Laying Down the Law (2 page)

They’d both warned him about Zuri Prescott when he’d seemed hell-bent to marry her into the family. Zuri was a different sort of trouble from the kind they wanted for their big brother. And in the end, they’d been right. Still, their preferences for big-chested blondes with easy smiles and easier morals didn’t stir his interest. He’d find his own playmate, thank you very much.

Scout’s sharp bark pulled him from his thoughts. The dog ran ahead of him, his ears pricking forward, and he peeled away and headed toward the creek. Maybe Scout had found Old Mule, the ornery bull who was always one step away from being hamburger due to his contentious nature and independent streak.

Colt lifted his hand to send a signal to his brother, Gabe, and laid his reins over the neck of his horse to turn him toward the trees and the creek. He looked for a firm, gentle slope for his horse to maneuver.

From the corner of his eye, something white floating on the surface of the water caught his attention. He pulled back on the reins. A woman’s bra.

Finding odd items floating on a river after a storm wasn’t all that unusual, and the station hadn’t gotten any calls for missing persons. Still, he had to check it out.

Colt clucked at his horse, his curiosity and professional instinct kicking into gear. The creek had risen fast the previous night, but had just as quickly receded, leaving the banks muddy and soft. His horse’s hind legs slipped, but the old paint caught himself and scrambled down to the graveled bank.

Colt dismounted, dropped his reins and followed the edge of the water.

“Shoo, cow! Shoo!” came a breathy, feminine shout from just beyond the bend of the river, accompanied by Scout’s excited barks.

Rounding the bend, he spotted a twelve-hundred-pound bull, the Triple-Horn brand standing in stark relief against the animal’s dun-colored rump. Scout stood next to him, barking ferociously, but the bull’s attention seemed glued to something on the other side of him.

Colt slipped closer and a flash of pale, creamy legs was visible beneath the creature’s belly. He crept along the edge of the water, taking cover behind a tree to get a better look. His eyes widened at the sight in front of him.

A naked woman stood in the center of the creek, waving her arms at the bull.

Colt paused, taking in the long, sleek curves and pale skin. Her chin-length hair was slicked back. His cock stirred instantly. His heart hammered fast, stricken by the resemblance…but it couldn’t be…

Then Old Mule ambled toward the edge of the water, his head down, snorting. Not a good sign.

“Lady,” he said, stepping out from behind the tree. “You need to hold real still.”

The woman whipped her head toward him, her brown eyes rounding.

Her shock wasn’t any greater than his. For a long moment, they both stood stock still.

But Old Mule snorted again, pawing his hooves into a pile of folded fabric on the ground beneath him, which Scout was tugging to free.

“Scout, heel!” he shouted and waited until his dog raced to his side. “Don’t move,” he repeated softly to the woman, reluctantly pulling his gaze from her and turning to the bull.

Old Mule lowered his head, scraping a horn into the dirt at his feet. When he lifted his head, something shiny and pink came up, snagged on the tip of one horn. The bull snorted again, a moist huff, his eyes on the woman standing frozen in front of him.

The woman’s gaze darted to the right, toward a rocky ledge overhanging the water.

The bull huffed and stomped his front legs.

Cursing, Colt took off his hat and strode forward, waving the straw hat at the bull. “Get on back. Ha! Ha!”

The bull gave a plaintive moo, all his bluster gone. He headed up the creek, pink panties stuck to the tip of his horn, but taking his time to stop and pluck at grass on the creek bank.

“Get on!” Colt shouted, slapping the bull on the rear to get him moving faster, funneling him up an arroyo and toward the herd, Scout right behind him.

After the bull and the dog clambered up the side, Colt dropped his hat back on his head and turned slowly toward Zuri.

She dropped into the water, crossing her arms over her chest.

Colt stalked toward the bank, whistling softly—but finding it hard because his lips were beginning to stretch into a smile, anger and lust swirling into a heady mixture of revenge. “Well, well, well,” he said quietly. “Mind telling me what you’re doin’ skinny-dippin’ on my property?”

Zuri opened her mouth to speak, but she clamped her lips closed and lifted her chin. “I was at the cabin and decided I needed a bath. There’s no runnin’ water.”

He didn’t bother reminding her that her efforts to shield herself from his gaze were too little and too late. His blood had already surged, fueled by a spike of adrenaline and lust. “Sure there is,” he growled. “There’s a pump next to the sink.”

“It doesn’t work.”

“You have to prime it with water first.” At her blank stare, he muttered, “Never mind. I guess the better question to ask is what the hell are you doin’ back here, Zuri-girl?”

Chapter Three

Zuri bit her lip. Colt didn’t look happy to see her. But why should he? It wasn’t like she’d been any more than a convenience for him in high school. The girl from the wrong side of the tracks with the scandalous family—she’d never really stood a chance at being anything other than his little bit on the side.

She could still remember standing in the gym, her heart pounding as she stared up at him, telling him she had her bags packed and she was heading east to start her life. Her stepfather had shown her the door that morning, his duty done. She didn’t have any place to go but away—unless Colt offered her another option.

But his face had hardened, his jaw sawing closed, a muscle rippling along the strong, square edge.

“What were you gonna tell me?” she’d asked past the lump lodged at the back of her throat.

“Never mind,” he’d said, pulling on a tight smile and walking her to her car.

With that, she’d had the answer to the question that had lingered between them their entire senior year. He didn’t love her enough to ask her to stay. And besides, she’d had big plans. Plans that didn’t include staying in this one-horse town, no matter how handsome her boyfriend was. Or how sweet his lovemaking.

Staring back at him now, she didn’t know why she hadn’t fought harder to hold onto him. The promise his lean, rangy body had held had been fulfilled. His broad shoulders and thickly muscled arms stretched the pale blue cotton of his work shirt. His waist tapered to well-hewn hips and thighs. His face, however, had undergone the most changes, losing its youthful softness. It was now honed to sharp, masculine edges. Lord, he made her mouth water.

She wondered if he’d been disappointed in the lack of change in her own body. She was still long and skinny, her breasts unimpressive swells that hardly needed the bra that had floated down the center of the river when she’d confronted the angry bull.

Colt knelt beside her clothing, tucked a finger under her skirt and raised it. “This all you have to wear?”

Light shone through a large jagged tear where the bull’s sharp hooves had ground the navy, summer-weight wool skirt. Zuri’s shoulders slumped.

“Do you have something else to put on?”

She shook her head, and Colt stared for a long moment. Then he dropped the ruined skirt to the ground and picked up the blouse. It was grayed from her time in the floodwaters and smudged by the bull’s abuse. Colt shook his head. He dropped the blouse too, heaved a sigh, then stood and began to unbutton his shirt.

“Where are your shoes, Zuri?” he asked, his voice rough as gravel.

“Guess I lost them,” she said, feeling like her mouth was stuffed with cotton.

“You gonna tell me what’s goin’ on?”

She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth because it had started to tremble, but managed a nod, even though she knew she’d wait and see whether she could trust him with all her woes.

“Here,” he said, holding his shirt out for her take.

Only problem was, she’d have to stand and walk out of the water to get it.

Shouldn’t matter that much, anyway, she told herself. Nothing he hadn’t already seen…or tasted and caressed. “Um…I don’t suppose you’d turn around?”

His steely gaze narrowed. “Not a chance.”

“When did you get so mean?”

One dark brow rose, and Zuri felt a flush of heat paint her cheeks and chest.

“You do know you’re bathin’ downstream from a herd of cattle…” he drawled.

Zuri popped out of the water, her hands curling at her sides. “Ugh! And you just stood there?”

His soft chuckle held a note of bitterness and not a hint of amusement. Zuri began to think she’d run into the wrong man.

Slowly, she stood, barely resisting the urge to cover her important parts with her hands. With her head held high, she walked out of the water and snatched at the shirt, but he drew back his arm at the last second and held it just out of reach.

“Colt, this isn’t funny,” she said tightly.

“No, it’s not. Guess I’m just seein’ how much you want it.”

Zuri dropped her hands at her sides and slowly curled her hands into fists. “What’s it gonna take?”

“I don’t know,” he said, his gaze dropping down her body, lingering over her nipples, which tautened with embarrassing speed, then sweeping downward to the ruff of dark hair cloaking her sex. “How ’bout a kiss? For old time’s sake.”

Zuri sucked in a breath, startled at how quickly the tension coiled around them. “Just a kiss?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, his gaze at last meeting hers again, and narrowing.

She stepped closer, knowing she was flirting with fire. They’d never stopped at just one kiss. Not once they’d gotten past the hurdle of her virginity.

Swallowing hard, she pressed a hand against his naked chest to steady her weakening knees and lifted up on her toes. Her mouth grazed briefly over his, and she dropped down and took a step back. “The shirt?”

“Call that a kiss?”

“Colt…don’t…” she said, all bravado seeping away as she noted that anger rather than attraction glinted in his storm-cloud eyes.

“Forget how I like it?” he said softly.

Hell, no.
She still had lush, wet dreams about his wicked kisses.

The temptation to give him what he wanted was too much to resist. Pretending she didn’t feel a thing, not the liquefying heat that curled deep in her core or the hummingbird-fast flutter of her heartbeats, she gave him a blistering glare and rose again, gliding the tips of her nipples across his bare chest.

He sucked in a deep breath. She reached up and thrust her fingertips into his short, black-brown hair and tugged to bring his mouth down.

When their lips met this time, they both gasped at the intensity of the heat twining around them. His arms closed around her. She clung to his neck, her knees weakening, her whole body trembling against him.

Skin-to-skin, she was reminded why any other man had fallen short in comparison. His muscled frame held hers easily, tensing everywhere their bodies met. He dug his fingers into her bottom and pulled her hips flush with his. His cock jerked beneath the zipper of his jeans, filling swiftly and rutting into her belly.

Their mouths didn’t move at first. Both breathed deeply, sharing their breaths as their hips ground together. And then he groaned and locked his lips over hers and softly sucked, moving her lips beneath his in drugging circles.

When their tongues made tentative forays, touching tips, then stroking deeply alongside each other, Zuri grew lightheaded, overcome with the sheer sensuality of their embrace. His silky-slick tongue rimmed the edges of her teeth, then slowly stroked over the roof of her mouth. His lips suctioned softly, reminding her how tenderly he’d once suckled her breasts.

She pulled her mouth away, struggling to breathe. Reluctantly, she met his gaze, knowing she’d given him more than he’d asked for because she hadn’t been able to stop.

His hands dropped from her skin. His expression hardened. “Guess you didn’t forget after all.”

Zuri’s lips parted as air rushed out of her lungs, and she dropped her gaze from his coldly assessing stare. The shirt entered her line of vision, and this time he didn’t pull it away when she stuck out her hand.

She turned away to put it on, taking her time buttoning the front and rolling up the sleeves to just above her wrists while she pulled herself together. It was just a kiss. The world hadn’t stopped spinning.

“Got anything at the cabin we need to retrieve?” he bit out.

She shook her head. Her purse and car were somewhere downstream. Her navy pumps had been pulled from her feet by the force of the rushing water. She’d been lucky to keep the rest of her clothing on, lucky not to drown. She’d have told him that, but his stony presence kept her silent.

“Let’s get you someplace where you can clean up. Then we’re gonna have a little talk.”

Off the hook for an explanation for now, she hid her relief, forcing a neutral expression, and slowly faced him again.

He stood so close she had to look a long way up to meet his steady gaze and was swamped again with memories that left her belly trembling.