Kissed by a Rancher Read online

  “It’s thrilling, and I’ll always remember this weekend.”

  “Both of us will,” he whispered.

  He held her quietly for some time and finally shifted to look at her. “How about a hot tub?”

  “I’m not sure I can move,” she said.

  “I’ll carry you.” Stepping out of bed, he picked her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him as he walked toward the bathroom. Shortly they were in a tub of hot water. She sat back between his legs, leaning against him while they talked, going from topic to topic. She felt deeply relaxed, floating in euphoria, happy with him, with everything about the evening.

  When they finally climbed out of the tub, they dried each other with slow, sensual strokes, Josh barely touching her with the towel as he drew it across her breasts while his dark gaze conveyed so much desire, she could barely get her breath.

  Inhaling deeply, she reached for him. He stepped close to wrap his arms around her and kissed her passionately, a searing, possessive kiss as if she was the only woman ever to be in his life. How could he make her feel so special, so pretty in his eyes?

  She responded to him, pouring her heart into her kisses, sliding her hands over him, caressing him, hoping to drive him to the trembling need she felt.

  As he kissed her, his hands were all over her, touching her lightly, moving between her legs to touch and rub her intimately, building her need.

  He carried her to bed to kiss and caress her, taking his time until she tugged at his shoulders. “Josh, I want you now,” she whispered, looking up at him and then pulling him down to kiss him hungrily. He reached to the table by the bed to get protection.

  Lowering himself, he entered her, moving slowly, letting desire and need build. She clung to him, aware only of Josh, his muscled body, his hands and mouth, his staff, thick, hot and hard, driving her to moving wildly beneath him until she reached a pounding climax.

  She shook with release, sending Josh into his climax, as he held her tightly and they moved together. She heard his groan, felt his arms tighten around her. Her breathing was ragged, loud as she gasped for each breath and slowed, sinking into rapture that was even greater than the first time with him.

  How could she not fall more deeply in love with him after this night? She wouldn’t think about the answer. Instead, she kissed him and held him tightly. For tonight there were no problems, and that was enough for the moment.

  * * *

  When sunlight spilled through the windows in the morning, Josh held her close against him. He turned on his side to prop himself up to look at her. Short locks of brown hair fell over his forehead, and she combed them back gently with her fingers. Everything about him fascinated her, and she couldn’t stop touching him. She ran her hand over his shoulder. “I can tell you work out.”

  “Yes. I’ll return to ranch life someday, and I don’t want to be too puny to do it.”

  She smiled. “I don’t think you’re in danger of being too puny. Definitely not too puny to make love.”

  He smiled. “We go home this afternoon. I thought I would take you out for breakfast, but would you like to have breakfast on our balcony? I’ll call room service.”

  “I would love breakfast on our balcony if it isn’t cold out there.”

  “If it is, we’ll have breakfast in here. I’ll get the menu, and you can tell me what you want.”

  He stepped out of bed and grabbed a towel he had dropped the night before to wrap around him, knotting it across his flat stomach.

  She propped up pillows, sat up and pulled a sheet under her arms to cover her. He came back and handed her the menu as he slid beneath the covers and tossed away the towel.

  “Now what do you see that you’d like?”

  “What I see is a very handsome man, and I’d like him to kiss me,” she said, studying him. His expression changed, and he turned to take her into his arms. He pulled her onto his lap as he wrapped his arms around her to kiss her.

  * * *

  Over an hour later, Josh asked her again what she’d like for breakfast. “That question worked out well last time, so I’ll try it again,” he said.

  Smiling, she leaned over the edge of the bed to pull up the menu and look at it. “This time I’ll order, because I’m definitely getting hungry.”

  In half an hour, they sat in plush bathrobes on the balcony while they ate.

  “Josh, I love this view,” she said, pulling her cell phone from her robe pocket. She turned to face him. “Can I take your picture?”

  “In this robe?”

  “Yes. Is that okay?”

  “Sure, if this is what you want.”

  She took his picture, smiling at him. “Every minute has been special.”

  “I can say the same, Abby,” he told her, suddenly looking at her with an earnest expression that faded into another smile as he reached for her. “Come home with me to the ranch. We can leave this afternoon and get in tonight. Stay a couple of nights, and then I’ll take you home.”

  She stared at him while she debated what to do. He leaned close to caress her nape lightly. “Your family can work it out, and it’s just this once. I want to show you my ranch.”

  She nodded. “If someone will cover for me, I will. I’ll call now.”

  Taking her phone, she walked away from him to talk to her mother briefly about going with him to his ranch. She talked quietly, ending with thanks.

  “Mom said the desk at the inn will be covered and to have a good time,” she said, not mentioning that her mother had said, “Take real good care of yourself” before she ended the call. She was certain her mother worried about her having a broken heart over Josh. “I need to go home Tuesday,” she said breathlessly, and his eyes narrowed slightly. “I’ve finished my breakfast.”

  He stood and came around to pick her up and carry her to the bedroom. Dropping the robe, she slid beneath the sheet with him and slipped her arm around his neck while her other hand moved beneath the sheet to fondle him. He was aroused, ready to love again. He lifted her over him, so she sat astride him.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in a few inches to look at him. “I can’t get enough of you,” she whispered.

  “I hope you can’t,” he answered as he reached out to cup her breasts and shower kisses over first one and then the other. He moved her closer, entering her with urgency as if it were the first time they had loved.

  * * *

  Later they sat on the balcony again after ordering a light lunch. “Josh, this is wonderful,” she said.

  “You like the whole world. Have you ever been anyplace you didn’t like?” he asked, sounding amused, and she stopped viewing the skyline to turn to him.

  “No, I suppose I haven’t. I don’t travel much, so when I do, I like the places I’ve gone. Some are more spectacular than others, and this is definitely the most spectacular of all and the best—as Arden would say, ‘awesome.’ It really is awesome. The description fits this city.”

  “I’ll have to say, you’ve taken to it better than I thought you might. Maybe better than I ever have,” he added, glancing out at the skyline. “When I think of New York City, I think of sirens through the night, crowds of people, trying to get a cab in a storm, although I usually have a limo now—”

  “For a man who’s so much fun to be with, that’s a harsh outlook.”

  “I’ve been coming here off and on since I was about ten years old. My family came a lot when I was a kid and later, I have to come on business. Sometimes I get jaded about things and places that I’ve seen a lot.”

  “Well, keep your sunny side up while you’re with me, please. I like that.”

  “If it pleases you, then I will do my best to do what you want.”

  She smiled at him. “Why do I have such fun with you? You’re a
charmer. I can answer my own question.”

  “And that’s a negative in your view.”

  “It has a definite appeal. You know you make my heart go pitter-pat.”

  “I hope so, and in a minute we’re going to forget about the food that’s—” They heard knocking.

  “There he is,” Josh said, standing. “I’ll take care of it.” He left, and she turned back to look out over buildings. Some were taller than the hotel. She could see the rooftops of others, with penthouses, or gardens and trees growing in large planters, a life so different from her own that she still felt dazzled by the city. And dazzled by Josh, more in love with him each hour. She was certain his feelings for her were shallow and nothing like what she felt for him.

  She hoped she could return to her plain way of life in Beckett easily and tuck this time with Josh away in her memories as once-in-a-lifetime fun, sexy and amazing. She knew her relationship with Lamont was over. She could never go back to that, and it wasn’t fair for Lamont, either. They weren’t in love or deeply attracted. It had just been convenient.

  Her thoughts shifted to Josh. Even if he fell wildly in love—which she was sensible enough to know he would not—she couldn’t tie her life to a charmer, a worldly man who could sweet-talk her into doing what he wanted and then, like her father, just disappear out of her life someday. Or even if he didn’t disappear, just want out of any relationship with her.

  She expected them never to get to the relationship stage, though. She didn’t want to risk that much. If she got into a relationship with Josh and then he ended it, she would be brokenhearted to the point that she could never get over it. She wasn’t certain her mother had ever gotten over her father or stopped loving him.

  Interrupting her thoughts, a waiter pushed a cart onto the balcony and began transferring covered dishes to the table in front of them, sandwiches, bowls of chips, various fruits and desserts.

  As they ate, she was still lost in thought. Was this weekend something she would recall with joy, or would it always remind her of how plain her life was in Beckett? Was the handsome charmer sitting so close to her going to break her heart? Had she already set herself up for a lasting hurt?

  Eight

  They scrapped the sightseeing plans to start home to Josh’s ranch at one that afternoon, arriving in Dallas and changing planes to fly to Verity, where Josh had a car waiting. Leaving Verity at dusk, he drove across mesquite-covered land much like land around Beckett.

  When they left the county road to drive over the bumpy pipes of the cattle guard, they passed beneath a high black iron arch with a circle centered at the top. Inside the circle was JC Ranch in iron, showing clearly in the bright glow from a spotlight.

  After he had driven ten minutes without a sign of life, she was surprised. “How far away is your house?”

  “Pretty dang far,” he answered. “I don’t want to be living near the county road where I see traffic if I look out my windows or where people driving past can see my house and all the other structures. I want to be back where I see open land and country, not a highway.”

  “No danger of that,” she replied, unable to imagine Josh living in isolation. Darkness enveloped them except for the sweep of his headlights until they topped a small hill. Far ahead she saw myriad lights.

  In a short time, they began to pass lighted barns, corrals and outbuildings. Most of her attention went to a sprawling gray slate stacked stone ranch house with a wraparound porch, wood railings, two porch swings and old-fashioned rocking chairs. Lights illuminated massive live oaks that had to be older than Josh. In front of the house was a pond with lighted fountains.

  “I don’t know why you ever leave this.” She viewed it as beautiful, peaceful and welcoming.

  “I’m beginning to wonder myself,” he said, sounding unusually solemn. “Have you ever ridden a horse?”

  “Sure. You don’t grow up in Beckett without knowing someone with horses.”

  “Want to ride early in the morning? I have a gentle horse for you.”

  “I’d like that,” she said.

  “Later we’ll go out in the truck, and I’ll show you more of the ranch. Tomorrow night, how about barbeque and a little dancing—two-stepping?”

  “It all sounds fun,” she answered. “Remember, I have to get home Tuesday. Mom has customers booked at her hair shop, and my sis and brother have school.”

  “I’ll get you home early Tuesday, I promise.”

  Soon he drove on a circular drive to a back door and stepped out. A man got up from one of the rocking chairs and came toward them. “Howdy, Josh. Let me get your things.”

  “Told you that you didn’t need to wait for us to come in,” Josh said, taking her arm. “Abby, meet Hitch Watkinson, my foreman. Hitch, this is Abby Donovan from Beckett, Texas.”

  “Glad to meet you, Miss Donovan,” Hitch said.

  “I’m glad to meet you,” she replied, smiling at the tall, black-haired man with a deeply tanned face and a black broad-brimmed hat on his head.

  “Just set everything in the hall, Hitch. I’ll take it from there.”

  “Sure. Glad to have you home.”

  Josh unlocked a door and opened it. “We’ll have the house to ourselves until morning, and then my staff will appear.”

  Hitch brought their things inside, said goodbye and left.

  She stood in a long hall with Western paintings on the walls, walnut furniture and potted plants. Various hallways branched off to different wings of the house. “I’ll show you around.”

  “Did you leave all the lights on when you left?”

  “No. Hitch has a key. He came in and turned lights on for us when I texted him that we were coming. There is also a very full fridge should we want anything to eat.

  “This is a huge house,” she said. “It seems far bigger than the inn. How many bedrooms?”

  “Seven,” he said. “Actually five suites plus two more bedrooms. Sometimes I have all the family here. I have company during hunting season. There are four guesthouses on the ranch. Some people who work here have homes on the property, too. Hitch for one. Let’s take our things upstairs first, and then I’ll give you a tour.”

  He shouldered bags, and she took one. They climbed a sweeping spiral staircase to the second floor and walked down another large hallway.

  “Here’s my bedroom,” he said, leading her into a sitting room larger than the main living room at her inn. The furniture was Western with brown leather wingback chairs and a long brown leather sofa that faced a massive stone fireplace. Bookshelves lined one wall while another wall was glass. In the light that spilled in from outside, she could see a broad covered balcony with black wrought iron furniture. He tossed bags onto a chair and closed the drapes before turning to walk back to her and take her bag to place it on another chair.

  “Josh this is a beautiful home,” she said, thinking about him sleeping on her short sofa for three nights.

  She wondered again why Josh had asked her to go with him to New York. She couldn’t imagine the man who lived in this palatial home wanting to spend a weekend with her. She suspected he’d dated models, maybe actresses, women who were breathtakingly beautiful and had lives far more interesting that running a bed-and-breakfast in a small west Texas town.

  “I’m glad we didn’t come here first. I think I would have backed out of the trip. I can’t imagine why you would want to take someone like me to New York.”

  He slipped his arms around her waist and gazed into her eyes. “I asked you to go with me because I wanted to be with you more than anyone else. Anyone,” he repeated with emphasis. “I’ve had a grand time, and I don’t want the weekend to end. That’s why I asked you here tonight. You’re the first woman I’ve ever brought to stay in this house.”

  Startled, she stared at him while her heart pounded. I
f only he really cared. But she knew better, no matter what he said now. There was no way, and even if he did, he wasn’t the man for her. He was the man she had vowed all her adult life that she would avoid falling in love with. She was already in love with him, but she didn’t want to go any farther. This was not the man to settle and lead a quiet life with a woman like her. Not ever. She hadn’t changed her feelings about men like her father.

  “Josh, this has been a wonderful weekend. I don’t expect any more than that, and you and I are definitely not right for each other.”

  He tightened his arms around her, his eyes darkening with passion. He leaned down to kiss her, his mouth covering hers. It was a demanding, possessive kiss that made her feel as if he was in love, as if she was the one woman he wanted, yet she still clung to the knowledge that she was fooling herself and he would never really feel that way.

  And then she stopped thinking and tossed caution and wisdom aside, holding him and kissing him in return, spiraling into passion and forgetting the world and all problems.

  She was barely aware when he picked her up to carry her to his big bed.

  * * *

  It was in the early hours of the morning when Josh stirred and shifted, looking at Abby in the crook of his arm, lying against him, warm and soft. He brushed a silky lock of her hair away from her face. He couldn’t understand his own reactions to her. He couldn’t get enough of her.

  He thought this weekend would satisfy him and he would lose interest. He had lost interest fast in some women he had dated, but it hadn’t worked that way with Abby. Why was she such a draw to him when she was so many things he didn’t like? She had been a virgin, which had shocked him and still made him wonder how important their lovemaking was to her since he was the first and only man she had ever been intimate with.

  Her reactions weren’t what he would have guessed. When she let him seduce her, take her virginity, he thought she might expect a relationship with him. That hadn’t happened. She still viewed him as an undesirable male for a long-term relationship. If he hadn’t been so tied up in knots with wanting her, he would have laughed at himself and his ego for assuming she would be dazzled by the first man she had sex with. Along with being a caring person, she was a confident woman and knew what she wanted in life. He suspected she would stick to her principles and views of what she wanted and didn’t want. Why was he so upset that he fell into the “didn’t want” category? He shouldn’t care and he should be relieved, but he did care and he wasn’t relieved at all.