He swept his arm behind her, guiding her back onto the path that led to the back lot. He wasn’t being possessive. He was simply being efficient, helping her get through the crowd.
A wedding fund?
Who ever heard of such a thing?
And who spent that much money on a party?
Rich girls, that’s who.
Girls who didn’t belong out in the desert alone.
After they pulled up near the seller’s spot, he pointed to a tall wooden post. “You wait here, I’ll go find the seller.”
She scowled but did as he asked.
Within minutes, he’d made the deal and taken care of arrangements to have all but four of the animals delivered. When he got back to Victoria he pulled her away from the post with a curt, “Deal’s done. We take four with us now, they’ll deliver the rest later this afternoon, after the auction closes. Come on, let’s go get your trailer.”
Her eyebrows pulled together as she dug her heels in. “I want to see them first.”
That stubborn side again. If it weren’t so annoying he’d admire her for it.
Leading her across the aisle, he pointed to a glossy palomino with a mane that matched her own golden locks. “See her?”
Victoria reached up to scratch under the horse’s blonde forelock. “Hey there, beautiful.”
“Like her?”
The horse blinked its long lashes and stepped closer, Victoria stretched up to scratch under the mane. The clingy fabric of her shirt pulled even tighter and Lang’s gaze fell to the swells of her breasts. Just two layers of fabric, then glorious bare skin. Sweet tight nipples, heat and soft flesh.
He tried to turn away, then she leaned to the side, making her breasts sway and her shirt slide up enough to give him a peek of that smooth, creamy, yielding…
Damn.
He clenched his fists in a pointless attempt to squelch the desire flickering in his veins, swelling his cock instantly. Not even a look-but-don’t-touch policy was enough where she was concerned.
Sure, he’d seen plenty of pretty women in his day but Victoria—well, she wasn’t like a single one of the others.
Of its own accord, his gaze skimmed over her taut, flexed body as she petted the horse. Her shirt rose up again and he had to grit his teeth to keep from tipping his head down to peek up inside.
Put your hands down, Victoria.
If she kept that up, he’d pull her into an empty stall and sweet talk her into sliding down her pants while he tugged down his jeans.
Would she go along with it?
He blinked, who was he kidding?
All her attention was on the animal in front of her.
In an attempt to trick his cock into forgetting she existed, he forced his gaze down, only to end up spotting the thin band of her lavender lace panties peeking above her jeans.
He swallowed and tried to think of something very un-sexy.
Like mucking out stalls.
Stalls filled with hay, soft enough to lie on.
With Victoria, naked and panting beneath him.
“So. Do you like her?” he barked, staring at the wooden post beside her.
“Like this horse?” Oblivious to his painful arousal, she dropped her arms to rest her hands on the metal rail. “She’s beautiful, gentle and so sweet.”
“Good. She’s yours.”
“This one?” She pointed to the quiet mare she’d been petting. The ecstatic expression she flashed his way pulled hard on that fence he was desperately trying to keep around his emotions.
“Her name’s Sasabe,” he grumbled. “That black pony, chestnut and paint with her, they’re in the deal too.”
He never would’ve thought she’d get so excited about something that didn’t come in one of those glossy shopping bags. Arching across the aisle toward eight other beautiful horses, he said, “The others are in a corral across the way.”
Her anger from the moment before forgotten, she threw her arms around him, hugging tight and beaming. “Thanks, Lang.”
While Lang reluctantly enjoyed Victoria’s sassy comebacks and stubborn insistence, her soft words of thanks almost made his knees buckle. He didn’t want her looking at him like that, all gentle and vulnerable. If she kept gazing at him that way there was no telling what he’d do. Like forget how bad a broken heart felt for starters.
Then he’d start thinking about her delicate hip bones pressing against his most sensitive body parts and the tender, welcoming scent that clung to her skin and how badly he was starting to think if he ever got hold of her he might never let go.
His sexual thoughts about her were a bother but that line of thinking was dangerous.
The sooner they got the animals loaded, the sooner they’d be back at the ranch and he’d be able to get away from her. At least long enough to hammer down on his raging male hormones.
Lang dropped his arm to her waist, guiding her back in the direction of the parking lot. He strode as fast as he could. Victoria matched him step for step, with her long legs. They rounded the corner of a beat-up SUV filled with screaming girls and Lang pulled her close when a burly man started up its engine.
What happened to his plan of keeping his hands to himself? Anxious to correct his mistake, he dropped his arm to dig through his pocket for the truck keys.
“Did you want to stop anywhere on the way home?” he asked, unlocking the door.
“No, I want to get those horses home and settled,” she replied over the chicks who’d started peeping when she picked up the box. “Then I’ve got to finish cleaning out the guest houses.”
Lang wanted to stay disgusted with Victoria but it was difficult with her holding that crazy box in her arms while her face read all business. She looked sweetly ridiculous—not at all like a pampered socialite who was dead set on running a ranch.
A question struck him and he wondered why he hadn’t asked it already. Since he was more convinced than ever he had to find a way to get her to sell to him, it was something that mattered. “Do you already have guests scheduled for next week?”
“I sure do.”
“Aren’t you cutting it a little close?” he asked over the hood before climbing into the cab to reach over and open her door. Once she was inside, he continued, “Maybe you should postpone them, you know, give yourself more time to get the place up and running.”
She settled the noisy box on her lap, set her arms across it, crossing them at the wrists. “That really isn’t an option.”
Limited options were something he knew all about. Like when your wife finds a richer cowboy, runs off with him and then you lose everything you have fighting to keep what you’d started out with in the first place.
Lang grumbled as he carefully drove the truck and trailer down the two-track which ran alongside the perimeter of the auction lot then continued around to the back, trying with very little success to concentrate on maneuvering safely. Even though it took forty minutes finish the deal, load Sasabe and the other three, he was still fighting the foul mood brought on by Victoria’s confession about her absurd wedding fund. It wasn’t her fault her daddy had money, still, just the notion…
“You’ve done this auction stuff before haven’t you?” she asked, cutting into the dark cloud muddling his brain.
“Once or twice.” If he told her the truth, that he and Cole had spent every weekend all summer driving from auction to auction, she’d probably think that was a real hoot. The men she knew probably spent their time on the golf course or reading the New York Times.
“You got me a really good deal,” she said.
Yeah. He did.
Why couldn’t she let it go? “He wanted to sell them all together. We wanted to buy them that way. It worked out.”
His conscience popped up again, reminding him that if things went his way, the horses she was so excited about wouldn’t be hers for long. But they’d be part of the ranch and she’d get her money back if she sold to Cole and him—correction, when.
Except he’d make her t
ake Sasabe. He wouldn’t want any blonde horses hanging around the place reminding him of her.
As they approached the turn off to get back onto the highway, an odd clanking came from the trailer.
Something loose?
Lang angled the truck off to the side of the wide road and slowed to a stop. “I need to double check the latches, make sure the horses are secure.” He grumbled to himself, then added, “I’ve been…distracted…and I don’t want animals getting hurt because of my stupidity.”
Instead of staying put the way she should’ve, Victoria slid out of the cab and met him at the back of the truck. As he moved from one side to the other, checking each inch of the trailer, she followed along staring at him the whole time.
Why did he have to notice every little thing about her? Her smell, her voice—her mere presence—was enough to distract him all over again, making it harder and harder to focus on the safety of the animals.
His tolerance was wearing thin.
She was still bubbling with enthusiasm.
“You’re really good at this sort of stuff,” she said, bending lower to get a better view of the latches he was double checking.
“As you pointed out,” he said with a controlled snarl, “I’ve done it before.”
Victoria’s patience snapped. “I don’t know what your problem is, Lang Thompson. You’ve got no right to take it out on me. I didn’t dig you out from under some rock. You’re the one who smashed into my life and messed up my plans.”
“Your plans?” He straightened, glaring down at her. “Just what are your plans, Victoria?”
“What a stupid question.” Refusing to let him intimidate her with his size, she stepped forward and went toe to toe. “You know exactly what I’m trying to do.”
His blistering stare flickered over her face and settled on her mouth. Incredible quivering flowed through Victoria and she swallowed hard against the tightness in her throat, had to try harder to breathe. Heat pooled in her stomach, spiraled out with each heavy beat of her heart, each pulled breath.
For a crazy, wonderful second, she was sure he was going to kiss her. But he didn’t. Instead, he whispered, “What was it you said? You’re going to have fun? An adventure on your own terms?”
The contemptuous tone in his voice chaffed her already frayed nerves. Of course he focused in on that part, rather than the part about seeing what she’s made of—of proving that she could make something of herself. “Why do you find that so hard to believe?”
“You don’t strike me as the kind of girl who has that kind of fun,” he remarked, still leaning in close enough to press his lips to hers.
“Spit it out, Lang.” She inched closer, lifting her chin, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of her backing down. “What kind of fun?” she taunted.
“Short-term flings, one-night stands, quickies in the back of some guy’s truck,” he clarified with a sneer that didn’t match the glowing heat in his gaze.
Thick longing curled through her, silencing any snappy comeback she might’ve been able to think up and giving him time to continue with his idiocy.
“You were practically drooling all over Vince,” he stammered, backing up, waving his hands. “But I bet you didn’t give him your number because you knew he’d just use you to add another notch in his saddle.”
Vince?
Was he serious?
How blind could Lang be?
She’d been practically drooling all over him, he’d been too disinterested to care, let alone notice. Victoria’s simmering blood rolled to a boil. “You think I should try it, huh? One-night stands? Quickies?”
“Forget it, Victoria. Like I said, you aren’t that kind of girl.”
Victoria took in the arrogant angle of his brows and frowned.
Yet another man, assuming he knew her, understood her and was even telling her how to act. “That’s, that’s…just plain stupid,” she sputtered.
Disbelief settled in his eyes and his mouth twitched. “That’s stupid? That’s the best you can do?”
So now he was challenging her?
She’d let him set the pace for way too long.
Fueled by the desire to prove him wrong, Victoria swept forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. Without giving herself time to rethink her hasty actions, she arched up and laid her mouth across his.
Passion, instant and fierce, ignited within her when he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. Liquid want coursed through her veins as her body willingly responded to the powerful muscles of his chest, the soft tender caress of his lips, the possibilities of his strong very male body.
Absorbed by his sheer power, the smell of horses, leather and swirling dust, she let herself, tipping her head back, inviting him to deepen the kiss.
When he answered her unspoken request, awareness spread through her—he was as deliciously lost as she was. She could feel it in the eager way his hands tugged at her waist, the hungry way his mouth moved across hers.
When she gasped with satisfaction, he lifted his head. Enjoying the stunned surprise in his needy gaze and the enthusiastic hammering of her own heart, she held on tightly to his shoulders, pressing her hips closer and rocking gently against the swell of his hard penis.
Just when she was about to pull him down for another kiss, a car rolled past with two teenagers hanging out the windows, shouting and whistling loud enough to be heard all the way back at The Circle Cat.
“See?” she said, smiling as she stepped back, flushed from the fantastic sensation. “That was fun.” Lang avoided looking at her. “Get in the truck. I’ll take care of the latches,” he said.
Chapter Eight
Victoria soon discovered her triumph came with a cost. That simmering sexual heat hadn’t gone away as quickly as it’d come on. In fact, it hadn’t gone away at all.
The more she thought about Lang’s skillful hands and mind-blowing kisses the worse her distracted stupor got. The ride home had been so excruciatingly long and quiet, she nearly sighed with relief when the turnoff for The Circle Cat came into view.
The relief was short-lived.
“You’ve got some visitors,” Lang said, steering the truck along the gravel drive. “From the looks of that car, I don’t think it’s anyone coming about that ad.”
Victoria’s whole body filled with distress as she blinked, wishing the apparition before her could be part of a dream. Even a nightmare would be better than the truth.
Susie’s newly restored Mustang ragtop filled the center of her driveway.
“Know who it is?” Lang asked.
“My dad and stepmother,” she replied, barely able to keep the dread out of her voice.
“Isn’t that nice.” He rolled to a stop, put the truck in park. “Your daddy came to see how things are going.”
Victoria glanced at Lang, trying to read his expression. There was no desire, yet no resentment either. Just plain perceptive steadiness.
She turned her attention back to the very flashy and very unwelcome car loitering in her driveway. Thinking her father had only come to see how things were going would be the understatement of the year. “He’s here to snoop around and try to talk me out of this.”
One side of Lang’s mouth curved up. “Can you be talked out of things?”
She sighed. “That’s not the point.”
After Lang switched off the engine, he shifted so one arm lay across the bench. “What is the point? Everything okay?”
She pulled in a deep breath and smoothed her hair into place, considering. Why was it that simply knowing her father was nearby made her feel like a twelve-year-old?
She was a grown woman with a business of her own, not some kid with a lemonade stand. Her father had to accept that sooner or later.
“Everything isn’t okay,” Lang said when she didn’t respond.
“It’s not that.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t need him poking around while I’m still getting things together that’s all. He has a way of mak
ing me…”
“Insecure?” Lang supplied, filling in her silence.
There wasn’t much point in denying it. “Yes.” She blew out a frustrated breath. “I know I shouldn’t let him.”
“I get it. Parents have a powerful effect on us, even when they’re not around.”
She was shocked by the depth of Lang’s understanding. The sympathy on his face convinced her that he really did know how she felt. He probably came from a close knit family. Maybe that was why his divorce from Lori Anne had sent him on the one-way road trip to Mexico.
He swung his door open. “You go on up to the house and say hello, I’ll unload the horses.”
When she climbed out, she spotted Hank and Promise jogging toward them. Even with the threat of her father waiting in the wings, she mustered up a smile. “Wait ’til you see the horses we got. Eight more are being delivered later tonight.”
Hank shifted his path toward the back of the trailer. “Got some nice ones?” He climbed onto the sideboard and peeked in. “Victoria Moore! Look at these beauties.” He sounded like a six-year-old who’d been let loose on the county fair midway. “That Palomino is fit to be framed.”
Victoria pushed her door shut and backed away from the truck. “They’re sturdy and strong, exactly what we need. And,” she paused when Lang came around the back corner of the trailer, “they all came from the same buyer, so they’re already used to working together.”
Smug satisfaction creased the old man’s face. “I knew Lang would take care of things.”
“How do you know I didn’t make the deal?” she asked, tipping back her shoulders.
When Hank’s mouth dropped, Victoria put her hand on his arm. “That’s okay Hank, I’m teasing. I couldn’t have done it without Lang. He took care of everything.”
Everything that had to do with horses, anyway.
Lang stepped between them, seeming uneasy with their compliments. “Hank and I’ll manage here. Victoria, you go to the house before your dad comes looking for you.”
Good idea. She didn’t want her dad and stepmother wandering around the ranch nosing into every little thing. Before she knew it, her dad would have one of his clipboards out and be making a mile-long list of all the things wrong with her place.
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