Bound, Branded, & Brazen (29 page)

Beers in hand, Mason kissed Valerie on the lips and wandered back toward the pool tables. “He’s right, though,” Valerie said. “It’s pretty obvious to anyone who knows you that you’ve got your eye on Walker. So why haven’t the two of you hooked up?”

“He’s avoiding me.”

“Avoiding you? Why?” Brea asked, sliding next to Valerie. “Because I can’t imagine any red-hot-blooded cowboy turning you down.”

Jolene laughed. “Well, thanks, but I don’t know why. We’ve been dancing around each other for a long damn time. And I know he’s interested, but he just can’t seem to pull the trigger. It’s like I’ve got the plague or something.”

“Hmm.” Valerie frowned. “Maybe he’s been hurt by a woman in the past.”

“Please. I’m not asking him to marry me. I just want sex.”

Brea snorted. “Then there’s no reason he’d turn you down, unless he’s playing for the other side.”

“He’s definitely not gay. He’s been out with plenty of women since I’ve known him. Besides, I can get him hot, hard and ready to ride without even touching him.”

“Been that close, have you?” Valerie asked.

“Close enough to know he likes women.”

“Then I don’t get it,” Brea said. “There’s got to be some reason he’s not stripping you down and licking you all over, then fucking you until you can’t walk straight.”

Jolene just stared at Brea as if that hadn’t really been her sister talking. She turned to Valerie, who was doing the same thing.

“Well,” Jolene said. “Rockin’ hot sex and the love of a good man sure brought you out of your shell, didn’t they?”

Brea didn’t even blush, just waggled her eyebrows.

“And all this time Gage was right under my nose . . .”

“Don’t even think about it,” Brea said, glaring at Jolene. “You won’t have a hair left on that pretty head of yours.”

“Oooh, territorial, too.” Jolene turned and winked at Valerie. “I think our sister is in love.”

“I think so, too,” Valerie said. “You must have caught yourself a good one.”

Brea giggled. “He’s everything I ever dreamed of and more.” “Better than those books you always have your nose stuck in?” Jolene asked.

“Much better. He’s real, solid, with flaws and everything. And God, I love him.”

“Well, hell.” Jolene wrapped her arms around Brea and hugged her. “You know how damn happy I am for you. So why are you hanging out with us?”

“He’s playing pool. He doesn’t need to spend every second of his time with me.”

“Uh huh. And so is Mason. And they’ve been ignoring us long enough. Come on, little sister. It’s time to wrangle our men into swinging us around on the dance floor.” Valerie turned to Jolene. “If I were you I’d do the same with Walker.”

Jolene laid her beer bottle down. “Oh, I’ve got my own game plan in mind where Walker is concerned.”

Valerie shook her head. “Poor guy.”

Valerie and Brea headed off to recapture their men. Jolene sat at the bar for a while, nursing her beer and contemplating her course of action. Walker was playing pool and acting like she didn’t exist. But she knew better. She saw him take a few glances at her when he thought she wasn’t looking.

She was always paying attention to Walker.

What she hadn’t been paying attention to was her own surroundings, and the tall hunk of gorgeous cowboy leaning against the bar next to her. Until she turned around and found him smiling down at her.

Well, he was certainly pretty, with striking brown eyes, dark lashes, a rugged, unshaven jaw and muscles just about every-damn-where. She didn’t recognize him, and since she knew every regular hand who worked at all the neighboring ranches, she figured him for one of the new temporary hires all the ranches had brought in for spring.

“Am I stepping in somebody else’s territory if I ask you to dance, honey?”

And didn’t that just fall right into her plan? She offered up her sweetest smile. “Nobody’s claimed me yet, cowboy, so I’m all yours.”

He held out his hand. “Then every guy in this place must be blind, because you’re sure the prettiest woman in here.”

Just what she liked—a man utterly full of shit.

“I’m Luke,” he said as he turned around and led her by the hand.

“Jolene.”

She followed him out to the dance floor, which was crowded as hell, but fortunately, it was time for a slow dance. Which meant cowboy Luke jerked her into his arms and became an immediate octopus, his hands all over her as they twirled slow and easy around the floor.

Jolene made sure to give him her undivided attention—or at least 95 percent of her attention. The other 5 percent was spent on Walker, who glanced up toward the bar and tracked his gaze to the dance floor, giving Jolene and her dance partner a decided scowl.

And wasn’t it perfect that Luke chose just the moment Walker was watching them to slide his hand down her back and grab a nice handful of both her ass cheeks.

Judging from the murderous glare on his face, if Walker had a six-shooter in his hand, Luke would be a dead man about now.

Yeee haw!

 

 

who the hell was the son of a bitch with his hands
all over Jolene?

Gage elbowed Mason. “You know that guy?”

Mason frowned. “What guy?”

“I’m pretty sure he means the one with his hands on Jolene’s ass. Out on the dance floor,” Valerie said.

“Oh.” Mason searched the dance floor. “Don’t recognize him.” Mason turned to his wife. “He is kind of grabby, though. Want me to kill him?”

“Maybe Walker should do that instead,” Valerie suggested with a sly smile.

Walker shrugged and grabbed his pool cue. “She’s not my woman. No reason for me to get involved. If she wants some strange guy’s hands roaming all over her, that’s her business.”

Though he couldn’t concentrate on his shot and he blew it, scratching and losing the game. Shit. That’s what he got for paying more attention to Jolene’s ass than playing pool.

He let the next set of guys play and grabbed his beer, deciding not to look at the dance floor. But despite his resolve, his gaze drifted in that direction every few seconds, and for some reason he could easily spot Jolene in the thick crowd of dancers. Maybe it was her hair, loose tonight instead of in her usual pigtails, blond and wavy and trailing down her back, making him wish he could slide his hand down the length of it to see if it felt as soft as it looked.

Or maybe it was the turquoise halter top with silver studs that bared her back and the tiny tattoo barely visible above the waist of her jeans. He didn’t know what kind of tattoo it was, only that it was colorful and small enough that a man would have to be . . .

Fuck. Getting a hard-on in the middle of a crowded bar would be the worst thing that could ever happen to him.

“You know, if you don’t want another guy touching her, you should go in there and stake your claim.”

Walker shrugged and sipped his beer, determined not to let anyone know, especially Mason, of his attraction to Jolene. “There’s nothing to claim. Nothing going on between us.”

Mason laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’m not blind, idiot. You two have been dancing around each other for a couple years now. And Jolene doesn’t exactly make a secret of the fact that she’d like to wrangle you into her bed.”

Shit
. He turned to Mason. “She tell you that?”

“Me? Oh, hell no. We don’t talk about sex. But she tells her sister things, and Valerie tells me.”

“I’ve never touched Jolene.”

Mason laughed. “I’m not stopping you.”

“She’s the boss. And you don’t dip into the well where you work.”

“Hey, that’s up to you. All I’m saying is that the two of you are distracted because of this attraction. The last thing I want to do is talk about your sex life, man. Handle it how you see fit.”

“Thanks, I will.” And standing around watching Jolene dirty dance with some stranger was more torture than he cared to deal with. “I’m heading back to the ranch.”

 

 

jolene caught walker’s exit out of the corner of her
eye and sighed.

Damn man.

Okay, so this plan had crashed and burned.

She turned her attention to Luke-of-the-wandering-hands, tilted her head back and smiled sweetly at him. “Honey, you have about two seconds to get your hands off my ass, or you’ll be wearing your balls as earrings.”

Time for Plan B.

 

 

around two in the morning, as jolene was checking
cattle in one of the pastures, she still hadn’t quite come up with what Plan B was going to be. Walker was proving to be more stubborn than she’d anticipated. She figured he’d see Luke-of-the-wandering-hands pawing her on the dance floor, his possessive cave-man instincts would kick in and he’d stomp over, jerk her away from Luke and kiss her senseless right on the spot.

Ha! And she’d had the nerve to accuse Brea of living in fantasy-land with her books. Obviously it was Jolene who needed a good hard dose of reality, because she’d been way off base with that flight of imagination. Walker had looked all right, and then done . . . nothing.

Maybe he wasn’t as interested in her as she’d originally thought. Or maybe he was, but figured she wasn’t worth fighting over.

Dammit. Why were men so hard to figure out? If he wanted her, what was so difficult about saying so, and then doing something about it? She was always straightforward about what she wanted. Was that a bad thing?

Her horse spooked as another rider approached. She pulled up on the reins and calmed Paradise down, then turned in the direction of the approaching rider. Who the hell was out this time of night, especially this far from the main houses?

She was surprised to see Walker coming up alongside her. And he was angry.

“What the hell are you doing riding out here by yourself this late?”

She arched a brow. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I couldn’t sleep so thought I’d take a ride.”

“This is one hell of a ride. What if you’d gotten bucked off and hurt?”

She patted Paradise. “My horse never bucks.”

“She would if a snake slithered in front of her. Come on, Jolene, you were born and raised out here. You know it’s not safe to ride alone at night, even on your own property.”

She lifted her chin. “Exactly. My own property. I can do whatever the hell I want, when I want. Besides, why do you even care, Walker?”

He went silent then, the brim of his hat and the dark of the moonless night hiding his expression. “You shouldn’t ride alone.”

“You said that already. And you’re riding alone.”

“I saw your horse was gone and came out to find you. It’s late. Thought something might have happened to you.”

“Awww, didn’t know you cared.”

“I figure someone has to look out for you since you suck at taking care of yourself.”

“I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time. I’m a big girl and I know exactly what I’m doing.”

“Is that why you let some guy you don’t know put his hands all over you at the bar last night?”

So he did notice. And from the sound of his voice and the narrowing of his eyes, he wasn’t at all happy about it. Perfect. “I haven’t needed a father in years. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a grown woman capable of making my own decisions.”

He inched his horse next to hers and grabbed the reins away from her. “I’m well aware you’re a woman. So was the drifter with his hands on your ass earlier.”

“You got a problem with that?”

His jaw was set so tight Jolene was amazed she couldn’t hear his teeth grinding together. But underneath the spitting anger was something else—something elemental that went beyond him trying to protect her. It fairly sizzled between them and he was damn blind if he didn’t recognize the sexual attraction between them.

He dropped her reins and skirted his horse away. “You should be careful not to ride alone, Jolene. You never know who could be out here in the middle of the night.”

“Afraid I’ll get ravished by some strange man on a horse?” She cast a pointed look in his direction.

He didn’t take the bait. “Let’s head back. It’s a long ride and it’s already late.”

Like a cold drenching rain to put out the fire that had torched between them, the spark was doused. Jolene pursed her lips, wondering what the hell she was going to have to do to get Walker to give up and take what she was so obviously offering. Maybe she should have been riding naked. Too bad it was a little chilly tonight. Plus, riding naked on the back of a horse just screamed chafing in all the wrong places, so she’d have to give up on that idea.

Instead, she rode in silence next to him and pondered that Plan B.

for some reason, and walker knew exactly what
that reason was, he found himself working side by side with Jolene for the next several days.

Subtle wasn’t part of Jolene’s makeup. Then again that was one of the things he admired about her. She was straight-out-forward about her needs, desires and wants.

Sometimes he wished she would hide those desires a little better, especially relating to him, because it was getting harder to resist her.

“Harder” being the right damn word.

What man wouldn’t want a woman who could run a ranch at the age of twenty-six, who could manage roughneck cowboys with a steely-eyed look and a cock of her hip, who could reduce the strongest man to a blubbering baby with her honeyed voice, who could get two dozen cowboys dragging their tongue in the dry dirt and willing to follow her anywhere as long as she’d cast a smile their way.

And the worst thing was, he really didn’t think she had any clue what effect she had on the men who worked for her. More than half of them wanted her, and she was oblivious to it all.

All of them except him. For some reason she wanted him, and damned if he knew why, since he’d done his best to completely ignore her. She could crook her finger at any one of half a dozen guys who worked for her and they’d be more than happy to give her anything she wanted.