Waiting For Eden (Eden Series) (14 page)

“Hey, you got it right this time, Mouse,” Jamie turned to the grinning man, and gave him a pat on the back.  Alex watched as Mouse’s features swelled with pride and adoration.  She realized suddenly how much Mouse cared for Jamie.  Loved him, most likely.

Had she ever had a friend that she loved and trusted implicitly?  Almost, once in college, with her first roommate, Anna Weatherly.  They were approaching that
unique bond, that intimate connection that only two young, inexperienced women stepping out in the world for the first time can share. 

But she had turned her back on Anna to follow Richard, blindly but resolutely.  She didn’t keep in touch, except to post the occasional remark on Facebook.  She’d had no close friendships since, and no words of either praise or encouragement.
  So many mistakes…

Her rampant thoughts had her blinking and confused, and Jamie’s words came back with a rush, clearing her head.  Alex then realized how much his compliment
to her expertise had affected her.  His words of praise had been honestly spoken and appreciative, without the ring of derision or underlying meaning.

Her mood lightened
considerably.  “Lemonade, guys?” 

Bold Venture had discovered the lush mounds of grass beneath his hooves, and had heartily bent to the task of devouring every blade.  His long tail swished in time with his grinding, rhythmic jaws as he clipped, chewed, clipped, chewed.

“I can put the other lawnmowers out later,” she muttered laughingly.

In the kitchen, she rustled up three mugs and a pitcher of lemonade.  The glass quickly frosted and the ice cubes tinkled in an inviting, homey way.  The kitchen was pleasantly cool, with a nice cross breeze drifting in through the open windows. 

Alex hummed as she bustled around, pulling odds and ends from the fridge and cupboards, happy that she had found the time yesterday to make it to the grocery store.  She made a plate of assorted lunchmeats and cheeses, and set out pickles, onions, mayo, lettuce, and a hefty loaf of bread.

Jamie and Mouse ate heartily, and Alex felt a strange contentment at the domesticity of the scene.  Nibbling on
her own sandwich, she glanced out through the window to the blue skies that domed her back yard, watching as the breeze tickled the lush greenery of the forest edge into a slow and lazy dance. 

The mountain waited behind, dark and coolly inviting, guarding the little farmstead like a living, breathing presence.  Crazy.  But true, the forest
was
alive, a many-faceted, self-contained organism.  The Susquehannock State Forest, she remembered.  A Native American name, she had read, after a small, but fierce, tribe who once dwelt within these very lands.  She wondered of their history, imagining the vivid richness of it.

“A day
just can’t get any nicer than this,” Jamie commented.

Mouse frowned.  “We gut hay to dew.”

“If our luck holds, it shouldn’t take more than two hours to finish up.”  He glanced at his watch.  Twelve o’clock.  “We should get going, I suppose.  Thanks for feeding us, neighbor.”

Alex turned from the window and smiled.  “Don’t let me hold you up.  You both were a great help.”  She dug in her purse for money.  “Let me pay you before you leave.”

“Mouse is the one with the hourly rate,” Jamie drawled with a grin.  “His muscles are bigger than mine.”

Alex looked up in surprise.  “No, really, I want to give you something Jamie-”

He raised a hand, cutting off her words.  “Miz Winters, you know I try not to mix business with pleasure.”  He caught her eyes and held them.

The effect hit her hard.  Alex felt her stomach flip, and a light flush rose on her cheeks.  She broke from his gaze with effort and handed some money to Mouse.  “Well, I appreciate it, Jamie.  You too, Mouse.”

“Tank yew, Ow-lex.”

“Thank
you
, Mouse.”

Jamie rose, stretched, and carried a pile of dishes to the sink
for her.  “So what work do you have lined up for this fine afternoon?”

Alex leaned against the counter, and chewed her lip, contemplating.  “Well, for starters
, I have an appointment at one o’clock to look at a few trail horses from a breeder just over the border in New York State.   If his directions are accurate, I’ll be back somewhere around three.  I’m planning to have Bold Venture cover the mares today.  They’re both in heat and primed.”

“Primed?”

She laughed at how the word sounded.  “Yeah, I’ve been letting the stallion tease them for the past week, through the bars of their stall.  That’s how you start this whole business the old fashioned way.  With a little luck, they’ll accept him without complaint.”

Mouse looked puzzled.  “Cov-ver?”

“Breed them,” Jamie explained.  “Alex wants to have a few baby horses at this time next year.”  He glanced back at her, interest making his eyes sparkle with clear, blue light.  “I’d like to watch the whole process sometime.  I’ve often thought about breeding Lilah.”

Though casually spoken, Alex knew he was waiting for an invitation.  She chewed her lip, hesitating... then swallowed her reservations before they could gather hold of her common sense.  She could handle Jamie.  She was sure of it.

“I could use an extra pair of hands.  I’m not sure how...
behaved
Bold Venture will be when testosterone starts pumping through his veins.  He could get a little rough.”

“Give the guy a break.  He’ll have his own... technique,” Jaime said with a chuckle.

Alex raised her eyebrows.  “And of course, the mare could put up her own kind of fuss...”

“Mares usually do.”

She stifled a giggle.  “Well, they both have been bred before, so I’m hoping that they’ll be... accepting of the process.  With just a little finessing. Most breeders of today use a vet and artificial insemination.  Safer for the mare.”

Jamie tried to control his own grin quirking the corners of his mouth at the image.  “Sounds sticky.”

“It is sticky.  Literally. Unfortunately.”  She laughed at their expressions.  “Ugh.”

Mouse and Jamie chuckled in unison, giving Alex cause to wonder just how much Mouse actually caught on to the play of words.  “I should be home around three.”

“We should be finishing up by then ourselves.”

Alex watched the pair sail down the dusty driveway, then turned the mares out in the adjoining paddock.  After viewing the way the stallion pranced and whinnied at their arrival, she decided to put him back in the barn while she was away.  She didn’t want to return to find the new fencing torn down while she was out and the bree
ding already completed
au naturel
.

Her stomach buzze
d again with nervous fluttering as she considered the process of covering her two broodmares.  She had never attempted it alone before, and only watched it once in person.  Everything else was YouTube and video tutorials.

Admittedly, she
was
glad that Jamie had offered to help.  It could be a tricky ordeal, potentially hazardous for both the animals and the handler.  Hooves could be sharp and quick when primal instinct took over. 

But it really wasn’t
the hooves that she was thinking about at all, was it?  She was thinking of warm hands, a strong, lean body, hard lips, and fierce hunger.  The true reason for her case of nerves.

Alex shook her head and hurried for the house to shower and change.  She could handle
Jamie.  A friend, that was all.  She
would
handle it.

~~~~~~~

It was two-fifty when Alex turned down the long driveway to the place she now called home.  Eden Ranch. 

The maples sighed and bowed beneath the wind’s touch as she passed by, the mares where quietly grazing
amongst the emerald grasses, and all was well.

The visit to Twin
Elm Stables had gone quite well.  It was a fairly large operation, smoothly run, and its owner was a woman, Jan Shaeffer.  Ms. Shaeffer was a lady who didn’t mince words, approaching the point of roughness, but she had struck Alex as honest and capable. 

As a result, and after a half an hour of dickering, Alex had purchased three “bomb-proof” trail horses for the tidy sum of twenty-five hundred dollars.  She had also wheedled the option to have her first pick of the next shipment of quality animals they received from Indiana. 

Alex was pleased with the purchase, but now her coffers would soon be running low, for she needed the money for more horses, which meant more saddles, more vet bills, more hungry mouths to feed.  Many more repairs. 

She would hate to delve into the small but healthy portfolio of investments that she had held onto after Richard’s death.  A quiver of doubt ran through her, a sensation that was plaguing her more and more often as of late.  Could she really make it in the business?  It was time to hit the books, call her accountant, and do some heavy duty figuring. 

The answering machine light was flashing, triple blips.  Of the three messages, the first was from Jamie.  He was running a little late, and would be over closer to three-thirty.  The second was from a man named Curt Greenwick.  He was interested in speaking with her about working with his two Quarterhorse geldings, cleaning up the rough edges a little, teaching them a little about manners on the trail and the basics of reining.  Mr. Greenwick claimed to be a fairly good horseman, but his business took him out of town a lot, leaving little time for his animals.

The most interesting part of his message mentioned that she had come highly recommended to him by one Jamie Sheldon.  Alex grinned, the smile spreading much further than the corners of her lips, filling her stomach with warmth and anticipation.  It seemed she owned Jamie a big thank-you for sending a potential client her way. 

Alex tensed when Brian Ridgeway’s smooth, charming voice came across the machine speaker.  He carefully went over the details of his offer once more.  Would she please give him a call so they could further discuss the deal?

Indecision struck her forcefully... she had all but forgotten Brian’s visit in the hustle and bustle of her daily activities.
The money would sure help her cause
.  Alex plopped on the sofa and rested her forehead in her hands. 

To sell off the massive trees would be a betrayal to Ezra.  The guilt of even contemplating it nagged her, not to mention Jamie’s own reaction to the name
Ridgeway
.  But if it came down to Eden Ranch going under before it even had a chance... well, she would have to talk to her accountant before making any decisions.

She decided to phone Ridgeway and tell him so.  He was distantly polite, but she could sense the disapproval in his voice.  No, he was more than disapproving, he was pissed off. 
The realization sparked her anger.

“I know what I’ve got up there, Mr. Ridgeway.”

“Oh?  Lots of trees?”

“Lots of big trees.  Old Growth trees. 
Valuable
trees.”

“I see.  And where did you get the information on their approximate value?”

“I had a forester check the area personally.”  The silence on the other end was thick and heavy.  “Mr. Ridgeway?”

“Ms. Winters, State governments and the private logging industry do not have a history of working hand in hand.  I’m sure you made your... forester aware that we were interested in the property?”

“Yes.”

“Well there you are.  He probably inflated the values just so that you would reject our offer.  If, in fact, those trees are Old Growth, their age will bring their strength and health into question as
well.  My guess is that the State will be after that land for one reason or another in no time.  A park or natural area, something along those lines. You could lose it altogether.”

“I think you’re feeding me a line of
bullshit,” she snapped automatically.  She thought of Jamie’s words…
preservation area
- with apprehension.

“I see.”  His tone had turned to sharded ice
by now.  “Well, Ms. Winters, the best I can do is four thousand an acre, if your rights to use the property are to be included.  That is much more than my best offer should be.”

She struggled to bring her temper under control. 
Could Ridgeway be right?
  “Alright then, I will consider it, Mr. Ridgeway.”

“Fine.  But don’t consider it too long, Ms. Winters.  We have orders to fill, and I’m already looking to purchase elsewhere.  Yours is a truly a very small property in the scheme of things.  Good day.”

Sighing, Alex set the phone in its cradle.  She had tried to streamline her life, start afresh, but complications followed her like a bloodhound.  When she heard a car in the driveway, she ran to splash water on her face, tucked her shirt back into her jeans, and batted at her hopelessly mussed up hair. 

The doorbell bleated pathetically, obviously on its last legs.  Jamie, or Complication Number Two, had arrived.

Waiting for Eden

~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 11

Jamie lifted his hand to ring the bell a second time
.  B
efore his fingers even made it to the button, the door swung open and a small, sexy female piled into his arms.  Trying to mask his surprise, he hugged back, momentarily savoring the soft, curvy body against his own, then gently took her arms and peeled them from his back.

“Now that’s the kind of greeting I like from the boss lady.”

“Jamie, I think you got me my first client!  I owe you a big favor.”  Her eyes shimmered at him like a rustle of fallen leaves on the forest floor, a mixture of autumn hues tossed alight by the breeze.  He resisted the urge to lean in and kiss her.  Hard.

He blinked the
vivid thought away and managed to grin back.  “I’ll be sure to collect on that one.  Hey, have you been through a tornado or something?”  He lifted a wayward lock of thick brownish-gold strands.

“Oh.”  She patted at her
wayward mane self-consciously and grinned when she realized a myriad of tendrils were poking out every which way.

“I…well,
see I like the wind when I’m driving.  But it doesn’t appear to like me back,” she explained wryly, pulling out a hair band and wrapping up the locks in a cute, if messy, pony tail.

“Oh, I think
the wind does like you.  You look very... back-country today.” He grinned in appreciation of her snug little blue jeans that fit like a glove, and the white ribbed tank top that hugged the curve of her breasts.

Alex narrowed her eyes at him
and pursed her lips, obviously wondering if that was a compliment or a sly dig.  He let her wonder.

Jamie himself had
donned a snug pair of faded blues and a gray tee-shirt that tamed the blue of his eyes to a cool shade of slate.  He hooked his thumbs in the belt loops as he leaned against the doorjamb, casual as always.  His own hair was rumpled too, damp and curling against the back of his neck from a recent shower. 

With an eventual shrug,
she stepped past him, heading for the barn.  “Well, you look country yourself,” she threw over her shoulder, “but you smell really good.”

A compliment from her?  Jamie grinned and followed
right behind her with his easy, long-legged stride.

“But pretty soon you’re gonna smell like sweaty horse… and possibly worse,” she chuckled as they walked. 

“This should be interesting,” he replied with his own laugh.

They entered the barn, shadowy and still compared to the bright light and soft breeze of the afternoon that waited outside.  She tossed Jamie a lead line and grabbed one for herself.  “First, we must scrub clean all private parts.  I’ll go get Echo.”

“I guess I should remind myself I
did
volunteer for this,” he grumbled, opening the stallion’s stall door.  “Guess what you’re in store for, buddy.” 

Jamie
rubbed the white blaze that ran the length of the animal’s long nose, ending in a little snip between his softly blowing nostrils.  “A few moments of embarrassment, followed by the attentions of a lovely lady.  You’re still a lucky guy.”

Alex returned with the older mare in tow.  “Bold’s in his prime.  He could cover up to sixty mares in a season.”

Jamie raised his eyebrows and grinned, then coughed away his lewd response when Alex flashed him a threatening look.  “Best to leave that one alone, I suppose.”

“Yeah, it’s best
, James.  I’m wearing boots.”

They washed the horses down with a bucket of soapy water that smelled faintly antiseptic, like the background aroma of a doctor’s office.  The stallion was already fussing, blowing air through his nostrils and swishing his tail impatiently.   Echo whickered low in her throat, as if egging him on.

“They both know what this is all about,” Alex explained.  “And I’ve been using Bold to tease them both for the last week.  He’s more than ready.”

“I see that.”  The stallion was gaining an erection.

“All right, we’d better move.”  Alex moved the mare to the position that seemed best, slipped the chain of the lead line over her soft nose, and handed her over to Jamie.  She laid a thick leather rug over the mare’s mane, securing it with thongs that tied beneath her neck.  Then she fastened straps around her back legs.

“Stallions tend to get a little bite-happy in the heat of things,” she responded to Jamie’s questioning look.  “The rug will protect her
from his teeth. The straps will keep her from striking out at him.  Equine bondage.”

Jamie rolled his eyes at the explicit
ly sexual human images her words evoked.  Damnation, this might be more difficult than he ever realized.

The animals touched noses, velvet flesh brushing velvet flesh.  The mare quivered, emitting a soft squeal,
and the stallion’s neck arched in response with tense, bulging muscle.  Alex allowed him a little more rein to tease and court the mare, further readying her for the coupling.

Jamie watched, entranced.  The air seemed to grow ten degrees warmer within seconds.  Alex coaxed the animals with a soft voice, slipping between them when their courting became overzealous, calming them, but allowing the process to slowly gain momentum.

He focused on her face, reading a tense excitement there, and her voice flowed like a current as she cooed and cajoled.  It seemed to Jamie that Alex was an expert at the breeding process, coolly handling the stallion with just the right mixture of firmness and encouragement.  A thin sheen of sweat broke out on her brow, and she caught her lower lip between her teeth.  Jamie watched, transfixed by that soft mouth, as she worried those lush, little lips in intense concentration. 

She
shot him a bemused glance.  “Are you with me, Jamie?”

He blinked.  “Yeah, of course.”

“Be ready.”  Taking a breath, Alex turned and led the stallion toward the rear of the pawing mare. 

~~~~~~~

Alex realized that Jamie had been staring at her instead of focusing on the animals. 
At her
. 

The knowledge ate at her hungrily, causing her stomach to flip around in her gut like a teenager after being told by a first crush,
I kind of like you
.  Ridiculous.  It pissed her off.  And yet it really didn’t at all.  She could still feel his eyes on her, but she refused to look again.  The next few steps were critical.

The stallion tensed, the muscles in his giant hindquarters, bunching and contracting.  He was ready.

“Here we go,” she warned, and the stallion reared up and mounted in one smooth movement.

The mare squealed again, trying to plunge forward, but Jamie held on with an iron grip.  Alex pulled her tail to the side, helping the stallion to follow his instinct.

Echo quivered as the stallion began pumping, and a strange whicker gurgled in her throat without actually being uttered.  Jamie patted her neck reassuringly, but the mare seemed not to notice he was there at all.  Alex was breathing rapidly, watching as the stallion snorted and heaved, all the muscles in his body were corded and sheened with a thick sweat. 

She tried to concentrate on the animals, but Jamie’s eyes were burning a hole in her back.  She felt a warm flush rise on her cheekbones, and slowly, against all her willpower, she turned
slightly in his direction. 

The look that passed between them was palpable, an electric current.  It sent a wave of heat rocketing down through her body.  His eyes had darkened to the hue of flinty smoke, smoldering with intensity.

Exhaling with an audible gasp, Alex tore her eyes away, fully embarrassed now, laying her palm against Bold’s slick shoulder.  This had sooo been a mistake.  Her own limbs began to tremble in tune with the stallion’s quivering, wet skin.  The animal tensed, and a straining, final pause ensued.

“It’s over,” she murmured, relieved to be moving into action.  She pulled the stallion from the mare quickly and efficiently, leading him from the barn.  Walking in circles, she allowed the stallion to calm
himself after the intense mating.  Finally, the great puffs of air issuing from his distended nostrils slowed, and he ceased his dancing, lowering his massive head almost docilely.  Her own heart rate continued to churn however.  Her nerves were as tight as a bowstring.

Sooo
not a good idea, Alex
, she continued to lecture herself. 
You’re an idiot.  Just asking for trouble, over and over, aren’t you?

She paced, jerking the stallion along with her sporadic movements, worrying her lower lip again. 
Well, forget it.  It’s the absolute worst thing that could happen.  He’ll be over here all the time, sniffing around, wanting more... forget it.  You’re in mourning, anyway.  At least you should be!

“
I need a cold shower,” she muttered angrily.  She had never felt so strung out, and so damned irritable.  All because of one James Sheldon, who never ceased to aggravate or incite her emotionally in one way or the other.  In anger or lust or amusement. It was a roller coaster ride – all of the time – good to bad and back again.

She stomped into the barn with the stallion in tow
, having thoroughly worked herself up as she calmed the horse down.  The mare had since been curried and put in her stall.  Jamie lounged on a hay bale, casually chewing on a wisp of grass.  His expression was amiable, relaxed, as if he hadn’t a care in the world.

Alex ground her teeth and returned the sleepy-faced stallion to his stall.
             

“He sure looks contented.”

Alex shot him a cold look.  “He’s male,” she said simply.  “Doesn’t take much.”

Jamie only rolled his eyes at the barb, and then rose, stretching languidly.  Her anxiety rose
at his obvious nonchalance, inciting her temper yet again.  “Thanks for helping, Jamie” she said abruptly.  “I’ll be able to handle the other mare tomorrow myself now that I’ve got the hang of it.”

She watched with a glimmer of wicked pleasure as his jaw tightened.  “I guess that’s a dismissal?”

“Take it how you want,” she shot back, unable to rein in her perpetually belligerent mouth.

He stepped toward her ominously, but she stood her ground.  The lines of his face had tightened with anger, and his eyes had darkened further, and her stomach actually curled as a tiny thread of
uncertain fear wound through her. She had never seen him quite so pissed before.

He continued to advance, stopping a foot short of her to glower from his superior height.  With false bravado, Alex stuck out her chin and glared
back up at him.  Inside, she quaked.

“I said you can go
now, Jamie.”

Unbelievably, he smiled.  Staring, Alex realized that it didn’t reach his eyes.

“You know,” he said in a slow, even voice, “I’m really sick of all your bullshit,
Ms. Winters
.”

“Then take a hike,” she ground out.  He was too damn close.  Her nerves unraveled further, and she felt th
ose tremors starting in her limbs again.

“Why do you always act like this? Are you bi-polar?
  Multiple personalities? What?”

Alex ground her teeth in order to keep her
furious retort at bay.  She tried simply to stare at his Adam’s apple until he just left, but her eyes kept wandering back to his mouth.  Again, she found herself inhaling the deliciously male scent of him.

“Alex
, answer me.  What are you afraid of.... that I’ll try to hurt you or something?  Make you do something you don’t want?”

“No,” she said quietly.  “I’m afraid
of all the things I
do
want.”

There was a mere second where she watched his eyes glimmer, blue shadows swirling into gray, then he was on her, roughly pulling her body flush with his.  His mouth was hot and insistent, and she opened instantly beneath the kiss, their tongues seeking one another with a slick, wet heat.

The spear of lust that shot through her was nothing like she had ever experienced.  She felt an immediate flush of wet warmth between her legs, and the sweet, tortuous ache that went with it.  Pressing herself against the length of his lean, hard body, she writhed without thinking, her hips finding and meeting the hard swell beneath his jeans.  It was torture.  It was bliss.

His lips moved to explore her earlobe, down the line of her jaw, to lap the little pulse at the base of her throat.  A low, tormented sound escaped her.  When his mouth dipped lower to tease her nipples through the thin fabric of her
tank, she gasped raggedly, pulling his face up to her lips again as if she couldn’t stand the intensity of pleasure. 

This time
, his kiss was a slow and deliberate assault on her senses.  Her head was spinning, she was dripping with wanting.  She mumbled his name against his mouth.

Jamie drew back slightly,
and nipped at her lower lip, which was swollen and silky from the kiss.  She watched him judge her expression, and she could not withhold her desire, the heaviness of wanting in her eyes.