WILD BLOOD

by Naomi Horton

  But finally there was no way he could ignore the fire storm within himself, and he groaned and just let himself go, moving strongly and urgently until it swept him up and away and everything vanished in a burst of white-hot sensation.

  They collapsed against each other, too breathless to do more than whisper wordless things, bodies slick with sweat, hearts pounding. Jett finally collected his wits enough to pull the blanket up and around them, cocooning Kathy in its sheltering folds, and he buried his face in her hair and just sat there for an eternity, breathing in the warm scent of her skin and thinking dazedly that if it had been like this sixteen years ago, she never would have gotten away from him. Never.

  He would have been content to stay there in the truck in Stumpy Jones's hay field until the end of time itself, but Kathy got practical after a while and eased herself off him, groaning a little. She collapsed on the seat, looking damp and tousled and well-loved, and scooped a handful of hair off her face, looking around the truck as though just becoming aware of where she was.

  "My God," she finally whispered. "I had no idea it could be like that. No idea…"

  Jett kissed her, cradling her head in his hand. "That's only a taste of what it's going to be like," he whispered. "I've spent sixteen long, cold years away from you, Kathleen. I've got a lot of catching up to do."

  She laughed shakily, resting her forehead on his. "It scares me a little. This whole thing is just so wild and out of control."

  "It was always wild and out of control with us, Kath. Don't you remember that day I picked you up after school, and we stopped just below the ridge this side of The Oaks and made love up against that big rock? I had your skirt up and your panties down and was inside you in about thirty seconds flat, and the whole thing took maybe a minute and a half. Or that night we drove out to Cougar Ridge and put a blanket down and I taught you how to—"

  Laughing, Kathleen stopped him with a kiss. "Keep talking like that and you're going to get me all hot and bothered again before you're in any kind of shape to do something about it."

  "I'll find a way to do something about it," he said with a chuckle. And, whispering against her ear, he proceeded to tell her exactly how, in minute and exquisite detail.

  She gave a little moan of protest, and Jett laughed and nuzzled her ear, thinking that it wouldn't take a whole lot more to set them both off again.

  Kathleen sighed finally and pulled away, raking her hair back with both hands. "You'd better get me home before Gord calls the cops. If he hasn't already."

  "No." Jett held her gaze stubbornly. "No, damn it, I'm not taking you home. It's always been this way between us, quick and dirty, in the truck or a hayloft or in the grass somewhere, and—"

  "Quick and dirty has its moments," she said with a grin.

  But he shook his head impatiently. "I want to make love to you in a proper bed just once. More than once, in fact. Tonight's the first time we ever took the time to catch our breath and start all over again. We were always in a hurry, scared of getting caught, scared of keeping you out too late."

  "We never needed long," she reminded him with a chuckle.

  "Yeah, well…" He did have to grin then. But he let it fade and looked at her seriously. "Come home with me, Kathy. Come to bed with me and stay the night. I want to make love to you and fall asleep with my arms around you and then wake up in the morning and make love to you again."

  She didn't say anything, a frown tugging her brows together. "Jett, this was wonderful, but I'm not sure we should—"

  "I want you in my bed, damn it," Jett told her impatiently. "I've wasted sixteen years I could have had with you. I don't want to waste another five minutes."

  It made her laugh. "Remember up at Beaver Creek when you said tonight was going to be just a dance and that it wouldn't get complicated?" She leaned forward to kiss his chin. "It wasn't just a dance, and it is getting complicated."

  She had no idea how complicated, Jett thought. But instead of telling her everything he should be telling her, he simply smiled coaxingly. "No more complicated than you want it to be."

  She thought about it for a moment longer, still uncertain. Then she smiled and shook her head, as though amused by her own folly. "If you could bottle that cowboy charm of yours, Sundance, you'd be a wealthy man." She lifted his hand and kissed his fingertips, eyes locked with his. "I'll call Gord from your place and tell him not to wait up."

  Jett's belly muscles tightened as she ran the tip of her tongue along the length of his thumb. "I'll make it worth your while."

  "I'll see that you do." Then, laughing, she retrieved her bra and panties from the dashboard and proceeded to get dressed. "What about Jody? I realize that he's old enough to understand you have a life, but if he runs into me as I'm coming out of his dad's bedroom the morning after, it might embarrass him half to death." She slipped him a sly look. "Unless he's used to seeing women wander out of his dad's bedroom the morning after, of course."

  Jett finished pulling on his jeans, then shrugged into his shirt, still warm with her heat. "There's been no woman in my bed since Pam died," he said quietly. "I won't lie to you and say I haven't been with anyone in those six years, but I never took them home. It was just a rule I had. I didn't want Jody thinking—" He shrugged. "Well, what he'd think."

  "I'll stay out of sight until he's left for school."

  "No." Jett looked up at her, tempted in that moment to tell her everything. But the time wasn't right, and he just shook it off. "I'm not going to make a big deal out of this, but I'm not going to lie to him, either. He has a right to know there's something between us. He, uh, seems to like you."

  "Yeah, we seemed to hit it off. He's a great kid. How's he doing with that civics project?"

  Jett bit back a wince. "Not too good. I tried to give him a hand with it, but…" He gave his head a weary shake. "I'd be mightily obliged, actually, for any help you can give him. I know I acted like a prize jerk the other night, but if you were serious about wanting to help out…"

  Kathleen gave him a slow smile. "It'll cost you, cowboy."

  "Name your price."

  "I'll have to give it some thought." She started buttoning the dress, not taking her gaze from his. "But I'm sure I'll be able to come up with something that will make us both happy."

  "Funny, I was going to say the same thing."

  She laughed. "Are you trying to tell me something?"

  Jett settled his hat over his hair, then reached down to start the truck. "Just that I want you stretched out across my big old bed without a stitch on, so ready for me you're half out of your mind with it. Just that I'm going to take my time, lady. I'm going to play you like a concert violin, and by the time I'm finished with you, you'll figure you've died and gone straight through those pearly gates."

  * * *

  Chapter 9

  « ^ »

  He was true to his word.

  And much, much later, lying in his arms in the wide, soft bed, Kathleen smiled into the darkness, stroking his sweat-dewed back with her fingertips and listening to his heartbeat slowly return to normal.

  "You were right," she murmured. "Bed is best. That was … pretty intense."

  She felt him smile. Then he rolled gently off her and onto his side, carrying her with him, so she was cradled against him full-length.

  "It's not that I didn't enjoy making love with you in the truck tonight," he said with a husky laugh, "but I do my best work in familiar territory. With plenty of room to maneuver."

  "I noticed." Sighing in utter contentment, she nestled against him sleepily. He'd used this big, old bed to spectacular advantage for the past hour or so, and there wasn't a square inch of her that he hadn't deliciously explored with hands and mouth and tongue, not a tiny spot of her that he didn't know by heart.

  She could get used to this, she thought as she drifted toward sleep. Montana. Burnt River. Jett. It was as though all the scattered parts of her life were coming together finally, creating something whole and sati
sfying. Maybe Gord was right. Maybe it was time she moved back.

  * * *

  That thought never strayed far from her mind over the next three weeks. Every time she watched Gord playing with the kids, or took a moment to draw a deep breath of pine-scented mountain air, or simply walked along the streets of the town where she'd grown up, the temptation grew stronger.

  But she had to be sure. It wouldn't be fair to Gord to tell him that she was staying, then turn around in a month or two and admit she'd made a mistake and wanted to move back to Baltimore. But most of all, she had to be sure for herself. Sure that she wanted to stay for the right reasons.

  And not just because she was falling head over heels in love with Jett Kendrick all over again.

  She hadn't believed it at first. Sizzle and sparks, that was all she'd figured it was. Curiosity and old times and a heady, reckless awareness that, this time, no one could stop them.

  They'd spent every spare moment together after that first night. Jett wanted her with him all the time, riding with him when he went looking for a missing cow and calf, attending a stock show with him, going to the church picnic hand-in-hand and setting tongues wagging from Burnt River clear down to Butte.

  And making love, of course. All it would take was a glance, a slow smile, the touch of his hand on her back, and she was lost. They made love every chance they got, up at Beaver Creek on a bed of soft grass, on a blanket in Stumpy Jones's hay barn, in a meadow up on Cougar Ridge with nothing but wildflowers and sky around them. And, best of all, in Jett's big, old, wide bed, with all the time in the world to make it just perfect.

  It made Kathleen laugh out loud every time she thought of it. The man should come with a warning stamped across his taut, denim-upholstered backside: Handle With Care. Contents Hazardous To Your Peace Of Mind. And heart. Jett Kendrick was definitely hazardous to the heart.

  Not that she'd put up much of a fight. A couple of kisses, a cuddle or two and some spectacular sex, and she was as good as done for.

  Smiling, Kathleen glanced over her shoulder. Jett was still asleep, sprawled on his back with one arm thrown out as though seeking her in his dreams. The pale morning light gentled his strong features, and a half smile curved his mouth to one side as though he was remembering something sweet.

  Her smile widened, and she pulled the light quilt she'd wrapped around herself a bit tighter, then turned again to look out the window. The sun's light had just reached the highest mountain peaks across the valley. They were glowing like polished gold, and she watched as they seemed to catch fire.

  Last night had been magical. They'd gone to a dance just outside Helena and come back late, then tumbled into bed still flushed with laughter and good times. They'd lain there for an hour or more, just talking quietly, and then Jett had made love to her for a long, long while, more gently and sweetly than he ever had before. And it had been then, lying in his arms, that she'd finally admitted to herself that she was in love with him.

  "See something that catches your fancy?" Jett materialized behind her, as silent as a shadow. He slipped his arms around her and kissed the back of her neck.

  Kathleen looked at their reflection in the window, smiling as she met his gaze in the glass. "Yeah. As a matter of fact I do."

  "Good."

  He kissed her again, his parted lips moving around to the soft indentation under her ear, and Kathleen laughed softly, toes curling. "You're asking, for trouble, cowboy."

  "Countin' on it." He tightened his arms around her, then rested his chin on the top of her head to look out the, window. "So, what's out there that's so interesting?"

  "Mountains. Trees. And sky. Lots of sky. Something I don't see a lot of in Baltimore."

  Jett nodded slowly, his eyes holding hers in the reflection. "So. You're thinking about Baltimore."

  "Yeah." Kathleen sighed quietly.

  "I've had a feeling something's been on your mind." He kissed her hair. "I guess this was coming sooner or later. When are you leaving?"

  He asked it so matter-of-factly that Kathleen had to smile. "Would it upset your plans too much if I said I wasn't?"

  He stared at her, as though not quite understanding what she'd said, and she smiled again. "So. Not quite what you expected after all."

  He didn't say anything. Not a single word. Just stood there with his arms still around her, although she could tell he'd all but forgotten they were there, his eyes locked on hers in the cold reflection of the darkened window.

  "Well." She took a deep breath and forced herself to smile. "By the look of raw panic on your face, I guess I can safely assume that this is something you were not counting on."

  "You never said you were thinking of staying." Looking distracted, he let his arms fall from around her.

  It shouldn't have hurt, she knew that. He'd never once asked her about Baltimore. Had never talked about tomorrow or the day after that. It had just been day by day, and she'd been willing to take it like that, not allowing herself to take too much for granted or expect it to last.

  So she took a deep breath and fought a sudden prickle of tears, reminding herself that he'd never promised her a thing. She stepped away from him and started walking around the room, collecting bits of discarded clothing. "No, I guess I didn't. Gord wants me to go into partnership with him, and I agreed to come out for a couple of weeks to talk with him and look things over. I like what I've seen. I told him yesterday that I was staying."

  Again he said nothing, and she looked around impatiently. He was still standing by the window, tall and wide-shouldered in the pale light, seemingly unaware of the fact that he was naked, his face etched stone, so immobile he could have been painted there.

  A wisp of annoyance flirted through her, and she gave her head a toss to get the hair off her face. "For heaven's sake, Jett, stop looking so damned worried! I'm not moving back to Burnt River because of you. We had three weeks of great sex, and that's all it was. No strings, no commitments, no expectations."

  His mouth went hard and stubborn, like it did whenever he heard something he didn't want to hear. "You never said a damn thing about a partnership. That you were thinking of moving back."

  "I didn't say anything because at first I had no intention of accepting his offer. Then, after I'd been here awhile, I—" I fell in love with you, she thought angrily, tempted to say the words aloud just to see his reaction. Except the only person who would get hurt was her, so there didn't seem to be much point. "I didn't want to tell you about it until I'd decided one way or the other."

  She turned away again, looking for her jeans. She found them finally, lying in a heap in the corner where she'd kicked them last night, in too much of a hurry to get out of them to care where they fell. "Look, I have to get home. Can I borrow your truck, or should I call Gord and have him pick me up?"

  Jett gave himself a shake, as though releasing himself from some spell. Raking his fingers through his hair, he wheeled away and grabbed his blue jeans from the back of a chair and started pulling them on, his actions abrupt and angry. "You should have told me about this, Kathleen. It makes a difference."

  She started getting dressed, yanking her panties and bra on, then pulling on her jeans. "It doesn't make a damned bit of difference. Just because I'm going to be living in Burnt River again doesn't mean that you're obligated to keep me entertained. We never even have to see each other again, let alone—"

  "If you're going to be in town," he said with a low, intense voice, "I'm going to be seeing you. Count on that."

  "We're adults, Jett. We can handle it." She gave her head another toss and pulled on her white cotton shirt, not looking at him as she started buttoning it.

  "I deserved to know, damn it." He caught her by the arm and pulled her around, forcing her to face him. His eyes were dark with anger, mouth hard. "You've been sleepin' in my bed for almost three weeks, lady. It might have been nice if you'd at least given me a hint you were thinkin' of staying."

  "It had nothing to do with us!" She
wrenched her arm free. "I came back to Burnt River to discuss a business deal with my brother, not get involved with you. You just … happened!"

  It made him blink, and he backed off after a moment, looking sullen and edgy, dark eyes glittering with a dozen emotions she didn't even want to try to name.

  She finished buttoning her shirt and rammed it into the waistband of her jeans, then looked around for her socks and boots. Jett was on the other side of the room now, with his back turned solidly toward her, as unapproachable as a granite cliff.

  She watched as he pulled a down-filled vest over his work shirt. Then she sighed. "Look, I didn't expect what we had to last forever, but I didn't want it to end like this, Jett. I'm sorry. For some silly reason, I thought you might be glad I'm staying."

  When he didn't indicate he'd even heard her, she bit back a hostile comment and stalked out of his bedroom, slamming the door behind her. Her boots were in the kitchen, kicked off just inside the back door, and she pulled them on over her bare feet, then stood there, realizing she still had no way to get home.

  "Damn it, how do I get myself into these messes!" Close to tears of frustration, she wheeled around and headed for the phone just as Jody walked into the kitchen, looking bleary-eyed and half asleep, shirt undone, feet bare, hair standing on end.

  He stopped dead when he saw her, then grinned sheepishly and wandered across to the fridge. "You and Dad had a fight, huh?"

  "A disagreement," Kathleen said grimly.

  "Mom used to slam the bedroom door like that when she and Dad had a fight." He hauled out a jug of milk and took it across to the table, dropping into a chair.

  "Oh." It always bemused her slightly, the way Jody accepted finding her wandering around his house at all hours of the night or day. She and Jett hadn't kept their relationship a secret, but she was sure Jett had never talked to Jody about it. And yet Jody seemed to take it for granted that she spent most nights here, and he didn't seem to mind in the least.