Indulgence (304 page)

“Looks like it’s time,” Joel said, moving away from the
horse.

With a gush of fluid, the foal made his entrance into the
world. Slimy mucus hung from its body. The mare struggled to her feet, and then
began licking the foal clean.

“Oh, it’s beautiful!” Tears stung her eyes. She’d never
witnessed anything so precious in her life. “Will it start nursing right away?”

“Usually within a couple of hours. The mother will clean it
up first.”

The baby stood on wobbly legs for a few seconds before it
nuzzled against its mother seeking out her nipple. “Oh look! It’s already
trying to walk and feed. This has been fabulous. Thank you.”

“We didn’t do anything.” Joel’s father chuckled. “The horse
did all the work.”

“But you allowed me to witness this. I’ve got some great
notes for my next book. I can’t thank you enough.”

“Our pleasure.” Joel moved closer to her and slipped his arm
around her shoulders. “I’m glad you got to watch the birth. She’s the only one
we have close to delivery.”

She smiled, snuggling into his side to absorb his warmth.
The wind seemed to have kicked up a bit, cooling down the heat of the day.

“How about we head to the fire so you can get your fill of
that, too?”

“I’d love to.”

“I’ll check on her later, Dad, if you want me to.”

“Thanks, Joel. I’ll stay with her for a bit to make sure the
foal is nursing. If you want to check her before you head to bed, I would
appreciate it.”

“Sure.”

“Have fun by the fire. The weather seems to be cooling down
with the wind kicking up.”

“Yeah, you never know about Texas weather in April and May.
It can be unpredictable.”

Joel spun her around and headed toward the barn doors with
his arm still around her shoulders. The weather had indeed cooled down, and
goose bumps rose on her arms—though she wasn’t sure if they were from the wind
chill or the sexy cowboy next to her.

The flames rose into the night sky, stretching like fingers
toward the inky blackness. Several people surrounded the warmth, absorbing the
heat into their fingers by holding their hands or feet out toward the fire.
Joel found them a carved out seat made from an old log. The bottom had been
smoothed out of the cut log to make a great chair.

“Would you like a couple of marshmallows to roast?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll be right back.” A large picnic table sat nearby with
chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers for S’mores. “Do you want the
whole fixin’s?”

“No. Just the marshmallow is fine. If I try to make S’mores,
they’ll make me sick with all the sweetness. I love chocolate but too much
doesn’t like me, since I had the chocolate dessert earlier.”

The rich sound of his laughter sent chills down her spine.

“A woman who can’t handle chocolate. That’s a first for me.”

Heat rose up her neck in embarrassment. It was hard not
being able to tolerate chocolate too much. She usually had to have a white cake
with whipped cream frosting as a child because her stomach couldn’t handle too
much.

Joel returned to her side with a straight wire holder
containing two prongs. With a marshmallow stuck on both ends, it would serve as
their roasting stick. “Do like them barely roasted or black?”

“Sort of dark, but not too burnt.”

He shook his head and handed her the stick. “Why don’t you
roast them and I’ll eat whatever you fix? I don’t care how they are roasted. I
just like the sticky sweetness in my mouth.”

Laughing, she shook her head. So much for being the
difficult cowboy. He seemed almost too sweet to be true. She needed him to be a
little more arrogant and self-centered to be the hero of her novel. Oh well.
She could always tweak his personality a bit to make him difficult for the
heroine to deal with. Ah, the job of a romance writer.

Within moments, the marshmallows caught fire and she lifted
them toward her mouth to blow out the flames. Just right. Squishy but not
burnt. “One for you and one for me,” she said, holding out the stick so Joel
could slide one of the fluffy things off the end of the metal contraption.

“Perfect.” He stuck one between his full lips, grinning like
a kid on Christmas.

Her body tingled in all the important places as he licked
the sticky substance off his fingers. She wanted to lick him all right.
Everywhere.

“Aren’t you going to eat yours?” he asked, winking.

I’d like to eat something.
“I’m letting it cool a
bit.”

The grin grew wider like he knew exactly what she had on her
mind.
I wanted him a little more arrogant. I got it.

“Have you always been such a ladies’ man?”

“I’ve had my share of women.”

“I bet you have.”

“Jealous?”

She shrugged, trying to be nonchalant about the whole thing.
“Nah. Just not surprised, is all. I bet all of your brothers are the same way.
The women of Bandera and San Antonio better watch out when you all are on the
prowl.”

“When I find the one, I won’t be prowling anymore.”

The marshmallow melted on her tongue as she slid it between
her lips. Joel’s lips parted as one eyebrow arched over his left eye. Damn, he
looked sexy as hell with the little smirk of a smile on his mouth. She wanted
to kiss him again. Wanted to do other things with him.
Not a good idea.

“Good?”

“Yes,” she whispered, wondering whether she meant him or the
marshmallow. The sticky sweetness on her fingers had her licking it off as she
watched his eyes dilate in the firelight. He sure seemed like he might be a
little into her. The whole thing seemed weird, though. Surely a guy like him
wasn’t attracted to a girl like her. She knew her hips were too wide and her
butt seemed a bit too big for her liking. Getting guys like him to notice her
didn’t come with instructions. Popular wasn’t an affliction she had growing up.
She was the quiet, shy girl. Something she had to get over rather quickly as a
writer, since she was in front of dozens of people at times, but she never
quite managed to be outgoing with men.

Jason sauntered over. “Hey you two.”

“Jason.”

“Would you like more marshmallows, Mesa? You seemed to be
enjoying them.”

“Sure. Thanks.”

Jason took her stick from her hand and headed back to the
table.

“Don’t get too close to him.” The serious tone of Joel’s
voice had her on edge.

“Close?”

“I mean be careful.”

“Why? He seems like a nice guy. You wouldn’t warn me away
from one of your own brothers, would you?”

“He’s my brother, yes, and I love him but he likes to play
with women.”

“I don’t understand,” she said, sitting forward on her seat
to hear him better.

Joel grasped her hand in his. “If you want the bad boy for
your novel, he’s your man. He’s more into one-night stands than any of my other
brothers. Women are like playthings for him. He doesn’t get serious about women
at all.”

“You know, he does sound like the bad boy of the group.”

“Well, we all are to some extent, but he seems like the
worst. I don’t know if he’ll ever settle down.”

“Why don’t you tell me about each one in turn? Give me
details of their lives, their personalities. You know. Those kinds of things. I
can morph all of your personality traits into one kick-ass hero.”

Jason returned with her marshmallow stick. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t listen to Joel about me. He’s a bit biased because
he’s not as attractive as I am.”

She laughed at his words. They were identical in most ways,
especially looks. “You two are terrible to tease me like that.”

The two men laughed. Jason sauntered back to his spot,
flashing her a wicked grin and a wink from his seat several feet away.

“Okay. You want to know more about each of us. I’ll start
with Jeff. He’s the eldest at thirty-four. I already told you he’d been married
once before.”

“Yes.” She pulled her pen and paper out to jot down some
notes.

“Jeff is Mom and Dad’s pride and joy. The prodigal older
son. He helps Dad run things around here. He’s kind of bossy, but he’s a good
guy. We all hated when his marriage broke up because he really loved her. On
the other hand, we were glad because she wasn’t the right woman for him. I
hated to see him so heartbroken. He’s very adamant about running this place as
a working cattle ranch. He didn’t like when we went to accepting guests here to
supplement the income. Sometimes I think he was born in the wrong time. He’s
cowboy to the bone. I hate to see the woman he really falls hard for because she
better be country through and through to win his heart. He won’t settle for
some high rise, corporate type.”

Mesa quickly wrote down Joel’s description of his older
brother along with a few notes on the woman who would turn out to be someone he
could live the rest of his life with. As a romance author, she grinned. The
hero didn’t always fall in love with the woman he thought he would. She giggled
a little.

“Jackson is the second eldest. He does what he has to do
around here, but sometimes I think he hates playing the cowboy. He rides a
motorcycle more than he does a horse. He has several tattoos, gets a bit rowdy
when he drinks, but overall he’s a great guy and good friend. He’s saved my ass
more than once in a bar fight.”

“Do you fight often?”

“No. I try to be the peacekeeper more than anything. Jackson
likes the ladies, too.”

“Don’t you all?”

Joel grinned. “Yeah, I guess so. The women seem really
attracted to his bad boy persona, though. I think it’s the tats.”

“Could be.”

“He’s really a big teddy bear, though. I think he got more
of Dad’s personality whereas some of the rest of us are more like Mom. Jacob is
third. He’s thirty this year and is feeling every bit of it, I think. He’s been
drinking a lot lately. I’m not sure if he’s debating his life—. Not that he
would ever hurt himself or anything, but I wonder sometimes if he knows where
his life is going. He’s kind of quiet. More so than the rest of us. He just
does his work around here and spends a lot of time in his room. Doing what, I’m
not sure. He didn’t do sports in school like most of us did. He’s more the
creative, artsy type.”

“He sounds sweet.”

Joel smile and shrugged. “Fourth is us triplets. Me, Jason,
and Josh. You know about me. Josh, we’re a little worried about. He’s been
drinking a lot lately, too I think he got his heart broken recently. He won’t
talk about it though. I’ve tried. We are very similar in looks, but our
personalities are very different. At least to me, they are.”

“Josh is a ladies’ man, definitely.”

“Yeah, but he’s been down in the dumps lately. I hope
whoever broke his heart was worth the pain he’s going through now. I hate to
see him like this. He’s trying, but you can see the pain in his eyes if you
look hard enough.”

“It’s never easy breaking up with someone you’ve been with
for a long time even if it’s a mutual breakup.”

“True. I haven’t been in a long-term relationship really, so
I wouldn’t know that kind of pain. I hope I never do.”

She dropped her gaze to her paper for a moment and let his
words sink in. Why didn’t she feel pain over her breakup with her ex? She loved
him, didn’t she? Maybe not like she should have. The pain didn’t seem to be
there.

“And then there is Jason.”

“You almost sound exasperated by him.”

“He’s an exasperating individual.”

“How so?”

“He likes the ladies. Definitely. I think he’s got several
women on the string at the moment and I’m just waiting for the bubble to burst.
If they found out about each other, it could sure make for some interesting
fireworks in the neighborhood.”

“Ah.”

Joel scraped the toe of his boot in the dirt, digging up a
small rock in the process. “This isn’t the first time he’s done this type of
thing either. He’s been caught before and almost got himself shot by one girl’s
father. He found Jason’s ass hanging out the window of the daughter’s room a
few years ago. His truck still bears the bullet hole.”

“Wow.”

“I think my parents wish he would go in the military or
something to straighten his ass out, but then they’d be totally worried he’d be
in some combat zone and get his butt killed or something.”

“I think your parents could handle it.”

“I think my dad could, but I’m not sure about Mom. She loves
having her sons around here.”

“I’m sure she does. She’s a very strong lady, though.” Mesa
tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

“Yes, she is. I doubt Jason will do anything of the sort.
Military lifestyle doesn’t suit him, I don’t think. He likes sleeping late,
getting into trouble, and staying out all hours of the night. The discipline
would do him good, but I doubt he’d do it.”

“Trouble with a capital T.”

Joel chuckled. “The fifth of us is Jonathan. He tries to be
the cowboy Dad wanted in all of us, but he’s not so much cut out for the life.
He rides, but he’s not as comfortable on a horse as the rest of us. He’s more
at home in front of a computer. He’s a gamer.”

“Nothing wrong with that. Computer programmers make good
money.”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t get to do it much. I think Dad should
let him take over the website and marketing for the ranch, but he hires out to
someone else. Dad doesn’t see the potential in Jonathan doing it. I do. I think
he’d been great at it. If they send Jonathan to school so he could get some
formal training, he’d be kick-ass at it. I don’t think Jonathan has ever had a
girlfriend. He’s really shy.”

She laughed. “I didn’t think any of you were shy.”

Joel grinned. “He really isn’t when you get to know him. I
think he feeds off the rest of us with our personalities. He kind of goes along
with the bunch.”

“I bet he’s got a deeper personality than you give him credit
for.”