Indulgence (303 page)

“I bet it’s a bit awkward for Jeff then if he ever gets
stopped by the guy.”

“The two of them keep clear of each other. Jeff caught them
in bed together. The guy was lucky Jeff wasn’t armed at the time. Jeff just
beat the shit out of the guy.”

“He didn’t press charges, did he?” she asked, her voice a
slight pitch higher with worry. She liked his family even though she’d only met
them a short time ago. They seemed close, like families should be. She loved
her own parents, but they constantly seemed to be on her tail about one thing
or another. When was she going to marry? What about children? Even though she
was only twenty-five, shouldn’t she be thinking about her future? Did she plan
on writing novels for the rest of her life? She needed a day job to pay her
bills. She’d been lucky. Her first novel took off three years ago and hit the
NY Times Bestseller list, as did her second. Her third flopped…badly.

“No. Art knew better, even though he could have.” He sighed
and shifted in the seat. “Jeff loved her.”

“I’m sorry for him then. It’s not fair to put someone
through the heartbreak. Just leave if you don’t want to be married to them.”

“She did want to be. She wanted the money and land she
thought went with the Young name, she didn’t want Jeff or their son.”

“They managed to have a child? We wasn’t at dinner.”

“Yeah, purely by accident, I think. She hated being
pregnant. Hated Jeff during the whole pregnancy. They fought constantly. She
made everyone miserable while they were married. We were all thrilled when it
broke up.”

“No one noticed any of this before they got married?”

He shook his head. “You couldn’t have told Jeff anything
anyway. He never thought badly of her, even when the rest of us could totally
see her flirting. He kept telling everyone she was being friendly.”

Silence enveloped them for a minute as she contemplated how
she would have felt had one of her brothers gone through the same thing with a
spouse. She probably would have kicked the woman’s ass for hurting her sibling.
“I’m sorry for his pain.”

“We all were. I hated seeing him hurting, but I’m glad he
saw her for what she truly was. Unfortunately, because they have a child
together, he still has to see her on occasion.”

“Does he have custody?”

“Yeah. Mom and Dad made sure she didn’t take off with their
grandson. He’s a cute three year old and gets into everything.”

“I bet he’s a total cowboy, like his uncles and dad.”

“Yep. He has a set of boots, a cowboy hat, and the whole
nine yards.”

“I need to get a picture of him. I bet he’s a doll.”

“Looks like his dad.” He cleared his throat. “Do you want to
be there when the foal is born?”

“I’d love to.”

“Even if it’s in the middle of the night? It’s very possible
it’ll come sometime tonight when you’re asleep.”

“I don’t mind. Wake me up no matter what time it is. I’ve
always wanted to see a foal come into the world.”

“We can check out her progress when we get back to the
ranch.”

The time had flown. Before she knew it, they were pulling
back up to the gate of the ranch. “See? I could have made it back without your
directions.”

“I see, but it does help having a GPS telling you where to
go. They do get lost out here on the back roads.”

“True.” She laughed. “But I memorized some landmarks as we
were headed into San Antonio so I’d be able to find most of the way back.”

“I’m glad I went. It was great to sit and talk to you.
You’re an interesting woman, Mesa.”

“Thank you.” She scrunched up her nose as they pulled up in
front of the hitching post. “I think.”

He laughed and leaned over to kiss her cheek. Goose bumps
rose on her arms when the smell of his cologne reached her nose. Of course, he
had to wear her favorite scent, damn him.

“It was a compliment. We’ll have to talk more tomorrow, but
for now, let’s get you settled in your room. Hopefully, you can get a few hours
of sleep before the foal is born.” She bit her lip. “What?”

“Can you get into the kitchen?”

“Sure. Why?”

“I’d love another one of those dessert things we had at
dinner.” She smiled hoping she could persuade him to sneak into the kitchen to swipe
one of the decadent chocolates for her sweet tooth. She had a terrible one,
especially right before bed. Ice cream usually calmed her cravings at home, but
here, she needed to improvise, if only she could get Joel to go along.

The warm chuckle coming from his mouth made her smile. She
liked his laugh. Hell, who was she kidding, she liked everything about him from
the top of his sexy cowboy hat to the tip of his cowboy boots—the man had it
all. Those lips made her want to kiss him into tomorrow. His chest made her
want to bury herself against those muscles. She wondered what he’d look like
without a shirt. Did he have chest hair? A lot? A little? She knew he had a
six-pack. No cowboy who looked as good as he did, didn’t have a six-pack, or
sex-pack, as she liked to think about it. He had some of the prettiest blue
eyes she’d ever seen on a man, along with eyelashes any woman would kill for.
What would his hands feel like stroking her skin? Did he have a sexy happy
trail?
God, I want to find out.
A heavy sigh escaped her lips.

“What?”

“Nothing. I just had a thought.”

“Anything you’d like to share?”

“Really? I shouldn’t because it would totally embarrass me.”

“About me?”

Heat crawled up her neck as she blushed.

“Ah. It
was
about me.”

“Totally.”

“Share.”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“Because you don’t need your ego stroked, I’m sure.”

“Sure I do. Stroke me, baby.”

She rolled her eyes and smiled.
I know he doesn’t need a
bigger head.
“All right. I totally pictured you without a shirt and I
wanted to know if you had a little happy trail like most men with dark hair
like yours do.”

“Oh, you kinky girl, you.”

He laughed. The rich, deep sound sent shivers down her back.
Damn, the man could turn me inside out and upside down
. She hadn’t even
known him very long. This wasn’t good. How would she feel after being around
him for several days? She hadn’t quite decided how long she planned to stay at
the ranch, but she knew it would be more than a day or two. The opportunity to
have firsthand knowledge of cowboys, how they work, etc. wasn’t something she
wanted to pass up. “So?” she asked, her bravery waning now they were back at
the ranch.

“Happy trail, huh? I’ve never heard anything referred to as
that before. Explain what you mean.”

“You know. The trail of hair usually linking chest hair to
pubic hair.” Her face flamed with heat. How did one discuss this kind of thing
with a man?

“Oh that!” He laughed again.
The bastard
. “Yes, I
have one. Wanna see?” He started unbuttoning his belt buckle as she shrieked.

“No! I mean not here.”

“I’ll show it to you any time you want.”

“You’re just teasing me now, Joel. It’s not funny.”

“I’m not teasing. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of men nude
before or in only underwear, right?”

“Well yes. Some have them and some don’t. I’m curious about
you since the hero in my head is turning out to look a lot like you.”

“Aw, how sweet. I’m the hero in your next book?”

“It all depends on how the days I’m here at the ranch turn
out.”

“How do you want them to turn out?” He waggled his eyebrows
and grinned.

“You’re an impossible flirt.”

“Yep.”

“I bet every mama in this town turns their daughters’ head
away from you and your brothers when you hit Main Street. The whole lot of you
are like this, aren’t you?”

“Definitely, but the mamas are after every one of us to
marry their daughters.”

“Really?” His eyes crinkled at the corner as he glanced out
the window.

“It looks like Dad is headed to the barn. Let’s go see
what’s up.”

“Oh. Great!”

She met him around the front of the car seconds later. He
grabbed her hand again to help guide her to the barn he said, since darkness
had fallen in an inky black curtain on the ranch. Soft country music wafted
from the speakers next to the bonfire where several people sat around the
crackling light. They would go there after the barn, she hoped. She hadn’t been
to a bonfire since summer camp approximately fifteen years before. S’mores?
Hmm. She’d have to ask Joel if they had chocolate, marshmallows, and graham
crackers, but then again, if she had her choice, she’d take the chocolate dessert
they had at dinner. The smooth chocolate and whipped cream mixture was what
chocolate dreams were made of.

“Careful. It’s so dark you can hardly see your hand in front
of your face. Without a flashlight, you could twist an ankle or something.”

“But look at all the stars.” She stopped so she could look
up at the night sky. Billions of stars winked off and on lighting up the sky.
“Look! A shooting star.” She closed her eyes to make a wish though she couldn’t
believe she wished for a kiss.

“What did you wish for?”

“I can’t tell you or it won’t come true.”

“Sure you can. I won’t tell a soul. I promise.”

“All right. I wished you would kiss me.”

She could see the white of his teeth as he smiled. “Is that
all?”

“Yes.” The word came out in a soft whisper.

He stepped in front of her and slipped his hand along her
cheek to bury his fingers in her hair.
God, it felt wonderful.
The
slight tug on her scalp set her heart to racing a hundred miles a minute. A
flutter started in her belly, spreading lower until she felt on fire from his
touch. She closed her eyes as his warm breath spread across her lips. Her lips
parted on a sigh, accepting the warmth of his mouth. His lips were soft, yet
strangely unyielding, like he wanted to absorb her strength through her mouth.
One of his hands rested on her hip, pulling her into the curve of his body. His
chest felt hard beneath her hands. The soft brush of his tongue on her lips
parted them to his invasion. She wanted this, needed to feel alive, needed to
be a woman again.

A soft moan escaped her as he took the kiss deeper, bringing
both of his hands up to cup her face.

The sound of wolf whistles brought her back to the present
as she heard the catcalls from his brothers near the fire. Joel stepped back,
breaking the kiss.

“Sorry.”

“I’m not. It was totally worth it.”

He laughed and grabbed her hand again as they continued on
their way to check on the foal.

The barn came into view when they rounded the corner of the
house. The large, two story structure with wide doors stood outlined by the
moon in the background. A single, bare light bulb in the middle of the row of
stalls reflected the black, wrought iron parts of the upper doors where the
horses could stick their heads through. The barn was pretty fancy from what she
knew about barns. Wood surrounded the bottoms of the stalls and each one had a
sliding door. One off to the right stood open. She could see Joel’s dad
crouched on the floor next to the mare’s head.

“How is she, Dad?”

“She’s laboring pretty hard, son. I hope she foals soon.”
His big hands ran down the heaving sides of the mare. “I think the foal is
pretty big for her, but she could drop it shortly.”

“Do you mind if I stay and watch?” she asked.

“Oh, hi. I didn’t see you there.” He glanced back down to
the mare. “You can stay as long as you like but it might be a while yet.”

“I don’t mind.” She took out the ever-present notebook from
her purse and jotted down information. She wanted to get the whole thing on
paper for her next book. There’s nothing like having a cowboy helping with a
laboring horse to make the cowboy image stick in the reader’s mind. She wrote
more details, the position of the horse, the coloring of her coat, the rapid
breaths, the concentration on Joel’s father’s face, the worry line along his
forehead like laugh lines around his eyes and mouth. It mesmerized her how he
ran his hands on the mare’s stomach, calming her in the process. She could see
the horse physically relax as he worked them down her side. She would have to
ask more questions when all was said and done. Details like the gestation
period for a horse, whether they could be ridden during pregnancy, how big a
normal size foal is. All of this important information she needed…eventually.
For now, the process looked worrisome for the two men.

Joel crouched down next to his father, balancing on the
balls of his feet. “Want me to check her?”

“Sure. Maybe you can tell if things are progressing. I
haven’t checked her in a bit.”

Joel stood and grabbed a long, plastic sleeve from the shelf
outside the stall. Once he had it slipped on, covering his shirt to his armpit,
he kneeled near the horse’s rump and moved her tail out of the way. A lump
formed in her throat as he slid his hand into the back of the horse.

“Appears it’s in the right position,” he said. “I can feel
the hooves and they seem to be right side up. Its nose is right there, too. I
think she’ll deliver soon.” He peeled off the sleeve and tossed it into a
bucket in the corner.

“We’ll just watch and wait then.”

“Do horses normally deliver without complications?” she
asked with her pen posed to write down his answer in detail.

“Yes,” the older man answered. “The horse does all the work
most of the time, although we do have to step in occasionally. There are times
where they come nose first or with their hooves upside down, which can be a
problem. With something like that, we call the vet.”

“Fascinating.” The horse grunted as her legs flailed for a
few seconds. Mesa could see her side ripple with a contraction. Moments later,
two tiny hooves appeared.