At first Dominique wasn’t sure what she was looking at, but then she realized the foal, covered in the fetal membrane, was emerging like a swimmer making a dive, front feet straight out and head resting on its forelegs.
“Give her a little help, Nick,” Jack said.
“Don’t want to steal her thunder.” Nick had a smile in his voice.
“Somehow I don’t think she’d mind.” Jack sounded as cheerful as Dominique had ever heard him.
“Nick’s getting lazy in his old age,” teased the cowboy with the red hair.
“Okay.” Nick grasped the foal’s front legs. “Janey, I know you can do this all by yourself, but everybody else thinks you need an assistant.” As the horse wheezed and groaned, he carefully began to tug the foal free.
Dominique took a couple of pictures, but then simply watched in awe as the wet, gangly foal gradually emerged, helped along by Nick’s strong, capable hands. The muscles in his arms bunched from the effort, and Dominique held her breath, waiting with everyone else.
When the mare gave one last push and the foal tumbled to the straw, Dominique was swamped with a rush of unexpected emotion. Feeling silly, she blinked and took a deep breath. Maybe it wasn’t so silly. She’d never seen a baby being born.
“It’s a boy!” Nick announced to the onlookers. “And I’m pretty sure he’s a paint!” A cheer went up from the assembled group.
Calamity Jane struggled to her feet, hobbled over to the foal and began licking him clean. Both Jack and Nick stood, too, and Nick pretended he was going to wipe his gloved hands on Jack’s shirt.
Laughing, Jack dodged out of his reach. Nick pulled off the slimy gloves and dumped them in a nearby bucket.
“Congratulations, cowboy.” Jack slapped Nick on the back. “He’s a beauty. Black markings just like his daddy.”
“Yeah, he is a good-looking foal. Gabe’ll go ape-shit over this little guy.”
Dominique couldn’t see Nick’s face, but she had to believe he was wearing a wide grin. The dramatic change in the relationship between Nick and Jack fascinated her. An hour ago these two had been facing off, tempers at the boiling point. Now they were buds sharing in a special moment.
“There he goes,” announced the red-haired cowboy. “He’s standing up!”
Instinct took over as Dominique raised her camera and recorded the determined efforts of the trembling, knock-kneed foal as he tried to get all four legs under him. He was minutes old, and he was…standing!
Another cheer went up, and this time Dominique joined in. She was no longer embarrassed by the lump in her throat. She’d never witnessed anything quite like this tiny miracle, and she wouldn’t need pictures to help her remember it.
“So you came after all.”
She glanced up to find Nick less than two feet away. She’d been so focused on taking shots of the new baby she hadn’t realized he’d walked in her direction. Her pulse rate jumped.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” she said.
He adjusted his hat so it tilted lower over his eyes. “That wasn’t the impression I got when you stomped up to the house.”
She glanced around and discovered nobody was paying much attention to them. Everyone was hanging over the stall admiring the new addition to the Last Chance Ranch. “I came to my senses,” she said.
“I’m glad you had a chance to see that.” His gaze was steady but unreadable. “Did you get enough pictures?”
“Yes.” She no longer knew where they stood, and the conversation had taken an uncomfortable turn. “Nick, I was out of line to be telling you what you should do about Gabe. I apologize.”
He hesitated a minute, as if choosing his words carefully. “I was wrong, too. You can’t ask a person to help you through a rough patch and then refuse to listen to some well-meaning advice.”
“But you’re right that it’s none of my business.”
Remorse flickered in his green eyes. “I’m not so sure about that, Dominique. I mean, when you’re willing to brave snakes and bears for me, I owe you the courtesy of listening to what you have to say.”
“You listened and decided against my suggestion. I shouldn’t have kept trying to make my case.”
“Why did you?”
Now there was a question she didn’t want to answer. A truthful reply would mean admitting that she was invested in his welfare, that she’d begun to care for him far more than someone only interested in a fun romp should.
“Hey, Nick!” called the red-haired cowboy. “Jack says you’ve got some cigars stashed away for this occasion.”
Dominique was grateful for the reprieve. “Sounds like you need to help some people celebrate.”
“Maybe.” He gave her another searching glance before turning toward the men grouped around the stall. “I have a few cigars tucked away, Jeb, but with the schedule we’ve all been keeping lately, you won’t have time to smoke ’em.”
Jack groaned. “Pass out the damned cigars.”
“Be right there, then.” Nick faced Dominique. “I gotta go. I’m assuming you don’t want a cigar.”
“Thanks, but I gave them up last year.”
His soft laugh stroked her nerve endings and made her long for a different kind of celebration.
As if reading her mind, he touched her cheek. “If you won’t take a cigar, how about dinner tonight?”
“I’d love it.” Warmth flooded her at the thought that they’d healed the breach between them. Her next thought, that her excitement over his invitation should probably serve as a warning that she was slowly falling under his spell, she shoved aside.
“Great. Be ready by seven, and wear your dancing shoes.”
“I’m not much of a dancer.”
His eyes twinkled. “No worries. I am.”
11
NICK DISTRIBUTED THE cigars, but shoved his in his shirt pocket. Although he was thrilled about the birth, he wasn’t in the mood to sit around the barn and talk about it.
Jack had already made his excuses and headed out, claiming a watering trough was malfunctioning. Nick was relieved to see him go. The new foal, which they’d named Calamity Sam, had briefly distracted Jack from his grief and guilt, but Nick had watched the familiar black cloud settle over his brother as the minutes passed. It was hard to believe he used to be a hell of a lot of fun.
Once outside the barn, Nick gave each of the dogs a biscuit from his pocket as a reward for waiting quietly during the birth. They accepted the treat and joyously returned to their usual occupation of chasing rabbits and squirrels. Nick watched them bound off, and then headed toward the house.
As he climbed the steps to the porch, he tried to decide whether to take a shower first or phone Gabe. Before finding the letter from his birth mother, he wouldn’t have thought twice about calling his younger brother. Things were different now.
He’d started playing the if-only game—never a good idea, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. If only he hadn’t volunteered to go through his dad’s trunk, he’d still be blissfully ignorant. His only problems would be whether or not he was falling for the bodacious Dominique, and how the heck he could alter Jack’s attitude.
Those problems had seemed unmanageable, but this one… He still couldn’t get his mind around it. If only he’d reacted differently. Destroyed the letter and pretended he’d never seen it… But he wasn’t made that way. His father had been, apparently.
Nick was still thinking about his dad’s secretive nature and the coming phone conversation with Gabe as he entered the house and climbed the stairs to the second floor. The place was quiet except for the sound of water running. Dominique must be showering.
Roni’s room had an attached bath, something Sarah had insisted on because Roni was a teenage girl in a houseful of men, and had needed her privacy. She’d cherished that room.
She’d been fourteen when Emmett had found her hitchhiking, running away from an abusive father. After the foreman convinced her to come to the ranch, she’
d tried to steal a truck, but instead of turning her over to the police, Emmett and Jonathan had decided to hire her to keep the ranch trucks running.
These days Roni traveled the country in her capacity as a NASCAR team mechanic, so she was hardly ever home. That made her room with its attached bath perfect for guests. Nick didn’t have that kind of convenience. He still had to cross the hall.
As he passed Roni’s room he heard Dominique start to sing. And man, was she terrible at it! He recognized the words to “Zippity Do-Da,” or he wouldn’t have had the slightest idea what she was trying to sing.
Obviously, she either didn’t know or didn’t care that she had no talent for the activity, because she was belting out the lyrics as if someone had just signed her to a recording contract. Nick stood there, shaking his head and smiling. Dominique was a kick. If she danced as horribly as she sang, his toes would be in for a beating tonight.
But tonight seemed a long way away. Dominique, however, was very close, and at the moment very naked. He shoved his hand in his jeans pocket, and sure enough, found a condom left in there.
He tried the bedroom door and wasn’t surprised that she hadn’t locked it. But he didn’t want to scare her to death or call up the scene from Psycho. As he opened the door, he began singing along with her, although his version was actually in tune.
She stopped singing abruptly. “Nick? Is that you?”
“It’s me.” He walked to the door of the bathroom and peeked in. The space was steamy and smelled like fresh flowers. The NASCAR-themed shower curtain drawn across the tub was opaque so he couldn’t see her. “Can I come in?”
She poked her head around the curtain, drawing it under her chin so he still couldn’t see anything but her wet hair and face. Drops of water clung to her long eyelashes. She looked like a wood sprite, or what he imagined a wood sprite would look like if they existed.
“It seems you’re already in,” she said. “Is anything wrong?”
“No.” Unless he counted his growing need to be with her 24/7. “I was heading to take a shower when I heard you…singing.”
She grinned. “Nice of you to call it that. I’ve been told I sound like an alley cat in heat.”
“I was thinking more of a bull moose.”
“See, none of my friends have heard one of those, so they had to go with the alley cat comparison.” She continued to gaze at him as if trying to figure out why he’d shown up in her bathroom in the middle of the day. “Did you want to talk? I’ll be through in a couple of minutes.”
“Actually, I could use a shower first.”
“Okay. I can hang around upstairs until you’re finished with that. Just come on back to my room. I’ll be here.”
“Seems a shame to have to walk all the way down the hall to take that shower. It’ll just waste time.”
Understanding slowly dawned on her expressive face as he added, “I thought you might be willing to share yours.”
“Nick, it’s the middle of the day. What if someone—”
“I know the rhythm of the people who live in this house. Nobody’s likely to come up here for at least a couple of hours, if then.”
Her eyes darkened and her breathing changed so subtly that an unobservant person might not have noticed.
But he did. “Can I take silence for a yes?”
“I think you’re a really bad boy, Nick Chance.”
He began stripping off his clothes. “And I think you like it.”
“I suppose I do.” She eased the shower curtain back a few inches.
It wasn’t enough to let water out, but gave him an excellent view of her standing there, wet and glistening in the glare of the overhead light.
Holding his gaze, she slowly rubbed a washcloth over her breasts. “Ready for some good, clean fun?”
He set a world record getting undressed, but remembered to pull the condom out of his jeans pocket. Heart thundering with anticipation, he walked over to the tub.
As she moved aside and made room for him under the spray, she glanced at the condom in his hand and laughed softly. “Not exactly subtle, are we?”
“No pockets.”
“I’ll take care of that.” Plucking the condom packet from his hand, she set it in the recessed soap dish. Then she lathered up the washcloth and glanced into his eyes. “Where would you like me to start?”
His vocal cords felt tight because he wanted her so much, but he managed a reply. “Use your imagination.” He could say that to her and know all kinds of wonderful things would happen. He had enough experience to realize that wasn’t so easy to find in a woman. But he had it now, with Dominique, and he’d be wise to take this one day, one hour, one minute at a time.
She applied the soapy cloth to his chest and then took the time to wash each of his arms. When she returned to his pecs and began circling gradually lower, he decided the present was a very good place to be. Any second now she’d arrive at the destination he had in mind for her. Almost there. Almost… Or maybe not.
He should have expected her to tease him. That was part of what made her more exciting than any other woman he’d had sex with. She’d deliberately avoided his erect penis and aching balls. Instead she moved to his thighs. As she knelt down to wash them thoroughly, her mouth was right there.
She seemed oblivious to the opportunity. Instead, she moved lower, out of range, and washed his calves. He wondered if a man could go insane waiting for a woman to touch his johnson.
After washing his feet, she stood. “All done!”
“You missed a place.”
“Your back! Turn around and I’ll wash it.”
Yes, a man could go insane. “I don’t care about my back.”
“Then I’m not sure what you’re…oh, maybe you mean this part?” She lightly touched his dick with the washcloth.
Nick clenched his jaw to make sure he didn’t come right then and there. “That’s part of what I meant.”
“And maybe this part.” She massaged his balls with the soft terry cloth.
He drew in a breath and closed his eyes. “Yeah.”
“I’m so forgetful.”
“Like hell.”
“But I’ll take care of everything.” She wrapped the washcloth around his penis and began to rub up and down.
He groaned with pleasure. Too much pleasure. If she kept that up…
“Let’s rinse you off.” She splashed warm water on him. “And lick you dry.” Kneeling in the tub, she began doing things with her hands and tongue that were guaranteed to make him explode.
He cupped her head, his fingers making a squeaking sound in her clean wet hair. He wasn’t sure whether to stop her or urge her on. Coming now would feel so good, but coming later, buried inside her, would feel great, too. If they had more time together he’d be able to enjoy both options.
But he didn’t have that luxury. Straining with the effort to hold back, he drew her to her feet. It seemed like forever since he’d kissed this woman, and he needed to taste her. Then he needed to roll on a condom and create that elemental connection with her. When they were locked together, moving as one, his world made sense.
Their kiss was hotter than a blacksmith’s forge. Vaguely, he realized the shower was turning cool, but he didn’t care. His focus was her mouth, her breasts, her clit.
He hated to stop touching and kissing her long enough to put on the condom, but sacrifices had to be made. It wasn’t the easiest maneuver because he was shaking. At last he was able to cup her firm ass in both hands, lift her up against the tiled wall and sink into her.
They were both slippery as eels and she had trouble keeping her legs wrapped around his hips. She began to laugh, which wasn’t what he was going for.
“It’s not funny,” he muttered as he braced a foot against each side of the tub and began to pump.
She grinned at him. “Just so you know, if you drop me, there will be hell to pay.”
“I won’t drop you. Lock your ankles together.”
; “I’ve tried. They keep sliding apart. You’d better make this fast.”
“It would be my pleasure.” He picked up the pace and took satisfaction in the way her laughter faded and her eyes darkened. When her breathing grew ragged and her fingers bit into his shoulders, he knew he had her.
“How’s that?” he asked conversationally, although it took all the lung control he possessed to keep from gasping while he said it. “Passable.”
“You are such a liar.” He rushed the words because soon he wouldn’t be able to say anything. “You’re going to come any second.”
“Think so?” She gripped him tighter and licked her lips.
“I know so.” He made sure he slid in hard and tight with each stroke.
At last she began to whimper.
“Told you.” He watched her eyes, and knew the moment was upon her when they widened. She gave one sharp cry, and her spasms rolled over his cock. He was ready, so ready, and her climax was all he needed to send him surging forward in a shuddering, pulsing release.
Gasping, he rested his forehead against hers. “That was…great….”
“Mmm.” She sagged against the tile and gulped air.
“If I smoked cigars…now would be the time.”
“Same here.”
“Wonder if we’ll ever do it in a bed.”
“Might be easier.”
“Tonight. My bed.” He’d bought it last year from a guy in Shoshone who made hand-carved bed frames. So far Nick had been the only person in that bed, but that was about to change.
Thinking about it now wasn’t a good idea, though, because he started to get hard again. He was fresh out of condoms, and besides, sooner or later someone would come looking for him. Just his luck it would be Jack…again.
DOMINIQUE LOANED NICK a towel to wrap around his hips so he could walk down the hall to his room without flashing anyone who might show up. He insisted on sticking the unlit cigar between his teeth before he left.
Fortunately, no one came along, because Nick’s exit from her room wearing a towel, carrying his clothes and clenching a cigar between his teeth would pretty much tell the story of what had just happened. She couldn’t resist watching him go, even though she looked equally incriminating wrapped in the mate to the towel he wore.
Wanted! Page 10