by Various
"We didn’t fly. Didn’t you hear? Shiloh picked us up. He was in Montana delivering one of his prize bulls and drove through Georgetown to keep us off the plane. With that big double cab dually and those wide tires, he said we’d be safer. I think he was right. Have you talked to your brother?"
"Which one?" She loved them all, but she tried to keep her distance. They tended to meddle in her business.
"Shiloh. I’ve never seen him so sad. And he won’t tell me what’s wrong either!"
Wonder why? "I don’t know if he’ll confide in me, but I’ll try. Shiloh’s my favorite brother."
Her mother laughed. "You say that about every one of them."
"Yes, I do. Trevor and Trace sent me a text message. They’ll be driving in from Austin in time for the party and Justice may be here by now. He hasn’t been home since the PRCA National Convention. When he left Vegas, he went out to California to meet with a breeder."
"I can’t wait to see all my boys, including Cade. Is what I heard true?"
Until now, he’d been standing against the wall, one foot propped up behind him, arms folded, staring at her. She’d been doing her best to ignore him, but her body wanted to move in his direction of its own volition. Damn him. "Cade? What about Cade?" Had someone seen them kissing?
"Did your hard work for his nomination come through?"
Oh! The nomination. "I haven’t heard. Keep your fingers crossed and don’t say another word. He’s standing right here."
"Oh, he is?" Her mother made those three words sound like fingernails on a chalk board.
"Yes, he’s about to leave." She glared at him.
"Hmmm, I always told your daddy the two of you didn’t hate each other near as much as you pretended to."
"Mother." She tried to speak volumes of warning with her tone.
"When are you going to give me grandchildren?"
"Oh! It would serve you right if I just went out and got myself knocked up by some random man at Home Depot!"
The snort from across the room echoed the snort from over the receiver. They knew her well. "Don’t tempt me, Abby. I’ve considered trying to find you a mail-order groom from the Ukraine."
"I have got to go."
"Will I see you tonight?"
"Yes, I’m coming to Jase and Jaw’s. I mean, Pam’s party. I wouldn’t miss it."
"Be nice, Abilene."
"ARG!" She hung up the phone.
"Two questions. First, what were you saying about me? But more importantly, do you need a baby-daddy, Abilene?"
He pushed off from the wall and she couldn’t be still. "None of your business and ‘no’. If I want a child, I’ll adopt."
"Doing it the old-fashioned way is a helluva lot more fun. Didn’t seeing that big ole’ stallion mounting that filly get to you? When I wasn’t worrying about you getting killed, my cock sure perked up and took notice."
"Don’t be vulgar."
"Oh, I can promise you, you’d like my dirty side."
How did he get between her and both exits? He blocked her way out from behind the counter. God, the man covered the ground he walked on. "I…" Damn, she forgot what she was gonna say.
"Cat got your tongue?" He moved closer, not touching, but she felt him in every pore of her being. "I know where I want to put my tongue," he spoke with a low, nipple throbbing growl. "Between those pretty little thighs. Would you like that?"
Abby trembled, literally trembled. How was she going to survive this? He didn’t realize he was killing her. "No." Actually, she didn’t know whether she’d like it or not. She dreamed about what it would feel like to have a man bury his head between her legs and lick…
"Okay. Enough." Cade took her by the shoulders and pulled her flush against him. "I want you. I want to have sex with you. And you want me. I didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday. So, what’s it going to take? Let’s negotiate."
Good Lord. Abby shut her eyes. "I can’t."
"Can’t or won’t?" Cade was damn confused.
"Can’t." She hung her head.
"Explain." He ground out the word.
Bam! The door opened, letting in a blanket of frigid air and a cloud of cloying perfume. "Abby? Abby Grace? Oh, my! What do we have here?"
Abby had to smile. This was the first time she’d ever been glad to see Pam. "Nothing, I was just considering putting down a bothersome polecat." The polecat chuckled. "Cade was helping me decide." She met his hot stare. "Excuse me, Cade. The bride needs me. We’ll have to talk another time."
Chapter Four
"Yuck!" The small boy spit out a mouthful of food on the floor. "Gross!"
Abby elbowed Trevor. "Look, even Pam’s nephew doesn’t like the vegan food."
"Be nice, Sis," Jase spoke in her ear and Abby jumped. "Harold doesn’t like anything. You can’t judge culinary cuisine by a two year old."
"Don’t sneak up on me!" Abby whacked the prospective groom. "I’m trying to be nice."
"It’s just so hard for her." Shiloh sipped his scotch and water. "Is Cade still alive? I hear he’s rooming with you."
Abby kept a poker face. Cade was driving her crazy, but in an entirely different way than normal. "Oh, he’s here somewhere. I haven’t killed him. Yet." She’d been watching his every move, actually. When he’d gone outside a moment ago, it had been all she could to keep from following him.
Jase ruffled her hair as if she were the same age as Harold. "Cade and Abby sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." She tried to elbow him, but he grabbed her in a headlock. "Stop it, squirt. That’s what you get, having five brothers twice your size."
"Paybacks can be excruciating." She threatened, and then laughed as he turned her loose. Their father was giving them an evil eye. Even though they were all over twenty, he still could quell them with a look. "Speaking of Harold, did Pam tell you her decision?" Abby couldn’t believe her future sister-in-law had refused to let Jase’s German Shepherd be the ring bearer. Jase and Scout had been together for twelve years. He was well behaved. A gentleman. Unlike Harold. "Speaking of Harold." They watched the wild child streak across the room, screaming at the top of his lungs. The music was at a lull and the whole room full of elegant people stopped to watch the spectacle. A wholesale sigh of relief was heard when he disappeared out the front door with his father on his heels. "I bet that behavior runs in the family." She snorted.
Jase got in her face. "If you don’t sheathe those claws when you’re talking about my bride-to-be and her family, I’m going to tell everyone you and Cade were necking in your office this morning."
Shiloh roared with laughter, which alerted Trevor and Trace that something was up. "What’s going on? What did Baby Doc do?"
"Baby Doc is older and wiser than you," she snarled at the two Greek Gods who just happened to be her baby brothers. She rounded on Jase. "And who told you I was kissing Cade? Pam? Was she spying on me?"
"Cade? I knew it! You owe me a hundred dollars." He held his hand out to his brother.
Trace grumbled, but he got out his wallet, glaring at Abby all the while. "I can’t believe you were swapping slobber with your arch enemy. What is the world coming to? The next thing you know, Justice will be dating Charlee Parker."
"Not a chance in hell." Justice joined his siblings just in time to hear Trace’s comment. "Charlee is hard-headed, opinionated and cold as ice."
"Sounds like a challenge to me." Jase grinned.
"You better keep your mind on matrimony, Short-timer." Justice was the oldest and he did love to boss the rest of them around.
"Do you want to dance?" Shiloh asked his sister. He was ever the gentleman and knew she normally didn’t take a turn on the dance floor.
"Thanks, but, God, no." Abby had consented to dress up. She knew she couldn’t wear her boots and jeans to the dance, but she was as uncomfortable as heck in this get up. "My feet are killing me in these shoes." She held up her foot, trying to gain sympathy for the four inch heel.
"I bet Cade—" Jase didn’t get t
o finish his statement before the screams began. "What the fuck?"
They all turned to look. Pam and her sister, Harold’s mother, were yelling and waving their arms. "He’s out on the pond. Jase, Harold followed your damn dog out on the ice."
"My Baby! My Baby!"
Some stood in shock, but several started running, including Abby. "The ice can’t be very thick." She worried. The pond had been her playground when she was younger. There wasn’t an inch of it she didn’t know by heart. "This can’t be good." She and her brothers took off. By the time they reached the side of the pond, it was obvious Harold was in trouble. Scout had crossed on over to the other side, probably after a rabbit, but the baby was toddling around out in the middle of the two acre lake.
"Oh, God. What are we going to do?" Jase grabbed lights from the back of his truck. Abby ran on to the pond’s edge and what she saw made her heart go up into her throat. Cade was slowly making his way out to the little boy.
"Cade, no, no," she whispered. She knew someone had to rescue the child, but Cade was too big, too heavy. "Come back, Cade. Let me go! I’m small."
"Somebody get my baby!" his mother screamed.
"Call him, call him. He might turn back around and come to you," Abby cried. She held her breath, watching Cade make his way toward the middle. A crowd had gathered around the perimeter and every eye was on the pair.
"Harold! Harold! Come to Mama!" His father made the same plea. And with a squeal of delight, the toddler took off across the icy surface.
Abby couldn’t move as she watched him scamper back to safety. She was relieved the baby was okay, but he wasn’t the only one who’d been in danger. Cade was still out there. He stopped, then started to turn around when there was a loud CRACK!
Just that fast, he was there one moment and gone the next. A man-size hole opened in the ice and he went under. Abby screamed. Others screamed. She started forward, but Shiloh gripped her arm.
"He’ll come out, Abby. The ice is thin. No matter where he is, he can punch out."
She waited, maybe five seconds. Nothing. Nothing.
"I’ll go." Justice started. Jase grabbed his arm.
"You’ll crack the ice. You’ll go down too."
"No!" she yelled and yanked her arm from Shiloh’s grip. She started moving, throwing off her shoes as she went. Then she was running, slipping, sliding, crying. Without a thought, she jumped into the dark water, feet first. GOD! The frigid, icy water hit her system like a thousand knives cutting her flesh. It didn’t matter. She went under. It was black dark. What could she do?
Frantically, Abby felt around. Left. Right. Up. Down. Her limbs were slow. It was so, so cold. This was hopeless. He couldn’t die! Her heart cried out to Cade! And then she touched him with her foot. Please, Lord! Her lungs were hurting already, but she dove down. When her body hit his, he grabbed her. She felt up and down him. What was wrong? And then she found it. He was hung, his foot caught in the fork of an old tree trunk. With the buoyancy of the water, he wasn’t able to pull free. The water wasn’t much deeper. Abby sank to the bottom to brace herself, grabbed his leg and tugged for all she was worth. Despite the freezing temperature, her whole body was burning. She needed to take a breath of air so bad she couldn’t stand it. She pulled and she pulled. Finally, she held the top of his boot and he managed to get free.
Abby was so tired, she just let go. It would be so easy to float away. But strong arms encircled her waist and they began to rise. A few more moments. A few more moments. The top of her head hit the ice. He kept pulling them. Pulling them. With a powerful punch, something gave. And what was an icy, wet grave was now blessed cold air.
"Let me have her."
Abby couldn’t open her eyes. She felt numb. She felt lost.
"Grab the rope."
She was jerked around, and then her legs were in the water again and she whimpered.
"I’ve got you, Abilene."
"Cade?"
"Open your eyes!" he commanded.
She did. She saw lights. She saw family. Trace, her favorite brother, had crawled out on the ice with a rope tied around his waist. He was pulling them back to the bank.
"Get a doctor!"
"We need to get them warm!"
"I don’t need a damn doctor. See about Abby!"
"Doc Williford’s here," someone called.
Abby closed her eyes again. It was just too much.
* * * *
"If you don’t wake up, I’m going to kiss you."
Abby’s eyes sprung open.
Cade was lying next to her in the guest bed—his bed. They were dry, warm and safe. "Hey," she whispered.
"Hey, yourself."
She tried to sit up and realized she only had on a T-shirt and panties, very brief, very revealing panties. Oh, God. She scrambled for the sheet. "Who undressed me?"
Cade gave her a sly smile. "You were wet, Sunshine. We couldn’t let you freeze."
"Who undressed me? Who changed my clothes?" She was panicking. Abby clutched the sheet under her chin.
Like a ton of bricks, Cade realized Abby was sincerely freaking out. What the hell? "Your mother undressed you, Abby. Everything’s okay." He put a hand out toward her and she scrunched up in bed. She seemed about to hyperventilate. "Are you hurting somewhere?"
"No." Abby laid her head down on her knees. She tried to calm herself. The last few hours seemed like a horrible dream. Turning, she looked at him silently for a moment. "Are you okay?"
Cade got up off the bed and paced across the floor. Land’s sakes, he made everything in the room look small. She didn’t know what she expected him to say. Maybe a ‘thank you’ would’ve been nice, but she wasn’t prepared for what she got.
When he looked back at her, he was stern, no-nonsense and pissed. "What were you thinking coming in after me? Don’t you realize you could have died?"
"I was thinking I didn’t want you to die!" She fired back at him.
"Why you? There were a dozen other people standing there. One of your brothers could—"
Oh, hell! Jerking the sheet off the bed, she stood up. He wanted a reason? Maybe because she cared!? He had no idea this was the second time she’d risked her life to save him, and she wasn’t about to share that information. "I did it because I was the only person small enough to get out there without breaking the ice. Someone had to get to the hole you fell through. Think about it!"
"It was foolish." He stepped toward her, his jaw set and his eyes blazing.
"It was necessary." She stood in front of him, refusing to back down, clutching the sheet over the top swell of her breasts.
Cade closed his eyes as if he was suffering. "If you’d died…"
"We both could have died. You saved me. And I thank you for it. We’re even, both alive and well. Let’s just forget it." Talking to him was a waste of time. She started toward the door, stepped on the sheet and nearly fell.
"Grace."
Abby shot him a mean look, throwing darts with her eyes. "I hope you froze your balls off."
"Wait."
Wait? "For what? Do you want to castigate me some more for caring enough to save your sorry ass?"
"I’m tired of pussyfooting around, Abilene." He started unbuttoning his shirt. "It’s time."
"What do you mean? Pussyfooting around what?"
"I want you." He swept his eyes from the top of her unkempt hair to the pool of sheet at her feet. "I want you in my bed, in my arms and I want to be as deep inside of you as I can get."
A blaze of heat and need swept over Abby’s body like a flash fire. This big, perfect, infuriating man wanted her. And she wanted him. More than anything. But, she couldn’t. She just couldn’t. "I gotta go."
And she left.
"Well, hell." Cade threw his hat to the floor.
* * * *
Abby dragged the pasteboard box out of the closet. All the Christmas decorations she’d accumulated over the years were carefully packed away. She didn’t know why she went to so much
trouble. After all, the big family celebration would take place up at the main house. Feeling nostalgic, she sat down on the floor and started pulling out ornaments and figurines. All of her life she’d collected Santa Clauses. None of those all white and ice blue color themes for her. She loved red and green. Old fashioned pine cones with bows and glitter. Sleighs and snowmen. Reindeer and elves. Abby smiled. Dreams died hard. She’d always wanted a family, a husband and children. Then, when she was nineteen, the fire happened and everything changed.
With tears streaming down her cheeks, she lay back on the floor, clutching a holiday teddy bear. Remembering. Only Abby, Justice and Cade had been home. Everyone else had gone to Austin to watch Jase play football. She’d come home for Chelsea Turner’s baby shower, Justice was holding down the fort and Cade was packing up to go out on the circuit. He’d qualified for the NFR for the first time. The whole family was thrilled for him. He was fast becoming one of the best steer wrestlers and team ropers in the state. As tears ran down Abby’s face, she went back in time…
"Cade! I’m going to miss you." Abby threw herself in Cade’s arms. She loved him so. Even though he’d lived with them as family, she loved him as that and so much more. Abby worshiped the ground he walked on.
"Shortcake!" He cradled her to him. "I’m going to miss you, too." He kissed her temple, and she clung to him.
"When will you be home?"
Cade touched her face reverently, gazing into her eyes. "I’ll be back for Christmas. I wouldn’t miss it."
Something was different. Abby trembled. He was staring at her mouth. She licked her lip. "I’ll make your favorite cookies for you, like always."
He lowered his head. She lifted hers, her lips parting. "I love sweets. I need some sugar now. May I?"
Denying him never crossed her mind. Kissing Cade was a dream come true. She’d never kissed anyone else. Abby had saved herself for this man, for this moment. Standing on tiptoe, she met his kiss and the joining of their lips was nothing less than perfect. Shivers of absolute bliss flooded her soul.