by Becky McGraw
Tingles from his deep rich voice worked their way over her face, down her throat to settle around her nipples, which had instantly had responded to his sexual innuendo. Cassie lifted her chin, then spun Honey around kicking her sides harder than necessary, then leaned low over the horse's neck as she took off in a gallop across the open field. Cassie didn't know where she was going, but wherever she wound up she'd be away from the irritating temptation of Luke Matthews.
"She's somethin ain't she?" Bud said with reverence watching Cassie riding hell bent for leather across the field, her blonde hair flying out behind her.
"Definitely," Luke agreed swallowing down the lust that mule-kicked him in the chest. He shifted in his saddle, his current position, no longer comfortable. "Let's catch up with her before she breaks her neck," Luke said then urged his horse to a trot, then a gallop.
When they rounded the copse of trees at the end of the pasture, he saw she had slowed her horse to a walk. He pulled up beside her with Bud right behind him. "You think you can wait on us?"
Cassie shrugged. "I felt like a run. It's been a long time."
"Don't forget it sweet thing. You might have been a rodeo queen, but it's been ten years since you've been in the saddle. You need to be more careful."
"You don't have to worry about me, honey bunch. I've been riding since I could walk."
"So has your daddy, and he got thrown." Luke was seriously worried that she'd take for granted she was rusty and hurt herself because of it.
She pushed her hat back on her head and pinned him with angry blue eyes. "My daddy only got thrown, because of an inexperienced horse and a snake," she told him then looked away, her shoulders stiff.
Luke heard Bud chuckle behind him and shot a look over his shoulder. The man could at least support him and give her a warning himself, but it looked like the old cowboy was just hanging back enjoying their conversation.
"Suit yourself, sunshine," he said to the stubborn woman then kicked his horse into a gallop. Two could play her game. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw that she had Honey at a gallop again and she was low over her neck, pushing her hard to catch up to him. He grinned and urged his mount faster toward the fence in the distance. When he got there he lifted the horse up and hugged close to his neck as the long-legged gelding jumped the fence with ease.
Once he got over, he pulled him to a stop and spun around to grin at her as she neared the fence herself. It was poetry in motion to watch her communicate with her horse with her body language to urge the beautiful palomino over the fence as well. She didn't stop though, she gave him a cocky smile when she passed and then kept hauling butt across the pasture toward the herd grazing in the distance.
Instead of following her, Luke waited for Bud to catch up and got down to open the gate to let him through. The big grizzly man was grinning from ear to ear. Bud was enjoying the shit out of the sparks flying between him and Cassie. Secretly, Luke was enjoying it too. It had been a long time since he'd had this much fun.
"Thanks. Better go catch up with that girl before she has the whole herd hog-tied." Bud chuckled and kicked his horse to a cantor, after Luke was remounted. They reached the herd a few minutes later, and Cassie was already off her horse, moving through the black cows inspecting the pregnant ones more thoroughly.
"I got a list of the ones we need to cut Cassie Bee, but if you wanna look them over too, that's not a problem."
She looked up at Bud distractedly then said, "I'm just thinking since we're short on hands, we might wanna think about having a twofer sale before they drop the calves."
"Your daddy would have a stroke. That's a lot of money to give away, darlin'."
"I know, but if we sold at least some of them, it would make the herd more manageable," she told him and then pushed her hat back on her head to look at him earnestly.
"Carl ain't gonna go along with that, Cassie. We'll have enough hands to handle it with the new hand I hired, and you and Luke."
"I'm sure Luke has better things to do, and if we sold of part of the herd now, we wouldn't need him." Cassie glanced at Luke then back to Bud.
So that was her angle, Luke thought. Getting rid of him. Well, she could put that thought out to pasture, because he wasn't going anywhere. "I agree with Bud and Carl. We have enough hands now, and if you sold the pregnant cows you'd be losing a fortune."
Her eyes narrowed and she shot daggers at him, her full lips pinched before she said, "And your opinion would matter why? What the hell do you know about cattle?"
"A hell of a lot more than you think, darlin'. Didn't Bud tell you I worked on a cattle ranch while I was in college?" He looked over at Bud who was still just smiling from ear to ear, but not backing him up at all.
Cassie's eyes flew to Bud as well. "No, there's a lot he failed to mention, evidently." She stomped over to her horse and remounted, then shoved her hat back on her head. "Which ones do we need to cut, Bud?"
He pulled a small notebook from his pocket and flipped back the cover. As Bud called out numbers, she and Luke moved through the herd to search the ear tags on the pregnant cows to find the one he called. Together, they worked as a team to cull them from the herd then moved them over to the corner of the pasture where Bud stayed behind to keep them cornered there.
They'd separated six cows from the herd so far, and Bud said there were ten more on his list. Her thigh muscles were aching and her ass felt like it had when she'd been paddled by the principal in sixth grade for putting a frog in Becca Harvey's book sack.
It had been worth it to see the horror on Becca's face and hear her girly scream when she reached inside to pull out her book and the slimy toad jumped out and landed on her chest. There was a riot in class when everyone jumped up trying to catch the jumpy amphibian. Mrs. Simpson was not as impressed as the kids in her class were and sent her to the principal's office.
The number Bud had last called appeared on the ear tag of the cow right in front of her and she signaled Honey and managed to work the clumsy cow over by a tree. She waved at Luke and he started toward her, then she heard a sound like crunching leaves to her left and looked down to find a dusty brown snake with a diamond pattern on his back coiled up and not looking happy.
Cassie screamed and automatically squeezed her thighs around Honey like a green horn. The mare took off from under her and a limb caught her across the chest. She somersaulted off the back of the horse then landed face first in the dirt knocking the breath out of her. Numbness claimed her whole body as shock set in and she began shaking.
She heard a rifle shot nearby and then Luke was beside her his long-fingered hands moving over her body from head to toe. "Cassie, sugar...talk to me. Are you hurt, darlin?" His voice was choked and scared, as he begged close to her ear, "C'mon cupcake. Talk to me." His fingers certainly got her blood moving again as he gently moved them through her hair, down her neck and then her shoulders, arms and ribs.
"I'm okay," she finally told him then rolled over and tossed her arm across her eyes. "Tell me you killed that snake."
"He's dead," he told her gruffly then asked with concern, "Are you hurt?"
"Just stunned..." She moved her arm and looked around for Honey. "Is Honey okay?"
"She's fine, she's over by Bud," he told her then stood. He grabbed his rifle and slid it into the scabbard on his saddle, before kneeling back down beside her and sliding one arm under neck then the other under beneath her knees before lifting her into his arms.
He hugged her to him tightly for a second, and kissed her cheek, which shocked the stuffing out of her and caused her tongue to stick to the roof of her mouth. She thought she felt a tremor move through his big body, but she was shaking so badly she couldn't be sure if it was him or her.
When she finally got her tongue unglued, she told him "Put me down, Luke, I'm fine."
He ignored her and walked to his horse and lifted her into the saddle. She scooted forward to give him enough room to mount behind her and grabbed the saddle horn.
He walked back to the tree and picked up her hat from the ground beside the dead snake and dusted it off on the leg of his jeans. When he came back, he put his foot in the stirrup and vaulted onto the horse's back behind her. He handed her the hat then grabbed the reins with one hand and put the other around her waist to pull her back against him.
As shaken up as she was, Cassie still noticed how good his body felt against hers, his strong thighs pressed against hers on the fender of the saddle. His warmth pressed against her back warmed the coldness that had settled in her chest. And he smelled so damned good. Like soap, sunshine and sexy warm male. A little moan escaped her when she took a deep breath wanting to inhale his essence.
His arm tightened against her waist. "Something hurting you?" His voice was a gruff whisper against her ear.
Just her inability to resist the big sexy man behind her. "No, really--I'm just shook up." She shivered, not entirely from her ordeal. His hot breath on her ear was causing all kinds of havoc to her system. "I hate snakes," she said and wiggled her behind in the saddle trying to get comfortable.
Luke groaned behind her and she felt a large very hard ridge press against her bottom. Cassie wanted to groan herself now, but sat perfectly still instead and said, "Sorry."
"Just sit still," he begged his voice low and tortured as he rested his chin on her shoulder, and rubbed his jaw against her hair. "God, how the hell can you still do this to me?" He sounded amazed and then she felt his tongue lick at the side of her neck before he sucked her earlobe between his firm lips.
"Luke, stop," she told him heatedly then slid forward in the saddle. "That can't happen."
"Why not? We're grownups, darlin' and surely you remember how good it was between us."
He licked her again and she leaned away from his exploring mouth, which felt way too good. "Because I'm engaged."
"And?"
"And I'm not interested," she said with finality, although that little devil that rode her shoulder occasionally called her a liar.
His hand moved up from her waist to cup her breast and his thumb brushed over her pebbled nipple causing her to shiver. "Liar."
She slapped his hand away. "Just get me back to my freaking horse please."
He chuckled then nudged the horse to a trot. "Yes ma'am."
When they reached Bud, he was beside himself, and quickly slid off his horse and ran over to them. "You alright Cassie Bee?" he asked putting a hand on her calf.
"I'm good, Bud. Just shook up. Damned snake scared me and I squeezed Honey like I've never ridden before and a limb got me. Poor darlin' is probably scared to death."
"Ain't too worried about the horse, girl." His voice was gruff and concerned. "Are you sure you're not hurt? We need to take you to the doc to have you checked out?"
"No--I'm fine," she almost shouted. She was tired of saying it. Why wouldn't these two believe her? She elbowed Luke in the ribs and he grunted. "Get down." Once he was standing on the ground, she tossed her leg over the saddle, but before she could slide to the ground, she felt Luke's hands at her waist lifting her down.
Her legs weren't all that steady when she landed, so she was glad he did. She pulled away from him then staggered over to where Honey was ground tied, her reins dragging in the dirt. Cassie grabbed them up and the mare looked at her with scared brown eyes. She scratched the side of Honey's neck and cooed into her ear, "It's okay, baby girl, it was my fault, not yours." She whispered encouragement in the mare's ear a few more minutes, then eased the reins over her head and mounted her.
"What's the next number, Bud?" She asked him with fierce determination then patted her hat down on her head. They had a job to finish, and it wasn't going to be because of her they didn't finish.
"No way, Cassie Bee. We're going back now," Bud told her seriously and mounted his horse. "We'll finish up tomorrow."
"We'll finish up today." She told him through gritted teeth. "What's the next number?"
Bud studied her intently for a second. "You're as stubborn as your daddy, you know that?"
"And proud of it." Cassie gave him a bodacious grin and demanded once more, "Now what's the next number?"
The sun was setting by the time they corralled all the cows they'd cut into the catch pen, and had unsaddled their horses. Cassie was dirty, sore and tired, but happy too. They'd finished the job and had all sixteen cows back to the barn.
"I'm gonna sleep good tonight," she said as Luke took her saddle from her shoulder and walked with her to the tack room. Her stomach rumbled. "We missed lunch, so I hope Imelda has something good for supper."
"Everything Imelda makes is good."
"Yeah, she's a damned good cook," Cassie said then tilted her head and asked, "You staying for supper?"
"You inviting me to stay?" he drawled, his whiskey brown eyes hopeful.
Cassie hesitated and nibbled her lower lip. It probably wasn't a great idea, but he had worked hard today and was probably just as hungry as she was. As aggravating as he'd been today, she couldn't deny him. "Yeah, I'm inviting."
Surprise flitted across his tired face, then he grinned at her. "Thanks," Luke said then looked down at his dirty clothes and dirtier hands. "I need to take a shower though."
"You can take one up at the house in the spare room. I'm sure Daddy has something you can change into."
"I have some spare clothes in the truck. Always carry them because I never know what I'm gonna encounter when I'm on shift," he told her thinking of the last time he'd had to use them. A very unfriendly skunk had wandered into the mini-mart right outside of town. It took him a week and a case of tomato juice to get that smell off of him and out of his car. Cole had gotten a lot of mileage teasing him over that unfortunate event.
He pulled off his dusty, sweaty hat and slapped it on his thigh, then ran his hand through his wet hair. "I'll grab them and be right in...and thanks again."
She nodded and he watched as she walked off toward the house, her stride not quite as long as it usually was. Tomorrow she'd feel like she'd been run over by a truck. You didn't ride as hard as she had today after not riding for ten years and not pay the price. It had been seven years since he'd ridden, so her pain must be at least twice what his was.
Luke shook his head, amazed again at how focused and determined she'd been to finish their job after being thrown from Honey. Most women, wouldn't have even been out there in the first place. But she'd been out there and she hadn't let a little thing like getting thrown slow her down.
It seemed like he was the only one scared down to his toes from the frightening experience. When he saw her fly off the horse and hit the dirt, his heart had actually stopped until he found out she was still breathing and in one piece. People died from lesser falls.
After he'd gotten his senses back, his respect for her edged up a few notches. Her spurs weren't just for show, like he'd originally thought. Working the cattle with her today had been like a well-orchestrated dance. One he wouldn't mind repeating...in bed.
He had to get control of himself several times during the day when he kept imagining her riding him as well as she was riding that horse. And then when they'd ridden double, Luke thought he was going to lose it right there like a teenage boy, if she wiggled against him in the saddle again. Her salty-sweet taste, when he couldn't resist sampling her neck, had almost sent him over the edge.
Opening the door of his truck, Luke reached behind the seat and pulled out his duffle then slammed it. He walked to the porch and pulled off his boots then stomped a few times to knock the dust off his jeans, before he opened the door and walked inside. He heard someone talking on the phone in the little alcove down the hall to the right and a light feminine laugh had him standing still for a second to listen.
"Yeah, I'm fine, James. Just hurt my pride." Cassie's lilting voice said to the person on the other end of the line. "I'm sorry I didn't call when I got here. My cell doesn't get reception out here in the boondocks."