The Cowboy's Pride and Joy

by Maureen Child

  Whoops.

  Instantly, she dialed back the hormone rush and tried to focus on what he was saying.

  “My parents built the dream they wanted. I’m doing the same thing. My mother gets it—” he gave her a brief, wry smile “—even if she wants to pretend she doesn’t. And if you’re worried about Hunter Media, don’t be. My sister Beth is the right person for the job of running the company.”

  “Maybe,” she said and wondered why she was saying all of this. Elise hadn’t asked Cass to intervene on her behalf and would probably be horrified if she knew that Cass was haranguing her son over a decision that had been made months ago. But Cass couldn’t seem to stop herself from continuing. “But your mother hates that you’re so far away. Hates that you don’t want to be a part of their daily lives.”

  Frowning, he eased down until one hip rested on the edge of his desk and their eyes were leveled on each other. “Why are you trying so hard? What does any of this matter to you?”

  “Because it’s not about the business. Though,” she added as an aside, “most people would kill to be a part of Hunter Media. It’s about family, and for me, that’s important.”

  Even in the shadows, she saw his features tighten again and she wondered if she was the only one who could irritate him so easily.

  “And you think my family’s not important to me.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Didn’t have to.” His blue eyes darkened. “I don’t know why I’m even bothering to talk to you about this. You’ve only been here a few hours. You don’t know me, yet you think you can tell me what my life and my family should mean to me.”

  Cass winced, knowing she had that coming.

  “I’m going to say this flat out. Listen close because I won’t be repeating it. I love my family. That doesn’t mean I’m willing to live in a crowded, noisy city to prove it. This is my life. This ranch. This mountain. Loving them doesn’t mean I’m willing to give up on my own dreams. And since I was a kid, my dreams were centered here.”

  His voice was rough and low, and carried a passion she had already noticed appeared only when he was talking about the home he’d built here. He was defending his choices to her when he really didn’t owe her any explanation at all. And she wondered why he was telling her this rather than stalking out of the room.

  “You’re right,” she said. “I don’t know you and it’s none of my business what you do. I was just—”

  “Doesn’t matter,” he said and picked up the sheaf of papers from the top of his desk. Handing them over to her, he said, “It’s done now.”

  Cass hated being interrupted, but it was clear that he was finished with this conversation and completely uninterested in any kind of apology she might make. His hand brushed hers as Cass took the papers and she felt that same zing of electricity that she’d experienced before. Worse, she was sure he felt it too, because his eyes narrowed and darkened—which told her he was no happier about it than she was.

  The room seemed smaller all of a sudden. As if the walls had shrunk to encapsulate the two of them in a space that now felt...intimate, somehow.

  “I should probably head out to the barn,” he said, voice hard and low. “Check on the horses.”

  “Right,” she agreed. “And I should go upstairs. I have to leave early in the morning to catch my flight back to Boston.”

  “Yeah,” he murmured, bending his head toward her. “Good idea.”

  “I can catch up on some work before going to bed,” she whispered, though work had never been further from her mind. She could feel the heat of his body reaching out to her and she leaned in, tipping her head back to watch his face as he came closer and closer.

  “That’d be best,” he said, gaze moving over her face before coming back to her eyes.

  He didn’t have to say a word for her to know what he was thinking—mainly because she was thinking the same thing. Lust was alive and well and eagerly jumping up and down in the corner of the room. An electrical field seemed to be snapping and sizzling between them, heightening every breath, every feeling, every desire.

  “This would be a really bad idea,” Cass said, licking her lips in anticipation of the kiss she knew was a breath away.

  “No doubt,” he agreed and took her mouth with his.

  Heat exploded inside her. Cass’s brain shut down with a nearly audible thud as her body, her wants and needs, took over. She dropped the signed papers and reached up to encircle his neck. He pulled her in close, his arms firm bands around her midsection as he held her in place, pressed tightly to him.

  Her mouth opened under his and the first swipe of his tongue stole what was left of her breath. She groaned a little as she gave herself up to the amazing response quickening inside her. Cass had been kissed before, of course, but nothing she’d ever experienced could have prepared her for what she felt now.

  It was as if she were lit up from the inside. Sparks of reaction sizzled in her bloodstream, and her heartbeat was loud enough to be deafening. Her stomach pitched and swirled and a heavy, throbbing ache began at the core of her. Need clawed at the base of her throat and she went with it.

  Threading her fingers through his thick, soft hair, she held his head to hers and responded to his kiss with everything she had. Their tongues tangled together in a dance of passion that could lead to only one place. One place she suddenly wanted to go more than anything.

  It didn’t matter that she hardly knew him. Didn’t matter that she would only be in his house one night. Didn’t matter that she could hear “Skank Alarms” ringing distantly in her mind. All that did matter was the next moment. The next touch.

  His hands swept up and down her back while his mouth plundered hers hungrily. She felt his touch as bolts of heat driven down into her bones, and still she wanted more. There was a desperation between them. A raw, pulsing need that clamored to be answered.

  When he shifted his hold on her and covered one of her breasts with his palm, Cass broke free of his kiss to gasp in renewed pleasure. His thumb stroked across her hardened nipple and even through the fabric of her shirt and her bra, the heat of his caress jolted her.

  “This is a mistake,” he whispered as he quickly undid the buttons lining the front of her shirt.

  “Absolutely,” she agreed, and turned so he wouldn’t have to reach too far to get to his goal.

  “We should definitely stop before this gets out of control.”

  She opened her eyes, stared into his and asked, “What’s control?”

  He laughed shortly. “Good point.”

  Then her shirt was opened, his hand was over the lacy cup of her bra, and her already-hard nipple seemed to strain to punch its way through the delicate fabric just to reach him.

  Cass moaned softly and shifted her gaze past him as she focused only on what he was making her feel. Making her want. That’s when she became alert enough to notice and remember that there was a wall of windows right behind them and that if anyone happened by this side of the house they were going to get quite the show.

  “Oh, God!” She jerked in his arms and turned her back to the glass.

  “What is it?”

  “Windows,” she muttered. “The whole world’s watching...”

  He laughed and Cass scowled at him. “Not funny.”

  “Also not an issue,” he told her, turning her back around to face him. “When the house was built I had all of the glass treated. We can see out but no one can see in.”

  Relief coursed through her as she looked up into his eyes. “Really?”

  “Really.” He stroked the tip of one finger down the center of her chest and she shivered. “Remember me? The recluse? The guy who likes privacy?”

  “Privacy’s good...”

  With the edges of her shirt still hanging open, it was easy for him
to flick open the front clasp of her bra, baring her breasts to him. The kiss of the cool air on her skin gave her a chill, but the heat of his touch followed so quickly after, Cass hardly noticed.

  Now that she knew no one could see them, there was almost a thrill to standing in front of those windows while he touched her. She could see their reflection in the glass and was mesmerized as his hands covered her breasts. His thumbs moved over her erect nipples, stroking, pulling, teasing, and everything in her lit up in reaction. Her heartbeat sped up, that throbbing ache between her thighs became more insistent, and her breath puffed in and out of her lungs in short, sharp gasps.

  Then he bent his head and took one of her nipples into his mouth and what was left of the slippery threads of her control disappeared. All there was, was this moment. This man. His incredibly talented mouth.

  Crazy or not, she was really going to do this. She was going to have sex with her boss’s son and she wasn’t going to regret it later, either. “Jake...”

  “Yeah.” He lifted his head only long enough to take her mouth again in a brief, hard kiss. “We should move this upstairs and—”

  In the distance, the front door slammed and they both jolted.

  “Jake?” A man’s shout, echoing throughout the house.

  “Damn it,” Jake muttered, “that’s my foreman, Charlie. Something must be wrong.”

  “Go,” she whispered frantically, “go.”

  He did, stalking from the room and down the hall. His boot heels sounded fainter and fainter the farther away he got. Fingers shaking, head still a little buzzed from sensation overload, Cass quickly hooked her bra and then did up the buttons on her shirt. Running her hands through her hair, she took a breath and nearly groaned as reality came crashing down on her.

  For those few wonderful, amazing stolen moments, she’d forgotten about everything but what it had felt like to be touched by Jake. But now the chill of the room was overtaking the residual heat inside her, and clarity was also rearing up its ugly head.

  That skank alarm she’d heard so distantly was now clanging like church bells, reverberating through her brain. What had she been thinking? Well, that answer was easy enough. She hadn’t been. Not at all. She’d given in to what she was feeling without a single thought for what would inevitably come after.

  Now, with a few moments to actually have a thought and recognize it, she knew that what they’d almost done would have been a colossal mistake. She was here for one night. What if Elise found out? Her boss had sent her out here on business, not to jump into bed with her son. Oh God, this was just so humiliating.

  Before she had time to really revel in what an idiot she was, Cass heard Jake coming back to the study. The man’s boots pounded against the floor in obviously hurried strides. She couldn’t be standing here waiting to be ravished when he arrived, either. Cass bent down, scooped up the signed papers from the floor and clutched them to her chest like a medieval shield.

  She would have to let him down nicely. Tell him that she’d done some thinking—finally—and that it would be better if they both forgot about what had happened.

  “That’s it. Easy,” she whispered and hoped when she talked to Jake she sounded more confident. Because even she didn’t believe her.

  He stopped in the open doorway and the shadows hid most of his expression. All she could really see was the grim slash of his mouth as he stared at her.

  “Look,” he said tightly. “I’m needed out in the barn, so I can’t be in here with you.”

  Disappointment and regret bubbled up inside her in spite of the fact that she’d been about to give him nearly the same speech. He was cutting her off before she could do the same to him. Why that bothered her, she couldn’t have said. “Is there a problem?”

  He walked farther into the room and now she could see his eyes. They were flat and cool, and absolutely none of the passion she’d seen moments ago was visible now. He stood stiffly, shoulders squared, like the marine he had been. It was as if he’d already distanced himself from her and was now only going through the physical motions.

  “Yeah,” he said. “There is. One of the mares is in labor. Not going well. The vet’s on her way here now.”

  Each word was bitten off as if he resented having to be here at all, explaining himself.

  “Okay,” she said, clutching the paperwork even more tightly to her. “That’s probably best anyway.”

  “Probably,” he agreed and turned for the door. Before he left, though, he took another long look at her over his shoulder. That’s when Cass knew the heat they’d shared wasn’t gone.

  It was being ignored.

  * * *

  Jake was tired as hell and still wound so tight from tangling with Cass that he could hardly walk without wincing in pain. Hell, he hadn’t been this hard and achy for a woman in longer than he cared to remember.

  He’d had a lucky break last night, getting called away before he could give in to the desire that had been eating away at him for hours. The taste of her had haunted him all night. The images of her face, her body, swam through his mind like a movie on constant repeat. He remembered every touch and how her skin—silky, smooth—had felt beneath his calloused hands.

  And he’d told himself, in spite of all of that, that it was a good thing they’d been interrupted. One-night stands were bad enough, but with his mother’s personal assistant? That was asking for grief he didn’t need. Besides, he’d already tried being involved with a woman who didn’t understand his need to be here on the mountain. Damned if he’d go through that again.

  He’d built the life he loved. Cass didn’t have a place in it. No woman did. He’d never let another one get close—no matter how much he wanted her.

  So the next few days were going to be uncomfortable, to say the least. Because his lucky break was over and he was about to get tossed into the flames.

  He heard her coming downstairs and walked to the front of the house to meet her. She looked pretty in those sleek black slacks, a deep green shirt and that bright red blazer. She was even wearing her heels again. He had thought that seeing her in those city clothes, back in her professional assistant role, would ease some of the fire inside him. He was wrong.

  She smiled and said, “I just came down for some coffee before I head to the airport.”

  “You’re not going to the airport today,” he told her.

  “What?” Frowning, she came down the last few steps to stand beside him. “Of course I am. My flight leaves in two hours.”

  He took her hand, drew her to the front door and threw it wide. “It’s going to leave without you, Cass. There’s no way to get down the mountain.”

  She stared at the yard and he watched her eyes widen and her jaw drop. He knew how she felt, and the snow wasn’t even a surprise to him. He’d still been in the barn dealing with the mare when the early storm rolled in. And in the hours since, the steel-gray clouds overhead had dropped at least eight inches of fresh snow and it was still falling.

  A cold wind sighed into the house, wrapping itself around the two people standing in the doorway. The walkways hadn’t been plowed yet, so the whole yard looked magical and untouched.

  “It’s only October,” she murmured.

  “Welcome to Montana,” he said, giving her hand a squeeze before releasing her. “The roads to and from the ranch are closed. It’ll be a few days before the plows get up this high, so you’re not going anywhere.”

  “But—” She tore her gaze from the white world spilling out in front of her to look up at him.

  He met her gaze and felt as if he were sealing his own fate as he said, “Looks like we’re stuck with each other.”

  Four

  “It’s been two days,” Ben said, “and you’ve spent most of that time as far away from that woman as possible.”

 
Jake glared at his grandfather. “What’s your point?”

  Ben leaned one arm on the top board of the stall gate and got comfy. “My point is, whether you like it or not, this storm has stranded Cassidy here and you owe it to your guest to make her feel welcome.”

  Jake continued rubbing down his horse. They’d spent the last two hours riding through the heavy snow, checking on the small herd of prize cattle the Hunter ranch held. It was cold and wet and miserable and pretty much summed up Jake’s mood. And still it was better than hanging around the ranch house, smelling Cassidy’s presence in every room.

  “She’s not a guest,” he argued. “She’s trapped here.”

  “A reluctant guest is still a guest,” Ben countered, then crossed his arms on the fence slat, propped his chin on his arms and asked, “What is it about her that has you hiding out?”

  That statement brought a snort of derision. “I don’t hide. I’ve got work to do. Don’t have time to babysit a bored woman with nothing to do. Besides,” he added, “I saw her last night. She was on her laptop doing some work for Mom on the internet. I figure that’s what she’s still doing. And she doesn’t need my help with that.”

  Of course, he couldn’t be sure what she was up to because Jake had left the house at dawn that morning with most of the ranch hands. Hard enough trying to sleep just down the hall from her room; seeing her wasn’t going to help the situation any. Besides, he had work to do. And if that work kept him away from Cassidy Moore, well, he considered that a bonus.

  Normally, Jake didn’t mind an early snowstorm closing off the mountain from visitors. Kept things quiet. But this storm was damned inconvenient.

  “Think you’ve got her all figured out, do you?”

  Jake slanted a hard look at his grandfather. When the hell had the older man become so damn nosy? But even as he thought it, Jake realized that Ben was always keeping his hand in what went on at the ranch—the difference now was, with Cassidy here, Ben had something beyond ranch business to be interested in.