by Kat Martin
But aside from the money, Marty had been a friend, and Sam knew the man believed sending Libby to work on the ranch was the right thing to do.
“Time for marshmallows!” Jordy hollered, racing back to the fire.
Caleb and little Suzy followed, Caleb passing around the marshmallow-roasting sticks they had made.
Sam headed for the camp kitchen set up beneath a canvas awning, took out a couple bags of marshmallows, and returned to the fire. Everyone loaded their sticks with the puffy white balls and stuck them into the flames.
Sam’s gaze went in search of Libby. She’d been quiet all evening, and though every lustful part of him wanted a repeat of what had happened in her bedroom last night, Sam had forced himself to stay away from her. Even so, he found himself watching her, wanting to make sure she was okay.
Feeling a tug on his belt, he glanced down to see little Suzy looking up at him, blond ponytail drooping to one side of her head.
“My mars-mallow keeps falling off.” Suzy handed him her stick. “Can you fix it?”
Sam smiled. “Sure.” He grabbed the stick and a couple of marshmallows and slid them on just right. He walked her over to her mom. “Hold it right here, but don’t get too close to the fire, okay?”
Suzy bobbed her head, ponytail swinging precariously up and down. Jenny gave him a grateful smile. Unconsciously, Sam’s gaze went in search of Libby again. She was standing a few feet away, leaning over the fire to help Jordy.
Sam saw the flames racing up her pant leg at the same instant she screamed.
“Libby!” He hit her like a linebacker tackling the quarterback, taking the brunt of the impact as both of them went down. Sam rolled her beneath him, back and forth, back and forth, till the flames running up the side of her jeans were out.
Her eyes were huge and frightened as he jerked out his knife, flipped open the blade, and sliced open her pantleg. Her calf was red but not badly burned, and Sam felt a sweep of relief.
“I-I’m okay,” Libby said, her voice wobbly. “I’m okay.”
Sam pulled her to her feet and straight into his arms. She was shaking, but so was he. He didn’t let go, couldn’t force himself to let her go.
“I-I’m okay,” she said again, holding him tight, her face pressed into his chest until the trembling in her body began to ease.
Sam took a slow, deep breath and turned to see they were surrounded by everyone in the camp.
“She’s all right,” he said. “She’s going to be okay. I’ll put some aloe on the burn, and she’ll be fine.” But instead of going after the medicine, he swept her up in his arms and carried her into his tent. The flap fell closed behind him as he set her on one of the cots and grabbed the medical kit, took out a bottle of the clear, gooey cactus salve that was the best burn healer he knew.
Sam looked at her pretty face and those incredible blue eyes, and anger swept in to hide how frightened he had been.
“What the hell did you think you were you doing? Surely you know enough to stand back from a blazing fire!”
Libby stiffened and tried to stand up, but Sam shoved her back down.
“Sit still. You aren’t going anywhere until I take care of that leg.”
“Give me the bottle, and I’ll do it myself.” She held out a hand Sam ignored.
He took a tortured breath and slowly released it. “Look, you scared me, okay? You could have been burned very badly.” Crouching beside the cot, he gently smeared on the cooling medicine, then turned her ankle to make sure the red streak running up her calf was completely covered with the gel. “I don’t think it’s going to blister.”
“I was trying to help Jordy,” Libby said. “I didn’t realize we were standing so close. I’m sorry.”
Sam reached up and framed her face in his hands. He looked into those beautiful blue eyes, leaned over and very softly kissed her. “I should have been paying closer attention. I usually do, but...”
Libby leaned in and kissed him. “It’s not your job to babysit me. No matter what you think.”
Sam kissed her one last time, then pushed to his feet. “I need to get back out there. They’re all worried about you.”
Libby stood up from the cot. “Sam...?”
He turned. “Yes?”
“My first day of camp? It wasn’t really so bad. At least not until I set myself on fire.”
Sam laughed with sheer relief. “Good to know.”
He opened the tent flap and held it while Libby walked outside, where even the kids stood silently waiting.
“I’m fine,” Libby said to them. “Sam put some salve on my leg, so it barely hurts. Thanks for worrying about me, but I’m okay. I’m going to take a couple of Advil and go to bed. I’ll see you all in the morning.”
“Goodnight, Libby,” Jenny said, and the others chimed in.
She flicked Sam a last glance, then crossed to the tent she’d been assigned. The crew tents were set a little apart from the others to give the guests a feeling of privacy. As the group dispersed, Sam glanced over to see Libby disappear into her tent.
A shadowy figure stood in the darkness not far away, and unease filtered through him. The man in the shadows was Vince.
* * * *
Libby awoke in the middle of the night. It was pitch dark, so black she couldn’t tell the front of the tent from the back.
Outside, a soft shuffling and occasional sniffing sound moved along the bottom of the tent. Her hands tightened around the sleeping bag. Exhausted, she had forgotten to zip the tent when she’d gone to bed.
The shuffling and sniffing continued, the animal moving toward the open tent flap. Was it a bear? Oh, God, what should she do? If she didn’t sound the alarm, was she putting everyone in danger?
Her heart was pounding so hard she could feel it in her temples. The shuffling was getting closer. Sam would know what to do. She slipped out of her sleeping bag. It was now or never.
Libby bolted through the tent opening and rushed out into the darkness and over to Sam’s tent, which fortunately wasn’t zipped either.
She ducked inside. “Sam...” she whispered, leaning down to shake his shoulder. “Wake up. There’s a bear—”
He was already awake, she realized as he sat up in the dark and swung his long legs to the side of the cot.
“It’s not a bear,” he said quietly as he drew her down beside him. “It’s a raccoon. They won’t hurt you.”
Libby breathed a sigh of relief. “I was afraid it might attack someone.” Her eyes had finally adjusted, and she could see him sitting there, shirtless, in just a pair of boxers. He had a beautiful body, all smooth muscle, just a dusting of gold on his hard, amazing chest. Soft heat curled low in her belly.
“I’ve never seen a raccoon,” she said, forcing her mind back where it belonged. “Except on TV.”
She caught a flash of white as he smiled. “They come looking for food scraps. That’s one of the reasons we keep everything packed up.”
“I guess I screwed up again. I’m sorry I bothered you.”
“You didn’t screw up. You’ve never been camping. When we get back, I’ve got a book you can read on animals in the area. Next time you’ll know what it is, and you won’t be afraid.”
Next time. Something warm blossomed inside her. She wasn’t leaving yet. She would still have time with Sam. The warmth inside her swelled. She wanted to reach out and touch him.
“How’s your leg?” he asked, barely above a whisper, and yet she thought his voice had roughened.
“The aloe worked. I’m okay, but...”
“What?”
“But maybe you should...umm...take a look.” Oh, God, had she really said that? Was she making a fool of herself again?
Sam took her hand and placed it over his heart. It was beating as hard as hers had been when she rushed into his tent.
&
nbsp; “If I touch you, Libby, I won’t want to stop. I’ll want to touch you all over.”
It was dark and quiet, the whole camp dead asleep, the other tents some distance away. Libby ran her hand over the muscles on his chest. “That’s how I feel, Sam. Every time I look at you, I want to touch you.”
A low sound came from his throat. Sam framed her face between his palms, and his mouth came down over hers. It was a soft, sweet, melting kiss that went on and on until she was clinging to his shoulders. Then suddenly it was more.
Desire rose inside her, turning her body hot and damp. She was wearing only a sleep-tee, no panties, no bra. It would be so easy just to... Libby slid her arms around Sam’s neck and pushed him backward on the cot. She started kissing him again, and he groaned.
Sam took it from there, lifting her astride him, pulling the sleep-tee off over her head and taking her breasts into his mouth. A rush of heat hit her, spreading like fire through her body. She could feel his erection pressing against her, big and hard, his callused hands gliding over her skin, moving down to her hips, then sliding between her legs to stroke her.
Sam kissed her again, and the fire inside exploded into white hot flame. It had been years since a man touched her this way, and it had never felt so good. Libby came with a violent, unexpected rush that had him silencing her cry with a deep, penetrating kiss.
Libby rested her head on Sam’s chest, and he held her as she drifted down, held her for what seemed like forever. Then he pressed a kiss on her forehead.
“No condom,” he said, and she realized he was still hard.
“Oh, Sam, I’m—”
“For God’s sake, don’t say you’re sorry.” He traced the outline of her lips. “We’ll make up for it next time.”
Next time. The words he had said before washed over her like a balm.
Sam eased her off him, and she noticed it was getting light outside. Apparently, it was later than she’d thought.
“You better get back to your tent,” he said softly. Then he slid his hands into her hair to hold her in place and kissed her one last time. “I’ll see you at breakfast.”
Libby just nodded. Every bone in her body felt limp and pliant without the stress that she had been feeling ever since her uncle died. A smile hovered on her lips. She had never been so bold with a man. She had always let the guy set the pace and just gone along with it. With Sam, it was different. Everything about Sam felt different.
Hurriedly, she slipped out of his tent and made her way back to her own. The sky continued to lighten. As she lifted the canvas flap, she spotted a hulking shape in the shadows.
Vince stepped out where she could see him and cupped the bulge at the front of his jeans. The faint curl of his lips said he knew what she and Sam had been doing in the tent. In the hazy dawn light, something dark and cold flashed in his eyes.
Fear slid through her, but Libby forced it down. She wasn’t letting Vince Nolan or any other man intimidate her again. Disappearing into the tent, she zipped the flap.
She’d decide what to do about Vince in the morning.
In the meantime, she would have to figure out what to do about Sam.
Chapter Ten
Sam wasn’t a man who spent much time on regrets. If he made a mistake, he left it in the past and moved on with his life. Last night, he had made a huge mistake, but so far he hadn’t figured a way to move past it.
Instead, all he could think of was finishing what he’d started. Or more accurately, what Libby had started. He almost smiled. He wanted Libby in his bed, and not for just one night, but even thinking about it wasn’t fair to Libby. And it wasn’t fair to him.
In a few weeks’ time, Libby would return to the city. With any luck, she would be a better, happier person for the experiences she’d had on the ranch. Libby would go back to the lavish, glamorous life she’d lived in New York, and Sam would stay here on the ranch, the only place he could ever be happy.
There was no chance of a relationship, no future for the two of them.
Hell, how had the word relationship even entered his mind?
He shook his head and concentrated on cooking breakfast, which everyone waited eagerly for Libby to serve. The bacon sizzled in a giant frying pan, and next to it a pan of scrambled eggs turned a perfect fluffy yellow. There was even a batch of biscuits he’d cooked in a Dutch oven over the open flames.
A thought that reminded him of Libby, the fire last night and the terror he had felt. Sam shook it off. Accidents happened. He knew that. Still, it was Libby, and the idea of her being hurt in any way sent a ball of dread into his stomach.
“Everything ready?” Libby asked. She was surrounded by Suzy and Jordy and the rest of the guests, all wearing eager, hungry expressions.
He nodded. “You got the plates?”
“Right here.” Libby handed them over one at a time, Sam filled them, and Libby passed them around. The kids ate first, then everyone else. It took three batches in all, the last for him, Big John, and Libby—though she passed on the bacon.
The weather had been warm and would be even warmer today. As the guests wandered off to explore the area, Sam worked with Libby to clean up the breakfast dishes. Libby had barely looked at him all morning. He tried not to wonder what she was thinking, but it was impossible to do. He had promised her sex would be good between them, but he hadn’t really had a chance to show her. He hoped she at least liked the sample he had given her.
Sam inwardly smiled.
“It’s warming up,” he said as they finished drying the last metal plate and tin coffee mug and put them away. They’d already dealt with the trash, put away the leftover food and hoisted the food box into a tree. No bears in camp last night, but he sure as hell didn’t want to attract them, or more raccoons.
“You going swimming?” he asked.
Libby smiled. “Absolutely.” Was there an impish tilt to those big blue eyes? Because just thinking about Libby in a bathing suit was enough to make him hard. “What about you?” she asked.
“Maybe. I’ve got some chores to take care of first.”
She glanced up at the sky. “It’s eleven o’clock. I think I’ll go change.”
Sam cocked an eyebrow. “Was that just a guess, or can you actually tell time by the sun?”
“I can navigate by the stars, and yes, I can use the sun to tell time. My dad and I made a sundial once when I was a kid.” She glanced away, shadows in her beautiful eyes. “I still remember how it works.”
He knew the memories must be painful. But he deeply believed remembering the past was the only way Libby could move forward toward a happy future. As she walked away, he glanced over to see Big John standing in the shadows. The man was as silent as a cat.
“Your woman...she is different from the others you have known.”
The muscles across Sam’s abdomen contracted. John had a way of knowing things that was almost spooky. “She isn’t my woman. She’ll be leaving in a couple of weeks. And you’re right. She is different.” He tossed the last of the cold coffee he had been nursing all morning and set the tin cup aside. “She belongs in the city. Soon as her time here is over, she’ll be going back to the life she lives in Manhattan.”
John said nothing, just gave him a pitying stare out of eyes as black as onyx. Turning, he walked away.
Forcing thoughts of Libby aside, Sam worked around the camp for a while, then changed into his swimsuit, grabbed a towel, and headed down to the lake. The water was clear enough to see the round multicolored rocks at the bottom. On the camp side, there was a long stretch of sandy beach. Sunlight glistened on waves slapping lightly against the shore.
Sam’s gaze roamed over the guests enjoying the water. One of the camp rules was that one person stayed out of the lake at all times to observe and make sure everyone was safe. At the moment, Caleb sat on a log on a low hill above the beach, a pa
ir of binoculars beside him on the grass. His wife and kids played in the water. Betty and Alice were splashing around and laughing. Kim and Brad were both sunbathing on a flat rock a little way down the shore.
Sam glanced around for Libby, spotted her as she emerged from the lake a few feet away. Water streamed over her perfect breasts, tiny waist, and curvy hips. She was wearing a one-piece white swimsuit cut high on the sides and low in the front and back, tasteful, and yet she was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen.
His mouth went dry while his skin felt hot and tight. Jesus. He’d learned the shape of her body last night, but seeing her half-naked stirred an erection he fought to conquer. He clamped down on his lust but still had to concentrate on something else to bring himself under control.
“You should join us,” Libby said. “The water feels great, once you get used to it.” Her gaze slid over the front of his swimsuit, and her pouty lips edged up. Sam had no doubt she knew exactly the effect she was having on him.
“I think I’ll spell Caleb, let him go swimming with his family.”
Libby propped a hand on her hip, drawing his attention to the sexy curves he had touched last night. “Are you sure I can’t convince you?”
At the moment, there was almost nothing she couldn’t convince him to do. “Maybe later,” he said gruffly, and forced himself to walk toward the hill.
“Why don’t you take a swim?” he said to Caleb. “I’ll take a turn watching for a while.”
“Great. Thanks.” Caleb whipped off his shirt and tossed it on a bush, adjusted his swimsuit, and walked down the hill. He grinned as he waded into the water to join Jenny and the kids.
Sam sat down on the log, his gaze skimming the water for any sign of trouble. This was a job he took seriously and expected the same attitude from everyone else. The only people missing from view were Max and Vince, who had gone fishing on the other side of the lake.
Sam picked up the binoculars and scanned the shoreline, saw the two men reclining on towels spread open on the ground, both of them asleep.