Читать книгу Seduction, Cowboy Style - Anne Marie Winston - Страница 9

She was pacing.

Deck watched as Silver sprang to her feet yet again and walked to the corner of the waiting area at the clinic. What the hell was he doing waiting here with her? It had been damn bad luck that he’d been the first one to come across her this morning.

He’d heard that horn and recognized it as some kind of trouble. He’d been stopped by the pasture dam, checking the water level in the dam, and it hadn’t taken him any time at all to investigate. When he realized who it was at the entrance to the McCall place, he’d had an impulse to drive on past just to save himself the aggravation. She was McCall’s sister. He ought to be staying as far away from her as possible.

Then he’d seen Lynnie Hamill and realized he couldn’t drive away and leave either woman.

But that didn’t explain why he was hanging around the clinic. He shouldn’t want to be anywhere near here. Near her.

He watched as she walked the perimeter of the room again. She peered around the corner for a long moment before turning and walked a slow circuit around the room, finally coming to a stop before the single window.

She clearly hadn’t been planning on going anywhere this morning. She wore a pair of skin-tight old jeans that were white at the stress points, tennis sneakers that probably had been white once and an oversize T-shirt. The fabric was pulled into a knot at the waist, draping softly over her breasts in a manner that left his mouth dry and his body reminding him that he’d been without a woman too long. Her dark hair was as wildly curly as it had been the first day he’d seen her, though she had nothing in it today. It flew around her shoulders from a side part with each new motion.

Motion. Ah, the woman definitely could move. He couldn’t remember ever seeing a filly with such pretty action before in his whole entire life. Though he wasn’t fond of fidgety women he enjoyed the contained energy in her stride, the flex of supple muscle beneath her jeans, the slender rhythm of her hips.

He could think of ways he’d enjoy those hips even more. His body reacted as it had every time he’d so much as thought of Silver Jenssen in the past few days, and he shifted uncomfortably on the thin pad of the waiting room chair. He was starting to feel like his stallion penned next to a mare in season. Every time he’d looked at the poor critter, the horse had been more than ready to do his manly duty. A man couldn’t help but feel sympathy for such frustration.

He rose, unable to resist getting just a little closer and walked over to her. “You might as well stop fretting,” he advised her. “Sev said the ambulance’ll be here soon.”

“I know.” Silver didn’t turn from the window. “I’m just so afraid for her…”

He lifted his hands. After a second’s hesitation he clasped her shoulders in his palms, rubbing gently at the knots of tension he felt there. The feel of her softness beneath his hands made his fingers clench in automatic reaction before he got the surge of lust under control. “She was married to a first-class bastard,” he said. “They were divorced but I heard he wouldn’t stop coming around.”

Silver’s whole body had stilled beneath his touch. She rolled her shoulders and tilted her head to one side, giving him unspoken permission to continue his massage. “I don’t think all those marks on her face were from the accident,” she said. “Some of them weren’t fresh.” She turned and looked up at him, and her mouth was firm. “I won’t let her be abused anymore,” she said.

Deck knew he should take his hands from her shoulders now that she was facing him. It was too much like an embrace, and the last person in the world he ought to be hugging was Cal McCall’s sister.

But her flesh was warm and soft beneath his hands, and her eyes were so troubled that he couldn’t just walk off. “I haven’t seen her in a long time,” he said. “Nobody has.”

“If she needs a place, she can stay with me,” Silver said.

“Your brother might not be too thrilled with that.” He didn’t know why he’d felt compelled to bring Cal into the conversation, but the mention of his name banished the aura of intimacy.

“Cal wouldn’t mind,” she said confidently, though he thought he saw a flicker of doubt in her eyes for a moment. “Besides, he needs me to get his house in order, so he owes me one.” Then her face fell and she sighed heavily. “I hate sending her off to a strange hospital all alone. Maybe I should go along.”

He shuddered. He couldn’t prevent it, couldn’t conceal the revulsion that he knew showed on his face. It was all he could do to tolerate a place like this. Hospitals…he hadn’t been able to force himself to set foot in one since the terrible hours after Genie’s accident. The smell made him nauseous, the hushed atmosphere made him want to jump up and shout, the sight of people in white coats rushing around flat out scared the hell out of him.

“There’s no call for that,” he said aloud. “She’ll be in good hands.”

“It’s not that.” She looked up at him earnestly. “I just don’t want her to wake up alone without a friend. That girl looked like she could use a friend.”

With her face tipped up, those wide eyes so serious, she was all but irresistible. His gaze slid down to her mouth, noting the parted lips, the nervous habit she had of nibbling on the bottom one when something was upsetting her as it had been today.

She was Cal McCall’s sister, he told himself. He shouldn’t be talking to her, much less touching her.

Why not? whispered a little voice inside. He took your sister. It would be the perfect revenge.

Right. Like getting cozy with Silver Jenssen could make up for what he’d lost. No one in the world would ever understand. Part of himself had died, too, when Genie had died. A part that could never be regained or replaced.

“Deck?”

He focused on the present again, and there she stood, those beautiful eyes with their dark-rimmed irises looking at him with concern. What the hell—he had to have just one little taste.

“Are you all right?” She spoke again.

He cleared his throat. “I’m fine. Except that I’m holding the prettiest woman in town in my arms and I haven’t kissed her yet.”

Surprise flared in her eyes. Then, before he could lower his head, she stepped backward out from under his hands. “I wish that ambulance would get here.”

The minute she finished the sentence a door banged down the hall and heavy footsteps moved rapidly in their direction. Deck stepped away from Silver and looked out the window.

He hadn’t expected her to rebuff his advance. True, she barely knew him, but he could say without false modesty that he’d kissed a whole lot of women who’d spent even less time with him. He didn’t often make the effort to pursue, because he didn’t need to. He guessed that in this case he might have to make that effort. The primitive hunter within him stirred and woke. Oh, yes, he’d definitely have to make the effort.

Sev Andressen came into the room, a white hospital-style coat over his jeans and shirt. “She’s still unconscious,” he reported. “The ambulance is coming in right now.”

“I’m going along with her,” Silver said. “I won’t be able to give them much, but I’ll explain it.”

“Wait a minute,” said Deck. “You can’t do that.”

Silver raised one eyebrow as she turned to look at him. “Why not?”

“Because…because…” He was floundering and he knew it. “You don’t have transportation.”

“She can ride along,” said Sev. Then he turned as the scream of the approaching ambulance became audible. “We’d better get ready. These guys don’t fool around.”

The next few minutes were a blur of activity. The medical technicians rushed in with a gurney, and the patient was transferred to it. Then Deck and Sev helped the two men carry the gurney back to the ambulance and load it. Silver followed them and when the cot was safely installed, the technicians scrambled in and one extended a hand to her.

Silver stepped forward, but before she could climb in, Deck stopped her with a hand on her arm. “I’ll come to the hospital tonight.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“You need a way home,” he told her. Was he crazy to be pushing this?

She tossed him an impatient glance. “I can rent a car.”

He shook his head, ducking it as a gust of spring wind threatened to unseat his hat. “I’ll be there tonight.”

“Ready?” The driver turned and gestured at Silver to hurry. “Let’s get moving.”

Without giving Deck another glance, Silver pulled herself into the ambulance and the technician slammed the doors. But as the vehicle began to pick up speed, Silver turned to the window. She met his gaze, unsmiling, but she wiggled her fingers at him in farewell.

As hospital furniture went, this wasn’t so bad.

Silver pulled up the footrest on the reclining lounger and propped her feet on its cushion, idly flipping the channels on the wall-mounted television with the remote. In the bed beside her chair Lyn Hamill, her unexpected guest from early this morning, lay quietly. She had yet to move or speak.

It was ten minutes before eight in the evening, and visiting hours would be over shortly. Maybe Deck had had second thoughts about his promise after he thought about the way she’d rejected his flirtation at the clinic.

He’d looked so disappointed when she’d backed away from him. She knew just how he’d felt. A part of her longed to lift herself on tiptoe and press her mouth to his, to trace the stern line of his lips and touch her tongue to the small cleft that divided his squared-off chin. A shiver worked its way down her spine at the notion, coming to rest deep in her abdomen where it throbbed restlessly. She shifted in the chair.

Stop it, girl. You came out here to get away from man trouble, not find it! Amen to that, she thought, giving in to a huge yawn.

And then “man trouble” walked through the door. Hastily she stifled the yawn and lowered the footrest on the chair as Deck hesitated in the entrance.

“Hello,” she said. “I was beginning to think you took me seriously.”

His face seemed pale beneath the artificial light and he was sweating slightly. As he removed his hat, he swiped a hand across his forehead before resettling the hat in its place. “I told you I’d take you home,” he reminded her.

She didn’t know what to say to that, so she focused instead on the huge vase of fresh wildflowers he carried in one big hand. “Those are beautiful. What a thoughtful idea.” He extended the vase and she took it from him, turning to carry it to the single windowsill. “This room needed something to brighten it up.”

“Looks like you beat me to that.” He glanced around at the helium-filled balloons she had tied in two bunches, one to the wardrobe door handle and the other to the foot rail of the sturdy hospital bed.

She shrugged as she dipped a finger in the vase to check the water level. “I figured it might help if she woke up to something cheerful.”

He nodded, then swiped his hand down the side of his face. “Are you ready to go now?”

“I suppose.” She hesitated. “I thought about staying overnight in case she woke up, but the doctors don’t have any idea how long this state might last. Could be hours, could be days.” Could be forever. “And I have animals to feed.”

“Your brother has stock already?” Deck sounded surprised. “And no help?”

“We don’t need help yet,” she said. “All that’s on the ranch right now are two dogs, a mother cat and kittens and one cantankerous she-goat left by the previous owner.”

She moved around the room, straightening the chair and lying the television remote and a pitcher of water beside a full glass on the rolling tray which she parked within reach at the bedside should Lyn awake. She checked to be sure the nurses’ call button was within plain sight and finally took her purse from the wardrobe, empty except for the tattered remnants of clothing the girl had been wearing. She had a list of Lyn’s clothing sizes in her purse now. “I’m ready.”

She took Lyn’s hand again one more time before letting Deck escort her from the room. “I’m going home for the night,” she told the unresponsive girl, “but I’ll come back. You just rest and get well.”

Deck didn’t speak as they took the elevator down and traipsed through the corridors to the main entrance where he’d parked. In the parking lot she recognized his truck immediately.

One thing she could say, she thought as he opened her door and offered her a hand, the man had good manners. She was feminine enough to enjoy and be grateful for the small courtesies that a former generation would have taken for granted.

“Have you eaten?” It was the first thing he said as he drove away from the medical building.

“Um, I had some crackers earlier, and I ate a little of the lunch they brought to Lyn’s room.” She made a face. “I’d forgotten how bad hospital food is.”

He glanced across at her. “You’ve been hospitalized before?”

“No.” She shook her head and laughed. “I’m healthy as a horse. My mother had some minor surgery last year, so I had the chance to enjoy hospital cuisine then.”

He nodded. End of conversation.

Silver surveyed his profile as he drove through the city. The man talked less than anyone she’d ever met. Did he do it on purpose or was he just that reticent? She’d told him numerous little snippets of information in the few times they’d met, and she still knew next to nothing about him. Well. That was about to change.

“So tell me about yourself,” she said.

Silence. Finally he looked across at her and she caught the first glint of humor in his eye that she’d seen since she met him. “You first.”

“Okay.” If that would get him talking, she’d be glad to start. “You know I have a half brother. I was born in Virginia, raised near Charlottesville as an only child until Cal came to live with us when I was twelve. I studied for four years to get a teaching degree I’ve never used. Cal invited me out here when he bought his father’s place. I’m spending a month or two helping him get the house in order.”

“And then what?”

“Pardon?”

“Will you go home again?”

She shook her head, smiling. “How did you know that’s the one thing I can’t answer?”

He arched an eyebrow, his gaze still on the street, but he didn’t say anything.

She didn’t say anything, either, for a moment. But eventually she couldn’t stand the silence. “I don’t really want to go home. I’ve been thinking of visiting a friend in London.”

“Why don’t you want to go home?”

She shrugged. “I feel sort of in the way if you want the truth. Mother and Daddy are retired, ready to travel and enjoy life, but I think they feel that if I’m around they still need to be there. Plus they’re determined to marry me off.”

He glanced at her, one long arm draped over the steering wheel with utter assurance. “Anyone in particular?”

She laughed but she didn’t really think the question was funny. “Oh, they’re particular, all right. Particularly determined to find me the perfect Southern gentleman. Yuck.” She crossed her arms. “That’s the big reason I don’t want to go home.”

“So get a job and get your own place.”

She wasn’t about to tell him that she could afford several of her own places without ever lifting a finger. “That’s sound advice.” She paused. “Your turn.”

“My turn to what?”

“Talk.” She shook a finger playfully at him. “I just told you my life story. Now it’s your turn.”

He lifted a shoulder as he flipped on the turn signal. “My brother Marty and I inherited the family ranch when my dad passed away nine years ago. Six years ago, my mother married a widower from Sioux Falls and they moved to Florida. She’s still there enjoying the sunshine.” He braked and shifted the truck into park, gesturing out the window with his hand. “Let’s get something to eat.”

She hadn’t been paying attention and she was startled to see that they were parked in the lot of a bar and grill kind of restaurant. She glanced down at the ratty old clothing she’d been wearing since the early-morning hours. “I hope they don’t dress up in there.”

“Smile at them,” Deck advised as he came around and opened her door. “They’ll never know what you’re wearing.”

In the act of sliding down from the seat of the truck she paused, looking up at him with surprise. “Thank you,” she said. “That was a lovely compliment.”

Deck’s lips twitched. She wondered what it would take to get him to smile. “Enjoy it. I’m not much on flowery talk.”

“I’m not one who needs it,” she told him.

To her shock, he lifted a hand and smoothed a quirky tendril of hair back from her cheek, his rough fingers brushing over her sensitive skin. “Maybe not, but you deserve it.”

She opened her mouth, realized she had no earthly idea how to respond to that and closed it again.

Deck stepped away and took her elbow as she slipped down from the high seat, then slammed the door and started toward the restaurant, still cupping her elbow. A low sound caught her ear, and she glanced at him, surprised and startled. “Are you laughing?”

He shrugged, his expression a perfect poker face. “It’s good to know that paying you a compliment shuts you up.”

They ate sitting at the bar in the big room in the front of the restaurant, and she was grateful to Deck. The other patrons looked as if they’d come straight from their barns and her faded clothing wasn’t a problem at all. There were several cowboys there who knew Deck, and if she was the only one who noticed he barely had to utter a word in all the chattering the other men did, nobody said anything. Then again, if he was always like this, they’d be used to it, wouldn’t they?

While she drank a cup of coffee to help ward off the exhaustion that was rolling over her, Deck slid off his stool beside her and walked a few feet away to talk to a couple of men seated in one of the booths.

A jean-clad thigh pressing against hers jolted her out of her stupor. Startled, she slid her leg away, but the man who’d plopped himself down on the next stool only spread himself out more until his thigh pressed against hers again, leaning one elbow on the bar and smiling at her.

He was young and cocky—that was the first thing she noticed. Definitely a bad case of the “what-a-prize-I-am” syndrome.

The second thing she noticed was his hand. It hovered over her thigh for a moment, then settled just above her knee as if it belonged there. Without thinking, she reached down and picked it up, deliberately placing it on the bar. “Excuse me, but I’m not part of the furniture.”

“I didn’t think you were, sweet thing.” He leaned closer, smiling at her with big blue eyes that probably got him results most of the time. “I’m Jeffery. Can I buy you a drink while we get to know each other?”

“No, thank you.” She turned back to her coffee, hoping he’d take the hint, but of course someone so sure of his own charm couldn’t believe she wasn’t interested.

“Okay. How bout we go dancing? You look like a girl who’s got rhythm.”

She was tempted to tell him his pickup lines needed serious work. Instead, she kept looking into her coffee.

“Aw, come on, gorgeous, I can tell you and I have a lot in common. My truck’s right outside—”

“And if you want to live to drive it again you’d better get your ass back in it now.” The voice came from behind them, low and flat and deadly serious.

Jeffery turned around belligerently, but when he saw the tall, dark-featured cowboy in the black hat, he held up both hands in a placatory gesture. “Sorry, buddy. She was sitting here all alone. I didn’t know she was taken.”

“Get out.” Deck’s voice cracked like a whip.

The younger man’s eyes flared wide, and he scrambled off the stool so fast he nearly fell. As he beat a hasty retreat, Deck’s eyes met Silver’s. The deep black anger in them shocked her. “Are you about finished there?”

She nodded. Her legs were trembling, but she stood obediently and let him lead her out of the bar. There was an aura of leashed violence that surrounded Deck in an almost tangible manner. Still, she was a modern woman.

“I could have handled him, but thank you for your assistance. Your method undoubtedly worked faster than mine would have.”

They walked across the gravel to his truck as she spoke. Leading her around to the passenger side, he opened the door and she slid in quickly, avoiding his eyes. He still didn’t speak. What was he thinking? He was definitely annoyed—he wasn’t angry with her, was he?

“What’s the matter with you?” she demanded as he paced back to the driver’s side and slid in. “You’re acting like I did something wrong.”

He shook his head and slid the key into the ignition, then fired up the engine.

“Wait a minute.” She grabbed his arm before he put the truck in gear. “Don’t you ignore me!”

The words had barely left her mouth before he reached for her, taking her upper arms and hauling her over the seat into his lap. Tipping her backward so that she had to clutch at his shoulders for balance, he looked down into her startled face. “I don’t like seeing another man’s hands on you.” His voice was deep and harsh, his features fierce.

The words would never qualify as romantic, but his rough, matter-of-fact statement touched a waiting heat deep in her body. Her heart seemed to drop to the pit of her stomach and she inhaled a sharp breath, her heartbeat speeding up until it hammered in her throat like a trapped bird at a window.

And as she stared at him, stunned and needy, he lowered his head and took her mouth.

His lips were firm, warm and not in the least tentative. With bold intent, he molded her mouth until she whimpered deep in her throat. The world receded and all she could feel was the hot demand of his mouth, the strength in his corded arms as his hands came around her to pull her hard against him.

“Kiss me,” he growled against the sealed line of her lips. His arms felt like two steel bands holding her in place, and his body was so hot she could feel him burning her right through her clothing. “Kiss me.”

She’d never been manhandled like this in her life.

She loved it.

Like soft butter she melted against him, opening her mouth to admit his tongue, and it was as if her small yielding ripped away whatever restraints Deck had placed on himself. His tongue plunged into her mouth and plunged again. He pulled her more fully across his lap, lying across his lap as she was, his arms turning her and drawing her even closer until her breasts were flattened against his hard chest. His right hand roved from her waist down over the curve of her bottom to her thigh, and she felt his palm curl around her, dragging her leg up so that she was curled around him like a honeysuckle vine.

She slid her hands from his shoulders up and over his back, exploring the hard, taut muscles that rippled beneath his shirt. He’d obviously showered before coming to town, and he smelled of soap and cologne, his scent teasing her senses as his tongue played over hers. She raised one hand to his neck, sliding it up into his golden-brown hair and then back down to the heated silky flesh of his nape, stroking her fingers dreamily over his skin. How could one man be so arousing?

He kissed her and kissed her until she was moaning in his arms, her mouth following his when he lifted his head to change the angle. His hat was in the way, and he swept it off with an impatient hand. When he lowered his hand again, he rested it on her rib cage right below her breasts. Slowly but surely, he smoothed his palm upward over the fabric of her T-shirt, over the aching mound of her breast, filling his hand with her. He explored her like that for a while, his thumb and index finger coaxing her nipple up into a tight little bead that he rolled until electric lines of sensation zinged straight from her nipple to her loins, making her ache and shift her hips restlessly. Against her hip, she could feel the hard ridge of his erection, and the knowledge that she’d aroused him, too, was a heady pleasure that only excited her more.

But after another long moment of kissing and petting, she sensed an easing in the frantic quality of his first kisses.

Slowly, he withdrew his hand from her breast and slid it down to rest on her hip. Slowly, the hard arm around her back loosened and her body no longer felt as if it had been glued to his. Slowly, his kisses grew smaller and smaller until he was barely brushing light caresses over her lips. And finally he lifted his head.

“Whoa.” It was a heartfelt exclamation of wonder. It amused her that the first thing he did was reach for his hat and resettle it on his head.

Her head still lay against his shoulder, her face turned up to his, and she smiled. “Well said.”

“That’s been on my mind since the first minute I saw you.” His voice was a low rumble.

“And has your curiosity been satisfied?” Hers hadn’t. Her whole body was throbbing with need.

His chest heaved against her as he snorted in silent laughter. “Not by a long shot, baby. That little teaser only makes me wonder what more will be like.”

How was she supposed to respond to that? Agreement would mean she accepted that there would be more between them. And though her body still throbbed and begged for his touch, she wasn’t at all sure this was a smart thing to do.

Instead of responding, she said, “I wondered what you looked like without your hat.” She reached up to touch the brim but he caught her wrist in midair, then brought his lips to the tender flesh, nibbling small kisses along her arm.

“That’s off-limits.” His eyes gleamed when he glanced up at her from where he lingered over her wrist. He’d accepted the change of subject with good grace.

“What?” Her brain wasn’t working well, although other parts of her body seemed to be humming along just fine.

His breath huffed over her skin as he chuckled. “Didn’t you know? Never touch a cowboy’s hat.”

“Never touch a cowboy’s hat,” she repeated, trying to keep her mind on the conversation. “That’s silly.”

“Maybe so, but there are fellas who take it real seriously.” He heaved an enormous sigh, then gently lifted her off his lap. “We’d better get going. It’s a good drive back to Kadoka.”

He turned the key and put the truck in gear, but when she went to put on her seat belt he patted the middle seat beside him. “Here.”

So she slid over next to him and put on the center belt.

He put his arm around her and drew her head to his shoulder. “Why don’t you close your eyes. Your day started out crazy and just got worse, didn’t it?”

She made a wry sound of agreement as they drove through the streets back to the interstate, which cut through the town, and before the lights of Rapid City had faded behind them, she felt her eyelids growing heavier….

She awoke when he started bumping back the rough lane to her brother’s ranch. Instantly she remembered the day’s events and she sat up straighter. “What happened to Lyn’s truck?”

“My brother and I moved it to the side of the road after I took your brother’s truck back to your place,” Deck replied. “Tomorrow I’ll tow it in and see what the garage can do with it.”

His arm was still around her shoulders as they completed the drive, but she felt tense and awkward now. What had she been thinking, letting him kiss and touch her like that in a parking lot in plain sight of anybody who walked by? Her body tensed at the memory, and she knew exactly what she’d been thinking. And if they’d done that right there in that parking lot, they might have gotten arrested. Her face grew hot and she was glad when he slowed and braked before the house. She got out on her side before he could come around and he walked around the truck to accompany her to the door.