Bear Pause (BBW / Bear Shifter Romance): A Billionaire Oil Bearons Romance (Bear Fursuits Book 6)

by Isadora Montrose

  Her mirror told her why Steve had left. She was a great lump. Big tits that hung like giant pears, broad hips, a wide ass, thick thighs. No wonder he hadn’t wanted to remove all her clothes. And yet he had made her feel unbelievably sexy while he was stroking her breasts. She twisted and turned before the mirror. She didn’t have a mark on her, but she felt branded by his mouth and fingers.

  She woke feeling as if she had just failed to recall something important. For the first time in her career as a horse breeder she thought about wearing a fancy bra to work. Fortunately, she came to her senses. Blue lace and under wire were strictly for show. She needed something a lot less constraining if she had to ride or throw hay.

  * * *

  Steve was busy in a foaling box. Misty was standing on her spotless mat trying to nibble his ear while he brushed her shining coat. He winked at her and wished her a good morning.

  Laura scratched Misty’s muzzle and fed her a treat. “Almost time, girl,” she whispered to the swiveling ears. “I thought for sure she’d drop last night,” she said to Steve.

  “Dusty called the Doc, and he checked her out first thing this morning. He thinks she’s ripe, but he’s betting she’ll wait until tonight.” He took a comb out of the tool kit at his waist and ran it through Misty’s long tail. It had been trimmed in advance of her delivery, but it still needed daily grooming.

  “I’m going out on Dakota today. I have to check on the south pastures. But I’ll be back for evening stables,” she said.

  “Shall I saddle him up for you?” he asked.

  “I saddle my own horse,” she said firmly. “Stable rules.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said grinning. “I’ll bear that in mind.”

  Lance Prescott was still fussing with Dakota when Laura walked down Lane Three. The stable hand had started working on the ranch four or five years back, but she had poached him for the stud because of his affinity for horses. She was hoping he would fill Carlos’s shoes when her foreman retired.

  “Hey, Miss Laura,” he said, stepping back so she could admire Dakota’s sleek red coat and white socks.

  “How’s it going, Lance?” She put a hand on Dakota’s neck. The peacefulness of being with her gelding suffused her whole body. Dakota loved her with his whole being. They were a team and had been from the moment he had been born into her hands.

  “Just fine, Miss Laura,” Lance answered automatically. He turned so he could see her with his good eye. An improvised explosive device had ripped a hole in his face in Iraq, and left him scarred and legally blind in one eye. In the dusty stables, he covered his weak eye with a black patch. “He’s raring to go. You’d think he hadn’t left the stable in a week.”

  “We only had a turn around the paddock yesterday,” Laura said. “I’ll saddle him up if you’re done.”

  “Just about. But I think you should look at Cloud, before you go out. She was a bit lame this morning. I found a stone. But she was still favoring that front leg after I removed it.” Lance produced a jagged bit of rock and a twist of paper that he unfolded. “These were in her tail.” He held out the paper with two sticker burrs covered in inch long thorns.

  Laura picked the prickly and dangerous seed pods up in her gloved fingers. “Sticker burrs? At this time of year?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Lance said. “I got the baby oil and took ‘em out nice and slow. But beats me where they came from.”

  “Who groomed her last night?” Laura asked.

  “That’s the thing of it,” Lance gave Dakota one last stroke with the slicker brush. “I’ll be back,” He said following Laura to Cloud’s stall. “Mr. D. turned her out himself after he finished her training.”

  “That’s right.” Laura frowned. “I don’t believe that Carlos Diego missed a stone in a shoe. Let alone two sticker burrs in a tail.”

  “Cloud’s tail looked like it had been combed out the night before, except for where those two burrs were lodged,” Lance said. “I thought it was funny. But the more I think about it, funnier it gets. Funny peculiar. Not funny ha ha.”

  “I know.” Laura took another look at the sharp little stone. The edges seemed freshly broken. Not like a stone that had been buried in the dirt of the paddock, or on the drive and stepped on accidentally by a horse. But clean and bright as if recently shattered by a hammer.

  “Lance,” she said softly. “Would you get Carlos for me, please? Right now.”

  “Sure thing.” Prescott strode off.

  Steve found her in Cloud’s stall still frowning down at her palm. “Hey,” he said. “I thought you were going riding?”

  “What do you make of this?” She showed him the stone.

  Steve picked it up from her hand and held it to the light. He pulled out a little flashlight from his kit. A strong LED beam illuminated the shard of granite. “Whose blood?” he asked.

  “There’s blood on it?” she asked sharply.

  “I’d guess these specks of brown are blood rather than dirt,” he said. “Dirt around here is either yellow or black. This is reddish brown. Where’d you get it?”

  “Lance found it in Cloud’s hoof.”

  “No, he did not.” Steve said flatly. He moved into the stall and clucked at the mare. She greeted him like an old friend and moved sideways for him. Sure enough, she was favoring her right front leg. Steve felt all the way down the hock to the hoof and used his pencil light on the underside. The frog was slightly swollen and a little hot. So was the hoof.

  “She’s had something in there all right,” he said slowly. “But there is no way that Mr. D rode her in front of me all the way from the corrals with that stone. Not without me noticing. And not without him picking up that she’d stepped on something nasty.”

  “We’re agreed on that,” Laura returned. “Carlos taught me to take care of my horse. And rule one is to check hooves before and after a ride. He would no more put a horse to bed with a stone than he would forget to comb her tail.” She showed him the burrs.

  “Nasty. Last year’s too. Where’d she get them from?” Steve asked.

  “I do not know. But we’ve not had a problem with our hay. It’s home grown, and we spray for these. They’re too dangerous to let them grow in the silage.”

  Carlos and Lance came down the aisle. “Let me see,” Carlos held out his hand. Steve dropped the stone chip and the burrs into his hand. “Nasty,” Carlos said. He nudged the stone with a dubious forefinger. “How’s my girl?”

  “Bit lame,” Laura said. “Her frog is hot – it might be infection or just irritation.”

  “Lance found the burrs in her tail?” Carlos checked.

  “Yes, sir, I did,” the veteran admitted.

  Carlos’ black eyes were riveted on Laura’s. She shook her head. “Since you didn’t overlook a stone and two burrs, Carlos,” she reassured the foreman, “This was deliberate. Who would play a vile trick like this on a horse?”

  “I’ll tell you, just as soon as I review the security footage,” Steve said. His voice made the hairs on her neck stand up.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “If this equipment wasn’t out of the ark, you’d be able to tell who that was going into Cloud’s stall at twenty-two hundred seventeen,” Steve reported to Carlos and Laura.

  The three of them were gathered in Laura’s office, looking down at the screen of his Mac which he had retrieved from his cabin. A fuzzy gray figure, presumably a man, wandered the dim aisles of the stable, his back to the camera.

  “I’ve enhanced it as much as possible,” Steve explained. “And this is about as good as I can get it. But while you can see it’s a guy in a hoodie, I can’t tell who.” He stopped the video and showed them a still frame. “See how tall he is? He comes up to here on the post of Lane Two. So we know he’s taller than Mr. D. but shorter than me or Lance.”

  “I can’t fire every hand who is taller than me and shorter than you,” grumbled Carlos. “Surely there must be a picture with his face?”

  “Nope, our man kne
w exactly where the cameras are and kept his face turned away.” He paused the footage and advanced it frame by frame. “You can see him swivel to avoid the camera at the top of Lane One. But everything is so grainy, I can’t even tell if he’s broad or narrow, not really. Just that he went into Cloud’s stall and came out three minutes and twenty-seven seconds later.”

  “And we know Scout didn’t object to this guy,” Laura reflected. “Otherwise she’d have woken Darrel by barking.”

  “Hmph,” snorted Carlos. “Scout’s a big old softie.” His voice hardened.” So you just happened to have fancy software to enhance digital footage, Holden?”

  “Not just,” Steve’s voice was mild. “In my other life, I do security. This isn’t the best software available. It’s just what I had loaded to my notebook. I can send the footage to be examined by experts, but I wouldn’t do it without your say so.”

  “You trying to drum up business, boy?” snapped Carlos.

  “No, sir.” Steve stood up straight. “Not that you couldn’t use some advice. But Sarkan Security Systems doesn’t usually work with agricultural clients.”

  Carlos narrowed his eyes, and for all the older man was a foot shorter than Steve he looked formidable. “Your other job?” he said testily. “I thought you were fixed here?”

  Steve picked up Laura’s hand and kissed it. “Miss Laura wants to make an honest man of me, so likely I’ll be underfoot more than you’ll like.”

  Laura glared at him and tried to tug her hand out of his. Steve smiled down into her blue eyes and kept possession of her fingers. “We had to tell Mr. D. sometime, honey. When we get married, everyone will know.”

  “Nothing is agreed, yet,” she said between her teeth.

  “It’s okay,” Steve ignored the storm gathering in his beloved’s face. “I’ve asked your daddy for your hand, and he didn’t say ‘No’, so I’m keeping it.”

  Carlos was grinning. “Well, now,” he said heartily. “This is good news.” He started to hold out a hand to Steve, saw that he was using his to hang on to Laura, and settled for clapping him on the shoulder. He kissed Laura’s cheek. “You’ve picked yourself a good man,” he said. “Rosa will be pleased.”

  “We have to go see my lawyer first,” Laura said through her teeth.

  Steve figured he’d pressed his luck far enough. In about a second, Laura was going to slug him with her free hand. He kissed her knuckles and let go. “Fair enough,” he conceded. “We need to get you a ring, anyway.”

  Carlos choked. “Yeah. So you want to send this footage to that outfit you’re leaving?”

  “I do. But I also want to install some better cameras and lose those antique monitors. They should have been retired years ago.”

  “We’ve never had a problem before,” Laura defended herself. “Upgrading seemed like an unnecessary expense.”

  “And now you’ve got a big problem, and they’re useless,” Steve said calmly. “First it was the barn roof, now this business with Cloud. Who knows what we’ll find next.”

  “What would that upgrade cost?” asked Laura suspiciously.

  “The equipment will be about ten or twelve grand,” Steve told her. “I’ll install them myself, which my salary already covers. And I’ll waive the consultation fee. Think of it as an engagement present.”

  Carlos scratched his chin. “Think we’ll catch that vicious SOB?”

  “If he comes back. I intend to make sure that no one but us knows that we’ve upgraded security. I’ll leave the existing setup in place. And if we can keep the new equipment a secret between the three of us, if he gets up to more mischief, we’ll catch him red-handed.”

  “What do you mean, mischief?” snapped Laura. “This is much worse than that.”

  “Criminal mischief,” Steve agreed calmly. “But I think this was all about making Carlos look sloppy.” He turned to the foreman. “Who wants your job?”

  * * *

  At least this evening Laura had remembered to ask him to dinner. Dr. Bascom looked pleased as punch. He had told Rosa to put champagne to chill. And he insisted on making toast after toast to the two of them. Just as if he didn’t believe that Laura had just bought herself a husband. Steve could only hope it wasn’t an act.

  Laura didn’t look happy. She hadn’t dressed up as she had done the night before. She’d had a shower, but she put on clean working clothes as though she planned to go back out to the stables as soon as she had finished eating. She smiled weakly at her father’s toasts, and looked distracted.

  “We’ve had more trouble, Daddy,” she said.

  Freddie glanced at Steve and then Laura. “It’s all right, Daddy,” she said and filled him in.

  “I agree with you that someone is trying to make Carlos look bad. Do you think it’s related to that other trouble?” Freddie asked.

  Steve could see Laura trying to decide if she trusted him enough to speak openly. He supposed that she decided she didn’t, for she shook her head slightly at her father, and began to talk about the order Steve had made for new cameras.

  “I’m for bed,” Freddie said once supper was over. “In the morning, there’s three hundred head of cattle to vaccinate, and I have to be on hand.” He held out his hand to Steve. “I’ll just walk you to the door.”

  “Yes, sir,” Steve said. He put an arm around Laura’s waist and drew her close to him and kissed her on the cheek.

  Dr. Bascom beamed at them both. And then the three of them walked down the long corridor to the big front door. Laura’s dad turned on the porch light and said, “Two minutes,” just as if Laura was sixteen.

  Laura’s father closed the door and left them out there on the well-lit porch. Steve chuckled. He pulled Laura into his arms and kissed her thoroughly. Before he pulled away, he bent and whispered. “I’ll come round the back,” he said. “By the pool, again.” And then he went whistling off to his motorcycle and it puttered away in the dusk.

  He left his motorcycle outside of the office where he usually parked it. He drove back to the Big House in one of the ranch pickups. He parked it beside a cluster of bushes, and went to the pool fence. The wrought iron was eight-feet tall, but it presented no problem for a strong, fit man. Steve was soon walking around the pool to Laura’s bedroom door.

  Laura had changed into a pretty pink robe after all. He was sure it was no prettier than her own skin. But she didn’t look eager, she looked even more nervous than she had the night before. He didn’t know what that was all about. He just knew that his Laura was not anticipating pleasure. And that was a bad omen.

  His darling had no sense of her own beauty. She wasn’t enjoying this moment one bit. Her juices had dried up and she stank of fear. His lovely, luscious Laura thought that when he saw her naked he wouldn’t like what she had to offer. It broke his heart to smell fear on her and to see stiffness replace her lithe grace. What to say, to gentle her, to make her relax and enjoy this intimate moment?

  Actions always spoke louder than words, and God knew he was a man of action. He stilled her hands before she could undo the sash at her waist.

  “Hey,” he said softly, “This is my present. Don’t I get to unwrap it?”

  Her blue eyes rounded. Her pretty lips parted but nothing came out. Time for some kisses. He put his lips on hers. Tenderly. He made the kiss as light as he could, even though he wanted to seize his prize. He knew Laura liked kissing him, so he teased her with feathery touches that beckoned and flirted. He waited until her hands grabbed his biceps and pulled him closer before he let himself linger.

  Even when she opened her mouth he didn’t enter. He moved to her cheeks and kissed his way up her cheekbones to the shallow depressions at her temples. He caressed the corner of her eye with a fleeting kiss and felt her lashes flutter closed. He kissed the lid and returned to her parted lips. He set his open mouth over hers and shared her breath. As soon as her tongue tasted his lower lip, he moved off to her other cheek.

  Her skin was slightly damp and she was straining c
loser. He interspersed his trail of kisses with murmured words of praise. Telling her how soft her skin was, how delicious she tasted. She was melting into him now and turning her face so he could find her cheekbones. He surprised her with a touch of tongue on her eyebrow and blew on the wet patch so that she opened her startled blue eyes and he could smile into them.

  He pulled her right hand off his left bicep and placed it over his pounding heart. “See what you do to me?” he whispered.

  Her throat moved convulsively. Her fingertips dug into his pecs. She nodded.

  “You’re beautiful, Laura.” He kissed her ear and then the fragrant spot behind it. He nuzzled his way to the lobe and drew that blushing nub into his mouth where he massaged it gently. He was rewarded for his restraint when his Laura moaned softly and squirmed.

  He nibbled his way down the tendon of her neck. She liked that more. Her scent had already changed from fear to arousal, but it became muskier the longer he kept up his sensuous grazing. He resigned himself to another evening of frustration as he set himself to woo his skittish darling.

  * * *

  In the darkness, the big cattle truck pulled up beside the fence. The driver got out of the cab and checked the gap they had installed two nights ago. It was undisturbed. He got back into the truck and drove to the end of the road where he could turn the big rig around. Then he came back up the road and parked at a slight angle to the fence, so that when the cattle were driven out of the gate, they would have no choice but to go up the ramp.

  The delivery truck arrived shortly afterward. Tonight, its faded white sides had large magnetic placards attached, that announced in orange letters that Delbert and Son would move goods cheap. Sweatshirt was driving again. He parked behind the cattle truck, angling the bulk of his vehicle to further block the ramp. Even if they got spooked, the cattle would have no choice but to go into the back of the cattle truck.

  This time there were three ATVs in the van. But they had all been spray-painted in the same Day-Glo orange that the Double B was famous for using on all of its equipment. Red Cap and Stetson were joined by Sweatshirt. The three ATVs chugged gently over to the sleeping cows and roused them.