Cowboy's Kiss (18 page)

“This,” she whispered, meaning what was happening between them.

He smiled down at her, though it was slightly hesitant. “Me, too,” he answered very quietly, apparently knowing what she'd meant.

But fear of the feelings they shared didn't stop him from kissing her again. Or from reaching one of those now-familiar hands to her breast.

And it didn't stop her from laying her palm on the side of his neck, or sliding her thigh over his to press herself against him as passion took them on yet another ride.

Instead those feelings welled up to overwhelm the fears and carry them both away....

I
t was ten o'clock the next morning when Ally woke up to a clap of thunder so loud it seemed to strike in the bedroom. A big, callused hand lay on her breast.

She was lying next to Jackson, her body perfectly fitted to the length of his, her head on his chest, their legs entwined, her own hand curved along the side of his thick, corded neck, with nothing but a sheet covering them.

“We overslept,” she told him in a sleep-husky tone when she'd opened her eyes and could see the clock on the nightstand beyond him.

“It's rainin',” he answered.

It wasn't just raining. A torrential downpour pounded the house, and thunder and lightning cracked like whips all around them while his slow hand at her breast kept up a titillating massage.

“Do you just stay in bed all day when the weather turns bad?” she asked with a smile in her voice for what he was awakening inside her.

“Not usually.”

“You just sleep in a little?”

“Not usually.”

But after a night that had included a stand-up supper in the kitchen, another round of lovemaking in the pool, then another on one of the loungers, it was no wonder even Jackson hadn't been bright eyed and bushy tailed before now.

His hand slipped from her breast to her side and around to her rear end, pressing her more firmly to his hip. “How you holdin' up?”

“Well enough,” she answered, ignoring the soreness that made that a lie, because he'd already raised anew the now-familiar desire they'd shared into the wee hours of the morning.

He chuckled, a seductive echo from deep in his chest. “I don't think I've ever known anyone quite like you, Ms. Brooks.”

She did a slow, tantalizing rub of his chest with a feather-light stroke that kerneled his male nibs almost the way her nipples were. “How am I different?”

“You just never fail to surprise me. Every time I think I have you pegged one way, you up and prove me wrong.”

“Is that bad?”

“No, ma'am, it's not. It's not bad at all. Except maybe that I'm enjoyin' it altogether too much.” He paused a moment, and when he went on, it was in a tone that was quiet and sincere. “Enjoyin'
you
altogether too much.”

His hand slid back the way it had come, but bypassed her breast to cup her chin and tilt her face up to him so he could kiss her, chastely, sweetly, lovingly...

“Ah, Ally...” he nearly moaned in what sounded almost like sorrow, leaving her lips to kiss her brow, her eyes, her nose and then her mouth once more.

Somehow she knew what he was lamenting. It was the feelings she knew he had for her even though he'd expressed them only with his body, with his touch, with the tenderness and care he'd shown all through the night.

And she understood, because she shared not only the feelings, but the fear of them, of the pain they could cause. She was very much afraid that she was falling in love with this man. That maybe it was too late and she'd already fallen...

“Mom? I'm home!”

Meggie's call from downstairs, accentuated with the slam of the front door, was like a bucket of cold water thrown on them.

Then Linc's deeper voice sounded, “Could be they're out workin'. You take your things upstairs and I'll go look in the barn.”

“Oh, my god!” Ally said, jumping up and making a mad dash for her bathrobe. “Hide!” she whisper-shouted to Jackson as she did.

But he just lay there, grinning at her, and clamped his hands behind his head. “Tell her to get an umbrella and go collect the eggs,” he said calmly.

Ally opened the door only enough to squeeze her head through, just as Meggie tossed her backpack into her own room and headed for Ally's.

“Hi, sweetie!” Ally said much too brightly, garnering a chuckle from Jackson that she was relatively sure Meggie didn't hear. “How was your slumber party?”

“It was good,” her daughter answered. “How come you're not dressed yet?”

“I guess my alarm didn't go off. Why don't you go out and collect the eggs and I'll be down in the kitchen by the time you're finished?”

“I could do that later. I want to tell you what we did last night. It was so fun.”

“Go do the eggs first and then tell me while we have breakfast.”

“I already had breakfast.”

“You can tell me while I eat.” The desperate note that was overtaking her tone brought another chuckle from Jackson. Ally amended it to motherly firmness. “Go on now. Use one of the umbrellas from next to the hall tree in the entranceway and don't get wet.”

Meggie looked at her as if she'd lost her mind but finally conceded, and Ally ducked back into the room, closing the door and falling against it.

“Caught in the act,” Jackson said softly as he got out of bed and came her way in all his masculine, muscular, gorgeous glory.

When he reached her, he slid his hands inside her robe, laying it open to pull her naked body up against his, and kissed her again, playfully this time.

But when that playfulness turned more heated, he stopped and propped his chin on the top of her head.

“Beth and Ash are bringin' the baby home today. What do you say to cookin' a special dinner for tonight?”

“Instead of mucking out horse stalls or slopping pigs or—”

“Instead of all that.”

Was he letting her off the hook for the hard chores just for the day, or had last night made such a difference in their relationship that he was telling her a permanent change was in order? And if it was a permanent change, what did that mean?

“I'd like to cook for them today,” she answered, meaning it but sounding a little tentative just the same.

Jackson didn't seem to hear the tentativeness. “Good. Then I'd better get out of here before Miss Meggie comes snoopin'.”

He kissed Ally's forehead and reluctantly took his arms from around her, clasping her shoulders to move her away from the door. “See you downstairs.” Then, with a cautious glance to make sure the hall was clear, he left.

Ally felt an instant disappointment to have him gone and had to fight the urge to follow him.

But it wasn't only thoughts of Meggie coming back and catching them that stopped her.

There was also a little wave of panic about where things between them were going from here.

* * *

“Mighty fine food,” Linc said for the dozenth time that evening as he, Kansas and Danny, and Ally, Meggie and Jackson were leaving Beth and Ash's house.

Everyone added their praises, even Jackson—with no comment about the chateaubriand being froufrou.

“I enjoyed doing it,” Ally assured them. “I had a day full of my three favorite things—rain, cooking and Meggie as my assistant chef.”

Jackson's expression seemed to deflate slightly, as if he'd expected—or maybe just hoped—to be one of the three. Not that he'd spent much time with her. He'd popped in periodically but had mainly kept to the barn.

Still, Ally hoped she hadn't inadvertently struck some sort of blow. He'd been warm and funny and nice when they had been together during the day. And he'd passed the evening helping her with the food and tossing her secret glances and intimate smiles that had set off sparks to dance along her nerve endings. The last thing she wanted to do was answer all of that with anything that would hurt his feelings.

“Remember,” Linc said as they all stood at the door to go, “anytime you want to come cook at the honky-tonk—”

“And make Jackson hire six men to do my job around here?” she joked.

That made everybody laugh, including Jackson.

A loud clap of thunder interrupted this exchange and when it passed, the good-nights really did get said, along with a reminder about the Native American ceremony Ash had scheduled at dawn the next morning to name the new baby.

Outside in the yard, Linc and Kansas said a second set of farewells to Ally and Jackson and then went to where their car was parked near the garage.

But rather than heading for the house, Jackson looked up at the starless black sky with its low-hanging, ominous clouds, obviously assessing the weather to come as Ally and Meggie waited for him.

The rain had stopped about an hour before they'd gone to Beth's place, so Jackson and Meggie had taken the horses from the barn to let them loose in the paddock beside it. Now he went from checking out the sky to studying the animals.

“This storm is going to start up again. We can't leave the horses out in it. If they get anxious enough they're liable to try jumping the fence,” he said as Ally and Meggie followed the direction of his gaze to where five of them were in various states of agitation. “We'd better get ‘em back inside.”

Ally had her hands full of the platters and bowls she'd used to cart food. She lifted them just enough to remind him. “I'll set these in the kitchen and be right out.”

Jackson nodded and then squeezed Meggie's shoulder. “Come on then, Miss Meggie darlin', you and I will get started ourselves.”

They headed for the barn while Ally went on her way to the house, smiling at this latest version of one of Jackson's pet names for her daughter. First it had been
Miss
Meggie, in an old-fashioned courtliness, and now it was Miss Meggie
darlin'.

She could tell it tickled her daughter, because every time he said it, Meggie flashed a tiny smile that illustrated how special it made her feel. A feeling Ally understood completely.

Jackson might be slow to show that quiet, understated charm of his, but when he did, it was potent and irresistible, and all the more flattering because it wasn't something he did readily or in an offhand manner or to just anybody. It was as if it came from the core of him and was shared only with those he let in that far.

Another crash of thunder hit so hard and close the house rocked as Ally quickly put the dirty utensils into the dishwasher. The first drops of rain were beginning to fall again when she went back outside, but in just the time it took her to reach the paddock where Meggie and Jackson were, rain was pouring once more in heavy sheets that made it hard to even see through.

“Go on up to the house, Meggie,” she heard Jackson call to her daughter as Ally climbed the rail fence and hopped to the ground on the other side.

Lightning lighted up the sky so brightly it was blinding, and not a breath later, thunder hit with the force of a cannon. The horses that were still out in it whinnied and snorted and moved jerkily, as if they didn't know where to go to escape what was frightening them. The gelding Jackson had a hold of by the cheek piece of the harness shied even from him, but he held on tight and tugged the animal into the barn.

Ally didn't know if Meggie was ignoring Jackson's order or just hadn't heard it, but she was still hanging on tight to the reins of the filly she called Sunshine, trying to pull her into the barn. Sunshine was clearly the most scared of the lot and the small child was having trouble keeping her grip on the harness the animal was new to.

“I'll take her in. You go up to the house like Jackson said,” Ally shouted from across the paddock through the noise of thunder and rain, as she headed in her daughter's direction.

But Ally was still some distance away when another boom struck. She saw Sunshine rear back on its hind legs, yanking Meggie's arm sharply, jerking her nearly off the ground. Even through the noise of the storm, Ally heard her daughter's gasp of surprise and pain.

“Let go!” Ally shouted, breaking into a run.

Meggie did, falling to the ground just as the animal came back down, catching the little girl's temple with a front hoof.

And then Sunshine reared again.

Everything appeared to happen in slow motion for Ally, who couldn't seem to run fast enough through the pounding rain and muddy earth as those hooves hovered in midair, directly over Meggie, pawing at the rain like a kitten at a dangling twine ball. Only this was no kitten. This was a terrified animal with a great deal more weight and power behind it, even if it was only a very young horse.

“No!” Ally shrieked as those hooves began to lower.

And then Ally slipped and fell flat.

She scrambled back to her feet but still she was yards short of her child when, again, Sunshine's front half lowered.

This time a hoof clipped Meggie's elbow, where the little girl had curved it over her face to protect herself.

“Roll away!” was all Ally could think to advise as she again rushed to help.

But just then Jackson came from out of nowhere at a full run, his boots maneuvering the mud better than Ally's slippery-soled loafers. “Hya-hya!” he shouted along the way, the words and the deep, loud voice finally shooing the animal to veer in the opposite direction just as Ally reached Meggie, dropping to her knees beside her.

Meggie's cut arm shook as she took it away from her face. Her eyes were wide, her skin ashen with fear, and blood from her temple had already flooded her hair.

Without thinking about the wisdom in moving her daughter, Ally grabbed her up into her lap and held on tight, mindlessly rocking her as if she were a baby whose minor fussiness could be soothed that way.

But Jackson took command and cut it short. “Let's get her inside,” he said through the din of the storm, bending over and taking the little girl from Ally's arms to head for the house.

* * *

Within an hour Ally knew Meggie wasn't seriously hurt.

Jackson had called the emergency number and the town doctor had come out to the house. After a thorough check he'd declared Meggie cut and bruised, but okay.

Ally gently cleaned her up, gave her a pain reliever and tucked her into bed—her and the entire contingent of dolls and stuffed animals that her daughter had once again situated all around her. She also made sure Mutt was at her feet before she'd close her eyes and go to sleep.

For a few minutes Ally stayed by her bed, watching her, working to believe everything really was okay, trying to stop the internal shaking that was still rumbling through her like her own private earthquake.