Winning Over the Rancher

by Mary Brady

  His diamond-blue eyes made dark by the muted light somehow burned scorchingly hot. She took a step back from the fire.

  “I, ah, have to go.”

  She headed for the safety of her car. She had to get out of here and regroup. No way was she thinking with a rational brain.

  She needed distance and she needed to get it fast.

  His boots thudded rhythmically behind her, sometimes muted by the not yet frozen ground of the small meadow. Wisely he left some space between them so she couldn’t turn suddenly and throw herself at him until they tumbled down to the cold ground and made hot…

  Stop it.

  She covered the distance to her car in what might have been record time for a pregnant woman and yanked the door open as if salvation itself could be found within. Once inside, she tossed the mittens and the hat on the other seat and dug in her pocket for her keys.

  She found the big red hankie he had given to her that first day. She had hand washed it, even ironed it with the iron in her motel room. She should give it back to him. She touched its softness to her lips and then shoved it back in her pocket.

  She had just poked the key into the ignition when the door beside her snapped open.

  “What the hell are you doing?” A scowling, angry Baylor Doyle frowned in at her.

  “Your mama wouldn’t like you talking like that.”

  “You can’t leave.”

  She ignored that order and tugged on the door. It didn’t budge.

  She looked up at him. “I’ve been here less than an hour and the roads were perfectly fine when I drove here.”

  “Perfectly fine can change fast in a spring storm. You should stay here for the night.”

  “There are already ten of you staying in that house, and I need to get back to town.”

  “I’ll drive you if you think you need to go now.”

  “I’ll drive myself.”

  “It’s a spring snow. It’ll be gone in two days.”

  He was trying rationality on her. Didn’t he know she was far beyond that? Besides, if she got through the one high pass between here and town, she should have no trouble at all.

  “I’ll drive slowly and very carefully.”

  He reached in and put a hand on her arm. “I’ll drive you in the truck.” Instead of angry and impatient, his tone was warm and sincere. She wanted to leap out and tell him she’d stay as long as he wanted her to. She’d live in a tent with him until she could get a cabin built for them.

  Her mental imperative to flee intensified.

  She shook his hand from her arm and when he moved away, she took the opportunity to close him out. She resisted engaging the locks to keep him out. This wasn’t a battle and she could still behave in a rational and civilized manner.

  If she left Baylor behind, she’d have a fair chance to get her brain organized again.

  If she stayed she might lose everything she thought she had achieved for her baby’s future. It wasn’t, after all, her child’s fault she couldn’t seem to control herself when it came to Baylor Doyle.

  When he backed away, she started the car. She was grateful he let her leave without any more of a fight.

  The road leading out to the highway was still quite passable, especially with the AWD her car had. When a hulking SUV that could have eaten her car as a snack positioned itself behind her, she knew why he had given up so easily. She kept driving. She could not afford to stop and discuss his misgivings about her leaving.

  She had a few regrets of her own but not as many as she had about staying at the Doyle ranch with him so close.

  When after five minutes, he hadn’t tried to close the gap between their two vehicles, she figured out he intended to follow her until he thought she was safe. All the way, she was sure, to the Easy Breezy Inn if he believed he had to.

  Snow bombarded her car, but the daylight gave her courage. If she had never driven the road before and it had been nighttime, she would have had to acquiesce and stay at the ranch.

  As it was, she was doing fine. She relaxed and let her car do the work it had been built for. Once in a while there was a slip, but the car kept her in her lane and headed back to town.

  Her rearview mirror told her Baylor was still behind her. A couple of times she wondered if she should stop, thank him and tell him he could go home because she’d be fine, but she could imagine how that would go over and kept driving.

  She thumbed the volume switch on the CD player and let soft music give her shredded nerves something to concentrate on besides the snow falling outside her car.

  Eventually she grew used to her guardian. As the snow fell harder, she even started to appreciate his being there, especially when the wind turned bold and began to buffet her car.

  Sometimes she had to fight to keep the forward motion of the car controlled and acknowledged he had been right to follow her. Okay, so she might have been rash to leave the ranch. She certainly had been when she kissed him. Now he offered her and her baby reassurance if she lost her nerve on the mountain road.

  As she rounded a bend in the road, a particularly strong gust of wind blew the snow sideways and tried to do the same with her car. She held on to her will and her car held to the road.

  It didn’t take long to begin the climb into the pass she had thought might have more snow. At one point she had to drive halfway into the oncoming lane to avoid a deep drift, but since she hadn’t seen a vehicle besides hers and Baylor’s, it didn’t cause her too much concern.

  As she progressed painstakingly upward in the pass, she gripped the wheel tightly and leaned closer to the windshield, as if that would let her see the road more clearly. As the elevation rose, the snowdrifts grew in height and breadth. The already muted daylight was made dimmer by the shadow of the mountain and impaired her ability to judge the depth of the drifts, but she plowed on.

  Baylor stayed on her tail. His big truck probably had little trouble with the drifts or the wind.

  A marker told her she had reached the tip of the pass and she smiled. The worst was over. If she continued winding her way down toward town, she’d be at the Easy Breezy Inn in no time.

  With her goal achievable, she grew more confident. Driving in the snow was apparently a skill you didn’t completely lose, like riding a bike.

  “Your mama rocks, baby.” No patting. This time she kept both hands on the wheel.

  A dark shape moving up ahead caught her attention. As she drew closer a deer—legs at odd angles of indecision, eyes wild in the headlights—loomed in the roadway directly in front of her.

  She let off the gas and tapped the brakes. Just as the collision seemed almost inevitable, she steered the wheel gently away from the deep drop into oblivion and away from the deer.

  When she was sure she wouldn’t swerve and go over the edge, she braked harder. The chugging of the anti-lock brakes said she was getting all the braking power she had.

  The car halted inches from the rock face on the opposite side of the road.

  She didn’t feel the fear she should have been feeling. All she could do was rejoice that she and her baby were safe. She tapped the wheel a couple of times in gratitude and in celebration and breathed a sigh of relief.

  She started to shift into Reverse, but stopped when the door on the driver’s side whipped open and cold and snow blasted in, followed by Baylor’s angry face. Hadn’t he ever heard of climbing in the car to chat?

  He had left his hat in the truck and snow filled his hair and she was sure was going down the back of his neck.

  “You again,” she said and grinned, still feeling the giddiness of being unharmed, until he stuck his head inside the shelter of the car, his nose inches from hers.

  “Are you all right?” His eyes were so close to hers she could see the darkest of blue striations. She wanted bedsheets made of that color so she could…

  “Am I crazy, you mean?” Yes, yes, indeed, she was.

  He didn’t speak. His warm breath bathed her face and kept the cold
away. His blond hair darkened by the melting snow dripped water on the back of her hand. He studied her for a long moment and then leaned down slowly, capturing her breath.

  An invitation. She knew she would be better off if she resisted. Better off, but not satisfied.

  She shifted toward him.

  He withdrew suddenly, banging his head on the frame.

  He said something Evvy really wouldn’t like and then leaned back down with his hands on his thighs. He glared in at her from a safe, nonkissing distance. “I don’t suppose you have chains for your tires?”

  “It wasn’t anything I ever thought I’d need.”

  “Get in the truck—please.”

  “Isn’t this the worst of it? Won’t the rest of the way be safer than this?”

  “No.”

  Well, that wasn’t the answer she wanted, but it didn’t change anything, except to make her more determined. “If I can get my car backed out of here, I’ll be fine.”

  He didn’t seem to like it, but he nodded. He most likely figured he could pluck her out of a snowdrift in ten minutes as well as now.

  “I’ll be fine. You can go back home while you still can.”

  “Yep, that’ll happen.”

  He strode away, tugging the collar of his jacket up against the snow getting inside.

  She backed easily out onto the road and headed down the mountain with headlights shining in her mirror.

  She drove slowly enough to maintain control and fast enough to avoid getting stuck in drifts that piled snow on the road. The unrelenting, windblown white combined with the dull light sometimes made her have to guess where the road was.

  When she hit a particularly large drift and her car took the second half sideways, Baylor flashed his lights at her.

  She stopped in the roadway and he pulled around her, motioning for her to follow him. When she got too far behind him, he’d slow. His big truck took the drifts much better, spewing out rooster tails of snow, but leaving a path for her to follow.

  The rest of the fifteen-minute drive took almost an hour of breath-holding, wheel-clenching, teeth-grinding driving.

  She parked her car outside her room and Baylor parked beside her. She sat for a moment and let some of the adrenaline rushing around inside her ebb.

  There were at least eight inches of snow in the parking lot and it came down harder than ever now.

  She pulled on the borrowed knit hat and gloves while Baylor sat inside the cab of the truck talking on his phone.

  If she were lucky—if they were both lucky—he’d leave now. When she opened the door of her car, however, he jumped out of the truck and came around to take hold of her arm.

  “I’m really okay now.”

  His fingers held her arm gently.

  He didn’t say a word, and he didn’t let go until she was under the overhang of the building and had her room key in her hand.

  When he didn’t walk away she slid the key into the lock and opened the door. The musty air and the stained carpet seemed like home and she was glad to be back.

  He followed her into the room and when she spun slowly around to face him, he looked dangerously angry and the look made laughter bubble up inside her. She would have doubled over if she didn’t think she’d topple.

  “Is that steam coming from your ears?”

  CHAPTER TEN

  KAYLEE DROPPED THE HAT and gloves on the table and shed her coat.

  “You make me crazy,” Baylor said. The words came out as if he had to force them. His voice was husky and it made KayLee’s breath catch.

  Her jacket was damp from the melted snow, so she hung it on the back of the chair by the heater under the window. He had purposely left the door slightly ajar, KayLee thought, to protect her reputation.

  He was angry as hell and frustrated and yet he thought of her.

  Who’d see into the room from outside? By the time the two of them had pulled into the parking lot of the motel, snow was blowing by so furiously that they were surrounded by a solid sheet of white.

  A gust of wind puffed in and showered them with snowflakes and then sucked the door shut with a bang.

  The door issue settled by default, KayLee put her fists on her hips and faced Baylor. “You made me crazy first.”

  He stepped toward her so that they were toe-to-toe—almost as close as he could get—and put his hands on her shoulders. Water dripped from his blond curls and dusky blue stared at her, searched her face. She wondered what he saw.

  Did he feel any of the desire she was feeling? Was he thinking he was too polite to yell at a pregnant woman?

  He drew her toward him for what seemed like an eternity. When he lowered his mouth his soft lips took hers, an ache started—a deeply profound ache low in her belly, a good ache, an ache of hunger and need like she’d never felt before.

  She leaned into his kiss and gave back one of her own. He moved his mouth over hers and reached up to cup her head with his big hand, a gesture that made her feel treasured.

  Oh, she was so gone.

  As his mouth possessed hers and his hands made a slow tantalizing raid down her back, she ceased to care about even the vaguest idea of snow or the rest of the world. She wanted him to touch her, to caress her already sensitive breasts, but when he lowered his hands and squeezed her butt, that was good, too. Angling her body, she pressed herself against his long muscular thigh.

  Still he kissed her softly, caressed her gently. If he felt half of what she was feeling, his reserve was the result of hard and resolute control. She wanted him. She wanted to be all over him. She wanted to celebrate being alive and knew there was no better way than with Baylor Doyle.

  When she pressed closer, more intimately, her reward was to feel him hard against her.

  He lifted his mouth from hers. “KayLee, are you sure?”

  “I’m only sure that I want you now.”

  He held her at arm’s length and then let her go.

  Oh, well, that wasn’t the answer she was looking for.

  “I’ll be right back.” He kissed her hard on the mouth and since he hadn’t bothered to take off his coat…

  He was gone.

  Was “I’ll be right back” a joke? Was that like “I’ll call you sometime”? Was he coming back at all?

  She peeked out the window to see him disappear in the snow, but he was heading in the general direction of the motel office and not climbing into his truck and racing away.

  She’d have to wait and see.

  In the meantime, she’d do what every pregnant woman needed to do, often. She used the bathroom. When she came out she was still alone, and then she heard a vehicle door slam. Considering she and Baylor were the only two vehicles parked outside her room, she assumed it was Baylor’s truck.

  Good sense ruled at last. Goodbye, Baylor. Thanks for seeing me home.

  The door swept open with a cold blast and Baylor stepped inside, grinning at her. He held up a room key of his own and a strip of condoms.

  She laughed. “You have condoms with you?”

  He closed the door and slipped off his coat, again covered with snow—melting snow—and hung it on the doorknob.

  “Since there is a baby in residence, I thought it prudent to give you the option so you wouldn’t have a reason…”

  “To turn you down?” He nodded and she continued. “No worries.”

  She found a devil grin and gave it to him.

  He reached out and ran his hand from her shoulder, down the side of her aching breast and below her stomach, where he pressed into the warmth with his fingertips.

  KayLee let the heat rush through her.

  “The ranch vehicles all have a condom supply. My brothers and their wives insist,” he said as he strode forward. “They say there are many secluded places on the ranch where having sex is inevitable.”

  “They say?” He knew what he was doing to her and when he drew her to him, she went eagerly and buried her hands in his hair.

  “I’ve never
had the need to dip into their supply.”

  She brought his mouth down to hers and he brought his arms around her. When she explored his lower lip with her tongue, he kissed her harder and answered with exploration of his own.

  She reached between them and lifted the tail of his shirt from his belted jeans. There was nirvana under there and she intended to have it. When she pressed her palms into the hot hard muscles of his chest she felt an odd sense of coming home, of deep relief, and the feelings were soon eclipsed by the desire to have all of this man as soon as possible.

  She unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it back off his shoulders and as she did, he kissed every inch of her neck and nibbled her earlobe. She shivered and then pressed her cheek into the bed of curling blond hair on his chest.

  “You are everything I imagined you would be,” she said as she buried her nose in the warm scent of him.

  “You have been imagining me?”

  “Since the moment I saw you.”

  “You California women are forward.”

  “If that’s what it takes to get what I want.”

  He didn’t ask what she wanted. He did lift her sweater over her head and unhooked her bra. Her heavy breasts, unfettered, swayed and she ached to press into the heat of his bare chest—and she did.

  “Oh, Baylor, you feel so good.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I do.”

  She leaned back and curled a big grin up at him and when she did, he brought his hands up under her breasts and held each one as if it were a precious gift.

  “Perfect fit,” she said of his big rancher’s hands and her enlarged breasts.

  “Plain perfect,” he said as he marched soft kisses down the swell of one breast to her nipple. When his mouth closed around her she sighed, and when he suckled gently she gasped.

  He drew harder and she groaned.

  “Baylor, that feels so very good.” She laughed. “I didn’t know I was a groaner.”

  He smiled, his mouth still on her nipple, and reached under her belly to unzip her jeans. Not wanting to be left behind, she unzipped his and tugged them down, followed by his underwear. When he sprang free, she grasped him in one hand and brought his head against her chest with the other, then buried her face in his damp curls.