One Wedding Night... (7 page)

Before she knew it, he was stepping away and letting her go. Lynn struggled for her balance, and as if sensing her need for help, Russ rested his hand behind her back, then intimately caressed her before he moved away. Without another word, he turned and walked out.

He was losing his mind.

Russ removed the saddle from the horse he’d been working with and carried it into the barn. He’d recently purchased the horse with the idea of starting his own livestock. While normally the horses he worked with grazed in a pasture, Russ wanted to keep this one in a stall for a few days. Surrounded by the acrid odor of hay and manure, he shouldn’t have been cognizant of Lynn’s scent, but he smelled her the moment she followed him into the barn and led the horse to a stall.

It had been a hectic, yet strange week. He watched her as she removed the halter from the horse and stepped back to close the latch. Russ was becoming attuned to her every mood—the way she became animated and excited when something pleased her, the way her brows dipped into a soft frown when she was concentrating, her quiet manner when something was bothering her.

Like now.

She’d said little to him all morning. Not that they’d engaged in much more than necessary conversation since the day they’d gone to pick out the ring. Knowing that they’d draw suspicion from Ashley and Ryder if they didn’t appear to be getting along, Russ figured he’d better see what was bothering her.

“Something wrong?” he asked, watching her.

She shrugged, then gave the horse a stroke on the bridge of his nose.

Russ walked over to her and touched her shoulder. She stepped away from him as if she didn’t want his hands on her. His lips twisting with irritation, he
pinned her against the stall with his hands on either side of her on the railing.

“Maybe you’d better tell me what’s botherin’ you,” he said, annoyed by her distant demeanor. She was driving him crazy! It had been a week since he’d touched her, and he found working with her tested his will to keep his hands off of her. Dipping his head, he forced her to look at him.

“I’m just tired,” she answered evasively. Lynn knew it sounded more like an excuse than the truth. She hoped Russ didn’t push her. Even though they’d been intimate and she’d told him about wanting to start her own horse farm, she wasn’t really used to sharing her thoughts with him. The past few days between them had been tense, both of them keeping to their own company as much as possible without causing suspicion. Her desire to remain distant seemed at war with a part of her that wanted to feel his mouth on hers again.

“It’s more than that,” Russ said knowingly, stepping closer.

Lynn lifted her face and stared into his eyes. “It’s been a busy week, that’s all,” she insisted, finding it hard to breathe with him so near. She chewed on her lip with her teeth. When she realized he wasn’t going to give up, she felt heat rise to her cheeks. “Okay. I haven’t had a chance to get to San Luis. I wanted to get that…um…you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” he admitted, and he was just as frustrated. It had been on his mind, too. It was one thing to sleep with her, to steal her innocence. Though Ryder had accepted it when Russ had promised he’d marry Lynn, he wasn’t sure what her brother would have to say if his little sister turned up pregnant.
“Look, it’ll be okay. I’m planning to go into San Luis tomorrow afternoon with Ryder to meet a client. Maybe I can get one while I’m there.”

Lynn stared directly at him, and her mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding.” Her lips quirked up into a smile. “
You’re
gonna buy one and bring it back?”

Nodding, Russ tried to keep his own lips from twitching. This had to be the most obscure conversation he’d ever had. “Well, I’m not exactly excited about the idea, but I think I can get the chore done.” His gaze traveled to her mouth, then again to her baby blue eyes. “You’re gonna have to give me an idea of what to look for though. It’s not like I’ve done it before.”

Lynn tucked that piece of information away in her mind as she lifted her foot and propped the heel of her boot against the stall. “You shouldn’t have any trouble. It’s not hard to figure out. It should be in the pharmacy section of any big discount store. If you go into a drugstore, though, look around in the area for birth control.” Catching a vivid mental picture of Russ roaming the aisles looking for a pregnancy test, she chuckled. “But I’m wondering, how are you gonna accomplish that task with Ryder along?”

Russ shook his head. “Damned if I know,” he admitted, watching her tongue as it slipped out of her mouth and licked her lip. He felt the bottom half of his body stir. He wondered if she had any idea of what that did to him. If she kept it up, he was gonna have to taste her.

Ryder walked in at that moment, followed by a tabby cat that scampered behind a bale of hay. Russ turned toward him, his movement bringing his body into contact with Lynn’s. When she started to move
away, he put his hand on her hip, keeping her next to him.

Grinning, Ryder winked at them from across the barn as he disappeared into the tack room. He came out with some gauze pads and some antibiotic ointment. “You two aren’t gonna get any work done like that,” he told them, a big grin on his face.

“We were just talking,” Lynn retorted, aware that her body felt as if it was on fire. Though she wanted to move away from Russ, her feet just weren’t obeying. His heat seeped into her, stirring her awareness of him. Without thinking about it, she lifted her hand and placed it along his stomach. The muscles in his abdomen tightened in response to the intimate gesture, and the awareness between them intensified.

“Yeah, right. Ashley and I talk just like that sometimes,” Ryder quipped, clearly amused at catching them in an intimate embrace. He strolled out of the barn whistling.

Still holding Lynn next to him, Russ turned toward her. The barn fell silent except for the occasional stirring of the horses. Despite his promise to himself to keep his desire for Lynn in check, Russ felt his self-control slipping. Her mouth was so damn tempting.

To hell with his promise to himself, he decided, feeling reckless. What could one kiss hurt? His heart was still under lock and key. As long as he let it end with a kiss…

Raising his hand, he cupped Lynn’s face and lifted it. Before she had a chance to protest, which he didn’t want to give her, he swooped down and claimed her lips. They were soft and warm and, hell, everything he remembered. An ache stirred in his chest, then slowly traveled lower to his belly. When she didn’t
pull away, he slipped his arms around her, bringing her more into his embrace. She felt delicate and soft, all woman.

He groaned his satisfaction as she moved her hand over his ribs, sliding it around his side, aligning her body with his. Her breasts grazed his chest, fueling his desire to have more of her. He darted his tongue into her mouth, urging her to open for him, to give him full access to her depths. She made a tiny sound of pleasure in her throat, and that was all it took for him to seek more, demand more.

As she opened her mouth, he deepened the kiss and groaned with satisfaction as his tongue found hers. His hand slid from her back to her waist, then languidly up her rib cage and hovered near her breast. As if hungering for his touch, she arched toward him, pressing closer, moving against him, encouraging him.

His hips pinned her against the stall door, and she lifted her leg. Russ gathered her closer, his hands going to her bottom and lifting her firmly against him, their clothing a barrier that added friction to their passion.

He groaned again as her palms caressed his back, then moved lower to his hips, then lower still, and she pulled him against her.

Knowing he couldn’t take her was painful agony. Forgetting where they were, he sought the snap of her jeans. Tugging at it, it popped open, and he slid his hands inside and cupped her buttocks. Her skin was like warm silk. Just touching her made his blood race in his veins.

“Easy, honey,” he said, knowing he needed to stop himself before things got any more out of control.

His voice caused her to open her eyes, and her haze cleared almost instantly. She tried to push away from him, her breathing ragged. Russ went still, wishing the moment didn’t have to end. He wanted her more now than ever.

“Damn,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have let things get out of hand. I’m sorry.” Hearing voices in the distance, he quickly set her away from him. “Better get yourself together,” he told her quickly, then turned away, blocking her from view as she straightened her clothing. After a moment, she moved around him and looked at him. Her cheeks were warm and rosy. His gaze slid down her body, then traveled back to her face.

“It’s okay,” he told her, sucking in a hard breath. But
he
wasn’t. He was aching, hurting for her. He started to touch her again, but stopped himself as one of the hands joined them in the barn.

Hell.

L
ynn glanced out the window of the ranch office just in time to see the black pickup come to a complete stop near the bunkhouse. Her heart skipped a beat. Russ was back from San Luis! She hadn’t seen him since their encounter in the barn yesterday. Her face grew hot just thinking about the way she’d come apart in his arms. What was happening to her? She didn’t want or need this complication in her life. Aware that she had little choice but to admit to herself that her emotions were increasingly at risk where Russ was concerned, Lynn trembled.

Her physical attraction to him was going to be difficult to control if she wasn’t careful. Was it even possible for her to continue being near him without wanting him to make love to her? He’d shown a heck of a lot more willpower yesterday than she had, that was for sure. Or maybe it wasn’t willpower. Maybe
he didn’t really want her, and he’d just been amusing himself. He hadn’t even tried to take what had happened between them to completion.

She watched as Ryder and Russ got out of the truck. They stood for a few minutes talking, then parted company. Her heartbeat quickened as she watched Russ unload some things from the back of the pickup, then he disappeared inside his quarters.

Had he had a chance to get the pregnancy test? Lynn couldn’t tell a thing from the bags that he’d carried in, but, oh, she hoped so. She wanted the issue of pregnancy settled. Then she and Russ could figure a way to get out of their pretend engagement.

The sooner that was solved, the sooner she could begin to distance herself from him. Despite his abrupt manner and his obstinate opinion of how their problem should be handled, she was actually starting to
like
him.

And that scared her to death.

She didn’t want to like Russ. And she didn’t want to be attracted to him. She looked down at her hand, graced by the beautiful ring Russ had bought her. Though she knew in her heart it was for nothing more than show, a tiny, feminine part of her wondered what it would feel like if it stood for something more.

Russ Logan, she was learning, was an incredible man with many facets to his personality. Once his mind was made up, he stood by his decisions. He was also honorable and protective, putting her well-being ahead of his own.

Unable to stand waiting to find out if he’d had a chance to pick up the pregnancy test, she decided to go and ask him. Just as she was about to look away, she saw Russ come back outside and walk into the
barn. Thinking she’d catch up with him, she rushed from the room, nearly bumping into her pregnant sister-in-law.

“Oops, sorry, Ashley. Are you all right?” Lynn asked, stepping around her.

Ashley looked at her curiously. “Yes, but where are you headed in such a hurry?”

“Um, just outside.” She avoided Ashley’s direct gaze, focusing instead on her swollen belly.

“Oh. Well, do you have a few minutes? I was wondering if you and Russ had settled on a date for the wedding yet. It’s been over a week since we found out about you two, and you haven’t said a word.”

She didn’t have to say that it wasn’t normally in Lynn’s character to keep to her own confidence. Lynn was well-known for being an extrovert. Around the McCall household, it was a rare occurrence when she
didn’t
speak her mind. “Actually no, we haven’t settled that.” Lynn stopped herself from divulging more information than she wanted.

“But you’ve talked about it, right?” Ashley pressed.

“A little.” Lynn crossed her fingers behind her back, and she edged a tiny bit closer to the door.

Ashley looked at her with speculation. “Do you have a time frame of some kind?”

Put on the spot, Lynn couldn’t even think straight. “Six months,” she declared, thinking that was a plausible amount of time. That would give her and Russ a reasonable amount of time to break off their engagement.

“Jeez,” Ashley gasped. “That’s hardly enough time to plan a proper wedding, especially with the baby arriving.” She put her palm against her stomach
and patted it. “Do you want me to start making some preliminary notes?”

“Um, yeah, sure,” Lynn replied, distracted. “Right now I have something to do. Can we talk about this later?” She barely waited for Ashley’s response before she took off and went out the front door.

Whew, that was close. She walked across the yard toward the barn. She was almost there when she spotted Russ. He’d already saddled a palomino stallion and was working with him inside the corral. The horse was almost ready to be returned to his owner.

She climbed up on the fence and leaned her elbows over the top to hold herself in position. Watching him, she realized how fortunate she’d been to work with him all these months. Though he hadn’t allowed her to move as fast in training as she’d hoped, he’d been a good mentor. A year of working with him had taught her that, she reluctantly admitted. While earlier she’d complained to Jake that Russ was dragging his feet training her, as she watched him with the horse, she was awed by his remarkable patience and skill and realized how very lucky she was to work with him.

If he hadn’t been so ornery most of the time, they would’ve argued less and she might even have
enjoyed
working with him.

A little while later, he dismounted and started loosening the saddle, then hefted it on his shoulder and walked toward the gate. Watching the byplay of the muscles in his arms and chest, Lynn gulped, then realized she’d been caught staring when he stopped at the gate and looked up at her. Without speaking, she jumped off the fence as he opened the gate. Avoiding his gaze, she closed it for him. However it wasn’t
possible to ignore his intense look, and she felt compelled to face him.

“I was wondering if you had a chance to take care of that errand we talked about?” Lynn was beginning to hate the blush that rose to her cheeks whenever she broached the subject of the pregnancy test.

Russ nodded. He’d noticed her coming across the yard and had already figured out what she wanted. She’d pretty much avoided him after their intimate interlude in the barn, and he’d been wondering if he was going to have to go and find her. “It wasn’t easy, but, yeah, I did actually.”

He started walking toward the barn, and she fell into step beside him, careful not to get too close. She actually had to stop herself from touching him. “If you give it to me, I can, um, take care of it.”

“It’s in my room,” he informed her, walking inside and dumping the saddle in the barn. He turned and looked at her. “I’ll get it for you.”

Nodding, ready to get it over with, she followed him to his quarters. Russ reached his door, opened it and stood back for her to enter. Lynn flashed him a quick glance, then stepped inside. Immediately upon entering, her entire body felt as if it had gone through a time warp. Her gaze went to the unmade bed, and she saw an image of herself there, naked and writhing against him. A knot formed in her throat, and she swallowed hard to dislodge it.

As if unaware of her dilemma, Russ disappeared into the bathroom. To keep her mind busy, she glanced around the room. Other than the bed, everything was basically tidy, with only a few things out of place. He’d been reading, she noticed, as she picked up a mystery novel on his bedside table. It
was a popular title, written by a well-known writer. A torn piece of newspaper inserted a quarter of the way through served as a bookmark.

Digesting that, she put it down. She didn’t know Russ liked to read. Actually, she really didn’t know a lot about him personally, and she realized that regardless of what happened between them, she was curious about him.

She swung around when she heard a noise. Russ had walked back into the room and had a small brown bag in his hand.

“This wasn’t the easiest thing in the world to get. There was a lot of stuff to choose from.” As she approached him, Russ was distracted by the gentle sway of her breasts.

“Let me see.” He held it out to her, and she opened the bag and took out a blue box with black writing.

“How does it work?”

Frowning, she put her hand on her hip. Her gaze came up to meet his. “I really wouldn’t know.”

Russ took a step back. She was close enough for him to touch, and he was having trouble resisting the temptation. He hadn’t been able to think straight since yesterday when he’d kissed her in the barn. “I was just asking. I figured since you’re a woman, you’d know about these things.”

Lynn sank down on the edge of his bed. “Ah, like it’s something every woman should know about? Kinda like all men should know the year and make of a car just by looking at it?”

Russ dignified her words with a nod. “Well, yeah.” He sat beside her on the bed. It dipped with
his weight, shifting her closer to him, and the sweet scent of her reached his nostrils.

She made a face at him, and he grinned. Then she became conscious of how close they were sitting and tried to scoot away a little as she returned her attention to the box and studied it. “This doesn’t look right,” she said, ignoring the quickening of her pulse. She held it a little closer. “I don’t think you bought the right thing.” Concentrating again on the box, she was quiet for a moment.

Before she realized his intention, Russ took the box from her. “It has the word pregnancy right there on it,” he pointed out, stabbing at it with his index finger. Lynn grabbed at the box, but he held it out of her reach, using his other arm to ward off her attempts at getting it back.

“Russ, give me that!” she demanded, and her voice rose. She caught him off guard and snatched it from him, then studied the box again. “You idiot! This isn’t a pregnancy test,” she wailed. “It’s a kit to determine ovulation!”

He’d been grappling with her, shoving the kit away from where she had it prominently displayed in front of his face. His movements suddenly stopped. “What?”

“You know, the kind of test a woman takes when she
wants
to get pregnant.” Her tone was less than tolerant. “How on earth did you pick this up by mistake?” she asked sharply, getting to her feet, her stance rigid.

“I told you there was a lot of stuff to choose from,” he said, defending himself, charging to his feet to confront her. “You were the one who said it wouldn’t be hard.”

“Well, you were the one who said you’d get it. If I’d known you couldn’t do it right, I’d have found a way to do it myself.”

“I did the best I could under the circumstances! Or did you want your brother to know what I was buying? As it was, I had to make up an excuse to leave the meeting and sneak into a nearby store to hunt for the damn thing!”

Lynn glared at him. “Well, you couldn’t have gotten it more wrong!”

Russ grabbed the box from her and threw it at the trash can. It bounced off the rim, then fell inside. “We’ll get another one, then.”

“I don’t know when.” They were both aware that fall was a busy time on the ranch. Everyone was expected to pitch in and help get the work done and that included both of them.

“Hell, we’ll just have to make time,” he stated, glaring at her, annoyed that they’d have to wait. He took a deep breath and was quiet for a moment. “Look,” he told her, making an obvious effort to talk in a civil tone, “it won’t do any good to argue about it. There’s nothing we can do until we get one.”

“I know,” she answered, her tone more rational as she calmed down. Still, disappointment shadowed her eyes.

Russ stared at her, then he moved closer to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m really sorry I messed it up.”

Lynn focused on the strong column of his throat. His nearness was causing havoc inside her. It had been in this very room that he’d made love to her. Unable to speak, she lifted her gaze, and his green eyes drew hers. She touched his chest, laying her
palm against it, and she felt his body tense. “I’m sorry, too, for yelling at you. It’s really not your fault.” For a moment, they stared at each other in crushing silence.

“Damn.” Russ had been in control until she’d touched him. All hell broke loose inside him, and he reached for her, pulling her tight against him. “You’re going to be the death of me yet,” he whispered, sounding frustrated. Then he brought his mouth down hard on hers.

Lips touched, tongues met. Their bodies melded together as passion exploded between them. His hands were at her blouse almost immediately, jerking it from her pants. All Lynn could think about was helping him get it off. She wanted to feel his hands on her body. She’d die if she had to wait a moment longer. As he quickly worked the buttons through the loops, she began to do the same to his shirt. A button popped off. She wasn’t sure whose it was, but she didn’t really care.

She was down to just her bra and jeans by the time he backed her against the bed, and they fell in a heap on it. His body pressed hard against hers, and she struggled to help him get his shirt off, kissing him back as if her very life depended on it.

“Hurry,” she pleaded, her hips writhing as her bra fell away and his hand covered her breast. His thumb grazed her nipple as his mouth found the other one. She arched her back as his teeth gently teased it. Her breath came in snatches. She moaned deep and low in her throat, a wild hunger exploding inside her.

In a frenzy of desire, she felt for his belt and struggled to unbuckle it. Grunting, he sucked his stomach when the back of her hand made contact with his skin.
She ran her hand down the front of his fly, discovering he was hard and ready for her. Then he was kissing her again, deeper, thrusting his tongue into her mouth as he worked her jeans down. He pulled off her boots, then yanked her panties down her thighs. They joined her jeans on the floor.

All the while she was trying to shove his jeans and his dark blue briefs down. He helped her enough to get them out of the way. She opened her legs for him and felt the velvet tip of his shaft intimately touch her. He was pushing inside when he suddenly stilled. His entire body became stiff, and he struggled for a breath.

“Damn.”

“Don’t stop,” she rasped, her body on fire.

“Lynn—”

“Don’t. I want you now, Russ. Please.” Pulling his head down to her, she kissed him, sliding her tongue into his mouth.