Читать книгу Cattleman's Courtship - Lois Dyer Faye - Страница 8

T he Crossroads Bar and Grill was loud and rowdy when Quinn Bowdrie stepped through the archway, undecided if he wanted to stay or head home to the comfort of his bed. He leaned the point of one broad shoulder against the wall just inside the door, thumbs hooked in his belt, hands hanging idly while he looked over the Saturday night crowd. He didn’t see the blonde he’d noticed entering the bar earlier, but the room was packed with townspeople from Colson and ranchers from surrounding spreads. When he’d first seen her, he’d been tempted to push out of the Grill’s booth and follow her for a closer look, but the mouthwatering aroma of steak and baked potato had reminded him that he hadn’t eaten since noon.

Although Quinn often ate a meal at the Grill, he rarely socialized with his neighbors at the popular attached bar. Nevertheless, he decided to go next door to look for the blonde after he finished his dinner.

The throng parted briefly, allowing him a glimpse of a familiar face on the far side of the room. Nikki Peterson’s auburn hair was a blaze of color beneath the bar’s low-wattage lights. She’d been actively pursuing his brother, Cully, for a good two months. But as far as Quinn was aware, his brother considered her strictly a friend. There were times Quinn envied his brother’s ability to enjoy women. Quinn himself had decided long ago that anything more involved than a rare one-night stand wasn’t worth the effort.

The crowd shifted again, allowing a clear view of the woman who sat across from Nikki. She laughed and shook her head at something Nikki said, and the dim light glittered off the silvery fall of hair that hung just past her shoulders. There was an innate sensuality in her movements, and Quinn’s eyes narrowed as he continued to watch her, his attention riveted as everything male in him responded to the subtle female signals she was sending. She turned slightly to answer Nikki, and light fell over her face.

Quinn stiffened and pushed away from the wall, his hands loosening their grip and sliding unnoticed from his belt. He couldn’t tell what color her eyes were from this distance and the dim light only gave a hint of a lush mouth and finely molded cheekbones, but it was enough to make him want to see more.

His gaze slid lower, following the silvery hair where it fell across her shoulders, shimmering like pale silk against the soft peach of her blouse. The edge of the tabletop kept him from seeing all of her, but what he could observe of her aroused an insatiable need to view the rest of her. Unfortunately, his view was blocked when a man paused at the table. A brief moment later, the man held out his hand and the woman rose reluctantly from the booth, walking onto the dance floor, the man turning to follow her.

Quinn all but snarled. Sam Beckman was a local rancher with a reputation for playing fast and loose with women. The pretty blonde was going to get hit on, hard.

Hell, he thought with disgust. As pretty as she is, she’s probably used to men coming on to her.

Common sense told him to go home but the sight of the woman dancing with Beckman made him stay. Quinn leaned against the wall, stuck his hands into his front pockets and watched Sam and the stranger.

The music was fast and loud. Sam expertly swung the woman through a series of intricate steps, and she followed him with smooth ease. The dim light on the dance floor gleamed off her silvery hair as she spun and shifted, her lush mouth curved in laughter as she ducked beneath Sam’s arm and twirled away again. The song ended; without pausing, the band moved smoothly into a slow, bluesy tune, and Sam pulled his partner into his arms.

Quinn’s gaze followed the couple as the rancher slow-stepped the blonde across the crowded dance floor toward the darkest corner of the room, the one closest to Quinn. His eyes narrowed, his body tensed as he watched the pretty stranger plant her hand against Beckman’s shoulder and push in an attempt to put space between them. Beckman resisted and forced her closer, bending his head to whisper in her ear. Quinn’s irritation moved a notch higher. The woman stopped dancing and pushed away from Sam, the frown on her face leaving no doubt that she wasn’t enticed by whatever he’d whispered in her ear.

She hadn’t gone two steps away from him when Beckman, laughing, reached out and caught her arm, pulling her back into his grasp.

That does it, Quinn decided grimly. He shoved away from the wall and strode onto the dance floor. It took only a few short seconds to reach the couple and tap Beckman on the shoulder.

“What the…”

“I’m cutting in.”

Beckman’s surprise turned into annoyance. “Sorry, Quinn. I saw her first.” His hand tightened possessively around her arm.

Quinn contemplated slugging the vain rancher on his picture-perfect jaw. He glanced at the woman and jerked at the heat that surged through his veins. She was even prettier up close. Her eyes were deep blue and snapping with anger. Quinn forgot what he’d meant to say to her. Fortunately, she wasn’t struck speechless.

“I’m not a piece of merchandise.”

The husky, annoyed feminine tone feathered shivers of awareness up Quinn’s spine.

“I didn’t…” Beckman protested.

Quinn and the blonde ignored him.

“Do you want to dance with me or him?” He asked, his gaze holding hers.

“You.”

He held out his hand and she placed hers in his, palm to palm, and his fingers threaded possessively between hers. It wasn’t until he tugged gently and she stepped toward him that they realized Sam Beckman still had his hand wrapped around her forearm.

Quinn turned his head, and his gaze pinned Beckman’s. “Let go of her,” he said softly. His tone was lethal.

Beckman’s gaze flicked from Quinn to the blonde and back again before he glowered and released her. “Hell, Quinn,” he said truculently. “I didn’t even know you could dance.”

“I can dance.” Quinn didn’t bother adding that he rarely practiced the social skill an old friend had taught him. He stared at Beckman for a full minute before the rancher shrugged, muttered under his breath, turned on his heel and left.

Victoria Denning barely noticed when Sam Beckman left. She was far too busy staring at the man holding her hand. He was at least six feet tall, with broad, muscle-layered shoulders. The pearl snaps of his white cotton dress shirt were unfastened at the throat, the cuffs of the long sleeves rolled up to bare powerful forearms dusted with fine black hair. Faded denim jeans outlined muscled thighs and long legs; black cowboy boots covered his feet. He had a straight blade of a nose and high cheekbones; his mouth was thin-lipped and hard. His hair was black as a raven’s wing, and sea-green eyes inspected her from beneath black brows.

Quinn read the same fascinated attraction in the woman’s blue eyes that was hitting him in subtly erotic waves. Every male hormone in his body was on alert, as he responded to a body that was seductively curved and the subtle scent of perfume and warm woman.

Someone bumped him, and Quinn glanced behind him. Only then did he realize that he was standing still, staring at her, while all around them, couples swayed together to the music. He smiled wryly.

Victoria caught her breath and forgot to exhale. The brief curving of his lips softened the austere, hard-boned lines of his face into heart-stopping handsomeness.

“I guess we should dance.” He tugged her closer and slipped an arm around her waist, moving her easily to the slow rhythm of the music.

Being held in the loose circle of his arms was like being encircled by live electrical wires. He turned her, his thigh brushing briefly against hers, and a shiver of awareness chased over her skin.

“Thanks for rescuing me.” She smiled up at him. “I’m Victoria Denning.”

“Quinn Bowdrie,” he answered. “You must be new in town—didn’t anyone warn you about Beckman?”

“That he was an octopus?” she asked. His mouth tilted in a swift half smile. Once again she felt the kick of pure adrenaline rushing through her veins. “No, no one warned me. But then, no one told me that Colson has a resident white knight named Quinn, either.”

He shot her a quick, disbelieving glance.

“A white knight?” He shook his head firmly. “Not me, lady. That’s the last thing anybody would ever tell you about me.”

“Really?” She tipped her head back and indulged her need to look at him. The shadows in the dark corner of the dance floor were broken by the flickering reflections of colored light from the mirrored globe hung in the center of the ceiling. The uneven light alternately illuminated and darkened his features. “Why not?”

“You really are new in town, aren’t you? Wait a while,” he said brusquely. “You’ll find out.”

“Why don’t you tell me—then I won’t have to wait.”

Quinn briefly thought about telling her the truth—that Quinn Bowdrie wasn’t considered fit company for a lady. Especially not one who looked and smelled as well-cared for as she did. Especially not one who heated his blood just by smiling at him.

Instead he decided to skirt the truth and buy himself a little time and a few more stolen moments of holding her in his arms, even if the chaste and proper distance he kept between them was killing him.

“No. I think I’ll let you find out on your own. I’ve never had a woman call me a white knight,” he drawled easily. “I think I’d like to enjoy it for a while.”

She laughed, the sound a low, throaty chuckle that eased over his skin like a caress.

“Hmm. A mystery man.” Victoria glanced up at him, and her breath lodged in her throat. The muscled arm circling her waist had slowly tightened until her body just brushed his as they swayed to the slow beat. Each breath she took drew in the faint, clean aroma of soap and spicy aftershave. Victoria was accustomed to men looking at her with interest, but the undisguised male heat deep in Quinn’s eyes made her skin tighten and warm. Her nerves shivered with awareness, all her senses on overload, and she searched for something to diffuse the charged silence. “It’s true that you’re not wearing a suit of armor—I’m guessing by your clothes that you’re not a storekeeper, either.”

“Nope.”

“Hmm. Maybe a rancher?”

“How did you guess?”

His expression was solemnly surprised, but his green eyes lit with amusement.

“It might have been the jeans and pearl-snapped Western shirt,” she answered. “But the real giveaway was the cowboy boots.”

“Uh-oh.” He glanced at his feet. “Corral dirt and hay on the soles?”

Victoria’s gaze took in the polished but worn black leather.

“No. Unlike boots worn by cowboys in Seattle, yours actually look like you wear them regularly.”

“Seattle? Is that where you live?”

“Yes. Until a week ago. I’m staying with my aunt and uncle temporarily. But as soon as I find an apartment to rent, I’ll be an official resident of Colson.”

“No kidding? What brought you to Colson?”

“Allergies,” Victoria answered, her voice husky from the effort to breathe normally when he turned her smoothly to the music, his thigh sliding briefly against hers. She lifted her gaze to his and found she couldn’t look away. The sound of the music and the crowd around them faded. At the advanced age of twenty-seven, after the usual round of dating and one semiserious involvement during college, Victoria found herself confronted for the first time by an overwhelming, mind-scrambling, female reaction to a male. Her skin felt flushed; her heart was beating twice its normal rate; her breath came faster as she took short, shallow breaths and with each inhalation, drew in the distinctly male scent of aftershave warmed by body heat.

“Allergies?” Quinn said disbelievingly. He took a slow, thorough inventory of her body from the top of her silky head to her small feet. “That’s hard to believe. I’ve never seen anyone who looked healthier.”

Victoria, who had perfected the art of squelching interested males with one well-aimed, frigid stare, felt his sea-green gaze stroke over her as if he’d brushed his hand up and down her body and realized with amazement that she was blushing like a teenager.

“Thank you, but unfortunately, it’s true,” she managed to get out. “I have severe allergies.”

“Really? To what?”

“Almost everything that grows in and around Seattle,” she answered promptly, “especially pine trees and Scotch broom.”

“What’s a Scotch broom?” Quinn asked. He didn’t really care, but he wanted to keep her talking. The slightly husky tones of her voice feathered over his skin in soft, enticing strokes.

“It’s not a real broom,” she laughed, her blue eyes lighting with amusement. “It’s a plant.”

“Then why do they call it a broom?” he asked, bemused by the way her whole face lit up when she smiled.

“I have no idea. It was planted along the Washington State highways years ago. It spread like wildfire and now, every spring when it blooms, thousands of allergy sufferers, like me, are absolutely miserable.”

“Well, we don’t have Scotch broom here, so you should be safe,” he commented. “At least from the plant life.”

His mouth tilted in a lazy grin while his gaze moved slowly over her face to fasten intently on her mouth. That hot green stare returned to meet hers with such blatant intent that Victoria caught her breath.

She didn’t doubt for a minute that he was dangerous. Not to mention the fact that he was clearly a cowboy, and she’d learned not to trust the breed during summers spent in Colson as a teenager. But being held close to him was so exhilarating that her blood fizzed as if she’d had an infusion of champagne bubbles. She hated the lack of control over her life that her health had forced her to accept. She’d opted for serious and safe all her life; suddenly she was tired of safe and sane. Besides, even her cousin, Lonna, had told her she needed to lighten up and learn to have fun.

So when Quinn’s arm tightened a fraction, gently urging her closer, Victoria allowed it, giving in to the need to feel the heat of his body against hers. She’d never thought of herself as a particularly sensual woman, but Quinn stirred and heightened an awareness of her own body and an irresistible curiosity for the feel of his that she couldn’t deny.

He tucked her close, his cheek resting lightly against her hair, his breath gently stirring the silky strands.

“Maybe someone should warn you away from the animal life in Colson.”

His voice was a husky murmur of sound in her ear. Victoria shivered with awareness.

“What kind of animal life?”

“Beckman, for one.”

“Oh.”

“If you were dancing with him in this dark corner, he’d be kissing you by now.”

“Ah. But I’m not dancing with Mr. Beckman,” she said lightly, trying to ignore the heavy thud of her heart and the press of his chest against her breasts, the heavy muscles of his thighs flexing smoothly against hers as they swayed together. “I’m dancing with you.”

“That’s not exactly safe, either.”

“Really? Why?”

He turned his head and close-shaven though he was, still she felt the slight rasp of masculine, beard-roughened skin against her cheek.

“Because I’m having a lot of trouble remembering why I shouldn’t be kissing you myself.” He said bluntly.

Victoria’s nerves jumped. “Oh?” She turned her cheek and found his lips a whisper from hers. Bewildered by the breathless, hot reaction that swept her, she wondered dazedly if this instant physical connection was what romantics meant when they talked about love at first sight, or if the overwhelming affinity she felt was only her hormones reacting to his male chemistry.

Quinn saw the heat that flushed her fair skin and the sensual lethargy that lowered thick lashes over her drowsy blue eyes. Her body was delicate and infinitely feminine in his arms. A swift surge of unfamiliar emotion rocked him as a sudden flash of insight told him she fit against him as if her curves had been carved purposely to accommodate the harder angles of his own body.

“That didn’t sound like no,” he murmured, his voice husky with restraint.

“No, it didn’t, did it?” she whispered.

Quinn didn’t ask again. The need to feel her mouth under his was overwhelming. He tilted his head and his lips found the soft, outer corner of hers. She gasped softly, one swift indrawn breath that parted her lips, and he brushed his mouth along the lower curve of hers, tracing its velvety softness and beyond to the opposite corner before he carefully settled his mouth over hers, slowly fitting them seamlessly together.

Shielded from the other dancers by Quinn’s broad shoulders, Victoria was adrift in a world bounded by Quinn’s arms and the magic of his warm mouth wooing hers.

The sudden cessation of the music and the bandleader’s voice announcing a break was a rude intrusion.

Quinn reluctantly lifted his mouth from hers, his brain foggy with desire. “The music stopped.”

Victoria’s senses were on overload. She’d never before been so aware of the differences between male and female. His arms wrapped around her, gently crushing the softer curved lines of her body against the harder planes of his. Distracted by the press of his body and the pleasantly abrasive brush of worn denim where his long legs aligned with her own bare limbs below the hem of her skirt, it took a long moment before she registered his words.

“Oh.” She glanced over his shoulder. The dance floor was slowly emptying, couples retreating to booths and tables.

Quinn reluctantly released her waist, catching her hand in his. “I’ll take you back to your table. Are you here with somebody?”

“Just my cousin.” Victoria pointed across the room before smoothing a hand self-consciously over her hair. Her fingers twined in his, she started across the room.

The booth that had held only Nikki and Victoria when Quinn first saw her was crowded now. Quinn nodded to Doug Akers, SueAnne Gibbs, Nikki and Lonna Denning.

“There you are, Victoria,” Lonna said. “I’m sorry that it took so long to get our drinks, but I was delayed by a friend who insisted that I dance with him.”

“That’s all right,” Victoria replied. “I was dancing myself.” She looked up at Quinn. He looked back, his green gaze going molten, and for a moment, she forgot that anyone else was present.

“Jeez, Quinn,” Nikki blurted, her eyes round with surprise. “What are you doing with her—she’s an attorney!”

Victoria laughed at the redhead’s blunt shock, expecting Quinn to share her amusement.

But Quinn wasn’t laughing.

He tensed, his big body going completely still. His eyes reflected shock and then an instant, blazing anger before they turned cool and unreadable. His hand released hers and although he only took a small step back, Victoria felt his distancing as if he’d thrown up a wall between them.

He nodded his head briefly at the quartet seated at the table.

“Goodnight, ladies—Doug.” He glanced briefly at Victoria, his gaze polite and distant. “Thanks for the dance, Victoria.”

Victoria was speechless. She watched him shoulder his way through the crowd until he disappeared through the arched doorway before turning to Lonna.

“What was that all about?” she demanded, stunned hurt and confusion quickly being replaced by growing anger at Quinn’s abrupt departure.

The four occupants of the booth exchanged uncomfortable glances and shifted uneasily against the red vinyl seat. An unspoken message passed from Nikki to SueAnne.

“C’mon, Doug,” SueAnne caught the cowboy’s hand and tugged him after her out of the booth. “Dance with me—you don’t want to hear this girl-talk.”

“Thanks, SueAnne,” Nikki said gratefully. “Sit down, Victoria.”

Victoria glanced over her shoulder at the doorway where Quinn had disappeared before she allowed Lonna to tug her down onto the bench seat.

“So—” Victoria lifted a questioning eyebrow at Lonna. Her cousin’s gaze met hers for a brief moment before she looked at Nikki. Victoria’s glance followed Lonna’s and found the redhead staring at her guiltily, her deep brown eyes worried and faintly embarrassed beneath the fine arch of her dark brows.

“I’m sorry, Victoria,” Nikki said earnestly. “Me and my big mouth—I shouldn’t have told him you’re an attorney. I was so surprised to see him with you that I didn’t think…” Nikki’s shoulders lifted in a helpless shrug, and she turned to Lonna with a silent plea for help.

“Why would he care if I’m an attorney?” Victoria felt as if she’d started reading a mystery in the middle of the book.

“You’re female and a lawyer,” Lonna interjected. “And that means that you, Victoria Denning, are a leading candidate for Quinn’s least favorite person.”

“He doesn’t like women lawyers? Why?”

“Because his stepmother hired a hotshot woman attorney from Helena to contest the will when his father died,” Nikki said. “Local gossip claims that when Charlie Bowdrie passed away two years ago, he left the bulk of his estate to Quinn and Cully. His sons got most of the financial assets, including the machinery and livestock. Eileen got the house in town and a comfortable trust fund, but she was furious that the boys received more. So she took them to court. The case finally went to trial three months ago and the judge made a decision last week. I’m not sure what happened, exactly, but both Quinn and Cully hate Eileen Bowdrie’s attorney. Gossip says she behaved like a real barracuda, raking up the illegitimacy of the boys, the scrapes they got into when they were kids…all sorts of things that didn’t seem to have a lot of direct connection to the case. Cully said that Quinn was more furious with the attorney than with his stepmother. And of course,” she added, “Quinn doesn’t have a lot to do with women in general.”

“He doesn’t?” Victoria was dumbfounded. The man that made her bones melt when he smiled didn’t like women? And when he’d kissed her… She shivered and pulled her wayward concentration back to Lonna and Nikki. “A bad experience like that might have soured him on women attorneys, but that doesn’t explain why he doesn’t like women in general.”

Lonna sighed. “Unfortunately, his stepmother is probably the reason for that, too.” She paused a moment before continuing. “I don’t like to repeat gossip, Victoria, but Eileen Bowdrie is a mean, spiteful woman. She and Charlie Bowdrie never had children—I don’t know if they simply couldn’t, or she wouldn’t, but Charlie wanted sons. He had a liaison with a young woman in the next county that scandalized Colson and fathered two sons. No one knows what happened, but one day Charlie brought Quinn and Cully home with him and told Eileen that he was going to raise them on the ranch, whether she liked it or not. She’s resented Quinn and Cully ever since, and rumor says she made their lives hell when they were growing up.”

“How old were the boys when they went to live with their father?”

“I think Quinn was about eight, which would make Cully four or five.”

Appalled, Victoria shook her head. “That’s terrible—they were so young. What happened to their mother?”

“No one knows. My mother told me that she simply disappeared. No one’s seen her in all the years since.” Lonna spread her hands in a gesture of helplessness. “Quinn keeps to himself and rarely dates. I don’t know that it’s accurate to say that he doesn’t like women. I think it’s more that he’s very cautious and keeps a lot of distance between him and any interested women. As a matter of fact, I haven’t heard of him taking a woman out since he was in high school.” She lifted an eyebrow. “Although it’s no secret that he’s visited several willing women in neighboring counties over the years, I’ve never heard of him actually dating anyone.” She glanced at Nikki for confirmation. “Have you?”

“No, never. He’s always polite to me,” she added. “But he’s quiet. I certainly don’t know him as well as I know Cully—and I can’t claim to be really close to Cully.” She smiled wryly. “Much as I wish I were. The truth is, there’s something a little dangerous about the Bowdrie boys.”

A small shiver of awareness raced up Victoria’s spine.

“Dangerous?” she asked carefully. “What do you mean, exactly?”

“It’s hard to explain.” Nikki paused, a small frown creasing her brow. “Not only is there just something you feel when you’re around them, but there’s always some story circulating about them.”

“She’s right,” Lonna agreed. “Though I’m skeptical about most of the stories. The last one I heard was a year or so ago when rumors said Quinn got a local girl pregnant and then paid her to leave town.”

Victoria recoiled inwardly. “Was it true?”

“I doubt it.”

“I don’t believe a word of it.” Nikki firmly echoed Lonna. “Cully and Quinn have always refused to deny rumors. They hate gossip. But if either of them knew that they’d fathered a child, they would have insisted on marrying the woman and raising the baby.”

“The only part of the story that’s confirmed is that Angie Patterson left town. The rest is pure speculation,” Lonna added. “Personally, I think Quinn is a far better man than either he or his stepmother think he is. He and Cully grew up knowing they were illegitimate and so did everyone else in Colson. That set them apart. It’s tough to be different in a town as small as Colson. Of course,” she added with a twinkle, “it didn’t help their reputations that they were both pretty wild when they were teenagers.”

“That’s true,” Nikki agreed. “My favorite story is the one about Cully climbing the water tower and spraypainting it with red, white and blue stripes on the Fourth of July.”

Victoria had a quick mental image of the town’s medium-size water tower. “The whole thing?”

“Almost. The mayor caught him before he finished. But the mayor was afraid of heights and wouldn’t climb the ladder, so Cully ignored him and just kept painting until the sheriff arrived and went up to get him. I think he was about twelve at the time, and his dad had to bail him out of jail.”

Lonna laughed. “I’ll never forget the time they drove a herd of cattle through the middle of town. The merchants were furious, but Quinn told them his dad told him to move old man Johnson’s cattle from his pasture outside town to the rodeo grounds on the other side of Colson. The shortest route was down Main Street. Since it was the merchants who’d asked Johnson to move the cattle, they couldn’t convince the sheriff to charge Quinn and Cully with anything.

“And then there was the time Quinn broke his arm at the rodeo in the afternoon and that night, he rode again and won the bronc-riding competition.”

“With a broken arm?” Victoria asked in disbelief.

“Yes—I suspect he’d numbed the pain with whiskey, but nonetheless, it must have hurt.”

“No wonder the Bowdries have reputations for being wild,” Victoria commented dryly. “They are wild.”

“No question that they certainly were when they were teenagers,” Lonna agreed. “They dated the girls with the worst reputations and were the first boys questioned when anything crazy happened. But after their mid-twenties, they settled down.”

“That’s true,” Nikki confirmed. “But they’re still considered dangerous. Any woman who goes out with one of them is automatically on the top of everyone’s gossip list.” She shifted her red hair back over her shoulder, tucking it behind her ear with an absentminded gesture. “In spite of the rumors and gossip, though, the Bowdrie brothers are still the most eligible bachelors in the county—and the least likely to wed.”

“I don’t imagine that’s surprising, given their background.” Victoria frowned at the bottle of beer Lonna handed her. Her own life as a well-loved daughter had been quiet and safe. She’d been an intense, focused child who’d known from the time she was eight years old that she would become an attorney. Boys and dating hadn’t been an important issue, and she’d never known anyone quite like Quinn Bowdrie. She wasn’t sure what she wanted from Quinn, but to have him reject her before she had a chance to decide, and for reasons that had nothing to do with her personally, was frustrating. “So much for cowboys—I should have known better,” she raised the bottle, swallowed with an unladylike gulp and choked. “Yuk! What is this stuff?”

Lonna laughed, her eyes twinkling at the look of disgust on Victoria’s face. “Beer—would you rather have wine?”

“No,” Victoria said with grim resolve. “I’m stuck in Montana for the next year—I’ll learn to drink beer. Straight from the bottle.” She closed her eyes, took another sip, and shuddered.

“I think it may take awhile.” Nikki said dryly.

Lonna nodded. “I think you’re right.”