by Mia Madison
Sitting high on Cinders looking out over a sea of honey brown jostling hide gives me the opportunity to think about my sweet angel.
I never did get a chance to be alone with her again for more than a few snatched minutes here and there. She drove me insane with lusty desire to be embedded between her soft lips and I grabbed any moment to pull her behind a stand and encircle her pliant eager body in my arms as I claimed her mouth. I gotta say Dallyce returns every bit of the vigor I kiss her with, scouring her tongue against mine with fierce hunger. I claimed her for the square dance every other song.
“You're a great dancer, cowboy,” she said as I led her around the wooden floor Abe built under the stars. “Is there anything you don't do well?”
“Yeah. Wait.”
Becoming more possessive than I thought possible when any other guy wanted to dance with her was the indicator of the strength of my feelings for her. If I needed any.
This morning she came hurtling out of the house as I was riding out early, dashing across the yard to stop me. I leaned down to wrap my arm around her and haul her up on Cinders back then settle her between my legs.
“Shea,” she whimpered. “Someone will see us.”
“I don't give a shit. I want everyone to know. What's up, Angel?” I asked, after a swift kiss on her plump lips, noticing her eyes were glossy with tears rising.
“I'm leaving today, Shea. We're going.”
“I know.”
“What's going to happen? Will I ever see you again?”
“Of course. You don't imagine I'm letting you go. You’re mine now. Only mine.”
“But - how do we manage that?”
“I'll be back at lunch. We'll talk then and I'll tell you what we're going to do.”
“Promise?”
“I'd cross my heart if someone hadn't stolen it.”
She laughed and took my face in her small hands and planted a steamy kiss on my mouth to send me off with. Going to work like that every day is gonna make my life complete.
I've been on edge all morning. And Cinders is skittish as though echoing my sentiments.
“I know, girl. We're about to take a huge jump but the prize is worth the risk.”
I could hardly storm into the ranch house at dawn to inform Boss and that chaperone I was taking a consort and keeping Dallyce with me, to be my woman. But I have every intention of claiming her at lunch. Her rodeo tour is almost done and I'm sure they can let her off the last weeks. When time comes to head for home, I send Jessop and Lakin up front of the herd while I bring up the rear. Making sure none escape is the senior cowboy's task.
It's dusty work riding back and forth, keeping the cattle moving. Right after bringing a calk back into the fray, Cinders almost stumbles then begins to limp. I climb down immediately and lift her shoe to take a look, soothing her all the while.
“You're okay, girl. I've got ya.”
Shit. A nail has lodged beneath the metal. Most likely some idiot dropped one during the construction and she picked it up as we rode out this morning.
“Did you muddle through for me half the day, even though you were hurting?” I ask.
Cinders tosses her head like she knows what I'm saying. I smooth down her mane telling her she's the best steed a cowboy ever had. The horse turns her huge eyes on me with gratitude and love. I've only ever seen such love in one other pair of eyes and the thought of them overwhelms me now.
It would be cruel to ride Cinders back to the ranch. I lead her on foot and use a whip lasso to keep the herd moving.
“You let me know if you're struggling, Girl and I'll bring out the horsebox to chauffeur you.”
I only hope we make it back in time to catch Dallyce.
“Shea, we were wondering what happened to you,” Rafe rides up at a clip and rears Pegasus. “One of those girls was making a real to-do about seeing you before leaving.”
“Get off that horse and take care of Cinders while I ride up to the house and deal with it.”
“No problem, they're gone now. Almost had to rope tie her though, to get her to go she was squealing like a pig and insisting she was staying. You had a close escape there.”
“Shut your mouth, Rafe. Don't ever speak like that about her again. Don't even refer to her as a problem. Ever.”
“Sorry, Shea. Did you -?”
The glare I throw tells him not to ask me any questions.
I mount Pegasus and ride up to the ranch in a frantic state which only increases when I discover it's too late. Dallyce left with the other girls right after lunch and god only knows what she thinks of me now. Probably that I ran out on her like a low life skunk afraid to face up to the truth. When the reality is I'm falling hard for her and didn't find the right time to tell her.
“Where'd they go?” I storm up and down asking the other cowboys who'd seen them leave. “Where was their next visit?”
“I dunno, Shea, I think they said Louisiana but that could have been the last ranch on the tour. I wasn’t paying too close attention.”
“You courting now, Shea?” Abel comes out on the porch and watches me raging with a wry grin.
“Yeah, you could say that,” I gruff.
How the fuck am I ever gonna go about finding Dallyce and bringing her back here?
“Well I'll be. Never thought we'd live to see the day Shea Butler was snared.”
“Least I ain't afraid to make my move,” I growl back at him.
He may be the head man but we've worked together years and know each other better than most anyone. In that moment Chloe, the daughter of the house, comes out to stand beside him.
“What's going on?” she asks, looking at me pacing up and down like I've gone deranged.
“Shea lost his girl,” Abe looks down at her with a soft grin.
“Where'd he leave her?” she quips.
“One of those princesses here for the rodeo.”
“Oh, I didn't get to chat with them much while they were here but one of them was really nice,” she says, her gaze not leaving his.
I clear my throat. Loudly. And Chloe continues.
“Dallyce and I got to talking at lunch when I asked her why she was so nervous.”
“What'd she say?” I demand.
“Just about her future. They're heading to Arkansas, then Louisiana for the last two rodeos, then home.”
“She didn't tell you where she lives?” I groan, the sudden uplift of hope draining out of me.
“She did actually.” Chloe looks up at Abel with a knowing smile.
“What are you waiting for? Go after her,” Abel tells me.
“I have every intention of doing exactly that,” I grit out.
Epilogue
A Week Goes By
Dallyce
I arrived back at my parents house in a Nashville suburb and went straight to bed. I couldn’t talk, I didn't want them asking any questions. My mom appeared frequently at my door bearing meals and hot drinks as a way to get me to tell her what was up. I couldn't share even with her.
Then after a couple of days, I got a grip on my indulgent pining. It had been more than a week since I'd seen Shea. The loneliest week of my life. He wasn't a guy I could look up on FaceBook. He had a cell phone but he left it sitting in a drawer, dead.
A black gaping emptiness lived inside my core where he'd once been. I was also horny as hell and no other man could take the place of Shea Butler. Life was passing me by and nothing was going to change with me lying in bed moping. It was time to take action.
“Here's my girl. Finally come back to join the land of the living.” My Dad tugged me into a big bear hug when I came into the family room.
“That's just it Daddy. I haven’t been living,” I said, striking the whimper out of my voice.
“What does that mean?” he frowned
“What's in the bag?” Mom joined us from the kitchen and immediately picked up on the stuffed full holdall Dad had missed.
“I'm taking a trip,” I announced.<
br />
“Where to now, Baby. You only just got back.”
“It's nothing to do with the rodeo -”
Dad's frown deepened and for a moment I faltered. Okay, here goes.
“I met someone on the tour and I'm going to go be with him.”
“Excuse me,” my father says, his voice becoming stern.
Both parents look back and forth with that significant eyeball they think is invisible to their kids.
“I'm going to go live with him. Well, not with him, but close by him.”
“You are not,” Dad barks.
“Dallyce, you can't go chasing after some man,” Mom tags on.
“I'm not chasing him. I've decided to go see if something can work out between us. I won't know unless I try.”
“Where is this man? If he wanted you he'd come to claim you. Only a weak and selfish snake expects the woman to do the running.”
“He does want to claim me. I had to leave before, oh hall, it's complicated to explain.”
“No,” My father announced. “I won't allow it.”
“I'm sorry but I've made my decision. I'm taking a chance on my life and my love.”
“Love? You don’t know this person. And more to the point neither do we.”
“If you knew him you'd love him too. He's not a typical cowboy.”
“He's a cowboy?”
My mom makes a noise and sinks to the chair beside my father who puts his arm around her like she needs protecting. From me.
I want that. Shea gave me that kind of security from any hurt and I want it. I want him. All of him. I couldn’t tell my parents that I'd been needing Shea so badly every moment since I left him, since he set me down gently on the ground after holding me between his legs on Cinders. I could still taste the woody aroma of his lips when he leaned down for one last kiss before riding off into the pale orange and lilac dawn.
They were already insisting I was a kid with a crush I'd get over.
“You aren’t going to live with a cowboy you’ve known less than a week and that's final,” my father said.
“I told you I'm not living with him. I'm going to get a job close to him so we can get to know each other for longer than a weekend.”
“Where will you live?”
“I'll find somewhere, Mom. It's time I lived some life. I've seen a bit of the world and you can trust me to deal with what comes up.”
“No.” My father insisted. “There are too many weirdos out there and you cant be sure he's not one of them.”
“There are no guarantees that he and I will work out but I can absolutely be sure that he's no weirdo. He's the kindest, strongest man ever.” Not to mention the sexiest.
Shea
Chloe made a couple of calls and discovered the exact ranches the rodeo tour was taking in the last week. Then Abe gave me a couple of days off to head to Arkansas and claim her.
“I'm mighty grateful to you both,” I said as I headed out.
The guys on the ranch are like brothers, the family I never had. We'rre all a wild bunch. Loners, me especially. I'd never needed a woman around permanently, preferring to hang with the boys or my horse and keep to myself the rest of the time.
That all changed when I saw Dallyce. I never knew I could stake a claim and get so territorial. But the right woman can slam into your heart and your mind and dick and refuse to leave. If you get lucky enough that she happens along. Dallyce did pass by and she stole every part of me, staking her own claim on me even if she didn’t know it. Now it was time to make it real.
Before I left, I had to make sure Cinders was properly re-shoed. Sure, Quint would make her the finest hand-forged shoe in the history of blacksmithing. The guy was like something out of medieval times in his dedication to the fire in his forge. But I had to be with her while she was fitted. Every now and then something went wrong with shoeing a horse and I would not allow Cinders to be in any pain without me there to soothe her. I owed her that.
I got to Arkansas, pulled up to the ranch the furthest place on earth it seemed like only to discover the Rodeo queens had moved on the day before. I hit the trail and arrived in Louisiana only to be told the same thing.
“You missed them by a couple hours.”
Weather picked up then and I had to hole up a while before continuing on my quest. Abe gave me more time off form the ranch.
“You haven't taken a vacation in ten years,” he told me when I figured out how to make the stupid phone work. “I think you deserve a break.”
On the inside I'm a nervous boy, coming to call for his girl before the prom. I'm shaking in the pit of my gut which means it's time to get on with it. I can't find a bell in the dark and rain so I lift my hand to knock on the door. Before I make the knuckle rap, the door is torn open and Dallyce flies against my chest so hard she bounces right back inside the house.
I'm about to roar with laughter at the shocked surprise on her beautiful face and drag her into my arms to feel her soft body mold into my hard ridges. This week has been the longest, most interminable trek of my life. But my humor stalls when I notice two hostile faces standing in the hallway ten feet behind her.
“Good evening.” I raise my hat to her parents and a bucketload of raindrops crashes to the ground.
“Come in,” she whimpers and pulls me by the hand in both her tiny ones. So small but so strong. Fuck it feels good to have her hands on my muscle again. Just her touch is like one of those fancy spa massages.
She makes the introductions and I get the feeling the homestead isn't happy right now on account of me. The tension in the room would require a raging bull to bust through. Then I look down to Dallyce's feet and see a bag fit to explode. A burst of relief runs through me that I caught up to her before losing her again.
“Taking another trip?” I ask.
“Yes,” she mewls, her cheeks pink.
Her father is still glaring at me to the extent I'm glad he hasn't got a shotgun in his hands.
“Sure glad I caught up to you at last. I been on your trail nearly a week little lady.”
“You have?” she gasp with a flare of her eyes toward her father. “You were looking for me?”
“We had an appointment to discuss our future and I missed it. I always keep my word. Please excuse my appearance Ma'am.” I lift my hat to her mother. “I been in Arkansas, Louisiana, now here. I've come to take Dallyce back to Foxworth.”
I'm being polite but at the same time letting them know I'm not here to get into a discussion. She's coming with me.
“Now hold on,” her father starts. “Dallyce only just filled us in on meeting you. She neglected to mention you're old enough to be her father.”
“Daddy,” my girl shrieks. “No one cares about years and age when caring is all that matters. You said that Shea was making me do the running and you were wrong. I'm sorry but you're wrong about him in every way.”
“I'm just concerned about what you're going to do with your life.”
“I'm going to start with a job as a waitress in a diner,” I say, drawing myself up.
“You are not,” Shea says before my father even gets the chance to put his own objection forward.
“I'm not?” she squeaks in her kitteny voice.
“No woman of mine is slaving at a job as long as I've got legs to stand on and hands to work with. Anyway you're going to be busy with figuring out a design for the house I'm going to construct for us on the ranch.”
“You're building us a house?”
“Yep. My current place is more bachelor pad than a woman like you deserves. I got it squared away with Abe and the Boss already. You made quite an impression on the boss's daughter.”
“Chloe? She was really friendly and interested in my ideas about unhappy kids visiting with the horses.”
“And you can do more talking with her on that when we get home and you're settled in. With me.”
Her eyes fly to her father's face and I can tell how vitally important it is to my girl that her
parents approve. It makes it all the more sweet that she was adamant about coming to be with me in the storm of their disapproval. I love her all the more because of it.
“The storm is raging out there. Why don't we all sit down for dinner this evening and get acquainted,” her father says. “Then you guys can take off on your journey in the morning.”
About the Author
In the mood for something decadent, delicious, and provocative? Meet Mia Madison, purveyor of Forbidden Fantasies Romance. Come in, sit back, and relax. The candles are lit, and the dancing shadows on the wall promise sexy, seductive tales of spine-tingling love, leading to a pleasure-drenched happy-ever-after.
You'll discover young women eager for experience, who have scorching encounters with older men who know exactly what they're doing between the sheets. In Mia Madison's world, anything can - and does - happen. So leave your inhibitions at the door and come along for the ride.
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