didn’t,” he answered, instantly dispelling that hope. “Meggie’s good with Sunshine. She’s also right about the horse liking her. That animal responds to her better than to anyone ‘round here. These things just happen. Could have been me as easily as it was Meggie if one of the bigger horses had shied. We’re dealin’ with unpredictable animals that outweigh us ten times over. And with the power and force of Mother Nature. With wide-open spaces where help is faraway. With equipment that can be treacherous. It’s all part of this life, Ally.”

  Take it or leave it.

  He didn’t say that, but Ally heard it, anyway, in his tone. And it sent a renewed shiver up her spine, bringing with it more of that internal shaking she’d just managed to stop.

  Jackson seemed to sense it. He took a step toward her and his arms unlocked from across his chest. But that was as far as he got. He didn’t actually reach for her the way she thought he was going to. The way she wished he would. He stopped short and only jammed his hands into his pockets.

  “Guess you’d better think about some things,” he suggested, his expression resigned, sad, knowing.

  Then, as if he were leaving her to do just that, he turned and went into his bedroom.

  It wasn’t as if Ally could think about anything else as she went into her own room, into her bathroom and peeled off her muddy clothes.

  The sight of Meggie lying on the ground like a rag doll with that horse above her, on the verge of stomping her, kept flashing through Ally’s mind in every vivid detail.

  An inch more to the center of Meggie’s head and her skull could have been crushed or her face shattered. She could have been killed. She could have been scarred for life.

  Standing in the shower, thinking about it, Ally felt her heart begin to pound, and the shaking started yet again, this time not only internally but externally, too.

  Images of Meggie hurt and bloody kept flashing themselves at her. Thoughts of losing her stabbed like knives. Her whole body quaked uncontrollably, and even the warm water of the shower didn’t chase away the chill that felt as if it were bone deep.

  She turned off the water and stepped out of the stall, under the heat lamp in the ceiling, thinking maybe that might help. But it didn’t. And neither did drying off.

  She knew the shock, the full impact of what had happened, of what might have happened, was striking. The same thing had occurred when she’d been involved in a car accident—she’d functioned while she’d needed to and then fallen apart after the fact.

  The delayed reaction, the fear, was insurmountable and the tremors went on running through her, leaving her shivering, shaking, weak-kneed.

  And into it all came a craving for Jackson. For his strong, steady presence. For his calm in the storm that was ripping at her from the inside out. For his comfort. For him....

  She told herself it wasn’t wise even as she slipped into her bathrobe and headed out of her bedroom. Jackson was the very person she’d leave behind if she opted not to stay here. And they were both already in so deep it wouldn’t be easy for either of them if she took Meggie and left.

  But her feelings for him were stronger than any reasoning she could come up with. Her need for him was more powerful. And at that moment she was too weak, too vulnerable to put up a fight with herself.

  She crossed the hall to his door and knocked softly, still trembling, on the verge of tears she couldn’t explain.

  “Come in,” he called quietly.

  She opened the door and there he was, standing in the middle of the room, shirtless, his feet bare, the waistband button of his jeans unfastened. His dark hair was finger-combed carelessly; his mustache added a seriousness to his expression, the dent in his chin caught shadows. And just one look at him lighted a tiny ember of much-needed warmth deep inside her.

  Ally wasn’t sure what to say and so just stood there in the hall, staring at him and shaking like a leaf. Finally she murmured, “I don’t want to be alone...” when what she really wanted to say was, Hold me, please, just hold me, close and tight....

  But he seemed to know.

  He came to her and pulled her through the doorway and into his arms, against that broad, hard chest of his, the way she’d wanted him to before. His arms wrapped around her in just the solid embrace she yearned for, letting the heat of his body seep into her pores.

  She circled his waist with her own arms, pressed her palms to the expanse of his back and laid her cheek to his chest.

  She could hear his heartbeat and she closed her eyes and gave in to her other senses as they drank in the nectar that was Jackson, feeding her bruised spirit, reviving her.

  For a long while that was how they remained. He didn’t do anything bu
t hold her, comfort her, massage her tense shoulder blades with big, capable hands, cocoon her body with his magnificent one, and press soft kisses to the top of her head.

  It was all the perfect balm.

  Little by little her trembling stopped—first on the outside and then even on the inside. She could feel the tension leaving her by degrees, feel the stiffness draining out of her, feel her lungs taking in more than just the shallow breaths that were the best she’d been able to manage since Meggie’s accident.

  And then solace gave way to something else.

  Her body molded itself to his, softness to hard, curves into valleys, and his touch was no longer merely comforting but had a slower, more sensuous feel to it.

  His hands trailed up into her hair, cradling and guiding her head away from his chest so he could peer down into her eyes, searching them with a troubled gaze and yet clearly as unable to fight this as she’d been.

  “I love you, Ally,” he whispered as if it hurt him somehow to say it. Or maybe to feel it.

  “I love you, too,” she answered, her voice no louder, for as great as the fear he’d just quelled in her was another, a fear of the feelings they’d just admitted to and what could come with them.

  But then he lowered his lips to hers in a kiss too sweet, too deep, too forceful to resist.

  Ally gave in to it. To the freedom it allowed her from all thought.

  With his mouth still covering hers, he picked her up in his arms and carried her to his bed, where they made love with a wild abandon that kept rhythm with the thunder and lightning that still raged outside, swept away on a passion greater than everything else at that moment, wiping away all reason, all inhibition, all worries and fears.

  Ally truly lost herself in the exquisite sensations Jackson bestowed, carried on the tides of pleasure that came with the contained power of his hands on her breasts, on her stomach, lower still.

  His mouth enraptured hers. His tongue played, teased, fenced with hers, and then went on to explore for other, even more sensitive spots on her body to delight and bring to life.