Riding for Love (A Western Romance) (16 page)

Chapter 14

A week later Eve sat in a white wicker rocker on the front porch, head resting on the back, a glass of tea nestled in her hand. With the exception of the Huber’s and Denton, last week’s guests were gone. It had been one of the most interesting groups she’d had so far this year. The older couple, while seeming to enjoy their lessons, had left the ranch often. There were times Eve thought their lovey-dovey act was just that, an act. Twice she’d come upon them arguing, but then many couples, no matter how much they loved each other, fought.

To her surprise, by the end of the week, instead of pairing up with quiet Sophie, Chuck spent time with the effervescent Jackie. Maybe it was the way the woman didn’t let his son get away with his bad attitude. Eve didn’t care, as long as the boy behaved himself.

Now, with the Fourth of July sitting smack in the middle of the week, there weren’t any other clients at the ranch. She’d been hoping for some time to herself, but with the trails open to locals, another barn dance, and a hayride with a bonfire, she was as tired as ever.

Max came out and spent some time checking out her stock and trying to get her to go out with him again. Denton was in town working on preparations for the upcoming trial being held in December. To keep from telling Max she wouldn’t go out with him because she was falling in love with Denton, she made up an excuse of work in her office and left the man to his own devices in the barn.

It was the evenings that were wearing her down, the long nights of tossing and turning in bed, trying to figure out what to do about her feelings for Dent. Her dreams were becoming increasingly erotic. She and Dent naked on a horse, riding out to her secret place. His arms wrapped around her, fondling her breasts as she guided the horse down the hidden path. His other hand slide lower and lower until it reached her . . . Each time her dreams got this far, she woke, panting and sweating.

She was going to have to do something soon about the man, or walk around like a zombie. Breathing slowly, limbs becoming heavy, she drifted into another dream of them together.

Denton leaned against the doorframe of his cabin, ankles crossed and arms folded over his chest. Watching Eve was becoming one of his favorite pastimes. With the exception of the Hubers and himself, the last of the guests were gone.

Eve sat in her rocker on the porch, holding a glass filled with amber liquid. If he listened closely, he could hear the ice tinkle in the glass. As her head tipped to the side and her eyes slid shut, the glass tilted. He was glad the Hubers and Eve’s employees were in town for the Fourth of July celebrations and Eve could finally get some badly needed rest.

Now it was just the two of them and a multitude of horses. He strode across the lawn and driveway to her front porch.

Eve jerked upright when he took the glass from her hand. As much as he wanted to draw her into his arms and kiss the frown from her brow, he set the glass down and sat down.

“Denton, what are you doing here? I thought you went into town with everyone else.” She sat up. “Is something wrong?”

“No. I wanted to spend some quiet time here on the ranch, with you. Besides, you invited me here for a glass of ice tea.”

Eve took a deep breath and ran a hand over her face. “Now I remember.” She gestured to the empty glass sitting next to a sweaty pitcher of tea. “Help yourself. Geez, I must have been more tired than I thought.”

“Well, it has been an interesting day so far.” A frown crossed her forehead. “What’s wrong?’

“This is starting to become a habit.”

“What is?”

“Sitting here on the porch, sharing a drink, talking.”

“I don’t think a few times constitutes a habit, Eve.” He wiped the moisture from the side of his glass with his thumb. “Although, I could get used to this easily. You. Me. Porch. Drink. Relaxing.”

Eve’s gaze settled on his face. A small smile played across her lips. “Yeah,” she whispered. “Me, too.”

Denton held his breath, waiting for her to say something else. She picked up the glass and ran a finger over the rim. Her lips turned up in a slight smile. He stared.

“What?” she finally asked.

“What did you mean?”

Eve’s smile grew. “By what?”

“Don’t be obtuse, Eve. You actually agreed with me.”

Eve took a drink and set the glass on the glass table between them. “I’m not sure where this is going, Dent, but I realize I’m glad you are back in my life. Believe me, when I say this is something I thought I would never, ever say to you.” She paused and picked a piece of lint from her shorts. “You have melded yourself right back into my life, like you never left. And . . .”

Denton waited anxiously for her next words, silently praying they would be the ones he wanted to hear. “And?”

“And, I’m happy you’re with me, right here, right now.”

Denton reached across the table and took her hand, wondering what the tears in her eyes meant. “Really?”

She blinked away the tears. “Yes, really.” She stood. “Let’s go for a ride.”

“Now?”

She pulled him out of the chair. “I’ve always had this fantasy,” she breathed against his lips.

“A fantasy?” he murmured back against hers. “What kind of fantasy?”

“Wait and see.” She sighed and pushed him away from her body. “Go get your riding gear on.”

Denton had trouble getting his mind off the ache between his legs and on to what she was saying. “Uh, riding gear?”

She licked her lips.

Denton bit back a groan.

“That’s what I said.”

“Where are we going?”

“The pond.”

“Pond?”

“Denton, please. Must you repeat everything I say? Yes, we’re going to the pond. I have a fantasy to fulfill.”

His eyes swept the ranch.

“Don’t worry, everyone is gone to town for the festivities,” she said over her shoulder as she opened the porch door.

In a daze, Denton walked to his cabin. Fantasy? She had a fantasy? He got all the harder thinking about it. He opened the door and stopped short. Hell, she didn’t say what kind of fantasy. Maybe she wanted to retaliate for what he did to her. Maybe she’d get him on his horse, ride out to the pond, slap his horse on the rump, and let him ride into forever. He cringed at the thought.

He remembered her lips whispering against his, the way she’d pressed her body into his, the way her eyes seemed to smolder with desire. She wouldn’t act all seductive if she planned something bad for him. Would she? Had she developed some kind of
femme fatale
moves since he was gone? Had she turned into a black widow and was actually planning his demise? He cleared his mind of his crazy thoughts.

He had fantasies of his own and if hers were anything like his . . . Denton groaned and got harder.

He smiled at the image running through his head. Eve, him, lying naked in the sun, under a full moon, in a hot tub. Hell, didn’t matter where, as long as they were naked.

“I need a cold shower,” he muttered and glanced at his watch. “She said fifteen minutes and I’ve already wasted five trying to figure out what she wants from me.”

Then he thought about what she’d said about wearing riding clothes. So much for nakedness. Now what the hell did she mean by that? He snapped his fingers. “Wait!”

Glad he still had some clean jeans left, he stepped out of his shorts and took a rapid, cool shower, then hummed as he tugged the jeans on, sans underwear. After all, she did sound sexy, and if this was a fantasy, well, his fantasies didn’t include underwear.

Eve pressed the door shut and leaned against it. She slapped her hands over her face. “Shit. What the hell am I doing coming onto him like that?” She peeked through the door window. Denton’s long strides had him nearly to his cabin. “I’m acting like a hussy.”

She fixed her eyes on his tight rear and smiled. She’d been thinking way too much about her dreams. If they’d finished what they’d started ten years ago during Thanksgiving break, maybe she could get on with her life.

Even though she’d ignored the rumors about his marriage, she’d taken some pleasure when he divorced Marie. After all, she was only human. Although Eve was friends with his mother, Rose had never offered any details and Eve had never asked. The story he’d told her the night of their dinner rang true to how Marie had operated in those days.

Denton entered his cabin, and Eve let the curtains drop and ran up the stairs. She stood in the door of her bedroom and tapped her finger against her lips. “Hmmm. What does one wear to a fantasy?”

Like in her dreams, she preferred to wear nothing. Even with the place empty, the way things were going, she’d be caught buck naked and bare-assed prancing through the woods.

Well, she did tell Denton to wear his riding clothes, so she would have to follow suit, but with a few modifications.

Eve smiled and headed to her closet. Even if she had no idea how to seduce a man, she could damn well follow her fantasy, or as close to it as she could get.

Denton leaned against the barn door with his hands tucked into his front jean pockets. He curled his fingers. He’d be damned if he would peek at his watch again. She said half an hour and the last time he’d looked, she was five minutes late.

“Damn it.” He slid his hand from his pocket and turned his wrist. “Huh, five minutes and thirty seconds late,” he muttered. “I guess she was yanking my chain. Another minute and I’m . . .” He ran his hand over his head. Who was he kidding? What was one more minute in the scheme of things?

He moved to a bench placed along one side of the barn door. A cat stopped licking her paw and grooming herself to turn her green eyes on him. “I know, I know. She’s late.” Denton shook his head. “Get a grip, man. Geez, now I’m talking to a cat.” With one more disdainful glance, the cat went back to primping.

He turned his wrist to once again check his watch, when the hinges on the screen door creaked. His breath hitched at the vision gliding toward him.

Head devoid of her ever-present hat, long, black hair flowing over her shoulders, Eve waltzed toward him carrying an old-fashioned wicker basket over one arm and a light blue blanket over the other. But that wasn’t what made his heart flip, his mouth go dry, and his cock stand at attention.

She wore a skirt. Hell, he didn’t think she’d ever donned a skirt the entire time they’d dated. The floor-length prom dress didn’t count because it covered her legs. And what a pair she had, for her skirt showed more leg than it covered. Her legs had been pleasing in high school, but a little on the thin side.

Several years of riding and a few pounds added to her frame and . . .
yowza
. Shapely calves, pretty knees, not knobby. His gaze moved upward. Tight, muscular thighs, the kind to wrap around a man’s waist and squeeze him into submission. The skirt, well, what there was of it, fit over her well-rounded ass and flat stomach and flared with some type of ruffles stopping mid-thigh. How the hell was she going to get on her horse?

Even though a definite leg-and-ass man, his gaze moved up. His mouth dried to the consistency of sawdust. The bright red top made her complexion rosy. An over-the-shoulder strap was attached to a low-scooped neck, leaving her other shoulder bare. The top clung to her body showing off her tiny waist. If she wore a bra, he couldn’t figure out how she hid it. The tops of her breasts peaked from the scoop neck. Her breasts jiggled as she glided toward him. He was no longer a leg man but a breast man. Or simply an Eve man.

Her cowboy boots crunched across the gravel. He gulped and took in the view once more, only this time from the top to the bottom. He swore her hips swayed a bit more with each step bringing her closer.

“Like what you see, big boy?” Her husky voice sent shivers down his spine.

“Ah . . . yeah.” His fogged mind couldn’t conjure up anything else as she handed the basket to him.

Like what you see, big boy?
Cripes, she sounded like some two-bit whore from a two-bit cowboy movie.
Man, what a moron. What must he think of me?
What would look more foolish, smacking myself in the head or running back to the house and hiding?

Keeping one foot in front of the other, she kept her eyes on him and handed him the picnic basket. He didn’t say anything, but looked like he’d been smacked in the head with a two-by-four.
How on earth am I going to get out of this one?

With extreme effort, she moved past Denton into the barn. He placed a hand on her forearm, stopped her, and licked his lips.

“Uh, Eve?”

“Yes?”
Here is comes. He’s going to tell me he can’t be with a hussy like me.

“Wow. Uh, you look . . . Wow. Better than any of my dreams.”

Eve glanced at his hand and shook her head to clear the fog surrounding her brain. “Excuse me?”

He removed his hand, and her arm instantly missed his touch. “Never mind. Shouldn’t we get going?”

She went to the tack room. Setting the blanket on a bale of hay, she pulled down Tilly’s bridle.

“Which horse am I taking?” Denton asked from the doorway.

Eve peered over her shoulder. Her eyes held his for a moment and hid a grin. “Grab Tilly’s saddle.” She ignored his frown and left the room, looking over her shoulder to make sure he followed.