“Trying to buy my favors with sweets?”
His dark eyes glinted wickedly. “Absolutely. Come on upstairs with me and I’ll show you what else I bought while you were unconscious.” Taking her hand, he led her up the stairs, Casey grumbling behind him.
“I was not unconscious, I was resting.”
“Really? Then it’s a good thing the county coroner wasn’t here this morning. He would’ve hung a tag on your big toe.” Entering his bedroom, Jess crossed to the heavy mahogany armoire that matched the rest of the masculine pieces in the room and took a bag from the top of it. He tossed it to her, his eyes twinkling. “Here. See if this fits.” Then he took a clean pair of briefs from the top drawer of his dresser and walked across the hall to shower, leaving the bathroom door open.
Frowning curiously, Casey took off his hat and tossed it on the bed, then reached inside the plain brown paper bag.
And pulled out the most revealing two-piece thong bathing suit she’d ever seen in her life.
The cups of the white halter top were barely wide enough to cover... well, anything and the bottom was little more than a wispy triangle and a squiggle of elastic straps. She did not put it on. She did carry it into the steamy, soap-fragrant bathroom, letting it dangle from her index finger.
“Cute,” she called over the shower spray. “How did you know I have a Barbie doll?”
Jess stuck his wet head outside the curtain and grinned. “You don’t like it?”
Casey sent him a skeptical look. “Guess that depends on where I’m supposed to wear it, and who’s going to see me in it.” She knew the answer before he shut off the shower spray a minute later and stepped out of the tub, dripping wet.
“Only me,” he said, grabbing her and hoisting her into his arms for a long kiss. Her cotton shorts and T-shirt drank the water from his muscular body, clinging to every tempting swell and hollow. “As for the ‘where,’” he teased, “that’s a surprise.”
Casey nudged her nose into his wet, springy chest hair and felt him stir against her. “Such a decadent gift. Where did you get it, if I may be so bold as to inquire?”
“Hardy’s. I saw Pete at Aunt Ruby’s this morning, when I went for candy bars, and persuaded him to open his store.”
Casey groaned. “Oh, no, the whole town will be talking.”
“No, they won’t. Pete’s a good guy. He’ll keep it to himself.”
“And I thought you were so wholesome.”
“Lady,” he murmured huskily, “I haven’t had a wholesome thought about you since the night we met.” Jess turned them around to reverse their positions and kicked the open bathroom door shut. “Now let’s get you out of these wet clothes.”
The phone rang just as they were packing the truck and getting ready to leave. Jess ran back inside to get it, leaving Casey to stare curiously at the assortment of items stacked in the black Silverado’s bed. Propane lanterns and fuel, a picnic basket she’d never seen before, towels, a sleeping bag, and two thick Indian blankets.
The skies were beginning to darken, fluffy clouds reflecting the purples and pinks of the sun behind the mountains and the approaching midnight blue of nightfall. The air was beginning to cool.
“It’s your mom,” Jess called, coming back outside. Casey hid her uneasiness as he descended the porch steps carrying a rifle-the same one Cy Farrell had tested a few days ago. She remembered Jess saying that, though encounters with grizzlies were rare in this area, it was only good sense to be on the defensive. That didn’t make her feel any better about having a gun in the vehicle. He settled the rifle into the gun rack behind the seat, then turned back to her.
The narrowing of his eyes said something was bothering him, and Casey hoped very much that it was her mother’s phone call. Because every link with a family member was a reminder that Casey had another life back east—a life she was expected to return to.
Before she could ask what was wrong, Jess grinned and kissed the tip of her nose. “Go ahead and talk for a while. I should walk down to the bunkhouse. I need to see Ross and remind Pruitt to get his butt to town first thing tomorrow and pick up the paint I ordered for the outbuildings.”
“All right. Did my mother say what she wanted?”
His eyes seemed to cloud over again, but just briefly. “Nope, she just asked for you. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
In the den a moment later, Casey picked up the phone. “Hi, Mom. What’s up?”
Grace Hamilton’s voice was happily breathless on the other end of the line. “You’ll never guess! I just got off the phone with your lawyer, and he had some very encouraging news!”
“Mr. Chesney called?” Though she would have loved to entertain the hope that her pathetic financial situation was a thing of the past, Casey was a realist. “What did he want?”
“Wait—let me back up a little. I bumped into him a few weeks ago at church, and he asked how you were doing. Naturally, I told him how difficult staying out there was for you, what with your being surrounded by strangers, and feeling totally adrift. Honey, he was so sympathetic.”
Casey winced—first of all because she hated being discussed in pitying tones, and secondly because she really didn’t feel “adrift” anymore. From now on, there would be more sunny spots in her days than dark, more joy and anticipation in her heart than loneliness. All because of Jess. She didn’t share that revelation with her mother, however. Grace Hamilton was counting the days until her daughter came home.
“So what was this encouraging news Mr. Chesney passed along?” Casey asked again.
“Only the best news we could have asked for. Mr. Chesney is on the board of directors at the hospital, and he’s learned that a nursing position in pediatrics is opening up at the end of July. He thinks you should apply for it immediately, and he’ll do what he can to persuade the administration to—”
A rush of adrenaline Casey would never have expected pumped through her, and her heart leaped. “In peds?” She’d been so happy working there before she and Dane married and he coaxed her to quit her job. Casey felt a tug of longing, remembering all those babies with corn-silk hair and big eyes who’d looked to her for care and reassurance—the surrogate children she’d been so happy to love while waiting for her own.
“The woman who has the position has decided to take an early retirement—Alicia someone—and from what Mr.. Chesney said, there won’t be a damp eye in the place when she leaves. Apparently everyone feels she’s too strict and regimented to be dealing with children. Honey, technically your application’s already on file—the job you applied for four months ago. All they need is a letter expressing your interest in the pediatrics position and requesting an interview.”
“I...don’t know, Mom,” Casey said hesitantly as an image of Jess vied for her attention over the faces of the children she’d rocked and cuddled. Sick children needed that. And Mr. Chesney had been right about Alicia Fromme—the woman had always been too stern with the kids.
Casey drew a pensive breath. Even if she did apply and Rupert Chesney put in a good word, there was no assurance that she’d get the job. There were too many other nurses on staff who were burned out in their respective fields who might jump at the chance for a change. But if no one else went after it, and if she did get the position... she could always turn it down if Jess asked her to stay.
Grace Hamilton spoke up. “Casey? Was I wrong? Didn’t you enjoy working there before?”
“No—no, you weren’t wrong,” she said, breaking. from her thoughts. “I’ll get a letter off to personnel in the morning. I remember the address.”
“Fabulous. Now, don’t forget. They’ll be making a decision very soon. I’d better go now. Love you, honey.”
“Love you, too, Mom.”
When Casey went out to the truck a few minutes later, Jess was waiting beside the open passenger-side door. She walked up to him, and he slid a proprietary hand around her waist. “Ready for that picnic and swim now?”
Casey’s heart f
illed like a helium balloon at the warmth in his eyes. “I don’t know,” she teased. “If it gets much cooler tonight, we’re going to freeze.”
Laughing, Jess helped her inside the truck. “No, ma’am, we are not. We’re going to be toasty, believe me.”
Chapter 11
After several failed attempts to discover where they were going—and hearing Jess repeatedly tell her to quit bugging him, it was a surprise—Casey gave up asking and told him about her day. Though Sunday was traditionally a day off for the ranch hands—except for tending the animals—she had needed something to do to fill the time between waking and Jess’s coming home. Brushing the horses, straightening up the tack room, and putting together a lasagna that only needed to be baked for their meal on Monday had filled those hours. But her attention and enthusiasm for the night ahead had never wavered.
Now, as they drove toward the south pasture on one of the dirt roads that crisscrossed the ranch, the realization of where they were going made her cringe a little. They were headed for the stream that cut down through the property—a cold, clear, rippling creek fed by underground springs and mountain runoff. She was expected to take a romantic moonlight dip in those waters? Owing to a late spring, the shaded creek was still chilly and crisp.
Just when she expected him to pull off to the side of the road and lead her to the cottonwoods where they’d lunched the day of her ranch orientation, Jess drove off the left shoulder of the road, then down into the field, following the curve of the stream. A few minutes later, he stopped the truck beside another thick cluster of willows and cottonwoods and shut off the engine. As they drove through the field, Casey had noticed that the path they traveled was actually a little-used, tire-rutted “road,” overgrown with high grasses and weeds. Above them, dusk had settled in, and a white three-quarter moon was beginning its slow ascent in the darkening blue sky.
“I guess we’re here, huh?”
“Yep.” Jess grinned at her. “Got your new bathing suit on under your clothes?”
“Yes,” she answered warily. “But I’m not shedding my jeans and shirt until I’m absolutely sure no one else will be showing up here.”
“Don’t worry. That’s why I went down to the bunkhouse tonight. Ross and his buddy Pruitt have big plans in town.”
His tone had grown edgy with the mention of Pruitt’s name, and Casey recalled something she had wanted to tell Jess last night. Something that all that craziness in the truck and their subsequent lovemaking had managed to put out of her mind.
Something that should probably wait until later, if she didn’t want to spoil their evening.
“You didn’t tell them we were coming out here, did you? I mean, it’s bad enough that Pete Hardy knows we’re—”
“No, I told you I’d be discreet. I don’t want either of us getting pressured into something we’re not comfortable with. As far as I’m concerned, we’re okay with what we have, and there’s no need to involve anyone else in it. Right?”
Casey nodded, though her feelings on the matter were oddly conflicted. She didn’t want people to think she was Jess’s momentary convenience, but she wasn’t averse to people knowing they had a relationship. In fact, she was beginning to think that the more people who knew, the more accepted they would be as a couple, and the more permanent Jess might begin to feel about the two of them being together. But she wouldn’t push. She would be discreet, too, and believe that in time he would realize he felt more for her than friendship and a strong physical attraction.
Casey summoned a smile and nudged his arm. “Moving on to more immediate concerns—I’m starving. You told me not to cook, and I didn’t.” She nodded toward the supplies in the back of the truck. “What’s in the picnic basket?”
She found out, but only after they hauled everything to the site Jess had chosen for their evening swim.
The closer Casey got to the creek bed, the clearer it became that this bend in the stream had once been someone’s favorite haunt. In a clearing about twenty feet by thirty, the scrub grass was stunted and patchy, and the ground packed hard, in sharp contrast to the lush green foliage that surrounded it. A fire ring of smooth creek stones—years old, from the looks of them—sat in the middle.
“Jess, what is this place?”
“It used to be my family’s favorite picnic spot. Dad and Ross’s mother—Joanna—used to bring us out here fairly often when Ross and I were kids. It’s been a long time since I’ve done anything more than ride past, but when I was just out of high school—and again when Ross was that age—this was a pretty busy place.”
“I can imagine,” Casey said, clucking her tongue. “Parties. Girls.”
Grinning, Jess spread the thick blankets on the ground, then set the rolled sleeping bag to the side. “I plead the Fifth. Anyway, Ross was more into that sort of thing than I was.”
Jess grabbed the four lanterns he’d brought along and positioned them in an arc at the far reaches of the clearing, hoping to keep night-swooping moths and hungry mosquitoes away. Then he picked up his rifle.
Casey hid her uneasiness as he snapped an ammunition clip inside it and laid it beside their blanket. She still had no use for guns, but earlier he had made a good argument for bringing one along.
As if reading her mind, he offered some quiet reassurance. “It’ll be all right. I didn’t rack a shell into the chamber, and the safety’s on. That means it can’t go off accidentally. Okay?”
She smiled and said, “Okay,” then sat beside him on the blanket and helped him set out their food.
There was fried chicken, broccoli salad, slices of fresh peaches and honeydew melon, a block of cheese and assorted packages of crackers that were definitely restaurant-issue. Someone had also packed paper plates and silverware, a thermos of hot coffee, and cans of juice and ginger ale.
Delighted to see some of her favorite foods, Casey tucked her legs beneath her and settled in. “Guess candy isn’t the only thing you picked up at your aunt Ruby’s this morning. Or are you going to fib and tell me you did all this yourself?”
“Fib to you? Never. And candy was the only thing I picked up at the café this morning. Ruby put our food together this afternoon so it would be fresh. I drove back to town after I finished the irrigation work and picked it up.”
“That’s a lot of miles to put on your truck for the sake of one evening.”
Jess opened the containers and dug a serving spoon out of the wicker picnic basket. “True, but, self-serving jerk that I am, I saw every one of those miles as an investment in my night.”
Casey laughed, her delight echoing in the woods. “Wow, more honesty. You really don’t fib, do you?”
His smile faded a little, as a thought seemed to surface, but then he shook it off and smiled again. “Well, not too often, anyway. Now hand me your plate, and let’s get some food into you.”
He didn’t say more, and Casey didn’t question what he might have fibbed about. Instead, they ate, and when they were finished, Jess cleared their food and crumbs away and put the leftovers in the cab of the truck—a deterrent to night varmints drawn to the smell of food, he said. Then he built a fire in the ring of creek stones and ambled over to the blanket where she sat.
Wordlessly, as if he’d done it many times before, Jess removed Casey’s sneakers and socks, then took off his own footwear and set it aside. He drew her to her feet. “Ready for a dip?”
She sent him a feeble smile. It was warm by the fire, and she wasn’t looking forward to losing that cozy feeling. “I guess.”
“Not going to wuss out on me, are you?”
“Well...no.”
Jess’s voice dropped low. “Then let’s see that suit.” His hands moved up to undo the buttons on her shirt and slip it off, and he smiled at what he saw beneath it. His dark gaze drank in the swells of her breasts, more skin bared than concealed, the white halter top straining to cover the centers. He bent to kiss the soft cleavage between them. “Mmmm...I have excellent taste in swim wear,�
�� he murmured, and Casey shivered as his warm, moist breath bathed her skin. Then he kissed her lips.
Casey felt his fingers at the waistband of her jeans, felt the snap pop free... sighed into his mouth as he slid her jeans over her hips and his warm, callused hands found her bare bottom. Earlier she’d felt awkward and uneasy in the thong bathing suit; now she felt sexy and desirable. Jess made her feel that way.
She eased from the kiss, her blood already warming, counteracting the night’s falling temperatures...setting little fires along her nerve ends and low in her belly. How swiftly he brings me to this, she thought. He kisses...he touches... and in moments, I’m ready to take him inside me.
Her hands went to his shirt, dispensed with the buttons on his placket front and cuffs, then peeled it away. In the flickering light of the fire and lanterns, she could see clearly his powerful shoulders and chest, his whip-lean ribs and taut midsection. Casey kissed his chest in the same way he had kissed hers, smiling when a satisfied sound echoed in his throat and he nudged her head closer. She undid his belt...unzipped his jeans. Then she slid them down over his hips and saw snug black swim trunks.
A lot of fabric, compared to what she was wearing.
“Hey, no fair,” she grumbled. “Your tush is covered and mine’s not.”
Jess’s low laughter was husky and soft. “That’s because this is my fantasy and I have no interest in my own butt.” Reaching down, he yanked his jeans the rest of the way off, did the same to Casey’s and tossed them aside. Then he scooped her up, her legs dangling over his forearm, her arms circling his neck. Planting a quick kiss on her lips, he started walking. “Now, my dad always said the secret to surviving cold water is plunging right in.”
“No!” she shrieked, bouncing in his arms. “You plunge if you want to—I’ll get used to it gradually!”
Accidental Heiress Page 17