by Patti Berg
“I’m teaching you how to ride.”
“With your hands on my butt?”
She could feel the expelled air from Jack’s sigh hitting her temple. “I’m helping you into the saddle, Sam. That’s all.”
“Well, don’t get any other ideas.”
She could feel his thumbs on her bottom, and even though he said he was helping, she imagined there was more behind his touch than mere teaching.
“Now,” he said, “pull yourself up and throw your right leg over the saddle.”
She took a deep breath and did exactly what Jack told her. Strangely enough, once she was on Belle’s back and had her hands firmly gripped around the saddle horn, things didn’t look so ominous.
“This isn’t so bad,” she said, smiling at Jack as she fumbled to put her right foot in the other stirrup.
“You surprise me, Sam.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t think you were afraid of anything—except flying.”
She was afraid of so much more, especially of losing Jack. “It’s easy to get hurt if people know your weaknesses. I try my hardest not to show mine.”
He leaned against Belle’s side. His fingers worked their way over her leg, making small, lazy circles as he studied her face. “You keep people from getting to know you that way, too. Is that what you want?”
“Where I grew up, it was better if people didn’t know too much about you. Our worlds are different, Jack, but you and I are an awful lot alike.”
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t open up much. You hide things from Lauren, from Beau, and who knows who else. I may be open about superficial things, I might joke a lot and tease, but I prefer keeping feelings inside where no one can trounce on them. You do the same thing. That’s probably the biggest reason we’re both still alone.”
“Do you want to be alone?”
She shrugged, wanting to end a conversation that was leading nowhere. There would be time for more talk later, talk about her leaving, talk about him having her investigated, but right now she wanted to gather more memories of life on the prairie, of riding under a big blue sky, because all too soon she’d be alone again.
They rode for nearly an hour through snow, dirt, and prairie grass, catching sight of an occasional jackrabbit, the lone hawk that soared overhead looking for a meal, and the pronghorn that seemed more plentiful than the cows. Jack taught her the difference between a walk, a trot, a lope, gallop, and run, and showed her how to guide Belle not just with the reins, but with the nudge of her knee. She was far from an expert, but she soon felt comfortable sitting astride the beautiful Appaloosa.
But dusk was drawing near, and it was time to talk.
“I want to go home tomorrow,” she said, when they reached a rise that looked out on forever.
Jack circled around her and stopped. His lower leg brushed against hers.
“Why?”
“I’m tired of the charade. You don’t need me here for Lauren any longer.”
“You can’t leave until she knows the truth.”
Those weren’t the words she’d wanted to hear. She’d wanted him to say he needed her here for him—but he’d gone right back to being an employer again. He’d paid her; he wanted his money’s worth.
“Tell her the truth, Jack. If you don’t, I will.”
He looked away, staring off toward the faint line of mountains to the west. “I spent half the day trying to figure out how to tell her. No matter what I say, neither one of us come out looking too good.”
“I don’t care how I look anymore, Jack. If you want to put all the blame on me, go right ahead. I don’t have to live with Lauren, so it doesn’t matter.”
He looked back at her, his eyes blazing. “I’m not going to put any blame on you. This whole thing’s my fault, not yours, and you sure as hell don’t have to go because of it.”
“The only reason I’m here is because of this charade.”
“You’re here because I want you here.”
“Yeah, to make your sister feel good.”
“You think I didn’t have any ulterior motives?”
“Everything you do is surrounded by ulterior motives.”
“Such as?”
“Such as having me investigated.”
“What?”
“I saw the report in your office. I heard Wes Haskins calling to talk to you about me. You tell me why I should stay, when you hired a private investigator to check me out.”
“You should stay because I care for you.”
“Well, someone ought to teach you how to show it.”
“I’ve shown you every time I’ve turned around. I’ve bought you clothes that I hand-picked, and I hate to shop. I rode out last night in the cold and brought back an Appaloosa because you said you’d love to have a horse like the one you saw as we drove to the ranch. I’ve done dozens of things for you, but you keep pushing me away.”
“You paid me to be here, Jack. You told me you wanted me to come here because of Lauren. A few minutes ago you told me I couldn’t leave because of Lauren. Where do I fit into this picture?”
“Ah, hell!”
“Don’t ah hell! me, Jack. I think I deserve more than that.”
He jerked on Pecos’s reins and spun the horse around, riding across the top of the rise at a full run. Suddenly he brought the horse to a halt. He sat there for the longest time, staring at the horizon. Finally, he turned Pecos around and rode slowly back.
Even from a distance Sam could see the heat in Jack’s eyes, the anger, and she didn’t want to look.
She grabbed the rope from her saddle, needing something to do to keep from going out of her mind. She started building a loop as Beau had shown her, doing her best to circle the rope over her head.
“You won’t find much use for your lassoing skills in West Palm Beach,” he told her when he neared.
“Nothing says I have to go back to Florida. I might go to Montana or Colorado instead. I hear they need cowboys there.”
“I could always use a good hand here,” he said, forcing a wink.
“I don’t want you to joke about this. I want your promise that you’re going to tell Lauren the truth. Once you do, I’m leaving.”
“I’ll tell her tonight,” he stated flatly. “Tomorrow morning at the latest. But there’s no telling when I can drive you back to town.”
“Don’t worry about me. I can find my own way.”
He took off his Stetson and plowed his hands through his hair. “Your arm’s gonna be sore if you keep that up,” he said, staring at the loop circling over her head. “I could probably stir up a calf if you want something to rope besides blue sky.”
“I was hoping for something more your size.”
“Anything my size would pull you right off Belle and drag you half a mile.”
“Should we find out?”
He shook his head in total frustration. “Why don’t we just head back to the ranch?”
“Lead the way, Jack. I’ll follow.”
Yanking on the reins, he dug his heels into the horse’s flanks and headed off at a nice steady lope.
Sam let go of the lasso.
It was a fluke. Sheer luck. The rope sailed over Jack’s hat and shimmied down his chest. Sam jerked the line to tighten it and dallied fast, holding on to the rope with all her might.
Jack slid over Pecos’s rump and landed with a thud in snow, dirt, and clumps of grass. “What the—”
She slipped off Belle, ran across the short stretch of prairie, and pounced on Jack. She straddled his stomach before he came to his senses, took the loose end of the rope and quickly wrapped it around his wrists, again and again and again.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“You were the biggest thing around, and I thought you’d look good flat on your back.”
“Let me up.”
“Not until I make something clear.”
He could have struggled. He could have e
scaped, but he didn’t move. Instead, his jaws ground together as she tied knots around his wrists.
“Make your point.”
“I’ve been hurt in my life, Jack. More than you can imagine. But you’ve hurt me more than all those other hurts put together.”
“How have I done that?”
“You paid me to come here for your sister, but you figure you might as well have a little something for yourself, too. Well, I’m not cheap. I’m not a whore, and I’m not going to give you something just because you think you’ve paid for it.”
“Is that what you think?”
“I don’t know what to think, Jack. You tell me you want me to come here and then you say you don’t know why the hell you do want me to come here. You tell me you trust me, and then you have me investigated.”
“If you’d read the damned report, you would have noticed that it didn’t say a thing. You’re pure as the driven snow as far as the investigator’s concerned.”
“I don’t care what the report says. I want to know why you had me investigated in the first place.”
“Why? You charged nearly nine thousand dollars to one of my accounts. You stole a sewing machine, you masqueraded as my fiancée at Lauren’s country club when I wasn’t even there. I didn’t know where to find you—and believe you me, I wanted to find you. You looked like you were in some kind of trouble. That, Samantha, is why I had you investigated.”
“Once you found me, once you learned that I wasn’t some two-bit crook, you should have called off your investigator.”
“I did!”
“When?”
“Last night. Right after the fax came in.”
“Last night!” She wrapped another length of rope around his wrists. “You should have done it right after you learned the truth.”
“Believe it or not, I’ve had other things on my mind!”
“Well, I’m going to walk out of your life again, and then you don’t have to worry about my past or my present or my future. That will give you a few less things on your mind.”
She pushed up from his chest.
“Untie my hands, Sam!”
“You’re a cowboy,” she shouted, climbing onto Belle’s back and grabbing the reins. “You know all about knots and ropes. Get out of them yourself.”
Damn fool woman!
Jack struggled to his feet as soon as Sam rode off. He managed to step out of the loop she’d thrown over his shoulders, but his hands were another matter. She’d knotted a good ten feet of rope around his wrists and arms as she’d sat on his chest and berated him.
When he got his hands on her…
Ah, hell!
He whistled for Pecos—and waited.
He whistled again, but the horse didn’t come.
“Damn fool horse!” he mumbled, bending over and doing his best to pick up his Stetson off the ground. “See if I ever give you a lump of sugar again.”
He managed to get his hat on his head and started to walk. Once more he whistled, then blew out a frustrated sigh, watching a cloud form in the chilly air.
“Damn fool woman! You’re gonna pay for this.”
He put his hands up to his mouth and started gnawing at the knots as he walked. He was a good hour from the ranch, one solid hour he could spend thinking up a long list of ways to get even. Tying Sam up sounded good for starters.
Within the first two miles or so he’d worked the knots free with his teeth and in the last two or three miles, with his feet aching something awful, he decided what to do to Sam.
He was going to murder her.
It was dark when he reached the ranch. Pecos was unsaddled and in the corral with Belle and Diablo. “Just you wait till tomorrow,” he told the horse when it tried to make amends by coming to the railing and whinnying softly. “No carrots, no apples, no sugar. As far as I’m concerned, you’re dog meat.”
Pecos kicked up his heels and galloped to the farside of the corral.
Sam Jones, on the other hand, wasn’t going to have the chance to run away.
He went into the barn, found a good strong rope, and headed for the house.
He slammed through the kitchen door. Beau was at the table tending a cut on his hand, and looked up. “You made it back.”
“Yeah.”
“Arabella said you might be gone a while.”
“She did, did she?”
“Yeah.”
Jack grabbed a beer from the refrigerator, twisted off the cap, and took a swig.
“I rode about two miles of fence,” Beau told him. “Didn’t see anything down.”
“Good.”
“Have you given any more thought to me using the truck tonight?”
“The answer was no. That hasn’t changed.”
He took another swallow of beer, watching the way Beau gritted his teeth, but he ignored the anger. It would go away shortly. “Where’s Arabella?” he asked.
“Upstairs,” Beau spat out. “She said she was going to take a bath.”
Jack unconsciously looked up at the ceiling, as if he could see the object of his rage through the wood. “Tell Crosby not to expect Arabella and me for dinner.”
“Why?”
“We’ve got some talkin’ to do.”
Jack caught the shrug of Beau’s shoulders from the corner of his eye as he stormed from the kitchen.
When he reached the living room, Lauren rose regally from her perch on the couch, a thick magazine in her hands. “Jack. I’m so glad you’re back. Do you have a moment to look at—”
“No!”
“But I found this wedding cake, and I thought it would be perfect for you and Arabella. Of course, I’d have to make a few—”
Lauren stopped talking when Jack aimed his glare at her.
“My goodness, you look upset.”
“I’m going to kill my fiancée.”
“Oh, dear.”
“If you hear screams, don’t bother coming up. There’s a strong possibility something might get aimed at you.”
“I don’t suppose you need a referee?”
“No!”
Jack took the stairs two and three at a time. His bedroom door was locked, which added to his anger, but it didn’t stop him. He simply reached above the door, took down the key, and a moment later stepped into the room, slammed the door behind him, and locked it.
He pocketed the key.
Sam stood in front of the closet wearing nothing more than a pair of panties and a matching bra.
She looked good. Damn good! And right then he could picture her lying in her coffin wearing nothing else.
She grabbed the white shirt she’d worn last night and held it in front of her. “You look upset.”
“Upset? What gives you that idea?”
“I haven’t seen you frown like that since I dropped your tuxedo outside your hotel-room door.”
He took a long, cool swallow of beer and sat down in his chair. “Took me half an hour to get the knots untied. Do you have any idea how mad you get walking across a prairie in thirty-degree weather, trying to work knots loose with your teeth?”
“I imagine a person could get a little upset. But do you have any idea how mad you get when you find out someone is investigating your background?”
“The only reason you should be upset is if you have something to hide. Do you?”
“No, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“Because you wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
“Try me.”
“No!”
“I’ll get it out of you if it’s the last thing I do.”
“How?”
He grinned as he worked the loop over his head, watching her every move, wondering which way she’d go.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Same thing you did to me.”
“That was a fluke. I couldn’t do it again in a million years, even if I tried.”
“It didn’t feel like a fluke when
my butt hit the ground. Didn’t feel like a fluke when you landed on my stomach and started tying my hands.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t sound sorry.”
“Okay, so I’m not. That doesn’t give you any reason to rope me, now.”
“I’ve got a hell of a lot of reasons to lasso you.”
“Name one.”
He shook his head. “I’m not in the mood for games. Make your move, Whiskey. Let’s see if you can get away.”
eighteen
Jack watched Sam’s gaze dart from the bedroom door, to the bathroom, to the loop circling over his head. It was just the perfect size, the lasso was the perfect length, and she was the perfect target. Once he roped her, he planned a slow revenge.
“You’ll regret doing this,” she said, clutching his white shirt tightly to her chest.
“I have very few regrets in life. I won’t be adding this one to the list.”
“Couldn’t we call a truce?”
“You’ve got something white in your hands,” he told her, looking at the shirt clutched in her fingers. “If you want to wave it over your head in surrender, be my guest. I’ll enjoy the view—but I still plan on roping you.”
“Then do it and get it over.”
“There’s no fun in roping a stationary target. I want you to run.”
He could almost hear her teeth grinding as she looked from right to left. She thought she was being clever when she took a step toward the bedroom door, but he could see in her eyes that she was planning to bolt the other way. And he was ready.
The moment she moved, he threw the rope, and it slipped perfectly over her shoulders and her full, luscious breasts. He pulled it taut when it reached her waist.
She was trapped.
“Let me go.” She struggled against the rope, but he could hear a hint of laughter behind her words.
“Not yet.”
He pulled her toward him, right between his widespread knees, and slid his fist up to the honda to keep the rope from slipping loose. He didn’t want her to run. Not this time.
Her hot brown eyes stared down at him. The anger in her expression was mixed with a touch of fear and a hint of excitement, and all those things made him rethink his plan of revenge. He’d hurt her. Not intentionally, but he’d hurt her just the same, and she deserved better than that from him—from everyone.