The Cowboy

by Vonna Harper, P. J. Mellor, Nelissa Donovan

  Dean chuckled, the sting of the memory fading in light of Cassie’s heated words. Her tits pressed up against him didn’t hurt to distract him either. “Yeah. He was. At least one good thing came out of it. After that my mom refused to let him back into the house.”

  “And your mom?” Cassie asked tentatively. “Did she get to the hospital?”

  “Yeah,” Dean said softly. “She did.”

  “Was…was she okay?”

  Dean lifted Cassie’s silky hair and breathed in its fresh scent. “That’s not a good story either, sugar. Can we save it for another time?”

  Cassie snuggled closer, and Dean groaned as her hand cupped his balls. “Yes. I’m sorry, Dean, I shouldn’t have asked. It’s just…I feel like I know you, but there’s so much I really don’t know—”

  Before she could say anything else, Dean slid Cassie beneath him and found her lips with his own in an intoxicating kiss that left them both breathless. “I can think of better things to do than talk,” Dean growled.

  Cassie took his lower lip between her teeth and then released it, her tongue snaking out to trace its contours. The feel of her tongue arrowed straight to Dean’s cock, and it bucked in response. Cassie reached up and pushed on his chest until he rolled over onto his back.

  Dean watched as she flipped around, her ass in his face, her tan legs straddling his chest, and her mouth near other critical areas. “Now let me have a taste of you, Mr. McCabe, and if I remember correctly, you—”

  Before she could finish her sentence, Dean pulled Cassie’s hips low and drew his tongue across her beautiful, pink pussy lips. He flicked his tongue across her clit, eliciting more mews of pleasure, before drawing back slightly. “You were saying, Miss Darling?”

  “Nothing,” Cassie choked out, “nothing at all, cowboy.” Without another word, Cassie wrapped her warm mouth around the head of Dean’s cock. She dipped her head in a steady rhythm of hand meeting mouth, and Dean clenched his teeth to keep from groaning aloud like a sixteen-year-old. Forcing himself to refocus on the beautiful, creamy flower in front of him, Dean teased, flicked, and thrust with his tongue, reveling in her sweet taste and the muted moans of pleasure vibrating against his cock. They both increased their tempo, and Dean did groan aloud against Cassie’s glistening pussy lips as she drew his cock to back of her throat.

  “Come for me, Dean,” he heard her whisper, and Dean couldn’t help but oblige as she sucked him deep once again. The orgasm exploded throughout his body and mind, rendering him completely helpless. He waited until the waves eased, and he could hear his own heartbeat once more, before flipping Cassie over to stare at her flushed and sated face.

  “Let me return the favor, sugar.”

  Dean thrust first one and then two fingers inside Cassie’s pussy, bringing her steadily to the brink and then easing back until she shouted for release.

  He captured a nipple in his mouth and flicked the crystal-hard bead as he twisted his fingers across her clit. Cassie screamed as she came, and Dean smiled against her nipple, sucking it until her contractions eased and her body collapsed beneath him.

  Dean lowered himself and then rolled onto his back, keeping Cassie on top of him. He waited until his breathing eased and then pressed his lips against the top of Cassie’s head. “So, what’s the verdict, sugar? Am I ‘one of those men’?”

  Cassie raised her head, and she nodded with all seriousness. “Damn straight, but with one difference.”

  Dean raised a brow.

  “You’re more than a stallion. You are a god, Dean McCabe.”

  Smiling, Dean tucked Cassie back under his chin, his hands cupping her rear. “And you, Cassandra Darling, are one hell of a goddess.”

  7

  I nsanity. Total, utter insanity. Cassie knew she’d lost her mind. Potentially she would lose more than that if word of what she and Dean had just done got back to the wrong people. Even so, as she lay wrapped in his arms as he drifted off to sleep, Cassie realized she wouldn’t change it for the world. Not one luscious moment. Just the thought of what they’d shared made Cassie moan silently and her clit dampen.

  She’d had no idea she could have that many orgasms, or even that much sex, and not be sore or completely worn out. She felt like she could do it again if Dean was to suddenly wake up and touch her just about anywhere.

  “God help me,” Cassie whispered, her mind reeling. Which was when she remembered why she’d come out to see Dean in the first place. How could she now bring up what Jake had asked her to do? And what would she tell Jake if she didn’t? “Oh, by the way, instead of convincing your brother to speak to the townsfolk and convince them not to shoot the wolves, I fucked his brains out for three hours and then made myself right at home.”

  “You’re thinking.”

  Cassie jerked in response to Dean’s deep voice near her ear.

  “You’re all tense, like a cat ready to pounce on a mouse.”

  Cassie sighed, detangled herself from Dean’s embrace, and sat up. She brushed hair away from her face and looked around the now darkened room. “I should go.”

  “You don’t sound like you really want to do that.”

  Pinching her bottom lip between her teeth, Cassie slipped out of bed, her feet hitting the cool pine floor. “Dean, I—I didn’t come here to, well, to do what we did.”

  She heard rustling behind her, and Cassie almost turned and jumped back into Dean’s arms. God, but she wanted his hands on her body and to feel his warm breath on her neck.

  “I don’t imagine you did,” he said.

  Cassie began searching for her clothes in the dim light.

  “Looking for these?”

  Cassie turned to see Dean holding up her underwear with one finger, his lips quirked in a wicked grin. She reached for them, only to have Dean grab her hand and pull her to him. Cassie hissed as her bare body met his. “Dean….”

  Dean trailed a hand over the side of her face. “Listen, sugar, I’m not about to announce our time together to anyone. I may be a hard-ass, but I’m not a prick. I understand you have a job to do.” Cassie heard Dean breathe in deeply and then let it out with a whoosh. “And so do I.”

  With that he pressed her panties into her hand and released her. Cassie felt bereft without Dean’s arms around her. She found her skirt by the end of the bed and hurried to dress while he was off in the corner of the room doing the same. He left and came back with her blouse, bra, and shoes, his face a study of stony neutrality, and Cassie felt a niggling of unease work its way through her abdomen. By this time she was used to the angry Dean or the sweet and sexy Dean, but not this calm and unruffled Dean. It didn’t feel right.

  “Come on. I’ve got something to show you,” he said the moment she finished dressing.

  Silent, Cassie followed, her thoughts twisting around her emotions until she was a knot of anxiety. She trailed Dean out of the house, across the dark yard, and down a slight hill to a well-lit shed detached from the sizable stable and barn to their right. Dean unlocked the door and ushered her inside. He walked across what looked like a medical workroom to a sealed steel door and opened it. Cassie realized it was a large walk-in cooler. She stepped around Dean as he flicked on the fluorescent overhead lights. A horse lay on the floor on top of a large tarp.

  Cassie moved closer, her trained eyes taking it all in as her pulse raced and her stomach soured. “Do you have gloves?” she asked without turning her head. A pair found their way into her hands, and Cassie slipped them on. “Where?”

  Dean crouched beside her, his face grim. “In my north pasture, about two miles out. She’s from one of the wild mustang herds.”

  “Did you take pictures?” Cassie asked as she began to probe the animal’s mouth.

  “Yes.”

  “She’s an older mare.” Cassie continued her inspection, her thoughts focused, her mind taking in each detail. When she reached the areas that had been depredated, she examined the torn edges with extra care. “The eyes, and the ears; this was d
one by—”

  “Scavengers,” Dean muttered. “Yeah. I know.”

  Cassie rocked back on her heels and clasped her hands, her lips pressed into a thin line. “These other areas definitely look like a big predator.” She gazed up at Dean. “Did you see them?”

  His amber eyes glowed with a simmering fury as he shook his head. “Just the tracks, and I can guarantee you they were not from a cat or badger.”

  Cassie took off the gloves, her stomach burning with disappointment. “I’ll need to see those pictures and take a closer look at your mare.” Cassie couldn’t look Dean in the eye. Her body flushed with heat despite the chill of the cooler. “I’m sorry, Dean. You will be compensated for—”

  “Keep it. It’s not about the money.”

  Cassie looked Dean in the eye, her heart aching for him and for the wolves that would certainly suffer over what was happening in Granite Hollow. “I will make my recommendation as soon as possible, Dean.”

  The fire in Dean’s eyes didn’t fade, but Cassie detected that it was no longer directed at her. Thank god. Cassie didn’t think she could deal with that. Not now. Not after what had happened tonight.

  Dean turned off the lights and then plunked his hat back onto his head before ushering her out through the freezer’s door and to the front courtyard. Cassie stayed by the car while Dean went into the house for the keys she’d left on the entry table.

  Cassie realized she had completely breached her own ethics, not to mention her profession’s code of conduct, by sleeping with Dean, but it was too late to regret her decision now. Her dad would have said it was just further proof that she was a no-good slut just like her mother. Fuck first and think later.

  She shivered, forcing away the memory and refocusing on Dean as he walked back toward her. This was his livelihood at stake, and that of his neighbors. She needed him to know she wasn’t just blowing hot air. That she knew how imperative it was to help protect this town and the wolves under the agency’s protection. “I’ll be going out tomorrow to track and observe the pack. We’ll be looking for broken collars, disruptive behavior, and things of that sort. We need to get a handle on which animal is responsible.”

  The silence stretched between them as they walked toward Cassie’s T-Bird.

  “I don’t hate them.”

  She stopped and faced Dean. “What?”

  “The wolves.” Dean gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “My mother used to tell Jake and I stories her grandfather told her, about how his tribe interacted and honored the wolves before they were killed off.”

  “Your mother was Native American?”

  Dean nodded sharply. “Half. I thought the reintroduction could be a good thing. We’ve had disease these past few years among the deer herds, and the rabbit population is out of control. I knew there would be some occasional livestock loss…but not this. They aren’t even eating their kills. This is a bad situation, Cassie.”

  Cassie’s heart ached for Dean. Unable to stop herself, she took Dean’s hand and turned it palm up, kissing the calluses that creased it. “I’m sorry, Dean. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”

  Silence stretched between them, but Cassie didn’t mind. She knew that once she got into that car, her time with Dean was at its end. They couldn’t be seen together in town, and the likelihood of them continuing any type of relationship seemed impossible. Even so, Cassie felt a connection to Dean that she couldn’t explain away as just an appreciation of mind-blowing sex. It was deeper than that. At least for her.

  “I should go,” Cassie whispered.

  “Yeah,” Dean said, his voice gruff.

  He walked her to her car, and Cassie got inside, her throat tight with all the things she still wanted to say, questions she wanted to ask. Which was when she remembered Jake’s request. “Dean,” Cassie started.

  He pushed her door closed and leaned close to her open window. “Cassandra,” he returned, his gaze steady.

  Ignoring the charismatic pull of his amber eyes, Cassie said in a rush, “I heard a rumor that some people are planning on tracking and killing the wolves. Can you tell them…tell them I’ll move as quickly as I can. Tell them to be careful. It’s a federal offense, and there’s a hefty fine.”

  Dean smiled. “I can do that, Miss Darling.”

  “Good,” Cassie said briskly as she started her car with a shaking hand. “Good night, Dean.”

  Hooking his fingers in his belt loops, Dean stepped away from the T-Bird. “’Night, sugar.”

  Cassie stared at Dean a long moment longer before thumbing the window closed and forcing herself to drive away. Away from the best damn sex of her life. Away from a man she wanted to know everything about. Away from a possibility she wasn’t looking for and didn’t want. Not now. Not here. Not that it mattered now. Cassandra Darling was snagged, hook, line, and sinker.

  8

  “I t’s beautiful, Jake.”

  Cassie turned in her saddle for what felt like the hundredth time to take in the view of the valley behind them and the mountain around them. Bordered by thick stands of ponderosas and junipers, meadows rolled out in front of them like green and gold carpet runners. Again Cassie felt like she was in a movie. The panoramic views were incredible.

  “It’s always been special land. Dean and I spent lots of summer weekends up here camping and finding ways to torture each other.” Jake grinned, and Cassie walked her mare closer, her interest piqued.

  “Torture, huh? That was your idea of fun as kids?”

  Jake pulled up on his Appaloosa, and Cassie’s pinto mare stopped alongside. “Well, Dean and I really were never kids at the same time. It was more like father-son, but since he wasn’t my dad, I was more inclined to find ways to make my brother near crazy. Mostly by yapping my fool head off and picking up every snake, tarantula, or centipede I saw.”

  Cassie laughed as she pictured Dean trying to rein in Jake’s wonder of the natural world. “I don’t imagine any of those friendly woodland creatures ended up in Dean’s sleeping bag, did they?”

  Jake rested his arms on the pommel of the saddle and grinned slyly. “I’ll take the fifth on that.”

  They’d gone out together two of the last four days to observe the pack, and Cassie never tired of Jake’s stories. Especially the ones about Dean. The jerk. He hadn’t returned any of her calls the past few days, and Cassie knew she had certainly blown any chance she might have had with the volatile cowboy. He probably thought she was some city slut who screwed anyone that posed an invitation. The sudden ache in her chest brought her back to reality, and she looked up as Jake tapped her leg and pointed.

  Cassie followed his finger and gasped. Not more than fifty yards away she saw flashes through the trees…white…black…gray…and then, with a swiftness that took her breath away, a deer broke cover and crashed out of trees onto the meadow. It was running full-out, and, even so, close on its heels came the pack. Jake and she patted their horses to keep them quiet and leaned low in their saddles, hoping they would stay hidden in the trees on the opposite side. It was still early, only five P.M., and she and Jake hadn’t expected to see any activity from the wolves until much later in the evening after they’d set up in one of the blinds near the pack’s lair.

  With well-orchestrated teamwork they brought the deer down, and Cassie watched in awe as the entire scene played out before them. Just as it should. The alpha and beta ate first, then the nursing mothers, and finally the omega. There was no mutilating, no shred and run, and each member seemed to know its place and rank without question.

  “God, Jake, they are so beautiful,” Cassie whispered, her eyes still glued on the organized chaos of the feed.

  Jake nodded, his hands shaking as he fiddled with equipment he’d yanked from his saddlebags. “All their signals are strong. I can account for each member. That’s the whole pack, Cass, except for the new pups, which they haven’t collared yet. There are no weak signals.”

  Cassie recognized the bewilderment in Ja
ke’s eyes and was sure hers reflected the same.

  “Could it be coyotes? Is that possible?” he asked.

  Cassie shook her head. “Unlikely. I’ve never seen coyotes attempt something as big as your mare. Not unless it was sick, and your mare didn’t look sick.” She looked back to the wolves. “But they are an efficient killing machine. For them to have adapted so well, so quickly, is a testament to the keepers that prepared them for this. I—I don’t want this to be the end of the road for them, Jake.”

  Their gazes met. “Neither do I. What can we do, Cass?”

  Cassie gently pulled on the reins, backing her mare farther into the brush and away from the canines whose futures she was forced to decide upon. Jake followed, and they stayed silent for almost a half mile. “I don’t know what the answer is right now, but I know I need to make a decision soon. Before there’s another killing. It’s not fair to anyone, the wolves or the ranchers, to just hang in limbo, hoping for the best.”

  Jake nodded but stayed silent, his young face tight. “Do you still want to head up to the blind?”

  “If you don’t mind I’d rather go back into town. I have a lot of thinking to do and reports to review. Better to start on that now, I think.”

  As they crested a low rise Cassie blinked through the gloom, shocked to see a flash of light on the mountain. It was gone as quickly as it had appeared. “Did you see that?”

  “What?”

  Cassie pulled her mare in and stood in her stirrups. “There. About a half mile west. I thought I saw, well, it looked like headlights from a car.”

  “There aren’t any roads up here, Cass. Except for the fire road, but that’s about ten miles east of here.” Jake nodded in the direction Cassie had indicated. “That area is nothing but granite crags, shale slides, and tailings from an old copper mine. Mountain lion territory. Not a place suited for the wolves or for most people.” He grinned. “The only people who go there are mountain climbers from Phoenix in early spring. They like the challenge of the granite face on the south rim.”