Should′ve Been A Cowboy & Cowboy Up: Should′ve Been a Cowboy / Cowboy Up
Should've Been A Cowboy & Cowboy Up: Should've Been a Cowboy / Cowboy Up
Vicki Lewis Thompson
New York Times bestselling author Vicki Lewis Thompson brings us two fan-favorite stories set at the Last Chance Ranch that prove there's nothing better than the love of a cowboy!Should've Been A CowboyTyler O'Connelli is a busy career girl, and Alex Keller is a cowboy. They may be worlds apart, but their hot chemistry more than makes up for their differences. They both know this thing between them isn't long-term, but why not have fun now? Problem is, Alex is one wrangler Tyler might want to tie down–and tie up–indefinitely!Cowboy UpNever fall in love with a cowboy. These words were drilled into Emily Sterling's head since her parents divorced more than twenty years ago. But now Emily has returned to her father's ranch only to find herself face-to-face with jaw-dropping hot rancher Clay Whitaker. Suddenly Emily's beginning to see just what a cowboy has to offer…
New York Times bestselling author Vicki Lewis Thompson brings us two fan-favorite stories set at the Last Chance Ranch that prove there’s nothing better than the love of a cowboy!
Should’ve Been A Cowboy
Tyler O’Connelli is a busy career girl, and Alex Keller is a cowboy. They may be worlds apart, but their hot chemistry more than makes up for their differences. They both know this thing between them isn’t long-term, but why not have fun now? Problem is, Alex is one wrangler Tyler might want to tie down—and tie up—indefinitely!
Cowboy Up
Never fall in love with a cowboy. These words were drilled into Emily Sterling’s head since her parents divorced more than twenty years ago. But now Emily has returned to her father’s ranch only to find herself face-to-face with jaw-dropping hot rancher Clay Whitaker. Suddenly Emily’s beginning to see just what a cowboy has to offer.
Ten months ago Tyler had been a hottie who’d tempted her into one night of wild sex.
She’d tried to convince herself it had been about superficial pleasure, but there was nothing superficial about the feelings flooding through her now.
And God, did he look good. The dark blond hair he’d worn short and preppy now touched his collar. His face was leaner, his gray eyes more piercing, his body more ripped than she remembered. In ten months he’d gone from hottie to hero.
And what they’d shared had definitely been more than just sex. This man had made wonderful love to her, and she wanted him to do it again. Her skin warmed and her heartbeat quickened at the memory of his caress, his kiss, his gentle words.
“Tyler, you remember Alex.”
Dear Reader,
We hope you enjoy the Western stories Should’ve Been a Cowboy and Cowboy Up by New York Times bestselling Harlequin Blaze author Vicki Lewis Thompson.
Harlequin Blaze books sizzle with strong heroines and irresistible heroes playing the game of modern love and lust. They’re fun, sexy and always steamy.
And don’t miss an excerpt of Lying in Your Arms by Harlequin Blaze author Leslie Kelly at the back of this volume. Look for Lying in Your Arms, available October 2013.
Happy reading,
The Harlequin Blaze Editors
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
New York Times bestselling author Vicki Lewis Thompson’s love affair with cowboys started with the Lone Ranger, continued through Maverick and took a turn south of the border with Zorro. She views cowboys as the Western version of knights in shining armor—rugged men who value honor, honesty and hard work. Fortunately for her, she lives in the Arizona desert, where broad-shouldered, lean-hipped cowboys abound. Blessed with such an abundance of inspiration, she only hopes that she can do them justice. Visit her website, www.vickilewisthompson.com (http://www.vickilewisthompson.com).
Should’ve Been a Cowboy & Cowboy Up
Vicki Lewis Thompson
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
CONTENTS
Should’ve Been a Cowboy (#u93a172c4-14bf-5ffe-8fda-47ae6f83cf04)
Cowboy Up (#litres_trial_promo)
Should’ve Been a Cowboy
Vicki Lewis Thompson
For my editor, Brenda Chin, who gave me the opportunity to create a multibook series about my favorite subject—cowboys. A tip of the Stetson to you, Brenda!
Contents
Prologue (#u2b25deab-991e-5a23-a306-34db86335c86)
Chapter One (#u596406b7-7282-51a0-828a-9e22ca3aff0e)
Chapter Two (#u9f665137-2110-5117-badb-a5218ae5c9fa)
Chapter Three (#u4530f1fb-8ddb-5bb4-b0af-20912441f4d2)
Chapter Four (#u21a49c45-3b14-5bef-8438-b342e0748a20)
Chapter Five (#u41bee1ae-4b56-553d-9090-28ab5d1ac831)
Chapter Six (#u01de417e-5619-5767-ad09-9a198f9da6e8)
Chapter Seven (#u442525d6-73c7-5eff-a400-66e46a555f3a)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue
May 14, 1956, from the diary of Eleanor Chance
I love giving birthday parties. And when your only child turns ten, well, today was a big day at the Last Chance Ranch. We had unseasonably warm weather in Jackson Hole, and after the kids left, tummies full of birthday cake and ice cream, Archie went to the barn and brought out Johnny’s big present.
She’s a beautiful little filly who looks exactly like the horse that the Lone Ranger’s sidekick, Tonto, rides—white with bay patches. While most kids would want an all-white horse like the Lone Ranger’s, Johnny loves Tonto’s horse, Scout.
And so this filly will be named Scout, even though she’s a girl. Everyone around here calls Scout a pinto, which is what Tonto’s horse is, but she’s actually a registered paint. That means she has pinto coloring, but she also has papers and can be bred later on.
She cost us a fair bit, but the money went to a good cause. One of our neighbors needed to sell this filly so he could pay for his wife’s back operation. The operation was Ginny’s last chance to avoid living in a wheelchair, and I’m happy to say the surgery was a success.
That’s what this ranch is about, giving people and animals one last chance. So everyone came out ahead on this deal. Besides, Archie says Scout is an investment as well as a birthday present for Johnny. Cattle ranching has been good to us, especially during the war when the army needed beef, but Archie thinks we should diversify, and for years he’s dreamed of raising horses.
Scout’s a dream come true for Johnny, who’s begged us for a pinto from the moment he saw his first episode of The Lone Ranger. But Scout could be the beginning of Archie’s dream, too. I sure hope so, because spending all that money on a registered paint was a gamble, even if it was for a good cause.
I keep reminding myself that Archie won the Last Chance in a card game nineteen years ago, and that’s turned out pretty well. As Archie always says, “Chance men are lucky when it counts.”
Chapter One
What rotten luck. Alex Keller ended the phone call, tucked his phone into his jeans pocket and nudged Doozie into a canter. He needed to get back to the ranch house and figure out what the hell to do now that the country band he’d hired wouldn’t be showing up tomorrow. He couldn’t expect to get a replacement at four o’clock on a Friday afternoon, which meant no live music for the open house. Damn.
The open house had been his idea. Two months ago, after accepting a job as the first-ever marketing director for the Last Chance, he’d proposed the event to increase the ranch’s visibility and establish it as the premier place to buy registered paints. Technically he was up to the challenge. He held a degree in marketing, and although he’d spent most of his career as a high-profile DJ in Chicago, he’d also been instrumental in the radio station’s marketing campaigns.
But this was his first event for the ranch, and he needed it to go well. The Chances were family now that Alex’s sister, Josie, had married Jack Chance, so the ranch’s bottom line had personal significance. The Chances weren’t in immediate financial danger, but spring sales had been slow. Alex had been hired to fix that.
He’d saddled Doozie earlier that afternoon, figuring a ride might settle his nerves. Instead he’d ended up with a phone call that added to his growing list of problems. Most of the issues involved keeping the invited guests dry. Rain-filled clouds hovered on the horizon and only one of the three canopies he’d ordered had shown up. Now he had no band, either.
Live music would have gone a long way toward setting the tone for tomorrow’s open house, even if it rained. Sure, he could rig up a sound system and use canned music and his DJ abilities, but it wouldn’t have the same feel as live music, and he couldn’t be stuck behind a microphone all day.
At this point on Friday afternoon, nothing could be done about either of those glitches. He’d spent all his life in Chicago and was used to its vast resources. If one band canceled, you hired another, and if one delivery of event canopies didn’t work out, you went with a different company. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, was a whole other situation, and he was screwed.
He had to make this work, though. All three of the Chance brothers—Jack, Gabe and Nick—had put their faith in him, and he’d do his damnedest. Everyone knew Alex Keller was a hard worker, especially his ex-wife, who’d wanted him to work less and play more.
Oh, well. Crystal was back in Chicago cavorting with her new boyfriend, and he was out here in God’s country, working his butt off because that’s who he was. And he couldn’t complain. The ranch’s location, west of a little town called Shoshone in the Jackson Hole region, was spectacular.
Following his divorce last summer, he’d left Chicago and found a combination DJ/marketing director position with a radio station in Jackson. But he’d spent more time out at the Last Chance than at his apartment in Jackson and had, to his surprise, gone country. When the offer came to work for the Chance brothers, he’d jumped at it.
Slowing Doozie to a trot as he approached the barn, he glanced over at the massive, two-story ranch house, a log structure that had grown as the family had grown. Its front windows faced north with a view of the state’s scenic crown jewel—the perpetually snowcapped Tetons. The acreage was worth millions, and the family wanted to keep every square foot of it, which meant the Chances were land rich and cash poor.
From what Alex had heard, Jonathan Chance Sr. had been comfortable with that, but after his death, his three sons had taken stock of the situation. They’d decided on a more aggressive breeding and sales program for the ranch’s registered paints to give the operation a bigger financial cushion.
Alex could see why. A ranch this size had a fair amount of overhead, including a payroll for several regular hands and a few seasonal ones, all of whom had to be housed and fed in addition to their wages. On top of that were maintenance and utility costs for the large ranch house, the bunkhouse, the heated barn and various other outbuildings.
Dismounting by the hitching post beside the barn, he answered a greeting from Emmett Sterling. The ranch foreman, a seasoned cowboy in his late fifties, paused on his way into the barn. “Want me to take care of her for you?”
“Thanks, but I’ll do it.” Alex had bonded with this bay mare, who’d put up with his beginning riding mistakes without complaint. Doozie had arrived in Jackson Hole last summer about the same time Alex had. They’d both been in need of sanctuary, and the Last Chance had provided that.
Doozie wasn’t a paint, so she couldn’t be part of the breeding program, but she’d been allowed to stay, anyway. Alex thought it was appropriate that she’d been assigned to him, because he wasn’t a cowboy, but he’d been allowed to stay, too. Doozie would never become a paint, but damned if Alex hadn’t started to feel like a cowboy.
After settling Doozie in her stall with Hornswaggled, a goat who was her constant companion, Alex headed for the ranch house, where a cold bottle of Bud was calling his name. These days he drank beer instead of wine, just as he wore jeans instead of chinos.
A guy couldn’t hang out in a living room with a wagon-wheel chandelier and Navajo rugs on the walls and keep wearing city-slicker clothes. The unwritten dress code for logging time in the cushy leather armchairs in front of the giant rock fireplace included faded jeans, boots and a Western shirt.
Alex had complied. The day he’d bought a Stetson and settled it on his head, he’d bid a permanent farewell to the Chicago city boy he used to be.
His boots echoed hollowly on the porch as he crossed to the large front door and pulled it open. No one was in the living room, which always smelled faintly of wood smoke even if the hearth was cold, like now. He turned left down a long hall. His route to the kitchen took him through the dining room with its four round tables that each sat eight people.
At this time of the afternoon the tables were empty, but three hours ago the place had bustled with activity. The Chance brothers had continued their father’s tradition of eating lunch with the hands so everyone could exchange information about ranch chores. Sarah, Jonathan’s widow, usually joined the group, and now her three daughters-in-law were included, too.
When Alex heard Sarah’s laughter coming from the kitchen, he knew she must be talking to the cook, Mary Lou Simms, who was as much a friend as an employee. Alex wished he weren’t the bearer of bad news. He’d worked hard to make this event tomorrow successful, but now he wasn’t sure it would be.
Sarah needed to know that, even if it spoiled her good mood. He could talk to the Chance brothers over dinner. Friday night was family night at the big house, a way to stay connected now that all three pairs of newlyweds lived on different sections of the ranch’s vast acreage.
Taking a deep breath, Alex walked into the kitchen and found Mary Lou and Sarah pulling baby stuff out of a mail-order box. Gabe’s wife, Morgan, was eight months pregnant, and soon-to-be grandma Sarah had obviously gone catalog shopping.
Sarah was the kind of woman who seemed ageless even though she’d let her hair go white. She wore it in a sleek bob, and her high cheekbones and flawless skin made her look years younger than she was. Her mother had been a runway model, and Sarah took after her.
Alex had heard that Mary Lou had been a blonde bombshell twenty years ago, but now she enjoyed her own excellent cooking and didn’t seem to care about a few extra pounds or the state of her unruly gray hair.
Sarah glanced at Alex as he came into the kitchen. “What do you think?” She waved an impossibly tiny shirt in a red bandanna print. “Since Gabe and Morgan won’t tell me if they’re having a boy or a girl, I’m going with unisex clothes, which is probably better because they can be handed down.”
“Cute.” Alex hoped that was the appropriate response, because he’d never given much thought to baby clothes. Crystal had been fanatic about birth control during their years together, and he’d had no burning desire to be a father, especially after the marriage began to sour. Baby clothes were foreign objects to him. “Mind if I grab a beer?”
“Help yourself.” She held up a one-piece deal that was supposed to look as if the baby wore jeans and a Western shirt, although it was printed on stretch terry. “Is this adorable or what?”
“Sure is!” Alex crossed to the refrigerator and opened it. Maybe once he’d wrapped his hand around a cold beer, he’d be able to find a gentle way to introduce some gloom and doom into this happy little baby scene.
Sarah was understandably excited about the impending arrival of her first grandchild. Alex had been the DJ for Morgan and Gabe’s wedding reception last August, and Morgan had stated clearly then that she didn’t plan to rush into motherhood. Yet within a couple of months she’d turned up preggers and was apparently thrilled about it.
Thoughts of Morgan’s wedding always reminded Alex of Morgan’s younger sister Tyler, who had agreed to spend a memorable few hours in the hayloft with him following the reception. Alex couldn’t smell fresh hay without remembering the feel of Tyler’s soft, willing body and her muted cries of pleasure. They’d taken care not to make too much noise so they wouldn’t draw any unwanted attention.
She’d left the next day, returning to her job as activities director for a luxury cruise line headquartered in L.A. She’d confessed that constant traveling didn’t leave much room for relationships. Just as well, he’d told her. He was still recovering from his divorce.
True enough, but watching Tyler leave hadn’t been easy. That night in the hayloft had been perfect, at least from his viewpoint. He’d tried to talk himself out of that assessment but hadn’t quite succeeded.
He’d resisted the urge to ask Morgan about Tyler in the months that followed. He was pretty sure nobody knew that he and Tyler had spent the night together in the hayloft. The Chance family had been too preoccupied to notice, and Alex somehow doubted Tyler had confided in Morgan.
If she had, he would have seen it in Morgan’s eyes or felt it in her treatment of him. So maybe the night had meant nothing more to Tyler than a champagne-flavored roll in the hay. Somehow he doubted it, though.
He’d sensed that she’d been as deeply affected as he’d been. Then again, she’d been his first since the divorce, so maybe his perception hadn’t been accurate. In the following months he’d dated a couple of women from the Jackson Hole area, but they hadn’t inspired the gut-level response he’d had to Tyler.
As Mary Lou and Sarah continued to coo over the baby clothes, Alex reached for the longneck. He’d curled his fingers around it when Morgan called out a greeting from the kitchen doorway. He hoped the baby clothes weren’t supposed to be a surprise.
“Look who’s here!” Morgan sounded breathless. “My world-traveling sister just flew over from L.A. to surprise me!”
Alex straightened up so fast he banged his head on the door of the refrigerator. Praying nobody had noticed, he held his bottle of beer in a death grip and slowly closed the refrigerator door. His heart hammered as he turned to face the woman who’d played a prominent role in his dreams for nearly ten months.
His memory hadn’t done her justice. She was even sexier than he’d remembered, with her ebony hair curling around her face and down the back of her turquoise dress. Dark eyes that reflected her mother’s Italian heritage met his. She seemed as shocked to see him as he was to see her.
Although she looked nothing like Crystal, who was blonde with Scandinavian ancestry, Alex couldn’t help noticing surface similarities to his ex-wife. Obviously Tyler spent time and money on her hair, nails and clothes.
She wore a dress that revealed a little cleavage and high-heeled sandals that showed off her pedicure. And she smelled amazing, like a bouquet of peach-colored roses. Although he’d fully embraced the country life, he’d been a Chicago boy first, and all that careful grooming still had the power to turn him on.
But it was more than that. One glance into those eyes and he knew that what they’d shared in the hayloft had been more than just sex. Whether they were prepared to deal with it or not, they were emotionally involved. Still.
“Hey, Tyler.” He managed what he hoped was a nonchalant smile. “How’re you doing?”
Tyler had been doing just fine until she’d walked into the Last Chance’s kitchen and found Alex leaning into the refrigerator, his tempting buns encased in well-worn jeans. She hadn’t expected him to be at the ranch, and she certainly hadn’t expected him to have transformed himself into a cowboy. Judging from his denim shirt, snug jeans and scuffed boots, that’s exactly what he’d done.
Ten months ago he’d been a hottie who’d tempted her into one night of wild sex. She’d tried to convince herself it had been about superficial pleasure, but there was nothing superficial about the feelings flooding through her now. She’d had casual affairs. This didn’t qualify.
And God, did he look good. Apparently Wyoming agreed with him. The cute city boy had been replaced with a ruggedly handsome man. The dark blond hair he’d worn short and preppy now touched his collar. His face was leaner, his gray eyes more piercing, his body more ripped than she remembered. In ten months he’d gone from hottie to hero.
And what they’d shared had definitely been more than just sex. This man had made wonderful love to her, and she wanted him to do it again. Her skin warmed and her heartbeat quickened at the memory of his caress, his kiss, his gentle words. The time they’d been apart shrank until she felt as if she’d lain naked with him only hours ago.
On that cool August morning she’d forced herself to leave without a backward glance, although she’d mentally glanced back more than she cared to admit. Now she had even more reason to avoid a relationship, but she wondered how on God’s green earth she’d be able to resist him.
“Tyler, you remember Alex.” Morgan seemed to think her sister’s silence meant she needed prompting. “He was the DJ at our wedding reception.”
“Right.” Tyler smiled at him. “I thought you looked familiar.”
He cleared his throat. “There was a lot going on that night.”
Especially in the hayloft. “It was a memorable evening.” Tyler forced her gaze away from his before someone figured out just how well she remembered the guy who’d played the music, the guy who had a really talented mouth, clever hands and a way of stealing a girl’s heart when she wasn’t looking.
“I adored my wedding.” Morgan seemed oblivious to the undercurrents swirling between Tyler and Alex.
“The ceremony on horseback was certainly unique.” Tyler focused all her attention on her hormonal and understandably self-centered sister, who looked as if she’d stuffed a basketball down the front of her green paisley dress. Morgan had a month to go before she delivered, which meant this would be a large baby, because she looked ready to give birth at any moment.
Anyone who saw dark-haired Tyler and redheaded Morgan and knew they were sisters would understand why their parents had decided to combine last names and create the O’Connelli surname to honor both the Irish and the Italian sides of the family. It had been a quirky solution from a certifiably quirky couple.
“And there was Jack’s incredible toast at the reception,” Sarah added. She’d managed to shove into the box whatever she’d been holding when they’d arrived. “I’ll never forget that toast.”
“Me neither.” Morgan sighed. “The whole event was so romantic and happy that I think it helped bring Jack and Josie back together. Was that when they decided to have a double wedding with Nick and Dominique?”
“I think the four of them did come to that conclusion sometime during the reception.” Sarah moved in front of the box sitting on the round oak table, as if wanting to block it from Morgan’s view. “We were lucky to get their ceremony planned and completed before the first snow.”
Tyler suspected the box was full of baby things. She had quite a few in her suitcase, too. She’d managed to finagle this short leave from work, knowing she’d be in the middle of the Mediterranean when the baby arrived.
She glanced at Sarah. “So how does it feel, having all three of your sons married?”
“Very empty nestish,” Sarah said. “I hope you can stick around for a while. We have plenty of room upstairs now and I’d love the company.”
“She might be happiest here,” Morgan said. “I’d love to have her sleep at our house, but with the construction still in progress, and only the master bedroom finished, it’s sort of—”
“Like camping out.” Sarah laughed. “Tyler, you’ll want to take one of the upstairs bedrooms and leave the newlyweds to their chaos. I told them all to wait and move when the houses were done, but all three couples insisted they wanted to rough it in their new digs. I’ve tried not to take it personally,” she added with a grin.
“I can sleep wherever,” Tyler said. Except the hayloft. “But if there’s a room available upstairs, that sounds wonderful.”
“Great.” Sarah beamed at her. “How long can you stay?”
“I have to fly back next Wednesday.”
“Wow.” Sarah blinked. “That’s hardly enough time to unpack.”
“But at least she’s here, which is totally awesome.” Morgan’s happy gaze met Tyler’s.
“I had to see the new mommy-to-be.” And her sister’s enthusiasm made the effort so worthwhile. Alex’s presence was a small complication she’d work through.
“Tyler about gave me a heart attack,” Morgan said. “I didn’t know she was coming until she called me from the L.A. airport and said she was on her way.”
“I wasn’t sure I could get off until the last minute, and I had to sign in blood that I’d be back on Wednesday.”
Morgan regarded her sister with obvious pride. “That’s because Tyler’s the activities director for a world cruise that sails from L.A. a week from today. If she gets a good evaluation at the end of it, she’s been promised a promotion to cruise director, which means she’ll be the head honcho next time out. How cool is that?”
“Very cool.” Sarah gazed at Tyler with obvious respect.
“Good for you, Tyler,” Mary Lou added.
“Thanks. If I get this promotion, I’ll be the youngest cruise director in the history of the company.” Tyler found herself basking in Sarah’s and Mary Lou’s approval. Her parents, who claimed to care nothing for status or worldly goods, hadn’t been particularly impressed by her rapid rise in the business. She hadn’t thought she cared whether they were impressed or not, but maybe she did.
“That’s terrific.” Alex lifted his unopened beer bottle. “Can I get drinks for anyone? We should toast Tyler’s success.”
“Well, I don’t have the promotion yet.” But maybe it was good that the subject was on the table, so that Alex knew that she was still fully immersed in her career and excited about the next big step.
Or maybe he wouldn’t care. Maybe he was over his ex and had hooked up with somebody from around here. All her worries about resisting him might be for nothing if he was otherwise occupied.
“I’d love a beer,” Mary Lou said. “Move aside, Alex, and I’ll see that we all get something cold to drink and happy-hour munchies. Sarah, I know you’ll join me in a Friday-afternoon beer. Tyler, what will you have?”
“The same, thanks.” Maybe a cold beer would settle her nerves. She’d expected she might see Alex while she was here, considering that he was Josie’s brother and part of the extended Chance family. But she hadn’t planned on running into him first thing out of the gate and immediately having to deal with her emotional reaction.
“Root beer for me, please,” Morgan said.
“I know, honey,” Mary Lou said. “I have it right here.” She opened the refrigerator and began passing out bottles.
Sarah quietly removed the box from the table and tucked it out of sight before swinging into hostess mode. “Everybody have a seat. I’ll get us some chips and dip. The rest of the gang will probably show up pretty soon, and if I know my boys, they’ll be ready to toast the beginning of the weekend with a cold one.”
Tyler chose a seat at the opposite side of the table from where Alex stood. She couldn’t help sneaking glances at him, and every time she did, he was looking back. Not the usual behavior of a man who had a girlfriend.
He could still be unattached, and if so, she’d have to be very careful. As if her memories of his lovemaking weren’t enough to make her heart race, he’d turned into every woman’s fantasy—a broad-shouldered, lean-hipped, yummy cowboy. She wondered if he’d bought himself a Stetson.
In no time Mary Lou and Sarah had the impromptu party organized with drinks all around. Bowls of chips and several kinds of dip sat on the table along with a stack of napkins.
Sarah took a chair and raised her beer bottle. “Here’s to your world cruise, Tyler, and the important promotion I’m sure will follow.”
“Thank you.” Tyler began to understand why Morgan loved being a part of this stable, loving family. Morgan, Tyler and their six siblings had lived a vagabond lifestyle, traveling the country in a psychedelic van with their New Age parents.
They’d spent a few months in Shoshone back when Morgan and Tyler were teenagers. For Tyler, it had just been one stop in their constant travels, but Morgan had loved it and had vowed to come back. Although Tyler had inherited her parents’ wanderlust, Morgan had yearned for roots, and now she had them. Her baby would represent the fourth generation of Chances living on this ranch.
“I guess that means you can’t be here when the baby’s born,” Mary Lou said.
“Exactly, which is why I came now. When that little tyke arrives, I’ll be somewhere in the Mediterranean. On the way here from the airport I tried to talk Morgan into setting up Skype in the delivery room, but she wasn’t buying it.”
Morgan made a face. “Sorry, but I have this image of the entire crew of the Sea Goddess gathered around your computer watching me give birth. I’m even thinking of having the baby at the ranch, to keep the moment more private and special.”
“You thought I’d invite people to see the birth on my laptop?”
“Well, maybe not, but—”
“Shoot, I’d put it up on the big screen in the movie theater!” As Morgan’s eyes widened, Tyler nudged her in the ribs. “Gotcha.”
“No, you didn’t. I knew you were kidding.”
“Did not. You should have seen your face. Are you really thinking of having a home birth?”
Morgan glanced at Sarah. “I’d like to.”
“And Gabe and I are trying to talk her out of it,” Sarah said. “Maybe if we were five minutes from the hospital, I wouldn’t worry, but if something goes wrong, it’s a long trek into Jackson.”
“Nothing will go wrong,” Morgan said. “My mom had all of us in the back of the family van.”
“Yes, but dad said he always parked it next to the hospital.” Tyler was inclined to agree with Gabe and Sarah on this one. She looked across the table to where Alex sat peeling the label off his beer bottle. Maybe he wasn’t all that comfy discussing the birthing process.
Giving birth wasn’t her top priority, either, but she found herself longing to hear him talk. During the reception last summer his voice had seduced her long before she’d suggested they share a bottle of champagne in the hayloft. “Ever seen a baby being born, Alex?”
He stopped peeling the label and looked at her with his intense gray eyes. “Can’t say that I have. How about you?”
That voice, honed by years of radio work, gave her goose bumps. “Yes, and it’s an awesome experience, so I was hoping for a Skype’s-eye view of my big sister’s event.” She was still curious about why he was at the ranch this afternoon. He seemed completely at home, as if he lived here, and yet she was sure he’d planned to rent a place in Jackson once he started his job there.
“So how are things at the radio station?” she asked.
“Oh, he left that job, Tyler,” Morgan said. “He’s the marketing director for the Last Chance now, and he lives out here.”
Tyler could have used that information earlier, before she’d walked into the kitchen and been struck dumb by the incredible backside of Alex Keller. But Morgan would have no reason to tell her. Morgan didn’t know about the night in the hayloft.
Alex leaned forward. “And speaking of my job, I’ve run into a couple of snags for tomorrow’s event.”
“What event?” Tyler had a feeling that Morgan had neglected to mention several important items during the drive from the Jackson airport. Tyler couldn’t blame her, though. Morgan had spent the drive talking about her plans for the baby’s room, assuming it was completed in time for Morgan to add the decorating touches she had in mind.
“I’ve set up an open house,” Alex said. “I’ve had to operate under some tight time constraints, but I wanted to catch people at the beginning of the summer with the idea that if it goes well, we can do it again in August.”
“It will go well,” Sarah said. “We’ve invited everybody who might be a candidate for buying one of the Last Chance paints, and we should have a good turnout because June is when the summer tourist season gets rolling. We’ll have tours of the barn, cutting-horse demonstrations, plenty of food—”
“Sounds great,” Tyler said. “I’m not a prospective buyer, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy all that, if I’m invited, that is.”
Morgan touched her arm. “Of course you’re invited! You’re family!”
“Thanks.” Tyler was surprised by how pleased she was to hear that. She loved her carefree life and didn’t mind that home was a sparsely furnished efficiency apartment in L.A. with no live plants and a refrigerator that was usually empty. But she wouldn’t mind borrowing the nurturing environment of the Last Chance for the next few days, providing she could control her urge to snuggle up with Alex.
Her fantasy man leaned back in his chair. “The thing is, I’d hoped to establish the mood with live music, but the country band I’d hired just canceled a half hour ago.”
“What about Watkins?” Mary Lou set down her beer. “That cowhand plays a decent guitar if you could talk him into doing it.”
“It’s a thought, but that’s not the only issue. I also ordered three event canopies because we’re supposed to have some rain, but only one showed up. I’m a little worried that—”
“Say no more.” Tyler leaped into the breach automatically, a learned response from handling this kind of crisis all the time on cruises. “It’ll be fine. I’ll help you figure out some alternatives.” Belatedly she realized that her offer would throw her into direct contact with the man she’d decided to avoid for the duration of her visit.
Alex sat forward, hope in his eyes. “You will? That would be great.” Then he seemed to catch himself. “Wait a minute. You’re on vacation. You shouldn’t have to—”
“Don’t kid yourself,” Morgan said. “She loves this kind of thing. It’s her job to coordinate all the onboard entertainment, so parties are her deal. I had to hold her back or she would have planned my entire wedding from her stateroom on the Sea Goddess.”
“Then I accept.” Alex blew out a breath. “I don’t know what kind of magic you can work, but whatever it is, I’ll take it.”
Magic. That was the exact word she would use to describe the night they’d spent together in the hayloft. She was realistic enough to know how much she’d be tempted to make love with him again, but that was a really bad idea. Considering the emotional tug she felt every time he looked at her, they could end up in a no-win situation that would break both their hearts.
Chapter Two
Looking into Tyler’s dark eyes, Alex imagined he could read her mind. She already regretted her decision to help him, but he wasn’t about to let her off the hook. He needed her expertise.
If that meant they’d have to work together and deal with the heat that still simmered between them, so be it. He wasn’t about to interfere with her world cruise and probable promotion. He’d tell her so once they were alone.
In fact, having a private moment to clear the air was a very good idea. “I don’t want to rush you, but we don’t have a lot of time to cook up those alternate plans. If you’d be willing to take a look at the outdoor setup before dinner, that would be great.”
“Sure.” She pushed back her chair. “Give me ten minutes to take my suitcase upstairs and change clothes.”
Morgan stood and pressed a hand to the small of her back. “I’ll go with you and help you get settled in.”
“That’s okay.” Standing, too, Tyler wrapped an arm around Morgan’s shoulders and gave her a quick hug. “No point in lugging baby whosit up those stairs.”
Sarah’s eyebrows arched. “So she hasn’t told you whether it’s a boy or girl, either? I thought she might have let it slip to her little sis, and then we could pry it out of you before you leave.”
“I haven’t told anybody.” Morgan sat down again. “Gabe and I are the only ones who know, and it’ll stay that way until July when the little kid makes an appearance.”
“How about a name?” Mary Lou asked. “Have you picked one?”
Morgan nodded. “Yes, and I promise that you’ll know immediately from the baby’s name whether I had a boy or a girl.”
Tyler sighed with obvious relief. “Thank God. As you noticed when some of us were here last summer, our parents conspired to give all of us unisex names.”
“And I have to admit I had trouble keeping everyone straight during the wedding last year,” Sarah said. “I’m sure I called you by your twin brother Regan’s name at least twice.”
“Don’t feel bad about it. Regan and I had our names switched so many times in school it wasn’t funny.”
“I agree it was a nightmare while we were growing up,” Morgan said. “But now, as a real-estate agent, my name works because it’s easily recognizable. Still, I’m not doing that to my child.”
“I’m glad.” Tyler picked up her empty beer bottle and the napkin she’d used for her chips. “Anyway, let me scoot upstairs and get changed.”
Mary Lou made a flapping motion with her hand. “Leave the bottle and napkin, sweetie. I’ll take care of it.”
“And I’ll carry your suitcase upstairs.” Alex pushed back his chair and stood.
“I can manage,” Tyler said.
Alex gave her a smile. “It’s the gentlemanly thing to do, and I’m the gentleman who’s available.” Hell, he probably shouldn’t have said that. He’d blame all those years of being a glib DJ.
“Thank you, but it’s a small suitcase, and I really can—”
“You don’t know which room.” He was determined to grab this chance to talk with her. “Where should I put her, Sarah?”
“Let me think.” Sarah tapped her chin. “Maybe we should stick with the wing you’re in, because we’re having some problems with the pipes on the other side. I need to call a plumber, but I haven’t done it yet. Gabe’s room should be in decent shape.”
“It was the last time we were up there packing his high school trophies,” Morgan said. “I don’t think the bed’s made up, though.”
Sarah started to rise. “Maybe I should come up there with you.”
“Sit still.” Alex wasn’t giving up this opportunity to have a conversation with Tyler. “I know where the linen closet is. Tyler and I can handle it.”
“Absolutely,” Tyler said. “I’m perfectly capable of making a bed.”
And lying in it? Alex was trying so hard to play it cool, but thinking of Tyler smoothing sheets over the bed she’d sleep in for several nights, a bed that would be in a room right across the hall from his, didn’t help at all. He’d never shared a bed with her, but he had no trouble imagining how wonderful that would be. The hayloft had been earthy and exotic, but a good mattress had advantages, too.
At this point, he needed to decide how he felt about the possibility. Obviously, considering her career plans, it couldn’t be more than a short-term experience. Was that a mistake? Maybe, but not a huge one unless they slipped up on birth control, and he wouldn’t let that happen.
Still, an affair could be a small mistake in that both of them could get more involved than they wanted to be. He didn’t know if he could jump into a temporary affair with her and jump back out with ease. And even if he could, what would be the point? When he was totally honest with himself, he had to admit that he craved what all three Chance men had found—a solid marriage that showed all the signs of lasting a lifetime.
He’d always wanted that, but he’d chosen the wrong woman the first time around. He didn’t like making mistakes, and he wasn’t about to make another one. That meant being careful with his heart. He wasn’t convinced that Tyler didn’t already own a piece of it.
She had a zest for life he’d admired from the moment she’d stepped onto the dance floor last summer. She’d been the one to suggest the romp in the hay, which had told him she wasn’t some finicky city girl and she had self-confidence, besides. That night he’d also learned that she was an unselfish lover with a great sense of humor.
Being wanted by someone like Tyler had soothed his divorce-battered ego. But he wasn’t feeling battered anymore, and she still had the power to make him ache with longing. He wasn’t positive he could satisfy that longing without taking an emotional risk.
“We’d better get with the program,” Tyler said.
What program? Alex made a mental U-turn so he could figure out what she was talking about. Oh, yeah. He was supposed to get her settled upstairs so she could go outside with him and make suggestions for the open house. His concentration was already whacked.
“I left my suitcase and purse out in the front hallway.” Tyler looked at Sarah. “Thank you so much for putting me up for a few nights.”
Sarah laughed. “I’m afraid Alex plans to make you earn your keep. Don’t let him work you too hard.”
“Actually you should worry about me working Alex too hard. He may regret asking for my help. I’m a slave driver when I get going.”
Alex shook his head. “No worries. I admire dedication.”
“Good. Me, too. We should make a good team.”
And maybe that’s all she had in mind. He could tell by her matter-of-fact tone that she wasn’t flirting, not even a tiny bit. He should be relieved if she wasn’t interested in getting chummy. Instead he felt the sting of disappointment.
He followed her out of the kitchen and through the empty dining room. Her hair bounced when she walked and her heels clicked on the hardwood floor. Her shoes were the kind that didn’t make an appearance very often at the Last Chance, where boots were the norm.
Tyler’s shoes consisted of an arrangement of black straps that left most of her foot bare. Her toes were shiny, as if they had clear polish on them, but the white part was brighter than a natural nail would be. Crystal used to get that kind of pedicure, and he vaguely remembered it was connected with a nationality. Maybe French.
He’d never thought of himself as having a thing about toes, but Tyler’s French pedicure generated a definite response from his libido. He could imagine himself kissing his way down to her slender toes and running his tongue between each one. During the night they’d shared, they’d been too busy with some very satisfying basics and hadn’t detoured into embellishments like sucking on toes.
Her shoes stirred his baser instincts, too. The heels were at least three inches, maybe closer to four. In Chicago they’d call them do-me shoes.
He wasn’t sure what they’d be called in Wyoming, but the effect was the same on a guy no matter where a woman wore them. As Tyler’s heels created a sensuous beat, Alex imagined backing her up against the nearest wall and wrapping her legs, sexy shoes and French pedicure included, around his waist. Her skirt would be easily bunched up, and if she still favored thongs, her panties would provide no challenge whatsoever.
“How long have you been living at the ranch?”
“Uh...” His brain wasn’t functioning as efficiently as it might, considering a certain amount of blood had been routed elsewhere. “About three months, I guess.”
“I thought you liked being a DJ.”
“I did. I do. But as a DJ I work indoors, and that just seems like a waste in this kind of country. The marketing director job allows me to live on the ranch and spend a lot more time outside.” Talking about something besides sex helped control his reaction to her. But every time he took a breath, he caught a whiff of her sweet perfume—part peach roses, part Tyler.
“The Jackson Hole area seems to have a strong effect on people. It sure captivated my sister. She loved it when we lived here years ago, and she loves it even more now.”
“Yeah, she’s talked about going to high school in Jackson.” Alex paused to pick up Tyler’s flowered suitcase and she grabbed her black leather purse before they headed up the winding staircase to the second floor. “So you didn’t fall in love with the place?”
“We were only in Shoshone for about six months. I was thirteen and miserable because I had to wear hand-me-downs to school. I wasn’t paying much attention to my surroundings.”
“That’s a tough age. I don’t know if anybody’s happy at thirteen.” He was willing to bet she’d been a knockout, though, even at thirteen and wearing hand-me-down clothes. “So what do you think of the area now?”
“It’s beautiful. And Morgan’s so happy here.”
“So’s my sister, Josie. She came out on a skiing trip and made the decision to move. I wouldn’t have discovered this place if she hadn’t come here first.”
“And now she’s married to Jack. Were you the DJ for the reception then, too?”
“I was. They got married, along with Nick and Dominique, in early October.” But there had been no Tyler O’Connelli on the dance floor that night, no woman stirring him up and tempting him with hayloft sex. “Like Sarah said, we barely beat the snow, but now all the Chance men are hitched.”
“Wow.” Tyler laughed. “Must be something in the water.”
“Yeah, you might want to stick with bottled.”
“No kidding. Does Josie still own the Spirits and Spurs bar in Shoshone?”
“She does.” They reached the top of the stairs. “To your left.” He gestured in that direction. “Now that Josie lives out on the ranch, she’s not constantly at the bar, but she loves that place and I think she likes having her own income, too.”
“I sure get that.” Tyler’s voice grew more animated. “I would never be financially dependent on a man. My mother and father seem to have worked it out, but sometimes I wonder if she’d had her own money whether she might have vetoed some of his crazy ideas.”
Alex filed that statement away as a valuable insight into Tyler’s attitude. She wanted to maintain control over her life, and he admired that, too.
He paused beside the doorway into Gabe’s room on the right side of the hall. “This is it. Home sweet home for the next five fun-filled nights.” Probably shouldn’t have said that, either, but it was cruise lingo and...okay, he was flirting, even if she wasn’t.
She glanced up at him. “And where is your room?”
He pointed across the hall.
“Oh.”
He put her suitcase on the floor. “Look, Tyler, that wasn’t my idea. There are some plumbing issues in the other wing, like Sarah said.”
“I know. I just—”
“You just wanted to pay a surprise visit to your sister,” he said gently. “You didn’t count on dealing with me, and you certainly didn’t expect me to be sleeping across the hall.”
“Right.” Relief softened her dark eyes. “Thanks for understanding.”
“Oh, I understand, all right. I’m as conflicted about this situation as you are.”
“Because of your ex? Are you still—”
“Hell, no, I’m not still hung up on Crystal.” He looked into her eyes and figured the truth would work as well as anything. “But I’m afraid I might get hung up on you.”
Her pupils darkened and her full lips parted. Then she glanced away, as if she wanted to cancel that involuntary reaction.
Too late. He’d seen desire flare in her eyes and it had created a predictable response in him. He hoped she wouldn’t notice the bulge in his jeans. “Are you afraid you’ll get hung up on me?”
Her breathing quickened, making the turquoise fabric covering her breasts quiver. A turquoise pendant nestled in her cleavage and silver-and-turquoise drop earrings peeked through her dark curls. Her outfit was sexy, but he knew that had nothing to do with him. She hadn’t expected to see him today.
The dress, the shoes, the jewelry, the hair—they were an expression of Tyler’s style and another reason he’d been attracted to her last August. From his position on the DJ platform he’d watched her rhythmic, undulating movements with increasing fascination. When she’d appeared with champagne and an invitation, he’d been a goner.
“I am afraid we’d become too involved.” She gazed up at him. “When I saw you in the kitchen, I had instant recall of you and me in the hayloft.”
“I always wondered if you told anybody about that.”
“No. Did you?”
He shook his head. “We agreed it wasn’t going anywhere, so talking about it seemed too much like adolescent bragging.”
“I appreciate you keeping it quiet. I saw no point in telling anyone, either. We’re consenting adults who wanted to have some harmless fun. End of story.”
“Exactly.” But it wasn’t the end of the story. He knew it, and he suspected she did, too.
She hesitated. “I like you, Alex. I’m worried that if we pick up where we left off, it could turn into more, and I’m leaving on Wednesday. That isn’t going to change, no matter what happens between us.”
“I know.” He couldn’t seem to stop looking into her eyes. The hayloft had been dark and he hadn’t been able to see how beautiful they were—a deep, velvet brown that was almost black. “It might be better if we could just avoid each other.”
“I screwed that up by offering to help you with your open house tomorrow. It was a reflex. I see a party in trouble and I’m all over it. Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He loved the way her lashes fluttered when she apologized. “I could tell you wanted to take that offer back, but I really could use some ideas, and I’m sure you’ve dealt with unexpected problems hundreds of times.”
“You mean like a typhoon in the middle of a formal dinner dance?” Her full mouth curved and two tiny dimples appeared in her cheeks.
He smiled back. He’d forgotten about the dimples. “Yeah, like that. My lack of entertainment and my canopy issues must seem pretty small compared to what you’ve experienced.”
“When it’s your event, nothing is small. Listen, we’ll work this out. Just because we’re attracted to each other doesn’t mean we have to act on it. You may not believe this, considering our past history, but I’m pretty good at controlling those urges.”
“No shipboard romances?”
“God, no.”
A surge of relief told him he was already feeling slightly possessive. Not good. “I have to believe guys have tried. I mean, you’re so...so...”
She watched him with a bemused expression. “Sensual. I’m a sensual woman. Is that what you’re trying to say?”
“Yeah.” Normally he had an excellent vocabulary, honed by hours behind a microphone, but Tyler had the ability to reduce his IQ by several points. “That’s what I’m trying to say. So I don’t understand, unless you hook up with somebody on the ship...”
“That’s dangerous. The passengers are strictly off-limits, obviously, and getting involved with a staff member can result in disaster if it blows up. I’ve seen it happen and it’s not a risk I’m willing to take.”
Alex gazed at her standing there in her flirty dress and come-hither shoes. “It’s none of my business, but I don’t understand how celibacy works for you.”
Her cheeks grew rosy and her glance slid to somewhere over his left shoulder. “I haven’t figured that out yet. It’s the only negative factor in my career plan.”
He wanted to laugh, but didn’t dare. She’d constructed the perfect trajectory for herself, except that she’d left her sexual needs completely out of the equation. She hadn’t successfully submerged them, either, despite what she’d said. Her choice of shoes told him that.
She straightened and looked him in the eye. “But FYI, I’m not a sex-starved woman who would be grateful if a virile cowboy came along to reduce her frustration level for a few days.”
“I would never think of you like that.” But he would think of her as a sensual, vibrant woman who needed to be loved. He sighed with regret. “It’s probably better if we don’t become involved while you’re here. No point in starting something that could lead to problems.”
“I agree.”
“I wanted a chance to discuss that, which is the main reason I volunteered to bring your suitcase up and direct you to your room.”
“I thought you were doing it to be a gentleman.”
“No, to be gentlemanly. A true gentleman wouldn’t have followed you up to the hayloft after the wedding reception. So don’t ever mistake me for a gentleman.”
“All right, I won’t.” Her eyes sparkled.
He wanted to kiss her, and he vividly remembered the feel of her lips on his. He resisted the impulse.
“So, Alex.” She took a breath. “Let’s forget about whatever chemistry we have and concentrate on your event.”
He doubted he’d be able to forget about this attraction, but he moved into safer territory because that seemed to be what she wanted. “I will only admit this to you, but I’m feeling in over my head this first time. I have a marketing degree, but in Chicago they wanted me on air, so I—”
“Because you have such a great voice.”
He shrugged off the compliment. He couldn’t take credit for that because he’d never worked at trying to sound good. “It fit their criteria, I guess, but consequently I didn’t get into the marketing end quite as much. I was part of the team that put on events for the station, mostly for charity, but this is my first solo effort.”
She gazed up at him. “You’ll be fine. You have a fabulous venue and people are more flexible than you think. If you keep your sense of humor, they’ll keep theirs.”
He understood why she was good at her job. “That’s the best advice I’ve heard all day.” He gestured toward the open bedroom door. “If you want to check out your room, I’ll bring you some sheets and towels from the linen closet.”
“Thanks. Just leave them by the door and I’ll make up my bed later. Right now I need to change clothes if I’m going to be any good to you.”
He could think of several ways she could be good to him, and none of them involved clothes. “Before I look for sheets, I need to see Gabe’s bed. I can’t remember what size it is.” Picking up her suitcase, he carried it into the bedroom.
Oh, yeah. Now he remembered that Gabe’s old room was furnished with an antique four-poster and dresser, which meant the mattress and box springs were a double rather than a queen or king. Alex had Jack’s former room, which Jack had outfitted with a king-size bed set on a massive oak frame. The place was a man cave that was totally Jack. Jack would have taken the bed with him except he’d built it inside the room, and moving it would have been more trouble than building another one in his new house.
If Alex remembered right, the four-poster in Gabe’s room had belonged to Archie and Nelsie Chance, the couple who’d settled on this ranch in the thirties and created the legacy that now belonged to their grandsons—Jack, Nick and Gabe. Like most guys in this century, Gabe thought a double bed was too small for two people, so he’d left the antique here to be used as a guest bed.
“What a gorgeous bed frame,” Tyler said. “It looks old.”
“I think it is. Don’t quote me, but it might have been the marriage bed for Archie and Nelsie Chance.”
“That’s pretty cool.” Tyler walked over and wrapped her hand around a carved post at the foot of the bed. “Couples were willing to sleep closer to each other in those days, weren’t they?”
“I guess so. Now a double bed is considered crowded with two people in it.”
Tyler’s grip on the bedpost tightened. “I suppose it depends on how much they like each other.”
Alex remembered how her fingers had wrapped around his cock. He had to get out of there. He had to leave now, before he crossed the room and tested how crowded the conditions would be if he and Tyler rolled around awhile on that double mattress. Because they’d made do with a hayloft, he doubted that either of them would mind the size of the bed.
He set her suitcase on the hardwood floor with a soft click. “I’ll get your sheets.” Then he left the room and closed the door behind him.
The image of her manicured nails wrapped around the bedpost stayed with him. He wanted her hands on him, tangling in his hair, stroking his skin, caressing his penis. She was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman, and he was dizzy from craving her.
He needed to get over it. They’d set the parameters and he would abide by them. But he might not get much sleep for the next five nights while he lay across the hall from the woman who’d given him the most fantastic night of his life.
There. He’d admitted that making love with Tyler in the hayloft had topped anything he’d experienced with any other woman, including Crystal. The spectacular nature of that experience had been neatly contained in one night of craziness, but the situation wasn’t so neat anymore.
Obviously he was still wildly attracted to her, and the force of that attraction made him a little nervous. Ultimately, he’d be happier if he kept away from her. The more time he spent with her, the more right she’d feel and the more he’d want her to be his forever girl. And she couldn’t be.
Chapter Three
Tyler hung on to the bedpost to keep herself from walking right into Alex’s arms. Her strong response to him scared her a little. No, it scared her a lot. She hadn’t planned on this kind of complication.
Releasing her hold on the bedpost, she walked over to her suitcase, her legs trembling from the adrenaline rush of wanting Alex. Maybe she should leave, catch a flight out of Jackson and return to her little apartment in L.A. Then her longing for Alex Keller couldn’t possibly create a detour on her carefully charted course.
She couldn’t leave, though. Morgan would be crushed, and Morgan was the person Tyler had come here for. When Tyler had walked into baggage claim at the airport and caught sight of Morgan waiting for her, they’d both squealed and jumped up and down like teenagers. Their hug had been awkward because of Morgan’s big belly, but that hug might have been the happiest, and the most tearful one, they’d ever shared.
No, Tyler couldn’t pack up her marbles and go home just because Alex happened to be living here and he tempted her with the kind of bone-deep commitment that might make her forget all about her promotion opportunity. Unzipping her suitcase, she rummaged through it looking for jeans and a T-shirt, both of which she’d bought last week for this trip to the ranch.
She loved her job, loved the challenge of making a ship full of passengers happy while seeing the world she’d always dreamed of as a child. As a bonus, she could afford nice clothes and regular trips to the ship’s beauty salon. She’d been raised to dismiss such things as unimportant, but her parents’ disdain for material wealth had meant their kids never wore anything new and got haircuts at home.
Tyler agreed that character was more important than outward appearance, but she couldn’t see anything wrong with being a worthwhile person who happened to be well dressed and well groomed. In the first place her job demanded it, and in the second place, looking good didn’t mean she was shallow and materialistic.
Once she’d left home—or rather, the wildly painted van that had been a home on wheels for her entire childhood—she’d vowed to find a profession that allowed her to buy pretty clothes and patronize a good salon. And travel well. She adored seeing new places and having new experiences, but she never wanted to camp out again as long as she lived.
The cruise business was a perfect fit for her, with the tiny exception of having no room for a man in her packed schedule. Alex had quickly uncovered the one disadvantage to her chosen lifestyle. That might be another reason the night with him in the hayloft sparkled so brilliantly in her memory. She hadn’t had many such experiences since taking a job with the cruise company.
She’d have to figure out how to fill that lack, but now wasn’t the time to worry about it. She was one world cruise away from nailing the job she’d coveted from the beginning—cruise director. Sure, it would be more responsibility, but she had tons of ideas and the job would give her the authority to act on them.
Tossing her dress on the bed and taking off her sandals, she put on the snug jeans and formfitting yellow T-shirt with the scoop neck. She hadn’t brought anything baggy to wear because baggy wasn’t her style. As a kid she’d been forced to wear clothes that didn’t quite fit, so now she chose outfits that showed off her figure.
Alex might think she did that to attract a man, but that wasn’t really her goal. She bought the outfits to please herself. She’d spent too much time as a child hating the shabby girl she saw every day in the mirror.
Once she’d put on socks and running shoes, she took a deep breath. Then she opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the hall. Alex leaned against the opposite wall, arms crossed as he waited for her, long legs stretched out, a tooled belt that drew attention to his narrow hips, and a chambray shirt that emphasized his broad chest and wide shoulders. Her heart rate kicked up. She couldn’t help that automatic reaction, but she didn’t have to give in to its power.
Male appreciation flickered in his gaze before he pushed himself away from the wall. His expression became a careful mask. “Ready?”
“Show me what you’ve got.”
He laughed. “You might want to rephrase that.”
“Is everything between us going to turn into a sexual joke? Because that won’t work.”
He started toward the stairs. “I’ll try to do better if you’ll try to avoid saying things like show me what you’ve got. You have to admit that line begged to be turned into something suggestive.”
“I was referring to your...oh, never mind.” She descended the winding staircase beside him, her palm sliding down a banister smoothed by countless other hands, and possibly a few fannies, too. The house and its history fascinated her. That kind of permanence and connection between generations was foreign, almost exotic, and she’d learned to appreciate exotic experiences during her travels.
She glanced down into the living room with its leather furniture grouped around the massive fireplace, and remembered that Alex was missing two of his three canopies for the open house. “Were you planning to make use of this space tomorrow?”
“I hadn’t thought I would. This area seems more private. I’ve called the event an open house, but I wasn’t really figuring on opening the actual house, just the grounds and the barn.”
“If it rains, you might not have that luxury. How would Sarah feel about extending the event into the living room and possibly the dining room?”
“I don’t know, but let’s see if there are alternatives before we ask her. She might agree, but I doubt if the Chance brothers would like it. They’re protective about this house.”
Tyler paused at the foot of the stairs to glance around. “I can understand that. I—”
She was interrupted as the front door opened. A blast of cool air was followed by a broad-shouldered cowboy sporting a sandy-colored mustache. Until he took off his hat, Tyler didn’t recognize that he was her brother-in-law, Gabe. She hadn’t seen him since the wedding last August, and apparently he’d decided to grow a mustache over the winter months.
“Tyler!” He pulled her into a quick hug scented with horse and dust. “Thanks for coming. Morgan sounded so excited when I talked to her. I know it means the world to her that you made the effort.”
“I’m glad it worked out.” She stepped back and smiled at him. “I can tell you’re treating her right. She’s really happy.”
“I hope so.” Gabe turned and hooked his hat on a rack standing beside the front door. “We didn’t plan for her to get pregnant this quick, but...” He shrugged.
“She doesn’t seem to mind a bit.”
Gabe scrubbed a hand through his hair, which bore the imprint of his hat. “No, she really doesn’t, and I can’t tell you how relieved I am about that. When we first got together she wasn’t sure she ever wanted kids.” He glanced over at Alex. “Looks like the two of you were headed outside.”
“That was the plan,” Alex said.
“Then you’d better get going. The clouds are moving in.”
“We’ll go fast,” Tyler said. “I just want a quick overview.”
Gabe looked puzzled. “Of what?”
“She’s going to save my ass,” Alex said. “Some of my plans for tomorrow have fallen through, but as luck would have it, an activities director from a major cruise line just showed up and offered to help me put on this shindig.”
“That’s the Chance luck working for you,” Gabe said.
“But I’m not a Chance.”
Gabe clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re part of the family, so that makes you an honorary Chance. As such, you might as well learn the family motto handed down from Grandpa Archie.”
“Which is?”
“Chance men are lucky when it counts.”
Alex sent the briefest glance toward Tyler. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Tyler waited until they were out the door and standing on the covered porch before she commented. “I saw that look.”
“What look?” Alex had grabbed a gray felt cowboy hat from the same rack Gabe had used. Holding it by the crown, he settled it on his head with practiced ease.
“The look you gave me when Gabe told you about the family motto. Just to be clear, the motto is ‘Chance men are lucky,’ not ‘Chance men get lucky.’” But, oh, man, he’d increased his odds exponentially by adding the hat. She couldn’t say what it was about a guy in a Stetson, but wearing one sure did multiply the sexy factor.
Alex laughed. “What made you think I had any such thoughts?”
“Are you saying you didn’t?”
He gazed at her for a moment before answering with a brief smile. Then he turned to study the darkening sky. A tug on the brim of his hat brought it lower over his eyes. “We need to take that tour of the ranch ASAP before the storm hits.”
Tyler’s breath caught. The hat was a sexy addition, but when Alex took hold of the brim and pulled it down, she melted. One little innocent gesture created a soul-stirring image of courage and purpose, of protecting the weak, and shoot-outs in the middle of a dusty street at high noon.
That simple movement made Alex seem more focused and intense, even a little bit dangerous. No doubt about it, there was something compelling about a guy wearing a cowboy hat. For a gorgeous specimen like Alex, it was almost overkill.
She took a deep breath of air that already smelled of rain. “Lead on.” She followed him down the porch steps.
Once they moved away from the shelter of the two-story ranch house, the wind cut through the light cotton of her T-shirt.
“The hands set up bleachers over by the largest corral.” Alex pointed to a spot where a small set of metal bleachers had been erected. “I’d planned to protect the guests with a canopy, but now I only have one, and the food and beverages should be under cover, either for shade or rain protection.”
“Let’s check out the barn.” She started toward the large hip-roofed structure that was the biggest building on the property outside of the main house. “There should be places in there where people can get in out of the rain.”
“At least it’s clean as a whistle. The hands have been working on it all day. They’ll go through again first thing in the morning, but they’ve put down fresh straw everywhere and set out some fresh hay bales, which can be used for seating.”
“I can smell the hay from here.” And the scent turned her on. She still had a three-inch piece of it she’d plucked from the mounds scattered in the hayloft. It sat on a shelf along with her collection of souvenirs from her travels, and every once in a while she’d pick it up and sniff it. The aroma was fading, but her memories of Alex never had.
Last August as she and Alex had gathered up their clothes in preparation for leaving, Alex had explained that the ranch had outgrown the capacity of the hayloft and it was now strictly ornamental. A hay barn held the bales that supplied the ranch animals. But the old barn was the only structure left of the original ranch buildings, and so the Chance brothers threw some loose hay up in the loft every spring because their father had liked the picturesque way it looked.
The romance of that tradition had appealed to Tyler. She’d wondered if Jonathan Chance had enjoyed an episode or two in the hayloft himself. She’d asked Alex, but he hadn’t known much about the family secrets at that point. Now that he was an honorary Chance, he might.
Two dogs were stretched out in front of the barn, one on either side of the open door. Tyler remembered them from her first visit last summer. At Alex and Tyler’s approach, the dogs lifted their heads and thumped their tails in the dirt.
“Hey, Butch.” Alex leaned toward the dog on the right side of the door. Butch was medium-size, with a short tan-and-white coat and a snub nose. Alex scratched behind Butch’s ears and the dog’s tail thumped faster.
“Right. This other one’s Sundance.” Tyler figured the dog on the left, all black with slightly curly hair, was her responsibility to pet. “Hi, Sundance.” She stroked the dog’s silky head. Dogs would have been a luxury when she was growing up, so she’d never had one, or a cat, either. She liked animals, but she wasn’t used to them.
If an animal rooted a person to one spot, and Tyler thought maybe they did, then the Chance family must really be rooted with all the ones they had around here. Besides the horses, they had these dogs, a few barn cats and at least one goat, if she remembered correctly. Last summer she’d been a bridesmaid, so she’d been concentrating on the wedding instead of cataloguing the animals, so she could be wrong about the goat.
She certainly remembered the hayloft, though. The details of that area were permanently recorded in high def, probably even 3-D, and the movie flickered in her head every time she looked at Alex. Even if they never touched again, she would never forget those glorious hours in his arms.
Another gust of wind whipped up the dust at their feet and would have blown off Alex’s hat if he hadn’t grabbed it at the last minute. Thunder rolled overhead.
He straightened and glanced at the dark clouds hovering over the ranch. “We’d better finish up this tour and get back to the house.” He walked through the large door and flicked a switch to his right, which turned on a row of ceiling lights that ran the length of the stalls.
As Tyler followed him into the barn, the scent of fresh hay swirling around her was an aphrodisiac more tempting than she could have imagined. Her body hummed with eagerness. They’d kissed here in the barn before climbing into the hayloft. The kiss had begun as gentle exploration and had ended with enough heat to melt all her inhibitions.
The open house, she reminded herself. She was here to evaluate the space for entertainment possibilities. The barn was quiet except for the sound of horses munching their evening meal. Somewhere a horse stomped a hoof, and another blew out a noisy breath. The scent of oiled leather mixed with the aroma of hay.
“I guess all the hands headed for the bunkhouse when they saw the storm coming,” Alex said.
“Smart.” She chose not to glance over at him as they stood in the center aisle of the barn only about two feet apart. Hearing his voice in this setting reminded her of how he’d murmured in her ear as he’d undressed her, and how he’d coaxed her to new heights of pleasure during that long, glorious night.
His voice had been a big part of the attraction early on. Hearing it coming through the sound system during the reception had begun the seduction, and by the time the festivities were over and she’d suggested moving the party to the hayloft, she’d been more than ready to hear that voice in a more intimate setting.
The open house, girl! You told him you’d help him plan his party! She cleared her throat. “If you lined the center aisle with tables for food and beverages, you could sweep out a few stalls and have potential seating in those. People could meander up and down this aisle and be close to the horses, which is what you want, right?”
He didn’t answer.
“Right?” she prompted, turning to him.
“Yeah.” His tone was husky, and he gazed at her with longing in his eyes.
Her heart began to pound. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Can’t help it.” He took a step toward her.
She thought about moving back. She didn’t. “We talked about this.” But her words lacked all conviction.
“I don’t want to talk.” He reached for her.
“Me neither.” With a groan she surrendered to the kiss she’d been craving for ten long months, the kiss she’d promised herself wouldn’t happen, the kiss that was so...damn...good.
Chapter Four
Mistakes shouldn’t feel like this. Mistakes should torture a guy with regret and anxiety. But this one—and no question that it was a big mistake—filled Alex with incredible joy.
The moment he connected with Tyler’s full mouth, his world made sense again. Kissing her was, he realized, his favorite thing to do. Cancel that. His second favorite.
She nestled against him and her body aligned with his as if they’d held each other only hours ago instead of months. His body remembered the fullness of her breasts, the curve of her spine, the press of her thighs. Predictably, within seconds of beginning this mistake of a kiss, he wanted to make more mistakes, bigger mistakes, juicier and more satisfying mistakes.
Judging from the way Tyler quivered and moaned softly when he thrust his tongue into her mouth, she had the same idea. She pushed her hips forward. He was already hard, already hotter than a branding iron. Somewhere in the middle of the kiss his Stetson toppled to the barn floor, and although he’d paid good money for that hat, he wasn’t about to retrieve it now.
He was too busy to worry about a hat. He’d found his way under the back hem of her T-shirt to the clasp of her bra. Once that gave way, he slid one hand around and cupped her warm breast. Sweet heaven. How could a woman who felt so right be completely wrong for him?
She moaned again and arched into his caress. He knew in that moment that whatever they’d said while standing outside her bedroom meant nothing now. If he could figure out the logistics, she would surrender to this passion neither of them could control and she would worry about the fallout later.
Or maybe not. Gasping, she wriggled out of his arms and backed away from him. Her shirt was rumpled where her bra hung unfastened beneath it. Her breasts quivered with her rapid breathing and her eyes were heavy-lidded and dark with need. “This is crazy.”
Heart hammering, he stared at her in helpless frustration as he gulped for air. His entire groin area ached from the restriction of his jeans. “I know.”
She glanced around quickly, as if looking for something. “Did you...did you bring...”
“No.” His sudden realization that she’d stopped him because she wanted to ask about condoms sent a new surge of desire through his system. “No, damn it.”
“Then we can’t...”
He wasn’t going to let this moment pass. “You can.” He started toward her.
She shook her head and backed up. “That’s not fair.”
“Let me decide that. I’ve missed touching you.”
She took a shuddering breath. “But it’s too one-sided. If we could just do it, then we could get it out of our system.”
If he hadn’t been so jacked up on lust, he would have laughed. She was seriously kidding herself if she believed one time would satisfy them. It hadn’t the night in the hayloft and it wouldn’t now.
He closed the distance between them. “You can’t believe that.”
“That’s what I was telling myself while you were kissing me senseless.” She stepped back and bumped against the latched door of an empty stall. “It seemed like a perfectly logical idea when you were unhooking my bra and I didn’t have the self-control of a gnat.”
He groaned. “You’re torturing me.”
“I know, and that’s mean. We should just go back before this gets any—”
A loud crash and a flash of light was followed by a low rumble and the steady ping of rain on the barn’s tin roof. The dogs came in and padded over to Alex, tails wagging slowly.
“Butch, Sundance, go lie down.” He pointed to the tack room where they each had a bed.
With twin doggie sighs of resignation, they left for the tack room. When he turned back to Tyler, the rain had started to pound on the roof in earnest, and she had her hands behind her back and under her shirt as if she intended to fasten her bra. He was losing ground.
“I guess we’ll have to make a run for it,” she said.
“We could, but it’ll probably let up in a few minutes. We could wait and see if it does.”
She hesitated. “I suppose.”
“So why not stop what you’re doing and unlatch that stall door? There’s a nice bed of hay in there.”
Her lips parted and heat simmered in her gaze as it had earlier in the hallway outside her room. This time she didn’t look away. “You don’t give up, do you?”
“Not when there’s something I want.” His heartbeat hammered in his ears, almost drowning the rattle of rain on the tin roof. “I think you want the same thing.”
Her breathing quickened. “Now you’re the one torturing me.”
“I can fix that.” Please let me love you.
“Alex...”
“Tyler...” He waited, willing her to turn and unlatch that stall door, yet knowing that she might not. If she decided to run out into the rain, he’d have to run with her, because she couldn’t arrive at the house dripping wet with him nowhere around. That would look bad.
She finished hooking her bra. “I’m going to see how hard it’s coming down.” Breaking eye contact, she walked to the front of the barn.
He scooped up his hat from the floor and followed her. If she insisted on making a run for it, he’d leave his hat on a shelf beside the door rather than ruin it in the rain. But he was still hoping she’d change her mind.
She peered out the door into the gray light. Rain slanted across the landscape, blurring the outlines of the ranch house and the twin spruces in front of it. “I think we should go.”
He put his hat on the shelf by the door. “I’m warning you, you’ll get wet.”
She muttered something that sounded like I already am.
If that was an admission of how he’d affected her, he wanted to hear it again. “What was that?”
“Nothing. Let’s go.”
“Okay.” He doused the lights, and once they were both out the door, he turned and shoved it closed.
She yelped, and he swung around in time to see her land on her backside in the mud. He was beside her in three strides and leaned down to help her up. Except it didn’t work out that way. She managed to upset his balance just enough on the mud-slick ground that he went down, too. By throwing himself sideways, he avoided landing on top of her, but he had mud splattered all over his clothes.
“I’m sorry!” She scrambled to her knees, rain dripping from her hair into her face. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, other than the mud. Are you?”
“Yes, but...I don’t want to track all this into that beautiful house.”
There was a back way into the house for exactly this reason. It opened into the utility room adjoining the kitchen. There was even a narrow, seldom-used staircase that led from the kitchen to the second floor, an addition made when three growing, often dirty, boys had needed to get upstairs without making too big a mess.
But at the moment Tyler looked as if she’d entered a wet T-shirt contest. Surely any red-blooded male would forgive him for neglecting to tell her about the back entrance into the ranch’s utility room and the staircase to the second floor.
“There’s a cleanup sink in the barn,” he said. “We can go back and get the worst of it off there.”
“All right.”
He felt a little bit guilty for leading her back into the barn, but not much. When he’d kissed her a few minutes ago, she’d kissed him back. Vigorously. Vows of chastity were all well and good for some people, but he and Tyler weren’t those people. They needed each other too desperately.
Maybe they’d clean off the mud and go back to the house without anything happening. It was possible. But he couldn’t imagine four more days of nothing happening. To his way of thinking, they might as well get started now.
This time he didn’t turn on the overhead lamps. Low lights mounted near the floor were on a dusk-to-dawn sensor, and they glowed softly, illuminating the floor so they wouldn’t trip over anything and creating an ambience that suited the mood Alex hoped for. Rain hitting the tin roof added another romantic touch.
“Thanks for not turning on the lights,” Tyler said. “I’m a mess.”
“Not in my book.” Even in low light, he had a good view of her yellow shirt plastered to her body. Her nipples made dents in the soaked material, and it was all he could do not to reach for her, mud and all. But the next move needed to be hers, not his.
She slicked her wet hair back and squeezed some water out of the ends as she glanced upward. “I like the sound of rain on a tin roof.”
“Me, too.”
She met his gaze briefly and looked away. “Where’s the sink?”
“At the far end, beyond the last stall.”
Her running shoes squished as she walked down the aisle between the rows of stalls. “Is there a goat in here, too? I seem to remember something about a goat.”
“Yep, there’s a goat.” He followed her toward the back of the barn. “His name is Hornswaggled, and he shares a stall with a mare named Doozie. They’re inseparable.”
“Which stall?”
“Third from the end on the left.”
Tyler detoured over to that stall and looked in. “Sure enough. Hi, there, Doozie and Hornswaggled. How do you like this weather we’re having?”
Doozie stuck her nose over the stall door and the goat’s front hooves clacked against the wooden door as he propped himself against it to beg for his share of attention.
“They’re so friendly.” Tyler stroked Doozie’s nose with one hand and scratched the top of the goat’s head with the other.
Alex came to stand beside her. “The Last Chance prides itself on being a friendly place.”
“I’ve noticed.” She concentrated on the two animals instead of looking at him, but the color rose in her cheeks. “This horse isn’t a paint like all the others.”
“Nope. She was injured and needed a safe haven. Now she’s fine, but nobody’s willing to sell her, even if they can’t breed her.”
Dislodging Tyler’s hand, Doozie moved closer to Alex, gazing at him expectantly.
He reached out and rubbed her silky neck. “Sorry, Dooz. I don’t have any treats.”
Hornswaggled bleated softly.
“Nothing for you, either, Horny.”
Tyler groaned. “That nickname is so bad, Alex.”
“Don’t blame me. That’s what all the hands call him. He came to the ranch with that name, and nobody’s going to take the time to say all of it. Cowboys appreciate brevity.”
Tyler glanced sideways at Alex as she continued to scratch the goat’s head. “So how much of a cowboy are you these days? Do you ride the range and stuff?”
“I ride.” He liked being able to say that. “Mostly I ride Dooz. Why?”
“Just wondered. Last summer you were still a city boy. You even told me you weren’t the cowboy type, but you’re...different now.”
He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe she preferred city boys to cowboys. “How am I different?”
“Well, you dress differently, and your hair’s a little longer. Your face seems a little more chiseled, but maybe that’s because of your hair. Also, there’s something else, something harder to define, an attitude...”
“Are you saying I have an attitude?”
“Not in a bad way. It’s more like a quiet confidence.”
He was flattered, but still he had to laugh. “I just admitted a while ago that I have all kinds of doubts about this event tomorrow. That doesn’t seem like quiet confidence to me.”
“This isn’t about your job, it’s about...your...” She took a deep breath. “It’s about your sex appeal, okay? I have no business talking about it, because it will only make me want to do things I shouldn’t do.” She moved away from the stall door. “Where’s that sink?” She started toward the end of the barn. “We need to get cleaned up and go back to the house. Dinner is probably ready, and I—”
He spun her around and pulled her into his arms, mud and all. “Let’s do those things.” Then he kissed her, knowing that she would kiss him back, knowing that this time he would take that kiss where he wanted it to go, and she would let him.
Her mouth tasted of rain and desire, and he knew the rest of her would, too. Heart pounding with anticipation, he began to strip her down, peeling her T-shirt over her head, unhooking her soaked bra, unbuttoning her jeans. He encouraged her to help him in a voice hoarse with need.
She did, nudging off her shoes, kicking away her wet jeans, shimmying out of her panties. He warmed her chilled skin with his mouth and his hands—stroking, licking, kissing every fondly remembered inch of her. She moaned and quivered in his grasp.
Her moan of delight was the music he’d yearned to hear for ten long months. One night was all they’d had together, and yet his feelings for her were so damn strong. She seemed to be as caught up in the whirlwind as he was. When he closed his mouth over her taut nipple, she arched into him and held the back of his head, tunneling her fingers through his wet hair as he sucked.
The tempo of the rain increased, urging him on. As her body warmed, he moved lower. Finally he sank to his knees and cupped her satiny bottom in both hands. Ah, the scent of heaven—Tyler, fully aroused, wanting him as much as he wanted her. He couldn’t imagine anything better than that.
His tongue remembered her exotic taste and knew the way to her sweet spot. There, waiting for him, needing him. He touched the tip of his tongue to her clit. She gasped and clutched his head for balance. But she did not pull back, did not tell him no. She was willing to be vulnerable and let him love her, at least for this moment in time.
Filled with gratitude, he took her, claiming her with an open mouth and a questing tongue. She was slick with passion, and he savored the richness of her desire. Her soft cries of delight spilled over him as he stroked rhythmically with his tongue in time to the steady beat of the rain overhead. He would give her this, even if they could share nothing else.
She began to tremble, and he used more pressure. With a groan that spoke of intense pleasure, she came, bathing his tongue in her juices. He drank joyfully, holding her, supporting her so she wouldn’t fall.
At last her body grew quiet and she drew in a shaky breath. “Oh, Alex.” She said his name on a sigh of happiness.
He couldn’t ask for a better response than that. Slowly he stood, sliding his hands up her body as he rose to his feet. His legs were rubbery from the rush of adrenaline, and his cock was absolutely killing him. But a cowboy filled with quiet confidence would be stoic about such things.
Once they were face-to-face again, she looked into his eyes. “That was...” Her breath caught. “So good.”
“Glad you liked it.” He stroked her back as she nestled against him. He loved the transformation when a woman had a climax, and he especially loved watching Tyler lose every bit of the tension she’d held in her body. Having a work ethic like hers could take its toll. He should know.
“Mmm.” She rested her cheek against his damp shirt. “I don’t know what the heck I was thinking, letting you strip me naked and make me come.”
“That you needed that?”
“I suppose. Anyway, I’m going to listen to the music of the rain and pretend it was fate.”
“Good.” He caressed her smooth skin, which was something he probably should stop doing, because the more he touched her, the harder he became.
“So what now?”
He frowned, wishing he had a better solution for the next phase. “Unfortunately, we probably need to sponge the mud off our clothes and go back.”
“I don’t think you’re ready to go back.”
“It’s not that I want to, but—”
She wiggled against him. “I’m not talking about whether you want to or not. I don’t think you can do it physically.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m worried that in your condition, you’ll have trouble walking.” She reached down and rubbed the spot where the seam of his fly was threatening to give way under the pressure.
He drew in a sharp breath as her casual touch brought pleasure laced with pain. “I’ll be fine.” But his quick words sounded as strained as he felt.
“Yes, you will be fine. Very fine. I’ll see to it.” She stepped back and maintained eye contact as she used both hands to unbuckle his belt.
His heart thundered with anticipation, and yet she’d have to get to her knees on the barn floor. He grasped her wrists. “No.”
“If you can do me, then I sure as heck can do you.”
He held her fast, refusing to let her continue with her plan. “It’s different. I had on jeans when I got down there.”
“No worries.” Glancing at the floor, she stretched out one shapely leg and used her elegantly polished toes to drag her crumpled jeans over to rest at her feet. “Voilà.”
Then she met his gaze again. “Happy now?”
He groaned softly. “I think I’m about to be.” He released her wrists with a sigh.
“You betcha, cowboy. Now hold still.”
He tried, but watching her unbutton his fly and pull down his briefs gave him the shakes. Her soft murmur of admiration nearly made him come, and when she put both hands on him—one circling his cock and the other cradling his balls—he had to close his eyes and lock his knees in order to remain standing.
Fabric rustled, and he knew she must have knelt on her jeans, but he didn’t dare open his eyes. The sight of her there, poised for the next step, would be enough to send him over the edge. He’d made it this far, and he wanted...oh, yes...that...the flick of her tongue, the warmth of her mouth, the gentle suction...
He wouldn’t last long. The sensation was erotic by itself, but knowing that Tyler was the one caressing him drove him slowly insane. He’d wanted her for so long, and now she was here, on her knees...
Even though he clenched his jaw, attempting to be the strong, silent type, a moan escaped. And another. He was breathing like a long-distance runner nearing the finish line.
And he was nearing the finish line. Her tongue danced along the underside of his cock, and then she did a swirling maneuver over the tip before taking him deep again. His penis touched the back of her throat.
And now he wanted to see. Opening his eyes, he took in the stirring sight of her drawing back, her cheeks hollowing to increase the pressure. Slowly she rolled his balls in the palm of her hand, creating a subtle yet powerful massage.
Dizzy with the need to come, yet desperate to prolong the ecstasy because this might never happen again, he combed shaking fingers through her luxurious hair, keeping his touch light even though she was winding him tight...and tighter yet. Once again she took him up to the hilt and slowly pulled back.
He was losing the fight. Control began slipping away as she used her tongue again before pulling his entire length deep inside. While holding him there and applying rhythmic suction, she pressed a ridge directly behind his balls...and he came in a rush. His surrender was total and vocal. He cried out and was very afraid his knees would buckle.
But, in truth, his center of gravity was buried in her mouth, which was the only logical reason he didn’t fall down as a climax roared through him with the force of a tsunami. The movement of her throat as she swallowed sent a current of electricity from his cock straight up his spine to short-circuit his brain.
He had no idea how much time passed before she slowly released him and gently tucked him back into his briefs. When she got to her feet, he took a long, shuddering breath and tried to remember his name.
She cupped his face in both hands and stood on tiptoe to kiss him. “I think you liked that.”
“That...” He paused to clear his throat. “That is the understatement of the year.” Sliding his fingers through her still-wet hair, he cradled her head and gazed into her shining eyes. “I’m afraid our plan to avoid sex is a total failure.”
“You could say that.”
“So I guess we need a new plan.”
“All right.” Her gaze was steady. “How about great sex with no strings and no regrets?”
He nodded. “Might as well aim high.”
“We can do it. We managed it last time.” She said it with conviction, in the same tone she’d used when she’d assured him his event tomorrow would work out. He couldn’t deny that her sunny approach to life appealed to him.
“Sure we can.” He agreed with her because he had no choice. He’d craved her from the moment he’d laid eyes on her ten months ago. Now that she was within reach, he wanted to be with her day and night—especially night. If he felt any strings tugging at his heart as a result of spending time in her arms and in her bed, he’d just have to cut them.
Although she wasn’t truly like Crystal, other than the fact that they both liked looking good, she still wanted a different life from the one he envisioned for himself. Good sex didn’t mean he had to let himself fall for the woman, no matter how sunny her disposition was. Right.
Chapter Five
Tyler cleaned up as best she could before they left the barn, but her wet clothes felt icky and no doubt she resembled a half-drowned cat. The rain continued to fall, soaking her hair and clothes even more, although Alex tried to shield her with his body. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she slid her arm around his waist as they started toward the house.
Normally she cared a lot about how she presented herself, but a world-shattering orgasm had mellowed her out tremendously. Even so, she still didn’t like the idea of tracking the rain and mud onto the ranch’s gorgeous hardwood floors.
“Are you sure there’s no back entrance that leads to a mudroom?” she asked as they approached the front porch. “I’d think a ranch would have something like that.”
“Um...well, it does.”
“It does? Then why didn’t you say so before?”
No answer.
She gave him a whack on the arm, but considering how solid his biceps were, she didn’t think he felt much of anything.
He yelped in protest, anyway. “What was that for?”
“You know perfectly well! You lured me back into that barn on false pretenses!”
“Maybe.” He didn’t sound the least bit repentant. “Mad at me?”
“I should be. That was a very underhanded way to get me alone and naked.” She heard the smile in her voice and was sure he could hear it, too.
“You’re right. I’m thoroughly ashamed of myself.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet you are.”
“I deserve to be sent straight to bed.”
She laughed. “Stop it. We have things to do.”
“We certainly do.” He walked faster, urging her to keep up. “For one thing, I need to count the condoms stashed in my bedside-table drawer.”
“You’re getting carried away.” And she was getting carried away right with him. Her wet panties had nothing to do with the rain and everything to do with the prospect of spending the night in bed with Alex.
Warnings whispered through her mind, threatening to erase her glow of satisfaction, and she pushed them away. Good sex was healthy and life affirming, like a trip to a spa. She’d soak up all the joy she could and not spoil it by anticipating the inevitable parting scene. It wouldn’t rip her heart out. She wouldn’t allow that.
“Getting carried away feels great,” Alex said. “I haven’t felt this good since...”
“Last August?” That would have been her answer. She hadn’t felt this giddy since the night in the hayloft.
“’Fraid so. But that doesn’t mean I’ll get hung up on you. I can play by the rules.”
“I know you can,” she said with determined optimism. “It was naive of us to think we could keep our distance from each other while I’m here. I think facing the attraction and dealing with it is a realistic approach, don’t you?”
“Absolutely. We both would have been on edge the entire time, which wouldn’t have been fair to everyone around us.”
“Right.” She glanced at the ranch house as welcoming light shone through its many windows. “So where is this back entrance?”
“In the back.”
“Very funny. Why are you still heading for the front door?”
“Because the utility room is right off the kitchen. Not only will we run into Mary Lou serving dinner, but the family dining room isn’t far from the kitchen. Judging from the trucks parked in the driveway, everyone is gathered for the Friday night meal. Someone will hear us.”
“But what about the mess we’ll make in the main part of the house?”
“We’ll take off our shoes—or in my case, my boots, on the porch. It’s not that far to go through the hall and up the stairs. We can change clothes and come back down with nobody the wiser.”
“I doubt that. I say somebody’s going to pick up on the fact that we have more than friendship going on.”
He pulled her to a halt. “And how do you feel about that?”
“It’s not for me to say. I’ll be leaving on Wednesday.” She gazed up at him as rain dripped from her hair and eyelashes. Thank God for waterproof mascara. Although the rest of her might be a disaster, at least she wouldn’t go into the house with raccoon eyes. “I guess we need to discuss this. Do you care if they figure out that we’re involved?”
He hesitated briefly. “I guess it’s none of their business unless it affects my work.”
He was so adorably sincere that she chose not to mention how it had already affected his work. They still didn’t have a plan for tomorrow. She’d make sure they did have one, but they’d become seriously sidetracked from working out the details of the open house.
“It may be nobody’s business,” she said, “but we each have a sister sitting at the dining table. I don’t know about your family, but mine tends to think they have a right to an opinion about my behavior.”
Alex combed his wet hair back from his forehead. “I’m sure Josie will say something to me. I made plenty of comments when she started seeing Jack, who had already broken her heart once. Okay, you’re right. Let’s get this out of the way. Josie will notice eventually, anyway.”
“I’m not sure if Morgan will or not. She’s so focused on this baby that she might be oblivious, but Sarah’s nobody’s fool. I get the impression she keeps pretty close track of what goes on around here.”
“She does.” He frowned. “In fact, I wonder if she already suspects something and that’s why she put us in the same wing...”
“You think she’s playing matchmaker?”
“No, probably not.”
“I don’t think so, either. She seemed really happy for me that I was up for this big promotion. Anyway, we won’t confirm or deny that we have a connection and let people think whatever they want. But let’s not sneak in as if we have something to hide.”
He nodded. “The back door it is. There’s a stairway from the kitchen to the second floor, so we can go up that way to change. If anybody intercepts us, so be it.” Wrapping his arm more securely around her, he started around the house.
“We have been out in the barn a fair amount of time, though.”
“So?”
“So rather than let their imaginations run completely wild, let’s tell them we’ve been cooking up alternate plans for the open house while we waited for the rain to stop. Finally we realized it wasn’t going to stop and came ahead.”
“All right.” He navigated around a puddle. “By the way, do you have any alternate plans for the open house? Because I have zip.”
She noticed that the rain had let up a little, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t start up again during the night. “The barn is definitely an option, but I still think we need to suggest using the living room and the big dining room.”
“I thought you were worried about tracking up the floors just now? If you open up the main house and it’s raining, that will—”
“Oh, geez.” Talk about being distracted and missing the big picture. “Okay, scratch that. I’ll figure out something else. Maybe it won’t rain all that much.”
“We can hope. But what about the entertainment? I’m not sure one lone guitar player is going to cut it, especially if he has to be talked into performing. I wanted something guests could have fun watching.”
Now that she had worked out. “They can watch me.”
“You? Doing what?”
Spinning away from him, she threw her hands in the air and belted out the opening lyrics to “Oklahoma.”
He grinned at her. “I didn’t know you could sing.”
“There are lots of things you don’t know about me, Mr. Keller. An activities director on a cruise ship has to wear many hats, and being able to sing and dance is a great thing to have on a résumé in my line of work.” She executed a sloppy soft-shoe routine in the wet grass and finished with a little bow.
“You are so stinkin’ cute.”
“Yes, but do I get the job? Will you hire me as your entertainment for tomorrow’s event? Me and Watkins, the reluctant guitarist?”
“Maybe. I know I can afford Watkins, but you’re a professional. I don’t know if I can afford you.”
“Sure you can. I will work for...” She stepped closer and whispered a suggestion involving whipped cream and chocolate sauce.
He pulled her in tight, their wet clothes sticking together like Velcro. “To hell with making an entrance and having dinner with the family. Let’s head back to the barn.”
“Hey, you two,” called a male voice. “Don’t you have sense enough to come in out of the rain?”
Alex released her immediately. “Hey, Jack.”
Tyler knew it had to be one of the Chance brothers who’d opened the screen door, but when she looked at the figure silhouetted against the light she wouldn’t have been able to say which one it was. They sounded similar and all had the same broad-shouldered cowboy look. Apparently it was Jack, the oldest.
“We’ll be right in,” Alex said. “We were just—”
“I was practicing a number for tomorrow,” Tyler said. “Watkins and I will be filling in for the country band that canceled on Alex. We’re going to give the entertainment a down-home feel.” She remembered Jack as being dark haired and moody, but according to Morgan, his disposition had improved since marrying Josie.
“The band canceled?”
“Afraid so,” Alex said. “About two hours ago.”
“I see. So are you also part of this number Tyler’s practicing?”
Tyler realized Jack probably had witnessed the clinch. “We were discussing that,” she said. “But I think not. He’s not much of a dancer.”
Jack chuckled. “I know he can’t dance, but he tries.”
“I’m not that bad of a dancer,” Alex said. “It’s just that all the Chance guys are like semiprofessional or something.”
Tyler had noticed that family trait last summer and remarked on it. Sarah had told her they all took after their father, who was the best dancer she’d ever known. “Maybe I should let you help me with the entertainment for tomorrow, Jack.”
“No can do. I’ll have my hands full working with the horses. But you sounded great just now. I happened to hear you when I went to fetch myself a beer in the kitchen, and I was curious enough to stick my head out the door. Was that ‘Oklahoma’?”
“Yes.”
“Unfortunately the Last Chance is located in Wyoming. You know any songs about Wyoming?”
“No.”
“Guess I’ll have to teach you some, then. Alex, you might want to think about bringing your talent inside before she catches her death out there.”
“We were heading in when Tyler decided she needed to audition for me,” Alex said.
“Uh-huh. Well, Tyler, you’ve got a helluva voice.”
“Thank you.”
“Wrong tune, but helluva voice. Can we afford her, Alex?”
Alex’s voice sounded choked. “I... Yeah, we should be able to meet her terms.”
“Good to know. See you two inside.”
The screen door banged shut and Alex lost it, doubling over and shaking with silent laughter. “Good God,” he said, gasping. “If Jack only knew...what you named as your fee...” He gazed at her, still chuckling.
She smiled at him. “This way I won’t have to claim it on my taxes.”
“Yeah, I doubt there’s a line item for being served up like an ice-cream sundae.” He looked at her as if he’d like to start immediately. “Have you had sex with whipped cream before?”
“No, but I’ve always wanted to try it. Assuming you can smuggle stuff out of the kitchen.”
“Don’t worry about that. All you have to be concerned with is keeping the noise level down while I drive you crazy.”
“Do you have whipped cream experience, then?”
“No.” He winked at her. “But I’ve always wanted to try it. Shall we go in?”
“Okay. How do I look?”
“Beautiful.”
“Liar.”
“It’s not a lie. You look like a woman who’s been having fun, and that’s always sexy to me.”
“I have been having fun.” She gave him a quick kiss. “And I intend to have even more fun later on tonight.” Then she started for the stairs leading to the back door.
“Damn, but you’re hot, Tyler O’Connelli.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “You’re no icicle yourself, Alex Keller.”
* * *
SPEAKING OF ICICLES, Alex could have used one to shove down his pants before he followed Tyler and her tight little tush into the house. The woman turned him inside out. She was right that they could never have managed four more days without falling into bed with each other.
Now that the dam had broken and they were committed to squeezing all the pleasure they could out of this time, he would ignore the ticking clock and make the most of every second he had with her. Of course, he wanted her all to himself 24/7, but that wouldn’t be happening.
They were both committed to making the open house a success, and that would take up a chunk of time. Besides that, Tyler had come here to see Morgan, so whenever Morgan was around, Alex would back off.
And he could start now. Morgan met them at the door and ushered them into the room containing two large-capacity washers and a matching pair of dryers.
“Jack said you two got caught in the rain.” Morgan’s smile was merry, but her gaze was assessing. “I see he wasn’t kidding.”
“We’re soaked and we’re muddy,” Tyler said. “We didn’t want to track all through the house like this, so—”
“Stay right there, both of you,” Morgan said. “I’ll ask Sarah for a couple of bathrobes.”
Alex pulled off his boots and his wet socks. “She has an idea something’s going on,” he said in an undertone.
“It’s fine. I’ll talk with her. She knows this cruise job doesn’t give me much opportunity to date. She’ll understand.”
“Probably.” But he noticed Tyler didn’t sound quite as confident as she had out there in the rain. Neither was he. He wasn’t looking forward to dealing with Josie’s questions.
Last summer he’d tried to protect his sister from Jack, who had previously dumped her. Obviously Jack had learned the error of his ways and now spent all his time proving to Josie how much he loved her, but Alex hadn’t known it would turn out that way.
Josie wouldn’t approve of Alex having a temporary fling with Tyler any more than Alex had liked Josie hooking up with Jack. She’d see it as a heartache waiting to happen, and he couldn’t promise her it wasn’t. He couldn’t very well claim to know what he was doing, either, considering that his marriage had failed miserably.
Maybe he’d steer clear of Josie for the next four days. That wouldn’t be easy, but it wouldn’t be impossible, either. He’d be involved in the open house tomorrow and the cleanup on Sunday. Josie liked to spend most of her weekend at the Spirits and Spurs because that’s when the employees needed her the most.
But Friday nights were reserved for the Chance family to gather at the ranch house, and the hum of conversation and occasional bursts of laughter coming from the dining room told him the meal was in full swing. Josie would be sitting next to Jack and no doubt she’d already pumped her husband for information. She might try to corner Alex before the evening was over.
“Morgan said we need a couple of robes in here.” Sarah walked into the utility room with two white terry bathrobes over her arm. Her eyes widened. “Good Lord, what happened to you two? Did you fall in the mud or what?”
“Something like that,” Alex said.
“It was my fault.” Tyler scrubbed her hair back from her face. “I made a run for it and slipped in the mud. Then Alex tried to help me up and I caused him to lose his balance. I’m sure we looked like Laurel and Hardy out there.”
“Well, here’s a robe for each of you.” She handed one to Tyler before giving Alex his. “You should just leave your wet stuff here. Alex, turn your back while Tyler gets out of her clothes.”
He couldn’t very well say that he’d already seen Tyler naked quite recently, so he turned around and began unfastening the snaps down the front of his denim shirt. He could hear Tyler and Sarah murmuring behind him and the rustle of clothing.
“All clear,” Sarah said in a louder voice. “You can turn around now, Alex.”
He turned. Tyler’s clothes were piled on the top of one of the washers and she stood there wrapped up tight in the terry robe.
The robe was bulky and too big, so it completely disguised her figure. Alex shouldn’t have found a single thing to be turned on about, except that her feet were bare, and the polish on her sexy toes gleamed in the overhead light. His fevered brain kicked into fantasy mode again.
“There’s a door in the kitchen to the right of the stove, Tyler.” Sarah pointed in that direction. “Behind it is a stairway that will take you to the second floor. The boys used that route all the time when they’d come in from the corral. You have towels up there, right?”
Tyler nodded. “Alex brought me some.”
“You don’t have a private bath, I’m afraid. You’ll have to share the hall bath with Alex, so you might as well take off and get a head start.”
“I will, and thank you. Sorry to be so much trouble.”
“It’s no trouble, sweetie. Jack says you’re going to pair up with Watkins to provide the entertainment for the open house tomorrow, which is a huge help. I feel guilty making you work on your vacation. I hope Alex is paying you well for that.”
“Don’t worry. He is.”
Alex covered his reaction with a coughing fit as Tyler, cheeks pink, quickly left the room.
“Oh, dear.” Sarah peered at him. “I hope you’re not getting sick.”
“I’m fine. Just swallowed wrong.”
“Listen, it’s not my place to interfere, but I think that girl is extremely focused on getting her promotion. And I don’t blame her. That’s impressive, being named a cruise director at her age.”
Alex gazed into Sarah’s blue eyes, so much like Gabe’s. Although Sarah was a devoted mother to all three men, Gabe was her only biological child. Jack had been four when she’d married his father, and then baby Nick had appeared on the doorstep, the unexpected result of Jonathan’s affair in the period between his divorce from Jack’s mother and meeting Sarah. Sarah had accepted all three boys as hers to raise. In fact, she was fast becoming a second mother to him, as well.
“I know Tyler’s dedicated to her career,” Alex said. “And I think that’s great.”
“It is great. People should have jobs they love.” Sarah laid a hand on his damp sleeve. “But it means she won’t be sticking around here.”
“No, she won’t. I understand that, too.”
Sarah squeezed his arm and let go. “I hope you do, because I’ve seen the way you look at each other.”
“It’ll be okay.” He was touched by the gentle nature of her concern. No doubt Josie’s warnings would come across like air-raid sirens.
“I probably shouldn’t have put her right across the hall from you, but I didn’t realize there was something going on between you two. Did it start last August?”
“Yeah.”
“I wondered after I thought about your reaction when she showed up here today. She’s a nice girl, and if I thought she’d consider staying, I’d be matchmaking like crazy. But she won’t, so I want you to be careful.”
“Thanks, Sarah.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I will.” Which was a damn lie, because it was too late to be careful. And he had a problem.
He could have dealt with the loss of great sex when Tyler left next week. He might not have been happy about it, but he could have managed.
Unfortunately for him, she’d chosen to sing “Oklahoma” in the middle of a rainstorm, and then she’d finished off her performance with a few dance steps. Watching her take that little bow, he’d felt his heart slip-sliding away. Halting that slide would be a real trick, but he’d have to try for both their sakes.
Chapter Six
Tyler thought about waiting for Alex before going down to dinner and decided against it. They were liable to catch enough flak for their flimsy caught-in-the-rain story, so she’d demonstrate to the family that she and Alex weren’t joined at the hip. She hoped they’d be joining different body parts later in the evening, but she’d like the next hour or so to be strictly PG-13.
She’d put on a clean pair of jeans and a black V-neck shirt. Then she added her turquoise necklace and earrings because...because she liked looking good. At times she wondered if she was too hung up on that.
Her job demanded that she be well groomed, and she’d always appreciated having a reason to dress well. But, to her surprise, she’d had fun getting all muddy and bedraggled. That would happen a lot on a ranch, where appearance wouldn’t count as much as performance.
She contemplated that as an appealing change of pace and discovered she didn’t recoil the way she might have a couple of years ago. She loved her job. She did. But sometimes the constant need to look great wore on her. She’d never admitted that to herself before.
As she descended the wide staircase to the first floor, she ran her hand along the banister again. Without Alex as a distraction, she could pause a moment and take in the welcoming sight of roomy leather chairs facing a gigantic rock fireplace. Framed family photographs lined the wooden mantel. A paperback lay on a small wooden table beside one of the chairs, as if someone had been quietly reading there and had left the book, planning to settle in for another relaxing moment later.
Home. The word hadn’t meant much to Tyler over the years. Home had been a battered van until she’d moved out on her own. She couldn’t call her tiny apartment home because she spent so little time there. Her collection of souvenirs was the only thing that marked it as hers. The cruise ship was luxurious, but it was where she worked. It wasn’t home, either.
The Last Chance represented home to Morgan now. Tyler had thought her sister was crazy to tie herself to a man and then compound that by getting pregnant. Both Morgan and Tyler had witnessed how marriage and kids had absorbed nearly all their mother’s time, giving her no chance to develop other interests or have a career.
But Morgan wouldn’t be living the kind of life their mother had lived. Morgan would have a house and plenty of relatives around to help babysit. It wouldn’t have to fall to the older siblings the way it had to Morgan and Tyler.
She’d taken Tyler on a quick tour before bringing her over here. Although Morgan’s home wouldn’t be quite this grand, it would be filled with light and space. It would be—no, it already was—a home.
Tyler pushed aside a prick of envy. She had the life she wanted, and it would only get better once she became a cruise director with the freedom to direct every aspect of the cruise experience. Someday in the far distant future she might want a home, but not yet, not when her dream was within reach.
Her route to the dining room took her down the same hallway she’d walked with Alex that afternoon. The left side was a wall of windows that provided a view of the Tetons during the day. Now the glass reflected the light from two wall sconces and the image of Tyler moving down the hall.
The right wall was covered with more framed family pictures, including some that looked as if they’d been taken fifty or sixty years ago. The O’Connelli family’s vagabond lifestyle hadn’t allowed for this kind of display. There had never been a wall available, and even a scrapbook would have been something to haul around and keep track of.
Tyler paused when she realized new pictures had been added, with people she knew well. She found a wedding shot of Morgan and Gabe, and another one of the entire wedding party, her included. Morgan hadn’t offered her a copy, probably because she hadn’t expected Tyler to want one. Keeping pictures around wasn’t exactly an O’Connelli tradition.
It was obviously a Chance tradition, though. Next to that were the photographs of Jack and Nick’s double wedding to Josie and Dominique. Tyler’s heart warmed when she found Alex smiling happily in the group shot. He’d donned Western wear for the ceremony. Maybe that was when he’d started to transform into a cowboy.
Studying the picture, she identified two people who had to be Mr. and Mrs. Keller. They were both tall and had facial features that reminded Tyler of both Alex and his sister, Josie. Common wisdom said a father’s appearance could indicate how his son would age. If so, Alex would still be a hunk in his fifties.
“I thought you’d already be tucking into your rib eye.”
She glanced down the hall to find the man himself walking toward her. She must have been deep in thought to have missed hearing his booted feet on the hardwood floor. He’d put on a clean pair of jeans and a white Western shirt with pearl-covered snaps. The yoke of the shirt emphasized his shoulders, which she’d swear were wider than they had been last summer.
He’d obviously taken time for a shower, because his dark blond hair was still damp and he smelled like soap, the manly kind featured in commercials showing a guy lathering up his brawny chest. She wouldn’t mind observing Alex doing that. In fact, she wouldn’t mind being the person wielding the washcloth.
She looked into his gray eyes and wished they weren’t expected at the dinner table. “I got caught up in the rogues’ gallery. Are these two your folks?”
“Yeah.” His expression softened. “They had such a good time. They might end up retiring in Jackson Hole, or at least spending their summers here and maybe winters somewhere a little warmer.”
It all sounded so normal. Tyler decided not to mention that her parents didn’t have a retirement plan. They just lived in the moment, taking life as it came. It drove her nuts. She’d already started an IRA.
Alex brushed his knuckle over her cheek. “You look nice.”
“You, too.”
He sighed. “We need to go. Mary Lou’s probably keeping our food warm.”
“So we’ll go.” She caught his hand and pressed it to her cheek before stepping away from him.
“Right. We’ll go.” But he didn’t move, just continued to look at her.
With a shake of her head, she turned and started down the hallway. “Come on, Alex. They’re expecting us.”
“Yeah, they are.” He fell into step beside her. “This is strange. I want to hold your hand, and yet I’d better not. I don’t want to be all that obvious, like it’s a done deal.”
“I know.” When they reached the large empty dining room where the midday meal was served, she could hear the buzz of conversation from the family dining area at the far end and through a set of open double doors. “I intended to get there ahead of you so we wouldn’t look quite so much like a couple.”
“So we won’t sit together unless that’s how it’s set up and we have no choice. You should probably try to sit next to Morgan. That’s who you’re here to see, after all.”
“And I plan to spend plenty of time with her. But she’s the one who wants me to sleep at the ranch house.”
He caught her arm, halting her progress. “And don’t think I don’t appreciate my good luck.”
His touch was warm, seductive. She wanted to nestle into his arms and savor the feeling of belonging that she always felt there. “See?” She gazed up at him. “Gabe was right. You’re an honorary Chance and that means you get some of the Chance luck.”
He smiled and stroked her arm. “It seems to be working for me so far. I checked my condom supply and found an unopened box.”
The question was out before she gave herself time to think. “And when was the last time you checked your condom supply?” Then she realized how jealous and possessive that sounded. “Don’t answer that. It’s none of my business.”
His gaze was steady. “It’s been a few months.”
And she shouldn’t be so damn happy about that, but she was. Whoever he’d been involved with hadn’t turned into a serious girlfriend. She didn’t want him to have a serious girlfriend, either, which was completely unfair, but the thought of him falling for someone made her miserable. How twisted was that?
He gave her arm a squeeze. “I’ll be counting the minutes until we can open that box. Now, let’s go face the family.”
Tyler wasn’t worried about that part. If she could handle a cruise ship full of passengers, she could deal with the Chances. In fact, she was looking forward to seeing them all together again and taking note of the changes that two more weddings had brought to the family dynamics.
As they walked into the dining room, all conversation stopped. Tyler glanced around quickly to make sure she recognized everybody. Sarah was at the far end of the linen-draped table, and on her right sat green-eyed Nick Chance and his bride, Dominique, a brunette with a pixie cut. The chair between Dominique and Alex’s sister, Josie, was empty, probably waiting for Alex. Jack was next to Josie.
Gabe and Morgan sat on the far side of the table, and Morgan also had an empty chair beside her, no doubt reserved for Tyler. A pretty blonde woman who looked to be in her fifties occupied the next chair, and a ruggedly handsome man of about the same age sat next to her.
Tyler finally remembered who they were. The woman, Pam Mulholland, owned the Bunk and Grub B and B down the road and was somehow related to the Chance family. The man next to her was Emmett Sterling, the ranch foreman, and he was dating Pam. Coupling up seemed to be the norm around here.
“There you are!” Sarah was the first to speak. “You both clean up real good.”
“Thanks.” Tyler smiled. “It’s great to see everybody again. And I sure hope you all have your thinking caps on, because Alex and I have been trying to figure out how to keep tomorrow’s guests out of the rain. The barn is one option, but we need some more.”
Nick glanced over at them. “I could have sworn you ordered some event canopies, Alex. I remember talking about it.”
“I ordered three,” Alex said. “But only one made it here. I’ve exhausted all the options for getting any more by tomorrow.”
Jack set down his empty beer bottle. “The tractor barn. We’ll move the equipment to a back pasture, temporarily cover it with tarps to protect it from the weather, do some cleanup, and use that space.”
“That’s a great idea,” Alex said. “I didn’t know that was possible, but—”
“Hold it.” Mary Lou bustled in, carrying a steaming plate in each hand. “No more talk of the open house until these two eat. Tyler, I want you over there between your sister and Pam. Alex, you can sit next to Josie.” She deposited the plates at the designated places. “Who needs coffee?”
A chorus of requests went up.
“I’d love some, too,” Tyler said as she walked around the table toward her chair. Before she made it there, Gabe came to his feet and pulled the chair out for her. She thanked him and glanced down the table, noting Sarah’s pleased smile. “I’ll bet you drilled manners into these guys when you raised them.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Tyler, you have no idea.”
“Remember those Sunday dinners?” Gabe said.
Nick and Jack both groaned.
“Pure torture,” Jack said. “She would use every blessed piece of silverware in the drawer and we couldn’t eat until we’d correctly identified all of them. The forks were the worst. I was the only guy my age who could tell you what a seafood fork looked like.”
“I was not about to raise a bunch of country bumpkins,” Sarah said.
“Sounds like a great idea to me,” Morgan said. “Between Sarah covering manners and Jonathan showing them the finer points of country swing, I’d say the Chance boys got the perfect education.” She patted her tummy. “I want the same for this little...kid.”
“Ah, you almost slipped, Morgan!” Sarah’s face was alight with anticipation. “You’ll tell us the sex of that baby, yet.”
Gabe looked fondly at his wife. “Nope. It’s going to be our secret until July 2.”
“But I’m really serious about the manners and the dancing, Sarah,” Morgan said. “I want this kid to be able to handle a fancy meal and navigate a two-step.”
Tyler put her napkin in her lap. “It’s not a bad idea to know those things. I had to learn on the job.”
“You must have,” Morgan said. “There wasn’t a lot of formal training going on in the O’Connelli van.”
“Lots of ideals, though.” Tyler cut into her steak. Suddenly she was starving. Making love to Alex had taken her mind off food, but now that he was across the table from her and completely out of reach, she breathed in the aroma of a meal carefully prepared, and she settled in to enjoy it.
“You’re right about the ideals,” Morgan said. “We were taught respect—of ourselves, other people and Mother Earth. That was a good thing.”
“It is a good thing.” Dominique looked across the table at Morgan. “That reminds me. Did you take your parents out to the sacred site while they were here for the wedding? It seems like something they’d like.”
“There wasn’t time. When they come back, I definitely will. They would love it.”
Tyler swallowed a bite of the best steak she’d had in ages and cut herself another one. “What sacred site?”
Dominique gave Nick a warm glance before turning back to Tyler. “You should get Morgan to take you out there while you’re here. It’s a large, flat rock that’s big enough for you to park a pickup on, although you wouldn’t want to. The rock is granite laced with quartz. The veins of quartz sparkle in the sun...or in the moonlight.”
Tyler figured Dominique and Nick had shared some moonlit time on that rock. She was intrigued. “And why is it sacred?”
“It’s part of the Shoshone tribe’s belief system.” Emmett hooked an arm around Pam’s chair and leaned forward to look down the table at Tyler. “When Archie and Nelsie Chance moved onto the ranch property, they discovered that the tribe conducted ceremonies out there, even though the land didn’t officially belong to them. So Archie and Nelsie told them they were welcome to continue, but the tribe doesn’t hold ceremonies much these days.”
“Wow.” Tyler glanced over at Morgan. “You have to take Mom and Dad out there next time they visit. They would eat that up with a spoon. I’m surprised you didn’t make time while they were here last summer.”
“I thought of it. I just...didn’t want to encourage any weirdness during the wedding.” She winked at Tyler. “If you know what I mean.”
“Oh, totally. Good call. They could have decided you needed a shaman to bless your union, and no telling what else they would have dreamed up once they were inspired by an ancient Native American ceremonial site.” Tyler turned back to Emmett. “So what’s this sacred stone supposed to do for a person?”
“According to legend, it provides clarity. So if you’re dealing with some issue and you’re mixed up about it, the stone is supposed to help you figure it out.”
“That could come in handy.”
“Oh, it has,” Nick said. Once again he and Dominique exchanged a fond glance.
Jack cleared his throat. “Then again, sometimes it’s just a great place to share a few beers with your brother.”
“That, too,” Nick agreed.
“Well, now I have to see this sacred site,” Tyler said. “I don’t have any large issues I’m dealing with, but I still want to see it. After all, I was raised by flower children, so even though I’ve left that life behind, I haven’t completely rooted out those woo-woo tendencies.”
Gabe put down his coffee cup. “Neither has Morgan. We took a trip out there when we were deciding on names for the baby.”
“Just don’t call her Sunshine or Starlight,” Tyler said.
“Or Moonbeam,” Morgan said with a laugh. “Don’t worry. It’ll be a gender-specific name that won’t make a single person wince. I promise.”
Sarah rolled her eyes and heaved a martyred sigh. “There you go again, tempting us with the fact that you both know whether the baby’s a boy or a girl, and we don’t. Why not just tell us?”
“Because we like the suspense,” Gabe said with a laugh. “And we don’t want any preconceived notions about this baby. This kid could decide to be a rancher or a foreign diplomat. We don’t want anyone making plans for the kid’s future based on gender.”
“Other than teaching manners and the two-step,” Morgan said. “I’m good with that.”
Sarah tucked her napkin beside her plate. “Well, some of us are on pins and needles and can hardly wait until the official due date. Some of us are going quietly insane as we deal with this suspense you love so much.”
“Then maybe this is the time to share our news,” Josie said. “That might give you something else to think about, Sarah.”
Sarah straightened and fixed a laserlike gaze on Josie. “Are you saying that you and Jack are...”
“Confirmed this morning.” Jack’s dark eyes glowed with pride. “Josie and I are going to have a baby.”
The dining room exploded as chairs scraped back and everyone jumped up to give hugs, squeals and hearty congratulations. Tyler caught a glimpse of Alex enfolding Josie in a warm embrace, and for some unexplained reason that brought tears to her eyes. Maybe she was imagining how Alex would react when he received the news that he’d be a father rather than simply an uncle.
She couldn’t really say why she was feeling so emotional. Babies were fine for Morgan and Josie, but Tyler wasn’t into them, at least not at this point in her life. Babies equaled the loss of freedom to pursue work that she loved.
She understood there were trade-offs, but she wasn’t interested in hearing about them right now. If she were totally honest with herself, she’d admit that listening to a woman rhapsodize about the joys of marriage and children might interfere with her enjoyment of the single life and her career success.
Maybe a part of her envied the spontaneous joy generated by Josie and Jack’s announcement. The ship’s crew celebrated things, too, but it was...different. The emotions around this table ran far deeper. She hadn’t realized until now what she was missing, yet she wasn’t willing to give up a dynamite career for that kind of connection. Or was she?
In the chaos surrounding Josie’s announcement, Tyler was surprised to hear Alex’s voice speaking her name. She turned to find him crouched beside her chair, his expression worried.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “You look a little pale.”
She met his gaze. “Do you know where this Shoshone sacred site is located?”
“Yeah, I’ve been out there a couple of times.”
She guessed that he’d gone because he needed to sort through his thoughts about Crystal. She decided not to ask. “Do you know if it’s still raining?”
“No, but it was letting up about the time we came in. Why?”
“Because I’d like to go out there.” She’d been so sure of what she wanted, and now doubts pelted her like hail. Her big promotion was within reach. She could always settle down later after she’d enjoyed that promotion for a few years. But it wouldn’t be with Alex, and it wouldn’t involve this family.
“Now?”
“Right now, if that’s at all possible. Will that look too crazy?”
Alex stood. “I don’t care if it looks crazy or not. If you want to go, we’ll go. Let me get the keys to one of the ranch trucks.”
She liked that he fell in with her gonzo plan so easily. Not all guys would. She liked many things about Alex, in fact. Too many things. The sacred site was supposed to give a person clarity. She desperately needed that.
Chapter Seven
Twenty minutes later, Alex was at the wheel of one of the older ranch trucks, with Tyler belted into the passenger seat beside him as they bounced down a rutted road toward the sacred Shoshone site. Tyler had gone up to her room for a dark green hoodie, and he’d grabbed his denim jacket from the closet and an old blanket from the top shelf.
The night was cool, so he kept the windows rolled up on the truck. After the rain it wouldn’t be particularly cozy on the granite, either, but he’d do what he could to compensate. He’d so hoped for an innerspring mattress tonight, but it didn’t seem to be in the cards.
“By coming out here, I think we’ve tipped our hand,” Tyler said. “Everybody must have guessed that we’re...temporarily together.”
“Oh, well.”
“I just had to get out of there for a while.”
Alex wasn’t sure what was bothering her, but he had some ideas. “You looked a little freaked out after Josie made her announcement.”
“I was, and I’m still trying to figure that out. You looked really happy, though.”
“I was. This will be great for her and Jack, and Sarah’s going to be in hog heaven with two grandchildren to run after. Plus, the kids will be close in age, so they can grow up together. It’s nice for everyone concerned.”
Tyler groaned. “Stop the truck.”
He slammed on the brake. “Are you sick?”
“Not physically. I’m sick with guilt. Talk about self-centered! I dragged you out here when you should be back there celebrating with everyone. Please turn around and go back. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Alex took his foot off the brake and put it back on the gas. “I’d rather be out here with you.”
“That’s nice of you to say, but you’re missing the festivities. I’ll bet they moved the party into the living room and lit a fire. They’re toasting those two babies, and you’ll be the proud uncle of one and probably the adopted uncle of the other one. You should be there with Josie.”
“She doesn’t need me there. She has Jack.”
“I should be there with Morgan.”
Alex sighed. “That makes no real sense. You saw how Josie and Morgan instantly went into a huddle to discuss diet and exercise programs, and whether Josie can fit into some of Morgan’s early maternity clothes.”
“Yeah, I did. And that’s great. They’ll be a terrific support system for each other.”
“Feeling like an outsider?”
She leaned her head against the back of the worn cloth seat. “Yeah, I guess I am. Maybe that’s part of it. But to be an insider, I’d have to marry somebody and get pregnant right away. I won’t do that, of course, but the power of suggestion is a scary thing.”
Alex watched the road for critters. Back in Chicago he’d had to worry about other drivers. Out here he had to worry about hitting a raccoon or a skunk. “I suppose there is a lot of home-and-hearth sentiment swirling around the Last Chance right now.”
“Which is so not me.”
“I get that, Tyler.”
“I know you do, which is one of the reasons I asked you to bring me out here. You may be the only person from that dinner-table crowd who truly understands that I’m not ready for a husband and kids. Morgan says she understands, but I can see in her eyes that she’d love to have me find a guy and settle down, maybe even in Jackson Hole.”
“That’s natural. I’m sure she misses you when you’re gone for long stretches.” He didn’t want to imagine what his life would be like after she left, either. He was afraid the joy would leach right out of his days and nights.
“And I miss her, too, but that’s the nature of the job. On the upside, I get to see amazing places all over the world, and the passengers are terrific, for the most part. Many of them have invited me to visit, and I’m sure their homes are gorgeous. You couldn’t afford this type of luxury cruise if you didn’t have plenty of money.”
“Do you think you will visit them?”
“Probably not. The little time I have off I’ll want to spend with family. Morgan’s the first one to establish an actual home somewhere, but I’ll bet the others will, too, eventually.”
“And your parents? Will they finally stay put somewhere?”
Tyler chuckled. “I doubt it. I picture them waiting until we all have places of our own, and then they’ll make the rounds. I’ve figured out that my dad is ADD. He can’t stick with one job or one place for more than a month or two before he gets bored. I inherited the wanderlust, but I’ve been able to keep this job for almost six years. And I love it. It’s perfect for me.”
“I’m sure it is.” And yet...now he wasn’t so sure. She kept saying how much she loved her lifestyle, almost as if she needed to keep repeating her dedication to the job to ward off any change to the plan. Or maybe that was wishful thinking on his part.
Tyler peered out the window. “It’s very dark out here, isn’t it?”
“Especially tonight, with all the clouds. I’m afraid you won’t see the moon glittering on the quartz unless I use a flashlight.”
“You have one, though, right?”
“There should be one in the glove compartment.”
As she reached to open it, he remembered what else was in there. She’d waited on the porch while he’d brought the truck around, and he’d used that opportunity to shove a handful of condoms into the glove compartment. A handful was excessive, but he hadn’t had time to figure out how many he might need, so he’d just grabbed some.
Sure enough, the minute she opened the compartment, several condom packages tumbled out and fell to the floor of the truck. She began to laugh. “Are the ranch trucks normally stocked with these?”
“No. That was me doing the stocking.” And the sight of them had jump-started his libido.
“I see. That’s quite a supply.”
“I didn’t want to run out.” But as eager as he felt to have her, even those might not be enough.
“Is that so? I don’t remember needing that many in August. Have you shortened your recovery time?”
He wouldn’t doubt it. She seemed to be affecting him more strongly than she had last summer. “I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?” And soon, very soon.
“That depends on whether there’s a flashlight in here. It wasn’t snake season when I lived here as a kid, but last summer I distinctly remember being warned about walking around in the dark without a flashlight because of snakes.”
“It was warmer then. August.” He didn’t want her to get distracted thinking about wildlife. He wanted her mind to be firmly where his was—on sex. “It’s too cold out for varmints to be out moseying around.”
She glanced over at him. “Listen to you, sounding like Yosemite Sam! I’m beginning to think you have turned into a real cowboy, after all.”
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Vicki Lewis Thompson
New York Times bestselling author Vicki Lewis Thompson brings us two fan-favorite stories set at the Last Chance Ranch that prove there's nothing better than the love of a cowboy!Should've Been A CowboyTyler O'Connelli is a busy career girl, and Alex Keller is a cowboy. They may be worlds apart, but their hot chemistry more than makes up for their differences. They both know this thing between them isn't long-term, but why not have fun now? Problem is, Alex is one wrangler Tyler might want to tie down–and tie up–indefinitely!Cowboy UpNever fall in love with a cowboy. These words were drilled into Emily Sterling's head since her parents divorced more than twenty years ago. But now Emily has returned to her father's ranch only to find herself face-to-face with jaw-dropping hot rancher Clay Whitaker. Suddenly Emily's beginning to see just what a cowboy has to offer…
New York Times bestselling author Vicki Lewis Thompson brings us two fan-favorite stories set at the Last Chance Ranch that prove there’s nothing better than the love of a cowboy!
Should’ve Been A Cowboy
Tyler O’Connelli is a busy career girl, and Alex Keller is a cowboy. They may be worlds apart, but their hot chemistry more than makes up for their differences. They both know this thing between them isn’t long-term, but why not have fun now? Problem is, Alex is one wrangler Tyler might want to tie down—and tie up—indefinitely!
Cowboy Up
Never fall in love with a cowboy. These words were drilled into Emily Sterling’s head since her parents divorced more than twenty years ago. But now Emily has returned to her father’s ranch only to find herself face-to-face with jaw-dropping hot rancher Clay Whitaker. Suddenly Emily’s beginning to see just what a cowboy has to offer.
Ten months ago Tyler had been a hottie who’d tempted her into one night of wild sex.
She’d tried to convince herself it had been about superficial pleasure, but there was nothing superficial about the feelings flooding through her now.
And God, did he look good. The dark blond hair he’d worn short and preppy now touched his collar. His face was leaner, his gray eyes more piercing, his body more ripped than she remembered. In ten months he’d gone from hottie to hero.
And what they’d shared had definitely been more than just sex. This man had made wonderful love to her, and she wanted him to do it again. Her skin warmed and her heartbeat quickened at the memory of his caress, his kiss, his gentle words.
“Tyler, you remember Alex.”
Dear Reader,
We hope you enjoy the Western stories Should’ve Been a Cowboy and Cowboy Up by New York Times bestselling Harlequin Blaze author Vicki Lewis Thompson.
Harlequin Blaze books sizzle with strong heroines and irresistible heroes playing the game of modern love and lust. They’re fun, sexy and always steamy.
And don’t miss an excerpt of Lying in Your Arms by Harlequin Blaze author Leslie Kelly at the back of this volume. Look for Lying in Your Arms, available October 2013.
Happy reading,
The Harlequin Blaze Editors
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
New York Times bestselling author Vicki Lewis Thompson’s love affair with cowboys started with the Lone Ranger, continued through Maverick and took a turn south of the border with Zorro. She views cowboys as the Western version of knights in shining armor—rugged men who value honor, honesty and hard work. Fortunately for her, she lives in the Arizona desert, where broad-shouldered, lean-hipped cowboys abound. Blessed with such an abundance of inspiration, she only hopes that she can do them justice. Visit her website, www.vickilewisthompson.com (http://www.vickilewisthompson.com).
Should’ve Been a Cowboy & Cowboy Up
Vicki Lewis Thompson
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
CONTENTS
Should’ve Been a Cowboy (#u93a172c4-14bf-5ffe-8fda-47ae6f83cf04)
Cowboy Up (#litres_trial_promo)
Should’ve Been a Cowboy
Vicki Lewis Thompson
For my editor, Brenda Chin, who gave me the opportunity to create a multibook series about my favorite subject—cowboys. A tip of the Stetson to you, Brenda!
Contents
Prologue (#u2b25deab-991e-5a23-a306-34db86335c86)
Chapter One (#u596406b7-7282-51a0-828a-9e22ca3aff0e)
Chapter Two (#u9f665137-2110-5117-badb-a5218ae5c9fa)
Chapter Three (#u4530f1fb-8ddb-5bb4-b0af-20912441f4d2)
Chapter Four (#u21a49c45-3b14-5bef-8438-b342e0748a20)
Chapter Five (#u41bee1ae-4b56-553d-9090-28ab5d1ac831)
Chapter Six (#u01de417e-5619-5767-ad09-9a198f9da6e8)
Chapter Seven (#u442525d6-73c7-5eff-a400-66e46a555f3a)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue
May 14, 1956, from the diary of Eleanor Chance
I love giving birthday parties. And when your only child turns ten, well, today was a big day at the Last Chance Ranch. We had unseasonably warm weather in Jackson Hole, and after the kids left, tummies full of birthday cake and ice cream, Archie went to the barn and brought out Johnny’s big present.
She’s a beautiful little filly who looks exactly like the horse that the Lone Ranger’s sidekick, Tonto, rides—white with bay patches. While most kids would want an all-white horse like the Lone Ranger’s, Johnny loves Tonto’s horse, Scout.
And so this filly will be named Scout, even though she’s a girl. Everyone around here calls Scout a pinto, which is what Tonto’s horse is, but she’s actually a registered paint. That means she has pinto coloring, but she also has papers and can be bred later on.
She cost us a fair bit, but the money went to a good cause. One of our neighbors needed to sell this filly so he could pay for his wife’s back operation. The operation was Ginny’s last chance to avoid living in a wheelchair, and I’m happy to say the surgery was a success.
That’s what this ranch is about, giving people and animals one last chance. So everyone came out ahead on this deal. Besides, Archie says Scout is an investment as well as a birthday present for Johnny. Cattle ranching has been good to us, especially during the war when the army needed beef, but Archie thinks we should diversify, and for years he’s dreamed of raising horses.
Scout’s a dream come true for Johnny, who’s begged us for a pinto from the moment he saw his first episode of The Lone Ranger. But Scout could be the beginning of Archie’s dream, too. I sure hope so, because spending all that money on a registered paint was a gamble, even if it was for a good cause.
I keep reminding myself that Archie won the Last Chance in a card game nineteen years ago, and that’s turned out pretty well. As Archie always says, “Chance men are lucky when it counts.”
Chapter One
What rotten luck. Alex Keller ended the phone call, tucked his phone into his jeans pocket and nudged Doozie into a canter. He needed to get back to the ranch house and figure out what the hell to do now that the country band he’d hired wouldn’t be showing up tomorrow. He couldn’t expect to get a replacement at four o’clock on a Friday afternoon, which meant no live music for the open house. Damn.
The open house had been his idea. Two months ago, after accepting a job as the first-ever marketing director for the Last Chance, he’d proposed the event to increase the ranch’s visibility and establish it as the premier place to buy registered paints. Technically he was up to the challenge. He held a degree in marketing, and although he’d spent most of his career as a high-profile DJ in Chicago, he’d also been instrumental in the radio station’s marketing campaigns.
But this was his first event for the ranch, and he needed it to go well. The Chances were family now that Alex’s sister, Josie, had married Jack Chance, so the ranch’s bottom line had personal significance. The Chances weren’t in immediate financial danger, but spring sales had been slow. Alex had been hired to fix that.
He’d saddled Doozie earlier that afternoon, figuring a ride might settle his nerves. Instead he’d ended up with a phone call that added to his growing list of problems. Most of the issues involved keeping the invited guests dry. Rain-filled clouds hovered on the horizon and only one of the three canopies he’d ordered had shown up. Now he had no band, either.
Live music would have gone a long way toward setting the tone for tomorrow’s open house, even if it rained. Sure, he could rig up a sound system and use canned music and his DJ abilities, but it wouldn’t have the same feel as live music, and he couldn’t be stuck behind a microphone all day.
At this point on Friday afternoon, nothing could be done about either of those glitches. He’d spent all his life in Chicago and was used to its vast resources. If one band canceled, you hired another, and if one delivery of event canopies didn’t work out, you went with a different company. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, was a whole other situation, and he was screwed.
He had to make this work, though. All three of the Chance brothers—Jack, Gabe and Nick—had put their faith in him, and he’d do his damnedest. Everyone knew Alex Keller was a hard worker, especially his ex-wife, who’d wanted him to work less and play more.
Oh, well. Crystal was back in Chicago cavorting with her new boyfriend, and he was out here in God’s country, working his butt off because that’s who he was. And he couldn’t complain. The ranch’s location, west of a little town called Shoshone in the Jackson Hole region, was spectacular.
Following his divorce last summer, he’d left Chicago and found a combination DJ/marketing director position with a radio station in Jackson. But he’d spent more time out at the Last Chance than at his apartment in Jackson and had, to his surprise, gone country. When the offer came to work for the Chance brothers, he’d jumped at it.
Slowing Doozie to a trot as he approached the barn, he glanced over at the massive, two-story ranch house, a log structure that had grown as the family had grown. Its front windows faced north with a view of the state’s scenic crown jewel—the perpetually snowcapped Tetons. The acreage was worth millions, and the family wanted to keep every square foot of it, which meant the Chances were land rich and cash poor.
From what Alex had heard, Jonathan Chance Sr. had been comfortable with that, but after his death, his three sons had taken stock of the situation. They’d decided on a more aggressive breeding and sales program for the ranch’s registered paints to give the operation a bigger financial cushion.
Alex could see why. A ranch this size had a fair amount of overhead, including a payroll for several regular hands and a few seasonal ones, all of whom had to be housed and fed in addition to their wages. On top of that were maintenance and utility costs for the large ranch house, the bunkhouse, the heated barn and various other outbuildings.
Dismounting by the hitching post beside the barn, he answered a greeting from Emmett Sterling. The ranch foreman, a seasoned cowboy in his late fifties, paused on his way into the barn. “Want me to take care of her for you?”
“Thanks, but I’ll do it.” Alex had bonded with this bay mare, who’d put up with his beginning riding mistakes without complaint. Doozie had arrived in Jackson Hole last summer about the same time Alex had. They’d both been in need of sanctuary, and the Last Chance had provided that.
Doozie wasn’t a paint, so she couldn’t be part of the breeding program, but she’d been allowed to stay, anyway. Alex thought it was appropriate that she’d been assigned to him, because he wasn’t a cowboy, but he’d been allowed to stay, too. Doozie would never become a paint, but damned if Alex hadn’t started to feel like a cowboy.
After settling Doozie in her stall with Hornswaggled, a goat who was her constant companion, Alex headed for the ranch house, where a cold bottle of Bud was calling his name. These days he drank beer instead of wine, just as he wore jeans instead of chinos.
A guy couldn’t hang out in a living room with a wagon-wheel chandelier and Navajo rugs on the walls and keep wearing city-slicker clothes. The unwritten dress code for logging time in the cushy leather armchairs in front of the giant rock fireplace included faded jeans, boots and a Western shirt.
Alex had complied. The day he’d bought a Stetson and settled it on his head, he’d bid a permanent farewell to the Chicago city boy he used to be.
His boots echoed hollowly on the porch as he crossed to the large front door and pulled it open. No one was in the living room, which always smelled faintly of wood smoke even if the hearth was cold, like now. He turned left down a long hall. His route to the kitchen took him through the dining room with its four round tables that each sat eight people.
At this time of the afternoon the tables were empty, but three hours ago the place had bustled with activity. The Chance brothers had continued their father’s tradition of eating lunch with the hands so everyone could exchange information about ranch chores. Sarah, Jonathan’s widow, usually joined the group, and now her three daughters-in-law were included, too.
When Alex heard Sarah’s laughter coming from the kitchen, he knew she must be talking to the cook, Mary Lou Simms, who was as much a friend as an employee. Alex wished he weren’t the bearer of bad news. He’d worked hard to make this event tomorrow successful, but now he wasn’t sure it would be.
Sarah needed to know that, even if it spoiled her good mood. He could talk to the Chance brothers over dinner. Friday night was family night at the big house, a way to stay connected now that all three pairs of newlyweds lived on different sections of the ranch’s vast acreage.
Taking a deep breath, Alex walked into the kitchen and found Mary Lou and Sarah pulling baby stuff out of a mail-order box. Gabe’s wife, Morgan, was eight months pregnant, and soon-to-be grandma Sarah had obviously gone catalog shopping.
Sarah was the kind of woman who seemed ageless even though she’d let her hair go white. She wore it in a sleek bob, and her high cheekbones and flawless skin made her look years younger than she was. Her mother had been a runway model, and Sarah took after her.
Alex had heard that Mary Lou had been a blonde bombshell twenty years ago, but now she enjoyed her own excellent cooking and didn’t seem to care about a few extra pounds or the state of her unruly gray hair.
Sarah glanced at Alex as he came into the kitchen. “What do you think?” She waved an impossibly tiny shirt in a red bandanna print. “Since Gabe and Morgan won’t tell me if they’re having a boy or a girl, I’m going with unisex clothes, which is probably better because they can be handed down.”
“Cute.” Alex hoped that was the appropriate response, because he’d never given much thought to baby clothes. Crystal had been fanatic about birth control during their years together, and he’d had no burning desire to be a father, especially after the marriage began to sour. Baby clothes were foreign objects to him. “Mind if I grab a beer?”
“Help yourself.” She held up a one-piece deal that was supposed to look as if the baby wore jeans and a Western shirt, although it was printed on stretch terry. “Is this adorable or what?”
“Sure is!” Alex crossed to the refrigerator and opened it. Maybe once he’d wrapped his hand around a cold beer, he’d be able to find a gentle way to introduce some gloom and doom into this happy little baby scene.
Sarah was understandably excited about the impending arrival of her first grandchild. Alex had been the DJ for Morgan and Gabe’s wedding reception last August, and Morgan had stated clearly then that she didn’t plan to rush into motherhood. Yet within a couple of months she’d turned up preggers and was apparently thrilled about it.
Thoughts of Morgan’s wedding always reminded Alex of Morgan’s younger sister Tyler, who had agreed to spend a memorable few hours in the hayloft with him following the reception. Alex couldn’t smell fresh hay without remembering the feel of Tyler’s soft, willing body and her muted cries of pleasure. They’d taken care not to make too much noise so they wouldn’t draw any unwanted attention.
She’d left the next day, returning to her job as activities director for a luxury cruise line headquartered in L.A. She’d confessed that constant traveling didn’t leave much room for relationships. Just as well, he’d told her. He was still recovering from his divorce.
True enough, but watching Tyler leave hadn’t been easy. That night in the hayloft had been perfect, at least from his viewpoint. He’d tried to talk himself out of that assessment but hadn’t quite succeeded.
He’d resisted the urge to ask Morgan about Tyler in the months that followed. He was pretty sure nobody knew that he and Tyler had spent the night together in the hayloft. The Chance family had been too preoccupied to notice, and Alex somehow doubted Tyler had confided in Morgan.
If she had, he would have seen it in Morgan’s eyes or felt it in her treatment of him. So maybe the night had meant nothing more to Tyler than a champagne-flavored roll in the hay. Somehow he doubted it, though.
He’d sensed that she’d been as deeply affected as he’d been. Then again, she’d been his first since the divorce, so maybe his perception hadn’t been accurate. In the following months he’d dated a couple of women from the Jackson Hole area, but they hadn’t inspired the gut-level response he’d had to Tyler.
As Mary Lou and Sarah continued to coo over the baby clothes, Alex reached for the longneck. He’d curled his fingers around it when Morgan called out a greeting from the kitchen doorway. He hoped the baby clothes weren’t supposed to be a surprise.
“Look who’s here!” Morgan sounded breathless. “My world-traveling sister just flew over from L.A. to surprise me!”
Alex straightened up so fast he banged his head on the door of the refrigerator. Praying nobody had noticed, he held his bottle of beer in a death grip and slowly closed the refrigerator door. His heart hammered as he turned to face the woman who’d played a prominent role in his dreams for nearly ten months.
His memory hadn’t done her justice. She was even sexier than he’d remembered, with her ebony hair curling around her face and down the back of her turquoise dress. Dark eyes that reflected her mother’s Italian heritage met his. She seemed as shocked to see him as he was to see her.
Although she looked nothing like Crystal, who was blonde with Scandinavian ancestry, Alex couldn’t help noticing surface similarities to his ex-wife. Obviously Tyler spent time and money on her hair, nails and clothes.
She wore a dress that revealed a little cleavage and high-heeled sandals that showed off her pedicure. And she smelled amazing, like a bouquet of peach-colored roses. Although he’d fully embraced the country life, he’d been a Chicago boy first, and all that careful grooming still had the power to turn him on.
But it was more than that. One glance into those eyes and he knew that what they’d shared in the hayloft had been more than just sex. Whether they were prepared to deal with it or not, they were emotionally involved. Still.
“Hey, Tyler.” He managed what he hoped was a nonchalant smile. “How’re you doing?”
Tyler had been doing just fine until she’d walked into the Last Chance’s kitchen and found Alex leaning into the refrigerator, his tempting buns encased in well-worn jeans. She hadn’t expected him to be at the ranch, and she certainly hadn’t expected him to have transformed himself into a cowboy. Judging from his denim shirt, snug jeans and scuffed boots, that’s exactly what he’d done.
Ten months ago he’d been a hottie who’d tempted her into one night of wild sex. She’d tried to convince herself it had been about superficial pleasure, but there was nothing superficial about the feelings flooding through her now. She’d had casual affairs. This didn’t qualify.
And God, did he look good. Apparently Wyoming agreed with him. The cute city boy had been replaced with a ruggedly handsome man. The dark blond hair he’d worn short and preppy now touched his collar. His face was leaner, his gray eyes more piercing, his body more ripped than she remembered. In ten months he’d gone from hottie to hero.
And what they’d shared had definitely been more than just sex. This man had made wonderful love to her, and she wanted him to do it again. Her skin warmed and her heartbeat quickened at the memory of his caress, his kiss, his gentle words. The time they’d been apart shrank until she felt as if she’d lain naked with him only hours ago.
On that cool August morning she’d forced herself to leave without a backward glance, although she’d mentally glanced back more than she cared to admit. Now she had even more reason to avoid a relationship, but she wondered how on God’s green earth she’d be able to resist him.
“Tyler, you remember Alex.” Morgan seemed to think her sister’s silence meant she needed prompting. “He was the DJ at our wedding reception.”
“Right.” Tyler smiled at him. “I thought you looked familiar.”
He cleared his throat. “There was a lot going on that night.”
Especially in the hayloft. “It was a memorable evening.” Tyler forced her gaze away from his before someone figured out just how well she remembered the guy who’d played the music, the guy who had a really talented mouth, clever hands and a way of stealing a girl’s heart when she wasn’t looking.
“I adored my wedding.” Morgan seemed oblivious to the undercurrents swirling between Tyler and Alex.
“The ceremony on horseback was certainly unique.” Tyler focused all her attention on her hormonal and understandably self-centered sister, who looked as if she’d stuffed a basketball down the front of her green paisley dress. Morgan had a month to go before she delivered, which meant this would be a large baby, because she looked ready to give birth at any moment.
Anyone who saw dark-haired Tyler and redheaded Morgan and knew they were sisters would understand why their parents had decided to combine last names and create the O’Connelli surname to honor both the Irish and the Italian sides of the family. It had been a quirky solution from a certifiably quirky couple.
“And there was Jack’s incredible toast at the reception,” Sarah added. She’d managed to shove into the box whatever she’d been holding when they’d arrived. “I’ll never forget that toast.”
“Me neither.” Morgan sighed. “The whole event was so romantic and happy that I think it helped bring Jack and Josie back together. Was that when they decided to have a double wedding with Nick and Dominique?”
“I think the four of them did come to that conclusion sometime during the reception.” Sarah moved in front of the box sitting on the round oak table, as if wanting to block it from Morgan’s view. “We were lucky to get their ceremony planned and completed before the first snow.”
Tyler suspected the box was full of baby things. She had quite a few in her suitcase, too. She’d managed to finagle this short leave from work, knowing she’d be in the middle of the Mediterranean when the baby arrived.
She glanced at Sarah. “So how does it feel, having all three of your sons married?”
“Very empty nestish,” Sarah said. “I hope you can stick around for a while. We have plenty of room upstairs now and I’d love the company.”
“She might be happiest here,” Morgan said. “I’d love to have her sleep at our house, but with the construction still in progress, and only the master bedroom finished, it’s sort of—”
“Like camping out.” Sarah laughed. “Tyler, you’ll want to take one of the upstairs bedrooms and leave the newlyweds to their chaos. I told them all to wait and move when the houses were done, but all three couples insisted they wanted to rough it in their new digs. I’ve tried not to take it personally,” she added with a grin.
“I can sleep wherever,” Tyler said. Except the hayloft. “But if there’s a room available upstairs, that sounds wonderful.”
“Great.” Sarah beamed at her. “How long can you stay?”
“I have to fly back next Wednesday.”
“Wow.” Sarah blinked. “That’s hardly enough time to unpack.”
“But at least she’s here, which is totally awesome.” Morgan’s happy gaze met Tyler’s.
“I had to see the new mommy-to-be.” And her sister’s enthusiasm made the effort so worthwhile. Alex’s presence was a small complication she’d work through.
“Tyler about gave me a heart attack,” Morgan said. “I didn’t know she was coming until she called me from the L.A. airport and said she was on her way.”
“I wasn’t sure I could get off until the last minute, and I had to sign in blood that I’d be back on Wednesday.”
Morgan regarded her sister with obvious pride. “That’s because Tyler’s the activities director for a world cruise that sails from L.A. a week from today. If she gets a good evaluation at the end of it, she’s been promised a promotion to cruise director, which means she’ll be the head honcho next time out. How cool is that?”
“Very cool.” Sarah gazed at Tyler with obvious respect.
“Good for you, Tyler,” Mary Lou added.
“Thanks. If I get this promotion, I’ll be the youngest cruise director in the history of the company.” Tyler found herself basking in Sarah’s and Mary Lou’s approval. Her parents, who claimed to care nothing for status or worldly goods, hadn’t been particularly impressed by her rapid rise in the business. She hadn’t thought she cared whether they were impressed or not, but maybe she did.
“That’s terrific.” Alex lifted his unopened beer bottle. “Can I get drinks for anyone? We should toast Tyler’s success.”
“Well, I don’t have the promotion yet.” But maybe it was good that the subject was on the table, so that Alex knew that she was still fully immersed in her career and excited about the next big step.
Or maybe he wouldn’t care. Maybe he was over his ex and had hooked up with somebody from around here. All her worries about resisting him might be for nothing if he was otherwise occupied.
“I’d love a beer,” Mary Lou said. “Move aside, Alex, and I’ll see that we all get something cold to drink and happy-hour munchies. Sarah, I know you’ll join me in a Friday-afternoon beer. Tyler, what will you have?”
“The same, thanks.” Maybe a cold beer would settle her nerves. She’d expected she might see Alex while she was here, considering that he was Josie’s brother and part of the extended Chance family. But she hadn’t planned on running into him first thing out of the gate and immediately having to deal with her emotional reaction.
“Root beer for me, please,” Morgan said.
“I know, honey,” Mary Lou said. “I have it right here.” She opened the refrigerator and began passing out bottles.
Sarah quietly removed the box from the table and tucked it out of sight before swinging into hostess mode. “Everybody have a seat. I’ll get us some chips and dip. The rest of the gang will probably show up pretty soon, and if I know my boys, they’ll be ready to toast the beginning of the weekend with a cold one.”
Tyler chose a seat at the opposite side of the table from where Alex stood. She couldn’t help sneaking glances at him, and every time she did, he was looking back. Not the usual behavior of a man who had a girlfriend.
He could still be unattached, and if so, she’d have to be very careful. As if her memories of his lovemaking weren’t enough to make her heart race, he’d turned into every woman’s fantasy—a broad-shouldered, lean-hipped, yummy cowboy. She wondered if he’d bought himself a Stetson.
In no time Mary Lou and Sarah had the impromptu party organized with drinks all around. Bowls of chips and several kinds of dip sat on the table along with a stack of napkins.
Sarah took a chair and raised her beer bottle. “Here’s to your world cruise, Tyler, and the important promotion I’m sure will follow.”
“Thank you.” Tyler began to understand why Morgan loved being a part of this stable, loving family. Morgan, Tyler and their six siblings had lived a vagabond lifestyle, traveling the country in a psychedelic van with their New Age parents.
They’d spent a few months in Shoshone back when Morgan and Tyler were teenagers. For Tyler, it had just been one stop in their constant travels, but Morgan had loved it and had vowed to come back. Although Tyler had inherited her parents’ wanderlust, Morgan had yearned for roots, and now she had them. Her baby would represent the fourth generation of Chances living on this ranch.
“I guess that means you can’t be here when the baby’s born,” Mary Lou said.
“Exactly, which is why I came now. When that little tyke arrives, I’ll be somewhere in the Mediterranean. On the way here from the airport I tried to talk Morgan into setting up Skype in the delivery room, but she wasn’t buying it.”
Morgan made a face. “Sorry, but I have this image of the entire crew of the Sea Goddess gathered around your computer watching me give birth. I’m even thinking of having the baby at the ranch, to keep the moment more private and special.”
“You thought I’d invite people to see the birth on my laptop?”
“Well, maybe not, but—”
“Shoot, I’d put it up on the big screen in the movie theater!” As Morgan’s eyes widened, Tyler nudged her in the ribs. “Gotcha.”
“No, you didn’t. I knew you were kidding.”
“Did not. You should have seen your face. Are you really thinking of having a home birth?”
Morgan glanced at Sarah. “I’d like to.”
“And Gabe and I are trying to talk her out of it,” Sarah said. “Maybe if we were five minutes from the hospital, I wouldn’t worry, but if something goes wrong, it’s a long trek into Jackson.”
“Nothing will go wrong,” Morgan said. “My mom had all of us in the back of the family van.”
“Yes, but dad said he always parked it next to the hospital.” Tyler was inclined to agree with Gabe and Sarah on this one. She looked across the table to where Alex sat peeling the label off his beer bottle. Maybe he wasn’t all that comfy discussing the birthing process.
Giving birth wasn’t her top priority, either, but she found herself longing to hear him talk. During the reception last summer his voice had seduced her long before she’d suggested they share a bottle of champagne in the hayloft. “Ever seen a baby being born, Alex?”
He stopped peeling the label and looked at her with his intense gray eyes. “Can’t say that I have. How about you?”
That voice, honed by years of radio work, gave her goose bumps. “Yes, and it’s an awesome experience, so I was hoping for a Skype’s-eye view of my big sister’s event.” She was still curious about why he was at the ranch this afternoon. He seemed completely at home, as if he lived here, and yet she was sure he’d planned to rent a place in Jackson once he started his job there.
“So how are things at the radio station?” she asked.
“Oh, he left that job, Tyler,” Morgan said. “He’s the marketing director for the Last Chance now, and he lives out here.”
Tyler could have used that information earlier, before she’d walked into the kitchen and been struck dumb by the incredible backside of Alex Keller. But Morgan would have no reason to tell her. Morgan didn’t know about the night in the hayloft.
Alex leaned forward. “And speaking of my job, I’ve run into a couple of snags for tomorrow’s event.”
“What event?” Tyler had a feeling that Morgan had neglected to mention several important items during the drive from the Jackson airport. Tyler couldn’t blame her, though. Morgan had spent the drive talking about her plans for the baby’s room, assuming it was completed in time for Morgan to add the decorating touches she had in mind.
“I’ve set up an open house,” Alex said. “I’ve had to operate under some tight time constraints, but I wanted to catch people at the beginning of the summer with the idea that if it goes well, we can do it again in August.”
“It will go well,” Sarah said. “We’ve invited everybody who might be a candidate for buying one of the Last Chance paints, and we should have a good turnout because June is when the summer tourist season gets rolling. We’ll have tours of the barn, cutting-horse demonstrations, plenty of food—”
“Sounds great,” Tyler said. “I’m not a prospective buyer, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy all that, if I’m invited, that is.”
Morgan touched her arm. “Of course you’re invited! You’re family!”
“Thanks.” Tyler was surprised by how pleased she was to hear that. She loved her carefree life and didn’t mind that home was a sparsely furnished efficiency apartment in L.A. with no live plants and a refrigerator that was usually empty. But she wouldn’t mind borrowing the nurturing environment of the Last Chance for the next few days, providing she could control her urge to snuggle up with Alex.
Her fantasy man leaned back in his chair. “The thing is, I’d hoped to establish the mood with live music, but the country band I’d hired just canceled a half hour ago.”
“What about Watkins?” Mary Lou set down her beer. “That cowhand plays a decent guitar if you could talk him into doing it.”
“It’s a thought, but that’s not the only issue. I also ordered three event canopies because we’re supposed to have some rain, but only one showed up. I’m a little worried that—”
“Say no more.” Tyler leaped into the breach automatically, a learned response from handling this kind of crisis all the time on cruises. “It’ll be fine. I’ll help you figure out some alternatives.” Belatedly she realized that her offer would throw her into direct contact with the man she’d decided to avoid for the duration of her visit.
Alex sat forward, hope in his eyes. “You will? That would be great.” Then he seemed to catch himself. “Wait a minute. You’re on vacation. You shouldn’t have to—”
“Don’t kid yourself,” Morgan said. “She loves this kind of thing. It’s her job to coordinate all the onboard entertainment, so parties are her deal. I had to hold her back or she would have planned my entire wedding from her stateroom on the Sea Goddess.”
“Then I accept.” Alex blew out a breath. “I don’t know what kind of magic you can work, but whatever it is, I’ll take it.”
Magic. That was the exact word she would use to describe the night they’d spent together in the hayloft. She was realistic enough to know how much she’d be tempted to make love with him again, but that was a really bad idea. Considering the emotional tug she felt every time he looked at her, they could end up in a no-win situation that would break both their hearts.
Chapter Two
Looking into Tyler’s dark eyes, Alex imagined he could read her mind. She already regretted her decision to help him, but he wasn’t about to let her off the hook. He needed her expertise.
If that meant they’d have to work together and deal with the heat that still simmered between them, so be it. He wasn’t about to interfere with her world cruise and probable promotion. He’d tell her so once they were alone.
In fact, having a private moment to clear the air was a very good idea. “I don’t want to rush you, but we don’t have a lot of time to cook up those alternate plans. If you’d be willing to take a look at the outdoor setup before dinner, that would be great.”
“Sure.” She pushed back her chair. “Give me ten minutes to take my suitcase upstairs and change clothes.”
Morgan stood and pressed a hand to the small of her back. “I’ll go with you and help you get settled in.”
“That’s okay.” Standing, too, Tyler wrapped an arm around Morgan’s shoulders and gave her a quick hug. “No point in lugging baby whosit up those stairs.”
Sarah’s eyebrows arched. “So she hasn’t told you whether it’s a boy or girl, either? I thought she might have let it slip to her little sis, and then we could pry it out of you before you leave.”
“I haven’t told anybody.” Morgan sat down again. “Gabe and I are the only ones who know, and it’ll stay that way until July when the little kid makes an appearance.”
“How about a name?” Mary Lou asked. “Have you picked one?”
Morgan nodded. “Yes, and I promise that you’ll know immediately from the baby’s name whether I had a boy or a girl.”
Tyler sighed with obvious relief. “Thank God. As you noticed when some of us were here last summer, our parents conspired to give all of us unisex names.”
“And I have to admit I had trouble keeping everyone straight during the wedding last year,” Sarah said. “I’m sure I called you by your twin brother Regan’s name at least twice.”
“Don’t feel bad about it. Regan and I had our names switched so many times in school it wasn’t funny.”
“I agree it was a nightmare while we were growing up,” Morgan said. “But now, as a real-estate agent, my name works because it’s easily recognizable. Still, I’m not doing that to my child.”
“I’m glad.” Tyler picked up her empty beer bottle and the napkin she’d used for her chips. “Anyway, let me scoot upstairs and get changed.”
Mary Lou made a flapping motion with her hand. “Leave the bottle and napkin, sweetie. I’ll take care of it.”
“And I’ll carry your suitcase upstairs.” Alex pushed back his chair and stood.
“I can manage,” Tyler said.
Alex gave her a smile. “It’s the gentlemanly thing to do, and I’m the gentleman who’s available.” Hell, he probably shouldn’t have said that. He’d blame all those years of being a glib DJ.
“Thank you, but it’s a small suitcase, and I really can—”
“You don’t know which room.” He was determined to grab this chance to talk with her. “Where should I put her, Sarah?”
“Let me think.” Sarah tapped her chin. “Maybe we should stick with the wing you’re in, because we’re having some problems with the pipes on the other side. I need to call a plumber, but I haven’t done it yet. Gabe’s room should be in decent shape.”
“It was the last time we were up there packing his high school trophies,” Morgan said. “I don’t think the bed’s made up, though.”
Sarah started to rise. “Maybe I should come up there with you.”
“Sit still.” Alex wasn’t giving up this opportunity to have a conversation with Tyler. “I know where the linen closet is. Tyler and I can handle it.”
“Absolutely,” Tyler said. “I’m perfectly capable of making a bed.”
And lying in it? Alex was trying so hard to play it cool, but thinking of Tyler smoothing sheets over the bed she’d sleep in for several nights, a bed that would be in a room right across the hall from his, didn’t help at all. He’d never shared a bed with her, but he had no trouble imagining how wonderful that would be. The hayloft had been earthy and exotic, but a good mattress had advantages, too.
At this point, he needed to decide how he felt about the possibility. Obviously, considering her career plans, it couldn’t be more than a short-term experience. Was that a mistake? Maybe, but not a huge one unless they slipped up on birth control, and he wouldn’t let that happen.
Still, an affair could be a small mistake in that both of them could get more involved than they wanted to be. He didn’t know if he could jump into a temporary affair with her and jump back out with ease. And even if he could, what would be the point? When he was totally honest with himself, he had to admit that he craved what all three Chance men had found—a solid marriage that showed all the signs of lasting a lifetime.
He’d always wanted that, but he’d chosen the wrong woman the first time around. He didn’t like making mistakes, and he wasn’t about to make another one. That meant being careful with his heart. He wasn’t convinced that Tyler didn’t already own a piece of it.
She had a zest for life he’d admired from the moment she’d stepped onto the dance floor last summer. She’d been the one to suggest the romp in the hay, which had told him she wasn’t some finicky city girl and she had self-confidence, besides. That night he’d also learned that she was an unselfish lover with a great sense of humor.
Being wanted by someone like Tyler had soothed his divorce-battered ego. But he wasn’t feeling battered anymore, and she still had the power to make him ache with longing. He wasn’t positive he could satisfy that longing without taking an emotional risk.
“We’d better get with the program,” Tyler said.
What program? Alex made a mental U-turn so he could figure out what she was talking about. Oh, yeah. He was supposed to get her settled upstairs so she could go outside with him and make suggestions for the open house. His concentration was already whacked.
“I left my suitcase and purse out in the front hallway.” Tyler looked at Sarah. “Thank you so much for putting me up for a few nights.”
Sarah laughed. “I’m afraid Alex plans to make you earn your keep. Don’t let him work you too hard.”
“Actually you should worry about me working Alex too hard. He may regret asking for my help. I’m a slave driver when I get going.”
Alex shook his head. “No worries. I admire dedication.”
“Good. Me, too. We should make a good team.”
And maybe that’s all she had in mind. He could tell by her matter-of-fact tone that she wasn’t flirting, not even a tiny bit. He should be relieved if she wasn’t interested in getting chummy. Instead he felt the sting of disappointment.
He followed her out of the kitchen and through the empty dining room. Her hair bounced when she walked and her heels clicked on the hardwood floor. Her shoes were the kind that didn’t make an appearance very often at the Last Chance, where boots were the norm.
Tyler’s shoes consisted of an arrangement of black straps that left most of her foot bare. Her toes were shiny, as if they had clear polish on them, but the white part was brighter than a natural nail would be. Crystal used to get that kind of pedicure, and he vaguely remembered it was connected with a nationality. Maybe French.
He’d never thought of himself as having a thing about toes, but Tyler’s French pedicure generated a definite response from his libido. He could imagine himself kissing his way down to her slender toes and running his tongue between each one. During the night they’d shared, they’d been too busy with some very satisfying basics and hadn’t detoured into embellishments like sucking on toes.
Her shoes stirred his baser instincts, too. The heels were at least three inches, maybe closer to four. In Chicago they’d call them do-me shoes.
He wasn’t sure what they’d be called in Wyoming, but the effect was the same on a guy no matter where a woman wore them. As Tyler’s heels created a sensuous beat, Alex imagined backing her up against the nearest wall and wrapping her legs, sexy shoes and French pedicure included, around his waist. Her skirt would be easily bunched up, and if she still favored thongs, her panties would provide no challenge whatsoever.
“How long have you been living at the ranch?”
“Uh...” His brain wasn’t functioning as efficiently as it might, considering a certain amount of blood had been routed elsewhere. “About three months, I guess.”
“I thought you liked being a DJ.”
“I did. I do. But as a DJ I work indoors, and that just seems like a waste in this kind of country. The marketing director job allows me to live on the ranch and spend a lot more time outside.” Talking about something besides sex helped control his reaction to her. But every time he took a breath, he caught a whiff of her sweet perfume—part peach roses, part Tyler.
“The Jackson Hole area seems to have a strong effect on people. It sure captivated my sister. She loved it when we lived here years ago, and she loves it even more now.”
“Yeah, she’s talked about going to high school in Jackson.” Alex paused to pick up Tyler’s flowered suitcase and she grabbed her black leather purse before they headed up the winding staircase to the second floor. “So you didn’t fall in love with the place?”
“We were only in Shoshone for about six months. I was thirteen and miserable because I had to wear hand-me-downs to school. I wasn’t paying much attention to my surroundings.”
“That’s a tough age. I don’t know if anybody’s happy at thirteen.” He was willing to bet she’d been a knockout, though, even at thirteen and wearing hand-me-down clothes. “So what do you think of the area now?”
“It’s beautiful. And Morgan’s so happy here.”
“So’s my sister, Josie. She came out on a skiing trip and made the decision to move. I wouldn’t have discovered this place if she hadn’t come here first.”
“And now she’s married to Jack. Were you the DJ for the reception then, too?”
“I was. They got married, along with Nick and Dominique, in early October.” But there had been no Tyler O’Connelli on the dance floor that night, no woman stirring him up and tempting him with hayloft sex. “Like Sarah said, we barely beat the snow, but now all the Chance men are hitched.”
“Wow.” Tyler laughed. “Must be something in the water.”
“Yeah, you might want to stick with bottled.”
“No kidding. Does Josie still own the Spirits and Spurs bar in Shoshone?”
“She does.” They reached the top of the stairs. “To your left.” He gestured in that direction. “Now that Josie lives out on the ranch, she’s not constantly at the bar, but she loves that place and I think she likes having her own income, too.”
“I sure get that.” Tyler’s voice grew more animated. “I would never be financially dependent on a man. My mother and father seem to have worked it out, but sometimes I wonder if she’d had her own money whether she might have vetoed some of his crazy ideas.”
Alex filed that statement away as a valuable insight into Tyler’s attitude. She wanted to maintain control over her life, and he admired that, too.
He paused beside the doorway into Gabe’s room on the right side of the hall. “This is it. Home sweet home for the next five fun-filled nights.” Probably shouldn’t have said that, either, but it was cruise lingo and...okay, he was flirting, even if she wasn’t.
She glanced up at him. “And where is your room?”
He pointed across the hall.
“Oh.”
He put her suitcase on the floor. “Look, Tyler, that wasn’t my idea. There are some plumbing issues in the other wing, like Sarah said.”
“I know. I just—”
“You just wanted to pay a surprise visit to your sister,” he said gently. “You didn’t count on dealing with me, and you certainly didn’t expect me to be sleeping across the hall.”
“Right.” Relief softened her dark eyes. “Thanks for understanding.”
“Oh, I understand, all right. I’m as conflicted about this situation as you are.”
“Because of your ex? Are you still—”
“Hell, no, I’m not still hung up on Crystal.” He looked into her eyes and figured the truth would work as well as anything. “But I’m afraid I might get hung up on you.”
Her pupils darkened and her full lips parted. Then she glanced away, as if she wanted to cancel that involuntary reaction.
Too late. He’d seen desire flare in her eyes and it had created a predictable response in him. He hoped she wouldn’t notice the bulge in his jeans. “Are you afraid you’ll get hung up on me?”
Her breathing quickened, making the turquoise fabric covering her breasts quiver. A turquoise pendant nestled in her cleavage and silver-and-turquoise drop earrings peeked through her dark curls. Her outfit was sexy, but he knew that had nothing to do with him. She hadn’t expected to see him today.
The dress, the shoes, the jewelry, the hair—they were an expression of Tyler’s style and another reason he’d been attracted to her last August. From his position on the DJ platform he’d watched her rhythmic, undulating movements with increasing fascination. When she’d appeared with champagne and an invitation, he’d been a goner.
“I am afraid we’d become too involved.” She gazed up at him. “When I saw you in the kitchen, I had instant recall of you and me in the hayloft.”
“I always wondered if you told anybody about that.”
“No. Did you?”
He shook his head. “We agreed it wasn’t going anywhere, so talking about it seemed too much like adolescent bragging.”
“I appreciate you keeping it quiet. I saw no point in telling anyone, either. We’re consenting adults who wanted to have some harmless fun. End of story.”
“Exactly.” But it wasn’t the end of the story. He knew it, and he suspected she did, too.
She hesitated. “I like you, Alex. I’m worried that if we pick up where we left off, it could turn into more, and I’m leaving on Wednesday. That isn’t going to change, no matter what happens between us.”
“I know.” He couldn’t seem to stop looking into her eyes. The hayloft had been dark and he hadn’t been able to see how beautiful they were—a deep, velvet brown that was almost black. “It might be better if we could just avoid each other.”
“I screwed that up by offering to help you with your open house tomorrow. It was a reflex. I see a party in trouble and I’m all over it. Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He loved the way her lashes fluttered when she apologized. “I could tell you wanted to take that offer back, but I really could use some ideas, and I’m sure you’ve dealt with unexpected problems hundreds of times.”
“You mean like a typhoon in the middle of a formal dinner dance?” Her full mouth curved and two tiny dimples appeared in her cheeks.
He smiled back. He’d forgotten about the dimples. “Yeah, like that. My lack of entertainment and my canopy issues must seem pretty small compared to what you’ve experienced.”
“When it’s your event, nothing is small. Listen, we’ll work this out. Just because we’re attracted to each other doesn’t mean we have to act on it. You may not believe this, considering our past history, but I’m pretty good at controlling those urges.”
“No shipboard romances?”
“God, no.”
A surge of relief told him he was already feeling slightly possessive. Not good. “I have to believe guys have tried. I mean, you’re so...so...”
She watched him with a bemused expression. “Sensual. I’m a sensual woman. Is that what you’re trying to say?”
“Yeah.” Normally he had an excellent vocabulary, honed by hours behind a microphone, but Tyler had the ability to reduce his IQ by several points. “That’s what I’m trying to say. So I don’t understand, unless you hook up with somebody on the ship...”
“That’s dangerous. The passengers are strictly off-limits, obviously, and getting involved with a staff member can result in disaster if it blows up. I’ve seen it happen and it’s not a risk I’m willing to take.”
Alex gazed at her standing there in her flirty dress and come-hither shoes. “It’s none of my business, but I don’t understand how celibacy works for you.”
Her cheeks grew rosy and her glance slid to somewhere over his left shoulder. “I haven’t figured that out yet. It’s the only negative factor in my career plan.”
He wanted to laugh, but didn’t dare. She’d constructed the perfect trajectory for herself, except that she’d left her sexual needs completely out of the equation. She hadn’t successfully submerged them, either, despite what she’d said. Her choice of shoes told him that.
She straightened and looked him in the eye. “But FYI, I’m not a sex-starved woman who would be grateful if a virile cowboy came along to reduce her frustration level for a few days.”
“I would never think of you like that.” But he would think of her as a sensual, vibrant woman who needed to be loved. He sighed with regret. “It’s probably better if we don’t become involved while you’re here. No point in starting something that could lead to problems.”
“I agree.”
“I wanted a chance to discuss that, which is the main reason I volunteered to bring your suitcase up and direct you to your room.”
“I thought you were doing it to be a gentleman.”
“No, to be gentlemanly. A true gentleman wouldn’t have followed you up to the hayloft after the wedding reception. So don’t ever mistake me for a gentleman.”
“All right, I won’t.” Her eyes sparkled.
He wanted to kiss her, and he vividly remembered the feel of her lips on his. He resisted the impulse.
“So, Alex.” She took a breath. “Let’s forget about whatever chemistry we have and concentrate on your event.”
He doubted he’d be able to forget about this attraction, but he moved into safer territory because that seemed to be what she wanted. “I will only admit this to you, but I’m feeling in over my head this first time. I have a marketing degree, but in Chicago they wanted me on air, so I—”
“Because you have such a great voice.”
He shrugged off the compliment. He couldn’t take credit for that because he’d never worked at trying to sound good. “It fit their criteria, I guess, but consequently I didn’t get into the marketing end quite as much. I was part of the team that put on events for the station, mostly for charity, but this is my first solo effort.”
She gazed up at him. “You’ll be fine. You have a fabulous venue and people are more flexible than you think. If you keep your sense of humor, they’ll keep theirs.”
He understood why she was good at her job. “That’s the best advice I’ve heard all day.” He gestured toward the open bedroom door. “If you want to check out your room, I’ll bring you some sheets and towels from the linen closet.”
“Thanks. Just leave them by the door and I’ll make up my bed later. Right now I need to change clothes if I’m going to be any good to you.”
He could think of several ways she could be good to him, and none of them involved clothes. “Before I look for sheets, I need to see Gabe’s bed. I can’t remember what size it is.” Picking up her suitcase, he carried it into the bedroom.
Oh, yeah. Now he remembered that Gabe’s old room was furnished with an antique four-poster and dresser, which meant the mattress and box springs were a double rather than a queen or king. Alex had Jack’s former room, which Jack had outfitted with a king-size bed set on a massive oak frame. The place was a man cave that was totally Jack. Jack would have taken the bed with him except he’d built it inside the room, and moving it would have been more trouble than building another one in his new house.
If Alex remembered right, the four-poster in Gabe’s room had belonged to Archie and Nelsie Chance, the couple who’d settled on this ranch in the thirties and created the legacy that now belonged to their grandsons—Jack, Nick and Gabe. Like most guys in this century, Gabe thought a double bed was too small for two people, so he’d left the antique here to be used as a guest bed.
“What a gorgeous bed frame,” Tyler said. “It looks old.”
“I think it is. Don’t quote me, but it might have been the marriage bed for Archie and Nelsie Chance.”
“That’s pretty cool.” Tyler walked over and wrapped her hand around a carved post at the foot of the bed. “Couples were willing to sleep closer to each other in those days, weren’t they?”
“I guess so. Now a double bed is considered crowded with two people in it.”
Tyler’s grip on the bedpost tightened. “I suppose it depends on how much they like each other.”
Alex remembered how her fingers had wrapped around his cock. He had to get out of there. He had to leave now, before he crossed the room and tested how crowded the conditions would be if he and Tyler rolled around awhile on that double mattress. Because they’d made do with a hayloft, he doubted that either of them would mind the size of the bed.
He set her suitcase on the hardwood floor with a soft click. “I’ll get your sheets.” Then he left the room and closed the door behind him.
The image of her manicured nails wrapped around the bedpost stayed with him. He wanted her hands on him, tangling in his hair, stroking his skin, caressing his penis. She was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman, and he was dizzy from craving her.
He needed to get over it. They’d set the parameters and he would abide by them. But he might not get much sleep for the next five nights while he lay across the hall from the woman who’d given him the most fantastic night of his life.
There. He’d admitted that making love with Tyler in the hayloft had topped anything he’d experienced with any other woman, including Crystal. The spectacular nature of that experience had been neatly contained in one night of craziness, but the situation wasn’t so neat anymore.
Obviously he was still wildly attracted to her, and the force of that attraction made him a little nervous. Ultimately, he’d be happier if he kept away from her. The more time he spent with her, the more right she’d feel and the more he’d want her to be his forever girl. And she couldn’t be.
Chapter Three
Tyler hung on to the bedpost to keep herself from walking right into Alex’s arms. Her strong response to him scared her a little. No, it scared her a lot. She hadn’t planned on this kind of complication.
Releasing her hold on the bedpost, she walked over to her suitcase, her legs trembling from the adrenaline rush of wanting Alex. Maybe she should leave, catch a flight out of Jackson and return to her little apartment in L.A. Then her longing for Alex Keller couldn’t possibly create a detour on her carefully charted course.
She couldn’t leave, though. Morgan would be crushed, and Morgan was the person Tyler had come here for. When Tyler had walked into baggage claim at the airport and caught sight of Morgan waiting for her, they’d both squealed and jumped up and down like teenagers. Their hug had been awkward because of Morgan’s big belly, but that hug might have been the happiest, and the most tearful one, they’d ever shared.
No, Tyler couldn’t pack up her marbles and go home just because Alex happened to be living here and he tempted her with the kind of bone-deep commitment that might make her forget all about her promotion opportunity. Unzipping her suitcase, she rummaged through it looking for jeans and a T-shirt, both of which she’d bought last week for this trip to the ranch.
She loved her job, loved the challenge of making a ship full of passengers happy while seeing the world she’d always dreamed of as a child. As a bonus, she could afford nice clothes and regular trips to the ship’s beauty salon. She’d been raised to dismiss such things as unimportant, but her parents’ disdain for material wealth had meant their kids never wore anything new and got haircuts at home.
Tyler agreed that character was more important than outward appearance, but she couldn’t see anything wrong with being a worthwhile person who happened to be well dressed and well groomed. In the first place her job demanded it, and in the second place, looking good didn’t mean she was shallow and materialistic.
Once she’d left home—or rather, the wildly painted van that had been a home on wheels for her entire childhood—she’d vowed to find a profession that allowed her to buy pretty clothes and patronize a good salon. And travel well. She adored seeing new places and having new experiences, but she never wanted to camp out again as long as she lived.
The cruise business was a perfect fit for her, with the tiny exception of having no room for a man in her packed schedule. Alex had quickly uncovered the one disadvantage to her chosen lifestyle. That might be another reason the night with him in the hayloft sparkled so brilliantly in her memory. She hadn’t had many such experiences since taking a job with the cruise company.
She’d have to figure out how to fill that lack, but now wasn’t the time to worry about it. She was one world cruise away from nailing the job she’d coveted from the beginning—cruise director. Sure, it would be more responsibility, but she had tons of ideas and the job would give her the authority to act on them.
Tossing her dress on the bed and taking off her sandals, she put on the snug jeans and formfitting yellow T-shirt with the scoop neck. She hadn’t brought anything baggy to wear because baggy wasn’t her style. As a kid she’d been forced to wear clothes that didn’t quite fit, so now she chose outfits that showed off her figure.
Alex might think she did that to attract a man, but that wasn’t really her goal. She bought the outfits to please herself. She’d spent too much time as a child hating the shabby girl she saw every day in the mirror.
Once she’d put on socks and running shoes, she took a deep breath. Then she opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the hall. Alex leaned against the opposite wall, arms crossed as he waited for her, long legs stretched out, a tooled belt that drew attention to his narrow hips, and a chambray shirt that emphasized his broad chest and wide shoulders. Her heart rate kicked up. She couldn’t help that automatic reaction, but she didn’t have to give in to its power.
Male appreciation flickered in his gaze before he pushed himself away from the wall. His expression became a careful mask. “Ready?”
“Show me what you’ve got.”
He laughed. “You might want to rephrase that.”
“Is everything between us going to turn into a sexual joke? Because that won’t work.”
He started toward the stairs. “I’ll try to do better if you’ll try to avoid saying things like show me what you’ve got. You have to admit that line begged to be turned into something suggestive.”
“I was referring to your...oh, never mind.” She descended the winding staircase beside him, her palm sliding down a banister smoothed by countless other hands, and possibly a few fannies, too. The house and its history fascinated her. That kind of permanence and connection between generations was foreign, almost exotic, and she’d learned to appreciate exotic experiences during her travels.
She glanced down into the living room with its leather furniture grouped around the massive fireplace, and remembered that Alex was missing two of his three canopies for the open house. “Were you planning to make use of this space tomorrow?”
“I hadn’t thought I would. This area seems more private. I’ve called the event an open house, but I wasn’t really figuring on opening the actual house, just the grounds and the barn.”
“If it rains, you might not have that luxury. How would Sarah feel about extending the event into the living room and possibly the dining room?”
“I don’t know, but let’s see if there are alternatives before we ask her. She might agree, but I doubt if the Chance brothers would like it. They’re protective about this house.”
Tyler paused at the foot of the stairs to glance around. “I can understand that. I—”
She was interrupted as the front door opened. A blast of cool air was followed by a broad-shouldered cowboy sporting a sandy-colored mustache. Until he took off his hat, Tyler didn’t recognize that he was her brother-in-law, Gabe. She hadn’t seen him since the wedding last August, and apparently he’d decided to grow a mustache over the winter months.
“Tyler!” He pulled her into a quick hug scented with horse and dust. “Thanks for coming. Morgan sounded so excited when I talked to her. I know it means the world to her that you made the effort.”
“I’m glad it worked out.” She stepped back and smiled at him. “I can tell you’re treating her right. She’s really happy.”
“I hope so.” Gabe turned and hooked his hat on a rack standing beside the front door. “We didn’t plan for her to get pregnant this quick, but...” He shrugged.
“She doesn’t seem to mind a bit.”
Gabe scrubbed a hand through his hair, which bore the imprint of his hat. “No, she really doesn’t, and I can’t tell you how relieved I am about that. When we first got together she wasn’t sure she ever wanted kids.” He glanced over at Alex. “Looks like the two of you were headed outside.”
“That was the plan,” Alex said.
“Then you’d better get going. The clouds are moving in.”
“We’ll go fast,” Tyler said. “I just want a quick overview.”
Gabe looked puzzled. “Of what?”
“She’s going to save my ass,” Alex said. “Some of my plans for tomorrow have fallen through, but as luck would have it, an activities director from a major cruise line just showed up and offered to help me put on this shindig.”
“That’s the Chance luck working for you,” Gabe said.
“But I’m not a Chance.”
Gabe clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re part of the family, so that makes you an honorary Chance. As such, you might as well learn the family motto handed down from Grandpa Archie.”
“Which is?”
“Chance men are lucky when it counts.”
Alex sent the briefest glance toward Tyler. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Tyler waited until they were out the door and standing on the covered porch before she commented. “I saw that look.”
“What look?” Alex had grabbed a gray felt cowboy hat from the same rack Gabe had used. Holding it by the crown, he settled it on his head with practiced ease.
“The look you gave me when Gabe told you about the family motto. Just to be clear, the motto is ‘Chance men are lucky,’ not ‘Chance men get lucky.’” But, oh, man, he’d increased his odds exponentially by adding the hat. She couldn’t say what it was about a guy in a Stetson, but wearing one sure did multiply the sexy factor.
Alex laughed. “What made you think I had any such thoughts?”
“Are you saying you didn’t?”
He gazed at her for a moment before answering with a brief smile. Then he turned to study the darkening sky. A tug on the brim of his hat brought it lower over his eyes. “We need to take that tour of the ranch ASAP before the storm hits.”
Tyler’s breath caught. The hat was a sexy addition, but when Alex took hold of the brim and pulled it down, she melted. One little innocent gesture created a soul-stirring image of courage and purpose, of protecting the weak, and shoot-outs in the middle of a dusty street at high noon.
That simple movement made Alex seem more focused and intense, even a little bit dangerous. No doubt about it, there was something compelling about a guy wearing a cowboy hat. For a gorgeous specimen like Alex, it was almost overkill.
She took a deep breath of air that already smelled of rain. “Lead on.” She followed him down the porch steps.
Once they moved away from the shelter of the two-story ranch house, the wind cut through the light cotton of her T-shirt.
“The hands set up bleachers over by the largest corral.” Alex pointed to a spot where a small set of metal bleachers had been erected. “I’d planned to protect the guests with a canopy, but now I only have one, and the food and beverages should be under cover, either for shade or rain protection.”
“Let’s check out the barn.” She started toward the large hip-roofed structure that was the biggest building on the property outside of the main house. “There should be places in there where people can get in out of the rain.”
“At least it’s clean as a whistle. The hands have been working on it all day. They’ll go through again first thing in the morning, but they’ve put down fresh straw everywhere and set out some fresh hay bales, which can be used for seating.”
“I can smell the hay from here.” And the scent turned her on. She still had a three-inch piece of it she’d plucked from the mounds scattered in the hayloft. It sat on a shelf along with her collection of souvenirs from her travels, and every once in a while she’d pick it up and sniff it. The aroma was fading, but her memories of Alex never had.
Last August as she and Alex had gathered up their clothes in preparation for leaving, Alex had explained that the ranch had outgrown the capacity of the hayloft and it was now strictly ornamental. A hay barn held the bales that supplied the ranch animals. But the old barn was the only structure left of the original ranch buildings, and so the Chance brothers threw some loose hay up in the loft every spring because their father had liked the picturesque way it looked.
The romance of that tradition had appealed to Tyler. She’d wondered if Jonathan Chance had enjoyed an episode or two in the hayloft himself. She’d asked Alex, but he hadn’t known much about the family secrets at that point. Now that he was an honorary Chance, he might.
Two dogs were stretched out in front of the barn, one on either side of the open door. Tyler remembered them from her first visit last summer. At Alex and Tyler’s approach, the dogs lifted their heads and thumped their tails in the dirt.
“Hey, Butch.” Alex leaned toward the dog on the right side of the door. Butch was medium-size, with a short tan-and-white coat and a snub nose. Alex scratched behind Butch’s ears and the dog’s tail thumped faster.
“Right. This other one’s Sundance.” Tyler figured the dog on the left, all black with slightly curly hair, was her responsibility to pet. “Hi, Sundance.” She stroked the dog’s silky head. Dogs would have been a luxury when she was growing up, so she’d never had one, or a cat, either. She liked animals, but she wasn’t used to them.
If an animal rooted a person to one spot, and Tyler thought maybe they did, then the Chance family must really be rooted with all the ones they had around here. Besides the horses, they had these dogs, a few barn cats and at least one goat, if she remembered correctly. Last summer she’d been a bridesmaid, so she’d been concentrating on the wedding instead of cataloguing the animals, so she could be wrong about the goat.
She certainly remembered the hayloft, though. The details of that area were permanently recorded in high def, probably even 3-D, and the movie flickered in her head every time she looked at Alex. Even if they never touched again, she would never forget those glorious hours in his arms.
Another gust of wind whipped up the dust at their feet and would have blown off Alex’s hat if he hadn’t grabbed it at the last minute. Thunder rolled overhead.
He straightened and glanced at the dark clouds hovering over the ranch. “We’d better finish up this tour and get back to the house.” He walked through the large door and flicked a switch to his right, which turned on a row of ceiling lights that ran the length of the stalls.
As Tyler followed him into the barn, the scent of fresh hay swirling around her was an aphrodisiac more tempting than she could have imagined. Her body hummed with eagerness. They’d kissed here in the barn before climbing into the hayloft. The kiss had begun as gentle exploration and had ended with enough heat to melt all her inhibitions.
The open house, she reminded herself. She was here to evaluate the space for entertainment possibilities. The barn was quiet except for the sound of horses munching their evening meal. Somewhere a horse stomped a hoof, and another blew out a noisy breath. The scent of oiled leather mixed with the aroma of hay.
“I guess all the hands headed for the bunkhouse when they saw the storm coming,” Alex said.
“Smart.” She chose not to glance over at him as they stood in the center aisle of the barn only about two feet apart. Hearing his voice in this setting reminded her of how he’d murmured in her ear as he’d undressed her, and how he’d coaxed her to new heights of pleasure during that long, glorious night.
His voice had been a big part of the attraction early on. Hearing it coming through the sound system during the reception had begun the seduction, and by the time the festivities were over and she’d suggested moving the party to the hayloft, she’d been more than ready to hear that voice in a more intimate setting.
The open house, girl! You told him you’d help him plan his party! She cleared her throat. “If you lined the center aisle with tables for food and beverages, you could sweep out a few stalls and have potential seating in those. People could meander up and down this aisle and be close to the horses, which is what you want, right?”
He didn’t answer.
“Right?” she prompted, turning to him.
“Yeah.” His tone was husky, and he gazed at her with longing in his eyes.
Her heart began to pound. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Can’t help it.” He took a step toward her.
She thought about moving back. She didn’t. “We talked about this.” But her words lacked all conviction.
“I don’t want to talk.” He reached for her.
“Me neither.” With a groan she surrendered to the kiss she’d been craving for ten long months, the kiss she’d promised herself wouldn’t happen, the kiss that was so...damn...good.
Chapter Four
Mistakes shouldn’t feel like this. Mistakes should torture a guy with regret and anxiety. But this one—and no question that it was a big mistake—filled Alex with incredible joy.
The moment he connected with Tyler’s full mouth, his world made sense again. Kissing her was, he realized, his favorite thing to do. Cancel that. His second favorite.
She nestled against him and her body aligned with his as if they’d held each other only hours ago instead of months. His body remembered the fullness of her breasts, the curve of her spine, the press of her thighs. Predictably, within seconds of beginning this mistake of a kiss, he wanted to make more mistakes, bigger mistakes, juicier and more satisfying mistakes.
Judging from the way Tyler quivered and moaned softly when he thrust his tongue into her mouth, she had the same idea. She pushed her hips forward. He was already hard, already hotter than a branding iron. Somewhere in the middle of the kiss his Stetson toppled to the barn floor, and although he’d paid good money for that hat, he wasn’t about to retrieve it now.
He was too busy to worry about a hat. He’d found his way under the back hem of her T-shirt to the clasp of her bra. Once that gave way, he slid one hand around and cupped her warm breast. Sweet heaven. How could a woman who felt so right be completely wrong for him?
She moaned again and arched into his caress. He knew in that moment that whatever they’d said while standing outside her bedroom meant nothing now. If he could figure out the logistics, she would surrender to this passion neither of them could control and she would worry about the fallout later.
Or maybe not. Gasping, she wriggled out of his arms and backed away from him. Her shirt was rumpled where her bra hung unfastened beneath it. Her breasts quivered with her rapid breathing and her eyes were heavy-lidded and dark with need. “This is crazy.”
Heart hammering, he stared at her in helpless frustration as he gulped for air. His entire groin area ached from the restriction of his jeans. “I know.”
She glanced around quickly, as if looking for something. “Did you...did you bring...”
“No.” His sudden realization that she’d stopped him because she wanted to ask about condoms sent a new surge of desire through his system. “No, damn it.”
“Then we can’t...”
He wasn’t going to let this moment pass. “You can.” He started toward her.
She shook her head and backed up. “That’s not fair.”
“Let me decide that. I’ve missed touching you.”
She took a shuddering breath. “But it’s too one-sided. If we could just do it, then we could get it out of our system.”
If he hadn’t been so jacked up on lust, he would have laughed. She was seriously kidding herself if she believed one time would satisfy them. It hadn’t the night in the hayloft and it wouldn’t now.
He closed the distance between them. “You can’t believe that.”
“That’s what I was telling myself while you were kissing me senseless.” She stepped back and bumped against the latched door of an empty stall. “It seemed like a perfectly logical idea when you were unhooking my bra and I didn’t have the self-control of a gnat.”
He groaned. “You’re torturing me.”
“I know, and that’s mean. We should just go back before this gets any—”
A loud crash and a flash of light was followed by a low rumble and the steady ping of rain on the barn’s tin roof. The dogs came in and padded over to Alex, tails wagging slowly.
“Butch, Sundance, go lie down.” He pointed to the tack room where they each had a bed.
With twin doggie sighs of resignation, they left for the tack room. When he turned back to Tyler, the rain had started to pound on the roof in earnest, and she had her hands behind her back and under her shirt as if she intended to fasten her bra. He was losing ground.
“I guess we’ll have to make a run for it,” she said.
“We could, but it’ll probably let up in a few minutes. We could wait and see if it does.”
She hesitated. “I suppose.”
“So why not stop what you’re doing and unlatch that stall door? There’s a nice bed of hay in there.”
Her lips parted and heat simmered in her gaze as it had earlier in the hallway outside her room. This time she didn’t look away. “You don’t give up, do you?”
“Not when there’s something I want.” His heartbeat hammered in his ears, almost drowning the rattle of rain on the tin roof. “I think you want the same thing.”
Her breathing quickened. “Now you’re the one torturing me.”
“I can fix that.” Please let me love you.
“Alex...”
“Tyler...” He waited, willing her to turn and unlatch that stall door, yet knowing that she might not. If she decided to run out into the rain, he’d have to run with her, because she couldn’t arrive at the house dripping wet with him nowhere around. That would look bad.
She finished hooking her bra. “I’m going to see how hard it’s coming down.” Breaking eye contact, she walked to the front of the barn.
He scooped up his hat from the floor and followed her. If she insisted on making a run for it, he’d leave his hat on a shelf beside the door rather than ruin it in the rain. But he was still hoping she’d change her mind.
She peered out the door into the gray light. Rain slanted across the landscape, blurring the outlines of the ranch house and the twin spruces in front of it. “I think we should go.”
He put his hat on the shelf by the door. “I’m warning you, you’ll get wet.”
She muttered something that sounded like I already am.
If that was an admission of how he’d affected her, he wanted to hear it again. “What was that?”
“Nothing. Let’s go.”
“Okay.” He doused the lights, and once they were both out the door, he turned and shoved it closed.
She yelped, and he swung around in time to see her land on her backside in the mud. He was beside her in three strides and leaned down to help her up. Except it didn’t work out that way. She managed to upset his balance just enough on the mud-slick ground that he went down, too. By throwing himself sideways, he avoided landing on top of her, but he had mud splattered all over his clothes.
“I’m sorry!” She scrambled to her knees, rain dripping from her hair into her face. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, other than the mud. Are you?”
“Yes, but...I don’t want to track all this into that beautiful house.”
There was a back way into the house for exactly this reason. It opened into the utility room adjoining the kitchen. There was even a narrow, seldom-used staircase that led from the kitchen to the second floor, an addition made when three growing, often dirty, boys had needed to get upstairs without making too big a mess.
But at the moment Tyler looked as if she’d entered a wet T-shirt contest. Surely any red-blooded male would forgive him for neglecting to tell her about the back entrance into the ranch’s utility room and the staircase to the second floor.
“There’s a cleanup sink in the barn,” he said. “We can go back and get the worst of it off there.”
“All right.”
He felt a little bit guilty for leading her back into the barn, but not much. When he’d kissed her a few minutes ago, she’d kissed him back. Vigorously. Vows of chastity were all well and good for some people, but he and Tyler weren’t those people. They needed each other too desperately.
Maybe they’d clean off the mud and go back to the house without anything happening. It was possible. But he couldn’t imagine four more days of nothing happening. To his way of thinking, they might as well get started now.
This time he didn’t turn on the overhead lamps. Low lights mounted near the floor were on a dusk-to-dawn sensor, and they glowed softly, illuminating the floor so they wouldn’t trip over anything and creating an ambience that suited the mood Alex hoped for. Rain hitting the tin roof added another romantic touch.
“Thanks for not turning on the lights,” Tyler said. “I’m a mess.”
“Not in my book.” Even in low light, he had a good view of her yellow shirt plastered to her body. Her nipples made dents in the soaked material, and it was all he could do not to reach for her, mud and all. But the next move needed to be hers, not his.
She slicked her wet hair back and squeezed some water out of the ends as she glanced upward. “I like the sound of rain on a tin roof.”
“Me, too.”
She met his gaze briefly and looked away. “Where’s the sink?”
“At the far end, beyond the last stall.”
Her running shoes squished as she walked down the aisle between the rows of stalls. “Is there a goat in here, too? I seem to remember something about a goat.”
“Yep, there’s a goat.” He followed her toward the back of the barn. “His name is Hornswaggled, and he shares a stall with a mare named Doozie. They’re inseparable.”
“Which stall?”
“Third from the end on the left.”
Tyler detoured over to that stall and looked in. “Sure enough. Hi, there, Doozie and Hornswaggled. How do you like this weather we’re having?”
Doozie stuck her nose over the stall door and the goat’s front hooves clacked against the wooden door as he propped himself against it to beg for his share of attention.
“They’re so friendly.” Tyler stroked Doozie’s nose with one hand and scratched the top of the goat’s head with the other.
Alex came to stand beside her. “The Last Chance prides itself on being a friendly place.”
“I’ve noticed.” She concentrated on the two animals instead of looking at him, but the color rose in her cheeks. “This horse isn’t a paint like all the others.”
“Nope. She was injured and needed a safe haven. Now she’s fine, but nobody’s willing to sell her, even if they can’t breed her.”
Dislodging Tyler’s hand, Doozie moved closer to Alex, gazing at him expectantly.
He reached out and rubbed her silky neck. “Sorry, Dooz. I don’t have any treats.”
Hornswaggled bleated softly.
“Nothing for you, either, Horny.”
Tyler groaned. “That nickname is so bad, Alex.”
“Don’t blame me. That’s what all the hands call him. He came to the ranch with that name, and nobody’s going to take the time to say all of it. Cowboys appreciate brevity.”
Tyler glanced sideways at Alex as she continued to scratch the goat’s head. “So how much of a cowboy are you these days? Do you ride the range and stuff?”
“I ride.” He liked being able to say that. “Mostly I ride Dooz. Why?”
“Just wondered. Last summer you were still a city boy. You even told me you weren’t the cowboy type, but you’re...different now.”
He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe she preferred city boys to cowboys. “How am I different?”
“Well, you dress differently, and your hair’s a little longer. Your face seems a little more chiseled, but maybe that’s because of your hair. Also, there’s something else, something harder to define, an attitude...”
“Are you saying I have an attitude?”
“Not in a bad way. It’s more like a quiet confidence.”
He was flattered, but still he had to laugh. “I just admitted a while ago that I have all kinds of doubts about this event tomorrow. That doesn’t seem like quiet confidence to me.”
“This isn’t about your job, it’s about...your...” She took a deep breath. “It’s about your sex appeal, okay? I have no business talking about it, because it will only make me want to do things I shouldn’t do.” She moved away from the stall door. “Where’s that sink?” She started toward the end of the barn. “We need to get cleaned up and go back to the house. Dinner is probably ready, and I—”
He spun her around and pulled her into his arms, mud and all. “Let’s do those things.” Then he kissed her, knowing that she would kiss him back, knowing that this time he would take that kiss where he wanted it to go, and she would let him.
Her mouth tasted of rain and desire, and he knew the rest of her would, too. Heart pounding with anticipation, he began to strip her down, peeling her T-shirt over her head, unhooking her soaked bra, unbuttoning her jeans. He encouraged her to help him in a voice hoarse with need.
She did, nudging off her shoes, kicking away her wet jeans, shimmying out of her panties. He warmed her chilled skin with his mouth and his hands—stroking, licking, kissing every fondly remembered inch of her. She moaned and quivered in his grasp.
Her moan of delight was the music he’d yearned to hear for ten long months. One night was all they’d had together, and yet his feelings for her were so damn strong. She seemed to be as caught up in the whirlwind as he was. When he closed his mouth over her taut nipple, she arched into him and held the back of his head, tunneling her fingers through his wet hair as he sucked.
The tempo of the rain increased, urging him on. As her body warmed, he moved lower. Finally he sank to his knees and cupped her satiny bottom in both hands. Ah, the scent of heaven—Tyler, fully aroused, wanting him as much as he wanted her. He couldn’t imagine anything better than that.
His tongue remembered her exotic taste and knew the way to her sweet spot. There, waiting for him, needing him. He touched the tip of his tongue to her clit. She gasped and clutched his head for balance. But she did not pull back, did not tell him no. She was willing to be vulnerable and let him love her, at least for this moment in time.
Filled with gratitude, he took her, claiming her with an open mouth and a questing tongue. She was slick with passion, and he savored the richness of her desire. Her soft cries of delight spilled over him as he stroked rhythmically with his tongue in time to the steady beat of the rain overhead. He would give her this, even if they could share nothing else.
She began to tremble, and he used more pressure. With a groan that spoke of intense pleasure, she came, bathing his tongue in her juices. He drank joyfully, holding her, supporting her so she wouldn’t fall.
At last her body grew quiet and she drew in a shaky breath. “Oh, Alex.” She said his name on a sigh of happiness.
He couldn’t ask for a better response than that. Slowly he stood, sliding his hands up her body as he rose to his feet. His legs were rubbery from the rush of adrenaline, and his cock was absolutely killing him. But a cowboy filled with quiet confidence would be stoic about such things.
Once they were face-to-face again, she looked into his eyes. “That was...” Her breath caught. “So good.”
“Glad you liked it.” He stroked her back as she nestled against him. He loved the transformation when a woman had a climax, and he especially loved watching Tyler lose every bit of the tension she’d held in her body. Having a work ethic like hers could take its toll. He should know.
“Mmm.” She rested her cheek against his damp shirt. “I don’t know what the heck I was thinking, letting you strip me naked and make me come.”
“That you needed that?”
“I suppose. Anyway, I’m going to listen to the music of the rain and pretend it was fate.”
“Good.” He caressed her smooth skin, which was something he probably should stop doing, because the more he touched her, the harder he became.
“So what now?”
He frowned, wishing he had a better solution for the next phase. “Unfortunately, we probably need to sponge the mud off our clothes and go back.”
“I don’t think you’re ready to go back.”
“It’s not that I want to, but—”
She wiggled against him. “I’m not talking about whether you want to or not. I don’t think you can do it physically.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m worried that in your condition, you’ll have trouble walking.” She reached down and rubbed the spot where the seam of his fly was threatening to give way under the pressure.
He drew in a sharp breath as her casual touch brought pleasure laced with pain. “I’ll be fine.” But his quick words sounded as strained as he felt.
“Yes, you will be fine. Very fine. I’ll see to it.” She stepped back and maintained eye contact as she used both hands to unbuckle his belt.
His heart thundered with anticipation, and yet she’d have to get to her knees on the barn floor. He grasped her wrists. “No.”
“If you can do me, then I sure as heck can do you.”
He held her fast, refusing to let her continue with her plan. “It’s different. I had on jeans when I got down there.”
“No worries.” Glancing at the floor, she stretched out one shapely leg and used her elegantly polished toes to drag her crumpled jeans over to rest at her feet. “Voilà.”
Then she met his gaze again. “Happy now?”
He groaned softly. “I think I’m about to be.” He released her wrists with a sigh.
“You betcha, cowboy. Now hold still.”
He tried, but watching her unbutton his fly and pull down his briefs gave him the shakes. Her soft murmur of admiration nearly made him come, and when she put both hands on him—one circling his cock and the other cradling his balls—he had to close his eyes and lock his knees in order to remain standing.
Fabric rustled, and he knew she must have knelt on her jeans, but he didn’t dare open his eyes. The sight of her there, poised for the next step, would be enough to send him over the edge. He’d made it this far, and he wanted...oh, yes...that...the flick of her tongue, the warmth of her mouth, the gentle suction...
He wouldn’t last long. The sensation was erotic by itself, but knowing that Tyler was the one caressing him drove him slowly insane. He’d wanted her for so long, and now she was here, on her knees...
Even though he clenched his jaw, attempting to be the strong, silent type, a moan escaped. And another. He was breathing like a long-distance runner nearing the finish line.
And he was nearing the finish line. Her tongue danced along the underside of his cock, and then she did a swirling maneuver over the tip before taking him deep again. His penis touched the back of her throat.
And now he wanted to see. Opening his eyes, he took in the stirring sight of her drawing back, her cheeks hollowing to increase the pressure. Slowly she rolled his balls in the palm of her hand, creating a subtle yet powerful massage.
Dizzy with the need to come, yet desperate to prolong the ecstasy because this might never happen again, he combed shaking fingers through her luxurious hair, keeping his touch light even though she was winding him tight...and tighter yet. Once again she took him up to the hilt and slowly pulled back.
He was losing the fight. Control began slipping away as she used her tongue again before pulling his entire length deep inside. While holding him there and applying rhythmic suction, she pressed a ridge directly behind his balls...and he came in a rush. His surrender was total and vocal. He cried out and was very afraid his knees would buckle.
But, in truth, his center of gravity was buried in her mouth, which was the only logical reason he didn’t fall down as a climax roared through him with the force of a tsunami. The movement of her throat as she swallowed sent a current of electricity from his cock straight up his spine to short-circuit his brain.
He had no idea how much time passed before she slowly released him and gently tucked him back into his briefs. When she got to her feet, he took a long, shuddering breath and tried to remember his name.
She cupped his face in both hands and stood on tiptoe to kiss him. “I think you liked that.”
“That...” He paused to clear his throat. “That is the understatement of the year.” Sliding his fingers through her still-wet hair, he cradled her head and gazed into her shining eyes. “I’m afraid our plan to avoid sex is a total failure.”
“You could say that.”
“So I guess we need a new plan.”
“All right.” Her gaze was steady. “How about great sex with no strings and no regrets?”
He nodded. “Might as well aim high.”
“We can do it. We managed it last time.” She said it with conviction, in the same tone she’d used when she’d assured him his event tomorrow would work out. He couldn’t deny that her sunny approach to life appealed to him.
“Sure we can.” He agreed with her because he had no choice. He’d craved her from the moment he’d laid eyes on her ten months ago. Now that she was within reach, he wanted to be with her day and night—especially night. If he felt any strings tugging at his heart as a result of spending time in her arms and in her bed, he’d just have to cut them.
Although she wasn’t truly like Crystal, other than the fact that they both liked looking good, she still wanted a different life from the one he envisioned for himself. Good sex didn’t mean he had to let himself fall for the woman, no matter how sunny her disposition was. Right.
Chapter Five
Tyler cleaned up as best she could before they left the barn, but her wet clothes felt icky and no doubt she resembled a half-drowned cat. The rain continued to fall, soaking her hair and clothes even more, although Alex tried to shield her with his body. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she slid her arm around his waist as they started toward the house.
Normally she cared a lot about how she presented herself, but a world-shattering orgasm had mellowed her out tremendously. Even so, she still didn’t like the idea of tracking the rain and mud onto the ranch’s gorgeous hardwood floors.
“Are you sure there’s no back entrance that leads to a mudroom?” she asked as they approached the front porch. “I’d think a ranch would have something like that.”
“Um...well, it does.”
“It does? Then why didn’t you say so before?”
No answer.
She gave him a whack on the arm, but considering how solid his biceps were, she didn’t think he felt much of anything.
He yelped in protest, anyway. “What was that for?”
“You know perfectly well! You lured me back into that barn on false pretenses!”
“Maybe.” He didn’t sound the least bit repentant. “Mad at me?”
“I should be. That was a very underhanded way to get me alone and naked.” She heard the smile in her voice and was sure he could hear it, too.
“You’re right. I’m thoroughly ashamed of myself.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet you are.”
“I deserve to be sent straight to bed.”
She laughed. “Stop it. We have things to do.”
“We certainly do.” He walked faster, urging her to keep up. “For one thing, I need to count the condoms stashed in my bedside-table drawer.”
“You’re getting carried away.” And she was getting carried away right with him. Her wet panties had nothing to do with the rain and everything to do with the prospect of spending the night in bed with Alex.
Warnings whispered through her mind, threatening to erase her glow of satisfaction, and she pushed them away. Good sex was healthy and life affirming, like a trip to a spa. She’d soak up all the joy she could and not spoil it by anticipating the inevitable parting scene. It wouldn’t rip her heart out. She wouldn’t allow that.
“Getting carried away feels great,” Alex said. “I haven’t felt this good since...”
“Last August?” That would have been her answer. She hadn’t felt this giddy since the night in the hayloft.
“’Fraid so. But that doesn’t mean I’ll get hung up on you. I can play by the rules.”
“I know you can,” she said with determined optimism. “It was naive of us to think we could keep our distance from each other while I’m here. I think facing the attraction and dealing with it is a realistic approach, don’t you?”
“Absolutely. We both would have been on edge the entire time, which wouldn’t have been fair to everyone around us.”
“Right.” She glanced at the ranch house as welcoming light shone through its many windows. “So where is this back entrance?”
“In the back.”
“Very funny. Why are you still heading for the front door?”
“Because the utility room is right off the kitchen. Not only will we run into Mary Lou serving dinner, but the family dining room isn’t far from the kitchen. Judging from the trucks parked in the driveway, everyone is gathered for the Friday night meal. Someone will hear us.”
“But what about the mess we’ll make in the main part of the house?”
“We’ll take off our shoes—or in my case, my boots, on the porch. It’s not that far to go through the hall and up the stairs. We can change clothes and come back down with nobody the wiser.”
“I doubt that. I say somebody’s going to pick up on the fact that we have more than friendship going on.”
He pulled her to a halt. “And how do you feel about that?”
“It’s not for me to say. I’ll be leaving on Wednesday.” She gazed up at him as rain dripped from her hair and eyelashes. Thank God for waterproof mascara. Although the rest of her might be a disaster, at least she wouldn’t go into the house with raccoon eyes. “I guess we need to discuss this. Do you care if they figure out that we’re involved?”
He hesitated briefly. “I guess it’s none of their business unless it affects my work.”
He was so adorably sincere that she chose not to mention how it had already affected his work. They still didn’t have a plan for tomorrow. She’d make sure they did have one, but they’d become seriously sidetracked from working out the details of the open house.
“It may be nobody’s business,” she said, “but we each have a sister sitting at the dining table. I don’t know about your family, but mine tends to think they have a right to an opinion about my behavior.”
Alex combed his wet hair back from his forehead. “I’m sure Josie will say something to me. I made plenty of comments when she started seeing Jack, who had already broken her heart once. Okay, you’re right. Let’s get this out of the way. Josie will notice eventually, anyway.”
“I’m not sure if Morgan will or not. She’s so focused on this baby that she might be oblivious, but Sarah’s nobody’s fool. I get the impression she keeps pretty close track of what goes on around here.”
“She does.” He frowned. “In fact, I wonder if she already suspects something and that’s why she put us in the same wing...”
“You think she’s playing matchmaker?”
“No, probably not.”
“I don’t think so, either. She seemed really happy for me that I was up for this big promotion. Anyway, we won’t confirm or deny that we have a connection and let people think whatever they want. But let’s not sneak in as if we have something to hide.”
He nodded. “The back door it is. There’s a stairway from the kitchen to the second floor, so we can go up that way to change. If anybody intercepts us, so be it.” Wrapping his arm more securely around her, he started around the house.
“We have been out in the barn a fair amount of time, though.”
“So?”
“So rather than let their imaginations run completely wild, let’s tell them we’ve been cooking up alternate plans for the open house while we waited for the rain to stop. Finally we realized it wasn’t going to stop and came ahead.”
“All right.” He navigated around a puddle. “By the way, do you have any alternate plans for the open house? Because I have zip.”
She noticed that the rain had let up a little, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t start up again during the night. “The barn is definitely an option, but I still think we need to suggest using the living room and the big dining room.”
“I thought you were worried about tracking up the floors just now? If you open up the main house and it’s raining, that will—”
“Oh, geez.” Talk about being distracted and missing the big picture. “Okay, scratch that. I’ll figure out something else. Maybe it won’t rain all that much.”
“We can hope. But what about the entertainment? I’m not sure one lone guitar player is going to cut it, especially if he has to be talked into performing. I wanted something guests could have fun watching.”
Now that she had worked out. “They can watch me.”
“You? Doing what?”
Spinning away from him, she threw her hands in the air and belted out the opening lyrics to “Oklahoma.”
He grinned at her. “I didn’t know you could sing.”
“There are lots of things you don’t know about me, Mr. Keller. An activities director on a cruise ship has to wear many hats, and being able to sing and dance is a great thing to have on a résumé in my line of work.” She executed a sloppy soft-shoe routine in the wet grass and finished with a little bow.
“You are so stinkin’ cute.”
“Yes, but do I get the job? Will you hire me as your entertainment for tomorrow’s event? Me and Watkins, the reluctant guitarist?”
“Maybe. I know I can afford Watkins, but you’re a professional. I don’t know if I can afford you.”
“Sure you can. I will work for...” She stepped closer and whispered a suggestion involving whipped cream and chocolate sauce.
He pulled her in tight, their wet clothes sticking together like Velcro. “To hell with making an entrance and having dinner with the family. Let’s head back to the barn.”
“Hey, you two,” called a male voice. “Don’t you have sense enough to come in out of the rain?”
Alex released her immediately. “Hey, Jack.”
Tyler knew it had to be one of the Chance brothers who’d opened the screen door, but when she looked at the figure silhouetted against the light she wouldn’t have been able to say which one it was. They sounded similar and all had the same broad-shouldered cowboy look. Apparently it was Jack, the oldest.
“We’ll be right in,” Alex said. “We were just—”
“I was practicing a number for tomorrow,” Tyler said. “Watkins and I will be filling in for the country band that canceled on Alex. We’re going to give the entertainment a down-home feel.” She remembered Jack as being dark haired and moody, but according to Morgan, his disposition had improved since marrying Josie.
“The band canceled?”
“Afraid so,” Alex said. “About two hours ago.”
“I see. So are you also part of this number Tyler’s practicing?”
Tyler realized Jack probably had witnessed the clinch. “We were discussing that,” she said. “But I think not. He’s not much of a dancer.”
Jack chuckled. “I know he can’t dance, but he tries.”
“I’m not that bad of a dancer,” Alex said. “It’s just that all the Chance guys are like semiprofessional or something.”
Tyler had noticed that family trait last summer and remarked on it. Sarah had told her they all took after their father, who was the best dancer she’d ever known. “Maybe I should let you help me with the entertainment for tomorrow, Jack.”
“No can do. I’ll have my hands full working with the horses. But you sounded great just now. I happened to hear you when I went to fetch myself a beer in the kitchen, and I was curious enough to stick my head out the door. Was that ‘Oklahoma’?”
“Yes.”
“Unfortunately the Last Chance is located in Wyoming. You know any songs about Wyoming?”
“No.”
“Guess I’ll have to teach you some, then. Alex, you might want to think about bringing your talent inside before she catches her death out there.”
“We were heading in when Tyler decided she needed to audition for me,” Alex said.
“Uh-huh. Well, Tyler, you’ve got a helluva voice.”
“Thank you.”
“Wrong tune, but helluva voice. Can we afford her, Alex?”
Alex’s voice sounded choked. “I... Yeah, we should be able to meet her terms.”
“Good to know. See you two inside.”
The screen door banged shut and Alex lost it, doubling over and shaking with silent laughter. “Good God,” he said, gasping. “If Jack only knew...what you named as your fee...” He gazed at her, still chuckling.
She smiled at him. “This way I won’t have to claim it on my taxes.”
“Yeah, I doubt there’s a line item for being served up like an ice-cream sundae.” He looked at her as if he’d like to start immediately. “Have you had sex with whipped cream before?”
“No, but I’ve always wanted to try it. Assuming you can smuggle stuff out of the kitchen.”
“Don’t worry about that. All you have to be concerned with is keeping the noise level down while I drive you crazy.”
“Do you have whipped cream experience, then?”
“No.” He winked at her. “But I’ve always wanted to try it. Shall we go in?”
“Okay. How do I look?”
“Beautiful.”
“Liar.”
“It’s not a lie. You look like a woman who’s been having fun, and that’s always sexy to me.”
“I have been having fun.” She gave him a quick kiss. “And I intend to have even more fun later on tonight.” Then she started for the stairs leading to the back door.
“Damn, but you’re hot, Tyler O’Connelli.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “You’re no icicle yourself, Alex Keller.”
* * *
SPEAKING OF ICICLES, Alex could have used one to shove down his pants before he followed Tyler and her tight little tush into the house. The woman turned him inside out. She was right that they could never have managed four more days without falling into bed with each other.
Now that the dam had broken and they were committed to squeezing all the pleasure they could out of this time, he would ignore the ticking clock and make the most of every second he had with her. Of course, he wanted her all to himself 24/7, but that wouldn’t be happening.
They were both committed to making the open house a success, and that would take up a chunk of time. Besides that, Tyler had come here to see Morgan, so whenever Morgan was around, Alex would back off.
And he could start now. Morgan met them at the door and ushered them into the room containing two large-capacity washers and a matching pair of dryers.
“Jack said you two got caught in the rain.” Morgan’s smile was merry, but her gaze was assessing. “I see he wasn’t kidding.”
“We’re soaked and we’re muddy,” Tyler said. “We didn’t want to track all through the house like this, so—”
“Stay right there, both of you,” Morgan said. “I’ll ask Sarah for a couple of bathrobes.”
Alex pulled off his boots and his wet socks. “She has an idea something’s going on,” he said in an undertone.
“It’s fine. I’ll talk with her. She knows this cruise job doesn’t give me much opportunity to date. She’ll understand.”
“Probably.” But he noticed Tyler didn’t sound quite as confident as she had out there in the rain. Neither was he. He wasn’t looking forward to dealing with Josie’s questions.
Last summer he’d tried to protect his sister from Jack, who had previously dumped her. Obviously Jack had learned the error of his ways and now spent all his time proving to Josie how much he loved her, but Alex hadn’t known it would turn out that way.
Josie wouldn’t approve of Alex having a temporary fling with Tyler any more than Alex had liked Josie hooking up with Jack. She’d see it as a heartache waiting to happen, and he couldn’t promise her it wasn’t. He couldn’t very well claim to know what he was doing, either, considering that his marriage had failed miserably.
Maybe he’d steer clear of Josie for the next four days. That wouldn’t be easy, but it wouldn’t be impossible, either. He’d be involved in the open house tomorrow and the cleanup on Sunday. Josie liked to spend most of her weekend at the Spirits and Spurs because that’s when the employees needed her the most.
But Friday nights were reserved for the Chance family to gather at the ranch house, and the hum of conversation and occasional bursts of laughter coming from the dining room told him the meal was in full swing. Josie would be sitting next to Jack and no doubt she’d already pumped her husband for information. She might try to corner Alex before the evening was over.
“Morgan said we need a couple of robes in here.” Sarah walked into the utility room with two white terry bathrobes over her arm. Her eyes widened. “Good Lord, what happened to you two? Did you fall in the mud or what?”
“Something like that,” Alex said.
“It was my fault.” Tyler scrubbed her hair back from her face. “I made a run for it and slipped in the mud. Then Alex tried to help me up and I caused him to lose his balance. I’m sure we looked like Laurel and Hardy out there.”
“Well, here’s a robe for each of you.” She handed one to Tyler before giving Alex his. “You should just leave your wet stuff here. Alex, turn your back while Tyler gets out of her clothes.”
He couldn’t very well say that he’d already seen Tyler naked quite recently, so he turned around and began unfastening the snaps down the front of his denim shirt. He could hear Tyler and Sarah murmuring behind him and the rustle of clothing.
“All clear,” Sarah said in a louder voice. “You can turn around now, Alex.”
He turned. Tyler’s clothes were piled on the top of one of the washers and she stood there wrapped up tight in the terry robe.
The robe was bulky and too big, so it completely disguised her figure. Alex shouldn’t have found a single thing to be turned on about, except that her feet were bare, and the polish on her sexy toes gleamed in the overhead light. His fevered brain kicked into fantasy mode again.
“There’s a door in the kitchen to the right of the stove, Tyler.” Sarah pointed in that direction. “Behind it is a stairway that will take you to the second floor. The boys used that route all the time when they’d come in from the corral. You have towels up there, right?”
Tyler nodded. “Alex brought me some.”
“You don’t have a private bath, I’m afraid. You’ll have to share the hall bath with Alex, so you might as well take off and get a head start.”
“I will, and thank you. Sorry to be so much trouble.”
“It’s no trouble, sweetie. Jack says you’re going to pair up with Watkins to provide the entertainment for the open house tomorrow, which is a huge help. I feel guilty making you work on your vacation. I hope Alex is paying you well for that.”
“Don’t worry. He is.”
Alex covered his reaction with a coughing fit as Tyler, cheeks pink, quickly left the room.
“Oh, dear.” Sarah peered at him. “I hope you’re not getting sick.”
“I’m fine. Just swallowed wrong.”
“Listen, it’s not my place to interfere, but I think that girl is extremely focused on getting her promotion. And I don’t blame her. That’s impressive, being named a cruise director at her age.”
Alex gazed into Sarah’s blue eyes, so much like Gabe’s. Although Sarah was a devoted mother to all three men, Gabe was her only biological child. Jack had been four when she’d married his father, and then baby Nick had appeared on the doorstep, the unexpected result of Jonathan’s affair in the period between his divorce from Jack’s mother and meeting Sarah. Sarah had accepted all three boys as hers to raise. In fact, she was fast becoming a second mother to him, as well.
“I know Tyler’s dedicated to her career,” Alex said. “And I think that’s great.”
“It is great. People should have jobs they love.” Sarah laid a hand on his damp sleeve. “But it means she won’t be sticking around here.”
“No, she won’t. I understand that, too.”
Sarah squeezed his arm and let go. “I hope you do, because I’ve seen the way you look at each other.”
“It’ll be okay.” He was touched by the gentle nature of her concern. No doubt Josie’s warnings would come across like air-raid sirens.
“I probably shouldn’t have put her right across the hall from you, but I didn’t realize there was something going on between you two. Did it start last August?”
“Yeah.”
“I wondered after I thought about your reaction when she showed up here today. She’s a nice girl, and if I thought she’d consider staying, I’d be matchmaking like crazy. But she won’t, so I want you to be careful.”
“Thanks, Sarah.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I will.” Which was a damn lie, because it was too late to be careful. And he had a problem.
He could have dealt with the loss of great sex when Tyler left next week. He might not have been happy about it, but he could have managed.
Unfortunately for him, she’d chosen to sing “Oklahoma” in the middle of a rainstorm, and then she’d finished off her performance with a few dance steps. Watching her take that little bow, he’d felt his heart slip-sliding away. Halting that slide would be a real trick, but he’d have to try for both their sakes.
Chapter Six
Tyler thought about waiting for Alex before going down to dinner and decided against it. They were liable to catch enough flak for their flimsy caught-in-the-rain story, so she’d demonstrate to the family that she and Alex weren’t joined at the hip. She hoped they’d be joining different body parts later in the evening, but she’d like the next hour or so to be strictly PG-13.
She’d put on a clean pair of jeans and a black V-neck shirt. Then she added her turquoise necklace and earrings because...because she liked looking good. At times she wondered if she was too hung up on that.
Her job demanded that she be well groomed, and she’d always appreciated having a reason to dress well. But, to her surprise, she’d had fun getting all muddy and bedraggled. That would happen a lot on a ranch, where appearance wouldn’t count as much as performance.
She contemplated that as an appealing change of pace and discovered she didn’t recoil the way she might have a couple of years ago. She loved her job. She did. But sometimes the constant need to look great wore on her. She’d never admitted that to herself before.
As she descended the wide staircase to the first floor, she ran her hand along the banister again. Without Alex as a distraction, she could pause a moment and take in the welcoming sight of roomy leather chairs facing a gigantic rock fireplace. Framed family photographs lined the wooden mantel. A paperback lay on a small wooden table beside one of the chairs, as if someone had been quietly reading there and had left the book, planning to settle in for another relaxing moment later.
Home. The word hadn’t meant much to Tyler over the years. Home had been a battered van until she’d moved out on her own. She couldn’t call her tiny apartment home because she spent so little time there. Her collection of souvenirs was the only thing that marked it as hers. The cruise ship was luxurious, but it was where she worked. It wasn’t home, either.
The Last Chance represented home to Morgan now. Tyler had thought her sister was crazy to tie herself to a man and then compound that by getting pregnant. Both Morgan and Tyler had witnessed how marriage and kids had absorbed nearly all their mother’s time, giving her no chance to develop other interests or have a career.
But Morgan wouldn’t be living the kind of life their mother had lived. Morgan would have a house and plenty of relatives around to help babysit. It wouldn’t have to fall to the older siblings the way it had to Morgan and Tyler.
She’d taken Tyler on a quick tour before bringing her over here. Although Morgan’s home wouldn’t be quite this grand, it would be filled with light and space. It would be—no, it already was—a home.
Tyler pushed aside a prick of envy. She had the life she wanted, and it would only get better once she became a cruise director with the freedom to direct every aspect of the cruise experience. Someday in the far distant future she might want a home, but not yet, not when her dream was within reach.
Her route to the dining room took her down the same hallway she’d walked with Alex that afternoon. The left side was a wall of windows that provided a view of the Tetons during the day. Now the glass reflected the light from two wall sconces and the image of Tyler moving down the hall.
The right wall was covered with more framed family pictures, including some that looked as if they’d been taken fifty or sixty years ago. The O’Connelli family’s vagabond lifestyle hadn’t allowed for this kind of display. There had never been a wall available, and even a scrapbook would have been something to haul around and keep track of.
Tyler paused when she realized new pictures had been added, with people she knew well. She found a wedding shot of Morgan and Gabe, and another one of the entire wedding party, her included. Morgan hadn’t offered her a copy, probably because she hadn’t expected Tyler to want one. Keeping pictures around wasn’t exactly an O’Connelli tradition.
It was obviously a Chance tradition, though. Next to that were the photographs of Jack and Nick’s double wedding to Josie and Dominique. Tyler’s heart warmed when she found Alex smiling happily in the group shot. He’d donned Western wear for the ceremony. Maybe that was when he’d started to transform into a cowboy.
Studying the picture, she identified two people who had to be Mr. and Mrs. Keller. They were both tall and had facial features that reminded Tyler of both Alex and his sister, Josie. Common wisdom said a father’s appearance could indicate how his son would age. If so, Alex would still be a hunk in his fifties.
“I thought you’d already be tucking into your rib eye.”
She glanced down the hall to find the man himself walking toward her. She must have been deep in thought to have missed hearing his booted feet on the hardwood floor. He’d put on a clean pair of jeans and a white Western shirt with pearl-covered snaps. The yoke of the shirt emphasized his shoulders, which she’d swear were wider than they had been last summer.
He’d obviously taken time for a shower, because his dark blond hair was still damp and he smelled like soap, the manly kind featured in commercials showing a guy lathering up his brawny chest. She wouldn’t mind observing Alex doing that. In fact, she wouldn’t mind being the person wielding the washcloth.
She looked into his gray eyes and wished they weren’t expected at the dinner table. “I got caught up in the rogues’ gallery. Are these two your folks?”
“Yeah.” His expression softened. “They had such a good time. They might end up retiring in Jackson Hole, or at least spending their summers here and maybe winters somewhere a little warmer.”
It all sounded so normal. Tyler decided not to mention that her parents didn’t have a retirement plan. They just lived in the moment, taking life as it came. It drove her nuts. She’d already started an IRA.
Alex brushed his knuckle over her cheek. “You look nice.”
“You, too.”
He sighed. “We need to go. Mary Lou’s probably keeping our food warm.”
“So we’ll go.” She caught his hand and pressed it to her cheek before stepping away from him.
“Right. We’ll go.” But he didn’t move, just continued to look at her.
With a shake of her head, she turned and started down the hallway. “Come on, Alex. They’re expecting us.”
“Yeah, they are.” He fell into step beside her. “This is strange. I want to hold your hand, and yet I’d better not. I don’t want to be all that obvious, like it’s a done deal.”
“I know.” When they reached the large empty dining room where the midday meal was served, she could hear the buzz of conversation from the family dining area at the far end and through a set of open double doors. “I intended to get there ahead of you so we wouldn’t look quite so much like a couple.”
“So we won’t sit together unless that’s how it’s set up and we have no choice. You should probably try to sit next to Morgan. That’s who you’re here to see, after all.”
“And I plan to spend plenty of time with her. But she’s the one who wants me to sleep at the ranch house.”
He caught her arm, halting her progress. “And don’t think I don’t appreciate my good luck.”
His touch was warm, seductive. She wanted to nestle into his arms and savor the feeling of belonging that she always felt there. “See?” She gazed up at him. “Gabe was right. You’re an honorary Chance and that means you get some of the Chance luck.”
He smiled and stroked her arm. “It seems to be working for me so far. I checked my condom supply and found an unopened box.”
The question was out before she gave herself time to think. “And when was the last time you checked your condom supply?” Then she realized how jealous and possessive that sounded. “Don’t answer that. It’s none of my business.”
His gaze was steady. “It’s been a few months.”
And she shouldn’t be so damn happy about that, but she was. Whoever he’d been involved with hadn’t turned into a serious girlfriend. She didn’t want him to have a serious girlfriend, either, which was completely unfair, but the thought of him falling for someone made her miserable. How twisted was that?
He gave her arm a squeeze. “I’ll be counting the minutes until we can open that box. Now, let’s go face the family.”
Tyler wasn’t worried about that part. If she could handle a cruise ship full of passengers, she could deal with the Chances. In fact, she was looking forward to seeing them all together again and taking note of the changes that two more weddings had brought to the family dynamics.
As they walked into the dining room, all conversation stopped. Tyler glanced around quickly to make sure she recognized everybody. Sarah was at the far end of the linen-draped table, and on her right sat green-eyed Nick Chance and his bride, Dominique, a brunette with a pixie cut. The chair between Dominique and Alex’s sister, Josie, was empty, probably waiting for Alex. Jack was next to Josie.
Gabe and Morgan sat on the far side of the table, and Morgan also had an empty chair beside her, no doubt reserved for Tyler. A pretty blonde woman who looked to be in her fifties occupied the next chair, and a ruggedly handsome man of about the same age sat next to her.
Tyler finally remembered who they were. The woman, Pam Mulholland, owned the Bunk and Grub B and B down the road and was somehow related to the Chance family. The man next to her was Emmett Sterling, the ranch foreman, and he was dating Pam. Coupling up seemed to be the norm around here.
“There you are!” Sarah was the first to speak. “You both clean up real good.”
“Thanks.” Tyler smiled. “It’s great to see everybody again. And I sure hope you all have your thinking caps on, because Alex and I have been trying to figure out how to keep tomorrow’s guests out of the rain. The barn is one option, but we need some more.”
Nick glanced over at them. “I could have sworn you ordered some event canopies, Alex. I remember talking about it.”
“I ordered three,” Alex said. “But only one made it here. I’ve exhausted all the options for getting any more by tomorrow.”
Jack set down his empty beer bottle. “The tractor barn. We’ll move the equipment to a back pasture, temporarily cover it with tarps to protect it from the weather, do some cleanup, and use that space.”
“That’s a great idea,” Alex said. “I didn’t know that was possible, but—”
“Hold it.” Mary Lou bustled in, carrying a steaming plate in each hand. “No more talk of the open house until these two eat. Tyler, I want you over there between your sister and Pam. Alex, you can sit next to Josie.” She deposited the plates at the designated places. “Who needs coffee?”
A chorus of requests went up.
“I’d love some, too,” Tyler said as she walked around the table toward her chair. Before she made it there, Gabe came to his feet and pulled the chair out for her. She thanked him and glanced down the table, noting Sarah’s pleased smile. “I’ll bet you drilled manners into these guys when you raised them.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Tyler, you have no idea.”
“Remember those Sunday dinners?” Gabe said.
Nick and Jack both groaned.
“Pure torture,” Jack said. “She would use every blessed piece of silverware in the drawer and we couldn’t eat until we’d correctly identified all of them. The forks were the worst. I was the only guy my age who could tell you what a seafood fork looked like.”
“I was not about to raise a bunch of country bumpkins,” Sarah said.
“Sounds like a great idea to me,” Morgan said. “Between Sarah covering manners and Jonathan showing them the finer points of country swing, I’d say the Chance boys got the perfect education.” She patted her tummy. “I want the same for this little...kid.”
“Ah, you almost slipped, Morgan!” Sarah’s face was alight with anticipation. “You’ll tell us the sex of that baby, yet.”
Gabe looked fondly at his wife. “Nope. It’s going to be our secret until July 2.”
“But I’m really serious about the manners and the dancing, Sarah,” Morgan said. “I want this kid to be able to handle a fancy meal and navigate a two-step.”
Tyler put her napkin in her lap. “It’s not a bad idea to know those things. I had to learn on the job.”
“You must have,” Morgan said. “There wasn’t a lot of formal training going on in the O’Connelli van.”
“Lots of ideals, though.” Tyler cut into her steak. Suddenly she was starving. Making love to Alex had taken her mind off food, but now that he was across the table from her and completely out of reach, she breathed in the aroma of a meal carefully prepared, and she settled in to enjoy it.
“You’re right about the ideals,” Morgan said. “We were taught respect—of ourselves, other people and Mother Earth. That was a good thing.”
“It is a good thing.” Dominique looked across the table at Morgan. “That reminds me. Did you take your parents out to the sacred site while they were here for the wedding? It seems like something they’d like.”
“There wasn’t time. When they come back, I definitely will. They would love it.”
Tyler swallowed a bite of the best steak she’d had in ages and cut herself another one. “What sacred site?”
Dominique gave Nick a warm glance before turning back to Tyler. “You should get Morgan to take you out there while you’re here. It’s a large, flat rock that’s big enough for you to park a pickup on, although you wouldn’t want to. The rock is granite laced with quartz. The veins of quartz sparkle in the sun...or in the moonlight.”
Tyler figured Dominique and Nick had shared some moonlit time on that rock. She was intrigued. “And why is it sacred?”
“It’s part of the Shoshone tribe’s belief system.” Emmett hooked an arm around Pam’s chair and leaned forward to look down the table at Tyler. “When Archie and Nelsie Chance moved onto the ranch property, they discovered that the tribe conducted ceremonies out there, even though the land didn’t officially belong to them. So Archie and Nelsie told them they were welcome to continue, but the tribe doesn’t hold ceremonies much these days.”
“Wow.” Tyler glanced over at Morgan. “You have to take Mom and Dad out there next time they visit. They would eat that up with a spoon. I’m surprised you didn’t make time while they were here last summer.”
“I thought of it. I just...didn’t want to encourage any weirdness during the wedding.” She winked at Tyler. “If you know what I mean.”
“Oh, totally. Good call. They could have decided you needed a shaman to bless your union, and no telling what else they would have dreamed up once they were inspired by an ancient Native American ceremonial site.” Tyler turned back to Emmett. “So what’s this sacred stone supposed to do for a person?”
“According to legend, it provides clarity. So if you’re dealing with some issue and you’re mixed up about it, the stone is supposed to help you figure it out.”
“That could come in handy.”
“Oh, it has,” Nick said. Once again he and Dominique exchanged a fond glance.
Jack cleared his throat. “Then again, sometimes it’s just a great place to share a few beers with your brother.”
“That, too,” Nick agreed.
“Well, now I have to see this sacred site,” Tyler said. “I don’t have any large issues I’m dealing with, but I still want to see it. After all, I was raised by flower children, so even though I’ve left that life behind, I haven’t completely rooted out those woo-woo tendencies.”
Gabe put down his coffee cup. “Neither has Morgan. We took a trip out there when we were deciding on names for the baby.”
“Just don’t call her Sunshine or Starlight,” Tyler said.
“Or Moonbeam,” Morgan said with a laugh. “Don’t worry. It’ll be a gender-specific name that won’t make a single person wince. I promise.”
Sarah rolled her eyes and heaved a martyred sigh. “There you go again, tempting us with the fact that you both know whether the baby’s a boy or a girl, and we don’t. Why not just tell us?”
“Because we like the suspense,” Gabe said with a laugh. “And we don’t want any preconceived notions about this baby. This kid could decide to be a rancher or a foreign diplomat. We don’t want anyone making plans for the kid’s future based on gender.”
“Other than teaching manners and the two-step,” Morgan said. “I’m good with that.”
Sarah tucked her napkin beside her plate. “Well, some of us are on pins and needles and can hardly wait until the official due date. Some of us are going quietly insane as we deal with this suspense you love so much.”
“Then maybe this is the time to share our news,” Josie said. “That might give you something else to think about, Sarah.”
Sarah straightened and fixed a laserlike gaze on Josie. “Are you saying that you and Jack are...”
“Confirmed this morning.” Jack’s dark eyes glowed with pride. “Josie and I are going to have a baby.”
The dining room exploded as chairs scraped back and everyone jumped up to give hugs, squeals and hearty congratulations. Tyler caught a glimpse of Alex enfolding Josie in a warm embrace, and for some unexplained reason that brought tears to her eyes. Maybe she was imagining how Alex would react when he received the news that he’d be a father rather than simply an uncle.
She couldn’t really say why she was feeling so emotional. Babies were fine for Morgan and Josie, but Tyler wasn’t into them, at least not at this point in her life. Babies equaled the loss of freedom to pursue work that she loved.
She understood there were trade-offs, but she wasn’t interested in hearing about them right now. If she were totally honest with herself, she’d admit that listening to a woman rhapsodize about the joys of marriage and children might interfere with her enjoyment of the single life and her career success.
Maybe a part of her envied the spontaneous joy generated by Josie and Jack’s announcement. The ship’s crew celebrated things, too, but it was...different. The emotions around this table ran far deeper. She hadn’t realized until now what she was missing, yet she wasn’t willing to give up a dynamite career for that kind of connection. Or was she?
In the chaos surrounding Josie’s announcement, Tyler was surprised to hear Alex’s voice speaking her name. She turned to find him crouched beside her chair, his expression worried.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “You look a little pale.”
She met his gaze. “Do you know where this Shoshone sacred site is located?”
“Yeah, I’ve been out there a couple of times.”
She guessed that he’d gone because he needed to sort through his thoughts about Crystal. She decided not to ask. “Do you know if it’s still raining?”
“No, but it was letting up about the time we came in. Why?”
“Because I’d like to go out there.” She’d been so sure of what she wanted, and now doubts pelted her like hail. Her big promotion was within reach. She could always settle down later after she’d enjoyed that promotion for a few years. But it wouldn’t be with Alex, and it wouldn’t involve this family.
“Now?”
“Right now, if that’s at all possible. Will that look too crazy?”
Alex stood. “I don’t care if it looks crazy or not. If you want to go, we’ll go. Let me get the keys to one of the ranch trucks.”
She liked that he fell in with her gonzo plan so easily. Not all guys would. She liked many things about Alex, in fact. Too many things. The sacred site was supposed to give a person clarity. She desperately needed that.
Chapter Seven
Twenty minutes later, Alex was at the wheel of one of the older ranch trucks, with Tyler belted into the passenger seat beside him as they bounced down a rutted road toward the sacred Shoshone site. Tyler had gone up to her room for a dark green hoodie, and he’d grabbed his denim jacket from the closet and an old blanket from the top shelf.
The night was cool, so he kept the windows rolled up on the truck. After the rain it wouldn’t be particularly cozy on the granite, either, but he’d do what he could to compensate. He’d so hoped for an innerspring mattress tonight, but it didn’t seem to be in the cards.
“By coming out here, I think we’ve tipped our hand,” Tyler said. “Everybody must have guessed that we’re...temporarily together.”
“Oh, well.”
“I just had to get out of there for a while.”
Alex wasn’t sure what was bothering her, but he had some ideas. “You looked a little freaked out after Josie made her announcement.”
“I was, and I’m still trying to figure that out. You looked really happy, though.”
“I was. This will be great for her and Jack, and Sarah’s going to be in hog heaven with two grandchildren to run after. Plus, the kids will be close in age, so they can grow up together. It’s nice for everyone concerned.”
Tyler groaned. “Stop the truck.”
He slammed on the brake. “Are you sick?”
“Not physically. I’m sick with guilt. Talk about self-centered! I dragged you out here when you should be back there celebrating with everyone. Please turn around and go back. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Alex took his foot off the brake and put it back on the gas. “I’d rather be out here with you.”
“That’s nice of you to say, but you’re missing the festivities. I’ll bet they moved the party into the living room and lit a fire. They’re toasting those two babies, and you’ll be the proud uncle of one and probably the adopted uncle of the other one. You should be there with Josie.”
“She doesn’t need me there. She has Jack.”
“I should be there with Morgan.”
Alex sighed. “That makes no real sense. You saw how Josie and Morgan instantly went into a huddle to discuss diet and exercise programs, and whether Josie can fit into some of Morgan’s early maternity clothes.”
“Yeah, I did. And that’s great. They’ll be a terrific support system for each other.”
“Feeling like an outsider?”
She leaned her head against the back of the worn cloth seat. “Yeah, I guess I am. Maybe that’s part of it. But to be an insider, I’d have to marry somebody and get pregnant right away. I won’t do that, of course, but the power of suggestion is a scary thing.”
Alex watched the road for critters. Back in Chicago he’d had to worry about other drivers. Out here he had to worry about hitting a raccoon or a skunk. “I suppose there is a lot of home-and-hearth sentiment swirling around the Last Chance right now.”
“Which is so not me.”
“I get that, Tyler.”
“I know you do, which is one of the reasons I asked you to bring me out here. You may be the only person from that dinner-table crowd who truly understands that I’m not ready for a husband and kids. Morgan says she understands, but I can see in her eyes that she’d love to have me find a guy and settle down, maybe even in Jackson Hole.”
“That’s natural. I’m sure she misses you when you’re gone for long stretches.” He didn’t want to imagine what his life would be like after she left, either. He was afraid the joy would leach right out of his days and nights.
“And I miss her, too, but that’s the nature of the job. On the upside, I get to see amazing places all over the world, and the passengers are terrific, for the most part. Many of them have invited me to visit, and I’m sure their homes are gorgeous. You couldn’t afford this type of luxury cruise if you didn’t have plenty of money.”
“Do you think you will visit them?”
“Probably not. The little time I have off I’ll want to spend with family. Morgan’s the first one to establish an actual home somewhere, but I’ll bet the others will, too, eventually.”
“And your parents? Will they finally stay put somewhere?”
Tyler chuckled. “I doubt it. I picture them waiting until we all have places of our own, and then they’ll make the rounds. I’ve figured out that my dad is ADD. He can’t stick with one job or one place for more than a month or two before he gets bored. I inherited the wanderlust, but I’ve been able to keep this job for almost six years. And I love it. It’s perfect for me.”
“I’m sure it is.” And yet...now he wasn’t so sure. She kept saying how much she loved her lifestyle, almost as if she needed to keep repeating her dedication to the job to ward off any change to the plan. Or maybe that was wishful thinking on his part.
Tyler peered out the window. “It’s very dark out here, isn’t it?”
“Especially tonight, with all the clouds. I’m afraid you won’t see the moon glittering on the quartz unless I use a flashlight.”
“You have one, though, right?”
“There should be one in the glove compartment.”
As she reached to open it, he remembered what else was in there. She’d waited on the porch while he’d brought the truck around, and he’d used that opportunity to shove a handful of condoms into the glove compartment. A handful was excessive, but he hadn’t had time to figure out how many he might need, so he’d just grabbed some.
Sure enough, the minute she opened the compartment, several condom packages tumbled out and fell to the floor of the truck. She began to laugh. “Are the ranch trucks normally stocked with these?”
“No. That was me doing the stocking.” And the sight of them had jump-started his libido.
“I see. That’s quite a supply.”
“I didn’t want to run out.” But as eager as he felt to have her, even those might not be enough.
“Is that so? I don’t remember needing that many in August. Have you shortened your recovery time?”
He wouldn’t doubt it. She seemed to be affecting him more strongly than she had last summer. “I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?” And soon, very soon.
“That depends on whether there’s a flashlight in here. It wasn’t snake season when I lived here as a kid, but last summer I distinctly remember being warned about walking around in the dark without a flashlight because of snakes.”
“It was warmer then. August.” He didn’t want her to get distracted thinking about wildlife. He wanted her mind to be firmly where his was—on sex. “It’s too cold out for varmints to be out moseying around.”
She glanced over at him. “Listen to you, sounding like Yosemite Sam! I’m beginning to think you have turned into a real cowboy, after all.”
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Vicki Thompson
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: New York Times bestselling author Vicki Lewis Thompson brings us two fan-favorite stories set at the Last Chance Ranch that prove there′s nothing better than the love of a cowboy!Should′ve Been A CowboyTyler O′Connelli is a busy career girl, and Alex Keller is a cowboy. They may be worlds apart, but their hot chemistry more than makes up for their differences. They both know this thing between them isn′t long-term, but why not have fun now? Problem is, Alex is one wrangler Tyler might want to tie down–and tie up–indefinitely!Cowboy UpNever fall in love with a cowboy. These words were drilled into Emily Sterling′s head since her parents divorced more than twenty years ago. But now Emily has returned to her father′s ranch only to find herself face-to-face with jaw-dropping hot rancher Clay Whitaker. Suddenly Emily′s beginning to see just what a cowboy has to offer…