Cowboy Rush (Dalton Boys Book 5) (10 page)

He stepped up to her and knocked it back off. The felt hat tumbled to the floor around her dusty boots. “How many cowboys have you fallen into horse stalls with?”

Her eyes glittered green. “Enough to know I’m stupid to have let things between us escalate, Kade Dalton.”

“If you use both of my names again, I’m going to teach you a lesson.”

She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Look, let’s just forget this happened. I’m your hand, and I’ll try like hell not to get in your way. You stay out of mine. Deal?”

“No deal.” He curled his fingers around her wrist. The bones were fine but the tendons surrounding them strong. Everything about her was a contradiction. She could whip up oat bars for the horses, bounce a baby on her knee and shoe a horse in the same hour.

She tried to pull away. “Please let me go.”

“Not until we discuss this.”

“There is no this. It didn’t happen.”

He ducked his head to look into her eyes. “Is that what you wanna say?”

“Who’s asking? Surely you won’t tell anyone.”

“Of course not. I don’t kiss and tell. But it did happen, sweetheart. You were soaking wet for me, wild for my kisses and you came on my fingers.”

Her eyes rolled back in her head and she groaned. “Stop.”

“Not a chance. Now I’m sure you want to think I don’t want you because I put on the brakes. It isn’t the case. I want you—bad.” He moved her hand down to his crotch. As soon as her hand brushed his erection, he nearly lost it. His balls throbbed and his shaft seemed to swell bigger than ever.

A quiet breath left her.

“I want you, Ryan. But I won’t go further. Not yet.”

“Not yet?” Her voice was small.

“Not until I know where we stand. Hell, I don’t even think you like me.”

“I don’t,” she responded at once.
Little liar.
He bit back a grin.

“I picked up a hand at the airport thinking he was going to change how we worked on this ranch,” he said.

“And?” she challenged, the hand he wasn’t gripping settling on her curvaceous hip.

“And you’ve changed things, all right.”

“You don’t even like the way I do things around here.”

“I like you plenty, sweetheart. You just need a little taming.”

At that, she jerked free, crossed the barn and put a horse between them. He rubbed his hand over his face and regretted it as her scents struck him again. Stomping around the animal, he grabbed Ryan. Picking her up, he went back to the stall where he’d lost his mind for the first time that day.

“What are you doing?” She kicked but it was more for show. This time he did grin.

“We’re not coming out of this stall until we’ve talked this through.”

“Or killed each other.”

“You’re already killing me, sweetheart.” With that, he dragged her into the hay, cradled the back of her head and forced it onto his shoulder.

She promptly bit him.

* * * * *

After she sank her teeth into his arm, she felt Kade’s chest vibrate. Then a growl burst from him and he rolled atop her, pinning her to the hay. With his weight braced on his elbows, he stared down into her eyes.

Damn him and his crooked smile. And that expression on his rugged features would make her leave the ranch in the end. She couldn’t work alongside him day in and day out in wet panties with her nipples about to tear through her shirt.

“Let me up,” she squeaked as if his weight were crushing her.

“What are you so afraid of, Greenhorn?” His warm breath passed inches from her lips. This time his nickname was a dark caress.

She placed her hands on his chest to shove him off. “I’m afraid of your pa walking in and seeing us tangled up like this.”

“My pa’s been around the block with us boys. He knows to stay out of it.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to lose face. Kade, please.”

His features shivered into a new look. Between getting off the plane and now, she’d witnessed hundreds of emotions cross his face. When had she made it her mission to understand them?

“Ryan,” he murmured. And said it again, as if tasting the word even as he lowered his head. “Ryan. Sweetheart.”

The brush of his lips was gentle yet scorching. Passion flowed. He forked his fingers into her hair and she tugged the too-long locks on his nape. Once the tip of his tongue touched hers, she broke the kiss.

“We can’t do this anymore, Kade.”

“What are you afraid of?” he asked a second time.

“What’re you?” she shot back. “Are you afraid of not having that piece of land and the wife to put on it? Yeah, your brothers told me.”

He gazed into her eyes. Very quietly, he said, “I’m afraid of not having a good woman beside me at the dinner table. Of never curling up beside her at night and making plans for tomorrow and dreaming of forever.”

Her heart turned over. That was as far from land greed as a man could get. She traced a path down his chiseled jaw, scraping the five o’clock shadow there. Her nipples ached and white-hot need speared her.

“Your turn. Tell me what you’re afraid of. Besides storms.” The creases around his eyes when he smiled were far too appealing for her sanity.

“I’m afraid of…”
Never having a real family again.
She felt adrift. In a few short weeks the Daltons had given her back a sense of belonging—though Kade was still a pain in the ass.

“Afraid of?” He arched a straight, dark brow at her, sending brand new shivers between her legs.

“Nothing.” She pushed against his chest, levering him away enough for her to roll out from under him. She jumped to her feet, found her hat and hurried from the barn. He didn’t call after her or even follow. He had to know this attraction they shared was dynamite in a hay field. Everything around them would combust if they lit the first match.

Halfway across the field she stopped. Crap, she’d left her horse in the barn with Kade. Oh well, he’d bring it home. She had to put some distance between them.

It took her a few minutes to walk to Hank’s house, but her emotions were still roiling. Hank Jr. answered the door with a shy smile and Charlotte appeared behind him with a little one in her arms. “Ryan,” she said with surprise.

“Hi. I’m here to ask a favor.”

Charlotte looked behind her. For Kade? “Sure. Come in.”

“If it’s okay with you, I’ll pass. I’d like to borrow your car.”

Charlotte’s eyes widened further. “Why, of course. Is everything all right?”

“Yes. I just thought I’d go into Vixen and get a few things. There’s a general store there?” She had no interest in the general store or Vixen—but she needed to get off the ranch for a while.

Away from Kade Dalton.

The candle of desire for him still wasn’t doused. It flared bright and hot at the mere thought of the man. His touch still lived on her skin.

She shook herself and focused on what Charlotte was saying—Vixen was an hour that direction.

“Thanks, Charlotte. I appreciate it. Is there anything I can get for you while I’m there?”

The woman patted the baby’s bottom and reached for something on the wall inside the house. She revealed a set of keys, which she placed in Ryan’s hand with a smile. “No, we’ve got all we need.”

“I promise to fill your car with gas.”

“And bring me a treat from Aunt Shelby’s shop,” piped up Hank Jr.

Charlotte and Ryan shared a laugh and Ryan squatted before the boy. She’d heard talk at the supper table about Witt’s wife, Shelby’s candy shop. “If your momma says it’s all right, I’ll bring you a treat. What’s your favorite?”

“The cookie shaped like a bear.” His bright blue eyes melted her right down to the toes of her boots. Suddenly her biological clock switched on and started ticking—loudly.

Patting him on his sturdy little arm, she stood. “Is that okay with you, Charlotte?”

“Yes, it would be sweet of you.”

“The least I can do.” She tossed the keys up in the air, did a fancy twirl and caught them. “Thanks again. Oh, and is there cell service in town?”

“Sure is. It takes some getting used to, being isolated this way. But I think you’ll like the way of life in time. I know I do.” The baby released a drool geyser down Charlotte’s arm. Then she was waving and turning to go back inside. Hank Jr. gave Ryan a nod of his head that mimicked those all the Dalton boys used.

Kade included.

Ryan got into the car and headed down the long drive to the main highway. After a couple miles she relaxed and drew a deep breath of fresh country air. After a couple hours in the quiet of a barn, she’d totally switched from seeing the ranch as a place to work and prove herself to only seeing a way of life she loved, a family in her future…and Kade.

She hadn’t even known him that long. It must be some Dalton boy spell he’d cast. Blue eyes, dark hair, masculine beyond belief. And the release he’d given her with his talented fingers.

Her body still tingled from his nearness.

Rolling down the window, she gathered more air into her lungs. The warmth in his gaze when he’d confessed his fear had burned a hole in her soul. She was utterly defenseless against that look.

She loved the ranch and wanted to stay, but that would mean not working together. She couldn’t trust herself not to want to run her hands down his broad chest or taste his lips. And he’d proven he couldn’t keep his hands off her either. Now lit, they either fed the fire or stomped it out.

The sky hung with heavy storm clouds. They weren’t anything compared to those in her soul. By the time she got to Vixen, she was more keyed up than when she’d left the barn.

Main Street ran the short length of the town with a few side roads branching off. A single blinker light controlled traffic at an intersection. First she filled Charlotte’s gas tank then found the general store. It wasn’t far from the feed and seed, Kade’s earlier destination.

Ryan generated a little more attention than she would have liked inside the general store. It seemed to be a meeting place for some of the older gentlemen. They sat around drinking coffee and talking. One asked where she was from, and she said, “Up north.”

She browsed the aisles, which held everything from Hamburger Helper to hand tools and odd tractor parts. As she picked up a part to look at the handwritten label, a big man came into the aisle with her.

“You finding everything okay, li’l lady?”

“I’m good.”

“You surrrre are.”

Ugh, she’d been waiting for this—the first man to eye her body won a ticket to
Shut the Hell Up
theme park. There, he could have his choice of a boot in the mouth or a punch in the family stones.

She held up the item in her hand. “I’ve got an old International 2444. It’s got a leak around the stem, it’s very hard to turn and I had to use channel locks and a rag to budge it. Do you suggest I take out the bolt and see what the packing looks like?”

The man blinked and his jaw hung open. Satisfaction stole through Ryan.

“That’s what I thought. Thanks anyway.” She put the part back on the shelf, paid for a pack of gum and left the store.

She looked up and down the street. Settled between a craft store and a barber shop was The Sweet Tooth. The sign boasted curlicues and lots of pink. Ryan smiled. It looked like a child’s dream place. No wonder Hank Jr. thought so highly of it.

Before going inside, though, Ryan pulled out her cell.
Might as well get it over with.
Stabbing a button, she waited for her mother to answer.

Two rings…three.

“Mom,” she said when she picked up.

“Ryan! So nice to hear from you!” Why was she gushing? This wasn’t her usual way of greeting Ryan.

“Do you have company, Mom?”

“Why, yes, sugar bug, I do. I’ve told you about my bridge group.”

“You have the whole group there?”

“Yes, and Sal brought sangria! You’d love it, dear. Now what are you calling about today?” A whispering followed, and Ryan could practically see her mother shielding the phone with her hand and hissing things to her friends about her.

“I wanted you to know I’m settled on the Paradise Valley Ranch. There’s no service there, but they have a landline if you need me for anything. Do you have a pen?”

“Can I get the number from you later? It’s my play.”

Ryan shouldn’t be hurt by her mother’s distraction and uncaring ways, but she was. Again. That drifting feeling came over her once more. She was truly homeless, a mere worker.

Who happened to have my boss’s fingers in my panties.

She sighed. “Okay, Mom. That’s fine. I’ll talk to you as soon as I can. Enjoy your bridge!” she ended with the same falsetto trill her mother had used moments ago. “Ugh.” She pocketed her phone and strolled up the street until she reached a school. Since it was summer, no kids played in the yard and everything was buttoned up tight.

She stared at a swing and wondered if Kade had ever sat there as a boy. It wasn’t difficult to imagine him as a child—he’d look a lot like Hank Jr. Any offspring he had would too.