Her Unbridled Cowboy (Harland County Series) (14 page)

“Just not Duke Carver.”
Or any
other man I know
.

Shit, where’d that thought come
from?

“Whatever happened between you and
him and Tiffany has nothing to do with me.” Her eyes were really flashing now.

How the hell does she known
about Tiffany?

Cole. Damn man needed a muzzle.

He stepped to the angry woman,
determined to make her understand. “It has everything to do with you, Kerri.
Don’t you see?” He lifted his hand to lightly trace her chin. “Duke is just
using you. He doesn’t care about you; he just wants to get back at me.”

She swallowed before taking a deep
breath and knocking his hand away. “Why is it so hard for you to believe he
might find me attractive?”

Pain rippled through her eyes and
his gut tightened. Cripes. She was hurt.
How the hell did I do that?

“Maybe I want to be used.” Her chin
lifted. “Why is it alright for you to use women, but I can’t use men?”

Jesus
. Did she even know
what she was saying? He glanced at Emma and Jordan, but they just shrugged.

Shrugged!

Blasted women.

Before he could reply, Kerri stomped
out of the room, and his heart beat out of control at the thought of her
sharing Duke Carver’s bed. Damn, fool woman had no idea what she was doing.

Or did she?

His insides turned cold. Maybe Kerri
knew
exactly
what she was doing. After all, she was a city girl.

I
n the process of
sprinkling mozzarella cheese to the top of her pizza pasta bake, Kerri heard
the commotion in the hallway and knew the guest of honor had made an
appearance. Kade was the only reason she was there. After her earlier run in
with Connor, she’d had no wish to return to Wild Creek, but did for Kade.

After nearly thirteen months away, the
soldier deserved a home-cooked meal. And she’d pulled out all the stops. Okay, maybe
went overboard. By a mile. But, hey, the poor guy’s palate had suffered
overseas. And she was in the business of exciting and pleasing palates. There
would be no suffering tonight. Only joy. So Kerri had made several traditional Texas beef and rib entrees along with a few trusted favorites.

And she was happy Emma had
relinquished the kitchen to her without any fuss or hard feelings. It was
actually kind of weird. But Kerri hadn’t had time to ponder.

“Something sure smells great in
here.” The deep, authoritative tone brought a smile to her lips.

Kerri shut the oven door, twisted
around and gasped.
Holy Guardsmen
.
Had he filled out. Big time.
She
knew her mouth was open. Probably similar to last year when she’d first seen
the other three cowboys after that eleven year span. Still.
Wow
. Kade
was solid, and dangerous. And gorgeous. He always had been. Now he was…more.

He removed his Stetson and smiled.
“It’s great to see you, Kerri.”

She returned his smile as she
rushed across the kitchen to his opened arms.

Estimating the cowboy to be
somewhere around six-foot-two, she discovered he appeared solid because a mass
of coiled muscles resided under his civilian clothes. The man fit the bill of a
lean, mean machine. Dressed in jeans and a slate gray, button-down shirt, he
oozed fitness. And authority. And danger.

When they drew apart, Kade was
still smiling down at her, his thickly lashed eyes full of warmth, but she
sensed a darkness in the gray depths. Her heart constricted at the thought of
what had caused the shadows.

“You sure grew up beautiful,” he
said, releasing her to set his hat back on his head.

Right on schedule, her face heated
like a bad habit. Because it
was
a bad habit, darn it. She smiled and
touched his arm.

“Thanks, and you’ve grown out. Jeez,”
she said, squeezing his bicep. “I don’t think you have any more room to add
muscle.”

Surprised at how at ease she was
around the virile man, Kerri took stock. She was comfortable enough to get
close and touch and be touched without any anxiety what-so-ever.

Unlike his best friend.

Her gaze shifted to the silent cowboy
who came to stand just inside the room, swallowing up the doorway…and her
breath.
Darn him
. His expression was neutral, which was another surprise,
since she half expected him to tell her to back away from Kade.

She still couldn’t believe he had
the gall to forbid her to go out with Duke. Who did he think he was? He
didn’t
own her. They weren’t an item. Just because they shared a few kisses. Okay, a
few
incredible, bone-melting kisses.
Still, that didn’t give him the
right to tell her who she could and couldn’t see. The fact she had no intention
of dating the realtor was mute. Connor had no right to order her around.

He’s just worried about you
,
her conscience insisted. Deep down, Kerri knew this, but it still hurt that he
didn’t think she was attractive enough to catch Duke’s attention on her own.

Kade chuckled. “Probably not.”

She blinked and turned her
attention back to the guest of honor, trying to get her mind back to their
conversation.
Muscles
. Right. “Well, tonight I’m going to load you up
with enough carbs your muscles will weep with joy.”

“I can hardly wait,” he said, then motioned
to his silent friend. “According to Connor, I’m in for a real treat.”

She glanced at the quiet cowboy,
still leaning against the doorframe. He’d talked to Kade about her cooking?
When? And darn him. She wanted to be mad at the condescending bugger for longer
than an afternoon. He had no right to go pulling a sweet move so soon.

Connor nodded, gaze still glued to
hers. “Kerri’s the best cook I’ve ever tasted.”

Holy crow
. He did not just
say that! Heat shot to her face, and her stomach fluttered without mercy. Bad
body. She was still mad at him.

A lazy smile spread across his lips
and dimpled his cheek.

Stupid fluttering increased.

She searched her mind for something
flippant to say, but due to the limited amount of brain cell activity, she was
operating on auxiliary power.

Shifting her gaze to Kade, she
noted amusement brought a much needed light to the soldier’s eyes.

She smiled. “Kade will just have to
taste and judge for himself.”

W
hen Kade’s eyebrow
shot up in time with Connor’s sharp inhale, Kerri realized her mistake. Her
face, of course, did the heating thing again while she blamed her stupid lack
of brain power on Connor.

“I mean the food,” she stammered.
Friggin’
brain-cell-sucking giant
. “I was talking about the food.”

The Guardsman touched her arm and
smiled. “I know.”

“Good.” She was pretty sure her
mouth turned up. Hopefully. Good time for a subject change. “I-I heard the two
of you were going on a trail ride for a few days.”

“Yes.” Kade released her and
stiffened, some of the light disappearing from his eyes.

Connor straightened from the door.
“We leave at first light.”

According to Mrs. McCall, this was
a ritual whenever Kade returned from deployment. Kerri’s heart melted a little.
Connor was a good friend.

She bounced her gaze between the
cowboys. “I’ll pack up some food for you to take. Including beef jerky.”

“You know how to make beef jerky?”
Kade asked.

Her mouth definitely turned up this
time. “Yes. You’d be surprised what I can do.”

“Well now, darlin’,” Connor said
before his buddy had the chance. “That’s where you’re wrong, because I know
you’re full of surprises.”

Unsure if that was a compliment, she
decided it was best just to agree. “Exactly.”

He stared at her, gaze dark and
serious, but the smirk remained. The longer he stared, the harder breathing
became, until she eventually stopped. A second later, the oven timer dinged,
saving her from herself, and spurring her into action.

Kerri sucked in a breath. “If
you’ll excuse me,” she said with a slight nod. “I need to finish up.”

She also needed to get a grip. A
tight one. On her emotions, not the tall cowboy lumbering from the room.
Although, that held much more appeal. Turning her back to them, and her attention
to the food where it belonged, she used hot pads to pull the pizza bake from
the oven.

“It does smell good,” she heard
Connor say in his sexy drawl. “But how could it not? Kerri made it.”

Her heart stopped mid-beat while warmth
engulfed in a swift wave. He just had to keep playing the sweet card.

Darn him.

T
he trail ride, so
far, had been a success. At least Connor hoped so. Kade certainly looked better
than when they’d first set out on Shadow Rock land three days ago. They rode
hard, hiked hard, shot the shit out of targets, but tonight…tonight was the
topper. It was always on the last night they participated in letter burning.

“Here,” Connor said, passing Kade a
notebook and pen.

As they sat around the campfire, Connor
put pen to paper in order to participate in their version of ‘cleansing.’ Their
way of releasing the shit weighing them down. Knowing his troubles paled in
comparison to his buddy’s, Connor wrote anyway. He didn’t want Kade to feel
singled out, even though these outings were clearly for his buddy to regroup,
find his feet.

Transition from combat boots to
cowboy boots.

Kade had been writing silently for nearly
an hour when he eventually stopped. By this time, alarm had tightened the
muscles in Connor’s back. His buddy had never taken that long before.

Death by indirect enemy fire…

The news report had said a Texas soldier
had died during this deployment, and Connor knew the death haunted his friend.
Kade had never brought it up and neither had Connor, although he’d wanted to,
many times over the past several months. It’d just seemed awkward over the damn
internet.

But now Kade was home, face to
face. It was time to open up and shake the shadows out. To let them be seen and
addressed and put away for good. Not that one’s demons ever truly go away. But
Connor would do whatever it took to tip the scales in his buddy’s favor.

Oh, they’d talked the past few
days. Sure. About Wild Creek, Shadow Rock, family, Cole and Jordan, auctions,
rodeos, horses…hell, even the damn weather. Anything and everything but what
really needed addressing. This past deployment.

Connor watched, noting a slight
shake to his buddy’s hands as Kade folded the papers then tossed them into the
fire.  Silence. Not a word. As a matter of fact, his best friend had gone
still, just stared at the flames engulfing the confession or promise or
whatever the hell it was Kade had written, sealing the words in ashes.

The fire wasn’t the only thing that
crackled. Ripping out his solitary page, Connor could feel stress and pressure
building around them. The cool night air was ripe with it. Something was going
on inside his best friend.

Tossing his note into the flames,
he waited. Tension rolled off Kade’s still form in wave after wave.

Another minute went by. Connor watched,
waited. Nothing. He had to break the silence. “You okay?”

Mouth thin, jaw tight and cracking,
Kade shook his head. “No,” he replied, voice so low, so raw Connor felt it in
his bones.

The suffocating energy spiked until
Kade shot to his feet, grabbed the metal bat from his pack and began to beat a
nearby boulder into submission.

That was new.

And not good. Connor’s gut
tightened and alarm returned tenfold. His buddy had always brought the bat
along, but had never used it.

Until now.

Christ. What? Was he making up for
lost time? Kade kept hitting and hitting and hitting, the incessant ding
echoing into the night without end.

God, how much more could his friend
dish out?

Not much, apparently, because a
minute later, sweaty and exhausted, Kade dropped the bat, then fell to his
knees, silent tears streaming down his face, chest heaving from the exertion.

Connor knew the man code. Stay
away. Keep a distance. Let the guy handle it on his own. In his own way.

But that hadn’t worked so well for
his brother last year, and it sure as shit didn’t work for his best friend right
now. No way in hell could he stand by and watch Kade suffer any longer.

Connor walked over and clamped a
hand on his buddy’s stiff shoulder, but did nothing more. He didn’t say
anything or do anything other than squeeze to show his support.

After a minute, Kade nodded and
Connor released him.

“Is this about the Specialist?” he
asked.

His buddy nodded again, then twisted
to sit back against the boulder he’d just tried to crack in two, swiping the
wetness from his face.

“It’s not fucking fair,” Kade
grumbled. “He wasn’t even part of our unit. Just an attachment, a fill in from
up north. He had a fiancée and a six-month old little girl.”

Christ.
Connor inhaled,
wishing he had the wit or knowhow to say the right thing. But was there a right
thing? He decided probably not, so instead, he handed Kade a cold beer, dropped
down next to him and together they stared at the flickering flames.

“You write about Kerri?” his buddy
asked, surprising the shit out of Connor. Again.

He stilled, bottle touching his
lip, waiting for him to tip and drink. He nodded. “Yeah.” Then took a long
pull. He wasn’t about to say more. Not because he felt weak, but because his
troubles were so minor compared to what his friend was going through. All he had
written on the damn paper was that he was going to make an honest effort to try
and not lump Kerri into the same category as the other city girls he’d known.