Читать книгу Claiming The Cowgirl's Baby - Silver James - Страница 9

Two

Pippa stared at her phone. Kade had very politely hung up on her without her getting another word in. What was going on? Before she could contemplate the situation, the waitress appeared again. If she didn’t eat something, Pippa would pay for it later. She ordered then headed to the ladies’ room. There was a line, and when she returned, her salad was waiting for her.

Still trying to decide what to do about Kade, Pippa ate and people-watched. That’s when she recognized the five men occupying a nearby table. The last time she’d seen all five Barron brothers together had been at Cash’s wedding. They were all incredibly successful. Clay was a US senator. Cord ran the family’s oil company. Chance headed up a huge law firm. Chase normally lived in Las Vegas, Hollywood or Nashville as head of the family’s entertainment empire. She seldom saw Cash, though he lived in Oklahoma City. He was president of the security company in charge of safeguarding all the rest of the family’s enterprises.

“So what are we going to do?” Chance sounded glum and Pippa stilled. It was rude to eavesdrop but instinct had her skulking behind the arrangement of plants between her table and theirs to remain unnoticed.

“We can’t make him accept.” Clay shrugged and Pippa wished she could see his face. Who were they talking about?

“It’s not like we hadn’t figured it out,” Chase added. “We’ve all hinted to Kade that we knew.”

Wait...what? She was beyond confused now and waved away the waitress who was approaching with the iced water pitcher in her hand.

Cord glanced around the restaurant and Pippa ducked down as he spoke. “Leave it to the old man to screw up things all the way from the grave.”

A waitress arrived to take their orders and no one spoke for a few minutes after her departure. It was Cash who reopened the conversation. “How did you expect him to react? Jump up and down for joy? The guy works for us. For the old man. Never once did Dad treat him as anything but an employee. Put yourselves in Kade’s boots. He’s told he’s a bastard son and that the only way he can keep his job—keep everything he’s worked for the last eight years—is to change his name. If he doesn’t become a Barron, he’s out on his butt.” He met the gaze of each of his brothers and added in a sarcastic voice, “Yeah, I’d be thrilled to death with that ultimatum.”

Pippa didn’t want to hear anything else. Her first thought was to get to Kade. No wonder he’d stood her up. Maybe she was too softhearted, as her mother so often complained, but she wanted to find him, try to make things better. If she jumped up and dashed from the restaurant, the Barrons would see her. She had to wait. That meant dessert. And coffee. And more stalling.

She finally paid out and was just waiting for her chance to sneak away when a waitress and busboy began to clear the table between her and the Barrons. With a surreptitious glance toward their table, she slipped out of the chair and scuttled toward the door leading to the restaurant’s interior. She now had one goal in mind—find Kade.

Walking to the parking garage, she considered what she’d overheard. Was Kade really a Barron? He’d never really talked about his family. Granted, she hadn’t exactly been forthcoming about her own. She and Kade were friends but not particularly close. Not that she didn’t want to know him better. She did because part of her remembered how she’d been that starry-eyed coed mooning over the handsome cowboy.

Cash said that Kade had to change his name or he was out. What exactly did that mean? Obviously, they wanted him to be a Barron, but did they mean to kick him off the ranch if he didn’t? Her sense of justice surged again. Kade had told her she couldn’t help, but she was determined to do something. Besides, what was the worst that could happen? He’d get mad, tell her to go away and that would be that. He’d still help out with the therapy program. Probably.

Before she could second-guess her motives, she headed toward the ranch, figuring that’s where Kade would go. He’d lived there since graduating from OSU. She knew he was from somewhere down south—Sulphur or Davis or somewhere. Surely he wouldn’t head that direction.

There was only one way to find out. She kept driving north. Her foot might have been a little heavy on the accelerator because she made the drive in record time. She followed the long, sweeping trip to the big house. No vehicles were parked there.

Pippa took a secondary road and headed toward the building that housed the ranch office. Kade’s truck wasn’t parked there either. She kept driving until she found the pickup in front of his house. She parked her Highlander next to his truck, worked up her courage and got out. After knocking on the door for several minutes and listening intently, she decided he must not be home. She stood on the porch and looked around. What would she do if she lived out here and was upset?

The open door of the main horse barn caught her attention. Had he gone riding? After picking Kade’s brain about horse breeding and ranching, she understood enough about the Crown B operation to know that when the ranch hands rode horseback, they used the stock horses kept in the smaller barn. Kade worked and rode the blood stock stabled in the main building.

She headed to the barn and found Kade there. He stood in front of a stall, arms folded across the top of the stall door, chin resting on his fisted hands.

He looked...forlorn. Deflated. Utterly defeated. Pippa wanted to run to him, throw her arms around his waist and hug him until the stuffing came out, as her grandmother used to say. But her feet remained encased in emotional concrete.

“Go away, Pippa.”

He hadn’t looked up, but of course he’d know she was here. He always seemed attuned to his surroundings. There was no heat in his voice so she didn’t move.

“Do you want to talk about...” She couldn’t tell him she knew. He’d have to share that on his own. “About whatever has you upset?”

“No.” He swiped his ball cap off his head and tunneled fingers through his thick, black hair but refused to look in her direction. “Just...leave me the hell alone.”

“Don’t curse at me. And I’m not leaving. You owe me lunch.” She made a show of looking at her watch before glancing up at him, a smug expression firmly in place before she winked. “Though at this point, it is closer to suppertime.”

Kade turned his head and her heart broke a little at the utter devastation etched on his face. His brown eyes were shadowed by a soul-deep pain. She moved then, walking toward him like she would a skittish horse. She stopped short of touching him, choosing instead to lean on the stall door in a mirror image of his posture when she’d arrived.

The yearling colt inside the stall whickered. Barron’s Imperial Pride, Imp for short. “He’s growing fast.” Imp was Kade’s crowning accomplishment and a safe topic.

“Yeah. Too bad I won’t watch him grow up.”

Or not. Pippa had to get Kade to tell her everything because this dancing around what she knew without tripping up was hard. She leaned a little closer to him, accidentally brushing her arm against his. “You can talk to me, Kade. Always. You know that, right?” He didn’t say anything so she tried again. “We’re friends, Kade. Friends help friends. I can see you’re upset. Won’t you tell me what happened today?”

He shook his head and the next words out of his mouth stabbed her heart.

“What makes you think we’re friends?” Kade jammed the cap back on his head and glowered at her.

She flashed him what she hoped was a sweet smile before nudging his biceps with her shoulder. “I did drive all the way up here after you blew me off for lunch. Only a friend would do that.” She considered her next words carefully. “Even if you don’t want to tell me what’s got you upset, I still think you need a friend right now, and I just happen to be here all handy and stuff.”

She tilted her head to look up at him. “Besides, you’re a growing boy,” she said. “You need to eat. I’ll even cook, provided you have something in the fridge.”

* * *

Pippa wasn’t going to leave him be, and part of him didn’t want to be alone. “I’m not fit for company, Pippa.”

“Yeah, and?” She grinned at him, totally unrepentant for intruding on his solitude.

Kade settled at her words and that surprised him. He didn’t want company of any sort, but if he had to have some, Pippa would do. Seeing her at Cash’s wedding, he’d remembered her from college, from when he’d catch her sitting on the fence mooning over him. He hadn’t wanted a girlfriend then. He didn’t want one now, especially not someone like Pippa. She should be with someone rich, like a Barron—He cut off that thought. Technically, he was a Barron, or could be.

He started to decline her offer but she was smiling all cute and sunny at him. Her long blond hair was caught up in a ponytail and the sprinkling of freckles across her nose went perfectly with her blue eyes. The quintessential girl next door.

It was just an early dinner. Between friends. And she was right. He needed to eat.

“C’mon, then.” His voice was gruff as he ushered her out.

They exited the barn and Dusty, the ranch mutt, galloped toward them. He leaped up on Pippa and would have taken her to the ground had Kade not braced her with his body, one arm automatically going around her waist. He stiffened, fending off the dog with a terse command, then tensed more as Pippa pressed back against him. She shouldn’t feel this good in his arms.

After releasing her, he kept his hands jammed in his pockets as they walked up the road to the house he’d called home since the day he’d arrived as the newly hired ranch manager. The place reminded him of the houses found on cattle and sheep stations in Australia. A wide porch wrapped around all four sides and the metal roof gleamed dully beneath the bright afternoon sun.

Pippa stumbled and he automatically caught her arm to steady her. “Pip? You okay?”

Her face had paled and she was squinting against the sun. Lips pressed together, she shook her head. “Migraine coming. Been fighting it all day.”

He scooped her up into his arms without thinking. His mother suffered debilitating migraines and he knew what to do. “Keep your eyes closed until I can get you inside.”

Lengthening his stride, Kade quickly got her into his dim living room. He set her on the couch and hunkered down on his heels. “What can I do to help?”

She reached blindly for him so he snagged her hand with his own. “I have meds in my purse. In the Highlander.”

He pulled his hand away from hers reluctantly. “Keys?”

“Not locked.”

“Be right back.” Kade resisted the sudden urge to brush his knuckles over her cheek as he rose and headed outside. He returned moments later, her purse in hand. He didn’t like the wince on her face as light spilled in from the open door.

“Sorry about not fixing dinner for you.”

He brushed her apology away. “Not a problem. It’s more important for you to lie down. I’m going to carry you into my bedroom, okay? It’s darker in there.”

She nodded so he lifted and cradled her. After she was settled, had taken her medication along with a long drink of water, she held his hand as he sat on the edge of the bed with her.

“I’ll go away so you can rest.”

“Don’t. Please. I like the sound of your voice.” A little smile teased the corners of her mouth and she patted the bed beside her. “And a girl likes to be fussed over. I’ll be okay in a little while. I caught this migraine early.” She offered him a tentative smile and a scrunched-up nose. “Besides, it feels a little weird being in your bedroom all by myself.”

Concerned about her, Kade acquiesced. He stretched out beside her and moments later, she’d curled into him, her head on his chest. Was it wrong that lying here with her felt so right? Even so, he didn’t want to talk about his situation, especially not to Pippa. He liked her more than he should, and liked her idea for a horse therapy program. He’d considered asking her out but figured she wouldn’t be interested. Still, she was easy to be around. Too easy.

“Are you going to talk to me?” She asked the question without opening her eyes.

The feelings of bewilderment and resentment hadn’t gone away. He didn’t want to talk about his day and the choice that had been forced on him.

As a kid, he’d lain in bed next to his mom when her headaches put her down for the count. He’d read stories to her, and it always seemed to help. Since there was no reading material nearby, he began to talk.

Kade started out talking about the ranch, about Imp. He spoke of his grandparents and growing up on their small ranch outside of Davis, Oklahoma. He talked about OSU. About getting hired by Cyrus Barron. About making the Crown B his home. Without a conscious decision, he opened up to Pippa. He voiced his bewilderment at going from the only child of a single mother to having five brothers who’d grown up with their shared father, and expressed his concern over how they viewed him. Eventually, he got around to the feelings of betrayal engendered by his mother’s deceit—a deceit he wasn’t ready to confront her with yet.

He spoke until he was hoarse, hoping that Pippa had fallen asleep so she didn’t hear the catch in his voice when he said, “Then the lawyer dropped Cyrus’s ultimatum on the table. If I want to stay here, keep my home here, keep the Crown B...” He had to breathe before he could continue. “And it would mean keeping the ranch as CEO of the Barron Land and Cattle Company, it would mean owning Imp.” And having more money than he could wrap his brain around.

Her hand pressed against his chest. “What do you have to do, Kade?”

“Turn my back on the only family I’ve ever known.”

“I don’t understand.” Pippa’s voice was soft as she craned her head to see his expression.

“To keep my place here on the ranch—to have absolute control over it, I have to change my name. I can’t be a Waite. I have to be a Barron.”

“Is that so bad?”

Kade almost shoved her away, remembered the pain she’d been in and forced his muscles to relax. Still, he needed distance so he eased out from under her and stood. What did she know about anything like this? Pippa was the beloved daughter of the Duncan family. They were rich, like the Barrons, while he’d worked for everything he had—all of which could be ripped away at the whim of the man who’d donated his sperm to create Kade.

He paced away from the bed then whirled to face her. “What would you say to someone who came to you and told you that you weren’t a Duncan, could no longer be a Duncan? That you were someone totally different.”

“But you wouldn’t be somebody totally different. You’d still be Kaden. The name doesn’t make a person. It’s just a label.”

He stalked to the edge of the bed and glowered at her. “Being a Waite shaped who I am, Pippa. My grandparents. My...” Anger surged again. He’d always been close to his mother. He’d adored her as a boy, respected her as a teen and admired her as a man. He’d never questioned their love for each other. Until that damn attorney read Cyrus Barron’s will.

Pippa sat up on the edge of the bed, watching. After a moment, she spoke. “I’m going to repeat myself. The man you are is the man you’ve always been. Your family—the one that raised you—had a profound effect on who you are. You could change your name to John Doe, and you would still be the same man who is standing in this room. Understand?”

Her stomach picked that moment to grumble. “You need to eat,” he said, relieved at the interruption. “Me, too. Do you feel up to food?” At her nod, he added, “I’ll go see what’s in the fridge.”

“Okay,” she replied. As he started to turn, Pippa slanted twinkling eyes at him. “But I need something else first.”

He wrinkled his brow, not quite trusting her expression. “What?”

She crooked her finger, beckoning him, and when he stood before her, she crooked it again. As he leaned over, she laid her hands on his cheeks. Urging him to come closer still, she stretched up and pressed her lips to his. “You’re good medicine. Thank you.”

He enjoyed the kiss, brief though it was. Pippa was an attractive woman. Lying there in the darkened room with her, just talking, was intimate in unexpected—and not entirely undesirable—ways. “Okay. But I’m going to feed you now. Food is better medicine.”

Kade slipped away from her. When she started to get up, he shook his head. “No. Stay put. I’ll serve you dinner in bed.” Which sounded far sexier than he’d intended.

In the kitchen, he made soup and sandwiches on autopilot while thinking about Pippa and what he knew about her. She was a sweet woman who wanted to make the world a better place. She needed to help people, and this was her way of helping him, he decided. Somehow, in spilling his guts, he’d become one of her charity cases. Just like he’d been for Cyrus Barron. His father. The word twisted in his gut. Bitterness welled up, but Kade reined it in. That wasn’t fair to Pippa. She wasn’t part of this mess. And while Cyrus might have been despicable, his sons had never really jerked Kade around. He needed to get a grip on his emotions.

The microwave dinged and he reached in to retrieve two bowls of homemade chicken noodle soup.

“Can I help?” He almost dropped the bowls at the sound of Pippa’s voice.

Concentrating, Kade set the dishes on the counter without burning his hands or spilling the contents. He turned to gaze at her. She leaned against the door jamb, her eyes still looking a little bruised from the pain but her lips—and he knew what they tasted like now—curved up.

“No, I’ve got it.” He glanced around. “I guess since you’re vertical now, we can eat at the table.”

Pippa laughed, a deep, throaty purr that caused Kade’s brain, and other parts of his body, to go places far beyond the gentle kiss they’d shared. “And forfeit the opportunity to eat in bed? Not on your life!” She whirled and was gone.

Gathering up bottled water, utensils and napkins, Kade set up the tray and followed her. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, her back against the headboard. He handed her the tray to steady, then settled opposite her, doing his best to hide his body’s reaction.

“This is nice,” she said after finishing her soup. “Sitting here with you like this.”

“Yeah.”

“Want to know something?”

“Sure.”

“I had a big crush on you in college.”

“Uh-huh.” Was she blushing? Kade swallowed hard, feeling a little more Neanderthal than he was comfortable with. “I kinda figured that out.” She didn’t reply and he fumbled for something else to say. “You were cute, sitting on that fence mooning over me.”

Tilting her head, she studied him, a half smile on her lips and mischief twinkling in her eyes. “I had lots of dirty thoughts about you while sitting there.”

Kade opened his mouth but no words came out. Dirty thoughts? His libido overrode his brain. “How dirty?”

Laughing now, Pippa shoved the tray away. “Really dirty. Sexy dirty. Cowgirl-style dirty.” She pressed her hand against her mouth. “I can’t believe I’m telling you this. I blame the chicken soup.”

“What’s going on, Pippa?”

She glanced down at her hands clasped in her lap and her cheeks pinkened. “Probably nothing. I just...” She raised her chin and met his gaze directly. “I like you, Kade. A lot.”

“The feeling’s mutual.”

“Is it?” She licked her lips and his eyes tracked her tongue.

Kade rolled off the bed, putting distance between them and easing the building pressure behind the buttons of his fly. What was Pippa saying? What did she want? For that matter, what did he want? “Are you done?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Was that disappointment in her voice? Kade reached for the tray, hesitated, staring. “What’s happening here, Pippa?”

Her eyes bored into his, as though she was searching for something. “I don’t know.” She breathed deeply. “A connection maybe.”

Connection? Kade liked that idea probably more than he should.

“It felt good—my head on your shoulder. And the kiss. Maybe we could just lie here. Talk. Or kiss. If you want to.”

If he wanted to? She was a beautiful woman. Sweet. And too good for him. But he definitely wanted to. Kade grabbed the tray, shifted it to the top of his dresser. When he returned to stand beside the bed, he felt awkward. Pippa slid down until she was prone and patted the bed. He stretched out next to her and she rolled into him as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Maybe it was. Maybe he was overthinking things.

Yet, the more he thought about it, the more Kade understood what Pippa was trying to do, what she sought from him and sought to give back. She was kind and caring, and it dawned on him. She wanted to grant him tenderness, and if he gave in to the need for her, he would give her the same in return. This moment of...belonging was a gift. Aftershocks from the day’s revelations continued to rock him, but Pippa could vanquish them. For a while at least.

His lips skimmed her jaw, seeking her mouth. Then he took their kiss deeper, yet kept it quiet and dreamy. And Pippa, this generous, concerned woman, opened for him. He held her as the kiss continued and they hovered just beyond the edge of desire. He discovered a sense of peace with her in his arms, mouth-to-mouth, body-to-body.

He eased back to look at her and asked, “Are you sure?”

She smiled, nodded and sat up. Neither broke eye contact as they unbuttoned each other’s shirts. He felt her fingertips skim across his abs, his chest, and his breathing turned ragged. Working for control, finally steady again, he slid her shirt off her shoulders so he could touch her. His fingers glided over her surprisingly delicate skin. She was a cowgirl, with a cowgirl’s strength. He was astounded when he discovered that fact, especially now as she sat on his bed, all but naked. A low hum thrummed in her, a sound of pleasure as she spread her hands over his chest while he skimmed his hands down her arms.

He gathered her close, eased her to the mattress and followed her down. They faced one another, touching, exploring, learning each other for the first time. He stripped the rest of her clothes off, kissing, licking, touching every part of her. He wasn’t in a hurry when he kicked off his own boots and jeans, and he was male enough to enjoy the way Pippa’s eyes widened and her mouth formed a perfect O at the sight of his naked body.

He wanted to spoil her so he offered lazy caresses that teased then soothed. His mouth found her breast, his hand cupping it for easy access. He wanted to tantalize, stoking her passion in a slow burn. Pippa arched and sighed beneath him, her fingers tangling in his hair. He swirled his tongue around her other breast, making her gasp.

Using his mouth and his hands, Kade ensured she had a long, slow climb to her peak. Her sighs tripped over into moans, and she quivered in anticipation, waiting, wanting, needing the pleasure. When he brought her to climax, she drew his head up, begged him with her eyes.

“Inside me.” Her command rushed out on a hiss of breath. “Now.”

Kade recognized her desire and slipped into her. She surrounded him, welcomed him with drenched heat, her inner muscles holding him in a fierce grip. They moved together, an intimate dance of retreat and advance so unconditional his heart pounded. She clenched around him.

“Kade.”

When she spoke his name, the tenderness shattered him.