Crazy For You (10 page)

“I’ll check the stock tanks while I’m out.” He looked at her. “Sure you don’t want to go out with me?”

“Positive.” She straightened. “I’ve got things to do.”

While he saddled Charger, she went out to her mother’s greenhouse. The one thing Alice loved to do was putter around in the greenhouse. Lately she hadn’t come out as much because her leg bothered her more than usual.

Ella checked on the plants and harvested some of the kale, Swiss chard, and butter lettuce, as well as carrots, beets, tomatoes, and a few herbs. She made sure everything was watered then took the basket of vegetables into the house.

The smell of sausages and eggs made Ella’s stomach rumble the moment she walked into the house. She hung her hat on the hat rack then headed to the kitchen.

Alice stood in front of the stove. “I see you’ve been in the greenhouse.”

“Yep.” Ella smiled at her mother as she set the vegetables on the countertop. “How are you doing this morning?”

“Great.” Alice was almost always positive. She was usually in pain but rarely showed it. The pain had to be exceptionally bad for Alice to need to rest and be less than her normal cheery self. “You didn’t have to take care of the greenhouse. I’d planned on doing it this morning.”

Ella began washing the vegetables in the sink. “I found myself with a little free time.”

“Oh, good.” Alice took a pair of tongs and turned over sausage links. “That must mean Clint started.”

Ella frowned. “Why didn’t anyone tell me Clint would be working here?”

Alice glanced up from the cast iron frying pan. “Didn’t your father say anything?”

“Nope.” Ella shook her head. “It was sure a surprise to find Clint there this morning and to see he’d already done the morning chores.”

Alice looked pleased. “Now you’ll be able to sculpt more.”

Ella shook her head. “You and Dad don’t need to be spending money on a hired hand.”

“We sell enough cattle to pay for someone to help and to get by on.” Alice slid a spatula beneath an egg and turned it over. “It’s important to all of us that you have enough time for your artwork.”

“Sculpting isn’t more than a hobby.” Ella shook water off the wet vegetables as she laid them out on a clean towel. “We should be saving money for more important things.”

“You have the talent to sell your bronzes.” Alice gave Ella a serious look. “You could save money for things that are important to you.”

Ella dried off her hands with a towel. “You and Dad are what’s important to me.”

“Then you’ll want to make us happy.” Alice smiled as she set the spatula down on the spoon rest. “And knowing that you’re happy doing your sculpting will make us very happy.”

Ella went to her mother and hugged her. “You’re both the best.”

Alice hugged Ella in return then pulled away and rested her hands on Ella’s shoulders. “
You
are the best and we love you, sweetheart. You need a life beyond this ranch and taking care of your folks. So start enjoying life a little more.” Alice smiled. “I expect you to be out in your studio.”

“Okay.” Ella let out her breath. “I’ve got some things to take care of around the ranch this morning. I’ll head out to my studio this afternoon.”

“And now, breakfast.” Alice was back to the business of being a wife and mother. “Call your father in and Clint if he’s around, too.”

Ella thought of how good Clint had looked this morning. “He’s out checking fence lines. Said he’d be back by noon.”

Alice nodded. “Then we’ll set another place at the table for lunch.”

Ella’s stomach flipped. She was beginning to wonder just how she was going to manage being around Clint, the most maddeningly sexy man she’d ever met.

Looked like she was going to find out.

Ella stiffened as she heard the snort of a horse and the sound of hooves against gravel. Clint had returned.

She kept her back to the stalls and continued to straighten the tack room. It had been a long while since she’d had a chance to give it a good cleaning. After all she’d managed to do over the past couple of hours, she was sweaty and grubby and was certain she smelled.

Clint’s voice carried to her as he spoke low and steady to Charger. Likely Clint was removing the horse’s tack and brushing him down.

Ella was just finishing up rubbing her saddle with leather polish when she felt prickles run up and down her back. Clint was in the tack room and he was close to her. Before she could face him, strong arms slipped around her waist and he nuzzled her neck.

She caught her breath and tried to pull away, yet not too hard because his hands felt good on her. He held her back snugly against his chest. She probably stunk of sweat, dust, and horse. She squirmed. “Let me go, Clint.”

“You feel so soft and you smell like orange blossoms,” he murmured in her ear.

“Orange blossoms?” She had to hold back a giggle that surprised her. “I think you need to see a doctor about your sense of smell.”

“Mmm.” He turned her in his arms so that she was facing him but he still had a hold on her. “And you look beautiful. Every time I see you it gets harder and harder to resist.”

He meant sex, no doubt. She swallowed as she saw the intensity of desire in his gaze. “You’re crazy.” She wriggled but couldn’t get free. He was so strong and powerful and he made her feel so soft inside.

No.
She wasn’t going to let him make her feel this way.

She was just about to stomp her booted foot on his when he brushed his lips over hers. A sigh of longing came out of nowhere.

And then his mouth was on hers and he was kissing her. She inhaled his masculine scent of sunshine and leather, drawing it deep inside her. She kissed him back with a kind of wildness she hadn’t known she possessed, a frantic need that only he could fill.

He picked her up by her ass and set her on a sturdy wood workbench and pressed himself between her thighs. She moaned as she felt his rigid erection through her jeans and his. He slid his lips along her cheekbone while his fingers glided to her nipples and he played with them through the soft cotton of her T-shirt. He moved his palms beneath her shirt and pushed it up her belly to her bra and pulled the lacy fabric of her bra over her breasts. Her nipples tightened even more as he trailed his lips over her naked breasts and she gasped and felt herself grow wilder in his arms.

Her eyes flew open as she realized what she was doing. “My dad, he could come in—”

Clint paused only long enough to murmur, “He left for town when I got back, and he won’t return for a while.” Clint licked her nipple and her eyes widened at the erotic sensation. “Your dad said your mom never comes into the barn, so it’s just the two of us, honey. Me and the boss’s daughter.”

His words made it feel almost taboo, him working for her father and taking her right here in the barn. But she wanted him so badly she would do anything to have him and have him now.

He moved his big hands to her breasts and kissed her as he pinched her nipples. In the back of her mind she heard a rumble coming closer and closer. She was barely conscious of the sound but then it hit her the moment she heard the squeak of brakes and realized the rumble was a truck engine.

“Someone’s here.” She pushed Clint away and pulled up her bra and tugged down her T-shirt, her face and body hot as she heard the sound of a truck door closing.

Clint helped arrange her clothing and hair before helping her off the workbench. She tried to compose herself as she heard a man calling her name.

Johnny Parker was in the door of the barn as she came out of the tack room. “Hey, Ella.”

“Hi, Johnny.” She hadn’t noticed he was holding anything until she reached him and he handed her a box with Sweet Things Bakery written across it.

“Your and Alice’s favorite chocolates.” Johnny’s hazel eyes held warmth. “Ricki said to say hello to you both.”

“Aw, thank you.” She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re so sweet.”

When she drew away he looked almost shy which was odd considering they’d known each other since they were kids.

Johnny’s smile faded into a frown as he looked over her shoulder. “Clint McBride,” Johnny said. “What are you doing here?”

Feeling confused at how Johnny sounded almost accusing, Ella turned from him to Clint and back. “Clint works for Dad now,” she said. Johnny’s brows narrowed and she felt a raw undercurrent between him and Clint. “I take it you two know each other?”

Johnny shook his head. Clint said nothing. “I just know of him,” Johnny said.

“Then let me introduce you.” Ella kept her smile bright as she hurried to do just that. “Clint, this is Johnny Parker, a close friend of mine.” She turned to Johnny. “Clint was Bucky’s best friend.”

Johnny nodded and shook Clint’s hand when he extended it. But neither he nor Clint said anything.

Ella hooked her arm with Johnny’s. “Come to the house. I know Mom would love to see you and I know she’s going to be thrilled with the chocolates.”

Johnny met her eyes and his expression softened. “Sounds good to me.”

Ella glanced at Clint who now wore a scowl. She looked away from him and walked arm in arm with Johnny to the house.

Clint growled beneath his breath as he watched Ella walking away with the young man she’d introduced as Johnny Parker. Her sunny laughter carried back to him on the breeze along with Johnny’s now cheerful tone. Clint couldn’t make out what they said, but he didn’t like this, didn’t like it at all.

He turned back into the barn, heat burning him through. Written plainly over Johnny’s face was the fact that he was in love with Ella. Did she feel the same way about him? Would she have let Clint kiss her if she was in love with Johnny?

It had never occurred to him that Ella might have a boyfriend. Was that what Johnny was? Ella’s boyfriend? Clint clenched his fists at the mere thought that Ella might be taken. He wondered if Cody would know anything about Ella and Johnny.

Clint headed back into the barn and saddled Charger again. He needed to get out of here and clear his head.

Mentally, he paused. Was he just running away, once again? He shook his head and mounted the horse.

Even as he rode Charger out onto Fisher ranchlands, heat burned beneath his skin. He wasn’t sure what he was so angry about. What right did he have to Ella? Hell, he’d been gone for so damned long and Ella had been just a teenager when he’d left.

He rode Charger at a gallop, trying to clear his mind and feeling the wind against his face. Even though the breeze was cool, it didn’t cool him off. He still felt hot after riding the Quarter horse at least five miles.

As he rode, he thought about riding with Bucky across the property. They’d done it so many times, since they were just kids. They’d rounded up cattle, checked fence lines and stock tanks, helped with branding, and any number of other ranching chores.

He and Bucky had learned to ride broncs on the Fisher ranch. It was here they’d practiced, gotten banged up and bruised, but had ended up the best at what they did. A friendly rivalry had existed between Clint and Bucky, but that’s all it had been. Friendly. Eventually Clint had been the one to set records and win competitions, but his and Bucky’s friendship had never wavered.

Clint’s gaze drifted toward the east pasture. A small cemetery was in that direction, where Bucky was buried.

Instead of being in a grave, Bucky should be here now, riding the range with Clint, laughing and bullshitting like he always did. He’d made Clint laugh, had made everyone laugh. Clint’s gut tightened. Damn but he missed his friend.

What would Bucky have thought of him being so damned attracted to his little sister, and doing his best to capture her attention?

Eventually, Clint brought the horse to a walk and dragged his hand down his face as his thoughts turned to Ella. Working for Carl and Alice might not be such a great idea after all.

But as he turned the horse around to ride back to the Fisher ranch house, Clint came to one clear realization. He didn’t care if Johnny Parker was in love with Ella. Clint intended to win her over. She would be his.

The thought surprised him. He hadn’t even known whether he was going to stay in Prescott, much less lay claim to a woman he was falling for.

He frowned. He was falling in love with Ella.

Hell, the truth was that he already loved her. Loved everything about her. Yeah, he hadn’t been in town long, but he’d known Ella for a long time. Now that she was grown up she was everything he could want in a woman. He loved her fire and spirit, and everything else about her.

He shook his head. Damn, but he had it bad. He had it real bad, and there was only one thing he could do about it.

After her afternoon chores were taken care of, Ella slipped away and walked along the path to her studio in the cabin. When she walked into her studio, she inhaled the smells of cedar then clay. The scents relaxed her and helped make the world slip away.

She closed the door behind her and stripped down to her panties and tank top before sitting on the stool in front of her workbench and taking the cover off the sculpture.

It was coming along nicely, despite the fact she’d had so little time to work on it. She covered most of the sculpture again, leaving out only the part she intended to work on. After putting in her earbuds, she turned on some Miranda Lambert and started working on the arm with the broken hand. She’d been ignoring the piece, afraid she would break it off again just because she’d get so mad at Clint.

At the thought of Clint, she clenched her teeth. She’d managed to avoid him after Johnny left. She couldn’t believe how she’d lost it with Clint in the barn. All she could think about was being with him in every way possible.

Her hand trembled and the sculpture’s hand snapped off again.

“Damn it.” She groaned. Why had she decided to work on the hand when she was so worked up over Clint, she had no idea. “Dumb, dumb, dumb,” she grumbled.

Miranda wasn’t exactly the right artist to listen to when trying to not think about a man. Miranda made a girl want to kick a man’s ass.