Rancher's Choice

by Kylie Brant

  But Jackson remained silent. He drove several more minutes being pulling the truck onto the shoulder and turned off the lights. Then he turned off the ignition and pressed the button that locked both doors. He sat rigidly in his seat, both hands clenching and unclenching on the steering wheel.

  “Do you even know,” he asked softly, almost conversationally, “can you even imagine the danger you were in back there?”

  Kaly recognized that tone. Its deceptive softness masked churning fury. But she was not in the mood to find some way to defuse it. She hadn’t done anything wrong, and she was not about to let him chastise her as though she was a child.

  “I wasn’t in any real danger.”

  He turned his narrowed gaze slowly to pin her with eyes that looked as glacial as the North Atlantic. “I see.” His tone was measured, as if he couldn’t trust his voice not to betray the rage seething in him.

  Kaly searched his face warily, looking for a sign that his anger was abating. She did not find any. Despite her irritation, she found herself offering an explanation. “Larry and I just went out riding for a while. The place was nearly empty when we stopped there. When the last bunch came in we decided to leave.”

  Jackson nodded politely, still disguising his wrath. “And the animal in the bar? The one you were in no danger from?” He mimicked her mockingly. “Is he a new friend of yours?”

  Kaly’s gaze narrowed. She didn’t care for his tone. Not at all. “I don’t know who he is, but he was wearing a leather jacket like the one Roy described, wasn’t he? I decided to keep my ears and eyes open, that’s all. I didn’t think he’d notice me.”

  Jackson’s face was incredulous. “You saw one leather jacket out of the dozens in that bar and decided to ask that bozo, ‘Excuse me, are you by any chance one of the rustlers?’”

  “Quit trying to make me sound stupid!” she hissed. “I was only trying to help you!”

  “You could have been raped or killed!” he thundered, losing the iron grip he’d had on his temper. He reached out and pulled her over, lowering his face to hers as he continued shouting at her. “You don’t need me to make you look stupid, Kaly. You do an excellent job of that yourself!”

  Kaly stiffened as her own anger started to match his. “You bad-tempered ingrate,” she seethed. “You’re right, I shouldn’t have tried to help. Because you’re not worth it! As far as I’m concerned, you and your damned cows can rot in hell!” She pulled away from him and scooted back across the seat. She tried unsuccessfully for several moments to unlock her door before turning to face him furiously. There must a master button to secure both doors.

  Jackson, his eyes half-closed, was leaning against his door indolently watching her struggle.

  “Unlock this door now,” she demanded between gritted teeth.

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Or what?”

  Kaly clenched her fists so tightly she could feel her nails biting into her palms. “You are, without a doubt, the most irritating, infantile man I have ever had the misfortune to meet. And I wish that biker had clobbered you!”

  He bared his teeth at her. “Bloodthirsty, aren’t you? But you aren’t going anywhere, because I’m not letting you out of my sight again.” And that was the God’s honest truth, he assured himself grimly. The woman attracted trouble like a magnet, and he still felt ice in his veins from the scene he’d witnessed in the bar. He had tried to play this her way; he knew she didn’t like to be pushed, but he was tired of dancing around her feelings. “Stay away from Larry Scott,” he ordered tersely.

  Her eyebrows shot up at his audacity. “I am in no mood for your King Kong imitation. You don’t tell me what to do!”

  He lowered his face so that the sparks in their eyes clashed. “Yes,” he informed her, “I do. And you’ll do it, too, if I have to tie you to my side.”

  Kaly glared at him furiously. “For the last time, I wasn’t going to get hurt tonight. Even if that guy was involved in the rustling, I still could have gotten rid of him myself, and if I didn’t, Larry would have helped me.”

  Her naive trust made him grind his teeth in frustration. “You were in more danger than you realize, sweetheart,” he told her caustically. “You walked into the place with the man suspected of masterminding the rustling.”

  She blinked at him in amazement. “What are you talking about? I went there with Larry.” At his curt nod, her mouth fell open. “Larry? You suspect Larry Scott? That’s crazy!”

  “Think so? Well, the sheriff doesn’t agree, and neither do I. We don’t have positive proof, but there are sure enough things pointing to his involvement.”

  “I don’t believe it. If Roy is so convinced, why hasn’t he arrested him?”

  “Because, like I said, we aren’t a hundred percent sure yet. It seemed better to put a watch on him and maybe catch him red-handed than to question him and scare him off before we have the evidence we need.”

  “You have someone watching him?”

  He nodded. “How do you think I knew where to find you? The deputy trailing him radioed the sheriff, who called to let me know who you were with and where you both were.” When Roy had warned him that Kaly was with Larry, cold fear had filled his veins. Then he had walked in on that scene in the bar, and found her in danger of another kind.

  “I still think you’re wasting your time,” she maintained stubbornly, interrupting his thoughts. “If you really want to follow up on a lead, you should have someone check out that biker you left unconscious on the floor. I overheard a conversation of his that sounded suspicious.” She proceeded to repeat what she had heard.

  “Did you hear him say cattle?” Jackson demanded, when she was done.

  “Well, no,” she admitted reluctantly. “I couldn’t hear everything he said. I might not have noticed him at all, except I was so surprised to see Larry talking to someone like that...” Her voice trailed off. Jackson’s eyes were alight with interest.

  “You saw Larry and this guy talking?”

  Kaly wished she had thought before blurting that out. Now it looked even worse for the ranch hand. “They only spoke for a second. Then Larry gave him something before he went into the men’s room.”

  She could tell from Jackson’s face that this last bit of information just made Larry more suspicious in his eyes. She couldn’t help but wonder herself what the two men had had to say to each other, but she wasn’t going to assume that Larry was guilty, not until they had much more than circumstantial evidence to go on.

  “You still don’t realize how lucky you were tonight,” Jackson muttered, raking one hand through his dark hair.

  Kaly was growing tired of the whole argument. “You almost missed us. We were on our way out.”

  He cocked an eyebrow at her, silently reminding her that she had been nowhere near the door and in no position to leave when he’d found her. Kaly correctly read the sardonic expression on his face. “We were leaving,” she stressed. “But we’d gone to the restrooms, and I saw that man’s jacket...” She shrugged. “He was on the phone right by me, and at the end it sounded like he was reading a number off a paper, so when he ripped it up and threw it on the floor, I tried to retrieve the pieces.”

  Jackson stared at her in horror. “You picked it up? God almighty, Kaly, no wonder he went after you. Of all the damn fool things to—” He bit off the rest of his statement at her pointed look.

  “I fobbed him off with some excuse about losing a contact lens, and he believed me. By the time you came up to us, he had forgotten all about the paper.”

  He closed his eyes for a moment. He could imagine too well what had taken the man’s thoughts off the pieces of paper. He folded her to him and whispered, “God, Kaly, what the hell were you thinking of? Anything could have happened to you in there. Anything. You could have disappeared and never been heard from again, did you ever think of that?”

  Kaly struggled, but it was quickly apparent she couldn’t escape from his grasp, and she discovered that she really didn’t want to.
At his tortured words, the last incident of the fight in the bar came rushing back to her, and she began to shake as she relived it. Jackson could have been badly hurt, even killed. She wedged her hands between their bodies and tried to feel for any injuries he may have sustained in the brawl.

  “He didn’t hurt you anywhere, did he?” she asked worriedly.

  Jackson loosened his grip on her, enjoying the feeling of those small hands moving slowly, exploringly, over his torso. She was feeling for wounds, he knew, but her touch was causing a heat to build, and it spread quickly through his body.

  “No, the only blow I took tonight was to my pride,” he said huskily.

  She stopped her search and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. “It could withstand a few more. You’ve probably been riding roughshod over people since you were a toddler.”

  Jackson shook his head, ignoring her comment. “That bar is pure trouble and no one but thugs hang out there. Larry had no business putting you in danger like that.” His arms tightened involuntarily as he closed his eyes in gratitude that he’d found her when he had. He couldn’t trust anyone else to take care of Kaly the way he could. If he’d been ten minutes later... He shut the thoughts off. He’d found her. She was all right. He lifted her face with one hand on her delicate jawline and fixed his mouth to hers, first gently, then with more fervor, as if to prove that fact to himself.

  Kaly responded by rubbing her lips against his, opening her mouth to close it over his lips. Their tongues dueled intimately before Jackson sent his deep into her mouth, an indication of his intentions. Jackson could feel the womanly curve of her hip pressed tightly against the hard ridge straining against his jeans. Kaly unbuttoned his shirt quickly, clumsily spreading kisses randomly across his chest. He hissed in a breath. He wanted her, had to have her—now. He moved her so that she sat astride him.

  Kaly moved her head and whispered. “What?” but he sealed her lips fiercely. The memories of the night, the could-have-beens, rolled over him and he was suddenly frantic to bond with her, proving to himself that she was all right. He pushed her top above her breasts and released the front catch on her bra. He pulled a nipple into his mouth with frenzied arousal, making her gasp at first at his fierceness, before giving a low moan and arching into him. He unzipped her jeans and pulled them off in one fluid motion, then dispensed with her panties. With one hand he parted her womanly folds and sent an exploring finger inside her.

  Kaly sobbed at the almost unbearable speed that her arousal had come upon her. She rocked against him, against the tongue and lips working magic on her breast and against his hand practicing the same witchcraft on her femininity. She began to cry out in earnest now, desperate for release.

  Jackson unfastened his pants and freed his throbbing sex. He had barely enough control to protect her before he lifted her up, positioning her carefully. He eased her down, his breath escaping in a long groan. As he bent to take her other breast in his mouth, Kaly moved faster and faster, frantic to have all of him. Jackson grasped her hips firmly and thrust up fiercely. Kaly screamed softly and he repeated the action, over and over, blind to everything but release of his desire. At his peak, he shouted her name hoarsely, then leaned his damp forehead against hers, their ragged breathing mingling.

  He held her afterward, his hard arms keeping her trapped against his body. He was oddly reluctant to let her go. Eyes wide and unseeing, he stared out at the night sky. And tried to shake the fear he still felt from her brush with danger.

  Chapter 13

  Jackson tipped up her chin and sealed her mouth with his once more, reassuring himself again that she was safe. Their seeking mouths pulled away reluctantly, and Kaly nestled her head into the niche beneath his chin, marveling at how perfectly she fit there.

  “I never realized pickup trucks could be so erotic,” she murmured, rubbing her face against his shoulder.

  Jackson’s breath soughed out of him in choked laughter. “This one never has been before.” He turned her face up to him. “It must be you.” He hadn’t made love in the front seat of a pickup since the randy days of his youth, when he’d had more hormones than sense. But since he’d met Kaly, good sense seemed to be a thing of the past.

  His lips brushed hers again, feather-light. Part of him was bewildered at the myriad emotions he experienced when he was with her. But he was damn certain he liked it. He pressed her head gently against his chest and rhythmically stroked her heavy fall of hair. His hard mouth tilted slightly. Their relationship had been tempestuous since the beginning. They were both too stubborn for it to be otherwise. But his was a forceful personality. It took a woman with Kaly’s inner strength to stand up to him. She didn’t quake before his temper—she gave him hell right back. She might make him mad on a regular basis, but she sure never bored him. His arms tightened around her.

  They held each other, enjoying the afterglow for a time, before Jackson sighed into her hair. “I forgot all about Jeff and Carrie. They must be wondering where we are.”

  “I suppose we should go home,” Kaly whispered languorously, but made no move.

  “Mm-hmm,” he agreed, but it was several more minutes before they moved apart and straightened their clothing.

  When they arrived at the ranch, Jeff and Carrie met them at the door, flinging it open before they could reach it.

  “What happened?” Carrie demanded. “I never expected you to be gone so long, Kaly.”

  “I didn’t expect to be—” started Kaly, but Jeff interrupted her.

  “If you two hadn’t shown up soon, I’d have come looking for you.”

  A blush spread up Kaly’s neck to her cheeks. Just thinking what Jeff would have seen had he found them made her skin heat. She could feel Jackson’s eyes on her, amused probably, darn him, and refused to look his way.

  Jeff explained to Jackson, “Larry came by about an hour ago and said you two were fine but that you’d had a run-in at the bar?” At Jackson’s nod, he turned to Kaly. “What in Sam Hill was Larry thinking of? He had no business taking you to a place like that. And you never should have gone with him. He’s...” With a look at Jackson, then at his wife, he subsided.

  “It wasn’t Larry’s fault,” Kaly defended him. “It looked like it would be a pretty tame night there. That’s the only reason he stopped.”

  Jackson herded them all into the office. “What did Larry say when he was here?” he queried as he sat on the couch and pulled Kaly down next to him.

  “Just that you’d arrived in time to get Kaly out of a jam and got in a tussle with a knife wielding lunatic,” Jeff responded with feigned indifference.

  Jackson’s mouth flattened. It sounded as if he had one more thing to take up with Larry Scott. He promised himself savagely that when the net closed around the hired man for good, the man would pay for putting Kaly in danger tonight. One of the hardest things Jackson had ever done was to let him walk out the door of the bar, instead of making sure he’d have to be carried out.

  “Larry told us you said you’d be home shortly.” Jeff took an exaggerated stare at his watch. “Of course, he didn’t give us your definition of ‘shortly.’ Maybe it’s different from ours.”

  “We stopped somewhere so Kaly could…explain what happened tonight,” Jackson responded with uncustomary diplomacy. “Where’s Larry now?”

  “He volunteered to relieve Rod in the barn, staying up with the cow that’s about to deliver.”

  Privately Jackson thought Larry was probably trying to atone for his mistake tonight by pulling the extra duty. Aloud he said, “I’ll let Kaly tell you what happened tonight.” He nodded at her and invited, “Go ahead.”

  She addressed Jeff firmly. “Well, first of all, nobody should blame Larry. He didn’t put me in danger. We were leaving when Jackson got there.”

  The two men exchanged a look. “Stopping at Pete’s is just one in a long line of things we blame him for,” Jeff muttered. Carrie gave her husband a puzzled look.

  “He never sh
ould have stopped there in the first place,” Jackson said tersely. “He goes to Pete’s enough—he knows damn well what it can be like.”

  “He thought it would be harmless tonight, since it wasn’t a Saturday. And he was very protective. We got up to go when it started to get more crowded.”

  “Maybe he had reasons to be in that bar tonight,” Jeff surmised, glancing at his brother. “Reasons that had nothing to do with Kaly.”

  “Don’t try to tell her that,” Jackson responded. “She thinks he’s ready for sainthood.” Kaly eyed them both with exasperation.

  “Okay, time out,” Carrie interrupted. “Why am I getting the feeling that everyone in this room knows something I don’t?”

  Kaly appeared smug at the expressions that crossed both men’s faces. Jeff appeared almost comically dismayed, and Jackson was noticeably wary.

  “Well?” Carrie asked, when several moments passed and no one answered. “Fill me in, since you’ve obviously been back to playing your macho ‘Let’s protect the little ladies from all this unpleasantness’ routine.”

  “It wasn’t like that at all,” Jeff finally said uncomfortably. “We have reason to believe Larry might be tied up in this rustling.”

  Carrie’s eyes widened. “Larry? And Kaly went with him tonight?” Her eyes swung to the other woman’s. “Oh, Kaly!”

  “There must not be any real proof that he’s involved,” Kaly answered, “or he wouldn’t be walking around free.”

  “On the contrary,” Jackson said, “after tonight there’s more to point to Larry than ever.” He relayed what Kaly had told him about the events of the night to the other two.

  Carrie shuddered. “I can’t believe that animal actually had his hands on you, Kaly. You could have been seriously hurt.”

  Jackson slanted a glance toward her. “Exactly,” he murmured, his voice full of meaning.