by Unknown
A blush warmed Jayla’s cheeks. She chose to ignore her embarrassment and toyed with the knot on his tie. She peeped at him through a veil of thick lashes, hoping her natural shyness was more of an allure than bold seduction. “You’ll have to share everything you’ve heard about me sometime…when we can be…all alone,” she said in a low inviting tone.
Before he had a chance to reply, a woman called his name. “Kane? Are you up here, darling?”
The woman came around the corner and stopped in her tracks. She eyed Jayla, suspicion in her fierce blue eyes. Kane didn’t hurry to move away from her, but said. “Yes, Miss Ross, we’ll definitely have to do that…soon. I like a good ride.” He turned to his wife, smiling. “Miss Ross was just offering to take me for a ride…on one of the senator’s fine horses from his famous stables and show me the estate.”
Jayla grinned. “Anytime you’re ready, Mr. Masters, my calendar’s wide open.”
His wife slid her fingers around Kane’s arm and she eyed Jayla as if she was a bug under a microscope. “I’m afraid my husband is a busy man, Miss Ross. He has very little spare time, and when he does, he spends it with me.”
“No?” Jayla tilted her head in challenge at Kane. “Pity. I might have shown your…handsome husband a thing or two about…riding. But please, let’s not be so formal. Call me, Jayla. I understand we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other.” She deliberately focused her gaze on Kane again.
“I doubt that, Miss Ross,” he responded, his voice suddenly layered with frost.
Jayla wondered if he could sound any more distant.
“As my wife said, I have very little spare time for pleasure jaunts or long…rides. Please excuse us.”
With that, he guided his wife down the winding staircase and made a point not to look in Jayla’s direction during dinner or for the rest of the evening. He turned down her invitation to dance with a low growl and icy words. “Stay the fuck away from me.”
Heat scalded Jayla’s face. She’d been certain of his interest, but now she wasn’t so sure. Embarrassed by his harsh words, she whirled and made her way across the room to mingle. A few minutes later, she pleaded a headache and escaped to her room.
After that first dinner, the Masters became frequent guests, and though she brazenly flirted with him, Kane never gave any indication he was interested in her, until one evening, about three months later. He and his wife stepped inside the foyer just as Jayla came down the elegant winding staircase wearing nothing but a skimpy black bikini.
The couple froze in the entrance hall. Kane’s eyes burned. She nodded graciously at his wife, though she detested the woman and the way she always looked down her nose at her—like now.
Halting at the bottom of the stairs, Jayla eyed Kane. “Anyone interested in a swim?” she asked in a husky voice. “It’s terribly hot, don’t you agree?” She directed her question at Kane and ignored Barbara.
He looked at her as if she was a germ. Narrowing his eyes, he wrapped his fingers around his wife’s arm and guided her toward the dining room. “Maybe some other time,” he said curtly. “I have business with your father.”
“Stepfather,” she called to his departing back.
“Whatever,” he replied, and continued on his way as if she didn’t exist.
Sometime later, she stepped out of the pool only to look up and see Kane standing at the patio doors watching her. Cigar smoke swirled around his head as he drew a long, slow drag. She lifted a brow, grinned, and unhooked her top. Letting it drop beside the pool, she stood there a moment giving him a good long look at her breasts, then settled on the lounger, closed her eyes—and waited.
* * * *
Beside her, she heard Wild’s breath catch on a sharp note. “The bastard accepted your silent invitation?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Not that night.”
“He ought to be castrated. Hell, you were still underage.”
“Seventeen. I think he considered it more of a dare, than an invitation, but yes, he didn’t let my age stop him. Eventually, he accepted what I offered. I have to be fair. I was determined to seduce him.”
Wild’s arms tightened. “You were still underage. He was a man.”
Jayla agreed. “Not everyone is as honorable as you.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m honorable. I just know right from wrong. What he did was wrong.”
“In the world I grew up in, all men were bastards.” Jayla sighed, dreading what was coming next. “Anyway, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. The years that followed afterward were a nightmare. I got exactly what I asked for and a whole lot more. At the time, I had no idea what I was rushing into. I should have, since it involved Hamilton, but Kane had somehow managed to stay off my radar.”
“Hamilton set you up?”
“Absolutely. But make no mistake, I was happy for about three years, then everything started to go wrong. Just punishment, I suppose, except it wasn’t me who paid the price.” Her voice wobbled and she took a moment to swallow back the tears. “I…can we not discuss any more for now?” Jayla clutched Wild’s arm, digging her nails deep into his flesh. “Please?”
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “When you’re ready to talk about the rest, you will. Let’s just try to get some sleep. We have plenty of time.”
“Yeah.” She sniffed. “I guess time is all we have. Huh?”
“Yep. Neither of us is going anywhere, at least not for several hours.”
Jayla rested her head on his shoulder and they listened to the night wind howl its mournful song. She leaned away so she could see his face. “Do you think he’s out there?”
“Possibly. If it was me, I’d be out there…no matter the weather.”
Chapter Eighteen
Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense.
~Mark Overby
Montana
West side of Dancing Star
February 21, Saturday
7:00 a.m.
The next time Wild opened his eyes, it was to the sound of utter silence. The wind had died, so that meant it was likely just snowing without the hazard of deep drifts. Kissing the top of Jayla’s head, he eased her off his shoulder and slipped from the bed.
Sleeping naked next to this woman could become a lifetime habit. He allowed his gaze to wander down the smooth length of her bare back. Pulling the covers up around her shoulders, he stepped back.
Could he accept her into his life permanently? Make a place for her in his heart? A sigh settled in his heart. Yeah, she was so already there.
He’d thought about her daily for the five years he spent in prison. Why she’d always been there in his head he’d never understood, but he kept seeing her standing there on the creek bank, tears in her eyes. Knowing he’d humiliated her hadn’t set well in his mind. At the time, he’d only been thinking to protect himself, that if he dared touch her, he’d go to jail, maybe prison, and God knew he’d wanted her so badly that day he’d nearly doubled over with the need to take her.
As it turned out, he might as well have screwed her. He’d certainly done the time for it, but that would have made him no better than the senator. Yeah, he might have been the one to go to prison, but he was a hell of a lot better man than that slug would ever be.
Much as he’d hated prison, it’d shaped him into the man he was today, tougher, stronger, and determined to hang onto what was his. It’d taken him a long time to understand all that, but with Jayla’s unexpected arrival, it had all kind of blindsided him.
Grabbing the clean pair of jeans he’d laid out the night before, he slipped them on along with a pair of thick socks. Shivering, he cast a glance at the fire. It’d died down to a few embers. Wild grabbed the poker and stirred the coals to life. Frowning at the sound of the metal rod hitting something solid in the ashes, he used the pointed hook near the tip of the poker to drag the object buried in the cinders onto the ash shovel.
“What the
hell?” Staring at the lump of burned iron, it took him a second to figure out what it was. “Sonofabitch!”
He whipped around to glare at Jayla, but she was still asleep. His first instinct was to wake her up and throttle her, or drag her out of the bed and shout at her for tossing the revolver in the fireplace. It was his brother’s colt, one of a matched set. Wild rubbed his forehead. Jace was going to kill him.
His second instinct was to drag her into his arms, kiss her silly, then cry. He got it that she’d done it to protect him. She thought enough of him to want to keep him safe from his own desires to whack himself. She had no idea he’d already figured out it wasn’t the way to go.
Staring at her, his heart burst with love. No one had ever done anything like that for him and it touched something deep in his soul. This woman was amazing. Yeah. She was a keeper. He intended to keep her close to his heart for many years to come.
Rebuilding the fire, he once more stripped and climbed into bed beside Jayla. Leaning over her, he took his time trailing kisses along her jaw line, slowly working his way to her sweet mouth. She moaned, turned to face him and accepted his mouth on hers.
“Mmmm,” she whispered when he freed her mouth. “That’s good.”
“Yeah? This one will be even better.” Wild slid his tongue between her lips and conquered hers with a few tiny swirls and a lot of hunger. Releasing her lips, he settled his mouth on one of her delicious nipples and suckled.
Jayla twisted beneath the onslaught of his mouth and hands. Releasing his shoulders, she searched for and found his aching cock. “I want you,” she whispered. “I want to feel you inside me, so deep inside me. Please. I can’t bear this.”
Wild lifted his head. His chest rose and fell with ragged breaths. Damn, she went to his head. He rolled bringing her beneath him. He refused to enter her knowing it was still much too soon for her body to take him, but they could play, he thought. He could satisfy her need. He intended to give her as much pleasure as he could without hurting her or the baby. Rocking slowly, Wild smothered her cries of pleasure with his mouth. His long, slow thrusts were both torture and pleasure for both of them. He moaned. The real thing would likely kill him.
She bucked beneath him clawing his shoulders. “Nooo. I want you inside me,” she cried.
“No. I won’t do it, Jayla. How the hell do you think I’d feel if I hurt you or the baby? Let me pleasure you like this. I know it’s not the way either of us want it, but…”
His voiced trailed away as he continued rocking in a sweet imitation of a rhythm old as time. “I can’t wait to bury my cock inside you,” he choked.
Wild closed a hand around her right breast, gently squeezing. Plucking at a nipple until it tightened, he lowered his head. He slowly wrapped his tongue around the tight little berry and drew on it.
“God,” Jayla whimpered. “Oh, don’t stop. Don’t stop!”
Hell, he wasn’t about to stop. Even without her moist heat gloving his cock, he was ready to explode. He slid an arm under her and lifted her to meet the hard, dry thrusts. In that instant, she came unwound, digging her fingers into his shoulders, bucking and groaning, clawing his back. Wild shuddered from the force of his release. How he could climax so damn hard from a dry fuck was beyond him.
“Shit,” he moaned and buried his face against her neck. “That didn’t take long.”
“When its right, it’s wonderful,” she whispered, breathless. “I’ve always known sex with you would be beautiful and right.”
“I made a bit of a mess on you,” he said, still stunned that she had the power to rock him to his soul. He cupped the sides of her face and kissed her mouth. “Next time, I’ll be inside you, lady. I swear I’m not coming out of you until we’re both weak and satisfied.”
She kissed his chin. “Sounds like a plan. I’m going to shower. Wanna join me?”
“Hell, yeah.” He frowned. “I better not. I don’t have much control when it comes to loving you.”
Jayla grinned. “That’s the way it should be, cowboy. I love you, Wild Remington.”
“I love you, Jayla Ross.” He took her hand, kissed it, and searched her face. “Will you marry me?”
Jayla snagged her lower lip. “Oh,” she said, sounding stunned. She gently pulled her hand free of his. “Uh…well, I wasn’t expecting that.”
Wild shrugged. “I know it’s a bit fast, but as you said, when it’s right, you know it. Isn’t marriage the next logical step when two people love each other?”
He rolled off her, suddenly unsure of her feelings for him. Maybe he’d misunderstood. Maybe what was an emotional act to him wasn’t the same for her. Shit. He shouldn’t have proposed. He was an idiot.
“Well, sure,” she said. “It’s just that…I don’t know if I’m ready to say yes. I don’t know if you’re ready for such a huge commitment. You don’t know me well enough to know if you wanna marry me.”
“I know you, Jayla.”
“No. You don’t know the terrible things I’ve done.”
“I don’t give a fuck.”
“Well you should,” she snapped back.” She swiped the angry tears from her face. “I can’t answer your marriage proposal. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he replied. “In fact, forget it. I withdraw my proposal. I don’t know what I was thinking. What I took for an extraordinary love was just a simple piece of pussy. Idiot that I am, I let it go to my head. My mistake.”
“Don’t be crude.”
“Crude maybe, but truthful. I’ll fuck you. Isn’t that why you came to me? Did you wanna know what it felt like to save a horse? Or did you wanna know what it felt like to have a convict between your thighs? Is that it?”
She hung her head. Even though he couldn’t see her face, he was certain of her guilt—sure it’d be there in her eyes if she looked up at him. He clenched his jaw until his teeth ached. “Damn you,” he muttered. “Damn you for coming here and giving me hope, making me believe you love me, making me think I could have a normal life.”
Jayla lifted her head. Tears sparkled in her eyes. “I do love you.”
“Not enough. Forget marriage. I don’t need or want a wife.” Wild swallowed back the anger and hurt. He damn well should have known better than to make a fool of himself. He was good enough to take her to bed, but not good enough to be her husband.
He got it—once a convict, always a convict. Even though she knew he was innocent, he’d always carry the stigma of being a jailbird. He’d never be good enough for any woman.
Jayla slid out of the bed and headed to the bathroom. Glaring over shoulder at him, she looked fragile, her face pinched, eyes sad. “One thing you can be certain of is that I love you with all my heart. Give me some time to sort things out in my mind.” She hesitated. “I’m going to shower, before either of us says something we’ll both regret.”
“You do that.” Wild watched her close the bathroom door and swore. “Sonofabitch!”
He wished he’d never proposed.
Chapter Nineteen
Let your love be like the misty rains, coming softly, but flooding the river.
~Malagasy Proverb
Havre, Montana
Regional Health Care Center
February 21, Saturday
9:00 a.m.
To Danger, it seemed either he or someone he loved had spent time here in the hospital over the last few weeks—or been murdered. Jace, his own surgery, Lacey after Smitt Davis got finished with her and now, here his wife was again, having taken another bullet because of Smitt Davis.
Would the man never die?
Danger sipped from the foam coffee cup. Caffeine. His favorite beverage. He needed a gallon bucket of it. Danger paused and grinned. For the first time in months, his thoughts felt utterly normal. Thank God.
He took the chair beside his wife’s hospital bed, but his mind wandered. He didn’t know if he’d ever get over the loss of Joseph or his sister, Anna Leigh. Sometimes, when he closed his eyes, he
could see his son’s sweet little face, see him running to him, arms outstretched, crying, “Daddy, Daddy, I wanna ride a doggie.” Neither he nor Lacey had been able to convince Joseph that horses were not dogs. The kid argued when they corrected him.
“They’re doggies,” he’d say stubbornly, and stick out his little chin daring them to correct him. In those moments, he looked just like Lacey. Bittersweet memories, he thought, that in time, would fade away. He’d forget what his son looked like, sounded like, and that hurt.
He set the cup of coffee on the bedside table and rubbed a fingertip across his wife’s hand. She’d suffered so much, some of it his fault, some of it not, but given the chance, he intended to make it up to her. He wanted to spend the rest of his life making her happy. Lacey. God, he loved this woman. How could he have ever allowed himself to lose her the way he had? One thing was certain. He was never allowing anything or anyone to come between them again.
Lacey slowly opened her eyes and turned toward him. Danger took her hand in his and gently squeezed it, glad she was finally awake.
“Hey, you,” he said softly. “Welcome back. I missed you.”
“Hey, back,” she replied with a whisper. She cleared her throat. “Did you stay the night?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t leave you here alone. How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve been shot.” Sadness settled on her face. Her eyes filled with grief. “Rafe?”
Though Danger hated the fact Rafe had been an intimate part of Lacey’s life, he regretted the man had died. Rafe had been an integral part of her survival when she’d been down in the well fighting to live.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. He was the closest to you. He did what needed doing. He was that kind of man. You know he loved you. Do you remember anything about what took place?”