Best of Cowboys Bundle

by Vicki Lewis Thompson, Barbara White Daille, Judy Christenberry, Christine Wenger, Shirley Rogers, Crystal Green, Nina Bruhns, Candance Schuler, Carole Mortimer

  “Oh.” The thought pleased her more than it should have.

  “It suits you,” he murmured. And then he drew her into his arms.

  “I really don’t think this is a good idea,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper.

  “You’re probably right,” he agreed. And then, slowly lowering his head, he kissed her. His kiss was like riding the teacups at Disneyland, watching fireworks on the Fourth of July and sitting in front of a blazing fire on a cold winter night all rolled into one.

  Closing her eyes, she kissed him back, her arms sliding up around his neck, her body seeking to be closer to his. His skin was warm and still damp and she pressed herself against him, thinking she had never felt anything as wonderful as being in his arms. Never tasted anything as potent as his kisses. Every cell, every nerve ending, sprang to life as his tongue met hers. She wished she had the audacity to take off her bathing suit, to feel the hard length of his body pressed to hers with nothing between them. No man had ever made her feel like this, not even Rick….

  Memories of her former fiancé exploded through her mind—Rick holding her in his arms, telling her that he would love her forever, that he would never look at another woman as long as he lived. Ha! Thinking of him cooled her desire as quickly and effectively as a bucket of cold water poured on a campfire.

  Turning her head to the side, she broke the kiss.

  “Whoa, girl,” Chay muttered.

  Heat flooded her cheeks. Muttering, “I’m sorry.” She tried to wriggle out of his arms, but he refused to let her go.

  “Hey, I wasn’t complaining.” He brushed a lock of wet hair from her cheek.

  She looked away, embarrassed by the way she had responded to his kisses. What must he think of her? Another minute and she would have gone up in flames.

  Cupping her chin in his palm, he forced her to look at him. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” he said. “I felt it, too.”

  “It shouldn’t have happened. I’m not looking for…for anything.”

  “Neither am I.” He smiled at her as he released her. “Lighten up, Dana. It was just a kiss.”

  Just a kiss? Was that all it had been to him? She should have felt relieved. Why didn’t she?

  “Are you ready to swim back?” he asked. “I had Anna Mae, our cook, pack us a lunch.”

  With a nod, she got to her feet and plunged into the lake. The water felt cool against her heated flesh.

  She had regained her composure by the time they reached the other side. Chay found a shady place to spread the blanket. Reaching into the basket, he pulled out roast-beef sandwiches, potato salad, barbecued beans and a thermos of lemonade.

  Dana ate self-consciously, unable to forget the way Chay’s kisses had affected her.

  “So have you ever been married, Dana?”

  “No,” she said, startled by the question. “Have you?”

  He shook his head. “I came close once.”

  “Were you in love with her?”

  “I thought so at the time. Of course, I was mighty young back then, too young to know the difference between love and lust.” He looked at her speculatively. “I’m surprised you aren’t married. Pretty girl like you, I’d have thought someone would have snapped you up a long time ago.”

  She thought of Rick. “Just lucky, I guess.” At least he had cheated on her before they were married. Her friend, Josey, hadn’t been so lucky. Well, lucky probably wasn’t the right word. Ted had cheated on Josey while she was in the hospital having his baby. Men! You couldn’t trust any of them.

  Chay regarded her thoughtfully for a long moment. “Somebody hurt you, didn’t they?”

  It was a wild guess, a shot in the dark, but as soon as he spoke the words, he knew it was true. She had been hurt, he thought, and not too long ago if he was any judge. Although he hardly knew her, the thought of some dumb jackass causing her pain filled him with regret. He wasn’t sure how he felt about her, but he knew one thing—she was hurting deep down inside and he didn’t like it one damn bit.

  “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

  “I’m sure you do.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” she said curtly.

  “Whatever you say.” He hadn’t meant to upset her. He looked out over the lake, giving her time to regain her composure. “I’m supposed to bring Ashley and her friends out here tomorrow,” he said after a time.

  “I’m sure they’ll love it.”

  “Wanna come along and keep me company?”

  “I don’t think so.” The less time she spent with him, the better. She already liked him far too much. She wasn’t getting caught up in that trap again, that wonderful glow of infatuation, the excitement and the anticipation, only to have it all come crashing down around her. No, thank you. She had learned her lesson the hard way. She wasn’t making the same mistake again, no matter how attractive she found Chay Lone Elk.

  “Come on,” he coaxed. “You’ll have four of the best chaperons in the world.”

  She shook her head.

  “Are you sure I can’t change your mind?”

  “Quite sure.”

  They finished the rest of the meal in silence.

  Earlier, Chay had loosened the saddle cinches on their horses. Now, while Dana gathered up their used plates and cups and stowed everything back in the basket, he tightened the saddle cinch on her horse and then his own. Taking the basket, he tied it behind his saddle, and then helped her mount. She felt a familiar warmth slide up her arm at the touch of his hand.

  It was late afternoon when they reached her place. Dismounting, Chay lifted her from the back of her horse, his hands lingering at her waist.

  Butterflies took wing in her stomach as he leaned forward and brushed a quick kiss across her lips. “Thanks for today,” he said. “I had a good time.”

  “Yes,” she said, trying to avoid meeting his eyes. “Me, too.”

  His gaze found hers and held it for a long moment, then he swung into the saddle and rode out of the yard. He didn’t look back.

  Standing on the porch, Dana watched him until he was out of sight. In spite of everything, she couldn’t help feeling sorry that she would never see him again.

  Chapter Four

  T oo restless to sit down and read, refusing to let herself think about Chay Lone Elk and the time they had spent together the day before, Dana went into the kitchen and pulled out the ingredients for making an apple pie. As she rolled out the crust, she told herself she was making apple because she didn’t have the fixings for any other kind. She told herself it was stupid to make a pie when she was going to end up eating it all herself, and that if she wanted to lose that ten pounds, she should be snacking on rice cakes and yogurt. Nevertheless, the fragrant aroma of a pie baking in the oven soon filled the house.

  Which again left her with nothing to do. She was tired of watching TV. The bed was made, the breakfast dishes washed and put away, the floor swept and mopped to within an inch of its life, the furniture dusted. Earlier, she had watered the lawn, fed the squirrels, filled the old bird feeder in the backyard. She had done all those things and made a pie, and it was barely two o’clock. She knew now why she liked living in the city, and why she worked six days a week. What on earth did people in the country do with themselves?

  The two weeks she had left suddenly seemed like two months.

  The pie was cooling and she was thinking about driving into town for lunch when she heard the muffled sound of hoofbeats in the yard. Anticipation fluttered in her stomach. Could it be?

  A moment later, she heard the sound of girlish voices and giggles, and then Chay’s voice.

  “Hey, Dana! Get on out here!”

  At the sound of his voice, her heart began beating double time. Still, she forced herself to walk slowly to the front door. She paused with her hand on the latch, took a deep calming breath and stepped out onto the front porch.

  Chay was leaning forward in the saddle, his arms crossed on t
he horn. The horse she had ridden yesterday was on a lead line. Four teenagers were strung out behind him.

  “Hey, girl,” Chay said, “we came by to see if you’d changed your mind.”

  Dana shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  “Daisy Blue misses you something awful,” he said with a roguish grin.

  Dana’s lips twitched in a smile as she glanced at the mare. “She does? How can you tell?”

  “She told me so this morning. She said you probably missed her, too, and she begged me to bring her along, just in case you changed your mind. You wouldn’t want to disappoint Daisy Blue, now, would you? Not after she came all this way.”

  As if to add credence to Chay’s words, Daisy Blue nodded her head up and down, then whinnied softly.

  “You see?” Chay smiled up at Dana, his dark eyes glinting with humor.

  Dana laughed out loud, charmed by his words and his smile. What could it hurt to spend another day with him? At least it would get her out of the house.

  Chay lifted his head and sniffed the air like a wolf on the scent of fresh game. “Is that apple pie I smell?”

  She lifted one shoulder and let it fall in a negligent shrug. “Could be.”

  “Did you bake it for me?”

  “Of course not.”

  He looked crestfallen. “Well, how about bringing it along?”

  “I didn’t say I was going.”

  “Sure you are,” he said, and smiled at her again.

  Ten minutes later the pie was packed in a basket and tied behind Daisy Blue’s saddle, along with a blanket and a beach towel. Dana had taken the time to put her bathing suit on under her clothes and she was ready to go.

  Chay introduced Dana to Ashley and her friends, Megan, Brittany and LuAnn. The girls all greeted Dana with cheerful waves and hellos and then they were on their way to the lake.

  Ashley was a pretty girl with wavy brown hair and mischievous green eyes. In spite of the difference in their coloring, Dana thought Ashley bore a striking resemblance to Chay.

  Chay and Dana rode ahead a few paces. Dana couldn’t help smiling as she listened to the girls’ chatter. They talked about boys, the latest fashions, boys, which movie stars they thought were really tight, boys, which rock star was in and which was out, whether LuAnn should get a nose ring and what her father, a judge, was likely to do if she did, and boys. It was obvious the girls had been close friends for years, that they were all from wealthy families and accustomed to having the best of everything.

  Chay looked over at Dana with a pained expression. “See what I’ve been putting up with for the last three weeks?” He groaned softly. “Almost four weeks now.”

  “You poor thing.”

  He nodded, his expression woebegone. “Four teenage girls! No grown man should have to put up with such torture.”

  “Yes, I can see how you’re suffering. How much longer are they going to be here?”

  He let out a long aggrieved sigh. “Until the end of summer vacation.” He shook his head. “I’m never going to get any work done on my own place at this rate.”

  “What kind of work are you doing?”

  “I’m building a house in my spare time.” He grunted. “What little I have.”

  “You’re building it? Yourself? Or having it built?”

  “I’m doing it—most of it, anyway.”

  “Wow, I’m impressed.”

  “Good. Maybe you’d like to see it sometime?”

  “Yes, I would. Are you building it for yourself, or for someone else?”

  “It’s for me. Of course, at the rate I’m going, I’ll be an old man by the time it’s finished.”

  “Well, at least you’ll have a nice place to live,” she said with a grin. “What kind of work do you do for Big John?”

  “Cowboy stuff,” Chay replied, grinning. “You know, ropin’, ridin’, brandin’, that kind of thing.”

  “Just like Roy Rogers?”

  He snorted softly. “Hardly. Rogers never got his hands dirty. Or his clothes, either.”

  Dana laughed. “He sure dressed pretty, though—all those fancy clothes. And those boots! I can’t imagine any real cowboy wearing red-and-white boots. Of course, the Lone Ranger never got dirty, either. His clothes were always clean and neatly pressed, even after he’d been rolling around in the dirt punching out the bad guy. I always wondered about that.”

  “You a big fan of the Lone Ranger?”

  “Well, to tell you the truth, I always liked Tonto the best.”

  “Is that right?”

  “Uh-huh.” She looked at Chay a moment. “You’re Indian, aren’t you?”

  “It shows, huh?”

  She nodded.

  “My mother is Cheyenne. She was born on the rez.”

  “How did she happen to go to work for Big John?”

  “She left the rez and went to college. She met Big John in a bar one night soon after she graduated. As fate would have it, he had just fired his accountant. He happened to mention he was in the market for a new one during the course of the evening and…” He shrugged. “One thing led to another, and the next day she had a job.”

  “That’s quite a story. All it needs is a happy-ever-after ending.”

  A muscle clenched in Chay’s jaw. “Yeah.”

  “Is your father Indian, too?”

  “No.” The tone of his voice told her it wasn’t something he wanted to discuss.

  They reached the lake a few minutes later. The girls were off their horses and in the water in nothing flat, leaving Chay to look after their mounts. He unsaddled the horses, hobbled them in the shade, then removed their bridles, leaving them to graze on a patch of grass.

  Dana stripped down to her bathing suit, and spread her blanket on the grass next to Chay’s. Each of the girls had a picnic basket tied behind her saddle. Dana lined the baskets up along the edge of the blankets, then sat down, thinking how pretty and peaceful it was with the lake and the trees. The air was fragrant with the scent of wildflowers and grass. A squirrel darted up a nearby pine. Birds flitted from branch to branch.

  “You look like you’re ready for a swim,” Chay remarked.

  His gaze moved over her, making Dana wish once again that she had lost that extra ten pounds. He looked ready, too, she thought. His black trunks were the perfect foil for his dusky skin and long black hair. He had never looked more Indian than he did now. All he needed was an eagle feather in his hair and a streak of black paint on his cheek.

  Dana glanced at the lake. The girls were playing in the water, splashing and dunking each other and generally having a good time. “Maybe later.”

  Chay nodded. He sat down on the blanket across from her, his long legs stretched out in front of him, a blade of grass tucked into the corner of his lips.

  Dana watched the girls. At twenty-three, she was only a few years older than they were, but she felt years older, certainly wiser. If only she could be that young and innocent again, she thought, worried about nothing more earthshaking than going back to school when summer vacation was over.

  “Hey.” Chay took hold of her foot and shook it. “It’s too pretty a day to be looking so serious.”

  “Sorry, I was just envying them.”

  Chay glanced at the girls. “I can’t imagine why.”

  She shrugged. “They’re so young and carefree. Nothing to worry about except clothes and homework. I wish I hadn’t been so anxious to grow up, that I’d enjoyed being a teenager more.”

  “Does anyone enjoy it?” Chay asked with a grin. “Voices changing. Hormones raging. Trying to find the nerve to ask a girl out. Being scared she’ll say no and more afraid she’ll say yes. Wondering what to do with her once you’ve got her alone.”

  Dana laughed. “It wasn’t any easier being a girl, you know. Hoping the right guy would ask you to the movies. Wondering if you should let him kiss you good-night, wondering how you’d feel if he didn’t!” She shook her head. “Maybe I don’t want to do it all again.”


  “Yeah, and it’s worse for kids today,” Chay remarked. “Drugs on every campus. AIDS. Gangs.” Chay looked at the girls thoughtfully, his attention settling on Ashley. She seemed like a bright kid. She would be sixteen soon, a dangerous age for teenagers. He didn’t know what he’d do if she got into trouble. He knew Big John didn’t pay her much attention. Oh, he made sure she had everything she needed, everything except his affection. Ashley wouldn’t be the first girl to go looking for the love she wasn’t getting at home in the arms of some smooth-talking young stud who would take her innocence and then dump her. He thought about the promise he had made to Big John. With each passing day, it was getting harder and harder to keep.

  “Hey.” Dana tapped her finger on Chay’s big toe. “Who’s looking pensive now?”

  He smiled at her, and Dana forgot everything else. The man’s smile was more tempting than chocolate, warmer than a wool blanket.

  “Sorry,” he said.

  “It’s all right. Tell me about your Cheyenne heritage.”

  He shrugged. “What’s there to say?”

  “I don’t know. You’re the first Native American I’ve ever met.” She frowned. “Do you like being called Native American or Indian?”

  “Indian works for me. As for never saying anything outright, I’ve never felt the need. Anybody looking at me knows who and what I am. If they don’t like it, that’s their problem, not mine. So, what do you want to know?”

  “I’m not sure. All I really know about Indians is what I see on TV and in the movies.”

  “Yeah, well, most of that is wrong. Indian history was recorded by the whites, not the tribes, so anything you see or hear is likely to be totally inaccurate, either portraying Indians as cold-blooded, godless barbarians or highly romanticized as noble savages.”

  “What’s it like on the reservation? I saw a special on TV a while back. Are reservations as bad as they made it sound?”

  “Most of them are pretty grim. Lots of unemployment, teenage suicide, alcoholism.”

  Dana grimaced. It was not a pretty picture. “Do you go there often?”

  “I haven’t been back for a couple of years. Since my uncle died, I don’t have any family left there and—” he shrugged “—I miss it sometimes. I’ve got some good memories of the place, and some bad ones, too.”