Ross, apparently getting comfortable with his companions, settled back into his chair, but as he adjusted his leg he flinched.
“How about a wee dram, as a Scotsman would say, Ross?” Jake stood and indicated a well-stocked bar in one corner. “It used to help me sleep when my leg was giving me grief.”
“You hurt your leg?”
“A car accident a few years back.” Jake poured two measures into a pair of glasses.
“But you’re not limping now.”
“Fortunately I made a complete recovery. Nevertheless, I can recall how tiresome walking with a cane can be.” He returned to the group and held out the glass to Ross, who paused and looked over at Jessi.
“Go ahead.” She nodded. “If Jake says it will help, it’s worth a try. I’ll drive back to the farm.”
“Thanks.” Ross accepted the drink and sipped before looking back at Jake, who’d resumed his seat by Shelby. “If you don’t mind my asking, how did you manage to…?”
“Get better?” The man turned to grin at his wife. “I got married.”
“Jake, you know that’s not true! You were recovering quite nicely from the day I asked you to marry me.”
“You proposed?” Jessi chuckled. “Bravo, Shelby.”
“Well, he’d been making it plain he was more than slightly interested.” The vet cast a teasing glance at her husband. “Then he had a car accident during the first snowfall of that winter. He was trying to come back to me through a blizzard, and that told me he was ready to accept my proposal. We were married on Christmas Eve that year.”
“How romantic!”
“Yeah, well, I’m not quite ready for that kind of cure.” Ross finished his drink and stood. “We’d better get going. These good people are farmers as well as professionals in other lines of work. They need their rest. Thanks for the dinner and”—he raised his empty glass to Jake before replacing it on the bar—“the drink. But before we go…” He hesitated, then voiced the request he’d held burning inside all evening. “Can I see Fox?”
“I think that might be okay.” Shelby stood and led the way to the closed clinic door. “But just for a minute. She’s still weak, and any excitement…”
“Sure, sure.”
As Jessi stood to follow the vet and Ross into the clinic, she let a small smile of satisfaction tip her lips. This was the first time she’d heard Ross sound eager about anything since she’d arrived.
Fox, you have to get better. You’re his one bright spot…apparently.
****
The moment Fox saw Ross enter the clinic, she struggled to get out of her bed in the pen holding it.
“Easy, girl.” Ross knelt beside her, and Jessi noticed he barely flinched as he dropped down to be with her. Again, she made a mental wish that the little dog got well soon.
“She’s still weak.” Shelby stepped forward to release the catch on the pen and let her free. “And she has a fair number of stitches, so take it easy with her.” She indicated the swath of bandages around the dog’s shoulders.
“Sure, sure.” Ross appeared to be only half listening as he crouched on the floor, Fox clambering onto his lap. “You’re looking real pretty, girl,” he talked to her as Jessi hadn’t heard him do previously. “You work hard and get well, so I can take you home.”
He looked up questioningly at Shelby as Fox slathered kisses over his face. “When?”
“In a day or so. I want to keep an eye on her for a while yet. And, Ross, I think you should know.” The vet paused and glanced at Jessi, then back to the man holding the little dog. “The nerves in her right shoulder have been crushed. She’ll most likely always limp.”
Silence. Oh, God. Jessi held her breath. Just what Ross didn’t need to hear.
Finally he spoke.
“Okay, well, if that’s the worst we have to deal with, we sure as hell can. I’ve got a lot of experience with that, haven’t I, girl? We’ll limp along together.”
Fox, too happy to be back with him, yelped and tried to scramble closer.
“That’s enough for now.” Shelby picked up the dog and jerked her head toward the door. “You folks leave while I settle her for the night.”
“Sure, whatever you say, Doc.” Ross stumbled to his feet but paused to stroke the little canine’s head. “You have to stay with the doctor for now, girl, but I’ll be back for you real soon.”
As Jake, Jessi, and Ross left the clinic, Fox yowled. Ross turned to go back, but Jessi caught his arm.
“Remember what Shelby said, Ross. She has to settle for the night.”
“Yeah, yeah, right, sure.”
The concern on his face made an astonishing thought flash through Jessi’s mind. If the man could be so caring about a little dog, wouldn’t he make a good father?
Good God, where did that idea come from?
****
“You do realize they were joking?” Ross looked at Jessi as she turned the truck into the farm’s driveway and headed down the lane to the main road.
“About what?” She glanced over at him, glad her eyes were hidden behind mirror sunglasses that protected her from the last blaze of sun setting over the bay in front of them and his scrutiny.
“Don’t play innocent.” He turned his gaze out through the windshield, squinting against the brightness. He grabbed up his Ray-Bans from the dash and put them on.
“Oh, you mean about their getting married curing Jake’s leg?”
“Exactly.”
“Well, you can relax, cowboy. I don’t owe your family that much.”
“Good. Glad to hear it. After that ‘how romantic’ remark…”
“I thought Fox looked on the road to recovery.” Jessi changed the subject. “It was good to hear we might be able to bring her home in a day or so.”
His reply was a grunt. Assuming he wanted to be left in silence, Jessi focused her attention on driving.
At the farmhouse, he got out and limped inside ahead of her.
When she entered the kitchen, he was pouring a measure of whisky into a glass.
“I’m going out on the front veranda for a while.” He hoisted the bottle toward her in invitation.
“No, thanks, but I’ll join you in watching the moon and stars come out.” She followed him to the front of the house.
For a while they sat in silence as the last rays of day vanished across the bay. When a sliver of moon appeared, frogs began to sing from the brook behind the house, and the softness of a warm September night enveloped them.
“Well, aren’t you going to say it?” He finally broke the silence.
“Say what?”
“About one whisky being enough.”
“Why should I?” She shrugged. “You’re home for the night, you won’t be driving anywhere.”
“What if I have three or four or God knows how many?”
“So, what do you expect me to say? That it wouldn’t be a good idea, that I’m ordering you to stop? Well, don’t hold your breath.”
“Why?”
“You know the old adage about leading a horse to water? The reverse is also true. You can tell someone not to drink, but you can’t stop them.”
“Just full of psychology, aren’t you?” He shot her a look that even in the shadows she could interpret as filled with annoyance.
“I know my way around stubborn cowboys.” She turned her gaze out across the bay. For a few moments they sat in silence. “Anyway, why are you so grouchy all of a sudden? I thought you enjoyed the evening. And Fox is getting well.”
“Yeah, well, maybe seeing her doomed to stump along like me for maybe the rest of her life, just because I was careless, gave me a royal kick in the conscience.”
“It wasn’t your fault. She bolted. Dogs do things like that. Now, can we just settle down to enjoy the evening? Do you know the only thing that could be better than this?” She drew a deep breath.
“Being here with anyone but me?”
“Come on, let your grump go. I was going to sa
y being back in Alberta, riding home with the sun setting over the foothills. The leaves on the birches will be turning yellow now and looking like pure gold. There’ll be a hint of frost in the air, and the horse will prick up his ears and shake his bridle and trot faster as he realizes he’s almost finished for the day. Maybe a coyote will howl or an owl will hoot as the moon appears.”
“Yeah.” The word coming out of the darkness was a wheeze of wistfulness.
“Now if you’re done second-guessing me, I’ll head inside to bed.” She stood.
“Damn!”
Before she could be ready for what happened next, he was on his feet and taking her into his arms. The next moment he was kissing her in something that was anything but a friendship kiss.
Oh, God, Ross…
She hadn’t been prepared for this. But could anyone be prepared for the way he pulled her tight against him, the way his lips found hers, the way his mouth opened over hers, the way he made her world spin, her entire body awake with desire. Pressed against him, she could have no doubt of his. In those moments, Jessi knew passion as never before. And when he drew back, she was left weak-kneed and dizzy.
“Jess?” He looked down at her. In the moonlight she could see the planes of his face hard with…what? Passion, desire? The pure animal lust of a man without female companionship for too long? No, there’d been too much gentleness involved for it to be the latter. Not like Clint, not like Clint.
In the suddenness of a whiplash, reality struck back strong and hard. An image of another cowboy holding Ginny Morgan in his arms burst into her mind. She lurched free.
“Are you sure you only had two whiskys?” Willing her knees to support her, her pounding heart to behave, she lurched free and headed back into the house. “Maybe I should sleep in the bathroom with the door bolted against any further amorous attempts.” Her words held all the sarcasm she could muster.
“Jesus!” He swung away from her, and she heard him drop back into his chair.
Chapter Thirteen
“Ross, breakfast!” Jessi ladled out a plate of bacon and eggs and called down the hall. No response. A scowl marring his features when she’d first come into the kitchen that morning, he’d muttered he was going out on the verandah to drink his coffee. Her repudiation of the previous evening apparently was still eating at him.
When he didn’t respond, she went to find him. The verandah was deserted, but movement out on the water caught her eye. Ross?
He’d gone swimming! Alone! She took off at a run toward the beach. If he drowned, Laura would never, never forgive her.
His clothes lay in a heap at on the beach. Skinny dipping like a teenager. Good God, what is wrong with the man?
“Ross, come in here…now!” she yelled, glad there was no wind to carry her words away. The bay lay in a dead calm, something for which she was grateful. At least no waves would overcome him.
“Hello,” he shouted back, that infamous grin creasing his face. He began to tread water. “I decided to take a dip. Why don’t you join me? The water’s great.”
“I’m not into skinny dipping, thank you very much,” she snapped, giving the pile of his clothes a kick with her toe.
“Too bad. It can be great fun…in pairs. Didn’t you tell me I once caught your eye when I went swimming with my brother out at your family’s ranch?”
“Stop dredging up history. I was a curious kid back then.”
She turned away and started back toward the farmhouse.
“Wait!” he called after her. Then, more softly, “I think I overdid the swimming bit. I’ll probably have a rough time getting back to the house. I wouldn’t mind a little help.”
The words, his first admittance of vulnerability, made her stop short and swing back to face him.
“Of course…” she began, then whirled away. He’d stood up in water that barely covered his hips and was wading toward shore. “Oh, for God’s sake, Ross!”
“It’s usually the gentleman who turns discreetly away to allow the lady to maintain her modesty,” he said, a taunting tease in his voice as she listened to him wade to shore.
“That’s because real gentlemen don’t parade around naked where a lady might see them.”
“Oh.” He sounded contritely amused as she heard him shaking out his clothes. “I wouldn’t faint or feel compromised if you did take a peek. But”—he sighed—“you’ve missed the opportunity. You can turn around now.”
Slowly, suspiciously, she turned to find him wearing his jeans. Dark hair glinting with water drops in the sunlight, broad chest and shoulders rippling with muscles above a narrow waist and flat belly, Ross Turner took her breath away.
He paused a moment, then bent awkwardly to pick up his shirt and cane. He stumbled and appeared about to fall. Jessi rushed to his side. And, just as fast, he caught her into his arms.
“Jess,” he breathed, blue eyes warm, caring, and sensual all at once. As he lowered his head to kiss her, she felt again the same wild, heady rush of sensations she’d experienced the night before on the verandah. She’d attributed most to the night’s sensuous ambience, but this was nine in the morning, for God’s sake!
“What am I going to do about you?” He drew away, looked deeply into her eyes. “You’re starting to scare the beejeebers out of me.”
“Scare?” Jessi stared up at him. I’m drowning in blue, pools of blue.
“I could get in way too deep with you. My mother knew what she was doing when she chose you to come down here. You’re not just a pretty face and a great body, Jessi Wallace. You’re a real three-alarmer to someone like me.”
“Someone like you?”
“Someone who’s always managed to avoid serious commitment; someone who used to think all he needed to make him happy was another rodeo and another championship.”
“And you’re afraid I might muck up all those carefully cultivated ideas?”
“Possibly.” He caught her hand in his and brought it palm upward to his lips in a gesture so erotic her breath hiccupped in her throat.
“So.” He drew it down to his side and exhaled. “We’ll have to take it slow and easy from here on.”
“We’ll! We’ll?” She jerked herself free and glared up at him. “I think the correct pronoun is ‘you’ll.’ If you’ve been paying any sort of attention to our relationship, any and all advances have been at your instigation. And to top if all off, you go skinny dipping!”
“Damn it, woman, sometimes I think there’s no pleasing you. First you force me to swim. Now you’re in a major snit because I do.”
“Not alone, you idiot!”
She turned and stalked off toward the house.
“Hey, you can’t leave me now,” he called after her. “I could need more help.”
“You managed to make it back to the house alone the last time you went swimming. I suggest you do it again,” she shouted as she ran up the steps to the porch.
****
“Hey, Jessi, Ross!”
“What…?” At the summons from the front lawn, Ross started to get up from his chair at the kitchen table where he was finishing his breakfast. Jessi was already headed for the verandah.
When he caught up with her, she was greeting Jake and Shelby, who were mounted on a pair of fine-looking horses. Shelby had two more saddled animals in tow, while Jake led their daughter’s pony with the child clad in helmet and padded riding jacket on its back.
“We finally got a morning clear of commitments and thought you might like to come for a short ride with us.” Jake was grinning as he jerked his head over the word “short” toward his daughter.
“We’d love to.” Jessi accepted the invitation before Ross had a chance to speak. “Gorgeous morning for it. Just wait until I put on my boots and get a hat.” Giving Ross a smug glance, she brushed past him as she hurried into the house.
“What’s your pleasure, Ross?” Jake indicated the two lead horses, one the pretty sorrel mare he remembered from the corral, the other the big
white gelding he recalled had been another of its occupants.
“The gelding looks fit. I’ll get a hat. I’m already shod for the event.”
Moments later, Stetson in place, he put his left foot in the stirrup, drew a deep breath, and swung aboard, gritting his teeth to ignore the pain the effort caused.
“Ready?” Shelby asked, turning to look at him and at Jessi already mounted on the sorrel mare.
“Ready and rearin’ to go.” Jessi grinned.
“Rearin’ to go.” Katie Rose squinted up at her father in the sunlight. “Come on, Daddy. Move it.”
“Move it?” Shelby turned to frown at Jake.
“She spends a lot of time with Grady.” Jake winked at Ross. “Must be picking up some of his language.”
Ross’s mouth twitched into a grin. It felt good, better than good, to be back in a saddle. These friendly down-home-type people added to the pleasure.
“We usually ride up the shore below the cliffs beyond here,” Shelby said as the group headed toward the beach. “Lovely scenery.”
“Sounds perfect.” Jessi brought the sorrel mare up beside the vet’s while the men fell into place behind them.
“How about a canter, Jessi?” Shelby had been holding Fancy to a prance. “This girl has been cooped up all week and is ready to run.”
“Sure.”
“Jake, get a hand on Midnight Brandy,” Shelby called back to her husband. “You know his race-horse mentality.”
“Sure, sure. Hang on a minute.” Her husband handed the pony’s reins to Ross. “I’ll need both hands to keep this black devil under control.”
“Not a problem.” Ross grinned down at the child. “Silver and Pretty are probably good friends, right, Katie Rose?”
The child nodded as her father spoke to her mother. “Okay, Shel, I’m braced. Go for it.”
As the two women took off at a gallop, the big black gelding snorted, shook his head, and pawed the sand.
“Whoa, whoa,” Jake managed a smooth, soothing voice as he swung the animal around to bring him out of sight of the racing mares. As the women vanished around a bend in the shoreline, the animal quieted, and his rider turned him back to face up the beach.
“Good handling,” Ross complimented him.
Cowboy Confessions Page 12