by Rita Herron
Then why the hell did he feel so crummy?
He stomped up the steps after another lonely dinner and jerked off his tie, tossing it on the bed with a curse. He was just about to head to Dex’s gym to work off his irritation when the phone rang.
He raced and picked it up, but Dex’s voice sounded on the other end.
“Ty, it’s Dex.”
“Thank God it’s you.” Ty exhaled in relief. “I was afraid it would be someone I should recognize and couldn’t. Doggone if this trading places business isn’t some flat-out nerve-rattling work.”
“I know exactly how you feel.”
“Is everything all right?” Ty asked, worry tightening his chest.
Dex gave him a quick rundown of how the family was doing, including the news about Chad and Jenny’s pregnancy. Ty followed suit. “The Montgomerys are fine. I don’t think they suspect, but George is a different story.”
“Don’t admit anything,” Dex warned him. “George always played mind games to get the truth out of me when I was a teenager. If you give him an inch, he’ll take a mile. He’s relentless.”
Silence stretched between them. Ty wondered if Dex missed the Montgomerys as much as he missed his family. And how could he explain Jessica?
“I think I’ve met someone,” he finally said, solemnly
“I thought you were going to keep Bridget busy with—”
“It’s not Bridget. It’s Dr. Jessica Stovall. The pediatrician.”
“What about Leanne?” Dex demanded, a little more harshly than Ty would have expected.
“I told you,” Ty said, “we’re just friends. Leanne is like a sister to me. Nothing else.”
“So, there has never been anything between the two of you?” Dex persisted.
“Never,” Ty assured him. “Friends, that’s all.”
Silence stood between them for two long beats.
“Wait one cotton-picking minute,” Ty said suddenly, suspicions dawning. “Are you and Leanne…?” He swore and pounded his fist on the dresser. “Don’t even think about breaking that little girl’s heart. Do you hear me, Dex. I won’t have it.”
“I didn’t come here to break any hearts,” Dex said tightly.
“Then what the hell’s going on? Why all the questions about me and Leanne?” Ty snapped.
“It’s nothing for you to be concerned about. I won’t do anything I can’t undo.” Dex hesitated, his voice not very convincing.
“I’m counting on that,” Ty told him bluntly. “This isn’t about revenge of any sort.”
“You’re right,” Dex said in a low voice. “It’s about…understanding the past.”
“Yeah,” Ty agreed. “It’s about the past.”
“Call me if you need anything,” Dex offered.
“We have to come clean soon. Now, tell me about these two accounts, B & B. Bridget said you’d discussed them.”
Dex hesitated. “That’s news to me.”
Really? Maybe he’d misunderstood her. “Does she have power of attorney to write checks from them?”
“Not without my approval.”
“You might want to look into it, then. I want to use one of them for funding for the children’s wing, but she says she has to look them over first.”
“I’ll get right on it.” Dex sighed. “Let’s talk soon about making our big announcement.”
“Right.” Ty cleared his throat. “Soon.” Just as soon as he explained the truth to Jessica. She had to know first. It would be better coming from him.
He hung up and phoned her immediately, hoping to ask her to meet him some place private so he could talk to her.
But just like the other times he’d called today, she didn’t answer.
JESSICA HAD BEEN SPENDING he with patients, her lunchtimes with Ashley and her aunt, and the afternoons with more patients. After she finished with her last appointment of the day, she always returned to the hospital to help wherever she was needed.
Anything to avoid going home. And to avoid Dex.
She was afraid the next time she saw him she might lose her will to resist.
She’d timed it right and had missed him at lunch both the past two days. She also hadn’t returned his phone calls.
She knew she was running scared, but there was no sense in torturing herself with fantasies about happily-ever-afters.
Not that Dex had promised anything or even mentioned the future.
Disturbed by that thought more than she’d imagined, Jessica decided she needed some fresh air and a visit at the stables with her horse, Sundance. Maybe the ride would clear her head and help her figure out how to end her personal relationship with Dex.
TY WAS WORRIED.
His stay in Atlanta was quickly coming to an end, and he didn’t want to leave town without knowing Jessica was okay. He wanted to be sure that she and Dex could be friends and work together when his brother returned. After all, Dex wasn’t on the ranch getting involved with some girl, leaving him in an awkward situation, was he? Nah, Dex likely thought with his head, not his heart, as Ty had always done.
He headed to the hospital to catch Jessica.
Of course, he’d been busy, and he knew she worked late hours, but couldn’t she have at least phoned him? Was this what it would be like to be married to a doctor?
Had he actually thought about marriage?
He’d always thought he’d marry some day, but to a hometown girl who liked ranching. Not to a woman like Jessica.
But an image of her flashed through his mind, and he could see her round with his child. Having kids wasn’t all a picnic, but the good outweighed the bad, and it would be their baby, their little boy or girl to raise. He could teach him to play ball and to ride, build him a swing set, and she could teach him to be smart and…
Damn. He was getting ahead of himself. He had no future with Jessica Stovall. He was simply infatuated with her. He was confused about his life and his family, and she happened to be an enticing diversion. A pleasant, alluring diversion, but still a diversion.
That was all it was. It had to be.
But if she didn’t hate him when she finally found out the truth, maybe he would invite her to the Circle C. See what she thought of the Coopers. Let her get to know the real Ty Cooper in his own element. Yeah, right, like she’d want to come to Montana.
He rubbed the back of his neck, exhausted just thinking about the deep hole he’d dug for himself.
At least he’d had one good thing happen—over the past three days he’d researched the cattle market and he’d decided to go full steam ahead with his mother’s idea about raising leaner beef. He’d already mapped out a plan. Of course, he still needed financial backing, but he’d work that out. Somehow.
Tonight, though, he had to see Jessica or he’d shrivel up and die from missing her.
The hospital loomed into sight and his stomach jangled with nerves. He would not give in to his anxiety. Instead, he summoned his courage, parked, rushed in and rode the elevator to the children’s floor.
He spotted Tina, Jessica’s friend, as soon as he exited. Tina rubbed her stomach and smiled. “She’s not here, Dr. Montgomery.”
Ty sighed, frustration gnawing at him. “Do you know where she is? Did she go home?”
“Not home.” Tina worried her bottom lip. “I don’t know what’s gotten into her. She’s been obsessed with being here, so I told her to leave. She said she might go take a ride.”
“In Nellie?” God, he hoped she didn’t go too far. Nellie might not make it.
“No, to the stables. She keeps a gelding out there named Sundance.” Tina grinned. “I think it’s the only thing the woman does for herself.”
Ty nodded. Jessica liked to ride? “Where is the stable?”
“It’s called Crabapple Stables.” She gave him directions and Ty took off. Gran Cooper believed in signs for everything—maybe Jessica’s interest in horseback riding was a sign he and Jessica belonged together.
THE WIND FELT HEAVENLY
on Jessica’s face as she and Sundance crossed the grassy meadow and rode around the lake at the edge of the property. Wildflowers dotted the horizon, field lilies swayed in the breeze, and the scent of honeysuckle sweetened the air. She slowed Sundance to a walk and stopped beside the lake, dismounted, tied him loosely to a tree, and let him drink while she found a seat beneath an ancient oak tree. Her mind had drifted a million miles away when the sound of hoofs approaching jarred her from the peace of the lake. Not expecting any other riders to be out now since Gwen, the owner, was pregnant and due any second, she stared in shock as Dex crested the hill and rode toward her.
She had no idea he could ride.
Obviously, she’d never known the real Dex Montgomery. Since he’d returned from Chicago, it was almost as if he was a different man.
A nervous laugh escaped her; she was making too much of everything. There was no mystery behind Dex; she’d simply had preconceived ideas about him from business meetings and had never given him a chance to show his more caring side. She should have looked deeper.
His family had probably given him riding lessons when he was a kid while she’d traded lessons and saddle time for work, mucking stalls as a teenager.
What was he doing here? And what reason would she give for not returning his calls?
AN ODD PANG of homesickness settled in Ty’s heart the moment he spotted Jessica. She looked so lost and vulnerable sitting beneath the shade of that tree, the sun fading behind her, the huge geing standing lazily to the side. He could imagine her on the Circle C, the two of them taking an evening ride across Cooper land, and later, riding with their children.
God, he was starting to think crazy thoughts.
She started to stand as he approached but he shook his head. “That’s okay. I’ll join you if you don’t mind.”
Her lip trembled but she managed a weak smile. He tied Sylvester, the black gelding the owner of the stables had loaned him, beside her horse and patted his back, then turned to see her watching him.
His heart beat fiercely at the emotions swirling in those grass-green eyes. What was she thinking? Feeling?
“I’ve missed you. I called.”
“I know,” she said quietly.
He hesitated, his hands fisted by his side so he wouldn’t reach for her. “You didn’t want to see me?”
She closed her eyes for a second, and his heart stopped.
“I’m sorry if I pushed too fast the other night—”
“It’s not you, Dex.” With a soft weary sigh, she finally looked at him again. “I…I was scared.”
A battle warred within him. He knew she’d been married and divorced, that her ex-husband had hurt her. He didn’t want to add any more sadness to her life.
“I’ll make everything okay,” he promised in a husky voice, although he had no idea how. “I realize you’ve been through a lot the last year. And I care—”
“Don’t, Dex.”
“Don’t what?” He settled down beside her in a flash, and took her hands in his, kissing her fingers, aching to hold her. “Don’t tell you that I care about you? That I want to be with you, Jess?” Her chin trembled, and he lifted her face to his.
She gazed at him with such a mixture of fear and wariness, hunger and desire that he didn’t know whether to love her or protect her from himself…
A shaky sigh escaped her. “Oh, Dex, I keep telling myself no, but…”
He should walk away. Instead, he tipped her chin up with his thumb. “But what, Jess?”
She placed her hands over his, her touch warm. “But I want you, too.”
A slow smile spread on his face. A shy smile of surrender fell onto hers.
Knowing he should tell her the truth first, but hoping their lovemaking might bond them together, he ignored the warnings clamoring in his head. “You are so beautiful. I wanted you the minute I saw you in that boardroom.”
“And I wanted you the minute I saw you in the airport.”
Had she? Had she wanted him, Ty? Not Dex?
He squelched the thought, desperately wanting this moment, and lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her with all the pent-up emotions and fears he’d harbored the last three days without her. Hgoing to make love to her, then he would tell her the truth. It didn’t matter if he was related to the Montgomerys, if he’d been wearing suits and pretending to be Dex, he was a Cooper at heart.
And Coopers went after the women they wanted.
His grandfather was right. When a Cooper man fell, he fell hard.
She sank into his arms, her hands clutching at him as if she shared his hunger. Still afraid she’d leave him when she learned the truth, but unable to resist this time with her, he reached for the buttons on her blouse.
Desperate for the feel of his skin, Jessica pulled at his shirt until he released her, yanked it off and threw it to the ground. The look he gave her screamed of hunger and desire and urgency—the urgency to brand her as his.
She had never seen such hot desire in a man before.
“Are you sure about this, Sugar?”
A slow smile lifted her mouth as she traced a circle around the hard bud of his nipple, then drew her finger down the center of his chest to his belt. “I’m sure. I can’t help but want you, Dex.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, the low growl he emitted part animal, the other part so male that her insides twisted with a deep ache that only he could fill. She tugged at his belt, watched his eyes darken as her hands brushed the bulge of his sex beneath his jeans, heard his breath hiss when she threw the belt on the ground and opened his pants. He allowed her the briefest of touches, her hand stroking his hard length before he pushed her hand away, shucked his clothes and stretched out naked above her.
“I want you naked, Sugar.” With reverence, he slowly peeled away her clothes, the jeans, her socks, then inch by inch her panties, his tongue teasing each bare inch of flesh as he revealed it. She clutched the hard muscles of his arms until he rose above her and took her mouth again, this time hot and fast. His tongue tasted hers, probing and retreating, while his sex throbbed against her thighs.
He kissed a path down her throat again, loving each breast with his hungry mouth until she writhed beneath him. But he forced her to wait while he parted her legs and tasted her. Jessica moaned and pulled at his hands but he settled himself at her heat and loved her until the tremors of passion rocked inside her.
Finally when she thought she’d die from desire, he rose above her, then looked into her eyes. His were hooded, dark with wanting, his breath a husky whisper against her trembling body as he plunged inside. Jessica dug her fingernails into his hard back and held on for the most passionate ride of her life.
TY PUSHED HIMSELF harder inside Jessica, her earlier words ringing in his ears.
I wanted you the minute I saw you at the airport. I’ve wanted you every minute since.
She’d wanted him, not Dex.
And she was his now.
Forever.
No, he wouldn’t allow himself to think that yet.
But he couldn’t keep himselfing her, from making her his tonight.
He rained kisses along her jaw and ear, thrusting inside her, then braced himself on his hands and raised his upper body slightly. “Look at us, Jess. See how well we fit together.”
Her gaze slowly traveled to the place where they were joined, her look of passion flaring deeper as he thrust in and out, filling her, retreating, then pushing farther inside her until there was nothing between them.
Nothing but hunger and need and sensations soaring out of control.
And the lies.
He silenced the nagging voice in his head, dragged her legs up around his waist, and told himself they wouldn’t matter, that the two of them were meant to be together, just as they were tightly bound together now. Then he pumped inside her fast and hard, pouring his heart into their lovemaking just as she cried out in sweet oblivion.
JESSICA COULDN’T BELIEVE she had made love
to Dex, but emotions and passion and love had all mingled into one explosive moment.
They dressed quietly in the night air; her thoughts were jumbled. She needed to tell him now that it was over, that they couldn’t continue to do this, but just as she opened her mouth to speak, the sound of horse’s hooves jolted them.
“Dr. Stovall, come quick,” Deanne, Gwen’s twelve-year-old sister, shouted into the wind. “Gwennie’s having her baby!”
“What?” Jessica ran toward her, Dex close on her heels.
“Hurry, she’s says it’s coming now!”
Fear gripped Jessica—what if something went wrong? Although she’d been in the delivery room for several births and had done a rotation in gynecology when she was in med school, she was a pediatrician, not an ob-gyn. What if there were complications?
No. Dex was a doctor as well. Everything would be fine.
Only, she glanced sideways at Dex as the horses raced toward the stable, and his color had turned a sickly green.
PANIC SHOT through Ty, his heart thundering in his chest.
Dear God, he couldn’t deliver a baby—he wasn’t even a real doctor.
Thank god Jessica was, though. She would take care of the woman.
They guided the horses to the edge of the stable, jumped off and handed them over to the stable hand.
“Come on!” Deanne yelled. “She’s in the bedroom.”
Ty followed Jessica at a dead run, pausing only long enough for her to grab her doctor’s bag from Nellie. His stomach somersaulted when they opened the door and he heard the woman’s moan.
“Go to her, Dex, and I’ll call the ambulance.”
Ty grabbed Jessica’s hand. “No, you go. I’ll call.”
S hesitated, her green eyes narrowing. “What’s wrong, Dex?”
“Nothing.” He strove for a calm voice, “she knows you—she’ll be more comfortable with you.”
A loud scream punctuated the air, and Jessica nodded. Ty phoned the ambulance, his hands shaking so badly he almost dropped the handset before the call went through.
“What’s the address here?” he asked the little girl.