Rodeo Queen (22 page)

“Scott, wait,” she cried, her voice husky.

Scott’s tongue touched the center of her being. She had never known that a feeling like this existed. He worshiped her with this tongue and she felt her body cresting before exploding into dazzling points of light. Scott slid onto the bed, curling himself against her side, cupping her breast in his hand and pressing kisses to her shoulder. Sydney’s body hummed with pleasure.

“Scott?” she whispered. Sydney rolled over so that her body was pressed against his.

Scott smiled as he pressed a kiss to her lips. “Hmm?”

Sydney slid her knee to Scott’s hip, pressing against his chest so that he fell onto his back. “I think it’s my turn,” she whispered against his lips.

Sydney straddled Scott’s hips and met his eyes, blackened with desire. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips, slipping her tongue inside tentatively. She had no idea how to please him, but she wanted desperately to give him even a fraction of the pleasure he had given her. She took his sigh as a sign that she was doing something he enjoyed. She pressed her lips to his neck, moving down to his chest and licking his hardened nipples. Scott growled in his throat and reached for her, intent to pull her against him, but she batted his hands away.

Her fingers trailed lightly against the hard muscles of his abs, every ridge of them standing out in the pale light. Sydney allowed her fingers to venture further, roaming across the muscles of his hips and thighs before remembering how he had touched her. When her gentle fingers touched him, he twitched and gasped for breath. She pressed a kiss to his hip, wondering if she could give him the same sense of pleasure she’d just experienced.

“Sydney, don’t,” he began, but stopped short as her tongue slid along the length of him.

A moan sounded deep in his chest as she pressed a kiss to the tip of him softly before taking him into her warmth. He shook as she teased him with her lips and mouth.

“No more,” he growled and pulled her up against his chest. He lifted her hips and slid her down the shaft of him, burying himself within her. Sydney arched as they both groaned in mutual pleasure. Scott slowly lifted her hips, teaching her the rhythm when she tried to speed up to keep time with her racing pulse.

“Slow, princess,” Scott purred. “Feel what I’m doing. Feel me inside you.”

She moaned at his erotic words, feeling the pleasure coursing through her body. Sydney felt the waves of rapture pulling her under as Scott reached for her, joining their mouths and tongues as their bodies were joined. Scott thrust into her deeply, quickly, and she cried, surrendering to the crescendo of their passion.

S
YDNEY WOKE TO
the sun shining through the window at the foot of the bed and found black eyes staring down at her. Scott brushed a stray curl from her forehead.

“You’re breathtaking,” he whispered as be bent his head to steal a kiss.

Sydney smiled and stretched, wondering when they had found their way under the covers last night, as she raised her arms from under the sheets and over her head. Scott cupped her breast and she squealed in protest, reaching for his hands.

“Don’t we have to get going?”

Scott pressed a kiss at the pulse beating rapidly at the base of her throat, brushing her hands away. “No one is expecting us until this evening. I just have to collect a final payment this morning at the rodeo office,” he murmured, his lips teasing the flesh of her neck and ear. He rolled onto his back, carrying her with him onto his chest as she pretended to consider the implications of his words.

“What shall we do until then?”

He growled low in his throat. “I know what I’m going to do.” His fingers tickled her ribs as he ran them down her side to her hip and then lower. She sighed and threw her head back, giving herself up to the exquisite sensations surrounding her every fiber.

Chapter Thirteen

L
IZ
F
INDLEY WAS
fuming. The entire rodeo crew—minus Scott and that tramp her father had hired—had returned yesterday, and there was still no sign of the other two yet today. She wasn’t stupid; she knew that Scott had a
thing
for her and that they had probably resolved any issues they’d had, including her roll in Scott’s past.

So much for Plan A, on to Plan B.

Scott still had feelings for her, she was sure of that. Not that she really cared one way or the other, but she knew that she could exploit any tenderness he still had to get what she wanted. And what Liz wanted was to get her hands on the ranch and sell it. She knew there was no way that Daddy would ever sell the ranch as long as the Chandlers were still working rodeos. She knew that he still thought of them as his own kids, and it infuriated her.

She’d had to share her father with them as kids, and while she admired her father for taking on his friend’s kids, she hated the connection that all three of them had with her Daddy. When he’d called her last winter to tell her about his stroke, he’d sworn her to secrecy. It was the first time since her mother had died that he’d ever shared something that was just between the two of them. She realized then how frail he’d become, and she was determined to make sure that he was able to take it easy. And none of the Chandlers were going to get in the way of her selling off the ranch and helping Daddy live a life he deserved—one without the Chandlers, where she could take care of him.

If she could just get him away from this miserable ranch and rodeos like the doctor had recommended, she would know that her efforts to impress him to prove that she was more worthy of his love than Scott were worth the sacrifices she would have to make. It had ripped her heart out when her father had taken Scott’s side after their breakup. He hadn’t even given her a chance to explain—not that she would have told him the truth—before encouraging her to leave the ranch. It was Scott’s fault that she’d never had all of her father’s love, and she was intent on making him pay dearly.

She was going to destroy the one thing he loved most: the ranch. She was going to sell it off piece by piece to investors. She’d already had some incredible offers, and once the ranch was sold, she and Daddy could take the money and get as far away from here as possible—away from this place and the Chandlers—and maybe head to the coast. Let those three fend for themselves and stop relying on her father for everything. But her first goal was getting Scott to fall for her again.

Liz stepped in front of her mirror and surveyed her image. She had realized quickly that Scott’s flavor-of-the-month was going to be an irritation, but she hadn’t expected it to be this difficult. She was proving to be a sneakier adversary than Liz had expected. She wasn’t even sure what Scott saw in her.

Liz ran her hand through the highlighted blonde tresses at her forehead. He had always preferred blondes. In fact, he’d only dated one brunette that she’d heard of, and she’d kept close tabs on Scott over the years. She knew exactly which rodeos he was attending and who he was with at all times. She had enough girlfriends who rode barrels to be able to hear the latest gossip about Scott. From what she’d heard over the years, he was always a hot topic with a new girl every weekend.

She leaned closer toward the mirror, squinting at her reflection. She might have a couple of small wrinkles around the corners of her eyes from being in the sun. She would have to get those taken care of the next time she was near Los Angeles for the circuit finals. She smoothed out the Western shirt she had tucked into her fitted jeans. She was slim and long-legged, but well endowed, which intimidated most girls, but Scott had always preferred her body shape to that of the shorter, curvier girls. What was it that he saw in this girl Daddy had hired?

A pounding at the door interrupted her thoughts. “Who is it?” Liz sighed. She wasn’t in the mood for visiting with anyone, unless it was Scott.

“Liz, let me in.”

Great, she thought irritably. Scott’s little weaselly brother. “What do you want, Derek?”

“I want you to let me in.”

“Fine,” she said. “I’m coming.” She swung the door open, blocking the entrance. “What?” Liz arched a dark brow, hoping to intimidate the younger man.

At his full height, Derek was taller than Scott but not yet as broadly built. Given time and hard work on the ranch, he would fill out as Scott had. But there was a broodiness that surrounded Derek, especially when Scott was around. Liz didn’t know him as well as Scott or Jen did, but she could recognize sibling rivalry; she could see that Derek wanted to move out of Scott’s shadow.

“I want to know what’s going on. Why didn’t Sydney and Scott come back with everyone else?”

Liz rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that they’re together, does it, Boy Wonder?”

Derek put a hand on either side of the doorway, his biceps flexing against his t-shirt, and leaned toward her, narrowing his eyes. There was nothing overly threatening about his pose, yet Liz held her breath as his coffee-colored eyes slid from her face to her waist before meeting her gaze again.

“Guess your plan wasn’t as fool-proof as you thought,” he goaded. “I’ll just handle this on my own.”

Liz ignored his taunts and left him standing at the door. “Nothing is ever fool-proof.” She flashed a vicious smile his way. “Especially where you are concerned.”

Derek narrowed his eyes and walked through the door, shutting it behind him and advancing on her. Liz refused to cower. It wouldn’t be the first time a man had hit her, but if Derek tried he’d be sorry.

“We had a deal. You take care of breaking them up and I make sure to keep them apart.”

“Just how do you propose that I do that when they are at a rodeo? It would be different if he were here.”

Derek shrugged his massive shoulders. “I highly doubt that you’re above using that body of yours to get what you want. Use that, make him jealous. Do something or I will.”

“Jealous,” Liz murmured as she looked at her reflection again. “I can do that.” She spun to face Derek. “Any idea where I might find Kurt Willits? He might be just what we need around here to drive a wedge between those lovebirds.”

Liz knew that while Derek had never interfered with her relationship with Scott while they were dating, he was young enough to still idolize his older brother and old enough to know what had transpired between her and Kurt.

“Let me see if I can find his number.”

S
YDNEY COULD FEEL
Scott’s eyes on her as she stared out the window, pretending to be engrossed in the scenery whizzing past her. She’d been silent for most of the ride home, and Scott didn’t seem inclined to make conversation. She wasn’t sure what to say now that they were headed back to the ranch. The past weekend had woven a magical spell around them, and the thought of returning to the ranch with the trials she suspected were waiting for them there would only serve to sever the ties they had created.

Sydney knew that things would change as soon as they arrived at the ranch. There would be no privacy and too many eyes to witness any exchange between them. And she still wasn’t certain where she stood with Scott. He’d admitted to having feelings for her, but he’d never said where he thought those feelings were leading, if anywhere at all.

She jumped as Scott’s hand found hers on the seat. She felt the now-familiar rush of desire flood her chest and inhaled the scent of musk and leather that was his alone. She pasted a smile on her face before looking over at him, hoping that he wouldn’t look too closely and see the worry in her eyes.

“You okay, Sydney?” His voice was husky, and it reminded her of how it had sounded last night when they made love.

“Fine,” she answered quickly.

“Then why do you look worried?”

She couldn’t help the sadness that crept into her voice or the half smile that she mustered. “What would I have to be worried about?”

“Us,” Scott answered matter-of-factly.

Sydney met his dark gaze and read nothing but honesty in his eyes. She knew that her own eyes were giving him the only answer he needed and there was nothing she could do to hide the truth from him. Scott eased the truck to the shoulder of the deserted highway and turned it off. He turned and faced her on the seat.

“Nothing is going to change what we shared this weekend.” Sydney sighed and looked at their clasped hands. Scott tipped her chin up with his free hand. “Nothing.”

She gave him a faint smile and nodded. “Nothing,” she repeated, trying to convince herself but falling short.

“Okay,” Scott said as he reached for his cell phone, which was plugged into the dash of the truck. “You’ll see.”

“Who are you calling?”

“Mike. I’m going to have him saddle the horses and have them ready for us when we get there.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see.”

L
IZ RUSHED OUT
of the ranch house and into the waiting arms of the blond Adonis on her porch. Passionately pressing their lips together, he held her tightly. When she finally separated from him, out of breath, she stroked his cheek with her thumb, her fingers running over the long scar that marred his cheek from his eye to his jaw. Liz loved the dangerous appeal it gave him.

“I knew I could count on you, Kurt.”

“Yeah, that’s me,” he drawled. “Reliable Kurt.”

Liz gave him a husky laugh meant to draw him in. “Let’s not push it.”

“Okay, sweetheart. This reunion is great, but you didn’t call me here to rekindle old flames.”

Liz thought about trying to string him along. He would be a fun distraction while he was in town, but he couldn’t give her what she wanted: the ranch and Scott’s demise in her father’s heart. “Same old Kurt, right to the point.”

Kurt jerked her roughly to his chest, towering over her and grasping a handful of hair, forcing her to look up at him. “I’m happy to
rekindle
things with you, but I don’t think you would have chanced a meeting between me and your lover boy for that.”

Liz knew it was hazardous to rile Kurt. His temper had always been unpredictable. “You always could see right through me, couldn’t you?”

Kurt released her instantly and she almost lost her balance. “We’re two of a kind, you and me. We always have been.”