Riding Home

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  Jeannette couldn’t have been more surprised if Sarah had announced she’d be performing a fan dance later on in the evening. Everyone acknowledged Sarah Chance as the reigning queen of Shoshone, including a wide swath of countryside surrounding the little town. To be invited on a trail ride with her was almost like being granted an audience at Buckingham Palace.

  A person didn’t turn down an invitation like that. A Southern-born woman like Jeannette most certainly didn’t. “I would love to,” she said. “What time would you like me to come over?”

  “Around two would be perfect. You’re probably used to an English saddle, but would a Western one be okay for a couple of hours?”

  “I’m sure it would. I’ll be here. Thank you, that will be a perfect thing for my last day.”

  “I thought it might.” Sarah held out her hand. “Until then.”

  As Jeannette took the older woman’s hand, she felt the steely determination in that grip. Regan had told her all about Sarah Chance. The woman was a survivor. She’d lost her husband five years ago, but she’d carried on with the help of her three sons. Then she’d found a new love, Peter Beckett, and they’d married the previous summer.

  Jeannette had no idea why Sarah had invited her on a trail ride, but the outing could prove to be educational. As Jeannette plotted out her future, which had changed dramatically since the events of the previous Christmas, she was more than willing to soak up wisdom wherever she could find it.

  13

  ON THE WAY back to the Airstream, Zach thought of all he wanted to say to Jeannette, but he wasn’t sure how to say it or even if he should try. He’d already been fairly certain he was falling for her, but holding her in his arms while they danced had clinched it for him. She seemed to feel the same way, judging from the way her eyes had sparkled and her cheeks had flushed with pleasure.

  Regan’s words kept running through his head. Depends on how much she wants to be with you. That was the part that worried him. They’d had a great time together, but he didn’t know if that was enough to offset her desire to stay with the Virginia law firm and make her parents proud.

  They rode back with the windows down, and because the road was rough, he had to take it slow. Night sounds filtered into the truck’s cab. Crickets chirped from the bushes along the roadside and occasionally the hoot of an owl would drift from the nearby woods. The wolves were quiet tonight, but he heard the yip of coyotes.

  “I guess you know how much I like it here,” he said at last.

  “I do, and I understand. It’s beautiful.”

  He wasn’t sure how to take that. Everyone said Jackson Hole was beautiful, but not everyone was willing to move there so they could soak up that beauty year-round. He had no idea how to begin this conversation. How in the hell could he ask her to give up everything to come out here and start over?

  Finally he decided to wait until they got back to the Airstream. But he wouldn’t broach the subject while they were in bed together. That wasn’t fair. He wouldn’t use the passion they shared to influence her to say something tonight that she’d regret in the morning.

  Maybe he should just make love to her, go to sleep and tackle this tomorrow. That would be far more logical, except that he wasn’t in the mood to be logical. He used to pride himself on his practical thinking, but emotion and exhaustion had him by the throat right now and he needed some idea of where he stood with her.

  “I have a couple of folding chairs stashed under the trailer,” he said. “Would you like to sit outside for a little while? Maybe we’ll hear the wolves again.”

  “That sounds nice.”

  He loved the way she said the word nice with a long i sound instead of a short one. Now every time he heard a woman with a Southern accent, he’d think of Jeannette. Hell, every time he heard wolves howl, he’d think of her, and every time he danced the two-step, and every time he ate a club sandwich or watched Sabrina.

  Except he wouldn’t watch that movie again if she left for good. That was one thing he could eliminate from his life to decrease the pain. He might give up club sandwiches, too, and champagne. But that wouldn’t be enough to mute the effect of losing her. He’d have to sell the Airstream.

  When he thought of how she’d burrowed into his life in such a short time, he swallowed a groan of dismay. Somehow he had to convince her that she belonged with him. The alternative—that she would leave and he’d never see her again—was unacceptable.

  He pulled into the campsite, shut off the engine and climbed out of the cab. She was out before he made it around to the other side. And then suddenly he was holding her, because he couldn’t help it.

  “I don’t want you to leave.” The words came out before he could stop them. “I want to find a way for us to be together.”

  She held on tight, her voice muffled against his chest. “Then we have to talk about something I found in your trailer. I’d meant to put it off until you got some sleep, but I guess we have to do this now.”

  He drew back to stare at her in the pale light of the moon. “Something you found in my trailer? What in God’s name could that be?”

  “The study guide for passing the Wyoming bar.”

  “What?” He laughed in disbelief. “Why would you want to talk about that?”

  “I need to know why you bought it.”

  It was a perfectly good question, though he didn’t have a neat answer. “I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Listen, Regan said something tonight that got me to thinking, and I—”

  “It does matter, Zach. What made you buy that study guide?”

  He realized she’d push until he offered an explanation. That wouldn’t come easily, because he’d never examined his motivation for buying the book. “I suppose I thought of it as a backup plan.” He looked into her face, which was mostly in shadows.

  “I found it while I was browsing through your bookshelf looking for something to read.”

  “I haven’t really looked at it.”

  “I could see that. But when I found it, I had this crazy idea that you hadn’t totally given up on practicing law.”

  “Actually, I have.” He could guess that wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but he wanted them to be straight with each other. “I bought that not long after I moved here. I got hired on at the Last Chance, but Jack gave me a two-week trial before he put me on permanently. I loved it here so much that I figured if Jack fired me, I would study for the bar and work as an attorney if I had to, just so I could stay in Jackson Hole.”

  “Then you never intend to get back into it?”

  He rubbed the small of her back. How he loved touching her, and he could feel that privilege slipping away. “I’m afraid of what practicing law does to me. Once I step into that world, I could get sucked back into a frame of mind where I have to be the best. I was so damned competitive, Jeannette. I kept score with materialistic things. I don’t ever want to be that person again.”

  “Do you think I’m like that?”

  “No. No! I’m not condemning you or what you do. It’s me that has the problem with the profession, not you.”

  “But you’re in a different environment now, and you’ve had that revelation.” She gazed up at him. “Surely it would be different here.”

  He sighed. “And if it’s not, I’ve poisoned the well. I’ve ruined what I love about being here. I don’t want to risk it. The peace of mind I’ve found working at the Last Chance is like nothing I’ve ever known before.”

  “Zach, I really think—”

  “What about this? What if you
started a law practice in Shoshone? Regan said the town could really use one. I know what I’m asking. You’re about to make partner, and you’ve spent years working for it, but...” His throat tightened. “I want you to stay. I’m trying to come up with a way it might work for you.”

  “But you see, it wouldn’t.” Her soft words cut deeper than any knife possibly could.

  The rejection hit hard. Her reasons might only make that rejection worse, but he had to have them spelled out, anyway. “Is it because you don’t want to give up your practice in Virginia?”

  “That’s part of it.”

  “If it’s a money issue, I could back you while you get established here.”

  “I’m not worried about the money. I’ve saved, too. Not as much as you, but I could ride out the lean times until I built up a client list.”

  “I don’t suppose your parents would like the idea of you moving out here.”

  She hesitated. “No, probably not.”

  “Is that the problem?”

  She slipped out of his arms and walked a few feet away. “My relationship with them is...complicated. I’m sure you’ve figured that out. Since being in Jackson Hole, and specifically spending time with you, I’ve started looking at things differently. I thank you for that. But my problems with my parents aren’t what’s standing in the way of us being together.”

  “Then what is?”

  She turned to face him. “You are.”

  “Me? I’m trying to find a solution so we can be together!”

  “But without changing anything in your life. I’d do all the changing.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. She had a point. “Are you thinking I should offer to move back there?”

  “Although that would be imminently fair, I wouldn’t ask it of you. Ironically, you’re more attached to this place than I am to Virginia.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll admit it might be good for me to put some distance between me and my parents. I love them, but that doesn’t mean I should live in the same town with them.”

  Hope surged anew. “I’m glad to hear you say that.”

  “But neither should I live in the same town with you.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “Because you have a fine legal mind, and you’re about to let it rot. I realize that’s your privilege, but I don’t want to be around to see that happen.”

  His emotions were all over the place, but the one that shouldered its way forward at the moment was anger. “You’re making this far more dramatic than it is. People switch jobs all the time. No big deal.”

  “It is if all you’re doing is runnin’ away from yourself.”

  His jaw tightened. “That’s not how I see it.”

  “What if your services as a lawyer would be useful to this community? You said yourself that Regan thinks Shoshone could use a lawyer. How about you?”

  “And give up what I’m doing now?”

  “You wouldn’t have to. You could manage both. Your ability with legal issues is exceptional, whether you admit it or not. I could tell that even with the short discussion we had on the way to Jackson.”

  He gazed at her in silence.

  “You have a gift, Zach. Maybe you didn’t use that gift wisely in L.A. Maybe you let circumstances control you instead of takin’ control yourself. I’ve heard that the Last Chance Ranch helps people work through that kind of issue.”

  “Exactly. And that’s what I love about the place. I figured out that I’m happy working as a ranch hand. It suits me fine.”

  She regarded him quietly. “I’m sure it does, for now. If you stick with this program, it’ll suit you better and better, I suppose. Eventually your legal knowledge will become outdated and maybe you’ll even lose your analytical edge because you’re not sharpenin’ it on a regular basis. But you used to love that analytical work, didn’t you?”

  “A long time ago. Before I let the glitz and glamour get the best of me.”

  “Do you hear yourself? You let that happen. You don’t have to let it happen again. It’s more temptin’ to be a hotshot when you’re twenty-five than when you’re thirty-five.”

  “I don’t know about that. Look at that big-ass truck I bought.”

  “Damn it, Zach! You’re like a dog with a bone. You are capable of making different choices this time around!”

  He took off his hat and tunneled his fingers through his hair. “You don’t understand what you’re asking of me.”

  “Oh, yes I do. I’m askin’ you to be true to who you are, to embrace all sides of yourself.”

  “What if I’m supposed to be a ranch hand? Because I’m telling you, this job fits me like a glove. I’m happy to drive to the ranch every day. The working conditions are great. I don’t have to wear fancy clothes and I love being around horses.”

  “But I also listened to you throwing out creative ideas for handlin’ my case. You cited legal precedent from memory. I knew then I’d met a lawyer who spends time as a ranch hand, not a ranch hand who dabbles in the law.”

  “And you accuse me of being stubborn. You’ve got it in your head that practicing law is my destiny and you won’t rest until I agree to do it!”

  She sighed. “Actually, the defense rests as of now. I can see we’re not gettin’ anywhere. We’re both tired. And you probably need to think some more about this.”

  He opened his mouth to say that he didn’t have to think about anything. He loved ranch work and that was what he intended to do for the foreseeable future.

  “I would save my rebuttal if I were you, counselor.”

  In spite of the tense situation, that made him smile. “Why?”

  “Because you really do need to take a recess and give yourself a chance to think about the evidence I’ve presented. In the meantime, I have a suggestion for what we can do during that recess.”

  His startled laughter woke some birds in a nearby tree and they fluttered restlessly. “Are you saying what I think you are?”

  “That I want to go inside and make love? Yes, I do.”

  “I thought we were fighting.”

  “Debatin’.”

  “Whatever. We sure as hell aren’t agreeing on anything. I doubt sex will change that, either.”

  “It won’t.” She said it matter-of-factly. “But it’ll be fun and relaxin’. Then we can get some sleep and review the situation tomorrow.”

  “I don’t know what kind of lawyer I was.” He closed the gap between them and drew her into his arms. “But I can testify that you’re an excellent one.”

  “Thank you.” She wound her arms around his neck. “If I do say so myself, I am. Now let’s get movin’, cowboy.”

  They made it inside the Airstream in record time and left a trail of clothes on their way back to the bedroom. Zach leaned against the wall and got rid of his boots before helping Jeannette tug hers off. They each shucked their jeans and underwear and tumbled naked and laughing onto the double bed.

  Holding her felt so amazing. Kissing her was the second-best activity he’d ever known. Then he rolled on a condom and settled into the best activity ever. When his cock was buried deep in her warmth, all was right in his world.

  Pausing to savor the moment, he looked into her green eyes. “You sure are something, Jeannette Trenton.”

  She smiled as she ran her hands down his back to clutch his hips. “So are you, Zach Powell.”

  “Not every woman would invite a man to bed under these circumstances.”


  “I’m not every woman.”

  “No, you’re certainly not.” He leaned down and kissed her with all the longing in his heart as he began to love her with slow, sure strokes.

  She answered his kiss and she answered the urging of his body as she rose to meet each firm thrust. They were so good together. Their disagreement faded until there was only this...sweet friction creating mutual pleasure.

  As his breathing quickened, he lifted his mouth from hers. She moaned and pressed her fingertips into the small of his back. “I’m close,” she murmured.

  “I know.” He shifted his angle and increased the pace as she tightened around his aching cock. “I can feel it.” He’d ride out her orgasm so he could give her a second one. Then he’d claim his own.

  Gasping, she arched upward, on the brink of surrender. “Come with me.”

  “No.” But apparently his body had other ideas, because it clenched in readiness. “You deserve more than one—”

  “Please.”

  He struggled to hold back. “Not yet.”

  “But this feels so right.” She began to pant. “I want you with me. Please let go!”

  Her desperate plea snapped his control. With a deep groan, he pounded into her, unleashing his passion with a ferocity that shocked him. What had begun as a friendly roll in the hay had transformed into something far more intense.

  Squeezing his eyes shut, he came in a rush while her climax rolled over his pulsing cock. Gasping, he cried out her name and shuddered against her, caught in a whirlpool of sensation that rivaled anything he’d known.

  When he stopped shaking, when at last he could draw a steady breath, he opened his eyes and gazed down at her. “That was...” He had no words.

  “I know.” Her expression was tender as she cupped his face in both hands. “I know.”

  Earlier tonight he’d suspected the stakes were going up in this relationship. Now he found himself looking into the eyes of the only woman he would ever want by his side. The stakes had just shot through the roof.