by Laura Drewry
“Good to see you, Will.” Travers pumped the man’s hand, then began introductions, but his gaze never met Jo’s. “Jo, this is Will Brennan, the man I told you about.”
“Nice to meet you, Will.” She shook his hand, reached for Levi’s canteen, and downed all that was left. Should have brought a flask, too. “Travers assures me you’re the man for the job.”
Will chuckled uneasily, his gaze flickering between her and Travers. “Him and I go back a ways.”
She nodded, swallowed past a small lump that appeared out of nowhere and smiled. “You know what needs to be done here?”
“Yes, ma’am. But I’m wondering if I wouldn’t be more help working the fence.”
When she cocked her head in question, Will shot a quick look at Clay.
“This young fella’s a hard worker, but I bet he’s got other jobs he should be tending.”
Jo glanced at Travers. “You left Clay to string the fence?”
“He wanted to help,” he said with a shrug. Why wouldn’t he look at her?
Will chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment, his hands pushed deep in his pockets. “I bet you’ve got lots more important jobs for him to do.”
Silence followed his statement, then Jo laughed dryly. “Of course I do. Why don’t you and Travers take over from Clay and I’ll continue on here? Then Clay can get back to his regular chores.”
Travers and Clay turned to go, but Will remained where he was.
“You’re going to string this fence by yourself, ma’am?”
To hide her trembling hands again, Jo wound them through her hair, setting the braid in record time.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. I was well on my way before Travers came by and interrupted me.”
Travers kept his back to her. Coward.
Will half nodded, half shrugged. “But it’s not exactly woman’s work, if you don’t mind my saying so.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Clay and Travers both cringe.
“As a matter of fact, I do mind you saying so, Will. It’s my ranch and I’m not nearly as useless as you might think.”
Uncertainty showed in his eyes, but he simply shrugged and nodded. “If you say so. No offense intended.”
Jo gave up trying to smile. “Let’s not waste each other’s time, Will.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stiffened her spine. “Are you going to have a problem working for me?”
Will rubbed his dirty fingers over his chin. “Well, now, that depends.”
“On what?”
“Am I gonna have to collect chips?”
“Th-that’s my job,” Clay said with pride.
Will chuckled. “Okay, good. Will I get paid on time?”
Jo fought back a snort. “You do your job, you’ll get paid on time. Yes.”
The uncertainty faded from his eyes, replaced by a faint twinkle. “Then I reckon you and me’ll get on just fine.”
“Good.” She scooped up her hat and dismissed them all with a wave. “I’ll see you at supper.”
The three of them walked off without another word. But the last look Levi gave her spoke volumes. He wasn’t happy about their kiss – in fact, regret was probably a huge understatement. Well, that was fine with her. She didn’t have time for such nonsense anyway.
She’d wanted to know what it would be like if he kissed her. And now she knew. In fact, it was a lesson she’d not soon forget.
His warmth remained on her palms, his taste lingered on her lips and his scent hung all around her, on her clothes and even on her own skin.
Damn it all, anyway.
CHAPTER 6
To his credit, Will waited until they were back at the other fence before he upbraided Levi.
“What the hell d’you think you’re doin, Travers?” His eyes were wide, his voice low, but laughing. “She’s the boss, for crying out loud!”
Levi hammered another stake into the ground. “I’m not doing anything. It was just a stupid kiss.”
Will choked. “That was more than just a stupid kiss, my friend.”
“How would you know?” He didn’t dare look at Will, but the snort told him everything he needed to know. Will was having more fun with this than he’d had in a long time.
“You ain’t never looked at any girl that way before. And you’ve looked at plenty of girls.”
Levi picked up another stake and forced a look of indifference. “What’s your point?”
“My point,” Will began, carefully winding the wire into a knot. “Is that you and her. . .well, let’s face it, Travers, she’s not exactly your type.”
Levi tightened his grip on the hammer. He wiped the sweat from his brow and tried to steady the stake against the ground. If his hands would quick shaking, it’d be a lot easier. “And what’s my type?”
The know-it-all chuckle from his friend made Levi want to punch him. Hard.
“You know exactly what type I’m talkin’ about. Top-heavy blondes who are long on time and short on brains.” Will pulled another handful of nails from the tin.
“Yeah, well. . .” Levi had no good answer for that. It was true. By all that was right in the world, he should be spending his time trying to charm the pants – or skirt as it might be – off Carrie, not Joanna.
Will stopped in mid-step and gaped at him. “You’re not. . .oh, no -- say it ain’t so.”
“What?” Levi bent to his job. Don’t say it.
“You’re not,” Will stepped closer, his voice lowered to a laughing whisper. “You’re not in love with her, are you?”
Damn it. Levi focused on the next stake to keep from hammering his own hand instead.
“What the hell are you talking about, Will?” The second swing of the hammer slammed against his thumb, but he’d be damned if he’d let Will know. “Can’t I even kiss a girl anymore?”
His thumb throbbed, as did his head.
“Normally, yes,” Will laughed. “But this one, I dunno. You tell me.”
It took some doing, but Levi forced himself to breathe through the pain and look Will right in the eye. “It’s nothing.”
Will eyed him cautiously, his expression going from amused, to solemn, then back to grinning. “You’re a lyin’ cur dog, Travers,” he said, pointing the hammer at him. “It ain’t nothin’, that much I know.”
Levi shrugged indifferently and pulled out his trump card. “You haven’t met Carrie yet, have you?”
“Who’s Carrie?”
With three hard swings, Levi set another stake, keeping his thumb well out of the way this time. “Carrie’s the younger sister. And once you see her, you’ll believe me when I tell you that kiss wasn’t anything more than a kiss.”
“She pretty?” Will unwound a length of wire and set to working it around the next stake.
“Pretty?” Levi laughed, offering up silent thanks for the change in subject. “Pretty doesn’t even begin to describe Carrie.”
“So why aren’t you kissing her instead?”
Good question.
“Pacing myself.” He forced a laugh that didn’t sound the least bit convincing to either one of them. “Besides, once we get this fence up, we’ll be on our way to San Francisco, right?”
Will shrugged. “I might be, but I’m not so sure about you now. Doesn’t matter what you say, Travers, or how pretty the sister is, that was no normal kiss going on back there.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Levi said.
“And you don’t know what you’re doing.” All hints of humor vanished from Will’s face. “Don’t be gettin’ yourself involved in something you’ve got no intention of following through on, Travers. You got enough problems.”
“Shut up and get stringing,” Levi grumbled. “We might work for a woman, but in case you didn’t notice, she’s got the temper of a peeled rattler.”
They worked in silence for a long while, the blistering afternoon sun giving them not a moment’s relief. The heat seeped through to Levi’s brain,
searing Will’s words there. What would happen when the fence was done?
He’d be more than ready to leave by then; that had always been the plan and he wasn’t about to start changing things now.
Will had been right, though. That kiss was about as far from normal as Levi’d ever been. Sure, Joanna had responded in a way neither of them had expected, and sure, he’d never kissed a woman that way before. But Joanna McCaine was nothing more than a distraction; something to keep him occupied while he was working at the ranch. And since he spent his days working beside her, it was only natural, wasn’t it? If he’d been working with Carrie all this time, he’d have kissed her instead.
Levi frowned. The thought of kissing Carrie held absolutely no appeal to him at all. In fact, it didn’t even give him a second’s pause.
What the hell was wrong with him?
Will would probably be more than happy to answer that question, and even though he was keeping his mouth shut for the moment, his lop-sided grin and shaking head said everything he didn’t.
Levi cursed himself with every swing of the hammer. How could he have been so stupid? He should have known kissing Joanna wouldn’t be like kissing anyone else. She wasn’t like any darned female he’d ever met. Sure, she acted tough and mean, but the way she responded to him was all woman; soft, warm and sexy as hell.
He’d never been so fired up in his whole life. And dammit, but he’d never been so scared, either.
As he chugged from Will’s canteen, the picture of Joanna, dripping wet, haunted him. Damn near drove him crazy watching that water drip from her skin. And if only she hadn’t looked at him with those beautiful trusting green eyes, if only she hadn’t trembled when he went near, he might have been able to walk away without kissing her.
But now that he’d done it once, now that he knew what she tasted like, knew where to touch to make her sigh, he was going to have to do it again. And again.
Levi licked his lips, her flavor still there, taunting him. Her soft sighs echoed in his ears, and God help him, he could still feel her long fingers sliding through his hair.
He needed a drink. No, he needed the whole bottle.
He shouldn’t have done it. Mac was probably going to skin him alive – if Joanna didn’t do it first. Hell, she probably wanted to castrate him right along with the rest of the herd. And while the thought of that made him wince, the thought of her hands on him pushed a long groan from this throat.
Why her? He didn’t toy with girls like Joanna; girls who were strong enough to know what they wanted – and what they didn’t want. He liked girls who played along with him; who enjoyed his ways and returned the attentions.
Granted, those girls were usually ones who charged for their services, but that’s what made it so easy for him to walk away. The only attachment he had with them was the jingle of coins in his pocket.
So why Jo? She knew what kind of man he was and the stories that followed him. And even though she’d kissed him back, had nearly come undone in his arms, she obviously wasn’t happy about it. And from the look she gave him before he left, she wasn’t likely to let him kiss her again.
That tiny piece of knowledge sent an icy chill through Levi’s gut. Hot damn, he was completely taken by an ornery cuss of a woman who could – and would - no doubt get on quite nicely without him. In fact, she could probably go the rest of her life without giving him a second thought.
Levi swiped his bare arm over his forehead and took one more swallow from the canteen before handing it back to Will. He’d left his with Joanna – but she’d emptied it when Clay and Will arrived.
She must be damn near parched by now, and knowing Joanna, she’d still be too fired up to stop working long enough to find more water. But how could he get it to her without raising Will’s suspicions? The last thing he needed was Will hounding him day and night about some dame.
“You okay here for a while? I’m just gonna go fill the canteen.”
Will shrugged. “I’m good.”
Without a second thought or a glance back, Levi hurried toward the house. He filled two extra canteens from the huge water barrel, then dodged his way back to Joanna, careful to keep out of anyone’s sight.
Her progress on the fence was slow, but considering she was the only one working it, she’d done a damn fine job.
“What d’you need?” She didn’t stop to look at him, just kept hammering. There was no surprising her this time.
“Nothing.” He stepped closer, holding out one of the canteens. “Thought you might be thirsty.”
“Clay brought some water a while ago.” She raised the hammer above her head and brought it down with a hard crack on top of the stake. “Anything else?”
Levi edged closer, careful to avoid the crazy way she wielded the hammer like a weapon. “Listen, Joanna, about before. . .”
“What?”
“You know what.”
“You mean when you kissed me?” She shrugged, but something flicked across her face that was anything but indifference.
“Hate to remind you,” he said with a chuckle. “But you kissed me back.”
“It was nothing.” She scoffed. “So we kissed. Big deal.” She wasn’t kidding either one of them. It was a huge deal. “Don’t have to explain anything to me.”
“I think I do.”
She shrugged again and kept right on swinging.
“I shouldn’t have done it,” he said slowly. “Kissing you, I mean.” He caught her arms as she brought the hammer up one more time. “Will you just listen for a minute?”
Her face turned his way, but her eyes, now clouded and flat, looked past him. When he released her arms, they fell limply to her sides, the hammer dangling from her fingers.
Levi inhaled a long breath. “I’ve got no business kissing you like that. I’m sorry.”
“Yes, you are.” She laughed - a dry, humorless sound that ripped through him. “You’re the sorriest sonuvabitch I’ve ever met. Well, you know what, Travers? So am I.” She moved out of his reach, swiped her sleeve across her mouth and glared right through him. “I’m sorry I was so desperate I had to hire a skunk like you, and I’m sorry you wasted a kiss like that on someone like me, when it would have been better spent on someone like Stella.
“But I swear to God,” she moved forward again, stabbing her finger into his chest. “If you so much as think about doing the same thing to Carrie, I’ll tear you limb from limb – you got that?”
Levi stumbled back a step. “Carrie?” He frowned. “What does she have to do with this?”
“Oh, come on, Travers.” Joanna rolled her eyes. “If you’re able to catch me off guard and kiss me like that, I can only imagine what you’ve got planned for my sister.”
He moved closer. She backed away. “This has nothing to do with Carrie,” he ground out. “I meant what I said before – I’ve got no interest in doing anything with her.”
“Right.” Sarcasm dripped from Joanna’s one word. She stepped around him and reached for another stake. “That’s why you nearly tripped over your own tongue the first time you saw her.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” he lied.
She rolled her eyes again – something she seemed to do so often around him. “Yes it was. And you look the exact same way every time you’re anywhere near her.”
Levi swallowed. So she’d noticed. Good. No, not good. He didn’t want Joanna to think he was like everyone else – looking through her to see Carrie. But he also didn’t want her thinking he was anything but what his reputation led her to believe – a skunk. If she kept that opinion of him, it’d be a helluva lot easier to leave once the fence was up.
“I have work to do,” she said, waving the stake in her hand. “And so do you.”
Damn, she was ornery. “Joanna. . .”
“Look, Travers.” When she looked up at him, he could see the battle raging behind her eyes. Her jaw tightened for a moment, her chest heaved in a deep breath. “I’m not going to wilt away because you don
’t want to kiss me.” She chuckled, but there was nothing happy about it. “I’m not one of those women who needs a man, and sure as hell not one like you.”
Her throat bobbed against a hard swallow, then she turned away. But not before he saw the tears glistening against her eyes.
“Like me?” Of course not like him, that’s what he wanted her to think, wasn’t it?
“Like you. If and when I decide I need a man, he won’t be one who’s kissing me but ogling Carrie.” She hammered in another stake. “And he sure as hell won’t be one who gets a girl in trouble and then leaves her on her own.”
Fire ignited in Levi’s belly, but he held his tongue. His knuckles whitened around the canteen, his teeth ground together until his head began to pound again.
Jo lifted her shoulder in a careless shrug. “He’ll see me – and only me - exactly as I am, and that’ll be enough for him.”
God, if only she knew.
And God, if only he wasn’t such a coward. He should tell her – confess everything he felt, everything he wanted, everything he needed from her. He should pull her back into his arms right there and then and kiss her senseless again, until she begged him to stop – or do more.
He should--
“I’m not paying you to stand around, Travers.” Joanna cleared her throat against the cracking of her voice. “You’ve got a fence to build, so get back to work.”
He’d seen women cry before – hell, he was responsible for it most of the time – but this was the first time he’d ever felt guilty about it.
He dropped one of the canteens on the ground and walked back to Will. Joanna was right about one thing – he had work to do. And the faster he got it done, the sooner he could get the hell off the Double M and out of town.
Coward.
Will had managed to string most of the standing posts by the time he made it back. Without a word, Levi scooped up his hammer and an armload of stakes and went back to pounding his frustration out on those stupid pieces of wood.
Will raised his head enough to squint up at him from beneath his hat. “How’s the queen rattler doing?”
