Daddy's Little Cowgirl
Page 9
He finished the dishes, leaving them to dry on a rack.
“Time for Bets to call it a night,” he announced.
As she relinquished the baby to Reed, Ann’s arms felt suddenly empty, as though she’d lost something near and dear to her. A sense of vulnerability swept over her. Nervously, she shifted the tips of her hair behind her shoulder. Very soon now Reed would claim his right to the next part of their bargain.
“I’ll put her down, then take a shower,” he said. “It won’t take me long.”
“How long will she sleep?”
“Till two or three.” He gave her a slow, hungry look and a lazy, sexy smile that made her heart tumble in her chest. “Assuming you’re still interested, we’ll have plenty of time.”
She understood what he was saying. He wanted her ready…and willing.
SHE WASN’T READY.
The scent of steam and soap billowed out of the bathroom when Reed appeared. He’d wrapped a towel around his waist; the ginger—brown swirls of hair on his broad chest looked crisp and clean, inviting a woman’s touch. His bare skin was slightly flushed where it hadn’t been tanned by the sun and invited a woman’s kiss.
Ann’s mouth went totally dry. She couldn’t have uttered a word if her life had depended upon it. She was riveted to the spot, aware of the double bed in the room and how totally inadequate it would be for Reed, let alone for the two of them.
He arched his brows. “A cotton nightgown?”
Her nipples puckered under his intense scrutiny. “I didn’t have time to shop for anything more…more…”
“Sexy,” he provided.
Her throat tightened. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He strolled toward her in a looselimbed way. “It’s the kind of thing a man wants to take off.”
She shot a glance toward the bed—the totally inadequate bed. “There’s something I should mention.”
His eyes narrowed. “If you’ve changed your mind—”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just…” She pursed her lips.
Her heart was beating so hard, she suspected he could hear it from where he stood. “It’s been a long time, is all.”
“Yeah. It’s been a while for me, too.”
His admission eased her more than she might have expected. Perhaps she’d misjudged him as badly as the townspeople had. Though in this case she doubted it had been thirteen years since he’d made love to a woman. That record surely qualified her as a born—again virgin.
Stepping closer, he said, “Did you know you always do a flip thing with your hair when you get nervous?”
“I hadn’t realized.”
“Let me.” He lifted her hair, shifting it behind her shoulders, and dipped his head to kiss her at the juncture of her neck. Gooseflesh sped down her spine, and somewhere low in her body, she clenched. “You smell good,” he murmured against her throat. “Like a fresh—cut rose.”
“You smell very—” Male, she’d meant to say. But her voice caught as he nibbled lightly on her shoulder with his teeth, then sucked to ease the slight tingling sensation. She tipped her head to give him free access for whatever he wanted to do.
Instinctively she palmed his chest. Not to push him away but to explore the broad expanse, eager to feel the warmth of his flesh and test the springy curls she’d so admired.
He took his time, kissing her neck and finally finding that sensitive spot below her ear. She wondered when he’d kiss her, really kiss her, and she groaned in frustration. “Reed, I want…”
“We’ve got lots of time.”
He gave the same careful attention to her face, kissing her eyes closed, letting her feel the random touch of his lips everywhere but on her mouth. She pressed herself against him, rubbing like a cat demanding affection, hooking her arms around his neck. When he finally granted her mouth the pleasure of his lips, circling and dipping with his tongue, he began to fill that empty space inside her that had been vacant for a very long time.
She responded with gratitude and joy.
Their deepening kiss escalated quickly. Heat and passion waged a brief battle with restraint and won. Reed fell with her crossways onto the bed, his hands slipping under her nightgown, raising it above her hips. He skimmed his hand across her belly, then bared her breasts to his examination. The hot look in his eyes seared her. She gasped and pulled him to her.
This was the man she belonged with, the one she’d been waiting for all of her life. Her husband. Her lover. Till death us do part.
A prayer filled her chest. Let this be forever, she pleaded.
Incredible heat and need exploded in her as he laved her puckered nipples to hardened nubs. She writhed beneath him, arching her back. “Please…”
“Easy does it, sweet sugar—Annie.” He tested her readiness with his finger, and her muscles closed around him.
From the drawer of the bedside table, he withdrew a foil packet. Her hand strayed to cover his as he sheathed himself, and then he was above her, entering her.
Her body, unused to stretching to accommodate such a primitive invasion, rebelled momentarily. He withdrew slightly, starting again. This time he slipped into her slick tightness with ease—filling her gloriously.
“Yes,” she sighed, lifting her legs around him.
“Yes,” he echoed, a hint of painful self—control in his voice.
He set up a rhythm that was both slow and demanding, arousing her with each insistent thrust, going deeper, taking her higher. Her breath coming hard, she arched to meet him.
She lost track of where her body ended and his began. She absorbed him, and he her. Two became one in an exquisite meeting of flesh.
A fine sheen of sweat dampened his back, and she writhed beneath him, her fingers digging into the contour of muscle and sinew. She felt herself peaking, the sensation a wave of rippling pleasure that rose from deep within her.
“Reed! Oh…I…”
“Let it go, sweet sugar. Let it go.”
She did. There was no holding back. The force swept upward until she burst with it, and she cried out again, her legs tightening around him.
One more thrust and he groaned, too. Low and deep and filled with hunger.
LATER ANN FELT REED leave the bed in response to Bets’s hungry cry. She missed the warmth of his big body spooned along her back and sleepily waited for his return.
As she had expected, Reed was an excellent lover. Tender and thorough. But in some deep recess of her mind, she felt something was wrong. He’d held back a part of himself.
When he returned, she snuggled against him. He held her but he didn’t try to make love to her again.
A sharp sense of disappointment sliced through her chest. He’d eased his need for a woman with her but she hadn’t yet come close to touching his heart.
Chapter Seven
Reed pulled his truck in next to Ann’s car in the school parking lot.
She’d gotten up early enough to feed Bets her morning bottle and then had fixed him eggs and pancakes while he’d been out checking the stock. Hell, he couldn’t remember the last time someone besides a hired cook for a cattle ranch or somebody in a greasy—spoon diner had made him breakfast. It wasn’t something he ought to get used to. It wouldn’t last.
As he got out of the truck, he prided himself on his self—control, only making love to her once last night Not that he hadn’t wanted to do a helluva lot more, particularly when she’d snuggled her sweet little rear end right up against his groin when he’d come back from giving Bets her bottle in the middle of the night. Damn! Sugar Annie had felt so good. So willing.
He broke out in a sweat just thinking about how good it had been making love to her, being inside her. That wasn’t going to last, either. He kept telling himself if they only did it once a night, maybe he wouldn’t miss her so much when she was gone.
He took her elbow as she got out of the truck. Don’t get too close, an inner voice warned. Nobody you care about sticks around for long.
She glanced toward a big yellow school bus that had arrived. “I know a woman who does day care. She only lives a block or two from school. If she has an opening—”
“I’d rather keep Bets at home. She’s not even six weeks yet.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right.” Students piled noisily out of the bus. “Let me think about it. There must be some grandmotherly type around who’d be interested.”
His lips quirked. “When I was looking for a replacement for Lupe, everybody in town gave me the cold shoulder. No matter how ancient, they thought I was planning to seduce them. And with the young ones, I had their mothers on my case.”
Standing on tiptoe, she kissed him right smack on the lips, then grinned. “I’ll promise whoever’s interested that I’ll keep you in line. We’ll find somebody.”
He felt dumbstruck. He hadn’t expected her to make their new relationship so obvious. Not on her turf at school with a couple of dozen kids getting an eyeful.
“I’ll be home by about five or five—thirty,” she said. “I’ll stop to pick up something for dinner.”
“Sure. If you want.”
“I want,” she said softly. Her eyes said dinner wasn’t the only thing she had in mind.
His juices stirring in anticipation, he watched her walk through the front gate. She’d called his rundown ranch house home. She couldn’t have meant that, not for the long term. She was only playing a part, setting herself up as a believable wife so when the adoptions people investigated, their marital act would ring true. He should feel grateful. And he wondered why their whole charade made him feel sick to his stomach.
“Ooo—eee, cowboy! Is she one hot mama or what?”
Reed whirled and grabbed Jason by the shirtfront, yanking him up on his toes. “Don’t you ever say anything bad about that lady, you hear me?”
The kid’s eyes widened. “Yeah, sure. I didn’t mean nuthin’. Honest.” His voice came out an octave higher than normal.
“You’ll hear from me if you do, and it won’t be pleasant.” He eased his grip on the kid. “I’m thinking of hiring a ranch hand—part—time. I need somebody who’s tough. You interested?” Put that way, Reed figured it was a challenge a kid with this much bluster couldn’t pass up.
“Me?” His voice squeaked, but not with fear this time.
“What? You think I’m talkin’ to the man in the moon? You’re the only one around, aren’t you? You want a job or don’t you?”
Shrugging out of Reed’s grasp, Jason straightened his shirt and tried to look nonchalant. “So how much are you paying?”
As if it mattered. Reed would have killed for a way to earn money of his own when he’d been Jason’s age. “Minimum wage. And don’t give me some garbage about you being worth more than that.”
“No…well, I am, but heck, I’m between—”
“You’ll have to get the okay from your foster parents.”
“They won’t care.”
“How you planning to get to my place?”
“On my bike. I’ve got a bike.”
He was luckier than Reed had been at his age. “It’s uphill most of the way.”
Jason puffed up his chest. “You just said you wanted somebody tough. I’ll make it.”
Smothering a grin, Reed nodded. “Okay. Tomorrow. Be there by three or I’ll hire somebody else.” He knew damn well the kid would bust his butt to be there on time and every day thereafter. He also knew if he’d waltzed up to a smart aleck like Jason and announced he was going to “mentor” him, the youngster would have given him a wide berth—or worse.
Reed intended to keep his part of the bargain with sugar—Annie. Then when they split, he wouldn’t owe her anything. That seemed fair.
Once a night. That’s all he’d allow himself. He didn’t dare make her a habit that would be too hard to break.
“MS. FORRESTER, I really do think you should conduct yourself with more decorum in the school’s parking lot.”
Ann had barely gotten inside her classroom when Mr. Dunlap appeared at the door. “I beg your pardon?”
“Really, Ms. Forrester! Kissing that man in front of the children. Whatever will they think?”
“They’ll think I was kissing my husband goodbye and that I’m looking forward to seeing him tonight at home.”
If he’d been a bowling pin—and his shape was not unlike one—the school principal would have toppled over from the force of the curve ball she’d thrown him.
“You couldn’t…I mean, Reed Drummond is—”
“My husband.” She had no intention of keeping the news a secret. Under other circumstances, she would have been shouting the announcement from the nearest rooftop. “We were married yesterday.”
Dunlap’s mouth worked but for a moment he didn’t utter a sound. Finally, he said, “I wonder if the PTA would have chosen you for the Teacherof—the—Year Award if they had known.”
“Whom I’m married to doesn’t have any effect—” She stopped short. “They did?”
“Yes. I shouldn’t have told you, of course. It was meant to be a surprise. The announcement won’t be made until the meeting Thursday night, in time for a press release to the newspaper. There’ll be a photo of you and story. But I was, well, shocked by your news.”
A warm feeling rose in Ann’s chest. Teacher—ofthe—Year might not gain her so much as a free cup of coffee in town, but she was enormously pleased. She’d worked so hard, had strove to be the best teacher she could be, and the fact that someone else had noted her efforts was deeply satisfying. An announcement in the Mar del Oro Press Enterprise—the paper the locals fondly referred to as the MOPE—would be worth saving for those stressful days when her students stretched the limits of her patience.
“Thank you, Mr. Dunlap. I won’t let on that I know.”
“Yes, of course.” He sputtered self—consciously. “Well, then, I guess I should offer my congratulations and best wishes, Ms. Forrester.”
She suspected he intended those best wishes to be for her selection as an outstanding teacher, not for her marriage to Reed Drummond.
Another feeling swept through her then, one that made her giddy with a combination of happiness and trepidation. “I’m Mrs. Drummond, now, Mr. Dunlap. Perhaps you should get used to calling me by that name.”
She proudly wrote her new name on the chalkboard as the students gathered in the classroom. By second period the entire school had heard the news. The girls were filled with giggles and admiration, the boys seemed surprised, almost as if she’d betrayed them. Her fellow teachers had a mixed reaction, as she discovered in the teachers’ room during snack break.
“I had no idea you’d been seeing anyone,” Marcy McCullough said. “Much less that you were serious about that cowboy.”
“It did happen rather quickly,” Ann conceded, pouring herself a cup of very black coffee. Getting up at 5 a.m. certainly lengthened her morning.
“He’s just the kind of man I warn my girls against,” Adrean Thumb cautioned sourly. A grandmother of three teenage girls, she was a shade overprotective, perhaps rightly so since the youngsters tended to be on the wild side. “I remember when he was in school. I had him in eighth grade social studies. A real hellion—”
“He’s grown up now.” And very nicely, in Ann’s view.
Before the break was over, she found herself fielding questions about the baby and defending Reed, all the while trying not to give away too many details about their relationship, or that it was intended to be temporary.
“We’ll have to give you a shower,” Marcy announced as they headed back to their respective classrooms. “Goodness, we can do a combined wedding and baby shower. That’ll be such fun!”
“That’s very sweet of you to offer.” Stopping at her classroom door, Ann touched Marcy’s arm, halting her, too. “But let’s wait a while
. Reed and I are still…” Strangers. “…getting to know each other. We’re making so many changes, so suddenly, I don’t even know what I’ll need.”
“Well, if you say so. But I know all the teachers will want to—”
The bell sounded.
“We’ll talk later,” Ann assured her, slipping the key into the classroom door. She could hardly approve of her friends going to all the trouble and expense of a shower when she wasn’t sure the marriage would actually last. Oh, she hoped Reed would come around to wanting their arrangement to be permanent. But she couldn’t count on it.
“Say,” Marcy said, before she could get away. “I saw you shopping in San Luis Obispo on Saturday, but I guess you didn’t see me. I called to you—”
“Sorry, it wasn’t me.” Ann stood aside to let the students file into the room. “I was busy gardening Saturday.” And receiving the first and only marriage proposal of her life.
Marcy’s expression clouded. “Funny, I could have sworn…” She shrugged. “Oh, well, I’ll see you later.” Turning, she entered her own classroom, admonishing one of her students to get down off the table.
Later that afternoon when Ann stopped by her house to pick up her clothes, she paused beside the fireplace mantel. Smiling, she pressed a kiss to her fingertips then rested them on the miniature cowboy mounted on his horse.
“You aren’t going to get rid of me as easily as you think, Mr. Dream Man. Being tenacious is one of my finest attributes.”
She packed the miniature in its original box and took it with her, managing not to dwell on the disappointment that there hadn’t been a message from her parents on her answering machine. After a hurried stop at the grocery store, she headed up the hill to the ranch. To her new home.
Reed wasn’t in sight when she got there, nor was Bets, though the pickup was parked out front. Ann put the groceries away and hung her clothes in the closet. There was plenty of room. Reed’s limited wardrobe didn’t exactly make a fashion statement, but they smelled of him, a rich masculine scent that somehow overpowered the scent of laundry powder. Or perhaps it was just that the room, with its unmade bed, still held the lingering musky perfume of their sex.