Mason (Remington Ranch Book 1) (Contemporary Western Romance) (9 page)

She opened her mouth to reply but didn't get the chance. He closed one hand around the back of her neck and kissed her deeply, stealing her breath, as well as her words. His other hand found its way inside her jeans and stroked her through her panties. She moaned into his mouth as he teased. He eased the fabric to the side and traced her opening. His tongue thrust deep as he dipped his fingertip inside her. God that felt so good. She bucked her hips wanting more, pressing herself against him and drinking in his kiss.

He lifted his head and smiled. “Sorry, babe. You want to be by yourself, right?”

All she could do was stare after him when he broke away leaving her wanting. He got out of the truck and closed the door before tipping his hat up and winking at her as he walked away. She wriggled in her seat. The way he kissed her had always turned her on. Now she was all hot and achy with desire for him. He turned back to smile at her before climbing into his own truck and pulling away.

She was still sitting there, squirming in her seat a few minutes later when her phone rang. It was him. “You know, babe. I'll scratch that itch any time you want me to. But you have to be the one to say it.”

“What itch?” She wasn't going to admit that she knew exactly what he meant.

He gave a low chuckle that made her breasts tingle just at the sound of it.

“Don't try to fool me, Gina. You're wishing I'd finished you off before I left. When I asked you to give me a reason to keep it in my pants, you told me you were getting married. Now you're not. I want you, I need you, but we're not going to go there until you want me and need me just as badly.”

Gina swallowed. Apparently he didn't understand just how badly she wanted and needed him right now!

She could hear the smile in his voice as he added. “Actually, I mean until you
tell
me how much you want me.”

Gina knew if she said it right now, his truck would be parked behind her again in a few minutes. As much as she wanted to, she wouldn’t let herself do it. He chuckled again. “Like I said, whenever you're ready, babe.”

“Did they get off all right?”

Mason stared at Shane. It took him a moment to remember the dude ranch guests he'd dropped off. He spent the whole hour of the drive back from Bozeman thinking about Gina. Thinking about what they could have been doing if he hadn't forced himself to get out of her truck.

“Huh? Yeah. I dropped them off.”

Shane frowned. “Did you get them checked in?”

Mason shrugged. “They're fine.” He turned to walk away. He needed to get out to the barn. He'd wasted too much time thinking about Gina lately. He needed to check on the mares and get caught up with his books.

“Mase?”

The concern in Shane's voice made him turn around. “What?”

“Is everything okay?”

He nodded and couldn't stop the corners of his mouth turning up in a smile. “I think it's going to be.”

Shane came after him. “What does that mean? What's happened?”

Mason kept walking. He wasn't sure he wanted to talk to his brother about it yet, but he didn't think he could keep his mouth shut either.

“Talk to me, Mase. Is it Gina? I know she left alone last night and we couldn't find you after that. What's going on?”

“She broke up with the fiancé...”

“That's awesome! So are you two back together? Is she staying?”

“I hope so, but she needs a little time to get her head around it. I saw her at the airport, she was dropping them off. I was going to stick around and persuade her that we’re back together, but she's got a lot to work through.” He hated to admit it, but Gina
did
have a lot to think about. In his eyes, it was simple. She was here, she was single, and she should stay. They should forget the past and get on with their life—together. But that didn't take into account the life and career she'd spent the last ten years building. She needed to figure it out for herself that she wanted him and wanted to be here. He was concerned that if he rushed her or forced her somehow, it would come back to bite him in the ass. He wasn't about to lose her again. This time it
was
forever, and if he had to wait a while for Gina to reach that conclusion by herself, then so be it.

Shane nodded. As much as Mason hated to admit it, Shane probably knew more about Gina and her life than
he
did these days. The two of them had kept in touch while she had refused to speak to Mason. “She is going to have a lot to think about. Whenever we've talked over the years, she's said how much she would love to come home, but she couldn't make it out here. What would she do? There's not exactly a market for fine art photography, is there?”

“Bullshit! Look at all the California implants who are moving here. Bozeman is full of them. Big Sky is like Little California these days, and half the land in the valley has been bought up by out-of-staters looking to build their Montana McMansions! Those are the kind of people who'd buy up Gina's photographs like crazy, and they'd pay through the nose for them. There's a perfect market here for her if she works it right.” He thought about it for a moment, it made all the sense in the world to him. “She'd probably be able to make more money here than she does in New York—and she'd be able to do the kind of work she loves. She could do all her wildlife photography and capture the Old West like she always used to talk about.”

“I hadn't thought about it like that, but you're right.”

Mason shrugged. “Don't sound so surprised, I usually am.”

“Well, good luck convincing Gina of it.”

“Why would I need luck?”

Shane laughed. “Because it's like saying all her reasons for staying gone all those years were wrong. That she stayed away when she didn't need to.”

“Oh.” Mason could see that. “But surely if she wants to be here, she'll be glad that there's a way to do it.”

Shane laughed again. “Maybe, but how much do
you
like it when you're proved wrong?”

“Not much, but I accept it when it means that I'll be able to make things right.” He looked at Shane. “I know she's stubborn, but don't you think she'll just be happy to be able to stay, to see that there is a way to make it here, after all?”

“Yeah, she should.” He held Mason's gaze for a moment. “As long as you go about it the right way. I'm pretty sure that if you lead with your usual
that's bullshit
line
,
she'll be less open to hearing what you have to say.

Mason shrugged. Shane was right and he knew it. He'd already called her out on her bullshit this morning and her reaction then had been to tell him to get out of the truck. He'd have to find a more diplomatic approach to make sure that she didn't tell him to get out of her life. He wasn't entirely back in it yet, and he didn't want to screw up before he got the chance to be.

~ ~ ~

“So what are you going to do, love?”

Gina rested her elbows on the kitchen table and looked up at her dad who was leaning in the doorway. “I don't know. It's all happened so fast. A week ago I thought we were selling up here, thought I'd be marrying Liam, and bringing you to New York. Now it doesn't look as though the place is going to sell anytime soon. Liam and I are over, and I don't even know what
I'm
going to do in New York.”

“Why the hell would you want to do anything there? You're going to stay here, aren't you?”

“How, Dad? How can I make enough for us to survive on here?”

He shrugged. “There are a couple of new galleries up in town. Couldn't you put your pictures in there?”

Gina let out an exasperated little laugh. “Dad, the galleries in town don't sell much and what they do sell is a couple of hundred dollars at most. In New York, my photographs sell for thousands. I need the exposure and the big money buyers.”

“When was the last time you checked out the galleries in town, Gina girl? Do you think time stood still here, just because you left?”

“What do you mean?” Gina was surprised at the way he was scowling at her.

“Well, Miss Uppity-City-Girl, there are some mighty expensive galleries in town. Some big name artists and writers have moved to the valley since you left. You might want to check out some of them price tags they have on pictures of the wolves and the buffalo. All the Californian tree-huggers want a piece of the West as they understand it and apparently paying high-dollar for pictures of the critters is an important part of protecting 'em, or conserving 'em, or whatever it is they call it. The point is, you're basing your thinking on an idea of how this place works, and that idea is ten years out of date. If you want to stay, you should be working out a way to make it happen instead of bleating about all the things that make it impossible. You've never been a quitter, Gina, not when you want something. So am I right in thinking that you don't want to be here?”

Gina looked back at him, thinking hard about the answer to that. She'd told Liam last night that this was her home, so why was she making excuses about not being able to stay here? Were they really excuses, or was she just being realistic? She shook her head—she'd thought marrying Liam was being realistic! It seemed she had some thinking to do.

Her dad patted her arm. “Why don't you take yourself and your camera down to the park? That always used to help you get your head on straight.”

She nodded. “I think I will. Thanks, Dad.”

As she drove down the valley toward Gardiner, Gina wanted to call Ian. Wanted to talk to him about what she should do from here. He'd been supportive of her ideas about shooting in Montana, about the kind of shows she'd wanted to do. She valued his opinion and knowledge. She couldn't call him right now because he'd be sitting on a plane heading back to New York, with Liam and Kaitlyn. She wondered what the conversation between the three of them would be. Wondered if she would even be worth a mention, or whether they would all be focused on getting back to the gallery and pulling together the Avery show. She had a show of her own lined up for early next month. She had to wonder whether they would still go ahead with it. On the one hand, she hoped so. It was a showcase of the work she'd done in Brazil. A similar concept to what she'd wanted to do in Montana. Photos of bronzed bikinied bottoms drew sharp contrast with the huge brown eyes of street children. “Soccer on the Beach” was to be displayed next to “Laundry in the River.” She'd been fascinated by the country and its many faces, by the huge divide between ostentatious consumerism and abject poverty. She had to hope the show would still run, just for its own sake. She wanted to be able to share her insight into the ultra-modern lifestyle in parts of cities that were ringed with
favelas
or ghettos. Wanted to share her shots of villages and villagers living their centuries old traditions... She shook her head to clear it. She needed to focus on the practical. Needed to bring herself into the present, stop daydreaming about work she'd already done and its meaning, and start figuring out what work she was going to do from here on out, and what it would mean for her future in practical terms. Would she be able to make a go of it in the valley, or would she need to be traveling and finding new big city galleries to work with? Perhaps she should start exploring any connections she had on the West Coast?

~ ~ ~

Shane stuck his head around the door to the office in the back of the gallery. “Hellooo. Anybody home?”

“I'll be right with you.”

He grinned to himself. He liked the sounds of that voice. He'd heard that the owner of the new gallery on Main Street was something of a looker. After talking to Mason yesterday about Gina's options for staying in the valley, he'd decided to see what he could do to help things along. He figured Gina would be more open to his help than Mason's, and besides he'd been wanting to check out the new gallery—and its owner.

He turned to admire a series of paintings on the back wall. They were beautiful--oceanscapes and deserted beaches. Much as he liked them, he couldn't see that they would sell well. People here wanted mountains and bears. Visitors wanted a memento of their visit and locals wanted to decorate their homes Montana style. He was further convinced that these pictures wouldn't sell when he saw the prices listed underneath them. Damn! Most folks around here didn't make that much in a month—or two!

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Damn! That was a sexy voice! Shane felt it flow over him like warm honey. When he turned to face her, he had to push back the thought that he'd love to cover her in warm honey and slowly lick it all off. Jesus! She was beautiful. Long, honey-blonde hair framed a gorgeous face, laughing, honey-colored eyes smiled at him. She was short, or maybe not so much. At six-four most people seemed short to Shane. His family joked that he was the
littlest
brother, when in fact although he was the youngest, he was the tallest. He took a step toward her holding out his hand.

“Not a problem, you're worth waiting for.” Damn! What was he saying?

Her eyes widened in surprise, but she smiled and shook his hand. “Thank you, I think. I'm Cassidy Lane.”

He closed his hand around hers, it was warm and small and soft. He wanted to feel her running it over his chest, sliding it inside his pants. Jesus, Shane! He had to get it together but standing this close, her V-neck sweater was giving him an awesome view of her breasts that wasn't helping him any.

She followed his gaze down to her breasts then gave him a stern look. “What can I do for you?”

Oh, what could she do for him? He had to bite back a smile at the ungentlemanly suggestions that came to mind. She looked as though she was trying not to laugh herself. “I can think of several things you could do for me. If you're interested?”

She did laugh now. “Perhaps you should tell me your name first?”

“Oh, sorry.” He grinned. “Shane Remington, it's a pleasure to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, Shane.” She smiled and let go of his hand. “What did you have in mind when you came in?”

“I forget, but would you like to hear what I have in mind now?” He raised an eyebrow and gave her his best charming smile. Women loved him, and he loved women.

She laughed again. “From the look on your face I think I can guess, and no thank you.”

Wow, he hadn't expected that. He was used to a resounding,
yes please!
when he turned on the charm. He certainly wasn't used to being turned down flat. He checked her left hand. No ring. Maybe there was a boyfriend?

She laughed again. “My God! If I'm not interested I must be married right?”

Oh, shit! She'd seen him check. He shrugged sheepishly. “What other reason could you have to turn me down? I mean, I'm adorable, right? And you do find me incredibly attractive.”

“Adorable?” Her eyes shone with laughter, but she kept a straight face and a stern tone. “I was thinking more along the lines of deplorable.”

That took him by surprise again. “Now you're hurting my feelings. Why the hell would you think I'm deplorable? You only just met me.”

“Exactly. I've known you for less than three minutes and you're already making lewd suggestions and expecting me to jump at the chance. You're one of those guys who thinks he's so good looking that every woman he meets is going to throw herself at him.”