Certified Cowboy (16 page)

Images of her terrified face when he’d opened that pantry door flashed in his mind. She could have died, and he would have lost the opportunity to kiss her again.

Passion drove him to lift her finger from his lips and kiss it gently. Then he sucked on her fingertip, mesmerized at the sharp flash of pleasure that lit her eyes.

He wanted to give her more pleasure. To watch her smile and writhe beneath him, to have those legs wrapped around his waist while he pumped inside her, to hear her whisper his name as she came in a mind-numbing climax.

But remembering she was skittish, he moved slowly, tucked a strand of her damp hair behind one delicate ear, then cupped her face between his hands and planted his mouth over hers. The kiss started out gentle, but need and hunger engulfed him, and he teased her lips apart, then plunged his tongue inside.

Her low, throaty moan spurred him on, and he deepened the kiss, his sex hardening as she slipped off his Stetson, tossed it to the chair by the fireplace, then threaded her fingers into his hair. One hand snaked down to untie the belt of her robe and it fell open, exposing the soft pajamas she wore beneath.

He wanted her naked. With nothing between them but skin and sweat and passion.

Trailing kisses along her throat and jaw, he unbuttoned the top button of the pajama top, parting the fabric to reveal her bare breasts. The dark tips of her nipples stiffened beneath his perusal, making his mouth water for a taste.

“Johnny…”

His fingers brushed lovingly over one turgid peak and he glanced up through a haze of desire. Her eyes looked glazed with need, as well, and her fingers stroked his hair from his forehead in a feminine gesture that spiked his blood.

He couldn’t wait any longer. He pulled her up against him and closed his mouth over one nipple. She moaned and leaned into him, throwing her head back in submission, and he suckled her, laving one breast, then the other until her legs buckled.

He caught her around the waist, his breathing raspy as he walked her backward toward the sofa. She clung to him, rubbing herself against him as he lowered her to the cushions. Then she dragged his face toward her and kissed him, deep, bold, intense, as if she was as starved for him as he was for her.

Johnny had had his share of lovers, teenagers when he was younger, rodeo groupies in his twenties, but never anyone he cared about.

Rachel was different. Her touch triggered emotions he’d never felt before. He didn’t just want sex with Rachel.

He wanted to make love to her.

His throat convulsed. Where had that thought come from?

Johnny Long had never
made love
to any woman. And the last one he’d had sex with had screwed him, both literally and figuratively.

But this was Rachel, not Gwen.

Still, Rachel was keeping secrets from him….

Then she raked her foot along his leg and he forgot about secrets and questions and doubts, and savored the feel of her skin against his and the sultry way she undulated beneath him.

He stroked her crotch with his sex, his breathing ragged as his erection thickened to a painful ache, then he inched his hands down to strip her pajama pants. One inch, two, he imagined her elation as he parted her legs and tasted her sweetness, but his fingers brushed over a puckered scar above her hipbone, and she tensed.

Johnny lowered the waistband, wanting to see more, needing to know how she’d gotten that scar, but she grabbed his shoulders and pushed at him.

“Stop, Johnny…stop.”

He froze, then glanced into her eyes and saw fear, and his stomach knotted.

Their gazes locked as he eased his body away from her. A charged tension rippled between them, and he feasted on her beautiful heavy breasts, the tips pink from his loving. He wanted to touch her again, to take her back to that moment when they’d both been drugged with pleasure.

But the pain in her eyes sobered him.

“Who hurt you, Rachel?”

Her breath caught, and she shook her head in denial, then hastily began buttoning her pajamas. Her fingers were shaking, and he reached out to help her, but she paced to the fireplace, and turned her back to him. “Please, Johnny, just go.”

“No.”

She whirled around, panic and anger flashing in her expression. She reminded him of a wounded animal caught in a trap.

But he refused to leave tonight. He wanted her to talk to him.

And even if she didn’t, she might be in danger. He’d stay with her around the clock.

If someone tried to hurt her, they’d have to go through him first.

R
ACHEL SHOULD NEVER
have let Johnny get so close. And she shouldn’t have allowed him to touch her.

But she had craved his comfort and his kiss.

Only the moment he’d seen that scar, her fight-and-flee instincts had kicked in, and she’d tensed.

“Rachel?” Johnny said in a husky whisper. “Tell me who it was.”

She squared her shoulders. “I can’t discuss my past.”

Frustration lined Johnny’s face. “Dammit, I’m trying to help you, to protect you.” Johnny folded his arms, then lowered his voice to a husky whisper. “Now tell me. Was it your boyfriend? Lover? Husband?”

Her throat clogged with emotions. She wanted to trust him so badly that tears burned her eyes. She was so tired of being alone. Of running. Of never leaning on anyone.

She wanted to lean on him. “My ex.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Kenny’s father?”

A brief nod was all she could manage.

His dark eyes probed her. “Where is he now?”

“I don’t know,” Rachel said honestly. “The last time I saw him was in Phoenix.”

“When was that?”

Rachel’s pulse throbbed. “A couple of weeks ago.”

A long tense second passed. “You’ve been moving around to keep him from finding you?”

Pain wrenched her heart. “Yes.”

Another heartbeat of silence. This one so intense that Rachel feared she’d made a mistake and confess the truth. At least the portion of it she was willing to share.

Johnny’s gaze moved over her, reminding her that they’d been nearly naked only moments before and that she still wanted him.

And she hadn’t wanted a man since Rex.

Johnny cleared his throat. “Do you think your ex set that fire tonight?”

Rachel mentally debated the question just as she had ever since she and Kenny had gotten trapped in the pantry. “I don’t know. Maybe.” Her throat felt tight. “But I don’t think he would hurt Kenny. He keeps saying that he wants his son.”

“But you don’t want him to be with Kenny because he’s violent?”

“He never hit Kenny,” she whispered, not in defense of the man, but because she would have killed him herself if he had. “But he liked control, and I refused to let my son be raised in an abusive environment, verbal or physical.”

His voice softened. “That’s understandable.”

Self-recriminations screamed in her head. “I know what you’re thinking. That I was stupid to get involved with him in the first place. That it was my fault.”

“That’s not what I was thinking at all, Rachel.” Johnny shook his head, a lock of his dark hair falling across his forehead. Rachel could barely resist reaching out to brush it back. She’d never cared what anyone thought before, but now she desperately wanted Johnny to see her as a good mother, as a desirable woman, not as a pathetic, weak fool.

“I’d like to erase the pain he caused you.” Johnny closed the distance between them, lifted her hand in his and gently traced his finger over her palm.

Rachel licked her lips, struggling to breathe. “You can’t.”

“Maybe I can,” he said in a gruff whisper. “But you have to let me in. I understand exactly what it’s like to have a father beat up on you. And I know how easy it is to fall for someone’s charms and miss seeing they have their own agenda.”

Rachel remembered the publicity about him and the hint of sexual charges that he’d firmly denied. “The woman in the paper?”

A sound of disgust rumbled from his throat. “Yes. Her name was Gwen. She made claims…”

“That you drugged her to seduce her,” Rachel filled in.

Anguish deepened the grooves around Johnny’s eyes, and for the first time in ages, Rachel forgot about her own problems in the wake of her compassion for him. “For what it’s worth, Johnny, I don’t believe those charges.”

His tormented gaze searched hers. “Why not? Because I donated money to the ranch?” He shrugged. “Some folks would say I’m only volunteering at the BBL as a way to redeem my reputation.”

Rachel curled her fingers into his hand. “They’re wrong. You’ve not only been patient with Kenny, but you’ve been good to all the boys and to me.”

She could easily see how a desperate, troubled woman would use Johnny. Maybe even stalk him as Rex had stalked her. “You’re dedicated and kind and a wonderful role model.”

He’d been firm but fair when that teenaged boy had pulled the prank on her. And from what she’d heard in the dining hall, he hadn’t threatened violence or used his fists, or even cursed.

All things Rex would have done.

Emotions flickered across Johnny’s face, and Rachel’s heart melted. At one time Johnny might have been the arrogant, cocky rodeo star some of the media had portrayed him to be. But he had changed.

And he didn’t deserve to be hurt because of her problems.

J
OHNNY’S HEART
TWISTED
at Rachel’s words. How long had it been since anyone had really believed in him? Not his old man, for sure. And he barely remembered his mother.

She hadn’t wanted him. And his daddy had beat the hell out of him every chance he’d gotten.

By the time he was five, Johnny had known he was no good.

So he’d purged his anger through adrenaline rushes. Roping calves. Bareback riding. Breaking wild horses. On the back of a bull.

And he’d been good at it. Hell, he hadn’t cared if he lived or died. He’d just needed the high to ease the pain of not being loved.

But when he’d first achieved fame, he’d mistaken women throwing themselves at him for love. For true affection.

Then he’d realized they were just infatuated with the rodeo star.

Not the real man.

Could Rachel see beneath the surface and really love him for the man he wanted to be?

“Johnny,” Rachel said, “if you’re worried about my ex finding me and endangering the other boys, Kenny and I will leave in the morning.”

“I don’t want you to go.” He couldn’t let the first woman he’d cared for in years walk away.

“But—”

“We don’t know for sure he did it. There’s Burgess and Copeland, too. They both have motive.” Johnny hesitated. “Meanwhile, Brody’s hiring extra security,” Johnny said. “Do you have a photo of your ex I can give to security so they’ll know how to spot him?”

“No,” Rachel said frantically.

“Then give me his name and a description.”

“I can’t do this…”

Johnny frowned. “Why are you protecting him? If he set that fire, he should go to jail.”

“I’m not protecting him, I’m protecting Kenny.” Rachel clutched his hand, her tone frantic. “He has money. He knows people, has expensive lawyers and cops in his pocket. And I saw an article in the paper today where the judge who granted me the divorce was murdered. I think he did it.”

“Then you have to go to the police, Rachel.”

She shook her head wildly. “No. Even if he is arrested, he’ll be out in a day and then he’ll be even more angry and determined to kill me.”

“I won’t let him get to you and Kenny.” A vein bulged in Johnny’s jaw. “What is his name?”

Rachel took a deep breath. He thought she wasn’t going to answer, but finally she whispered the word “Rex.”

“Rex Simmons?”

She stared at him for a long moment as if debating the answer, then shook her head. “Rodgers.”

Johnny’s chest swelled. She’d trusted him. And for Rachel, her trust was the most precious gift she could give him.

“But please don’t call the sheriff,” Rachel pleaded.

Johnny hesitated. If this Rex guy did have someone in his pocket… “All right, but if he shows up and we discover he set the fire, I’ll have to turn him in. We can’t let him endanger anyone here.”

“Of course not.” She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them and gave him a pained look that twisted his heart. “Thank you, Johnny. I just want to protect my son.”

Johnny pulled her into his arms and rubbed her back. “Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you or Kenny, Rachel. Not as long as I’m around.”

She sagged against him, and Johnny held her close. He wanted to take her to bed, to comfort her all night. To make love to her until he erased all the memories of her ex.

But he wouldn’t push her or try to own her like her husband had. Because he couldn’t stand the thought of losing her or her son now. And trying to control or force her would send her running.