Rawhide and Roses (9 page)

As her hands patted the tent floor before her, searching for her sleeping bag and mumbling something incoherent, he held his breath and simply watched. She was blocking the entrance to the tent. There was no way out of this. He was going to have to face this dilemma.

Head on.

With her reaching for the zipper and then jerking the sleeping bag open, Thad knew he had no choice but to make his presence known as quickly and as quietly as possible. He sure as hell didn’t need the whole camp converging on them at that moment.

The second her flesh met his and she jumped back he knew that was exactly what would happen if she screamed. That’s why he’d clamped his hand over her mouth and hauled her luscious body back down next to his.

Damn! How he wished he’d at least left his shirt on. How he wished he hadn’t touched her, at all. She was just as soft as he’d known she would be. And his hand raking against the underside of her breasts as he held her close and whispered in her ear to be quiet, was nearly his undoing. If he only hadn’t made that crack about a certain area of his anatomy being thick, he might have faired a bit better in the whole damn scenario.

Because that’s when she’d bit him, and that’s when he’d been the one to yelp.

He released her in an instant.

Kim spun away, clambering for her shirt and quickly jerking it around her upper body. “What the hell are you doing in my tent?” she gasped.
“In my sleeping bag?”

Thad let the dark between then reign with silence for an expanded moment. The tension in the air was as dense as the dew he expected on the ground in the morning. Finally, he answered her, choosing his words carefully. “Just doin’ as instructed, Ma’am.”

“What?” Kim’s voice flew up an octave at his ridiculous comeback.

“Just gettin’ things ready for you as you requested, Ma’am,” he returned in his most obedient, gentleman-cowboy demeanor.

“What are you talking about?” Kim repeated.

He thought about continuing to goad her, that he was only following her orders from earlier in the day—the thing about warming her tent—but thought better of it. He sat up, rubbing his left palm, and angrily flung the sleeping bag away from him. “Hell. You’ve got the wrong tent, Ms. Martin. This is my tent.”

“What?” she hissed and backed up on her knees toward the other side. “Get out, now!” He watched her arms cross over her chest, and he was sure was trembling.

Hell, he was trembling.

“Believe me,” Thad continued, “I never intended sharing my tent with you. Or my sleeping bag. Somehow, I don’t think that would be too pleasant for either of us. However, you need to be the one to leave. This is my tent.”

“No… Mack told me this was mine.”

“Then Mack told you wrong.”

“But why would he do that?”

Thad waited a second before answering. “That, Ms. Martin, is exactly what I intend to find out. Now, I’ll turn my back while you gather your things and get dressed. Your tent is next to the dining fly. That’s where the cook sleeps. Always. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get some shut-eye.”

Thad did exactly what he said he would do. He couldn’t see Kim…not really. But he turned and could hear her, and in his mind’s eye he could see her pulling on her clothing. That image did unsettling things to his libido.

Very unsettling things. Particularly when he could still feel the heat of her skin on the palms of his hands.

She left and he was thankful for that fact.

Come morning, Mack Montgomery was going to pay. And pay dearly.

Chapter Seven

Kim started awake at the sound of her tent flap being zipped open. Pouncing to her knees, jerking the sleeping bag up around her, she gasped as she saw someone sneak through the opening. A shaft of moonlight penetrated through the space illuminating the intruder and the insides of the tent.

“Kim...?” the figure whispered.

She relaxed. “Jillie! You scared the shit out of me. Get in here.”

Jillie entered and let the tent flap slap down. She thrust her arm, and something else, toward her. “Here. Who else did you think would be sneaking in your tent in the middle of the night?”

Kim took a jar of something out of her hand. “No one,” she grumbled. No way in hell she would tell Jillie about Thad invading her tent earlier. And doubly no way she would tell her that she’d been dreaming about him doing incredible things to her body just before Jillie woke her.

“What’s this?” she uncapped the jar.

“Salve.”

Kim silently blessed her. She’d tossed and turned the last couple of hours trying to find a comfortable sleeping position. She didn’t even want to think about tomorrow. “Thanks.”

“Are you really sore?”

She shot a look her way. “What do you think?”

Jillie giggled. “Feels like you’ve had wicked sex all night and had none of the pleasure, right?”

Kim cast a glance aside and dug her fingers in the salve. “Wouldn’t know much about that lately and my memory seems to be lacking in feeling anything like this after sex.”

Sidling up next to her on the sleeping bag, Jillie bent closer to her ear and chuckled. “Then you’ve been doing it all wrong…making love with the wrong men, Kim. Haven’t I told you to drop those wimps?”

“Jillie!” She scooted away. “In the first place I don’t make love with every man I go out with, and in the second place, I wouldn’t make love with any man who would make me feel like this afterwards.”

“Then you’re missing out,” she shot back. “I bet Thad would make love like a savage. What do you think?”

Her face heated up. If Jillie only knew what was going on inside her head a moment ago, she wouldn’t have to even guess about it. “I don’t think. Now, leave me alone to put this salve on so I can get back to sleep. Do you need this back tonight?”

“Uh, no. I’ve already used it.”

Kim thought as much. She figured that Jillie had probably had a little help applying the ointment to boot.

“Uh, Kim..? I’m, uh, not going to be, uh, sharing your t
—
”

“Go,” Kim ordered, anticipating her statement, feigning indifference. She caught a strong whiff of the salve drew her head back at the pungent odor. “Go and I don’t want to see you until morning. At least one of us ought to have a good time on this nightmare.”

Jillie turned toward the door and then hesitated. “Kim, if you’re that miserable...”

“I’m not. Just go to Mack. You two look like you were made for each other.”

“I really like him.”

“Good.”

“In fact, I think I’m falling in love with him.”

Kim felt her eyes widen as she glanced sharply at her friend. “Already?”

Jillie shrugged. “Well, you know what they say about love at first sight...”

Kim glanced away. She didn’t want to think about the possibility of Jillie falling in love. “Yeah, yeah, yeah...well, let’s wait to see what happens when you’re ready to go back to
Kentucky
.”

The confines of the tent grew silent when Jillie didn’t answer. Kim slowly turned toward her friend. “You are going back to
Kentucky
, aren’t you?”

It took at least half a minute for Jillie to answer. “Of course,” she replied. “Look, I’ll see you in the morning, okay?” Jillie scooted toward the tent opening.

“Fine.”

She left and Kim stared into the dark. Something was up, she knew it. And it left a sort of empty longing deep inside her. There was something Jillie didn’t want to tell her. Something that was going to change things. Oh, God. She
wasn’t
going back to
Kentucky
.

If that were true she ought to be happy for Jillie. Would be happy for her. She would miss her, yes, and would stand by her decision, but deep down niggling fingers of jealousy jabbed at her.

Embarrassed at her self-revelation, Kim plunged two fingers into the salve and began to massage a thick glob of the peppery stuff on her thigh, all the while thinking about Jillie’s words. If you’re that miserable....

Well, the thing was, she wasn’t really miserable, which was entirely surprising to herself. She was just tired of fighting with Thad. Tired of fighting with herself. Tired of wondering if she’d ever feel his arms around her again.

And tired of wondering if she, Kimberly Price Martin, could let herself fall for a man like Thaddeus Winchester? Someone who would love her unconditionally, like Mack already appeared to love Jillie? A man who was bigger than life itself and scared the wits out of her? A man who probably would make love like a savage and leave her muscles sore and wanting for more.

A man who could melt her with one touch of lips, she imagined.

If she wanted.

And that was the million dollar question, wasn’t it? Did she want?

****

She woke late. She could tell by the way a miniscule ray of sun slanted through a hole at the top of her tent. It took until early morning before she’d finally fallen asleep. There were certain things occupying her mind that had kept her brain churning and her adrenaline jumping until the wee hours but when she’d finally fallen, she’d slept like a zombie.

Now, she felt infinitely better than last night. She must have just needed a good night’s sleep. But along with feeling better, came a hint of irritability.

It irritated her to no end that she actually liked Thad’s arms wrapped around her. How could she? He was nearly a total stranger! What was wrong with her that she would crave his touch again and again?

She wouldn’t think about that now. At the moment there were other parts of her body which needed immediate attention. Those same parts that woke her from her sleep-of-the-dead moments earlier. She needed to pee, again, which was such a damned nuisance. And her stomach was rumbling, which was even a greater headache. Maybe she needed a good breakfast. She’d only eaten a little bit yesterday.

Grumbling and uttering an occasional expletive, she fumbled around the small tent trying to find her cleanest, dirty pair of blue jeans and socks. She kept on the T-shirt she’d worn to sleep in, but slipped on a bra underneath.

Dressing without the aid of a mirror and a bathroom, she grumbled some more as she rifled through her duffel bag searching for that forever elusive roll of toilet paper. Finally finding it, she grabbed the paper, pulled on her boots, unzipped the tent, and stepped out into the crisp morning. Glancing about the entrance, she spied the requisite shovel, and set off behind the tent to a grove of trees to do her personal duty.

Every step of the way her mutterings grew louder. She was in one heck of a foul mood. Couldn’t sleep. Had to pee. Was expected to cook breakfast for a bunch of Cro-Magnon cowboys. Hungrier than she’d ever been in her life. And every muscle in her bootie nagged like a mother-in-law.

She stopped abruptly behind a huge conifer of some sort. It was wide. Big. Had a good deal of shade. Perfect.

She dropped the toilet paper and dug the mandatory hole.

Her fingers fumbled with her belt, then her fly. The zipper lowered. She hitched her jeans down to her hips.

And dreams of Thad Winchester kept invading her sleep all-the-live-long night....

A twig snapped behind her.

She swung around and jerked at her pants.

And Thad stepped out from behind another large conifer. Zipping his fly.
 

She gasped. Thad turned, hesitated
—
then a sly smirk spread across his face.

“Mornin’.” He tipped his head her way.

“Yeah.”
Get the heck out of here.

After a moment, he walked off. Whistling.

Kim waited until he’d left
—
and then waited another ten minutes for good measure. Then she took care of business
—
and left.

By the time she’d returned to her tent, her mood wasn’t any better. And if Thad was still grinning and whistling by the time she got to breakfast, she had half a mind to wipe that silly smirk off his face, with a spatula.

In her canteen was some fresh water. Had she filled it the night before? She took a healthy drink and then grimaced, reminded that what went in, eventually had to come out. Then stepping behind the tent, she splashed some on her face, brushed her teeth, and tried to make herself halfway presentable. She was getting a little tired of roughing it. It was only the second day. Geez, if she could only take a shower.

Reluctantly, she headed for the dining fly.

****

“Mornin’.”

Kim rubbed her eyes and tried to focus on the body attached to the voice. The way the sun slanted behind the dining fly cast a shadow that prevented her from seeing who had spoken to her.

“Hi Kim.”

Jillie.

Stepping further underneath she spotted Jillie and Mack sitting at the camp table while sipping on steaming cups of coffee. She approached and sat down. “I noticed you didn’t say
good
morning,” she grumbled, glancing at Mack.

“Ah, Kim, cheer up,” he returned, a little too enthusiastically. “It’s a beautiful morning!”