Breaking the Bad Boy (37 page)

“What do you do in
Denver
?”

“I throw together the exhibits at a museum there, my field is Art History,” she said and Winston grinned at his grandson. He stood up and left the room. Joss looked at Buck and he shrugged.

“He’s going to find some embarrassing relic of mine, no doubt,” he said.

“Your room, you lived here, do you still have a room?” His mouth corners were trying not to curl, but he couldn’t help it.

“I’m afraid so,” he said and she stood putting her cup down.

“Show me,” she said taking his hand and pulling at it. He stood and kissed her.

“Prepare yourself, Duchess, this will blow your mind.” They walked back to his room. One wall was painted black with Picasso’s
Guernica
on it. Joss gaped and sat on the bed, staring at it.

“Teenage angst?” She murmured. Buck sat next to her and she leaned into him, he put his lips on her hair and his arms around her.

“Something like that. I couldn’t believe it when I went into your room that day and saw yours. I thought some huge practical joke was being played on me,” he pulled her close. “I was tired, in pain, confused, and
so
hot for you, and I stepped into your room and I was a little kid again, standing in my own room, hurt and angry. God, I was always so angry. You walked in and it was like the sun came out from behind a cloud.” She turned and kissed him. “My own personal Soma.”

“Would we have been friends when we were kids?” She asked.

“You heard Miri, I didn’t have any friends. I was ruthless in my protection of her, and I was outcast because of my being a half breed.” Her mouth fell open. “Don’t worry, Duchess, things are different these days, in both societies. Our kids will be fine.” She laughed.

“I wasn’t even thinking about our kids, Buck; I was wishing it had been easier for you,” she said and he touched her cheek.

“I am a product of my beginnings like everyone else. I wouldn’t be who I am if it weren’t for what I endured. I wouldn’t give that up for all the pampering in the world because I am this man you love. I just think we’ve been soul mates for longer than we thought.” He pointed at the wall. They looked at the wall and Buck stood up and helped her off the bed.

“Yours is better than mine, less like the original, but with more of you in it. I’m very impressed, Buck,” she whispered.

“Come,” he said.

They walked back to the living room and Winston was there with a sketch book, drinking his tea.

“He showed you his artwork?” She nodded. “Funny that a ten year old would choose that to paint on his wall.”

“You were ten?” She said.

“Joss painted the same thing on her wall as a kid, Granddad,” he said and Winston’s eyes went wide.

“Curious,” he said and turned to Joss. “Did you lose someone?”

“My little brother,” she said.

“I am sorry. Yawning Lion could have been an artist,” he pointed to the sketch book. “He had talent and passion. I think he is more challenged by his chosen career, however.” Joss picked up the sketch book and looked through it. She was stunned. This sketch book was from an early age to the age of thirteen when he left to be educated in the east. She looked at Buck.

“Why do you speak German?” She asked.

“I lived there for a semester of college, in
Nuremberg
,” she gasped.

“What else have we got in common, Buck?” She stood up without realizing it and stepped back. Winston’s eyes went wide watching quietly.

“I was there seven years before you were, Duchess, and I was there for politics, not art. But you’re right; there are too many coincidences for it to be coincidence. I went to
University
of
Chicago
; you went to the Art Institute of Chicago. We speak the same languages, except for Thai and Navajo,” he said.

“I got Rosetta Stone, I’m teaching myself. I have been for the past two months,” she said quickly.

He smiled. “You were marked by a bear,” he looked at his grandfather whose eyes got large again. “So was my grandfather.”

Winston stood and looked at Joss directly in the eye. “Yes, I see.” He unbuttoned his shirt and pulled the tails out of his jeans to show her his chest. The skin was marred over his left breast, the size of a hand span. White scars on an ocher pallet. Joss turned and pulled her shirt up over her head and heard him gasp behind her. “This was a big bear,” he said and the tension died in the room. Joss put her shirt back on and sat down. Buck sat up against her.

“Have I been groomed for you?” She asked softly. He didn’t answer, how could he? “Sir Gerard?”

“He probably thought it was amusing,” Buck said but wondered how long he had been after the Frenchman’s gold. Why then would he tell Buck that Joss had moved on? Because it only made Buck even more determined to get to her. His only mistake was to not realize Buck would quit before he risked their relationship. He was a devious bastard.

“I’m still going to love you until I die, even though we were set up,” she said sounding petulant.

“I’m glad to hear it,” he kissed her. “I’m sorry he’s such a bastard, but I owe him big now.”

“Yes, so do I.”

“Granddad, we promised Emma we’d be there when she got home from school. Will you come to dinner?”

“Tomorrow I will come for dinner, tonight I have other plans.” He winked at Buck and Buck’s mouth fell open. “Joss, there is much to you; I am delighted to welcome you to the family.”

“Thank you.”

“Bye, Granddad,” Buck said and they drove back to
Flagstaff
.

“Yawning Lion?” She asked him.

“My grandmother called me that. She thought I was quick and dangerous behind an indolent façade. She was ‘spot on’ as Sir Gerard would say,” he said and laughed.

No one was home when they got to Miri’s house and they were naked in an instant. They fell back on the bed together, their lips locked and hungry. The more they had the more they needed, and the more they gave to each other. Buck’s teeth made their inexorable path down her neck to her breast. Joss’s back arched up to meet it and he sucked and licked and bit. She was somehow overwhelmed by him, but she managed to push him onto his back and looked into his surprised and playful eyes.

It was her lips on his neck then, and she bit him mischievously down to his nipple. She licked and sucked and pulled gently with her teeth. Buck hissed air in through his teeth and put his hands on her hips to guide them over him, eager to be inside her but she pulled away from his nipple and put her mouth on his belly, nipping and teasing on her way down. She closed her mouth around him and his whole body went rigid and still. “Joss,” he said, the esses hissing in his mouth. She licked and sucked and gently bit him there, too.

He didn’t last very long. Gently but firmly he pulled her up to him. “It’ll be over too fast, Duchess, you’re killing me.” She smiled.

“That’s the last thing I want to do,” she said and settled over him. They both inhaled from the exquisiteness and stilled to make it last. Finally Joss started moving, unable to be still a moment longer. She moved slowly at first, letting the pleasure build. Buck placed both of his hands on her hips and pushed her up slightly as he went down, then pulled her back down on him as he thrust up into her. She moaned in surprised delight and he did it again, and again, quicker and deeper, and again until she was boneless and quivering on top of him, racked by the deepest orgasms of her life.

“Joss.” It was all he could say. Both of his hands held her face and he stared up at her through drugged eyes, incapable of coherency. “Joss.” She smiled languidly at him and put her arms around his head and lowered herself onto him and slept, the last thing she heard was Buck’s soft voice saying her name reverently.

“Uncle Duke?” The sound was coming from far away. “Joss, we’re back. Have you been sleeping all day?” The little voice said.

“Emma, let them be,” she heard Miri’s voice, and Emma was gone. Joss sat up and looked down at Buck. He was smiling. She put her head back down and got comfortable again.

“Hey, Duchess, you going to let me up?”

“Absolutely not.” She said and he smiled into her neck. “That was very impressive Mr. Buckingham, you get a gold star.” Buck laughed.

“I live to serve,” he said and she rolled off of his warm body.

“Miri must think we’re rabbits,” Joss said stifling a yawn. Buck laughed.

“She has three kids, she knows what it’s like,” he said. “Although I find it hard to believe anyone comes close to what we have.”

“We were tailor fit to each other, which is still freaking me out a little. Does Sir Gerard have a God complex?”

“I think God has a Sir Gerard complex, Duchess.”

“Crazy,” she said and there was a loud rap on the door.

“Dinner in ten,” Miri said.

“Okay, okay.” Buck said.

Ten minutes later they were sitting down to the table.

“So, with a G rating, why don’t you tell us what you did today?” Miri asked Buck when they all sat down and started eating.

“We went to a jeweler, hiked the
Lava
River
Cave
, and we went to visit Granddad.”

“We haven’t hiked the Cave in so long, we should do that,” Miri said to Clint. He nodded and smiled at her and they both blushed at some remembered event.

“We had the place to ourselves, it was very invigorating,” Buck said and took Joss’s hand. It was her turn to blush.

“It was very cold,” Joss said.

“It’s a good hike in the summer because it’s so cool in there, but then you don’t have it to yourselves, and that’s really the best way to do it,” Miri said.

Emma was watching the adults. “What happened to your back, Joss?” She asked.

“Emma,” Miri said.

“That’s okay; I don’t mind talking about it. I was attacked by a grizzly bear in
Montana
,” she told her. The boys’ mouths fell open, Clint dropped his fork and Miri gasped.

“A
grizzly
bear?” Miri asked.

“Uh-huh, Duke scared him away and got me safely back to the ranch. I was in shock and I lost a lot of blood, and your uncle saved my life.” Buck squeezed her hand. “That was just the first time he saved my life.”

“There were more times?” Emma said staring wide eyed at her uncle.

“So many times I’ve lost count,” she looked at him and he leaned over and kissed her brusquely.

“She returned the favor,” he shrugged. “This is excellent spaghetti, Miri.”

“Thanks, Duke,” she said, still somewhat surprised.

Graham got out of his seat and came around the table to Joss. He climbed in her lap and hugged her. His hair smelled of Johnson’s Baby Shampoo. Joss used that as a child and the scent of it was surprisingly evocative. She held him close and tried not to weep with the simple joy of holding a little person to her. Buck squeezed her hand, and after a moment she trusted herself to speak.

“Yes, it’s quite good, thank you for dinner. Tomorrow night Duke and I will cook for you, since we invited your grandfather,” she said.

“We’ll take you guys out to dinner,” Buck said. “Your choice.”

“How is Granddad? Did you know he’s got a girlfriend?” Miri asked.

“I thought as much, he’s never winked at me before, I thought he might be developing a nervous tick or something.”