Big Sky Cowboy

by Jennifer Mikels

Love me. She could have begged him. Every breath drawn, every sigh released was for him. She wanted to believe in something as delicate as love. He was linking her to him with a kiss, binding her to him with his body. When he slipped into her, flesh blended. Her world exploded with the feel of him, the fullness inside her. No patience existed. Bodies slammed at each other, moved with oneness.

  Breathless, hot, she squeezed her eyes tight, cupped his buttocks and strained against him. As she’d done the first time, she tried to remember every second, every sensation. She was weak, limp.

  When he pressed his face in the side of her neck, he groaned and shuddered. She’d done this to him. She was strong now. As he numbed her to everything but this moment, her body and the feelings he had aroused, she controlled him, too.

  A ragged plea slipped from her lips. She wanted. She needed. Need meant more than just the moment. Need meant heartache. Don’t think, she told herself. Don’t think. Feel. Love him.

  He’d thought he’d never breathe normally again. That was Colby’s first thought the next morning. Outside the bedroom window, birds chirped in an oak tree. Even when his breath no longer had come in harsh, uneven gasps, his heart had pounded as if it would burst through his chest. He stared at the slim, feminine hand resting on it. He wondered if she was aware of her power. Days ago, she’d been innocent, uncertain. Now she weakened him with a caress. Lifting her hand, he threaded his fingers with hers. So fragile. So strong. Effortlessly she could make him beg.

  “Hi,” she murmured.

  “Hi, yourself.” With fingertips, he stroked her hair and looked around her bedroom. Clearly she loved books, he realized as he scanned the room and noted shelves of them. He narrowed his eyes at a huge wooden statue shaped like a horse’s head. “What’s that?”

  He felt her shift to see where he pointed. “That’s from India. It represents good wishes for prosperity.”

  “Unusual. What about the other things?”

  “The screen is a Korean palace screen, and the Buddha belonged to a friend of my mother’s whose husband traveled to the Orient often. The Indian painting on cloth is of the joyous lover god Krishna.”

  “You’re a collector?”

  “My mother was a lover of art. She acquired whatever she could.”

  “And you inherited all of it.”

  “She didn’t have much to leave me. A few things.”

  She’d said the psychic power was a trait passed on to the women in her family. He stared at a photograph of a soft-looking woman with dark hair. She was kneeling on the beach, laughing, and the wind blew her dark hair from her face as she stared at the young girl tucked close to her side. Mother and daughter?

  “What are you looking at?”

  “The photograph.” She looked angelic. Pale with her dark hair, and those eyes that seemed to see so much. What about your father?” She’d never mentioned him before.

  “He left. He couldn’t deal with my mother’s gift. He thought he could when he married her, but he couldn’t and he left.”

  She’d said it all too simply. “Did you know him?”

  “I never met him.”

  “What do you mean when you say he left?”

  “While we were still living in Rumor when she was pregnant with me. He’d never had enough faith in her.” She moved her hand to rest on his chest. “He left us because he couldn’t accept her gift.”

  Colby frowned at her words. He’d only been thinking about Tessa. He’d never given her parents much thought before this, or what their lives had been like.

  “People can be cruel,” she added. “Suspicious. Those who knew them shied away, others acted as if my mother was crazy. My father wanted distance. He turned his back on the woman he’d made a vow to love forever. That’s when my mother left Rumor with me.”

  He measured his next words before speaking. “Did she carry the hurt?”

  Tessa’s eyes met his. “They were wrong for each other. But yes, he broke her heart.”

  Had she grown up with a woman who’d been grieving for one man, for a love lost? Had Tessa’s mother searched for someone who might understand her, might accept the risks that came with loving her? From Tessa, he’d gotten the impression that had never happened.

  Smelling coffee, he realized she’d eased away. He roused himself and wandered into the living room to search for his boots. Last night he and Tessa had started in the living room, shedding clothes there, then had lit candles and made love again before he’d carried her to bed. It took a few minutes to find everything. Buttoning his shirt, he wandered into the kitchen to the sound of her rattling pots behind a cabinet. “What are you doing back there?”

  “I thought I had a waffle iron here somewhere.”

  “Never mind. I don’t need you to make breakfast.”

  With her quick move toward the refrigerator, her plum-colored robe parted, and he caught a glimpse of a slender thigh. He was becoming crazy about her. She looked soft, but she didn’t break easily. This was a strong, resilient woman, he knew. People called her quirky. He smiled. Unique described her better.

  “Did you find something?” she asked when he opened the refrigerator door.

  “Orange juice.” Beneath the morning sunlight streaming into the room, her hair shone. “But where are the glasses?”

  Bent over, she looked at him. “In that cabinet,” she said, pointing.

  With effort, he dragged his gaze away from her backside and directed his attention to the glassware. He had limited choices. A cup from Niagara Falls, a plastic Disneyland glass decorated with cartoon characters, a green plastic sports glass honoring the Houston Astros. He chose the Astros glass, and while sipping the juice opened a pantry door. “Lord, woman, you’re lucky your teeth don’t rot.” He dangled a bag of bite-size candy bars, known for being filled with nuts and caramel.

  She flashed him a pearly white smile. “I brush and floss a lot. So did you find something?”

  You, he realized. He’d never planned on this much involvement with her, and now he had a difficult time imagining a day without her in it.

  “Colby? Did you find something?” she asked in a slow, measuring way as if talking to a young child.

  “Not yet.” On a shelf above the cabinets were various stoneware pots. He noticed the window herb garden, the tall dried wildflowers stuck in a vase in a corner.

  “I have bread and eggs.” She met his stare. “I can’t find the waffle iron, but we could have French toast.”

  Was she really going to cook? “I’ll make it.”

  “My kitchen. I’ll cook.”

  With her movement, the V of the robe billowed. Soft, pale flesh enticed. “You can do that?”

  Standing on the opposite side of the table, she closed one eye and leveled a withering stare at him. “Be careful or…”

  “Or what?” With her playful mood, as she made a move, he took two steps in the same direction to block her.

  On a giggle, she skittered the other way. When she rounded the table, Colby lunged for her and caught her at the waist.

  Her head thrown back, she smiled impishly. “Is there something else you want?”

  Possessively he skimmed fingers down her hip. “I have an idea.”

  The gray eyes meeting his sparkled with delight and anticipation. “What is it?” she asked while her hand glided over his buttocks.

  He nearly groaned. Against his rib, he felt the quick beat of her heart. He wanted to make it race, thunder with excitement and reached down to part the robe with his fingers. “We can conserve water.”

  As his hand brushed her thigh, she sighed. “I’ll wash your back.”

  They skipped breakfast. He would have liked a leisurely meal with her, but while he was still drifting from the spell she’d weaved over him, she’d scooted off the bed. No man should feel so content, he reflected. Lazily he raised an arm and pillowed the back of his head with it.

  “I have volunteer work at one,” she called from the bathroom. “And I have to che
ck some new merchandise at the store first.”

  As much as he wanted to persuade her to join him, he had to leave, too, for the same reason. He’d offered to deliver donated fans. He eased off the bed and dressed. By the time she appeared, he was sitting on the edge of the bed tugging on his second boot. Kneeling on the floor, she rummaged under the bed, offering him a delectable view of her backside in snug jeans. “Is something missing?”

  “Shoes.”

  He spotted one sandal near a bedside table. “Is there a reward for finding them?”

  Straightening, she swung a look at him. As he dangled the sandal by a finger, she laughed, then rose on her knees and coiled her arms around his neck. “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure.” She glowed. Was he imagining that? Maybe. But he wasn’t imagining how beautiful she looked. Or how full of emotion his chest felt just from looking at her.

  Chapter Twelve

  Another five minutes passed before they started down the inside stairs that led to Mystic Treasures. In response to the ring of the bell, Tessa paused on a step ahead of Colby and bent forward to look over the banister and see who was at the door. She saw the crown of Leone’s gray head.

  “I could stay,” Colby said, indicating he’d seen Leone, too.

  “No, you can’t,” Tessa said. “You’ve played bodyguard long enough.” Letting her hand ride the banister, she descended the stairs ahead of him. What could Leone want now? “You need to leave. I’ll meet you at the school.”

  “Tessa—”

  She touched his cheek. “I’ll be fine.”

  He muttered something under his breath before stepping around her. In passing, he nodded hello to Leone, then stepped outside.

  Leone hadn’t responded. She looked so smugly satisfied that Tessa instinctively prepared for a confrontation. Disdainfully the woman’s blue eyes flicked over her. “You’re more foolish than I thought if you think for a moment that he believes in your nonsense. Colby Holmes comes from sensible stock. He’d never take up with the likes of you.”

  Tessa drew a hard breath, a calming one, and ignored what Leone said. “Is there something you want?”

  Leone’s back went rigid. “Ignore my advice. I could care less,” she said. “However, you won’t be able to ignore my news. I came to tell you that the town council will officially notify you that your operating license is suspended,” she said snidely.

  Tessa felt her heart sink to her stomach. Leone had made good on her threat to close her business. Could she appeal to the town council? “Mrs. Burton, you can’t—”

  “I have,” she said firmly. “Don’t bother trying to convince me we shouldn’t do that. I insisted we should after what I saw last night.”

  “Last night?” She was confused. “What do you think you saw?”

  “I told them that you were holding séances here.”

  Nothing she said would have surprised Tessa more. “I—I was—what?”

  “I saw all the candles last night. In an upstairs window. Henry, too, saw them from the sidewalk. We knew what you were doing.”

  “You don’t know anything,” Tessa said, growing annoyed. With candles flickering, she and Colby had been holding each other in the afterglow of their lovemaking.

  A smug, self-satisfied look settled on the woman’s face. “I know that you no longer are a part of this community.”

  Colby returned to the ranch. He hadn’t liked the idea of leaving her to face Leone, but he couldn’t insist on staying. He had no right. No strings. No promises. That’s what he’d wanted. Simple words. Simple concept. That had been true before, but it wasn’t true anymore.

  Looking for some way to help her, he stepped into his study and called Holt about checking with florists in Boise. They both doubted they’d learn who’d sent the dead flowers to Tessa, but Colby spent the next hour making the phone calls. No one had made a delivery to Rumor.

  After finishing the calls, he strode to the stable. It was good for him to be close to the horses. He’d been so distracted lately because of the investigation and Tessa that he’d felt detached from his ranch and the animals.

  This ranch hadn’t been bought on a whim. He’d been striving to have the best horse ranch in Montana. He’d thought it would be a legacy to his children. That had been before the breakup with Diana. Now another woman occupied his mind. Now what he’d once considered didn’t seem so out of reach.

  Before he returned to town, it was afternoon. He joined Garrett in the school parking lot and hefted boxes of fans onto the bed of a pickup truck. Garrett worked while carrying on a conversation with Henry’s brother. Colby had his own distraction as he spotted Tessa carrying boxes from the school’s gymnasium to her van. Since they’d arrived, they’d been busy and apart. He couldn’t help wondering what Leone had felt so compelled to tell Tessa that she’d come into her store.

  “You’re useless when she’s around, you know.”

  Colby laughed at Garrett’s gibe. “It’s no worse than you when the cute blond waitress from Whitehorn is around.” He tapped Garrett’s shoulder, then meandered toward Tessa. As he sidestepped Henry, he heard him expounding about the speed limit outside town being too slow and found himself face-to-face with Parrish. “You’re still around?”

  Parrish plastered a phony smile on his face. “Always good to see you.”

  It didn’t matter to Colby that evidence proved Parrish had nothing to do with Harriet’s death. Colby figured the man had done enough damage when Harriet had been alive. He’d made her life miserable.

  “Thought you might like to know. Since I have nowhere else to go, I’ll be staying around for a while.”

  Colby stepped to the side. “Stay away from my family.” Under his breath, he muttered a few choice words. He moved at a slower pace than usual to cool down before reaching Tessa. “Is that van packed full?”

  She turned, her ponytail swinging with her movement. Dressed in jeans, a T-shirt and a Houston Astros baseball cap, she looked cute. “Almost.”

  The smile wasn’t in her eyes. He couldn’t think of anything or anyone who’d steal it from her except another threat or Leone Burton. He took a guess. “Did Leone cause you much trouble?”

  “She came to remind me that lighting candles is forbidden in Rumor.”

  “What?”

  She waved a hand. “What she said can’t be changed. So let’s not spoil the day.”

  He wanted to probe. He wanted to tell her she could lean on him, give him her problems. But while she might give her body to him, something made her keep a part of herself from him. “I’ll help you deliver.”

  “Don’t you have a list of your own?”

  Colby tapped fingers on the ponytail. “You can help me.”

  “How many go here?” he questioned when they parked outside a couple of rambling ranch homes located on a stretch of well-manicured lawns.

  Staring at her list, Tessa walked with him to the back of the van. “Snyder Nursing Home. Five go here.”

  They delivered them and three large ones to one of the churches for its Sunday service, then drove to the vet’s office. Standing by his truck beneath an afternoon sun, Colby felt sweat streaming down the side of his neck. The heat wave had gotten worse. Meteorologists had forecast a record high for the day. Colby had lost count of how long the area had gone through the heat wave. Too long. Too damn long.

  “Did you finish those deliveries?” Tessa asked from steps away.

  “Done with those. Are you?”

  “I took enough into Dr. Hunt’s to keep his furry patients happy.”

  How could she look so cool? He was sweating his butt off, and her skin had only a slight sheen. She looked irresistible. Damn, he had it bad. He wanted to draw her into his arms, kiss her. He couldn’t be within two feet of her and not want her. He’d laughed and smiled more since he’d begun seeing her than in a long time. He woke up in the morning simply wanting to see her. He sounded nuts even to himself. Or maybe the impossible had happened. When he had
n’t expected it, he’d found her. And he’d fallen in love.

  “Doing all that work made me hungry,” she said, cutting into his thoughts.

  “Hungry?” He gave her his most lecherous look. “For what?”

  Tessa laughed. “You’re so bad.” She gave him an ineffectual punch in the arm. “I have such a craving for teriyaki chicken.”

  He grinned, loving every quirk in her. “You had almond chicken a couple of days ago.”

  “I could eat that for breakfast.”

  “You’re kidding, aren’t you?”

  “Why is that so hard to believe? Do you sometimes have eggs for dinner?”

  “Don’t get logical on me.”

  “Egg foo yung,” she said. “That’s an omelette.”

  “You’ve got a weird stomach, woman.”

  “Weren’t you warned that I was weird?”

  He kissed the side of her neck. “Unusual.”

  “Some people might say peculiar.”

  “Or rare,” he murmured, skimming her arm.

  “You’re very distracting.” She motioned toward the delivery sheet in his hand. “Who else is on your list?”

  “A rancher. Clarence Harmon needs fans for his livestock.”

  “I’ll meet you there. I have to deliver fans to the Raymonds’ ranch. Mrs. Raymond, Ruth, thinks I can give her spiritual guidance about when to plant her tulips.” He smiled with her, but Tessa could tell that he thought she was teasing. “You think I’m fooling, don’t you? Astral planes and cosmic energies and seeing into the future are part of my life.”

  “I don’t care about the future,” he returned. “What matters to me is this moment—you.” He slid a hand around to the back of her neck and held her face still. He kissed her long, thoroughly. “What you make me feel,” he whispered close to her mouth.

  So badly Tessa wanted to believe in them. Desperately she wanted to believe in them, believe she’d finally met someone who could really love her. She wanted to believe she could have forever with him.

  But their time was limited. With Leone’s threat, there seemed no point in unpacking merchandise. She’d have to leave. She could reopen elsewhere or sell her merchandise. There was a New Age store in Oregon. She’d met the owner at a psychic fair. Perhaps he’d buy everything.