LoversFeud

by Ann Jacobs

  “I hate to sound stupid, so I went to the house today and looked for the leases. I couldn’t find them.”

  “Might Slade have a safety deposit box at the bank?” That would make sense since he had no document safe at the Rocking O. Unfortunately Bye was learning that most of what her father had been doing for most of Karen’s life didn’t make good sense.

  “No. I already checked.”

  “You could ask Jake to get you copies of the leases. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

  Karen sighed. “Legally speaking, he couldn’t release them to me. My name’s not on them and Pop hasn’t been in condition to grant me power of attorney.”

  “I know, sweetheart.” Bye knew how reluctant Karen was to go before the court and have her father declared incompetent, but she’d have to do that if he didn’t come out of rehab soon. “Four is in Lubbock today, buying cattle futures. He said he’d stop by and see if Ms. Hudson thinks Slade is ready to see him. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.”

  “They are. What are you doing today?”

  Bye looked up at the windmill that still wasn’t turning the way it should. “I was rounding up cattle in the north pasture when I noticed one of the windmills was damaged, probably in that storm we had right after Mom died. I spent an hour trying to figure out what’s wrong before calling the service engineers, and now I’m about to climb back on a horse and drive more calves into the branding chutes.”

  “Are you riding Vampire today?”

  He laughed. “Hardly. Vampire’s no cutting horse. He’d be insulted if we put him in the remuda. I see I’m gonna have to teach you all about ranching.” It seemed ludicrous that Karen had lived on five thousand acres of northwest Texas her whole life without taking part in a roundup. “Do you even know how to ride horseback?”

  “Yes. It’s been a long time, though. We had an old mare when I was little. I used to take her on rides through the pasture. We’d have picnics together down by a stream that dried up a few years back.”

  “I miss you, sweetheart. If you don’t have appointments this afternoon, why don’t you come here, change into jeans and boots and have one of the gardeners who’s not too busy drive you out to me? I’ll pick you out a gentle quarter horse and you can brush up on your riding skills.”

  “All right. But you may be sorry you asked me. It’s been nearly fifteen years since that old mare died.” She sounded nervous when she laughed.

  “See you in an hour or so. I love you.”

  Bye got out of the foreman’s pickup and strode to the pen where the extra horses were kept. After taking his time to choose the gentlest-looking one, he pointed it out to Manuel, the stableboy who’d been sent to tend the remuda. “Go get that chestnut mare and saddle her for Ms. Karen. She’ll be out here soon. Meanwhile, I’ll take the next one from my string now.”

  “Sí, señor Bye. That mare, she is favorite of señorita Deidre. Sweet as sugar, but she is plenty spirited.”

  Maybe he hadn’t chosen well enough. Deidre was an expert rider and liked to be challenged. “Miss Karen hasn’t ridden much. Do you think you could find a pretty mare or gelding that’s easy to handle?”

  Manuel beamed. “Sí, señor. Your friend would be very safe on Antonio.” When he paused and whistled, a buckskin gelding trotted toward the fence. “Antonio and I, we work together well. I ride him every day now.”

  Bye reached over the rail and fed Antonio the sugar cube he’d dug out of his pocket. The horse took it then stood still, looking at him with soft, brown eyes. He ought to have recognized the gelding right away, because Mom had ridden him when her favorite mare had gotten too much for her. “Hey, Antonio. Manuel thinks you’ll give my sweetheart a nice, easy ride.”

  When Antonio whinnied, Bye laughed out loud. “I think that’s Antonio’s way of saying he’ll be good. When you saddle him up, be extra careful to get the cinch tight. Help Miss Karen mount when she gets here, and come with her to find me. I’ll stick close to the branding pens.”

  “Sí, señor.”

  * * * * *

  The Bar C’s north pasture, with its field of towering windmills and fresh green grass, was one of Karen’s favorite places on the vast Bar C. She thanked the driver and got out of a Bar C Jeep, catching her balance in the cowboy boots Bye had bought her when they were in Lubbock last week. When she didn’t see him right away, she headed for the pen where the extra horses were kept and saw the stableboy, Manuel, was holding a pretty buckskin already saddled and ready to go.

  “Señorita Karen, señor Bye picked Antonio for you. He is good horse. Gentle. The patrona used to ride him before she got too sick, que descanse en paz.”

  May she rest in peace, she translated silently. Everybody on the Bar C, from Four down to the stable hands, seemed to have adored Bye’s mother. Karen hoped she’d do well enough to earn half of the admiration afforded Mae Caden.

  She was none too certain Antonio would be gentle enough for her, but she managed a smile as she tried to remember long-ago lessons. There’s a way to mount a horse. One side’s not as good as the other. I think you mount on the horse’s right side. When she stood, staring at Antonio’s velvety nose, Manuel cleared his throat. “If you will allow me, I will help you mount. Then I will take you to señor Bye.”

  So her memory must have been right, because Manuel was standing there by the right stirrup, an expectant look on his face. “Thank you.” When Manuel gave her a leg up, she settled her right foot in the stirrup and swung up into the saddle, on top of what seemed like a large horse from her vantage point. Tentatively she picked up the reins.

  Antonio perked up his ears as the stable boy approached on horseback. He didn’t move, though, for which Karen was grateful. “Señor Bye said for me to take you to him.” When he took the reins and both horses started to move, she tried to hold steady in the saddle.

  When Bye saw them coming his way, he hurried and drove the calf he’d been herding into the branding chute. Then he spurred his mount and joined Karen. “Thank you, Manuel,” he said as the stable boy handed him her reins.

  “I don’t think he needed to go that far to deliver you to me.” Not wanting to hurt Manuel’s feelings, he waited to say so until the boy was out of earshot.

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  Though Karen smiled, Bye started to worry that roundup wasn’t a place where he should be teaching a rank novice how to ride. “Most of our horses respond to both rein and knee commands. I’m not sure about Antonio, though. Why don’t you try pulling gently on your left rein?”

  He did the same on his horse, and they both moved slowly to the left. “Now try going right.” Antonio dutifully turned right when she pulled the right rein.

  “Now pull on both reins at once. Not too hard or he may rear on you.” As Bye had expected, Antonio came to a halt. “See, it’s not that hard to ride horseback.”

  “So you say. What do you want me to do?” She seemed to be looking carefully at cowboys using their horses and their quirts to herd calves into the pens. “I’m not sure I can manage that.”

  He laughed. “Nobody’s expecting you to, not this time at least. We’re gonna take an easy ride around the pasture. If we run across a calf the cowboys missed, I’ll rope him and we’ll drag him back where he belongs.”

  When she looked over at him, her eyes sparkling, she warmed his heart. He couldn’t rightly fire the ranch hands for staring at her, because she was too beautiful for words in a red plaid shirt and jeans, with her long hair in a loose braid that hung over one shoulder. She might not be a cowgirl, but she looked the part, down to her hand-tooled western boots and the doeskin gloves that protected her pretty hands.

  “Won’t you be giving your men a bad example?” She glanced over at the workers as they moved slowly toward the perimeter of the pasture.

  “Probably, but they won’t complain. They don’t think of me as the boss, anyhow, because they answer to Diego when Four’s not around. He’s the ranch foreman, the swarthy-look
ing guy who’s standing over by the truck. When I work the roundup, I’m just another cowhand, only Diego can’t fire me for shirking. How does it feel, riding again?”

  “Good. The air’s so fresh and clean up here, and I love the way the wind makes the grass ripple across the ground. Can we go a little faster?”

  “Sure, if you’re up to it.” Bye spurred his mount to a ground-eating gallop then turned and trotted back to Karen. “How fast do you want to go?”

  “Half as fast as you just did.”

  “You sure you won’t fall off?” He hated to discourage her but wasn’t certain she knew how to grip the horse with her legs. “You know how you wrap your legs around me sometimes when I’m on top? That’s how you need to grip Antonio’s middle, only harder.”

  “I know. I may not have ridden horses much, but I’ve gotten a lot of practice on you.” The hot look she gave him made his jeans feel uncomfortably tight.

  Suddenly she dug her heels into Antonio’s sides and he took off in an easy canter. Scared that she’d fall in spite of what she’d said, he took off and caught up with her after she’d made it fifty yards or so. He leaned toward her and grabbed her reins, slowing Antonio until they both came to a stop. “Cock tease. I ought to drag you off that horse and spank your sassy little ass.”

  “I wouldn’t mind if you did, if you wouldn’t care if most of the cowboys on the Bar C watched you do it.” Leaning over, she gave his leg a squeeze.

  “You’re gonna be real sorry when we get back to the house.” Just then a yearling calf bounded out from behind the windbreak and Bye had to take off after him. “Wait there,” he yelled as he threw the lariat and dropped it around the creature’s neck.

  “He’s bawling. You hurt him.” Karen came up beside him as he dragged the calf between two tall, skinny pines and out into the pasture. She looked sympathetically at the beast that had managed to elude fifty cowboys for the better part of two days.

  Bye tied off the rope on his saddle horn. “He’s not hurt. He’s just mad. If he’s not careful he’ll end up in Maria’s kitchen as veal chops and scallopini.”

  When Karen shuddered, Bye figured she wasn’t likely to be an eager witness to the more cruel aspects of raising cattle. “Don’t worry, softhearted little girl. We don’t slaughter our beeves here. They go to feed lots in Lubbock, and from there into the food chain. This guy, though—maybe I’ll make an exception. I’m thinking he’d taste pretty good on the table at the wedding reception. He’s just the right size to barbecue whole.”

  “God no. You wouldn’t do that to him.” She looked horrified at the thought.

  “Okay, since I don’t want my sweetheart mad at me, I’ll let him live. Actually, he may be one of the little bull calves that Four has marked to save from the knife. I hope so, because he’s got the kind of spunk we like to breed in our herd.”

  “You mean…”

  “Yes, sweetheart, all but a very few of the bull calves will be castrated as well as branded. It doesn’t work very well to have pastures full of horny bull calves, and they make better beef if they’re cut. The few that aren’t are put out in pastures separate from each other and the cows.”

  Karen looked confused. “If you keep the bulls away from the cows, how do you get calves?”

  “Artificial insemination. That way one bull can sire upward of a hundred thousand calves, so ranchers need fewer bulls and can only use the best specimens for breeding. We have a team of stockmen who are specially trained for the job. They collect semen from each bull two or three times a week, using a trained steer as a mount and an artificial vagina to collect the semen, except for one excellent but really mean bull. Since he won’t tolerate much handling, they have to use an electroejaculator on him. The semen is marked, frozen and either sold to other ranchers or used on our own cows.”

  “So cows don’t get to have the fun of having sex?”

  “Nope. Neither do bulls, unless they enjoy humping a steer or get a thrill when the electric probe jolts them in the ass. Unfair, isn’t it?” Bye laughed out loud. “Neither cows nor bulls seem to mind as long as they get plenty of good pasture grass and water, with some high-protein feed thrown in for snacks. Let’s get this calf up to the pens, and head back home. All this talk about sex has me horny.”

  “Me too.”

  * * * * *

  Karen lay back in the marble-lined hot tub in Bye’s bathroom, letting the jets massage muscles she’d abused this afternoon. After placing a small chest behind her, Bye took a seat on the other side of the tub, soaking away the grime he’d accumulated chasing calves. They’d been waylaid for nearly an hour by Maria once they got back from the roundup, to go over a guest list that seemed to be growing a little more each day, and to okay the menu for the reception.

  “You sure you don’t want a barbecued calf at our reception? I’m sure the hands would all enjoy it.” Bye’s blue eyes twinkled with mischief. “I could ask Diego to freeze the Rocky Mountain oysters so we could serve them to our guests—they’re considered delicacies in some circles.”

  “Quit teasing me.” Karen could tell he was just having fun, because he’d made it clear to Maria that their reception fare would consist of the three-course sit-down dinner they’d decided upon earlier, none of the courses including anything resembling whole calves or bulls’ balls. “I want to order the cakes from the bakery in town. It’s too much to expect Maria to make it with everything else she’ll have to do.”

  “Oh, Maria won’t make the cake. Her mom, Alicia, used to be the housekeeper here until she retired. She’s made every birthday cake and party cake for as long as I can remember, and she’d be hurt if we didn’t let her do the cakes for our wedding. Besides, I think Maria lives to put parties together. Let’s not get her upset.”

  Karen felt as if she’d been caught up in a storm, transported to some fantasy land. She didn’t mind, though, as long as she had Bye. “Okay. Just so long as nobody is going to bring out a whole barbecued calf on some kind of humongous platter. I can’t even picture anybody having a container big enough to put it on.”

  “It’s usually served on a suitably decorated piece of plywood, honey.”

  She shuddered. “I want to be able to enjoy our day and not throw up on the plane, all the way to Cabo.”

  “You will enjoy it, sweetheart. Next Saturday’s going to be the most memorable day of either of our lives.” He got up and came to her. “I hope you’re not too sore for a little loving.”

  “Never.” She loved the way he sometimes touched her as though she were made of fragile crystal, but she wanted more. “You couldn’t possibly pound my backside as hard as I pounded it on the saddle this afternoon.”

  “Wanna bet? Stand up, turn around, bend over and spread your pretty legs.”

  When she did, he cupped her breasts in his hands, squeezing rhythmically. She felt his cock under the water, pressing up against her vagina. The jets of water tickled the sensitive skin of her inner thighs.

  “How does this feel, sweetheart?”

  “Incredible. Except that I can’t touch you.”

  He bent over and nipped at her throat. “That’s how I want it. I want to devour you. Open that chest that’s right in front of me and give me whatever you find that you’d like me to use to make you happy.” When she lifted her head, he pushed it back down. “No fair peeking. Just reach your hand inside and give me the first thing you come upon.”

  The first thing she touched was a round ball. No way was that coming out of the chest. Instead she closed her fingers around what felt like a pair of nipple clamps. As she brought them out, he started to pull on her nipples. “I love the way they swell and turn pink when I pinch them. I bet you’ll like the feel of those.”

  He’d never used them on her before. She had the distinct impression he wasn’t particularly fond of toys, but he must have realized she was. “Let’s see.”

  When he fit them onto her elongated flesh and tightened the screws, it hurt, but it also had her ti
ngling all over. Her cunt creamed. “Like this?”

  “Oh yeah.” She liked it. What would she pull out next? Her hand closed around something large and cock-shaped, with some kind of harness attached. “What is this?”

  “A second cock. The only kind you’re ever likely to have fuck your ass ever again. You seemed to like it when Jack and I fucked you at the same time.”

  “So you’re not planning to fuck my ass yourself?”

  He twisted the screws a little tighter on her nipples. “I’d tear you in half. Lie on your stomach, with your ass and cunt open to me while I put condoms on both my cocks.” When she did she saw he’d put the harness on and positioned the sheathed, modestly proportioned dildo above his massive, equally sheathed cock. Then, he worked two meaty fingers past her anal sphincter and worked them around inside.

  It hurt, but she wanted whatever he was willing to give her. “Do you want us inside you?”

  “Yes, Master.” It wasn’t the club, and this wasn’t a scene, but he’d taken complete charge of her pleasure.

  He lifted her butt and used his hand to position the dildo. His cock knew its way around her pussy, and it slid over that slick flesh and inside her cunt at the same time he worked the dildo up her ass. Her breasts ached. Her cunt and ass were full to the point of pain, but when he started thrusting in and out, the pain began to morph into exquisite pleasure. “There’s nothing on earth I wouldn’t do for you.”

  She believed it. Her whole body shook with the force of the sensual assault. His heavy testicles beat against her clit as he fucked both her holes, and that enhanced her pleasure. “Oh God, I can’t take any more.”