Captive of the Cattle Baron (Selkirk Family Ranch Book 1)

by Irene Vartanoff

  His eyes traveled over her, appreciating her. “Are all the men in Jackson blind?”

  Addie smiled. “Busy, more like. I’ve been on a few dates, but the pace is much slower there.”

  “Slower than where?”

  “Uh-uh, that would be telling,” she said, wagging a finger. “Better if you don’t know.”

  “I’ll get all your secrets out of you sooner or later,” Baron promised.

  “I don’t want you to be caught up in my mess.”

  “Why is your life a mess?”

  “Somebody caused trouble, and I’m stuck in the middle.”

  “Let me help you.”

  She shook her head. “I can handle it. I just have to follow through on what I promised a friend.” She sighed. “I shouldn’t admit this but I have enjoyed not being under the same pressure here as I face in Jackson Hole. Unfortunately, I’m obligated to return, and very soon.”

  They rode in silence for a while.

  “I’d like the chance to convince you to stay,” he said, leading them to a halt in a clump of trees made by a bend in the stream. He dismounted then turned to pull her down into his arms.

  “Wha—” Before she could complete her question, he was kissing her.

  Addie kissed him back, putting all her yearning into the way her lips moved in response to his. Baron’s arms tightened around her and crushed her softness into his hardness. His hands caressed her waist. It felt so right. Her knees felt weak.

  She forced herself to pull back from his questing lips. She put her fingers over his mouth, feeling both the roughness of his beard and the softness of his lips. “No more. Please.”

  “Why not?” He didn’t release her.

  “Wrong time, wrong place. You’ve got guests at the house who need your attention.”

  “Want it, you mean.”

  “What’s with you and your sister? Are you always so abrupt and rude with each other?”

  He sighed and let his arms drop. He moved away from her. Their horses were standing exactly as they’d left them. He took the reins of his stallion and led him to the stream to drink. She led her mare as well.

  As the horses drank, Addie waited in vain for Baron to answer her. Finally, she prodded him. “Aren’t you going to tell me about you and Tess?”

  He rubbed the back of his neck, obviously uncomfortable. “It’s complicated.”

  “Most family issues are. Or am I making a lot out of an offhand sentence or two?” Even if she was, she wanted to know how Baron felt about his sister. He’d mentioned being hunted by pushy Paula. Yet it was Tess who'd seemed to arouse his ire when they arrived.

  “My brother, J.D., always was in trouble. On the ranch. At school. He was a loose cannon.”

  Baron leaned down and picked up a small stone, then skimmed it across the stream. It bounced twice.

  “J.D. didn’t want to go to college.” He smiled a little. “All J.D. wanted was to join the Army and go fight in the war. Any war.”

  He was silent for so long she prompted him. “And?”

  “My parents were against it. Tess was against it. J.D.’s girlfriends were against it.”

  “Girlfriends?”

  “Lots of them.” He picked up another stone, but when he tossed it sideways, it sank into the water instead of skipping across. “I was for J.D. joining. I encouraged him. He signed up on his eighteenth birthday. Basic training went well. He went to Afghanistan. Then he went to Iraq. Then his luck ran out. An IED, a homemade bomb.”

  “But he’s alive, right?”

  “If you call it living when he’s lost parts of both legs, the sight in one eye, a couple of fingers, and—” He stopped. “I can’t even talk about the rest. He’s a mess. He’s been back for almost a year and he’s still in terrible shape.”

  “That’s why your parents now live in Cheyenne?”

  “Right near the VA hospital where he is. They visit him every day.”

  “What about your sister?”

  “Tess blames me.”

  “Why?”

  He grimaced. “Tess says he looked up to me, his big brother. He wouldn’t have joined if I’d told him not to.”

  “Now I get it. Sort of.” Baron hadn’t fully detailed the complex strands of guilt and duty in his family, but he’d said enough.

  He moved toward his horse. “Let’s ride again.”

  She walked over to where her horse grazed on the narrow ribbon of grass by the stream. The mare was well-trained and didn’t object when Addie scooped up the reins and mounted.

  Baron did the same. He led the way down a path that left the stream and went around a rise, toward the ridge. The horses picked their way up between cactus and tumbleweed. Other rank brush offered occasional variation in the dry, sandy terrain. A few birds flew across their path from bush to bush. Otherwise, although the air was not quiet, they saw no direct signs of life.

  “What else does your sister blame on you?”

  “Not backing her whim to move to Hollywood and become an actress.”

  Hollywood again? “Does she have acting ability?”

  “Who knows? All she does is drink.”

  Baron led them around a hill, into another valley. He pointed at the face of a hill across a mostly dry stream bed with a trickle of water in the middle. “See that? Sandstone. They’ve been discovering dinosaur bones in this part of the state in formations just like it.”

  “Are you interested in dinosaurs?”

  “I want to know what’s inside rocks,” he said, he eyes glued to the hill as if he yearned to wrench its secrets from it.

  “After roundup is over, couldn’t you take time to explore that formation?”

  Baron said, “There’s never time. Too damn much ranch business.”

  They continued along the stream around another hill, where a small cabin sat in the scrubby terrain.

  “Is this what’s called a line cabin?” she asked.

  “Used to be, but not anymore. The property line now is way west. Let me check it first. Mice come in, and then other animals come looking for the mice,” he explained.

  He unholstered his shotgun from the saddle and examined the building thoroughly, then invited her inside.

  She entered. “When I was a little girl, I wanted a little cottage to live in. This is nice.”

  “It’s our hideout. From time to time, someone in the family gets fed up. Then they come out here for a day or two.”

  He pointed to the kitchen and toilet facilities. The small cabin’s main room was dominated by a queen-size bed.

  She looked around the compact cabin, and then flung herself into a wooden rocker. “I could feel safe in a tiny place like this.”

  “Safe from what?”

  She raised her forearms in the air, palms out. “From everything and everyone that pressures me.” She sighed, relaxing.

  Baron stooped next to her chair. “Tell me who pressures you.”

  She shrugged. “Sometimes it seems like the whole world.” She shook her head. “I can’t explain.”

  “You mean you won’t,” he said. “Why won’t you trust me? Whatever it is, I can help you.”

  She stood, shaking off the moment. “Why are we here? To check for vermin?”

  He rose also, and captured her hand, tugging at it, pulling her up. “To use the bed.”

  “Oh, no you don’t,” she said, resisting, but not much.

  “What if I promise I won’t do anything you don’t want me to?” he said, flicking open her blouse snaps.

  “How do you do that so—so nonchalantly? Stop it,” Addie said, but she didn’t bat his hands away and she let him pull her down onto the bed.

  He lay there next to her for a moment, relaxing, not trying to touch her. “This feels good. You and me. A bed,” he said.

  “And no sex. What shall we talk about?” she asked, with a smile in her voice.

  He rolled over and propped himself up on one arm, looking down at her. “Let’s talk about the sex we’
re going to have, sooner or later. I haven’t been with anyone for a long while. I’ve been tested and I’m healthy. I’ve got condoms. What about you?”

  She looked away, the heat in her face telling her she’d turned color. In a low voice she replied. “I was tested. I’m clean. I’m not on any kind of birth control.”

  He kissed her turned cheek lightly. “See, that wasn’t so hard.”

  “I’m not saying I’ll have sex with you,” she said. Although the bed felt very comfortable and there was something equally comfortable about lying in a bed with Baron.

  “You didn’t say how recent it was for you,” he said.

  “Over two years.”

  “The whole time you’ve lived in Jackson?” His eyes echoed the incredulity in his voice.

  She nodded.

  “Oh, baby. No wonder you’re so high strung,” he said. “Come here.” He made to gather her into his arms.

  “We can’t,” she said, and sat upright. Lying down would lead her to give in.

  “Sure we can.” He pulled her back down, his strong arms around her. “Let me.”

  She looked up into his eyes then made herself look away, at the ceiling. The rough wooden of the rafters reminded her where she was. She sat up again, surprised that Baron allowed her to. “You’re very persuasive, but I have a prior commitment.”

  “A man?”

  She turned her head away. “Not in the way you mean. A friend is depending on me.”

  “Is he more important to you than this?” Baron reached one hand up and boldly put it on her breast.

  She shuddered with renewed desire then removed his fingers from her flesh. She couldn’t quite make herself let go of his large, warm hand. “Don’t ask me to choose. I met you only a few days ago.”

  Clearly unsatisfied by her answer, he sat up. “I won’t let you go.”

  She eyed him in disbelief. “I am not a toy you can possess.”

  “I never said you were.”

  “You’re implying that you have some right to control my actions.” She put anger into her voice, to combat her strong desire to yield to him. She had to act as offended as possible, or she’d never escape the temptation Baron presented.

  “That’s not what I mean and you know it,” he said, looking frustrated by her deliberate escalation of their argument.

  “I’m still your captive.” She stood up and walked out of the cabin, refastening the snaps of her western shirt as she went. She remounted her mare.

  When he came out of the cabin, she said, “Take me back to Jackson Hole.”

  He relocked the cabin.

  When he said nothing, she made a wordless sound of disgust and twitched the reins.

  They rode back to the house in angry silence, but underneath her heated facade, Addie felt relief. She’d escaped the force of his desire. And hers.

  Chapter 9

  Back at the ranch house compound, Addie went straight to her room after Hoot appeared and offered to groom the horses. Under the bikinis in the bureau was an old maillot that had a racer back and would allow her to swim. While not as technically revealing as the bikinis, it was so thin she was fairly sure it would be see-through once she got it wet. Let Baron look. With Tess and Paula in the house, he wouldn’t be able to do more.

  She found the two visitors at the pool. They’d changed into shorts and brief tops and were sitting in the shade of an umbrella table.

  “I got really hot riding,” she greeted them. “I hope you don’t mind me taking a dip.”

  “No problem,” Paula replied. “I recognize that suit.”

  “So do I,” Tess looked up from the tall drink she contemplated. “I left it here because it gets invisible when wet, if you know what I mean.”

  “I didn’t bring a suit,” Addie said.

  Tess waved at her. “Have at it.”

  “When you come out, I’m going to interrogate you,” Paula said with a smile.

  Addie plunged into the water. After twenty minutes of strenuous laps, her body lost its tension. She pulled up at the side of the pool.

  “You’re a good swimmer,” Tess called. She made it sound like an accusation.

  “I’ve been swimming since I was a little kid,” Addie tossed off, careful not to mention southern California and how common backyard pools were there. Or the beach and the surfing.

  She hoisted herself out and went over to a chair to get the towel she’d brought from her room.

  “Are you really a horse trainer?” Tess continued. “Miss B. said you were.”

  Addie nodded. “Talking method.”

  “Most horse trainers are men,” Tess said in an argumentative tone of voice.

  Addie paused in wiping the water off. She leveled an inquiring glance at Tess. Tess stared back. Her chestnut eyes were the same shade as Baron’s. They radiated hostility. “The horse world is changing,” Addie said. She finished drying off.

  “Explain,” Tess demanded.

  “Yes, please do tell us.” Paula gestured to the other chair under the umbrella. “Sit down and have a drink. Ice tea?”

  Addie accepted the offers. Paula poured a tall glass of tea from a large pitcher filled with tea, ice, and lemons. Tess’s drink was clear, surely not tea.

  “Go on. Explain about women horse trainers,” Tess said again.

  “As horses become ornamental possessions rather than workers’ tools, women get more involved with them. It’s a natural progression that happens with most industries or fields.”

  “Huh?” Tess said.

  “That’s a very sophisticated way of looking at it,” Paula said. “Do you have a background in psychology or behavioral economics?”

  Addie shook her head. “I observe. Out here in the middle of nowhere, maybe you’ve mostly still got men involved with horses. Nearer the cities, where horses are a luxury item people ride for leisure, it’s almost all women. Girls cleaning the stables, older girls giving riding lessons, and women owning and running the stables. Except for racing, of course.”

  “Our horses work,” Tess exclaimed, as if Addie had somehow insulted the ranch. “This ranch is not in the middle of nowhere.”

  Paula said, “Yes, it is. That’s why your family likes it.”

  Addie could like the Selkirk ranch, too, if she was here entirely of her own free will. She took a sip of her tea. Wet and cold.

  “What do you do?” Addie asked Tess. Even girls from wealthy families like the Selkirks usually worked at something, or pretended to.

  Tess said nothing, but Paula replied, “I’m in investment banking.”

  Addie followed the diversion. “How did you come to choose that field?”

  “Her father’s rich, and she’s an only child.” Tess broke in.

  Paula shot her friend a quelling look. Tess drank from her glass.

  Paula turned back to Addie. “When I had to learn about the family assets that would one day be mine, I became interested in finance. Which eventually, after graduate school, led to working as a fiduciary in an investment banking firm.”

  “Impressive.” Addie considered herself well educated by Hollywood standards, but she’d stopped with a community college associate degree. She’d taken practical classes and then trained at a couple of horse farms.

  “How did you get interested in horses?” Paula asked.

  Addie gave her standard, severely edited back story. “I grew up near a riding stable, and rode in exchange for the usual work mucking out the stables.”

  “Isn’t becoming a riding instructor more typical for a girl horse lover? Didn’t you just say that?” Tess asked, her tone of voice challenging.

  “I teach horses, instead of people,” Addie replied, sticking to the facts and trying to ignore Tess’s aggressive manner.

  “Are you really a horse trainer?” Tess asked. Her voice slurred a bit.

  Addie said, “I soothe frightened, ill-treated, or rowdy horses, and they soothe me.”

  “Do they really?” Paula asked, sounding su
rprised.

  Addie turned to Paula. “I might be upset over something on a particular day, but since I know I can’t allow myself to transmit those feelings to the horses, I work at putting my negative feelings aside.”

  “How do you do it?” Paula asked.

  “Yeah, how?” Tess asked. “I could use some techniques to get rid of my negative feelings. Other than this,” she said, raising her glass. She took a big gulp.

  Paula gave Tess a reproachful look and turned back to Addie. “Please explain how you calm yourself before working with frightened horses.”

  Thankful the conversation was back on track, Addie said, “I say a mantra, a reminder. As I go to the stable to meet my first horse, I repeat it to myself.”

  “What do you say?” Tess asked.

  Addie felt her cheeks heating a little. “The power is love.”

  Tess asked, “Where did you get that?”

  “It’s paraphrased from some eighties song my parents liked as teens.”

  Tess lurched onto her feet, wavering a little. She wandered her way to the edge of the pool.

  “Should she be swimming in that condition?” Addie asked Paula.

  “I heard that. I’m not drunk,” Tess said. Her slurred words disproved her contention. She tottered around the pool’s edge.

  “We’ll watch her,” Paula replied. “I’m certified to do CPR.”

  “Miss Betty is a trained former nurse, too. She looked after me when I first arrived here.”

  “Were you ill?”

  “I had a bad reaction to an allergy pill.”

  “I’ll bet that made Baron furious. He’s been hugely against drugs ever since—” Paula stopped, looking worried.

  “Since Julie,” Addie said. “He told me.”

  Paula looked relieved. “Baron’s a good guy, a straight arrow. For a while, I thought I wanted to marry him. Then J.D. came home.”

  Addie didn’t want to ask the obvious, but Paula answered anyway.

  “I didn’t switch to J.D. because I pity him. If anything, I pity myself because what had been a passing girl crush years ago suddenly turned into love. One-sided, at the moment.” Paula laughed without humor. “I’m the one who should be drinking away my misery.”

  “How did you know?”

  “That I love J.D., not Baron? That I want the man whose body has been permanently maimed instead of his perfect older brother?”