Shadow nosed Mariah from head to foot, his nostrils flaring at the scent of smoke.
She stroked his mane. “It’s okay, boy.”
“He was awful good,” Kittie assured her. “He didn’t fight one second while I was walking them.”
Mariah nodded. “I’m glad you were here to help. There’s no telling what an animal will do around a fire.”
“I wanted to help more, but Dad said to get back, and then Ray and Reid needed me to hold Buttons and Nappy.” Her voice was anxious and a touch indignant.
“Kittie, everyone’s job is important. I’d hate to put out a fire and have to go chasing all over creation for my horse when I was done.”
* * *
JACOB LOOKED at his daughter, his blood still surging with adrenaline. She’d mistakenly begun one fire by smoking— why not another? He should have searched her baggage for cigarettes, he decided bitterly. He’d told Mariah that smoking wasn’t going to be a problem, and now they’d suspiciously had a blaze, with Kittie raising the alarm as she came running back from taking a “short walk.”
“Kittie, did you have something to do with this?” he asked, trying to stay calm. “I know you resented coming to Montana.”
She went pale and he regretted his hasty words.
“I would never do anything to harm the U-2”, she said icily. “And maybe I didn’t want to come at first, but it’s different now.”
“Kittie, I—”
“I love it here and I hate Seattle. I want to stay in Montana forever and ever,” Kittie declared passionately. “You’re the one who really needs fixing, not me.”
She stalked to where they’d left the other horses with the same air of chilly dignity.
Reid cleared his throat. “I’ll go with her.”
As they rode toward the ranch, Kittie’s body was ramrod straight on Blue, stiff with wounded outrage.
“She warn’t near the gully. You was talking on the phone and didn’t see nothin’,” Burt Parsons said in disgust. “It was a lightning strike.”
He didn’t add dumbass, but his tone said it all.
Ray and Burt returned to throwing dirt on the coals and spots where tendrils of smoke still rose. Jacob widened the firebreak, his mind churning. When would he learn? Was he just paranoid after the phone calls and visits with annoyed school officials, or did his suspicion and worry simply feed the cycle? Worse, had he just destroyed the progress Kittie had made while being here in Montana?
Steeling himself, he turned to Burt. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions.”
“Don’t tell me. Tell your young’un.”
“I plan to.”
Two other wranglers rode up and greeted Mariah, blanket rolls attached to their saddles. Burt and Ray said hello and began packing up their gear.
“You know the drill. Watch to be sure it doesn’t flare,” she told the newcomers. “We’ll send replacements later.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Jacob saw her glance at him. He was expecting her to rip into him for overreacting with Kittie again, but she motioned to the slope under the cottonwood tree where they’d stopped for lunch.
“Let’s clean that up, too.”
They picked up the containers and trash that had been abandoned when Kittie alerted them to the fire. Jacob’s sandwich was still in its wrapper, abandoned when he’d taken a phone call immediately after they’d started the meal...another thing to regret. Perhaps that was why he’d wondered if Kittie had defiantly gone off to smoke a cigarette—resentment over his answering his cell.
“I’m trying,” he said quietly, tucking the picnic debris into his saddlebag.
“Trying what?”
“Not to handle business matters around Kittie, but I spoke with a business associate from Japan at lunch. It was a mistake. I don’t want her to believe she’s less important to me than my company. That’s what you suggested, isn’t it?”
“Jacob...” Mariah made a helpless gesture. “I was upset and said all sorts of things.”
“It doesn’t mean you were wrong.” He rubbed his neck, every muscle in his body aching and tense. “Hell, I have to stop making these mistakes. I love her so much, and I’ve been scared silly she’s going to self-destruct or start drugs...or worse.”
“She seems to be doing well.”
“Appearances can mean nothing. One of the kids at her school...” Some things were particularly hard to talk about, and he clenched his fingers into a fist. “A sophomore at Garrison committed suicide this winter. At the service I spoke to her father and all he could say, over and over, was ‘I thought she was getting better, I really thought she’d be all right.’ I can’t forget his expression—all the hope was gone. I’ve been on edge ever since because Kittie was already acting up.”
Mariah looked appalled. “It would have scared me, too...even worse now that I...” She hesitated, then plunged ahead. “Four years ago I had a similar situation without knowing it. I told you my dad died in the hospital soon after they told him my mother was gone, even though they thought he’d make it.”
He nodded.
“I was so angry.” A tear traced its way through the soot on her cheek and she dashed it away. “I thought, why couldn’t he want to live for us? Didn’t we matter enough? But I also know how terrible it was for him. My mother was the center of his world and his injuries were so severe...”
Jacob didn’t know how he would have reacted if he’d been critically injured and had to deal with Anna’s death, but he hoped he would have chosen to live for his daughter.
“What I didn’t realize,” Mariah continued, “was that Reid knew what had happened with Dad. He’s dealt with it for four years without telling any of us. You can never know for sure, yet as far I can tell, he’s okay.”
Jacob had an idea that Reid wasn’t the only one who’d dealt with things in silence. The elder Westons had surely confided in each other, but Mariah and Reid seemed to have kept things bottled up. It couldn’t have been easy for her, telling him about it, but it was oddly reassuring—hopefully, kids were more resilient than adults gave them credit for being.
“He’s a great kid, Mariah. You have a lot to be proud of.”
“Thanks, but my parents get the credit. Tell you what. Let’s wash up at the creek. You need to think about what to say to Kittie.”
They mounted their horses and rode northwest into a low area, cut through by a meandering creek. Cottonwoods sheltered a wide, lazy curve in the waterway, and some of Jacob’s tension eased at the sight.
They tied the horses to a tree and took off their boots. Jacob had purchased a pair the previous week in Buckeye when he’d accepted how practical they actually were for ranch work. They provided protection and the heels assisted with keeping his feet in the stirrups. Until then he’d mostly thought cowboy boots were an affectation. He was breaking them in slowly, but he’d been especially grateful for the hardy footwear while fighting the fire.
The creek water was cold and clear, and Jacob splashed it on his face and hands, scrubbing at the grime. After a while he lay on the grass with his bare feet still submerged, water flowing gently around them, soothing his jangled nerves.
A thread of what Mariah loved about the ranch sank deeper into him. The Westons and their neighbors were preserving a life filled with the rhythms of nature. It was tempting. He could see why someone who’d grown up here would be reluctant to leave...and he could even see how someone who’d always lived in the city could learn to love it, the way Kittie seemed to have.
“You don’t think the Sallengers will really move to Buckeye?” he asked idly. “They mentioned it several times...supposedly even had return plane tickets to come hunt for property to buy. They seemed serious to me.”
Mariah kicked her own boots aside. “It seems unlikely. They’re used
to the bustle and activity you get in large population centers. Edna is an opera lover and Carl is so addicted to mangoes and fresh bagels, I’m surprised he didn’t go into withdrawal while they were here. Those aren’t items easily obtained in Buckeye.”
Jacob looked at her in wonder. “How do you know so much about everyone?”
“I pay attention. Our guests are like having extended family visiting that you need to get to know.”
“You mean, I could do the same if I didn’t have a cell phone stuck in my ear all the time?”
Mariah grinned. “I didn’t say that, though you gave me the perfect opening. At any rate, it would be difficult for the Sallengers to stay away from Hartford, even for a handful of months each year.”
“Then you don’t believe people can change.”
She didn’t say anything for a long minute. “How many people really want to change?” she said finally. “I grew up watching guests come and go. This is our world, but for our guests, it’s an entertaining break from their lives. Most of them leave here and remember they had fun, and that’s all.”
Jacob turned on his side and propped his head on his hand. “One of them broke your heart, didn’t they?”
“Summer promises get forgotten,” she murmured.
“You didn’t forget them, but he did,” he guessed.
She shrugged. “I was fifteen. It was puppy love. I’m not living with a broken heart, if that’s what you think. And I learned a valuable lesson.”
“Yeah, not to trust anyone outside a fifty-mile radius of Buckeye.”
Mariah made an exasperated sound. “No, to be realistic.”
“You’re splitting hairs.”
“There’s a difference. I think most people have good intentions—they just get influenced by the moment and think they can make huge decisions based on a few days.”
Her observations were enlightening. No wonder she’d avoided him after they had kissed and later when they’d made love. She didn’t want to discuss it, because she didn’t believe anything could come of a connection between them. Once he would have said she was right, but now he wasn’t as certain—a month ago he wouldn’t have gotten involved with a temperamental redhead who expected to marry one day and have children.
More kids meant more teenagers, and Jacob wasn’t sure he could survive another Kittie, as much as he loved her. Of course, it would help if he could stop screwing up. He wasn’t accustomed to failing to the degree he’d failed with his daughter.
He shook his head and sat up, needing to distract himself.
“Is something wrong?” Mariah dipped her toes in the water, swirling the surface.
God, she was beautiful. And complicated, with a temper to match. She was also mulishly stubborn and didn’t mince words when her dander was up. Yet making love to her was as close to heaven as he’d ever gotten. Maybe if things were better with Kittie, he could figure out what he wanted from Mariah...aside from just wanting her.
He sighed.
Now he needed a distraction from the distraction.
* * *
MARIAH’S THROAT ACHED at the lingering anguish in Jacob’s face. He’d mismanaged the situation badly, but it was out of love for his daughter and the fear of what could happen if Caitlin’s troubling behavior continued. She didn’t blame him. She was horrified that one of Caitlin’s classmates had killed herself—every parent at Garrison Academy was probably running a little scared.
“It’s true that this weather makes for a greater fire risk, but there’s something else it’s good for,” she said lightly.
“What’s that?”
“Lying on the grass and necking.” She leaned forward and deliberately kissed him.
Jacob didn’t move for a second and Mariah wondered if she’d misjudged the situation. She thought she had seen a glint of heat in his eyes, but maybe she was wrong.
Suddenly the world spun wildly as Jacob rolled with her. He gazed down with a faint smile.
“Necking, huh?”
“Just necking,” she warned. She didn’t think having sex again was the wisest idea in the world, but kissing seemed relatively harmless, all things considered.
He dropped a kiss on the side of her mouth. “Hmm, I haven’t necked since high school. Not old-fashioned necking anyhow. Any rules I should observe?”
“Are there any rules you didn’t break when you were a teenager?” Mariah asked drily.
“Can’t think of one.”
“That explains why you’re worried about Caitlin dating.”
Jacob pulled away a few inches, his face resigned. “It’s the eternal payback. Now I know what a girlfriend’s father meant when he said that he hoped I’d grow up and have nothing but daughters.”
Mariah chuckled. “Ooh, vicious.”
“You have no idea. At the time I thought he was being chauvinistic, suggesting sons were more valuable than daughters, and felt virtuous for being offended.” His lips trailed the curve of her cheek. “Hmm, Eau de Smoke. Curious choice of perfume.”
“I was just thinking the same thing of your cologne, Essence of Burned Shrub.”
“But I’m smelling something else....” Jacob pressed a string of nibbling kisses down her neck, his fingers threaded through her hair. “Hints of vanilla and spice.”
“Real sophisticated, I know. What do your city-slicker lady friends wear?”
“Got me.... Even with the smoke, yours is better.” He fanned her hair out on the ground, playing with it before catching her mouth again in a drugging kiss that went on forever. One of his hands crept under her shirt and cupped her breast, his thumb flicking across the sensitive crest.
A piercing need shot down Mariah’s body. Necking might not be so harmless after all...not with Jacob O’Donnell. He must have alarmed quite a number of fathers when he was a teenager—they’d probably started cleaning their shotguns the instant they met him.
A moment later Jacob spread the edges of her shirt and bra apart. The sunlight filtering through the trees above was warm on her skin, yet it was the heat in his mouth that burned the hottest.
He tickled her nipples with the tip of his tongue, then drew one into his mouth. Mariah arched, breathing in and out so quickly she was in danger of hyperventilating. So far he hadn’t gone near the snap on her jeans, but this was already a lot more than what she’d had in mind.
“Jacob,” she said thickly, “I think you should—”
“Should what?” He rolled so she was perched on top of him.
With the small shred of sense left in her head, Mariah scooted away and stepped into the eddying creek. “You should cool off.” With one hand she held her shirt together and with the other she scooped a handful of water over him.
Jacob sat up, laughing; he didn’t seem the least bit annoyed. “That felt good.”
He jumped in himself and she backed up, careful to stay in the extreme shallows of the creek. “Be careful,” she warned. “It’s one thing to get your cuffs wet, another to ride home in wet jeans.”
“How about a wet shirt?” A spray of water went flying as his hand swept the surface and she shrieked, dashing to the opposite bank. Jacob gave chase and tackled her before she’d taken two steps onto the grass. He stripped her Levi’s, followed by his own, and carried her into the narrow curve of the creek where it was waist deep.
“Don’t you dare,” she said without much concern.
“I dare anything.”
He dropped low with her in his arms, kissing her mouth as the water closed over their heads. They finally surged upward, gasping for breath.
“I bet cowboys learn quick that getting a girl out of wet jeans is practically impossible,” he murmured. “Thank you for alerting me that wet denim is a challenge.”
“Don’t you thrive on challenges?” Mariah
undid the buttons on his shirt and rubbed against him.
Jacob groaned and the bulge pressed to her thigh became even more impressive.
Protection, she thought, hoping he had a second condom in his wallet...and that his wallet was in his jeans and not in his tent. She didn’t overly mind the thought of getting pregnant, but knew he would profoundly resent it—the last thing Jacob wanted was another child’s safety and well-being to worry about.
Jacob lifted her leg over his hip and explored beneath the thin barrier of her panties. He pushed it aside, his blunt end teasing her, dipping in and out a fraction of an inch. But it was when he was half-buried inside of her that she jerked away, falling backward in the water. She nearly screamed with frustration as their bodies separated.
He drew her upright and stared into her eyes. “Is there a problem?” he queried politely.
“Yeah, a little one.” Her gaze drifted downward. They were waist deep in the creek, but the crystalline water did nothing to conceal his erection. “Actually, not such a little one. Do you happen to have a condom with you?”
Jacob’s strained expression relaxed. “Wise woman. Wait here.”
He splashed to the creek edge and fished around in the pocket of his jeans, returning with a plastic-wrapped packet. He sheathed himself and pulled her to him.
“I’ve never done it this way, upright in a river.”
“You still aren’t. This is a creek.”
“Minor point.”
He caressed her breasts for long, fiery minutes as she ran her fingers across his chest, teasing and tickling, then moving lower and holding him in her palm.
“Too much,” Jacob growled.
He cupped her bottom and settled her over him. They moved together, Mariah’s legs clasped around his hips, clinging to him with internal muscles that felt each tiny pulse.
She felt his release an instant after hers. Then, to her surprise, he held her tight and walked to the grassy bank. He lay with her and began thrusting once more, stoking the lingering pulses in her abdomen. Her blood raced again, impossibly fast, and she shattered, the world tumbling in a kaleidoscope of pure sensation.
The Ranch Solution Page 23