In the 1990s, Sky had convinced her father to start using computers, and eventually they didn’t keep any handwritten or manually typed records. With her urging, they’d constantly updated the computer software the ranch used as well as their hardware.
The computer monitor drew her attention. Its cracked LCD screen made her want to flinch and clench her hands. She didn’t want to damage the papers she was holding, so she kept her grip relaxed.
With a sigh she twirled the end of her long braid with one finger. She glanced down at the Scotch tape dispenser beside one of her hands, and at the page she’d been attempting to put back together.
“It’s hopeless,” she whispered, then shook her head and released her braid. “No. The pages won’t ever be the same, but I’m not going to simply throw a part of my family’s history into the garbage.”
Sky looked at the monitor again. She’d have to purchase a new one and update their cattle records to show the loss. They wouldn’t know until roundup exactly which cattle were missing.
Her Black Angus herd had been over three hundred strong before this mess started. The ranch hands had a fair idea, though, of several that had been taken. You couldn’t be around cattle for a significant amount of time without recognizing a good portion of them.
Damn, damn, damn! Every loss was like a punch. Not only was it a violation, but it would affect the ranch’s revenues for the year and would impact every year for some time.
She’d already contacted the USDA inspector along with the American Angus Association. If any of her registered breeding stock showed up or if another rancher tried to register them, she’d be notified at once.
Blue gave a sharp bark that startled Sky into almost knocking over her water. The dog bolted out the office door as he continued barking and her heart started pounding. She wasn’t expecting company, but it wasn’t uncommon for a neighbor to stop by. The thrum of her heart had to be nerves from all that had been happening.
Blue stopped barking at the same time she heard the sound of a powerful truck engine. The dog’s quieting was a good sign it was someone he recognized. Tires crunched the driveway’s pebbled dirt before a vehicle came to a stop and the engine cut off.
Sky wheeled her chair over the polished wood floor, closer to the window, and winced as she bumped her ankle. She peered through the red-and-white-checked gingham curtains.
Zack.
The curtain slipped from her fingers as she sucked in her breath and her heart pounded for a different reason. She moved away from the window, placed her palms flat on the desktop, and released her breath in a slow exhale. She felt that telltale tingling in her belly and the pleasure warming her because Zack was here.
Before he could come in and catch her looking unnerved, she picked up the tape dispenser and stared at the yellowed page she’d been trying to put back together. Only problem was that she was looking at the pieces without seeing them, her senses on fire while she waited for Zack to find her.
It didn’t take him long. Blue apparently led Zack straight to the office.
Sky took another deep breath and looked up when she heard the thump of boots on the office floor. Zack stopped in the doorway, hitched his shoulder against the door frame, and shoved his hands in his front pockets as he looked at her from beneath his black Stetson.
His powerful presence never failed to make her heart pound. The bruise on his cheekbone and his black eye didn’t distract from his rugged features and the steel gray of his eyes. She could never get enough of the way his T-shirt and Wrangler jeans fit his body the same way she wanted to wrap herself around him.
Blue stood beside Zack’s legs, panting slightly, and looking pleased with himself.
“Zack. Why are you here?” she asked, trying to keep her voice casual.
He glanced at her crutches, then back to her. “You shouldn’t be out running around.”
“Oh, brother.” She set down the tape dispenser and rolled her eyes to the open-beamed ceiling before meeting his eyes again. “I’m fine.”
“Like hell.” He moved from the doorway, placed his palms on her desk, and leaned close. He smelled of sun-warmed skin and mint, a heady combination that sent her senses reeling. “Do I have to tie you to your bed to keep you off that damn ankle?”
There was a thought that made her blood warm in her veins. Zack tying her to the bedpost. Naked.
Heat flushed through her and she raised her chin. “You didn’t answer my question, Zack. Why are you here?”
His face was so close she wanted him to kiss her. Then take her. Right there on her desk.
Down, girl.
“Satan.” Zack’s voice was low, drawing her back from her fantasies. His eyes focused on her mouth, but then his gaze met hers. “Figured you might need some help taming the little shit.”
Sky swallowed, ready to pounce on him from lust. “I can manage.”
“Uh-huh.” He pushed away and stood, and air rushed back into her lungs. “When are you going to figure out it’s all right to ask for help when you need it?”
She flipped her braid over her shoulder. “I don’t need your help.”
“One thing hasn’t changed.” His look was dark and assessing. “You’re still stubborn.”
She snorted. “Says the jackass.”
The corner of his mouth quirked, but then his expression went serious. “I’m concerned about what’s going on around here—the break-in, the rustling.” He jerked his thumb to the mountains behind the ranch. “Do you have any idea how much narcotics trafficking goes through that range? How many undocumented aliens are smuggled across all the ranches?” He raked a hand through his dark hair. “Damnit, but I don’t like you being here alone.”
Sky frowned. “What do you want me to do? Pack my bags and just leave everything?” She waved a hand toward the bunk-house and corrals. “This is my livelihood. This is the way those cowboys make their living. You can’t just expect me to turn my back on it.”
His jaw visibly tightened. “You don’t seem too concerned about your safety.”
“I’m plenty concerned.” A sigh left her in a rush. “And not just for myself—for all the other ranchers and folks who live in these parts. But all I can do is take it a day at a time and hope the law handles the problem.”
He nodded, but his expression remained tense.
Zack grabbed her crutches from where they rested against a wall. The now-familiar possessive feeling gripped him as he helped her out of her chair. As she arranged her crutches he kept one hand on her for support. She paused and he heard her catch her breath when he nuzzled her hair to take in her scent of orange blossoms and summer storms.
He could almost feel her relax when he released her and she used her crutches to hobble to the door.
“Watch your step,” she said when they exited the office and entered the barn. “One of the ranch hands did everything but rake the manure in the aisle and muck out the stalls. Another hand will take care of it before nightfall.”
Blue followed them out into the barn, trotting at Sky’s side as if protecting her.
The sorrel stuck her head over her gate and whinnied. On an alfalfa bale Zack stretched out another horse pad from the large trunk. He helped Sky sit on the bale. Her hands slid away from his arms, the light brush of her fingers making him hotter than Arizona in July.
Blue parked himself at Sky’s feet and the border collie stared at the yearling’s stall.
Sky turned her gaze from Zack and also looked at the stall where the bull glared through the slats. “The brat only lets me get close.”
“Can’t say that I blame him,” Zack murmured.
Sky acted like she hadn’t heard. “Satan goes berserk if Luke or one of the ranch hands tries to go near him.”
Zack shook his head at the memory of Sky on her ass with her blouse half-undone. “If you have any control over him, what do you call what I walked in on last week?”
She raised an eyebrow, a slight smile on her lips. “Gonna try
to handcuff him again?”
“Only as a last resort.” Zack went to the rusted and scarred fifty-gallon drum where the sweet oats had been kept back when he’d dated Sky.
When he lifted the lid, the scent of molasses, corn, oats, and barley rose up to mingle with the dust, straw, and manure smells of the barn. Using the tin can inside, he scooped out some of the cob feed, closed the barrel, and returned to Satan’s stall. The bull was the same color of black as the stones called Apache tears, his coat smooth and sleek.
“He’s a beaut.” Avoiding fresh horse droppings scattered in front of the stall, Zack crouched and set down the can of oats. He eyed the yearling, then glanced back at Sky. “How long have you had him?”
“Little over a month. I bought him from a rancher up north. Like I told you, he’s champion stock.” She shook her head and smiled. “Right now he’s a champion pain-in-the-ass.”
“If this guy gets much bigger before you gentle him, he’s going to do more than knock you on your butt.” The image of the bull hurting Sky was enough to make Zack’s muscles tense and his jaw tighten.
Sky leaned back, bracing her hands on the hay bale at both sides of her hips. The movement caused her breasts to rise and her buttoned shirt to gape, exposing black lace.
All thoughts of the bull left Zack’s mind as a vivid fantasy came to him. Sitting on the bale with Sky on his lap. Her wearing nothing but that black lace bra and a pair of garters. Her head tilted, eyes closed, copper hair falling over her shoulders. Him thrusting into her core and her riding him hard and fast.
“I just need to spend more time with him,” Sky was saying, her husky voice breaking into the erotic video running through Zack’s mind.
“Ah, yeah.” He barely reined in a groan as he turned his attention back to the bull.
Sky was killing him. She wasn’t aware of how erotic she looked spread out before him. And he would have taken her up on the invitation except that he had said he would help her with this damn bull. If he didn’t, she would try to do it herself. The thought of the bull doing damage to Sky was enough to sober his lust.
Stubborn woman. But she was his woman and he’d do what he had to do to protect her, even if it meant spending every afternoon with this beast.
He spoke to Satan in a low, soothing tone, trying to get the yearling used to him and the sound of his voice. Satan butted the side of the enclosure, his eyes blazing. His tether wouldn’t allow him to come all the way up to the stall’s door. But he was close enough that when he snorted he splattered snot on the back of Zack’s hand. Sky snickered.
Zack wiped the snot on his jeans while he continued to talk nonsense. When the bull had calmed a bit, Zack stood and located the bull’s halter.
The Border collie took position nearby, no doubt his herding instincts kicking in.
Zack tied the end to the stall, then lowered the halter onto Satan’s head. The bull’s eyes bulged. He fought and tugged, throwing his weight from side to side. It was a good ten minutes before he finally settled down. His sides rose and fell like a pair of bellows stoking a fire, a wild glint still in his eyes.
“You and I are going to be good friends,” Zack said to the yearling, and then glanced over his shoulder at Sky. “No matter what you might think.”
She frowned at the bull, her hand moving to her throat. “You’re asking the impossible.”
“Nah.” He turned and unlatched the gate, then eased it open. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned since I met you, sweetheart, it’s that nothing’s impossible.”
“You always did have a large dose of overconfidence,” Sky muttered.
Zack picked up the can of feed and entered the stall, moving slow and easy. He reached into the can for a handful and held his palm under the bull’s nose. Satan’s eyes glittered, his body seemed to swell, and he craned his neck.
As Zack started to step back, his boot slipped on a pile of manure. At the same time, Satan rammed his thigh and a hard throb of pain shot through Zack’s leg.
The feed can flew out of his hand as he lost his balance: He fell back, landing hard on his ass. The cob feed scattered, the tin can rattling across the ground.
Blue moved closer to the bull, obviously ready to jump into action if he needed to.
Zack heard more laughter behind him as he sat on his stinging ass.
“So much for friends,” Sky said.
Zack glanced over his shoulder and saw she wasn’t even trying to keep a straight face. “I’m not done by a long shot.”
Sky continued to grin. “Spoken like a man who doesn’t know when to quit.”
“Got that right.” He went to brace his hand on the ground, only to have his palm land in something cold and squishy with an unpleasant smell. “Ah, shit.”
“Um, it sure is. Are you all right?” Sky asked between giggles.
He looked up and gave her a wry smile. “Nothing a shower won’t cure.”
She jerked her thumb south. “Just past Dancer’s stall there’s a sink and a bar of soap.”
Blue continued his vigil while Zack washed his hands. When he returned from the sink, he spent another hour with the bull, determined to make some headway in their relationship. He ended up with a couple more bruises than the one on his thigh and the ones on his face from the fistfight, but he still got a kick out of working with Satan. Literally.
Every so often he’d glance at Sky and catch her watching him with expressions ranging from amusement, to concern, to frustration.
And yes, longing, too. But she was trying to bury that longing, trying to deny it even after their explosive, all too brief encounters. She was too scared to do anything else.
Ah hell. He’d hurt her bad all those years ago, but he wasn’t going to hurt her again. He’d make her see that and he’d have her trust again. There was no other alternative.
For now, he was concerned she’d try to tame this damn bull on her own and end up with more than an injured ankle.
After he worked with Satan, Zack mucked out the stalls and raked manure out of the aisle, despite Sky’s protests. She’d started to get up to help him, and he’d threatened to turn her over his knee.
That shut her up.
Immediate erotic images came to Sky’s mind—Zack’s threat kinda turned her on.
More than kind of. MacKenna. she admitted to herself as she watched the powerful play of his muscles. He had shucked his shirt a while ago and she had immediately gone breathless and her panties had dampened at the sight. She figured Zack knew just what he was doing, deliberately putting on a show for her. Letting her get a good, long look at what could be under her hands and between her thighs—again.
Sky tore her gaze away before she came just from watching him. She shifted on her bale of hay, trying to relieve some of the ache in her pussy.
“Bastard,” she muttered under her breath, and thought she heard him give a low chuckle.
When Zack was finished, Sky was already up and on her crutches. He helped her climb the steps to the front door and grabbed the door handle. “I want you to promise me something,” he said.
A wary feeling came over her. “Depends.”
He opened the door and Blue slipped inside the house. “Don’t mess with Satan until your ankle’s better. Give it a good week.”
Sky rolled her eyes again. “You’re kidding, right?”
When he got her inside, Zack helped her sit on the leather couch so that she was comfortable and then he sat and moved close enough that their bodies nearly touched. Sky felt a jittery sense of panic rising up inside her.
“I’m dead serious.” He held her gaze with his. “That bull is a strong bastard, and he’s liable to knock the shit out of you. He could do some real damage.”
Sky shook her head. “But—”
“No buts. If I have to tie you to your bed, I will.”
Sky felt a rush of moisture between her thighs. Please, she wanted to beg him. But instead she gritted her teeth and told her hormones to shut the hell u
p.
“I can’t ignore Satan for a week.” Sky shifted on the couch and raised her chin. “That would undo what progress has been made with him.”
Zack scrubbed his hand over his stubbled jaw. “I’ll come over every day after work.”
Sky blinked. “I—that’s not necessary.”
“I start early and my day usually ends in the late afternoon.” Zack stroked her leg, causing a twisting sensation in her belly as he added, “I may not make it until later, depending on how things go. But I’ll be here.”
Another volley of protests pinged through her. Before she could say another word, Zack put his hand over her mouth. His fingers felt rough against her lips and he gave a low groan.
Her eyes widened as he moved his hand to her opposite hip, caging her, and he leaned close enough that their lips were barely apart.
Chapter 15
“Zack,” Sky whispered as her heart pounded and her nipples ached to be touched by him. To be licked and sucked before he moved farther down until his mouth was on her folds.
“Just a kiss,” he seemed to be saying to himself before he brushed his lips over hers.
“You can’t do that to me again.” She slid her hands into his hair and pushed off his western hat as he kissed the corner of her mouth. The hat tumbled to the floor, where it gave a soft thud. “I need more.”
Zack nipped her earlobe and she clenched her fists in his hair and arched her back. “You know what I want,” he said in a low rumble that sent thrills through her despite her instant mental rejection of his condition on their relationship. He palmed her breast with his warm hand and pinched her nipple. “I want everything again, Sky.” She went still as Zack glided his lips toward hers and he repeated the same words he’d said yesterday. “Start over with me.”
It took all she had to move her hands to his chest and push him away. She had a hard time getting the one word out as their eyes met. “No.”
Zack (Armed and Dangerous Book 1) Page 11