“Why would I feel better?” She didn’t even feel bad for yelling the words.
“Because you just vented a year’s or more worth of steam?” His words registered along with the fact that she’d just left a palm sized smear of horseshit on his shirt and he hadn’t even blinked. He wanted to know if she felt better.
Did she?
Crap. She did.
She couldn’t help it. She smiled.
“Oh no. You’re not getting away with this. This is my favorite shirt.” A wicked light entered his stormy eyes, and she stepped back. Yes, she was already a mess, but she really didn’t want to get into a shit-slinging fight. Before she could blink, he grasped her by the hips and pulled her flush against his broad chest then captured her mouth with his.
Her mouth parted on a gasp and he took full advantage, sweeping in and kissing her until the barn spun. Delicious, heated sin, his mouth tamed the remnants of her anger and replaced it with an altogether different type of fire.
Desire.
Liquid, warm and dazzling, it filled her every cell until her senses swam with need for him. Lost, she gripped his shirt and held tight. He groaned into her as his calloused palms swept up her sides to hold her in place.
He lifted her and palmed her ass as she wrapped her legs around his waist. The hard ridge of his erection rubbed against her core. Sweet, erotic, sensation bloomed, spreading through her. Needing more, she tilted her hips, seeking.
Stepping into the stall, he shut them in and pressed her back to the wall. Hungry, shameless, she laced her fingers at the back of his neck. Claiming hers in wild tempest, his mouth set upon hers, filling her with his dark, masculine, flavor. His hand returned to her ass, kneading and shaping. With his tight grip, he encouraged her rocking, rasping her flesh against fabric and heat until she grew faint with desire.
Hollow, aching, she needed.
“That’s it, beauty, let it go. Damn, but you’re beautiful like this. Hot, hungry, shameless. Fucking beautiful. Makes me want to take you right here in the stables.” He nipped her bottom lip and held it between his teeth. He sucked the soft flesh into his mouth and let it go on a pop. One hand cupped her breast, thumbing the nipple through her shirt.
Meeting his eyes, she writhed, arched and her body tightened with an explosive release. Gasping, she held on, shuddering as it rode through her, white hot and consuming.
Trent touched his forehead to hers, breathing heavily.
“Katie Marie MacDonald, you are trouble.”
She grinned and gave him her real smile.
“I do this all the time on my own. You really didn’t have to come. No one’s going to try anything in broad daylight. The weekend crowd will surely keep my drama away. Besides, I’m sure you have more important things to do with your time back at the stables.”
Trent’s glare said he hadn’t believed a single word she’d said. Dark sunglasses, muscle and male attitude radiated forbidding protectiveness as they set up her stall at the farmer’s market.
“Is all this really necessary? Couldn’t you postpone it until we’re certain of your safety?” There wasn’t anything more than mild exasperation behind Trent’s words as he helped her set up her table at the market but she was compelled to defend herself anyway.
“Yes, it’s necessary. You insisted on coming along, so you’ll have to suck it up and deal. It might not seem like a big deal to you, but I have customers who expect me.” She straightened rows of jelly jars, wishing she could have added more to her meager stock. When she’d asked about picking berries out at her farm, Trent had given her a single look. No words had been necessary. “I don’t want your money. I have money of my own in savings, but I’m choosing to live on what I make. If I’m going to open an animal rescue, then I have to be smart with my savings. Who knows what will happen with my house and whether or not the insurance will cover the damage? Right now, it’s not looking good.”
His eyes told her all she needed to know about his thoughts on the subject. Along the same lines of his offer to help her with money, he’d more than likely be willing to help her with her home.
Not happening.
She appreciated his generosity all the more because there were no strings attached, as it should be with a gift. Preston had always acted as if she owed him the sun, moon, and stars for everything they owned. Yet, when she’d wanted to work, he’d thrown a fit. Of course, he’d been more worried about what everyone would think if she took a job. Didn’t she think he was capable of providing for her?
He never understood. She’d fought for the freedom and would do things her way.
“I’ll be fine. You don’t have to hover. We’re in a busy public place and, with everything that’s happened, they’ll probably give things a rest for a bit.” She turned into the heat of him and wiped his frown away with her fingers. “If you keep scowling, you’ll scare all my customers away.”
He growled, low and menacing, then dipped for a breath-stealing kiss. “I don’t care. All the better to keep the assholes away, my dear.” He returned for another taste, tangling his tongue with hers, only backing off once he made her toes curl.
“I wish I had more stock. If I can’t salvage what’s at home, I’ll have to nearly double my time in the kitchen this coming week to make up for the loss.” Just the day before, she’d been cleared to go into her house. The fire hadn’t spread past the living room and it had been deemed structurally sound. After she finished up at the market, Trent planned to take her home to look things over and get a start on sorting out what would no doubt be a total mess. The Fire Marshall opened an investigation and still had questions, but there wasn’t much she could tell them. All she could do was take the headache one day at a time.
She’d have to find an alternate solution until he decided she could pick the berries on her farm. Thinking about the waste, sickened her, but what could she do? She’d dipped into her savings and purchased a couple of flats at a farmer’s market in Bourbon County, not too far from Trent’s place. She’d worked double time to try and make up for the shortage, but she’d have to figure out a better solution for long term.
He sighed and looked up to the canopy above them but, wisely, he didn’t comment.
And that was something she was getting used to and liking. He might grumble over her not wanting his help or be bossy when it came to her safety, but he’d never once looked down on her for doing something as simple at operating a booth at the farmer’s market.
With her putting in long hours in his kitchen and him both tending his horses and working with Rick, they’d both been exhausted each night. They hadn’t had enough time to do much more than have a quick dinner together and go to their separate beds.
She wasn’t naïve enough to believe things would continue that way for much longer. He’d come in the day before to find her in the kitchen with her hands covered in a sticky mess. There wasn’t a woman alive between the ages of eighteen and eighty who would misunderstand the raw desire in his eyes. His hands dived into the hair at her nape and he’d stolen a long, wet, panty-melting kiss. When she’d grumbled it wasn’t fair because she couldn’t touch him, he smirked and whispered, “I know.” He’d stolen another kiss, along with all the air in her lungs, then left.
She’d stood there, stupefied, her hands sticky with berry juice, likely looking like a star-struck teenager.
“Have you decided on a name for your rescue?” His question pulled her back to the present.
“No, not yet. I’ve been thinking, but nothing sounds right. I’m certain I want to at least include horses, if not focus on them. I’ll come up with something. There are a million things to research and figure out, but I’m making headway.” Not even the mountain of work waiting for her could dampen her happiness when she thought of her plans. She pulled the last box of jars from the truck bed and sat it on the table.
“Trent Dawson! How are you? It’s been ages.” An overly cheerful, borderline shrill, voice rang out through the crowd. Unabl
e to stop herself, Kate stopped arranging jars to look up.
“Shit. Not here, not now. Who the hell told her where to find me?” Quiet, but undoubtedly irritated, Trent cursed beside her. Helpless with curiosity, Kate searched for the source of his anger. Tall and slender with artfully applied makeup, she could have been a runway model. Pale, perfect porcelain features and miles of thick, auburn hair framed striking green eyes. Her expensive jeans were so tight, they looked as though they’d been painted on. Kate wasn’t sure how the woman was capable of walking or even breathing in them. Her boots were new and probably had never stepped foot in real grass, let alone a barn.
“What are you doing here, Lindsey? Who told you were to find me?” Trent faced the redhead with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.
“I bumped into Ray at the Empty Horseshoe the other night, and he said you’d probably be out here today. I have a little favor to ask.” She trailed a finger over Trent’s chest and smiled. Wow. Kate had seen a lot of professional moves in her day, but this Lindsey chick had the simpering princess vibe perfected.
“How many drinks did you pour into Ray to get him to talk?” Trent’s irritation edged toward anger as he pointedly looked down to the polished fingernail on his chest. “My schedule is full. I can’t help with whatever it is. You’ll have to find someone else.”
“I’m looking to buy a horse. I need your help. You can’t make time to show me around your stable? I’m sure you have something that will suit me.” If the woman poured any more sugar into her tone, she’d draw bees.
“I’m not interested Lindsey. Not in you or your bullshit story.”
“I miss Justin. That was the biggest mistake of my life. I panicked and ran. It was silly of me. Would you be willing to let me take you out to dinner, so we can talk about old times?” Big crocodile tears welled in her eyes, somehow only making them seem bigger and brighter.
“No. Goodbye, Lindsey.”
“Well, here’s my new number if you change your mind…” When she saw the look on Trent’s face, she stopped mid-sentence. “Bye, Trent.” As if she’d said farewell to her long-lost best friend, she turned and walked away without giving him the card she held.
Trent just shook his head and looked as if he wanted to throw something. He placed his hands on his hips, tipped his head back and closed his eyes.
A customer came up, so she chatted with them a moment and completed their purchase. While she promised that she’d be back with more jam the following weekend, Trent stayed silent.
Dark and heavy, his mood threatened to suffocate her. She couldn’t stand the tension any longer. “Okay, spill. Before all the anger inside you explodes, let some of it out.” She kept her voice quiet as she moved to stand in front of him. She met his eyes and draped her forearms on his shoulders. Her heart ached when she saw something other than blind anger there. It was so much worse. His eyes were full of pain.
She didn’t know how to erase his misery, but she had to do something. “Okay. Let’s start with the basics. Tell me her name and how you know Ms. Tightpants.”
When he blinked and looked at her as if she’d lost a marble or two, she knew she was on the right track, so she continued. “Didn’t her momma tell her that, no matter how tight your clothes are, it will never make up for a distinct lack of class?” She let every ounce of her Kentucky accent into her words. “I mean, she was sporting some serious camel-toe. It just screams shameless floozy, bless her heart.”
He shook his head and smirked. “Lindsey was Justin’s fiancée. They had plans to get married as soon as we finished our tour in Afghanistan. When he came home, wounded and facing a lifetime of surgeries, pain and the very real possibility that he would never be the same man again, she cut and ran. She couldn’t face it.”
Scrubbing a hand across his face, his lips took on a rueful smile. “I never liked her, Harlan and Sandy were never crazy about her, but her emotional abandonment cinched it. She lacked the basic decency in her heart to give it a little time. Why couldn’t she let him gain some strength before she told him she wanted out? Before he was awake and out of intensive care, she snuck in and laid her engagement ring on the table beside his fucking hospital bed. She didn’t have enough spine to give his ring back to him in person before she split. I watched him give up the will to live. I saw it fade right then and there. He kept up appearances for his parents, but he laid there and waited to die. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to watch.”
He paused, seeming to collect himself before he continued. “Knowing Harlan and Sandy saw it as well only made him wasting away all the more painful to bear.”
“You love them.” She stroked a hand up and down his arm, offering the comfort of her touch as he recalled the obviously traumatic memory.
“I do. They’re my parents. They claimed me for no other reason than they’re good people and they raised me. I can’t ever take them, or what they gave me, for granted.”
“I’m glad they were there for you and that they had you throughout Justin’s death. I know it hurt you all horribly, but by taking you in, they saved themselves, in a way. Were you two always close?” Her heart ached for the pain he must have endured.
“We barely knew each other when our worlds collided. He and I rode the same school bus together but never said much to each other. We were always lost in our own little worlds. When we were eight or so, an older boy from the middle school gave Justin a hard time. He kept calling him names and giving him hell for being a rich kid. Justin tried to ignore it, but things escalated. I jumped in when another middle school kid joined the first. They beat the snot out of us. When the bus driver had to pull over to break it up, I took the blame. No one at my house gave a shit about me. My mom probably wouldn’t have even noticed that nearly half of my face was swollen. Why would it matter if I got in trouble? She wouldn’t care.” He watched the early morning activity, but she suspected he’d turned his thoughts far away.
Helpless, she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. The rumble of his voice vibrated through his chest and tingled against the hand she’d placed over his heart. “Justin had the perfect life and hadn’t done anything wrong. Why should he get in trouble for defending himself against a bully? When the driver came to Justin’s stop, he insisted I get off with him. The driver didn’t say a word when really I shouldn’t have been allowed off without a note.
“Justin tried to sneak me up in to the bathroom, but Harlan caught us. He took one look then took us behind the barn to get the story. Justin explained, while I dug a hole in the ground with the toe of my shoe. I fully expected to be ran off their property, but Harlan gave us a boxing lesson right then and there. He swore us to secrecy. Sandy came out to call them for dinner and found all three of us with our fists up, pretending to fight. She acted like she didn’t notice we were breaking her no fighting rule and took us in to clean up.” He ran an absentminded hand over the length of her hair.
“I can’t imagine the worry she must have felt when she saw you both so battered. I’d have been spitting mad.” The vision of two little boys with bruised faces haunted her.
“She had to have been as well. That’s the only reason she would have allowed the lesson. After dinner, Harlan gave me a ride home. He insisted on walking me to the door. When he knocked, no one answered. I tried to tell him it was fine, how I stayed by myself all the time. He refused to leave me. I knew what’d he’d find when he opened the door, and I tried my damndest to get him to go back home. He caught onto my panic and opened the door. He took one look, grabbed my hand and took me back to their place without a word.
“I knew without looking what he probably saw. Most likely my mom was passed out on the couch with a bottle of whatever cheap alcohol she could afford that day still in her hand. From that point on, I spent most of my days and nights at the Walkers. I know at one point they tried to get her to seek treatment, but she refused. About two years later, my mother died of liver failure. Harlan had his a
ttorney draw up papers, and I don’t know what kind of magic they worked, but they claimed me as their own.” He turned her into him and kissed the top of her head.
“I’ve always known they were good people, but they are really good people.” It was the right thing, something her father would have done.
“I owe them everything I am.” He released her and walked to the edge of her market space and stared out into the distance. This time his eyes appeared alert as he scanned the area from one corner to the other. “So, yeah. Justin and I became inseparable, but it wasn’t just because of my circumstances. We clicked. We were both outcasts of different breeds and it was a relief to be able to just be who and what we wanted to be with each other without judgment.”
She set up her chalkboard and wrote out the day’s inventory and prices. To fill the empty space where her fresh berries should have been, she drew a few berries and flowers. “You both needed that freedom, that connection in your lives.”
“I guess. He always wanted to be a soldier. When Sandy got a little panicky over the idea, he settled for the National Guard to pacify her. The idea was he could eventually help run the business side of Walker Stables while I helped Harlan with the horse side. I went simply because Justin had joined, and I had nothing better to do. Being a stubborn teenager, I refused to let them put me through college, so I told them I didn’t want to go to school.
“I came from nothing. I should have been the one to die. Never Justin. Never Harlan and Sandy’s son. He was loved. He had everything in the world going for him. That bitch Lindsey couldn’t see past her own little selfish bubble and, with one move, she shattered my family. Less than three months later, she married another man—much older and with more money. Gossip says she’s on the hunt for, not her second or third, but her fourth rich husband. According to Rick, this time she wants one with both money and life left in him. For some reason, she’s set her sights on me.”
Her heart broke in two ragged pieces, but she didn’t think he’d appreciate the knowledge, so she settled for a simple fix. She stood on tiptoe and kissed him. “Well, that’s too damn bad for her. She can’t have you.”
Protecting Kate: Dark Horse, Inc: Book 1 Page 15
