He jumped out of the truck, but she sat behind the steering wheel for another moment, gathering herself.
It wasn’t a problem, she told herself. She could walk into the barn with Demon, settle him for the night, and then casually say good-night to Jesse. She could do this.
Sliding out of the truck, she went around to the trailer and saw that Jesse had already removed the saddle and the bridle. She clipped a lead rope onto Demon’s halter and backed him out of the truck, then led him to the barn.
The ranch was silent in the soft darkness of dusk, and the barn was dim and quiet. Everyone would be in the house, eating dinner. A horse whickered softly, but otherwise she and Jesse were alone.
“Where do you want the tack?” he said, breaking the silence.
Thankful for the mundane question, she gestured to her left. “In the tack room. You’ll see the pegs where they belong.”
Demon grunted and tossed his head when she turned him loose into his stall, and immediately looked in his feed trough. Snorting with disgust when he found it empty, the horse turned and stared at her accusingly.
“All right,” she said, sliding her hand down the horse’s head, grateful for the routine chore that might dissipate the tension. “I’ll get it.”
As she poured grain in Demon’s feed trough, she noticed Jesse slip out of the tack room and lean against the stall across from Demon’s, watching her. Her smile faded and she felt tension creep up her back again.
“Okay, you’re set for the night,” she said to the horse. Her voice sounded unnaturally loud in the quiet of the barn.
She turned to Jesse. “Are you interested in dinner?” she said brightly. “I’m sure Maria saved some for us.”
“Sounds good.” He didn’t move. He just watched her as she stepped out of the stall and latched the door behind her.
Shea rubbed her suddenly sweaty palms down the legs of her jeans. “Ready to go?”
“Do you want to check the tack room first and make sure I put your things back where they belong?” he said, standing up straight.
“All right.”
She stepped into the dimly lit room. The smell of leather filled the air, along with a hint of Jesse’s fragrance. His subtle, musky scent swirled around her, sharpening her desire. “Everything’s fine.” Need shot through her again, and she turned blindly to leave.
Jesse had come into the tack room behind her, and she crashed into him. He grabbed her arms to steady her, and her heart gave a painful lurch.
Staring up at him, she saw the hot flare of need in his eyes. His hand gentled on her arm until his fingers were skimming over her skin. His eyes burned with a green fire, and she couldn’t force herself to step away.
She told herself to move, to go into the house where it was safe, but her feet wouldn’t obey her. Didn’t want to obey her. Instead, she stared up at him, her heart thudding against her chest and blood roaring in her ears. Her gaze locked with his, and heat pooled deep inside her. Fingers of need clawed at her, sharper and more fierce than anything she’d ever felt.
She saw the hesitation in Jesse’s eyes, the attempt to draw back. But then, with a muttered curse, he tightened his hands on her arms and yanked her against him.
He took her mouth in a blaze of heat and possession. There was nothing gentle about his kiss, nothing soft. He tasted of desperation and a passion so intense, so all-consuming, that he couldn’t control it.
She felt him struggling for that control, reaching for it, and shuddered with the desire that swept through her. There was no hesitation, no room for thought. Curling her arms around his neck, she pressed herself against him and opened her mouth to him.
He groaned as he speared his hands into her hair, holding her mouth to his. She felt the tremble of his fingers as he skimmed one hand over her cheek, down her throat. Every inch of her throbbed, and when he pulled her into the vee of his legs, the hard length of his arousal burned into her.
She moaned into his mouth, clutching at his arms, moving against him. He dragged his mouth away from hers and said, “Shea.”
She could barely manage to open her eyes. His face was hard and taut, his eyes glittering with passion, his skin pulled tight over his cheekbones. “What?” she whispered, hardly able to get the word out. Her mouth was swollen and her tongue wouldn’t work.
His eyes darkened. “Nothing.”
He kissed her again, pushing her backward until she was pressed against the wooden wall. He touched her face, and then his hands were everywhere. He skimmed down her sides, measuring the curve of her waist, then he slid around and cupped her hips. When he pulled her closer, fitting her against the swollen ridge of his jeans, a flash of lightning shot through her.
His hands flexed on her hips, sending shudders of desire streaking through her. When he let his hand slip lower and trailed his fingers over the heavy seam of her jeans, she whimpered with need.
He tensed even more, his whole body quivering as he stayed absolutely still against her. Finally, slowly, he pulled his hand away. When he curled his fingers around her neck, she could feel him shaking.
She felt him take a deep breath, his body trembling, his breath catching. Finally he settled his hands against her shoulders and leaned away from her. “Shea,” he began, but his voice trailed away. She followed his gaze and saw him staring at her blouse.
“This shirt,” he said hoarsely. “It’s been driving me crazy all day. Why did you wear this?”
Through the haze of passion and need that still throbbed inside her, she struggled to understand what he meant. “What’s wrong with my shirt?”
“This fringe.” With one finger he teased the fringe on her shirt that brushed against her breast. “All I’ve been able to think about today was this damn fringe, swinging hack and forth. Touching you, the way I wanted to touch you.”
He touched the fringe on her blouse again, his finger brushing the edge of her breast. She caught her breath, the sound echoing through the quiet barn. Jesse’s eyes darkened again. Slowly, his finger trembling, he traced the black fringe down her breast. When he stopped, his finger was touching her mpple.
A shock jolted through her, even through the layers of clothing. Her legs trembled, and if Jesse hadn’t been holding her up, she would have collapsed in a heap on the ground. “Jesse,” she whispered, her voice breaking.
His eyes fluttered closed, and he bent to kiss her again. Lost in sensation, trembling with her need for him, she was startled when she felt cool air on her chest. Breaking away from his mouth, she looked down to see that he’d unbuttoned her blouse and snapped open the front clasp of her bra.
Jesse brushed her shirt to the side and stared down at her bare breasts. Suddenly self-conscious, she tried to pull her shirt together. He grabbed her hands and held them lightly.
“You’re beautiful,” he said, his voice hoarse. “More beautiful than I could have imagined.” Bending down, he took the tip of one breast in his mouth. When he tugged at it gently, her knees buckled and she slid to the floor.
He followed her down, his lips and tongue playing with one breast while his hand caressed the other. Desire throbbed and built inside her, until she could think of nothing but Jesse, nothing but her need for him. He rocked against her, his heat and hardness pressing against the juncture of her thighs. Mindless with wanting him, a desperate need spiraling inside her, she fumbled with the button of his jeans.
He groaned and surged against her, then stilled. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her against him and held her tightly. But he had already retreated. Shea felt him distancing himself from her.
Struggling to free herself, she propped herself on her elbows and looked at him. “What’s wrong?” she said quietly.
Rather than looking at her, he pulled her shirt together and began to button it. “We’re in the barn, Shea.” His voice was tight and controlled, but she heard the remnants of desire trembling in it, and she relaxed just a little. “Anyone could walk in on us. Do you want Levi or Joe or Dusty to find u
s like this?”
“Of course not. But is that why you stopped?”
His hands stilled on her buttons. “No, not completely. I was too close to losing control, too close to making love with you right here.” Now he did look at her, and there was a fierceness to his eyes that she hadn’t seen before. “When I do make love with you, Shea, it won’t be on the floor of a barn. It won’t be when someone could walk in on us. When I make love with you, it’s going to take all night And I won’t be working for you when it happens.”
She reached out to grasp his shoulders, to keep him from moving away from her. “Why does that have anything to do with it? If it doesn’t bother me, why should it bother you?”
“I came here to do a job. And that’s what I intend to do.” His face was closed and remote, and for a moment he looked like a stranger. Like the dangerous, forbidden stranger who’d appeared in her yard, looking for a job. Then she shook him. “I wouldn’t have met you if you hadn’t come here looking for a job. Why should that make a difference?”
He struggled to his feet, then reached down and pulled her up next to him. “I keep my business separate from my pleasure.” His voice was harsh in the echoing silence of the barn. “And right now, you’re business.”
His words were implacable, dropping into the space between them. But she felt the tension that shimmered from him, and she saw the need, deep in his eyes. And she saw how hard he tried to fight both of them.
Her heart soared. Giving him a careless smile, she dusted off the seat of her jeans and the back of her shirt. “I’m sure you’re right,” she said cheerfully. “It would probably be bad for the morale of the rest of the men working here if we were involved. I don’t want jealousy to affect the business of the ranch.”
He scowled. “You think I’m worried that Joe or Dusty or Levi are going to be jealous? You think that’s why I don’t want to touch you?”
She tilted her head and studied him. “Isn’t it?”
“Hell, no, I’m not worried about that, and you know it.”
“Then what are you worried about, Jesse?”
“I need to be able to do my job. And I can’t do it if I’m involved with you.”
“Why not?”
He let loose a string of curses and narrowed his eyes at her. She stood her ground, waiting for him to finish. When he took a breath, she said, “That’s very interesting, but I didn’t hear any reasons for not getting involved in your creative monologue. All I heard were a lot of words that made me blush.”
He scowled at her, but she saw the reluctant smile in his eyes. “You are one mouthy piece of work, Shea. I don’t think you know how to blush.”
He would be surprised at how often she’d blushed since he arrived at the Red Rock. It was something she had no intention of telling him, at least not right now. “I just want to make sure I understand what you want.” Turning to switch off the light in the tack room, she grabbed for her composure. When she could face him with a calm smile, she turned around.
“Shall we go get some dinner? I’m starved.”
Jesse watched her walk down the barn aisle ahead of him and tried to keep his eyes off the sway of her hips in the tight denim. And he’d be damned if he’d look at that fringe on her shirt one more time today. When she reached the door, she turned around and waited for him. He felt himself tightening all over again when the fringe on her shirt swayed gently against her breast, and swore silently to himself.
Once again, Shea had managed to surprise him. He was sure his blunt words would embarrass her enough to make her back away, but instead she’d coolly issued him a challenge. A challenge that his body ached to answer. A challenge he’d have to be a damned fool to even consider. And no one had ever called Jesse Coulton a fool.
Jamming his hands into his pockets, scowling at the sight of the fringe on her shirt bouncing gently against her back, he hurried to catch up with her. When he reached her side, she turned to him with an easy smile.
“You’ll have to be properly contrite to Maria about being late for dinner.”
“You mean she doesn’t consider fooling around in the barn an acceptable excuse?”
Instead of flinching from his bluntness, she grinned at him. “She’d be shocked speechless. It would almost be worth telling her that was why we were late just to see that. But I think we’d better stick with the rodeo.”
“Fine,” he muttered. “You can handle the excuses.” She grinned again. “Don’t worry. I’m a pro at them. Maria’s heard plenty of excuses from me over the years.”
For a moment, jealously descended over him like a suffocating curtain of black rage. How many other men had she dallied with in the barn? How many other men had she teased and kissed and caressed? How many other men had touched her?
Then he remembered the tentative way she’d kissed him at first, her instinctive shyness when he’d bared her breasts. He thought about the shocked pleasure on her face when he’d touched her, and the stunned expression in her eyes when she’d looked at him.
Shea might have a smart mouth, and she might be very good at hiding her feelings, but she didn’t have a lot of experience when it came to men. He’d be willing to bet the ranch on that.
Suddenly more cheerful, he slung one arm over her shoulder. When he felt her tense, he smiled to himself. “I’m looking forward to this.”
“To dinner?” she asked.
“To watching Maria make you squirm,” he said.
Her shoulder relaxed just a bit beneath his hand. “She’s had enough practice,” she said lightly. “But I can handle Maria.”
She could. Jesse watched a few moments later as the housekeeper frowned at Shea, her dark eyes flashing. Shea kissed her cheek, gave her a hug, and sat down at the table. As Jesse slid into another chair he saw the older woman’s eyes soften as she watched Shea.
“I saved you some stew,” Maria muttered as she hurried off to the kitchen. “I know what riding that monster of a horse does to your appetite.”
As soon as Maria left the room, Joe, Dusty and Levi all began talking. In the jumble of voices, Jesse heard questions about the rodeo and bits of news about what had happened on the ranch that day. After a moment, Shea, laughing, held up her hand.
“One at a time,” she said.
Levi asked, “How did you do at the rodeo? Take first, as usual?”
The smile faded from Shea’s face. “Demon came up lame at the end of my run. So I pulled him back, wouldn’t let him finish.” She looked down at the plate of stew that Maria had put in front of her. Jesse saw the anguish in her eyes. “Doc O’Connor was there. He took a look at Demon, thought it was just a bruised foot. He should be fine. And there’ll be other races.”
She was still upset, Jesse realized. Not about losing the race, but about the injury to her horse. Even after the vet had told her that it wasn’t serious.
“I’ll help you soak his foot after dinner,” he heard himself say.
She glanced up at him, and he saw the sudden warmth in her eyes. “Thank you, Jesse. But I’m sure I can handle it myself. You probably have things to do after being gone all day.”
“Nothing that can’t wait,” he said casually. It was only an excuse to spend more time with her, he told himself. An excuse to get to know her better, so he could do the job he’d come here for. There was nothing personal about his offer.
And pigs were going to come flying over the mountains any day now, he added grimly. What was the matter with him? After that scene in the barn just minutes earlier, he should be tripping over himself in his hurry to get away from her. The last thing he needed to do was spend more time alone with Shea. But he would be in that barn with her tonight. He’d just make sure he kept lots of space between them.
Conversation turned to the ranch, and the three hands told Shea what they’d done that day. When Dusty casually mentioned that he’d given the injection to the steer with the laceration, Shea shot around in her chair.
“What do you mean, you gave th
at steer his injection? You know you’re not supposed to be doing any work.”
Jesse watched as Joe edged forward, a belligerent expression on his face. “As long as we’re talking about working, I started in on the truck today.”
Shea crossed her arms and sat back in her chair. “I didn’t realize I should have tied you both down before I left this morning.”
In spite of her teasing words, Jesse saw the concern on her face as she looked at her two employees. Clearly, she cared about the two men who had been injured. And just as clearly, she was determined that they not start working again before they were ready, even if it meant she had to do twice the work herself.
Shea was a complicated woman, and Jesse shifted on the wooden seat of the chair. He should be a lot farther along in his investigation by now. He should at least have found the place where the illegal aliens were staying, and with any luck should have caught Shea with them. Instead of going to the rodeo with her today, he should have stayed on the ranch and searched for the hiding place.
He’d start looking tomorrow, he told himself. He’d wasted today at the rodeo, thinking that something was going to happen there, but he’d get to work tomorrow.
His traitorous body told him that not a thing about the day had been wasted, but he refused to listen. Instead, he paid close attention to Shea, wondering if something had happened at the ranch while she was gone.
But the rest of the conversation was mundane, with Levi recounting exactly what he’d done that day. Jesse was ready to leave when Maria came into the dining room, holding a cake.
Shea turned to smile at her. “How did your day go, Maria?”
“Just like every other day.” She looked at Shea, and a warning flashed. “I got lots of cleaning done.”
“That’s great,” Shea answered, and the answering flicker in her eyes told Jesse she’d understood Maria’s unspoken message. “But you could have waited until tomorrow and I would have helped you.”
The housekeeper snorted. “When? In your spare time?”
“I would have made time, Maria.”
“It was nothing,” the housekeeper muttered. “You know I don’t mind.”
The Fugitive Bride Page 10