by Tina Leonard
He tipped her chin up so he could look in her eyes, what little he could see by the light of the moon. He wished he would see more, but it was pitch dark in the woods. Any less moon, and he wouldn’t advise being down here at all. “Because?”
“Because you’re forcing me to say it.”
“So say it.”
She took a deep breath. He thought he felt her brace herself a little in his arms. “I was always attracted to you.”
There it was. The surrender he’d dreamed of for months, years even. Now that the moment was here, he was unprepared, shaken. “I never saw any sign of that.”
She pushed herself closer to him. “I didn’t want you to see any signs. I guess you could say I was hiding.”
“From me?”
“From you, from myself.” She tugged his head down so that he met her lips. “Focusing on my one big chance to make it in Hell.”
Uh-oh. Was she in his arms now because she felt like she’d blown her shot? Was he the back-up plan? “As much as I want this, want you,” he said, stroking her jaw with a thumb, “there’s no pressure here in Hell except what you’re putting on yourself.”
“I know that now.” She stood on boot-toe to sink her lips against his, kissing him so sexily, so hungrily, that Declan couldn’t resist. Her lips were so soft, so sweet under his, driving him mad with everything he’d held back for too long.
“We should go,” he said, breaking away with real regret. “With our luck, we’ll get caught here, and that’s the last thing you want.”
“I don’t care anymore.” Her voice was ragged, tearing into him. “I’ve gone as long as I intend to obeying the rules of convention.”
He held his breath, hearing something in her voice. Just as he was about to probe her words, he heard a shout and a yell from the creek. Laughter erupted, and a startled deer ran through the underbrush. Harper jumped, laughing nervously.
“Come on. We need to get out of here before we get caught.” He led her toward the truck.
Explosive popping halted both of them. Declan put his hand at Harper’s back. “Fireworks. Sounds like Black Cats.” Or something a little more exciting than Black Cats, but he wasn’t about to worry Harper more than she already was.
“Wait.” Harper held fast against him even as he tried to hurry her toward the truck. “I should check on them. I’m aggravated with them, but they’re still my team. Their safety matters.”
“They’re fine.” The sounds of loud laughter and shouting carried on the night air. “Pretty liquored up, I’d say, but fine.”
“But you know what happened when the Horsemen drugged you. We were at the creek that night, remember?” Harper looked at him. “And there was that strange incident a few weeks ago at Ivy’s when you did your version of a tree falling over.”
“Dramatic effect only. I was fine.”
“I don’t believe you.”
He smiled. “They wouldn’t dare do that to your girls.”
“You don’t know that for certain. I’m scared, Declan.”
He took her chin in his hand, gazed down at her. “Those gals have been on their own for a very long time without you protecting them. But to ease your mind, I’ll go check on them. If you get in the truck.”
“I’ll go, too.”
He raised a brow. “And risk them riding you for spying on them? Infringing on their independence?”
“They are breaking team curfew.”
“They don’t give a damn about team curfew or any other curfew.”
She ran a hand slowly up his arm to his bicep, so sweetly he wanted to wrap her in his arms and kiss her until the sun replaced the moon in the sky. “What about you?”
“I’ll tell them I just happened to be in the area.” He grinned. “Trace, Saint, and I have hit the creek a time or two in our day.”
“I remember.”
He dropped a light kiss on her lips, promising himself it wouldn’t be the last. “All right, then. In the truck you go.”
“Thanks, Declan.”
He nodded, and she got into the truck, softly closing the door. He could see her big eyes peering through the window at him. With a wave, he took off toward the sound of firecrackers.
What Harper didn’t know was that he’d walk through Hell and back, just for another shot at kissing her soft mouth and holding her sexy body in his arms. Which made him something of a rat bastard, but hey, it was the only card he had to play right now. And he was playing it.
* * *
Harper watched as Declan disappeared into the darkness, past the fringe of trees until she could no longer see him. It felt all wrong to sit in the truck, letting him go after her team. While he was a Navy SEAL and had many hours of missions under his belt, those girls were her team. If anyone should be checking on them, it should be her.
Checking on them was a fancy word for spying. Harper took a deep breath, anxiously waiting for Declan to make it back.
“Hey, Harper,” a voice said, as someone knocked on her window. She let out an unholy squeal that had probably been heard all the way to the creek.
“Damn it, Fallon!” Her shocked mind took in that he was dressed entirely different than Declan, even down to a straw Resistol hat and a muscle shirt.
She rolled down the window. “You scared me to death! Where did you come from?”
“I could ask you the same.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t see your truck.”
“I parked farther back.” He went around to the driver’s seat, got in, helping himself to a seat. “Where’s my brother? Taking a leak?”
“If you must know, yes.” She stared at him, not feeling bad about the fib in the least. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard there was a party at the creek. Then I saw my brother’s truck, figured maybe he was already down there.” He gave her a sidelong grin. Harper instantly put her guard on. “Then I saw you sitting in the truck, and I thought that was an interesting development. You don’t normally ride around in Declan’s truck at—" he checked his watch—“two o’clock in the morning.”
“It’s none of your business, is it?” she asked, keeping her voice light.
“Everything is everybody’s business in Hell.” He laughed. “You know that as well as anybody.”
Harper didn’t reply. He was stating the obvious, and all she was doing was trying to keep him from figuring anything out about the real reason they were there. Unfortunately, Fallon was going to mention to everyone that he’d found her in Declan’s truck in the early hours of the morning at the creek—information that would get back to her team in no time.
There wasn’t really any reason for her not to join Declan now. Harper looked at him. “Aren’t you late to the party?”
“The party never ends in Hell, or didn’t anybody tell you that when you arrived in this one-horse town?”
“They told me.” At the time, it had seemed like a lot of fun. Michael hadn’t yet come to join her, and in the few weeks she’d had before he had, Harper had enjoyed the “fun” as much as possible. Still, she and Ava and Cameron had been very serious about their training, working harder than partying.
“So I’ve been thinking about your trick riders.”
“Oh? Why?” Harper peered into the darkness, trying to see if Declan was returning.
“They’re a pretty wild bunch.”
She turned her gaze to him. “Says who?”
“Everybody.” He laughed again, the sound teasing and somehow gentle. Harper wasn’t amused.
“You seem to get a lot of your information from ‘everybody’,” Harper noted. “Gossip isn’t always a good conduit of truth.”
“I agree, but you wouldn’t be sitting here spying if you weren’t worried about them.”
“Thank you for pointing that out. Now that you’ve made your case, what is it specifically you want to know?”
“Rumor has it you’ll be heading out of town soon,” Fallon said, stunning her.
&nb
sp; “Really? I thought rumor would have me getting married, or opening a cupcake shop or something,” she said. “Didn’t you and your buddies have money on me getting to an altar this summer now that my friends are married?”
“The smart money’s on you heading up to Shorty’s.”
Shorty trained bullfighters. Ava and Cameron had gone up there for training. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Well, if you change your mind, I’d like to take over your team.”
Harper stared at him, astonished. “Why would I let you take over my team?”
“I know a lot about what they want to do,” he said simply. “I could take them to the next level.”
She blinked. “And you think I can’t.”
“I think your heart may not be in it at this point, and that the team knows it. I think they may be too much for you to handle, and that you picked an aggressive group of ladies. Talented, yes. Insanely talented. But very rough around the edges.”
He wasn’t far wrong, but Harper wasn’t about to admit it. “Go away, Fallon.”
“When you get over your hurt feelings, think about it, okay?”
“If you feel so strongly about it, why don’t you pitch your idea to the team? They’re under no obligation to me.” The criticism stung, the implication that her team was wild because she couldn’t control them more painful than she would admit.
“If you’re sure you don’t mind,” Fallon emphasized, “then I might. In due course.”
“What would you be waiting on?” she asked, a little bitterness in her tone.
“You to accept my premise,” he said softly. “I’m not trying to make an enemy. I’m trying to help you. And them. And believe it or not, Hell.”
“Oh, right. I forgot about your altruistic side.”
“I’ll admit I haven’t always been a hero,” Fallon said. “But eventually, every man has to decide to step up.”
“No, every man does not eventually decide he has to step up.” She stared at him. “Plenty of men go their whole lives without giving a damn about anything except themselves. I place you in that category.”
“So do a lot of other people,” he said cheerfully. “I like the element of surprise at times, don’t you?”
“I’m afraid I don’t.” She’d had all the unpleasant surprises she ever wanted to experience. Frankly, this bonding moment with Fallon fell under the heading of unpleasant stunner. “The team won’t leave me.”
“I think they would,” he told her. “Not to be an asshole, but they don’t respect you because you’ve never competed or taught what they specialize in. And Declan’s batshit-scared of bulls these days. He can’t help you with bullfighting or trick riding. I can.”
Dismay swamped her. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
He opened the truck door. “It’s just an option. You may never need that option, but it’s there if you should. See you, Harper.”
Fallon banged the truck door shut, drawing a wince from her. Harper sat there another moment, mulling his words. He was right, on so many levels. And here she was, planning to go over to Declan’s for a long night of lovemaking, when her whole world was falling apart. If her life was a train, right now it would be running off the tracks. Fallon was right: her team didn’t respect her. Maybe they didn’t respect anyone—but it wasn’t helping that she was totally invested in the team and they weren’t.
She had zero instructing experience, and zero competing experience in trick riding. She’d hoped to pull a team together, work with them for a while, and then bring in suitable instructors to help them with the finer points of the sport. Advise them on gear, everything they’d need to compete effectively.
But the thing that bothered her most was that, if Fallon was to be believed, folks in the town thought she was ready to walk away. When Fallon said there were bets on, he meant the Horsemen—and probably Ivy, maybe even Judy.
No doubt Declan knew all this, too.
She flung open the door, hopped out of the truck. “Fallon!”
He turned. “Yeah?”
“You’ve talked to my team about this, haven’t you?”
He gave her a long look. “I can’t confirm that. It would be violating a confidence.”
Her insides chilled as realization dawned. “They came to you with this plan. They asked you to take the team over.”
He didn’t reply, confirming her worst suspicion. She realized he was dressed in board shorts for swimming, obviously the party planned to go on for many hours. The girls were clearly comfortable with the Horsemen, and why not? They lived the same way Cassidy, Micaela, and Winter did: recklessly. Harper felt her heart break into a million pieces as she got back in the truck, closed the door.
Fallon stared her way another long second, then headed off down the path. Declan made it out of the woods, stopping briefly to talk to his brother. The two of them together looked so strange right now: Declan in jeans and a work shirt, Fallon dressed for a moonlit swim.
Declan walked to the truck, got in. Started the engine. “Where to?”
His silence on his reconnaissance mission confirmed that her team wouldn’t be returning tonight. “To Shorty’s,” she said. “If you’re in the mood for a drive to Montana.”
Chapter Twelve
Declan had an upset blonde on his hands, that much was for certain. He couldn’t much blame her. Turning toward the main road, he said, “I’ll take you to Montana, if that’s what you want. I just don’t think it is.”
Harper didn’t reply, and her silence confirmed what he already knew.
“I’m taking you to a different spot at the creek. A secret place known only to a select, privileged few. You look like you could use some fresh air.”
Harper didn’t protest his suggestion. It wasn’t like her to be so quiet, so pliable. The night had really taken a toll on her. “Hey, no big decisions have to be made tonight, you know.”
“I know.” She looked out the window. “I kept telling myself the kinks would work themselves out. That the girls would grow to love the team as much as I do.”
“They’ve just got a different mindset. You and Ava and Cameron had to work for everything. You had families you were worried about. This crew is working for themselves.”
“I fell for their riding skills. And their toughness.”
Declan could feel Harper’s gaze on him suddenly. “Have you ever wanted something so badly that you almost believed you could wish it into being?”
Yeah, he did—her. Declan cleared his throat. “You can’t make them want what you want, babe.”
“I know. That’s what hurts, I think.”
They traveled in silence until he drove down a road that almost seemed forgotten. He parked under a shelter of trees, hidden from the road. “This is where Trace, Saint, and I come when we need to unwind. I’ll warn you, it’s pretty rudimentary.”
“I’ve heard about this place. I think Cameron came here.” She hopped out and he grabbed a flashlight suitable for camping from the truck bed. “This is where Cameron hunted Saint down?”
Declan laughed. “Besides the mayor, Cameron may be the only woman who’s ever made it to our island.” He dragged a small rowboat out from the trees, set it into the water, checked it with the flashlight for snakes and other critters. He felt Harper’s gaze on him.
“Just checking for non-friendlies,” he said. “Rattlesnakes, scorpions—”
“If you want me to get in that thing, I suggest you start making it sound like that little canoe is the QEII, complete with uniformed service.”
He smiled, liking her spirit. “If you’d rather use the paddleboards—”
“I’m good.” She settled into the canoe, grabbed the paddle. “Let’s go, cowboy.”
He took a seat, content to let her paddle if she wanted. “There’s nowhere else the stars look quite as beautiful. At least I think so.”
She stopped paddling to look up at the sky. “It’s amazing. Gorgeous. I could sit here all n
ight, staring at the sky.”
“I have different plans for you.” He took the paddle from her, sending the boat across the creek with sure strokes.
“What kind of plans? Taking my clothes off plans?”
“Nah. Might be spiders in the cabin. We can’t really see very well until the sun comes up. And I’m not going to lie, my buddies swear they’ve seen ghosts out here.”
“You’re really not working very hard at setting the mood, are you?”
Declan grinned at her. “One man’s ghost story is another man’s romance, I guess.”
The boat scraped onto the shore. Declan got out, dragged it a bit farther, secured the paddle, grabbed his flashlight. Harper was out of the canoe before he could offer to help her.
“So this is the castle,” she said, seeing the shadow of the small cabin up ahead.
“This is where we go when we need to clear out our heads. Which is what I think you could use right now.”
She turned, and he could see her face in the beam from the flashlight. “I feel pretty clear. I didn’t before tonight, but now I do.”
“Let’s not be hasty.” He opened the cabin door, pulled out the hammock, unwrapped it and strung it in its usual place. “You can’t do good thinking until you’re in a hammock.”
“Is it possible to make love in a hammock?”
His breath caught, but he ignored that. “Hammocks are for thinking, reading, and sleeping.”
She slipped a finger through a belt loop on his jeans. “Then I don’t need the hammock.”
“Whoa, little lady. I brought you here because you’re upset. I’m not going to take advantage of you.”
“Oh.” She stepped back, released him. “So I’m just supposed to get into this hammock?”
“Yes. And think. Study the stars. Listen to the owls. It’s all very refreshing. There’s no electricity in the cabin, but you can pee in the creek if you need to.”
“Thank you, Mr. Romance,” Harper said drily.
“Let me see if the fellows left any water in the coolers.”
“Mm, hot water.” Harper laughed, feeling herself starting to relax. “Water that’s been baking in an unairconditioned cabin in the heat of a Texas summer.”