Читать книгу Having the Cowboy's Baby - Trish Milburn - Страница 11

Chapter Two

At some point Skyler stopped screaming and realized that the sight before her was nothing short of awe-inspiring. All her fear wasn’t gone, maybe just on hold as she scanned the world spread out below her.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Logan said over the sound of the wind rushing past her ears.

All she could do was nod as she picked out familiar landmarks, the cluster of buildings that made up Blue Falls, the water tower painted with bluebonnets and the words Blue Falls, Wildflower Capital of Texas.

Despite her fear, an incredible sense of freedom washed over her. As her eyes took in the distant hills, the spots of green vegetation the drought hadn’t yet battered into submission and the glittering surface of the lake, she was stunned by a world she took for granted every day. Up here there was no responsibility, no pressure, no expectations. Hopefully Logan had all of those under control. It was a bit like an out-of-body experience, an away-from-earth experience that was nothing like being in an airplane.

“I’m going to pull the parachute,” Logan said, reminding her that she was, in fact, plummeting toward earth.

She cried out when the parachute deployed, jerking against her.

“It’s okay. Look up.”

After she managed to get her heart rate to slow a fraction, she looked up and saw the width of the white parachute catching air and slowing their descent. That’s when she remembered what Logan said right before he pushed her out of the plane. He probably thought he was cute, that she would melt at his interest. Well, all she was interested in from Logan Bradshaw was him getting her safely to the ground.

Gradually, the world below grew in size until it no longer resembled a collection of miniatures. Logan guided their parachute toward an area devoid of trees and other obstacles. Their speed seemed to increase the closer they got to the ground, and Skyler tensed.

“Relax,” he said.

“Easy for you to say.”

“This isn’t my first time.”

Now, why did she immediately imagine him in bed when he said that? Good grief, she didn’t even like him. She’d never been one to go for guys who were so full of themselves that there was no room for anyone else.

Maybe if he got a personality transplant...

She spotted India, Elissa and Verona in the distance, and she hated the idea of having to admit that she’d liked the dive despite the pulse-racing fear of a deadly altercation with gravity.

“Here we go,” Logan said as the ground raced up to meet them.

Before she could take another breath, her feet touched terra firma.

“See, all in one piece,” Logan said, laughter in his way too sexy voice.

“Wonders never cease.” She should really thank him. He had, after all, kept her safe while giving her an experience like none she’d ever imagined. But he was just so cocky about it. And damned if a little sliver of her didn’t find that attractive. She had to get away from him as soon as possible.

“How was it?” Elissa asked as she and the others hurried toward where Logan was unhooking Skyler from her gear.

“It was okay.”

Logan snorted.

Skyler looked at him, not even trying to hide her annoyance. “What was that for?”

He met her gaze and refused to look away. “You enjoyed it.”

“How do you know that? You couldn’t even see my face.”

“I can tell when someone is enjoying herself.”

There it was again, enough innuendo to make her blush.

“Your face is all red,” Elissa said, teasing.

Skyler jerked her gaze away from Logan and focused on her friend. “Well, I didn’t put on SPF 8 billion today. I wasn’t expecting to be so danged close to the sun.”

“I saw the Ice Cream Hut is still down by the lake,” Logan said. “Not a bad choice for a first date, don’t you think?”

“Date?” Verona’s eyes widened with totally uncontained glee.

“Yeah, the deal was that I get birthday girl safely to the ground, she goes out with me.”

Skyler’s mouth dropped open as she spun toward Logan, her hands on her hips. “I did not agree to that. You made your pronouncement a breath before you shoved me out of a plane. I don’t know you from Adam.”

“Isn’t that what dates are for, getting to know each other?”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Elissa said.

“There will be no date. It’s my birthday, so here’s a crazy thought. How about I pick how I spend the rest of the day and who I spend it with?” She eyed the other women. “And I’m not sure any of you are on that list.”

With that, she stalked toward Elissa’s SUV. If she didn’t fear her skin being burned to a crisp by the time she got back to Blue Falls, she’d walk.

Not that she had any confidence that walking those miles was going to do anything to erase cocky, full-of-himself...sexy Logan Bradshaw from her mind. Yet another reason her friends deserved one whale of a payback.

* * *

“I’M SORRY she’s so cranky.” Verona shook her head as she glanced at Skyler’s retreating form.

“No worries.” He watched as Skyler stalked away, her jeans showing off her shapely backside. “She’ll come around.”

He didn’t think he was the world’s best catch or anything, but he liked to have a good time. And if anyone was in dire need of a good time, it was uptight Skyler Harrington. It had taken him only one look at the gorgeous redhead to know he wanted to be the man to get her to loosen up a little and enjoy herself.

“Maybe we can help a little bit with that,” said the taller, dark-haired woman, the one who seemed to be more prone to teasing Skyler. Elissa, that was her name. “We’re having a surprise party at the music hall tonight. You should come.”

“Sure, sounds like fun.” He eyed the SUV where Skyler now sat staring out the windshield instead of in his direction. Even from this distance, he could tell she was as rigid as a telephone pole.

When all the women had left, he finished gathering the gear and tossed it into the back of Jesse’s pickup truck. He slipped into the passenger seat.

“Feeling better, cuz?”

Jesse glanced over at Logan’s knowing tone. “Listen, you don’t say no to Verona Charles. Not if you don’t want her matchmaking mojo pointed in your direction.”

“So that’s what this is all about? Setting me up with Skyler? Why all the secrecy? When have you known me to not want to go out with a beautiful woman?”

“That was their crazy idea, not mine. After you left the café, Verona asked a lot of questions about you. I guess you passed her test, because that’s when she started talking about setting up a way for you two to meet without Skyler getting wind of it.”

“Because she wouldn’t have gone along with it.”

“Bingo. She’s not your normal type.”

Logan stretched his arm out along the back of the truck’s bench seat and stared at his cousin. “And what type is that?”

“Just looking for a good time.”

“Part of me thinks I ought to be offended.”

Jesse laughed.

The last thing Logan needed was to get involved with a woman who was more the settling-down type. His skin itched just thinking about it.

“So, what are you doing the rest of the day?” Jesse asked as he parked next to Logan’s old truck.

“Going to check out the arena at the fairgrounds, get the lay of the land.”

They got out of Jesse’s truck and stopped at the back of Logan’s.

“You still enjoying riding?”

“Nothing like it.” Sitting astride a bucking bull was so far from his go-nowhere, do-nothing childhood existence that he’d latched on to it the first chance he’d gotten. He dreaded the day when his body prevented him from doing it anymore. Riding bulls was kind of like skydiving—exciting, pushing the edge. They both gave him that sense of freedom he craved as much as air and water.

“Adrenaline junkie-ism must run in the family.”

Logan snorted. “Maybe yours.”

“Maybe just our generation.”

Logan let the conversation drop, even though he could have easily pointed out that his siblings seemed content to follow in their parents’ unadventurous footsteps. That Jesse’s dad had shown the first daredevil tendencies when he’d left North Dakota and joined the air force. And then instead of coming back after his stint was over, he’d gone off to Texas and started flying small planes for executives and vintage planes for air shows. Of the four Bradshaw kids in the older generation, Uncle James was the only one who “got away.” He still hadn’t heard the end of it from the rest of the family in North Dakota.

Just as Logan still heard about his own defection every time he called home. He loved his parents, but that conversation got really damned old.

He shook his head to clear the unwanted memories. “Well, I’ll catch you later.”

“I’ll see you at the rodeo if not before then.”

Logan thought about inviting Jesse to Skyler’s shindig at the music hall, but he kept quiet. As out of character as it might be, he was considering not going. Sure, he’d taken a doozy of a fall off a bull the previous weekend, but he didn’t think he’d hit his head so hard that he was suddenly avoiding beautiful women. But he got the distinct impression that Skyler Harrington wasn’t just any beautiful woman.

She was way too much trouble personified. Even if she was hot as a firecracker.

* * *

“NOW, SEE, WE’RE NOT all bad,” Elissa said as she walked out of the movie theater next to Skyler and India.

Skyler eyed Elissa as her friend shifted to walking backward in front of her. “Yes, this is more of what I had in mind in the first place.” A giant movie screen with Jeremy Renner’s fabulous arms on full display and a tub of buttery popcorn—what wasn’t to like?

“Although why you’d prefer your movie boyfriend over an actual living, breathing hottie, I have no idea.” Elissa shrugged.

“Maybe because my ‘movie boyfriend’ doesn’t think he’s God’s gift to women.”

“Aw, come on, what’s wrong with a little flirting?”

Skyler reached the SUV and stood with her arms crossed. “What was it India said when you were pushing her toward Liam so hard? Oh, yeah. ‘Then you go out with him.’”

“I think India’s probably glad that I didn’t take her suggestion.”

“Sorry, but she’s right about that,” India said.

Elissa hit the key fob to unlock the doors, and Skyler chose to sit in the back this time. She eyed Elissa when her friend slid into the driver’s seat.

“You and Verona aren’t going to be satisfied until you’ve paired up everyone in Blue Falls, are you?”

“Once again, the surefire way to keep Verona pointed away from me and my personal life is to shift her in other directions.”

“Thanks for throwing me under the bus.” Skyler met India’s eyes when India glanced into the back. “Tell me again why we’re friends with her.”

“Half price on landscaping supplies?”

“Drat. I guess I have to keep her.”

All three of them ended up laughing. There was no sense in staying irritated with her two best friends in the world. After all, it wasn’t as if she had to worry about Logan Bradshaw anymore. Being a lifelong resident of Blue Falls meant she knew everyone who lived in the area, and Logan didn’t. He was only here visiting his cousin and would be gone soon.

But India had thought Liam was going to be gone in a matter of days, too. Instead, he’d moved his business from Fort Worth to Blue Falls and proposed marriage.

Skyler laughed under her breath before she caught herself.

“What?” Elissa asked as she put the SUV in Drive.

“Nothing.” But as she stared out the window at the coming twilight, Skyler almost laughed again at the idea of Logan asking anyone to marry him, especially someone as opposite to him as her.

Opposites attracted, didn’t they?

She closed her eyes and leaned back against the headrest. But that didn’t keep images of Logan from playing through her mind. She didn’t have to admit it to her matchmaking friends, but he was pretty dang hot. Tall, with strong, wide shoulders, a naughty smile and dark hair that was made for a woman’s hands to run through.

“You okay?” India asked.

Skyler’s eyes popped open, and she hoped she hadn’t made some sort of embarrassing sound. “Yeah, just tired. You know, the stress of jumping out of a plane and all. And so you know, I’m going to think up something really creative to get you all back.”

“A lot of people say skydiving is the best thing they’ve ever done.” India sounded so serious that Skyler figured Elissa and probably Verona were the driving force behind the matchmaking. No surprise there.

“Oh, I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the whole convincing-Jesse-to-fake-being-sick thing.”

India’s eyes widened. “How did you figure that out?”

“Verona is not as sly as she thinks she is. And neither one of you seemed overly surprised when Jesse said he spent the morning hurling.”

India smacked Elissa on the shoulder.

“Ow!”

“I told you I wasn’t good at lying.”

“Turns out we didn’t have to be.”

When they got back to Blue Falls, Elissa didn’t head to the inn. Instead, she pulled into an empty parking space next to the Blue Falls Music Hall.

“Come on, girls. No birthday is complete without a little dancing.”

Part of Skyler wanted to protest, to go back to the inn and end the day with a glass of wine on her balcony. But despite her friends’ shenanigans, she’d still had a good time with them today. She might as well end the day with a little dancing before she returned to the inn and got sucked back into work.

But when they stepped inside, Skyler considered asking Elissa to take her home. The place was wall-to-wall people, many of them obviously cowboys in town for the upcoming rodeo Liam had organized.

And right in the middle of them stood Logan Bradshaw and his cocky smile. That man was walking, talking trouble, and Skyler fought the urge to turn on her heel and leave. She did shift and eye her friends.

“What?” Elissa said. “It’s a small town, and not like there are a lot of places to go at night.”

“You know I don’t believe for a minute you had nothing to do with him being here.”

“Is there a problem with me being here?” The rumble of Logan’s voice close behind her made Skyler’s nerves hum.

He had the kind of voice that could coax the clothes off a woman. Heck, she halfway wanted to start tossing articles of clothing right there in the middle of the music hall. Like she’d thought, Trouble with a capital T.

She took a step away from him before she turned to face Logan. “No. It’s a public place.”

He wore a knowing grin that told her he didn’t believe her nonchalance any more than she believed her friends hadn’t invited him here.

But why was she fighting it so hard? It wasn’t as though this was going to be a fall-in-love-forever match. It was her birthday; why shouldn’t she dance with a sexy man?

“You here to drink and socialize or do you actually know how to dance?” she asked.

He smiled and extended his hand. “Why don’t you come with me and find out?”

Skyler hesitated a moment, feeling as if she was playing with a white-hot fire, before she placed her hand in Logan’s and allowed him to lead her through the crowd to the middle of the wooden dance floor.

When he spun her into his arms, she’d swear her heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t as if she’d never danced with a man, even good-looking ones, but there was something crazy intoxicating about Logan. It felt a little as if he’d fritzed her common sense and she didn’t mind. Who knew there was a little hidden part of her that wanted to throw all her normal caution out the window and live free and wild for a night?

“So, do anything else adventurous today, birthday girl?” Logan guided her through the dancing couples without taking his eyes off her.

“No, jumping out of a plane pretty much used up my adventure quota for the year. That and dancing with perfect strangers.”

His lips quirked up at the edge. “You think I’m perfect?”

She cocked her head to the side a little. “You’re full of yourself, aren’t you?”

“I live life to the fullest. Nothing wrong with that in my book.”

“So you make jumping out of planes a habit, then?”

“When I can. That and deep-sea diving, backpacking, rappelling, riding bulls.”

She looked up from where her gaze had been resting on the third button down his shirt. “You’re here for the rodeo?”

“Didn’t the hat and boots give it away?”

“It’s Texas. Those don’t exactly qualify as unusual.”

“True.”

So he was in Blue Falls for the rodeo. At least now she knew when he was probably leaving town. If she ended up flirting a little, no harm done. She wouldn’t have to worry about backpedaling later. He’d be off to some other rodeo risking his neck.

She glanced to her left in time to see Liam and India dance by in the opposite direction. Neither of them paid her any attention, wrapped up as they were in each other. The music hall could empty out around them and the music stop, and they wouldn’t notice. A pang of envy squeezed her middle. Despite the emotional ups and downs of her parents’ marriage, she couldn’t deny that there was a hidden romantic streak in her that wanted the kind of love Liam and India had, the kind that was pure, honest, that you didn’t have to worry about. The kind that wouldn’t up and disappear one day.

“You okay?”

Skyler jerked her attention back to Logan. “Yeah.” She forced herself not to explain, or she might start babbling.

“So your friend and Liam are together?”

“India, yeah. They’re getting married soon.”

“Another one bites the dust.”

Skyler stiffened involuntarily. She shouldn’t be surprised he had such a dim view of marriage. Hadn’t she thought as much about him earlier? She forced herself to relax, at least as much as she could in her current situation.

“You know Liam from the rodeo circuit?”

“Yeah, we’ve crossed paths a few times. Was surprised to see he’d moved to the little town where my cousin lives.”

“Probably no more surprised than Liam and India were.”

The song ended, but Logan didn’t let her go, instead pulling her along with him as the next song began. “That’s enough about other people. Let’s talk about you, Skyler Harrington.”

“What about me?”

“Like what you think about me.”

Skyler laughed, unable to help herself.

“Look at that, she can smile.”

“I smile.”

“You had me wondering earlier today.”

“I don’t typically smile when I’m scared half out of my mind.”

He leaned closer, robbing her of breath. “Come on, admit it. You liked it.”

She was tempted to deny it, but then again, why? “Okay, fine. It was beautiful.”

“So are you.”

“I’m guessing these smooth lines usually work for you, don’t they?”

“That’s not a line. It’s the truth.”

When she looked up into his dark eyes, she believed him. Flustered, she lowered her gaze back down to the blue checkered shirt he wore. “Thank you.”

Her nerves sizzled as Logan’s arm slid around her and eased her closer. As the last strands of another song faded, Logan leaned close to her ear.

“I think I owe you an ice-cream cone.” It was the most innocent of sentences, but the rich timbre of his voice that close to her ear made her go all gooey inside. He had her thinking things that were totally out of character for her.

“They have ice cream at the bar.”

“I was thinking we ditch the crowd and walk down to the Ice Cream Hut.”

Why did everything that came out of this man’s mouth make her think of writhing in sheets, sweaty skin and tangled limbs? For heaven’s sake, he was talking about ice cream.

For just the two of them.

Under the stars.

When she looked up at him, her eyes focused on his lips. His full, oh-so-kissable lips. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She sounded breathless, probably because she was.

“Why not?” He said it close enough that she could feel his warm breath brush against her cheek.

She swallowed hard, searching for words that refused to form in her brain. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

Logan smiled. “Do I make you nervous, birthday girl?”

“Yes.” Great, the power of speech came back in time for her to embarrass herself.

“You know what I think?”

She shook her head, unable to look away from him.

“I think it’s been very rude of me not to give you a birthday present.”

“You don’t even know me.”

Something flickered in his eyes, something that made her hyperaware of everywhere his body touched hers.

“I know enough.”

And then those lips of his came closer and closer until they captured hers.

She knew she should resist, but she couldn’t. When he deepened the kiss, Skyler decided that this was the best birthday ever.