Twin Cowboys for Tamara (5 page)

She liked the fast-pace and convenience, too used to and preferring the city-that-never-sleeps vibe.

But her dad was the only family she had, and he needed her.

At least this is what she told herself. The thought had driven her every move since she’d hung up from Jeremiah to make arrangements for her trip.

My father needs me.

She hadn’t seen or spoken to him since she’d left home. Her last image of him was that of the long, lean, and robust cowboy she had always admired. He had been a rough and ready man’s man, working Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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Twin Cowboys for Tamara

33

his buckaroo crew hard. He had also been an overprotective and loving but stern disciplinarian trying to make sure his only child grew up with the right values.

Tamara had to remind herself that at sixty-five her father was, a senior citizen, even though she knew he would reject this notion.

She didn’t think she’d ever forgive him for Noah, but she could do no less than carry through with her plans and see to his recovery.

It wasn’t like she had anything else better to do. Her personal life was in the crapper. Though her career was flying high, she knew that her success and dedication to it was at least half the reason behind James’ departure. She knew her independence and success fueled his self-esteem issues. She kept telling herself that his chauvinistic attitude and desire to be the only star in their universe weren’t her crosses to bear. She couldn’t spend her life kowtowing to a man’s ego and being who and what she wasn’t just to make things pleasant and easy for him. She had left home eighteen years ago so she wouldn’t have to.

At least her workaholic tendencies had put her in good stead with her firm when it came time to ask for an indefinite leave of absence.

She hadn’t taken a vacation or day off in the seven years since she’d been with McEntee, Brecker, Holzman & Frakt. She’d even dragged herself out of her sick bed and worked through a bad case of the flu last winter. Of course the profits she brought the company in numerous high-profile, lucrative lawsuits, and her reputation as one of her company’s most successful litigators, weighed heavily in her favor. Not to mention her mentor David Frakt, particularly sensitive to her situation after recently losing his own father to a long illness, had passionately made a case for Tamara to go home and tend to her personal affairs without fear of losing her job.

If she had to have any romantic notions about anyone at her firm, Tamara thought, it would be for the firm’s youngest partner, but David’s marriage and devotion to his wife, Michelle, nipped these inclinations in the bud. She didn’t do married men. Nor did she do Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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34

Gigi Moore

white men. She didn’t like to say never though and this motto had served her well in her life and her career so far.

Tamara took a deep breath as she made her way through the airport terminal looking for this person designated to pick her up.

She noticed a couple of uniformed limousine drivers holding up placards with names written across them, but didn’t see her name among them.

Several passengers who had been on the plane with her rushed by to raucously greet loved ones and friends before they all made their way out of the terminal.

Tamara decided to leave too. Maybe her pick-up waited for her outside somewhere. Besides, the fresh air would do her some good, maybe clear her head.

She shouldered her Keepall, expanded the handle to her suitcase to more easily wheel it behind her, and headed for the exit.

Tamara made it through the crowds and still hadn’t spotted anyone familiar, though a dozen or more men wearing cowboy hats, jeans and boots gave her more than a passing glance. She reminded herself that in Colorado the outfit proved a fashion statement as well as the state uniform so didn’t necessarily mean the men in question worked on a ranch, though nine times out of ten, they did.

Just when she’d been about to give up her search, someone cupped her elbow.

Tamara yelped at the unexpected contact and turned to see a tall, broad-shouldered cowboy with black Stetson tipped low over his face.

He had to be at least six-two, towering head and shoulders over her five-seven, so she craned her neck to peek under the brim of his hat and could just make out the strong square jaw and sculpted cheekbones.

God, he was gorgeous, at least what she could see of him. She couldn’t imagine what his eyes looked like, and as if reading her mind, he swept off his hat and cradled it in the crook of one arm to give her a better, full view of his face.

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Twin Cowboys for Tamara

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Tamara swallowed and had to stop herself from gaping. Scratch that first impression. Breathtaking was a better description. He had a full, wavy head of chestnut hair and keen azure eyes that stared down at her with a curiosity and intensity that made Tamara moist. She switched her weight from one leg to the other, surreptitiously squeezing her thighs together to stem the flow.

“Tamara Carpenter?”

“Uh, yes. And you are?”

“My name is…J.”

Jay had a raspy, deep voice that reached down inside and tickled her G-spot.

God, it had been too long since a man had made her feel like swooning.
Had
a man ever made her feel like swooning? Or maybe it had been too long since she’d had some good loving.

Tamara wondered if the eleven-year gap between her and James proved part of their problem, if maybe he thought himself her daddy and the boss of her. He had been an adequate lover, but she’d missed the enthusiasm and spontaneity of the younger men she’d acquired a taste for since her first affair with ten-years-older-than-her Noah.

In the year that they’d dated before his proposal, Tamara had often wondered why she stayed with James. Sure, he looked attractive, demonstrated intelligence, and they had their profession in common, but when it came to pleasing her, not just inside of bed but outside it, James’ cool, master-of-his-domain attitude left a lot to be desired. She often questioned her attraction to him, wondered if she subconsciously searched for the father-figure she’d lost when her father dressed her down for lying with a Double R wrangler
he
thought much too old for her.

Presently, Tamara cleared her throat. “Jay, you said?”

“Yep. I’m your ride to The Double R
.
” He jutted his chin toward the suitcase at her feet. “That it?”

“And this.” She nudged the matching Keepall on her shoulder, and before she could object, he took the bag from her shoulder. He Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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36

Gigi Moore

flipped his hat back onto his head and slung the strap of her bag over his shoulder in one fluid movement. “You don’t have—”

“It’s not a problem, really.” He looked at her, his expression so joyless and stern he reminded her of her father when he’d burst into the barn on her and Noah.

Tamara’s stomach flipped over.

A grown woman, self-sufficient and thriving, Tamara yet doubted whether she could go through with this without some sort of liquid fortification. In fact, she decided she could use a stiff drink before heading out to McCoy. That is, a stiff drink for now. She’d welcome a stiff something else later if Jay proved amenable. “I’d like to make a stop before we go to the ranch.” Thinking about it now, she didn’t know why she hadn’t had a drink on the plane.

“You have some place specific in mind?”

Hmm, she loved his lazy drawl and caught herself sneaking looks at his profile as they headed for the exit. She let her gaze drift down to his left hand to check his ring finger. She released a breath when she found it empty. “Is there a bar nearby?”

“We have a saloon at The Double R
.
”

She shook her head. “I’m not ready to go to The Double R yet. Is that going to be a problem?”

He paused to look at her, his gaze raking her from head to toe and leaving a trail of heat over her whole body as if he had touched her with his hands or tongue.

Tamara put her hands on her hips, more for something to do with them than to be defiant, although there was that too. When she noticed Jay quirk his brow in apparent amusement, she lifted her chin and gave him her best intimidate-the-witness-on-the-stand glare for good measure. “Well, is it?”

“Not a problem at all, ma’am.”

She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she found something familiar about him. Her body tingled with awareness as if they shared a past.

But wouldn’t she remember someone like him on the ranch? Of Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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Twin Cowboys for Tamara

37

course, it had been nearly twenty years since she’d been back, and he couldn’t have been more than twenty-five. He’d probably just been a toddler when she’d made her explosive departure, so it wasn’t possible she could know him or him her.

Tamara decided she
wanted
to get to know him—at least in the biblical sense.

Intellectually, she realized herself on the rebound, but her body refused to have a nickel in that dime, hot for the young cowboy like she hadn’t been for any man in a very long time.

She followed him to his vehicle, a spanking new, shiny black Chevy Silverado. If he had been a man of smaller stature, she would have automatically thought he tried to compensate for some shortcoming with his choice of truck, but Mr. Jay had no shortcomings as far as she could see. Not a one at all.

Tamara licked her lips as he walked around the truck to open the back door and bent at the waist to carefully stow her bags on the floor of the truck. She watched the way his back and shoulder muscles flexed beneath his white western shirt. He had the nicest ass too, round, firm and beckoning her to sink in her nails and teeth.

She shook her head at the thought. God Almighty, it
had
been too long since she’d had someone like him—young and rugged and just all male. Hmm, she guessed something could be said for ranch life because they certainly didn’t grow them like him back in New York.

Sure, some good-looking men abounded in the city, but everyone in her circle wore a suit and tie or the latest designer threads trying to keep up with the Joneses.

Jay’s body looked like the most designer thing about him.

Otherwise, he put on no pretension or airs. He seemed simply a desirable man. Tamara blinked when he stood up and turned to her with a frown.

Had he caught her staring at his butt? Not the best way to make an impression and start off her stay at The Double R. She didn’t want the word to spread that a loose cougar prowled the town if this proved the Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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38

Gigi Moore

case, at least the on-the-prowl part. She didn’t consider herself loose by any means, just a woman with needs and a healthy appetite. And as for the cougar part? Well, maybe a few, okay,
several
years separated them, but who counted anyway? They wouldn’t be doing anything illegal . So who had a—

“…problem?”

She blinked. “I’m sorry?”

“I asked if you have a problem. You’re looking at me funny.”

Tamara instantly shook her head. “No problem. I’d just like to get to a bar.” God, had she just said that? The man must surely be thinking she needed rehab!

He chuckled as he opened the passenger door for her. “One bar coming up.”

“Thanks,” she mumbled, and climbed up into the leather seat.

Jay closed the door behind her and sauntered around the front of the truck to get into the driver’s seat. He looked at her from the corner of his eye and said, “I don’t know how you Yankees do things back in New York, but around here, we buckle up for safety.”

Tamara shook herself out of her sensual stupor and pulled the belt across her torso to fasten herself in.

Jay did the same then keyed the ignition before he turned his head to look at her. “There’s a little place down the road a piece that should suit your needs right nice.”

Tamara nodded, not sure what she needed yet, except
him.

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Twin Cowboys for Tamara

39

She didn’t recognize him.

Jess didn’t know whether to be angry or hurt at this fact, disappointed or sad. He thought he was a little of all, especially disappointed. Out of all the people who’d lived on the ranch, aside from his and Jax’s parents and Bailey, no one had ever been able to tell him and his brother apart
except
Tamara.

Where had her insight gone?

Logic told him she hadn’t seen him in close to two decades, that he had been a kid when she’d left and had looked a lot different then than he did now. He stood a good two feet taller and tipped the scales more than a hundred pounds heavier for two things—pretty big differences. But his face? Sure, he had aged, but he still had his same basic features, the same eyes.

Couldn’t Tamara see her boy beneath the man? Or did the overall adult package
Jay
represented blind her?

Even if
he
was blind to his attractiveness most of the time, Jess always had his identical twin and the bevy of female admirers panting after Jax to remind Jess that
he
wasn’t too bad in the looks department. Tamara’s reaction to him back at the airport just confirmed this.

He grinned at the memory of catching her staring at his backside.

The look on her blushing face had been priceless and went a long way to assuage his irritation at her snub, no matter how unintentional it had been.