Once inside the dusky interior of the barn, Jeremy took Billy by the hand and pulled her out of sight of the house and into his arms, and kissed her, and Billy kissed him back with a passion she didn't know she had, one that had her parting her lips and entangling her tongue with his, and kissing him hard, until her lips tingled and she had to stop to draw in a breath to fill her lungs and steady her erratic heartbeat. It was what Jeremy did then that had Billy's heart thumping yet harder against her ribs. He held her solidly in his arms, enveloping her completely, with his hand pressing the side of her face to his shoulder, and his cheek against the top of her head, like he was shielding her from harm. It was a clear message, although she didn't know how the message had come across to her, only that she felt like Jeremy was making himself her protector...
If you start having feelings for him you might find yourself one day pouring out your soul…
It was tempting to do exactly that because she knew, in her heart, that Jeremy could be trusted. But trusting him and pouring out her soul would also jeopardize him. For the moment though, she just wanted to soak up what he was offering, which was a solid, warm body wrapped around her. For some reason she couldn't explain, she needed his arms around her more than she needed his kisses, maybe because she had the uncertain feeling that if they developed a romantic relationship they might lose some of what was happening at the moment. It was a confused jumble of emotions she didn't attempt to sort through, but she did know that being held by Jeremy the way he was holding her was all about trust and trusting.
The unspoken communication was broken when Diesel came bounding into the barn, and seeing Jeremy with his arms enclosing Billy, stopped and stood rigid, ears pricked up, teeth bared, low growls rumbling. Billy pressed against Jeremy's chest to move him away from her, and said to Diesel, "It's okay, boy."
Diesel remained standing erect, but his lips settled back over his teeth, and his eyes had shifted to Billy, who moved away from Jeremy and patted Diesel's shoulder. She suspected that her father had sent her a message by releasing Diesel, presumably to break up whatever was going on in the barn when they disappeared inside and didn't come out.
"Offer your hand to Diesel now," she said to Jeremy. "He'll smell me on it and be more accepting of you."
Jeremy eyed Diesel, but not in a challenging way, and offered his hand. Diesel took a step toward Jeremy and placed his nose against his outstretched fingers, and with his nostrils flaring, checked Jeremy's palm and made his way up the length of his arm and down again, then moved from Jeremy's hand and across his hips and tucked his nose into Jeremy's crotch.
"Let him do it," Billy said. "He's greeting you now."
"Okay, he can greet me for a couple more seconds," Jeremy replied, "then he and I will have to come to some kind of understanding."
"You already have," Billy said. "You're one of the pack now."
With that, Diesel raised his muzzle to Jeremy's hand again and licked it, then sat in front of him and looked up.
"Tell him he's a good boy," Billy said.
Jeremy smiled because Diesel was looking up at him like he was expecting it. "Good boy," he said. With that, Diesel raised up on his hind legs, placed his front feet on Jeremy's chest, and dragged his long wet tongue across Jeremy's face.
"Diesel, down!" Billy barked.
His paws still on Jeremy's chest, Diesel looked over at Billy, like she'd taken away his favorite toy, then shoved off from Jeremy and sat in front of him, looking up for approval. "Yeah, you're a good boy," Jeremy said, and patted him on the shoulder.
Walking to the door of the barn, Billy saw her father standing on the porch, looking their way. "I think Bill's wondering what's going on in here," she said. "He was asleep in his chair when we left for Pine Grove so I left a note telling him where I was. He worries some."
"Why would he worry about you going off with me?" Jeremy asked. "Even though he makes himself scarce whenever I'm around, I've been here enough for him to know I'm a safe bet."
"He has his insecurities," Billy said. "So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"Maybe for an hour," Jeremy replied. "I'll be tied up the rest of the week. I have business in Burns that I need to take care of, and stops around the county to make. But before I go, Bill might as well know I'm not coming around just to fix things and buck bulls, and that I'm not going away any time soon." With that, he cupped Billy's chin in his hand, bent down, and kissed her soundly on the lips, then got in his truck and drove off.
Billy glanced across the grounds to where her father was standing on the porch, looking at her. Deciding she could not avoid telling him about her growing relationship with Jeremy, she started toward him and he remained standing on the porch as she approached.
His face grave, he said, "You'd better think this thing through with that man."
"His name is Jeremy Hansen, Dad, and I have been thinking it through. He's the first man I've had any real feelings for, and he has feelings for me too, and he has every intention of sticking around here and I'm not going to send him away."
Ignoring her declaration about her feelings for Jeremy, her father said, "Moretti was here."
"When?" Billy asked.
"Earlier… shortly after you left. He brought ownership papers for the stock. Since your truck was here and you were gone, he wanted to know who you were with."
"And you told him?"
Bill nodded. "I showed him your note."
"Then that's how he knew we'd be at the pub for dinner," Billy said. "He also got the license number off Jeremy's truck, but he won't find anything on him. Jeremy's exactly who he claims to be. The son of a rancher, a rodeo cowboy, and a man who works for the county."
"No, he's a county agent with access to records beyond Harney County, and the wherewithal to dig deeper, and that's what concerns Moretti."
"There's no reason for Jeremy to search records unless it's to learn more about Mario," Billy replied. "His appearance has Jeremy asking questions. He could at least try to look more like the people around here."
"Mario Moretti is who he is," Bill said, "and that won't change."
Billy refrained from telling her father about her plans with Jeremy for Pendleton. She would when it was time to leave, but until then she didn't want him to have information to pass on to Mario if he stopped by again. She knew her father was looking after her best interest, and there was no question that a relationship with Jeremy could result in serious consequences, but her desire to be with him was overriding everything else. Even now she missed him and was anxious for the trip to Pendleton when she'd have him all to herself for two days, away from the watchful eyes of her father and Mario Moretti. But after their short, intimate encounter in the barn, the idea of having him all to herself for the night as well was beginning to take hold.
CHAPTER 9
During the week before the rodeo in Pendleton, Jeremy stopped by Billy's place for a couple of hours each day to strip off the old roofing on the porch and get started on the new, and on one occasion they bucked Wild Card with the electronic dummy. Billy also showed him the ownership papers for the stock, which allowed him to finalize his report on the stolen cattle and eliminate her as a suspect.
The one thing that was more noticeable during his visits was the length and intensity of their kisses on Jeremy's leaving, including her eager response, and when she'd watch him getting into his truck she had to fight the urge to grab his arm and pull him around so she could kiss him one more time. It never seemed enough.
The afternoon before they were to leave for Pendleton, while they were bucking Vortex with the dummy, Josh and Genie drove up. Jeremy had already told Billy that Josh would be stopping by because he wanted to take a closer look at her bucking stock and watch them work with the dummy, but she was surprised, and pleased, to find Genie along.
Josh and Genie walked over to stand outside the arena where, inside the chute, Jeremy was hooking up Wild Card to the dummy, and Billy was standing ready to open the gate.
Seeing what was going on, Josh quickly grabbed his protective vest from his truck and slipped it on, then climbed over the stock panel and dropped inside the arena. "I'm here if you need me," he yelled.
"We don't," Jeremy replied. "Wild Card's a gentleman bull once he's proved he's winner."
Billy glanced at Genie, who appeared relieved. When Josh jumped into the arena she'd looked like she was about to go in after him and drag him away, and Billy understood. It happened to her when Jeremy jumped in front of her when she was in the arena and Vortex challenged her, and although she hadn't said anything to Jeremy at the time, she felt the first spark of awareness of what Genie was going through. She knew the dangers that bull riders and bullfighters faced every time they were in the arena, but she'd never given it much thought, deciding that the men involved were consenting adults who'd made the choice to tempt fate.
But she was, for the first time, troubled with the thought of Jeremy drawing a mean bull at the upcoming rodeo, where many of the rankest bulls in the rodeo circuit would be bucking, bulls that aggressively went after downed riders with one purpose in mind, to run them through.
She set that disturbing thought aside when Jeremy announced, "Wild Card's ready."
Billy opened the gate and Wild Card bailed out of the chute with incredible forward momentum, not waiting for his hind hooves to hit the ground before pushing off with his front hooves for the next buck, and all that before revving up into a tornado of spins, which had Billy hitting the remote, releasing the dummy and flank strap. An amazing two-second buck.
Wild Card immediately stopped bucking, and after making a victory trot around the arena as his sire would have done, which had Billy smiling, he headed for the exit gate, which Billy opened. As always, the other bulls deferred to him because, whereas he was a gentleman bull with riders when they were down, with bulls he let them know he was the rankest badass bull around by lifting his head and letting out a loud bellow, starting it with a low rumble that ended with a drawn-out scream.
Billy looked at Josh, who was also smiling, and said, "He does that every time he goes into the bull pen. His way of announcing to the other bulls that he'll take them on if they cross him, and to the cows out back that he's there for their pleasure if they can figure out a way to get to him."
Josh laughed and said, while eyeing Wild Card, "He sure looks like a bull named Little Yellow Jacket."
"I've been told that before," Billy replied. "It's his crooked horns."
"He's built the same too," Josh said. "Who's his sire?"
"A bull named Joker's Wild," Billy replied, hoping Josh hadn't caught the uncertainty in her tone, but no matter how long or how often she role-played, she simply was not a good liar. She braced herself for the follow-up questions she knew were coming.
"Who was his breeder?" Josh asked.
"A man in South Dakota," Billy replied. "He was a small breeder who was selling off his stock. Wild Card had been injured and hadn't yet proved himself as a bucker, so I got him cheap because the man thought he was only good for breeding. After nursing him for a year, he seemed sound enough to buck, and it turns out he's a pretty rank bull."
"There's no question about that," Josh said. "I'm anxious to see how he does in Pendleton."
Billy looked at Jeremy, who said, as he walked toward her, "I'm anxious too, especially if I draw him." He placed his arm around Billy, kissed her lightly in front of Josh and Genie, and said to them, "We have a problem though. If Wild Card and his mistress here win, it means I was dumped on my butt in the dirt."
Billy glanced up at him, and replied, "At least you'll get dumped with a high bull score, which might keep you in the running. But if you draw another rank bull and complete the ride and score high, we'll both win."
"Except I won't be entitled to any female understanding if that happens," Jeremy said.
Billy glanced around at Josh and Genie, who had puzzled expressions on their faces, and said, with a shrug, "He thinks I'll give him sympathy if he's tossed off Wild Card, but that's not going to happen."
Jeremy smiled, and replied, "She's a tough woman," then pulled her snugly against him.
Genie, who had been silently observing the interaction, said to Billy, "However it turns out at the rodeo, when you get back I'm hoping you'll come over one afternoon so we could get better acquainted. As females in Harney County we need to stick together."
"You're right, and I'd love to come," Billy said, excited that she'd made enough of an impression that Genie wanted to have her over, "but I have no idea where on the ranch you and Josh live."
"We're staying in the bunkhouse for now," Genie replied. "It's pretty nice though. Josh varnished the walls, and we got new appliances in the kitchen, and carpeted a few rooms, so it's very livable." She looked up at Josh and said, with amusement, "As with all Hansen men, stock barns take priority over houses, but next summer we'll be adding a house to the piece of land we're buying from Ryan and Annie."
"I guess I kind of agree with the Hansen men about barns first," Billy said. "As you can see from the looks of my place, my house is not a priority. How much is left to do on the barn?"
Genie looked up at Josh. "How much is left, honey?"
Josh shrugged. "The building's basically done, and as soon as the bucking chutes arrive, Matt and I will go in together to buy an established bucking bull to breed with Matt's cows as a start. You might want to cross breed your cows with our bull, and I know we'd like to breed our cows with Wild Card, maybe early on, before his stud fees are too expensive."
Billy looked over at Wild Card, who was staring at them like he knew they were talking about him, and said, "He has a ways to go to prove himself before then, but maybe Pendleton will be a start. There will be some world-class bull riders there and I'm hoping one of them will draw Wild Card and give him a chance to show what he can do."
"Honey, I hope you're including me in that line-up of bull riders," Jeremy said.
Billy felt her face grow hot with Jeremy's endearment. She also realized she was batting her eyes like a girly girl, which she was not. At least she'd never considered herself one before. But Jeremy definitely brought out the woman in her, and in more ways than just female gestures. "Yes, you're in the lineup," she replied.
Jeremy grinned, and his eyes danced with devilment as he looked at her, like he'd also caught her reactions, at least the outward ones, which heightened the inward responses she was having, making places that usually remained dormant tingle with awareness. She suspected he'd picked up on it when he began running his knuckles idly up and down her back, followed by brushing the pads of his fingers in little circles between her shoulder blades before draping his hand around the back of her neck, and when she looked up at him, he winked and said nothing.
She also noticed Genie and Josh exchanging glances and smiling, like they'd just shared an inside joke, which she suspected had something to do with her and Jeremy.
"About tomorrow," Josh said to Jeremy, "I'm leaving early so I can find a place near the high school to park my rig for the night since the showers there can be rented for two bucks, so I'll stake out a place for you too."
"That's fine," Jeremy replied. "We'll leave mid-morning and get there a couple of hours before the bull riding."
Josh's gaze moved back and forth between Billy and Jeremy, then settling on Jeremy, he said, "I assume you're still planning on staying with me?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Jeremy replied. He looked at Billy and winked again. "Like I told you, she's a tough woman, but she also keeps me in line."
"Then I'll see the two of you tomorrow," Josh said, "and Genie and I will see both of you at our place next week."
"Sorry honey," Genie said to Josh. "No guys. It's to be a hen party with Billy, Annie, Ruth and me. We're having a tea party with fancy pastries, and we'll all wear hats and gloves."
Billy looked at Genie with concern. "I don't have anything like that to wear," she said, thinking maybe she and Genie wouldn't get on so well. Th
is smacked of upscale socializing, something she'd never done.
Genie laughed. "I'm talking western hats, riding gloves and boots. You forget. This is Harney County. We do tea differently here. I'm finally getting the swing of it. We'll go riding afterwards, so dress accordingly. My boots are pretty scuffed now, so I should fit right in."
"Then I'll definitely be there." Billy couldn't resist looking up at Jeremy, who had the most appealing expression on his face, like he was pleased with the plan, another chance for her to be with women. It came to her that Jeremy understood how important it was for her to have female friends. She hadn't truly understood it years ago, when her aunt tried to impress upon her the importance of staying close to her sister when they'd never been close all their lives, partly because of the age difference, with Rachael being six years older, but mostly because they shared no interests. But she remembered her aunt's words a couple of years after their mother died:
"No matter how much you love your husband and children, you still need sisters. You need to talk to them on the phone and visit with them and go places with them. Sisters also mean girlfriends, daughters and other women. You'll need them when you're older. Women always do."
Only now did Billy truly understand what her aunt had been trying to tell her, except that the one sister who was her real sister had almost ruined her life…
"Okay, then I'll see you next week," Genie said. To Billy's surprise, Genie gave her a hug, then took Josh by the arm and walked with him toward their truck.
After they'd left, Jeremy said, "You have at least three women friends now, though Ruth is more like a mother to us all, but Genie and Annie… they're like sisters." He turned her around so she was facing him, and added, "And you have me too." He pulled her to him and kissed her, and Billy slipped her arms around him and kissed him back, then she rested her head against his chest and tightened her arms around him, and said, "For now, I think I'm happy."
Bucking The Odds (Dancing Moon Ranch Book 9) Page 10