Dean took hold of her face, his hands cupping either side, forcing her to look at him. Keeping her still.
“When I heard you scream, I thought I was too late.”
He brushed away the dirt that creased Cassie’s forehead then leaned in and pressed his lips against her skin. Cassie’s throat clenched, and she had to force her hands to stay at her sides. Oh, shit…he’s touching me….
“Dean, did you hear what I just said?” Cassie said, her skin tingling where Dean held her.
Dean leaned back but did not drop his hands. One eyebrow rose, and Cassie shivered, the look shooting fissures of desire straight through to her clit.
“Yeah, I heard it. I’m just not sure what in the hell you’re talking about.”
Cassie’s vision went red as she ripped his hands off her face and stumbled backward. “Don’t pull that bullshit with me! Not after what you did! Dean remained immobile as she landed a blow on his chest. “Goddamn you! I thought maybe there might be something between us. That maybe you felt something other than lust. And even if what we had was just a good fuck, why did you screw me, Dean McCabe?”
Dean was still, his expression unreadable, and Cassie felt the anger drain from her in waves, leaving her empty. Her heart a rotten void. Her mind numb. “Why?” she asked quietly, dropping her fists.
Son of a bitch.
Dean had never felt more like an asshole than he felt at that moment. Cassie’s pain was clear, and to think he was the one responsible left Dean disgusted with himself. And damn pissed off. Especially because he couldn’t figure out why.
As he stared at her tear-streaked, flushed face, his gut clenched. Jake had been right. What a complete jackass he’d been for figuring Cassie for a game-playing bitch. She might be as cool as a cucumber, but she was also fiercely straightforward. Not the type of person to mince words and play games.
“I’m sorry.” The words tumbled from his mouth like hot stones. “Did Jake say—”
Cassie threw up her hands. “Oh! So now it’s Jake’s fault? Is that it? Jake’s responsible for you deciding to ruin my career and fracturing my…” Cassie paused and turned her face away, her shoulders trembling.
“Fracturing your what, Cassie?”
She shook her head and avoided looking at him, her arms crossed.
Dean took a deep breath, drawing in Cassie’s intoxicating scent. Even covered in dust, she was the best-looking woman he’d ever seen. Shit…how had he ever thought he could let her go?
Don’t mess this up, Dean….
He sighed. For once, he figured he’d better listen to his mother’s advice. “Cassie.” She didn’t turn, and Dean reached out, spinning her gently but firmly to face him. The streaks of tears on her face nearly undid him, and Dean reached up with a thumb to wipe them away. “I know I’ve been a stubborn jackass this past week. I avoided you because I didn’t know what to do with you—with us.” Images of their lovemaking filled Dean’s mind, and he clenched his teeth, his cock already hardening. “Well, I knew what I wanted to do with you, but I wasn’t certain how you felt about it.”
Cassie scoffed. “You weren’t certain? What about me? I risked everything, Dean. Granted, it was my risk to take…but I thought I could trust you.” She tried to pull away, but Dean held tight.
Their bodies heaved with the forces of their breaths, and Dean had to fight the urge to press his lips against her neck and cradle her tits in the palms of his hands. “Damn it, I know I was way off base about you and Jake. But when I saw you two together, it just about killed me. Jake set me straight. I couldn’t deny that I’d been an ignorant ass and—”
Cassie’s livid expression brought Dean’s grumbled confession to a halt. “You…he…” She took a breath. “You believed Jake when he said there was nothing between us?”
A sickening lurch hit Dean’s gut like a fist. “Yeah. Did Jake tell you something different?”
Cassie laughed and pushed hair out of her flushed face. “That little shit.” She looked up. “Jake set me up. He told me you didn’t believe him.”
“Damn kid,” Dean said, not really thinking about his brother one way or the other. All he wanted to do was stare into Cassie’s blue eyes every morning of every day. The realization made his palms sweat, but he wasn’t about to let that stop him from saying what he should have said days ago. He reached for Cassie’s hand and pulled her in. “Looks like he did the right thing, then. Because I can’t get you out of my head, sugar. You’re like a drug, and I’m goddamn addicted.”
Dean couldn’t stop himself. He cupped the back of her neck and drew her in. Her body was stiff at first, but as Dean’s mouth descended, Cassie’s mouth parted, and she melded the curve of her body into his. He drank in her essence, his tongue teasing hers as he pressed his hand into the small of her back.
She groaned into his mouth, and Dean growled, deepening his kiss and drawing her in closer.
Cassie gasped and pushed Dean’s head away. “Stop! Put me down.”
He dropped his hands, his fingers trailing over the curves of her back as he let her go. “Cassie….”
She held up a hand between them as she tried to catch her breath. All Dean could stare at were her beautifully swollen lips, tousled hair, and the ample cleavage falling out of her half-open blouse. “Don’t look at me that way, Dean McCabe!”
Dean almost chuckled. Almost. Now would be a really bad time to screw up. She just looked so damn cute pissed off. And her eyes looked green again. Dean stepped closer, and Cassie kept her hand up and stepped back. “What in the hell did I do, Cassie?”
Cassie clenched her fists, her expression going from pissed off to confused and then back to pissed off. “You are either the best liar in the world, Dean McCabe, or you really don’t know.”
He stared directly into Cassie’s eyes. “I don’t lie, Cassie.”
She met his stare for several seconds and then leveled a fiery glare at the dead dog to their left. “Dean, how do you figure a pack of wild dogs was able to roam Granite Hollow undetected for nearly a month? Anyone in town missing dogs?”
A sickening fury filled Dean. “No.”
“Is there anyone you know in this town capable of loosing these dogs to manipulate the removal of the wolves?”
“Not a chance,” Dean said, certain he knew his friends and neighbors well enough to make that statement. “I can’t speak for the coalition members, but no one in town has that kind of mindset. They would be more likely just to shoot the wolves, and deal with the consequences.”
Cassie was silent for a time, as though considering his last words. “Someone called my boss in Washington this week and told them I was involved with you. I’ve been removed from the case. They’re coming in tomorrow to exterminate the wolves.”
Cassie’s words hit Dean like a blow to the chest. “Jesus Christ. And you thought it was me?”
She nodded, her expression hurt-filled and confused.
Dean ground his teeth, the idea so repugnant he felt like smashing his fist into the face of whoever had actually made that call. “I can’t believe you thought I would do that.”
“Can you blame me, Dean? You didn’t call all week. I had no idea how you felt about things, and then when Jake told me about you thinking he and I were…” Cassie stopped.
Dean took Cassie’s hand and held it between his own. “No. I don’t blame you. I didn’t give you any reason to think it wasn’t me.” Dean took her other hand and brushed the dirt off her palms. “I couldn’t do that to you, Cassandra.” He looked up. “But I’d like to know who in the hell did, so I can beat the shit out of them.”
Cassie shuddered, and her eyes went wide. “Simon Alistair.”
“What?” Dean growled. “Simon? But why in the hell would he want the wolves out?”
Cassie walked over to the dead dog. She ran her hand through the animal’s coat and around his neck. “This dog’s thin but not starved, and even though his paws are calloused, the nails are trimmed, and the animal�
�s been neutered.” She looked up. “I would bet my salary for a year that these animals were scheduled for euthanasia. Unadoptable dogs. They were picked up by someone who had some pull and raised to do what they’ve been doing. Only someone with specific knowledge could do that.”
Dean’s thoughts tripped through the events of the past month. The sudden killings, the disappearance of the field agent, the lack of actual wolf sightings, and Simon’s complete reluctance to request a new agent or to offer the townspeople any reassurances that they could control the wolves. Or even provide a qualified expert to investigate the occurrences.
“That son of a bitch,” Dean growled, his hands in fists. “But why the fuck would he want the wolves out?”
Cassie stood. “I thought it was odd when I first heard that Simon had volunteered to head up this release. He’s a stuffed shirt, Dean, not a field-operations manager. I was even more surprised when he requested Pete to be his liaison agent for the project. Pete isn’t known for his dedication to this cause, although he is knowledgeable about wolf behavior. This whole thing stinks.”
Cassie shuddered, and Dean pulled her in, nuzzling his face next to her ear. “We’ll figure it out, Cassie. My money’s on the idea that those assholes had this planned from the start.”
“I—I thought I saw lights on the mountain the other day when Jake and I were up there. Near an area Jake said mountain climbers sometimes go.”
Dean’s hand stilled on Cassie’s head. The old mine. It hadn’t been active since the sixties, and even then had produced only marginal copper veins. And while the demand for copper had risen with the demand for new construction, Dean couldn’t imagine it would be a lucrative enough endeavor for someone like Simon Alistair to risk what he had risked. There had to be something else. Someone bigger.
“Goddamn,” Dean whispered, the realization hitting him like a brick. He moved Cassie just far enough away to view her gorgeous face. “I bet the asshole heard about the possibility before the coalition was given the land for the release.”
“What?”
Dean swung Cassie up into his arms and started toward the house.
“Dean! I can walk!”
He scooped up her shoes in the gravel near the fence and handed them to her. “Not without these on, darlin’.”
Once inside, he set Cassie on her feet and went to the glass case in the den. The case in which the McCabe family kept their keepsakes. Jake’s baby shoes, their mother’s pottery collection, and a few pieces of rock. Dean took a key off a rolltop desk nearby and opened the case. He picked up a lumpy piece of gray and white rock and handed it to Cassie. “This is why.”
She turned it over. “What is this?”
He pulled Cassie over to the lamp and turned over the stone to reveal the shaved side. “Opal. Blue opal.”
Cassie ran a finger over the milky blue, iridescent center. “It’s beautiful.” She looked up, and Dean pulled a piece of straw from Cassie’s golden hair. “Are you saying there are opals in that abandoned copper mine?”
“My father brought this home one day, spouting off that he and a friend had found it in some forgotten offshoot of the old mine.” His gaze flicked to the pictures on the mantel. Pictures of his family, of Jake, and his mother back when there was still hope that they might be a family forever. “We didn’t believe him. No one did. He was a drunk, Cassie. We thought he made it up.”
Cassie held the stone up to the light, her face creased in thought. “How much would these be worth?”
He moved to the case and picked out a nugget of gold his uncle had given him as a kid. “More than this chunk of gold if the pieces are of good quality, and if there’s a lot of them. Blue opal is found in only one other place in Arizona. It could be worth a fortune.”
“Unbelievable,” Cassie murmured. “I wouldn’t put it past Simon to have orchestrated the donation of the land to the coalition just for this reason. The investor would think he was giving it over to a good cause, and, once deeded with all rights, the coalition could damn well do what they pleased with the land if the release didn’t work out.”
Fury burned deep in Dean’s gut. “And the son of a bitch couldn’t count on you to insist on the wolves’ removal, so he made the call to give himself a little insurance.”
“Dean, we can’t let them start culling the pack. We have to get ahold of someone tonight. Take in the dogs you killed, and make sure they try to find the others.” She slammed the rock onto the table. “And Simon. That asshole fucked with the wrong bimbo.”
12
“T hat’s…oh…god…”
Cassie moaned, her fingers gripping the blanket beneath her bare ass, her hips thrust forward to allow Dean better access to her drenched and aching clit.
His tongue flicked and dipped as Cassie stared up at the stars overhead. The swish and sway of the pine trees around them and the deep green scents of the forest filled her senses.
Her vision blurred as Dean suddenly buried a finger in her slick hole. Cassie cried out, her orgasm shuddering through with the force of a freight train. She collapsed back onto the quilt. “You call that a riding lesson, cowboy?” Cassie said breathlessly.
Dean stood, unbuckled his belt, and pulled it off before dropping his jeans. “That lesson’s just beginning, sugar.”
Cassie grinned and sat up on her elbows, ignoring the snort and stamp of their horses tied only a few yards away. “Better make sure I understand all the basics. You wouldn’t want me falling out of the saddle, would you?”
As Dean’s cock sprang free, Cassie licked her lips, her pussy already aching to feel Dean’s rigid length inside her.
“Stand up, Miss Darling,” Dean ordered, and Cassie obeyed. Her nipples beaded tight as they made contact with Dean’s smooth chest, and Cassie nipped at his shoulder. “Put your arms around my neck.” Cassie complied as she twisted her tongue around his nipple. “This is how you mount your stallion, sugar.” Cassie squealed as Dean cupped her ass and lifted her up. “And this is how you get off.”
He brought her down on his rigid cock until she straddled his groin fully, her legs wrapped around his waist. Cassie gripped the hair at the back of Dean’s neck and groaned. “Show me how to ride, cowboy.”
Bending slightly, Dean growled in Cassie’s ear, “Just hold tight, sugar.”
With fast upward thrusts Dean drove his point home, and Cassie hung on, her world exploding in sharp waves of pure ecstasy. Each plunge of Dean’s cock sent trills of electricity through Cassie, and she held on to the muscles of his shoulders, leaning back slightly to take him in deeper.
She shouted as she came, not caring any longer who might be within earshot. The sensation was too intense, the pleasure too wickedly perfect. Dean growled as he came along with her, his thrusts continuing until his seed was spent.
He lowered them both onto the quilt, their breaths commingling. “I could do this every hour of every day with you, sugar, and never get tired of it.”
Cassie groaned. “I believe you could do this every hour, Dean, on the hour, which makes you an extraordinary man I don’t ever intend to share.”
He rolled them onto their side and pinched Cassie’s nose. “That’s a mite selfish, don’t you think, Miss Darling?”
Cassie frowned and pinched Dean’s nipple, which made him bark with surprise and capture her hands between them. “Yeah, so what? I’m selfish. Deal with it.”
Dean chuckled and pulled Cassie into a sitting position until her breasts were even with his mouth. He sucked in her nipple and bit it lightly.
“Hey! Oh!” Cassie said as the nip turned into a series of lazy circles and flicks, and the beaded tip throbbed and ached for more.
After another round of lovemaking, Cassie and Dean relaxed on the quilt and enjoyed the sounds of the forest and the cool perfection of the late summer night. The past two weeks had been a roller coaster of great sex, candid talks, and a truckload of teamwork to drive Simon Alistair out and to gain a reprieve for the wolves and relea
se program in Granite Hollow.
There was lots of convincing to do on both sides. It wasn’t until the government-sanctioned trackers found the kennel in the woods where the wild dogs had been kept that both sides conceded there was more afoot in Granite Hollow than a poorly run release and lots of pissed-off citizens.
They never found Pete, the government agent who had been in charge in Granite Hollow until his disappearance, but his fingerprints were all over the kennel area and the old Jeep they found at the site. Simon denied any knowledge, of course, but his reputation was already in shatters. Cassie had had to physically restrain Dean from smashing in his face; for as much as she would have liked to do that herself, neither one of them wanted to spend time in jail for assault.
There were other more pressing things they needed time for.
As they lay back down, Cassie twisted a thick strand of Dean’s hair around her finger and realized that for the first time in forever, she was comfortable around a man. She was certain that Dean wanted all of her, not just her body. Certain that her dad had been wrong. And even though her therapist had told her that a million times, it wasn’t until now, until Dean, that she finally believed it.
“You’re thinkin’ again, Cassandra Darling.”
The growl in her ear made Cassie smile, and she turned to face her rugged lover, her mind sharp with the feel of his body next to hers, his scent lingering in the space around them. “I am, Mr. McCabe, but this time it’s only good things occupying my gray matter. Things like how lucky I am to be here with you.”
Dean’s expression sobered, and he pulled her in for a long kiss. As his lips left hers, Dean cupped her chin. “You got that backward, sugar. I’m the lucky one. I never thought I would meet someone like you. You’re a gift from the Great Spirit, woman, and I need you like I need the air to keep living.”
The Cowboy Page 20