Jenny

by Bobbi Smith

  "This ain't the time or the place," Wayne cautioned her, and he started to walk away.

  "You can go if you want. I'm not through here yet." Mira was barely in control of herself as she waited a moment, then followed Cole. She wanted to see exactly where he was going and what he was going to do with Jenny.

  "Are you sure about leaving Mira that way?" Jenny asked as Cole guided her back toward her hotel.

  "I'm sure." He was terse. "I want to make sure you're safely back in your room."

  "But Richard would never-"

  Cole's look her silenced her, and she realized sadly that he might be right. Richard had been acting strangely, and things might become even more difficult with him after this.

  "Thank you for stepping in when you did. I wasn't quite sure what to do. Richard has never done anything like that before."

  "You're lucky."

  "I'm lucky that you came after me when you did. Richard was acting like Will Baker did all those years ago. Do you remember that night with Will?"

  "I remember."

  There was no way Cole would ever forget that night. It was the first time he'd realized he was in love with Jenny. The other boy had been trying to steal a kiss from her, and he'd defended her honor. But that had been a long time ago.

  "You were my hero then, when you saved me from Will, and now, tonight, you've saved me from Clint and from Richard," she told him with a smile.

  "I think I just have bad timing. I'm always showing up when you're in trouble."

  "Well, your timing's not bad for me. I think I'm lucky to have you around." Jenny was sorry that the unfortunate incident had occurred, but she was glad it had brought her and Cole together.

  Cole was startled by her declaration. He would have liked to believe her, but he didn't. He glanced down the street toward the hotel and realized that they were going to the same hotel where she'd stayed on what was to have been their wedding night. He remembered how he'd gone back that second time to see her, flowers in hand, only to discover she'd gone. He hadn't been in that hotel since, but he was going there now. He scowled.

  "I guess it is lucky that I was around to help you. Rose reminded me earlier that, as I am your father's executor, you are my responsibility."

  Jenny was stunned and hurt by his unexpectedly cold response.

  She didn't want Cole to think of her as a responsibility.

  She didn't want him to resent her.

  She just wanted him to love her again.

  Cole made no effort to initiate any further conversation during the rest of the walk. Each step he took closer to the hotel heightened his recollection of that miserable night-a night he wished he could forget.

  He tried to concentrate instead on sorting out exactly what he was feeling for Jenny right now. The rage that had possessed him when he'd seen Richard hurting Jenny had been real very real and he wondered why he'd reacted with such ferocity. The power of the feelings that had surged through him had been overwhelming.

  Logically, he understood why he cared. It was simple. As Rose had said, Jenny was his responsibility.

  He just didn't understand why he cared so much.

  Jenny had left him at the altar.

  Jenny had ended their relationship.

  Jenny had left town without even saying good-bye.

  Yet now she almost seemed as if she regretted what had happened between them.

  His mood turned cautious. He was unsure of his own strong emotions and unsure of what Jenny was doing.

  They reached the hotel.

  "Is something wrong?" Jenny asked when she noticed a hardening of his expression.

  "No.

  "You can go on back to the dance if you want," Jenny told him. "I'll be fine now."

  "I want to make sure you get upstairs all right."

  "It's not necessary," she insisted.

  Cole looked so annoyed that she wanted to give him the chance to get away from her. There was no doubt in her mind that she loved him, but as he'd said, he thought of her only as a responsibility. Knowing he felt that way about her troubled Jenny, and she wondered, even loving him as she did, if there could be a future for them.

  "I'll see you to your room," he said.

  Jenny stopped arguing and started up the steps. When they reached the hall, it was deserted. As they passed the room that had been hers on what was to have been their wedding night, she noticed that Cole glanced sharply at the door. It was then that it dawned on her what he was thinking about. She deeply regretted right now that she had chosen to stay in this hotel.

  Memories of that night returned to Jenny, too. She remembered how Cole had come to her and told her he still loved her and wanted to marry her. She realized now how hard it must have been for him to seek her out again after she'd just publicly rejected him.

  She intended to make it up to Cole.

  They reached the room that was hers tonight, five doors farther down the hall. She unlocked the door and started to go in.

  "Wait." Cole stopped her.

  He took charge, stepping inside ahead of her to light the lamp and take a look around. Once he'd made sure the window was locked, he turned back to her and found that she was waiting in the doorway, watching him.

  "Is it safe?" Jenny asked.

  The question hung heavily in the air between them as he stared at her. The bed was in his line of vision, and in his mind's eye he could see her lying upon it. He forced the image aside.

  "Yes," he answered, his voice deep and gruff. "You're safe."

  Suddenly, staring at Cole across the room, Jenny didn't want to be safe. Cole looked dangerous, his expression guarded, yet dark. His physical presence was nearly overpowering. She was drawn to him. She wanted him, and she wanted to make him believe it.

  Recklessness and determination filled Jenny.

  She stepped inside the room and closed the door. She wondered what Rose would do if she had the man she wanted alone in her hotel room. A slow smile curved her lips. She didn't need to ask Rose. She knew what to do.

  "Cole-I'm not so sure I want to be safe-"

  Cole watched Jenny warily as she walked slowly toward him. He wondered what she was doing what she wanted from him. Something told him to leave now that he was certain she was all right, but something else, a more basic, more primitive need, held him there.

  "The last time we were in this hotel together..." she said in a soft voice.

  "You told me our wedding was off," he finished in a flat voice.

  "I know," Jenny said gently as she stopped before him and lifted her gaze to his in a plea for understanding. "I was young. I wanted to see the world, to experience life and live it to the fullest."

  Cole's jaw tightened as he looked down at her. When she rested one hand on his chest a jolt of sen sual awareness shot through him. He tensed even more but said nothing.

  Jenny continued, "What I didn't realize then was that I had the best of the world right here in Durango-with you."

  When his expression still didn't change, Jenny realized that actions spoke louder than words. She rose up on tiptoes to press her lips to his. She knew she was being brazen. She didn't care. She had to convince Cole that she loved him. She had to make him believe her. If her words couldn't do it, she'd let her actions speak for her.

  Cole held himself in rigid control as Jenny kissed him. He accepted her kiss, but did not allow himself to react. When she slipped her arms around his neck and shifted even closer to him, though, his composure started to slip. A shudder of desire wracked him.

  "Kiss me, Cole Please," Jenny whispered against his mouth.

  It was her plea that shattered the iron grip he had on his desire. He reacted on pure instinct, crushing her to him, his mouth slanting passionately over hers in a fiery brand.

  Jenny whimpered in ecstasy at his unbridled response.

  Cole gave a low-throated growl as he pressed kiss after hungry kiss on her lips. Jenny was his heaven and his hell. He knew it was crazy to be holding her and
kissing her this way, but right now, nothing mattered but the glory of having her in his arms. He wanted her. He desired her more than any other woman he'd ever known. There had never been anyone for him but Jenny.

  The bed was so close, it was a simple matter for Cole to pick Jenny up in his arms and lay her down upon its softness without ending their kiss. Jenny did not release him, but drew Cole down with her. It was pure sensual delight to have his hard-muscled body covering hers. She reveled in the pleasure of his nearness as she returned his kisses in full measure.

  This was what she'd longed for.

  This was what she'd always needed.

  When he began to caress her, she was shocked by the intensity of the excitement his touch aroused within her. He slipped her gown from her shoulders, baring that tender flesh, and she gasped at the sensation so new and so thrilling.

  Cole was hungry for Jenny. All the time he'd spent denying himself, controlling himself, protecting her- it didn't matter now. She was here in his arms, willing and eager, and he wanted her.

  Jenny hated that she couldn't caress Cole as he was caressing her. She began to work feverishly at the buttons on his shirt, wanting to bare his chest and shoulders to her touch. She wanted to be as close to him as she could. Cole shifted slightly away from her, giving her easier access, and she made fast work of freeing him from his shirt. His chest was hard and hot to her touch, yet he shivered as she caressed him.

  The knowledge that her touch had the power to affect Cole that way emboldened Jenny. She traced fiery paths over his shoulders and down his back as she held him close. Wild emotions filled Jenny as she clung to him. She thrilled to his touch and returned his kisses with abandon.

  At long last, she was where she belonged.

  She never wanted to let him go.

  "I love you, Cole." Caught up in the ecstasy of the moment, she whispered what was in her heart.

  She had thought he would declare his love, too, and they would live happily ever after.

  She was wrong.

  At her declaration of love, Cole went still. Reality painfully returned and jarred him from the sensual fever that held him in its grip. Cole was forced to realize just where he was, what he'd been about to do, and who he'd been about to do it with Jenny.

  In an almost violent move, Cole tore himself away from her and stood up beside the bed.

  Jenny was shocked by his sudden desertion. She lay upon the bed staring up at him, still on fire with her need to be one with him. She didn't understand why he had left her. She didn't understand why he wasn't there on the bed, holding her.

  "Cole-" she said softly and lifted one hand to him in an invitation to return to her. She wanted him back in her arms, kissing her and loving her.

  The sight of Jenny, her clothing in disarray, her cheeks flushed with passion's glow, seared Cole. She looked beautiful desirable. He wanted to make love to her Lord, how he wanted to make love to her! But that was all it was, he told himself - a physical desire.

  Cole took a step back to distance himself from Jenny even more. He couldn't think straight standing that close to her.

  After Jenny had left him, he'd sworn never to fall in love with another woman or to care about another woman the way he'd cared about Jenny. Up until now he'd managed to keep that vow. But now, Jenny was back, and she was wreaking havoc in his life.

  "I have to go," he muttered as he turned away from her and headed for the door, buttoning his shirt as he went.

  "Cole! Wait "she called out.

  But it was too late.

  He had gone and shut the door silently behind him. Jenny stared after him. She remembered another time when he'd walked away from her and closed the door in exactly the same way. A shiver ran through her at the memory.

  Mira was shocked to see Cole come out of Jenny's hotel room buttoning his shirt. She held her breath and stepped back quickly to hide in the shadows at the far end of the hallway. She was fearful that he might catch sight of her and realize she'd been spying on him. Cole seemed too distracted, though, to even bother looking her way.

  Mira waited, watching him walk off down the hall, and as she did, the fury that was burning within her grew hotter. Cole had been in Jenny's room with the door shut, and he'd come out fixing his clothing!

  She wanted to rage and rant. She wanted to scream at the injustice of it all. She wanted to kill.

  But Mira waited, biding her time. Only when Cole had gone down the steps did she emerge from hiding. She was slow in leaving, not wanting to risk rushing after him and being discovered.

  "What did you find out?" Wayne asked in drunken good humor when his sister emerged from the hotel a short time after he'd seen Cole leave. He'd been waiting for her outside, trying to blend in so no one would notice him, and he'd done a good job. Even Cole had walked right past him, unaware of his presence.

  "Everything I suspected is true. That woman is a slut!" Mira told him venomously.

  "How do you know that?"

  "What the hell do you think he was doing up there in her room for so long?"

  "You don't know that for sure."

  "He was fixing his clothes when he came out of her room."

  "Damn, maybe I'd better go get me some of that." Wayne glanced toward the hotel entrance. The thought of Jenny Sullivan warm and willing beneath him left him hot.

  "Shut up, you idiot!" Mira had had enough. "If it wasn't for you, none of this would be happening right now."

  "What are you talking about, woman?"

  "I'm talking about you! If you hadn't been so stupid and almost got yourself caught rustling up in their high pasture, you wouldn't have had to kill her father and Jenny would still be back East. Then Cole would be mine-all mine." Her fury at her brother was unbounded.

  "How was I supposed to know that stupid old man was going to show up right then?"

  "He wasn't the one who was stupid! It was his property! When you're stealing from somebody, you've got to be smart enough to make sure you don't get caught!" Mira seethed. "Do I have to take charge of everything out at the ranch?"

  Wayne shrugged. He didn't care who did what, as long as he had money enough for liquor and women. He was very much like their father that way. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen their father sober. That was why he and Mira had had to take over the ranch and start running things. "So what do you want to do now?"

  "I want to get rid of Jenny, that's what I want to do. I don't have a chance of getting Cole to marry me with her around."

  "What do you mean, `get rid of?"

  "What do you think I mean?" She shot him a hatefilled look that spoke volumes.

  "How are you going to do that? You aren't plan ping on doing anything here in town, are you?" Wayne was worried. It had been difficult enough making Paul's death look like an accident. He didn't know how he would cover up murdering Jenny.

  "No, but believe me, I'd like to-right here and now," she told him coldly.

  Glancing back toward the hotel, Mira envisioned Cole making love to Jenny. Her jealousy and anger grew. When she'd gone to Cole's house to see him and ended up spending the night, he'd taken great care not to be in a compromising situation with her. Yet here tonight with Jenny, he'd been willingly and eagerly alone with her in a hotel room.

  Silently, Mira vowed that one day come hell or high water-Cole was going to be hers. She didn't care what it took-she was going to have him.

  Cole didn't even consider returning to the dance. He went straight to the High Time. He got a drink from Sam, who was still tending bar, then settled in by himself at a back table. He stared at the bar girls, contemplating bedding one of them just to ease the ache in his body, but as quickly as the thought came, he put it from him.

  Cole didn't want just any warm body.

  He wanted only Jenny.

  He remembered another night when he'd sat there in the High Time, thinking about Jenny and generally being miserable. Fernada had convinced him to fight for Jenny that night. He had taken her ad
vice and had tried, only to discover that she had already gone.

  But that had been a long time ago.

  He still loved Jenny that night.

  He had wanted her back.

  But now?

  He wasn't sure what his feelings were for her.

  Cole took a deep drink. He waited, wanting the tension to ease within him. Somehow, though, he knew there would be no relaxing tonight.

  Tonight he could have made love to Jenny.

  And yet he had walked away.

  It made no sense that he'd left her. She'd certainly been willing. Hell, she'd called him back to her, almost begging him to come to her.

  But he had walked away.

  Cole tried to understand his own actions. Jenny had had only to kiss him, and he'd forgotten himself. He had wanted her badly, desired her deeply. But he knew there was more to a relationship than desire. He had to trust the woman he loved, and from experience he'd learned that he couldn't trust Jenny. Not after what she'd done to him.

  Or could he?

  In disgust and frustration, Cole took another drink.

  Dan knew the time had come to leave. He had hoped the night would last forever, but Sam was waiting at the bar for him. He'd promised Sam he'd be back, and he had to go.

  "It's that time, isn't it?" Rose sensed the change in Dan's mood as they stood together in a quiet spot near the refreshment table.

  "I have to get back. Sam could only cover for me for a couple of hours," he told her regretfully.

  "Will I get to see you again?" she asked. She didn't care if she was being brazen or not. She wanted to spend as much time with him as she could while she was in Durango.

  "When are you heading back to the ranch in the morning?" Dan hadn't even left her yet, and he was already trying to figure out a way to see her again.

  "Around ten. Why?"

  "How about we meet for breakfast?"

  "I'd love to," she said, her eyes aglow.

  Rose wanted desperately to kiss Dan again, but she couldn't, surrounded as they were by others.

  "Shall I take you back to your aunt?" Dan offered.

  "Please."

  She took his arm, and he accompanied her to where Tillie, Evelyn, and Melanie were talking to a group of ladies.