Hard Ridin' (15 page)

Eyeing Jens, she racked her brain for some way to bring Holden into the conversation without hurting him or arousing suspicion. “Will you need help with the fence repair?”

“Nah. Just needs a few stakes driven into the ground and the wire replaced. An hour’s work at most, but an hour I needed in the fields.”

“Holden’s out there now.”

He looked at her hard. “I know. What’s going on?”

“What do you mean?” Her voice was raspy.

“Your voice is different, and I can see by your expression that something happened.”

Yeah, I’ve completely lost my heart to two men, and the only way I can have you both is to join us all.

The thought was a spear to her belly. Before this morning, the idea hadn’t been as much as a tiny needle in her mind. Everything was black and white then. But the moment Holden had groaned upon tasting her this morning, the lines were blurred to gray.

She held Jens’s gaze for a beat. What would he do if she came out and told him the truth?

“It’s nothing. Except this cow smells.” She wrinkled her nose.

Jens gave a crooked smile and let the topic go. With quick movements, he bandaged the cow’s leg with gauze and tied it off above the wound. “That should hold if we force Annie to rest. We’ll keep her here in the barn until it heals.”

At that moment, the beast gave a guttural moo. Still not completely accustomed to being around the animals, Laurel jumped. Laughing, Jens wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

“Come on, darlin’. As much as I’d love to stay here in this barn all day, we both know it’s Holden who has rights to you.”

Jens stood and drew her up with him. Laurel stared at his profile and analyzed his voice, searching for jealousy or anger. She saw nothing but Jens’s regular good-natured expression and sparkling eyes.

“Holden will be finishing up in half hour or so. Then he’ll be down in the shed, sorting the seed shipment. Tomorrow we’ll start planting your field.”

Sucking in a harsh breath, she threw her arms around Jens and kissed him soundly on the mouth. She probably still tasted of Holden’s body, and Jens didn’t seem to mind any more than Holden had.

When he released her, he swatted her backside. The sharp sting made her cry out, but tingles chased through her nerve endings and settled low in her belly.

“I’ve gotta get movin’ on that fence if I’m going to finish the chores before sundown.” Jens waggled his brows in an insinuative way.

She pinched the brim of his hat and tipped it up so she could see his eyes better. Staring into the blue depths, she tried to let him see all the love and want she had for him. As much as she possessed for Holden. What the hell was she going to do?

She reached behind Jens and squeezed his hard buttocks. “Get to work, farmer. I have a bed I need help warming tonight.”

Leaning close, he captured her lips with a groan. All too quickly, he ended the kiss and was off, striding out of the barn, leaving her to watch his chiseled body, and left alone with the cow.

“What do you think, Annie? You’re a girl. Is it a mistake to love two men?”

The animal dropped its head to the food trough and mouthed some hay there.

Laurel patted its flank and moved out of the stall. She latched the door behind her and headed toward the driveway. As she walked down the gravel lane, she drew in deep breaths of the fresh, spring air. She’d been on the land long enough to be able to detect the smell of rain. Though the sky was a faint blue, a breeze was picking up, and that meant they might have a shower later. She had no idea what would happen if it poured tomorrow—on the day they were meant to plant her fields. Would Holden and Jens abandon their work?

A sizzling thought rooted in her brain, the tendrils wildly out of control. She pictured the three of them, curled up in the big house together, warm and toasty—and without a stitch of clothing between them.

A small shiver worked through her, and she wrapped her arms around her middle, trying to hold in that warmth. Being in both men’s arms, having four eyes on her, four hands…and two cocks to play with.

“Shit, I’ve got it bad,” she muttered as she reached a small knoll in the driveway. From here, she had a good view of the top field, where Holden was driving the tractor. This tractor was even bigger than the one he’d lost control of, with a cab to keep him dry.

Little chance she’d get her rainy day inside with Holden and Jens tomorrow.

Sighing, she pivoted and stared in the opposite direction. Jens had taken the ATV. The low whine of the engine reached her, reminding her of the day she’d arrived on the main farm, and Jens had suggested they share her.

A cat streaked out of the weeds on the side of the driveway, and Laurel crouched, flicking her fingers at it. The fluff-ball moved closer tentatively. All the barn cats were pretty unfriendly, but this particular white and black one had allowed Laurel to pet it a couple of times.

It crept close enough for Laurel to skim its back with her fingertips. Once it felt her caress, it leaned into her hand, greedy for more.

She laughed softly. “Do you have an answer for me, cat? I want both of them.”

Saying it aloud gave her a shock. She straightened up and glanced around, as if someone was nearby to overhear.

I’m losing my mind. Talking to animals and thinking about getting all of us in bed.

But as she walked back to the house, her pulse drummed and her pussy grew wetter. Holden’s expression when he tasted her and Jens’s juices loomed in her mind, and the pressure mounted.

She needed something to take her thoughts off this bizarre course. She had to find something to scrub, cook or shovel before she went mad with want.

In the house, she picked up after the men a little and swept clumps of mud from the floor in the entryway. They rarely shed their boots when they came inside. It was easier to grab a drink and sandwich and run back out.

She did a quick load of dishes and scoured the refrigerator for something to drink, but could only find a couple beers. So she filled the teapot with water and set it to boil. Then she dropped a few tea bags into the bottom of a pitcher. While waiting for the teapot to whistle, she leafed through a catalog on organic farming.

Holden must have bought it, because she’d never seen this publication before. That he’d invested in her venture so wholeheartedly warmed her. Before he’d returned home from Alaska, she’d been so hurt, she’d never imagined herself forgiving him. Yet, it had been easy—like sinking into a bath after a hard day in the fields.

As she made a batch of sweet tea, she couldn’t help but feel a weight of loneliness. Maybe she was getting greedier than she thought—she didn’t just want sex all the time, but she needed Holden and Jens around to keep her company.

Get a life, Laurel.

She went back out to the barn to check on Annie. Besides, there might be work to keep her occupied until the guys came in.

Stepping into the barn, the shadows engulfed her. She squinted, trying to make her eyes adjust to the dim light streaking through the upper windows and vents. The musty scent of hay and animals gathered in her head.

She passed the small pen where the calves were kept and held her hand out for them to nose. Then she found the stall where Annie stood. Peering over the door, Laurel noted that the cow seemed to be doing well. She bore her weight on the injured leg, and the gauze binding was still intact.

In the far stall near the wall, a horse whinnied. She had little experience with the horses, but Holden had brought her out here a few days earlier and told her all the animals’ names. While he’d talked, he’d tipped grain and hay into their feed troughs.

The big old farm horse named Rufus gave a couple loud stamps on the floor. Laurel looked over the door at him. “What’s wrong, sir? You unhappy about something?”

She held her hand out flat for the horse, and when it neared, she patted its long nose. A white star stood out on its chocolate hide. “You’re a pretty one. Does Holden ride you? Or Jens?”

Again, it gave a neigh, tail swishing and hooves stamping. Along the wall, its food trough stood empty.

“Oh, I see.” She grabbed the silver handle of the big grain scoop and filled it with the pellets she’d seen Holden feed Rufus. Holding the heavy scoop level, so as not to spill any grains, she caught the stall latch and opened the door.

The horse crowded to the side when she dumped the contents into his trough. A loud stomp reverberated through the wood of the stall, and then she felt herself shoved. Flying forward. Holden’s scent dizzied her as she struggled to figure out what had just happened. She landed with a thud on her ass.

“Holy hell, woman!” His clipped words made her heart squeeze. She looked up at his form framed in the stall entrance like an avenging angel. Hands on his hips and fury on his face. “That stallion is seventeen hands high and weighs about sixteen hundred pounds. He would have crushed you against that stall!”

She blinked. Dust motes swirled in the sunlight between them. Finally, Holden reached down and grasped her hand.

“Are you all right? Didn’t you see Rufus shifting?”

The gravity of what might have happened slammed her, and she wasn’t able to gather her wobbly legs beneath her.

“Jesus, Laurel. You’re not okay.” Holden dropped to his knees on the dirty floor boards beside her and pulled her tenderly into his arms. “Did I hurt you when I knocked you out of the way?”

He wound his strong arms around her and tucked her close. Her hair caught on the stubble on his chin. Warm breath washed over her temple.

She could have been killed. Internal injuries, at the very least. The shock wore off, and she started to shake.

“It’s all right, baby.” Holden stroked her hair. “You shouldn’t go into the stalls with the horses unless you’re trained to handle them.”

She clung to his shoulders and realized a small tremor lived beneath his skin, as if he was twitching all over. “I was stupid. I’m sorry.”

“No, darlin’, it’s me that’s sorry. I should have warned you. Thank God I was here before anything bad happened.”

The wind caught Jens’s hat brim and threatened to tear it from his head. Rain streaked slantways, raising a sting on his face, throat and forearms. He hoisted the sledgehammer and tapped the fence post one last time.

He’d expected to get this fence fixed up before the sky let loose, but no such luck. Where was Laurel?

Maybe curled up in the house with a cup of coffee and Holden at her side? Holden had always hated the rain and was the first one inside when the drops began to fall. Of course, this was planting season, and they needed the seeds in the ground when the rains came. Otherwise, they’d be in the red for the year.

Jens slung the sledgehammer over his shoulder and picked up the coil of barbed wire with one gloved hand. His biceps burned from the weight of the spool, but he managed to get both items into the back of his truck just as the first clap of thunder rolled across the land.

“Shit, I’m in for a soaking.” He ran around to the driver’s side. A torrent of huge rain drops lashed at him. His T-shirt was drenched in seconds. After hopping into the truck, he sat there for a minute. Water slicked off his face and he found himself grinning at the exhilaration of it.

Tomorrow, they’d plant Laurel’s crops and if the rain held, they’d have green fields in weeks. With these temperatures, it didn’t take long for the seeds to sprout.

Above all, he wanted to give her a good crop yield. While it mattered to the Rope Burn Ranch that his and Holden’s fields produced, Jens was terrified that Laurel would leave if she wasn’t able to earn a living with her organic farm.

The land can produce. We just need the weather to hold.

If he’d been a praying man, he might have asked for a light rain every day, the needle to stay around seventy-five on the thermometer and no violent weather.

He started his engine and swiped the moisture off his face then turned the truck down the hill toward the house. As he trundled slowly along the dirt road, it was impossible not to envision what Laurel and Holden might be doing. When Jens had kissed her this morning, he’d tasted the faint trace of Holden.

While it hadn’t turned him off, Jens had felt that knife twist in his gut. She might be in his bed at night, but Holden had the waking hours. Which meant they talked more. And probably did more than make love and sleep.

Damn, Jens needed a guide to relationships or an episode of
Dr. Phil
. Didn’t women crave the intimacy of talking? They wanted to hash out their emotions and discuss the future, right?

“Shit.” Maybe he should have called “tails”.

As he drove along the ridge, he glimpsed the big old tractor in the top field. Holden was at the wheel, his figure faint behind the glass of the enclosed cab. Jens stopped the truck and waited for Holden to swing near the road.

Where was Laurel? Certainly not in that cab with Holden. There was barely room for a second person inside that tiny glass cage. Laurel was small, but only a child could fit in there.

That meant she wasn’t cozying up to Holden, as Jens thought.