Valentine's Cowboy (4 page)

Shelby shoved past Sam and spotted Valentine on the open sofabed. “What has my brother done?” She made a beeline across the room. “I warned him not to touch you.”

She turned to glare murderously at her brother. “You should be ashamed of yourself. She was drunk, you knew that. But you couldn’t control your damn dick, could you? You took advantage of—”

“He didn’t, “Valentine protested in interruption. Then she thought about her missing bikini top and the fuzziness in her brain. “At least I don’t think he did.”

“Of course I didn’t!” Sam stormed across the room, towered over both women, and looked thoroughly pissed at his sister. “I did
not
take advantage of your precious Dr. Hart!”

Shelby appeared appeased by his blunt denial. “Well, okay.”

Valentine knew she should feel the same way, but, oddly enough, she felt irritated. Focused on Sam, she snapped, “Did you have to make it sound like I’m so completely unappealing?”

She lowered her head into her hands, rubbed at her throbbing brow, and wished she could simply melt away into nothingness. She was clearly suffering from the open-mouth-insert-foot disease.

Sam blew out a breath of an obviously frustrated man. “Where do you get this stuff? Lesbian, hardly. Unappealing, wrong. You’re so damn appealing that you’re killing me here.” He pulled the sheet tighter around him, clearly irritated that they could both see his obvious arousal.

His sister didn’t need to see this side of him.
She
didn’t need to see this state of his. But it definitely intrigued her that she couldn’t seem to stop looking that way now. This wasn’t right! He’s wrong!
Wasn’t he
? She tried to dig deep into her mind for an image of a naked woman. She needed something to distract her from the sinful, delicious thoughts of what this handsome alpha male could do to her.
Nada.
All she could picture was the sheet slipping from Sam Thompson’s firm grip. What everything south of that sheet would look like. Oh, and she’d seen it only moments ago. How could she have forgotten? Well, she hadn’t. And that was the problem.

“Maybe you should go get dressed.” She met his gaze and hoped he would race from the room to do so. She didn’t need this temptation any longer.

Of course, being a typically stubborn male, he didn’t move. Instead he faced his sister. “What’s the plan for today?” he asked casually.

Shelby glanced from Sam to Valentine, something mischievous sparking in her eyes. She reached out a hand to help Valentine off the sofabed. “I’ve got a replacement key for you. So, before we discuss the plans for the day, you can go back to your condo. Get cleaned up, get dressed, down a dozen or so cups of coffee.”

“Coffee! I’d kill for a cup of coffee,” Valentine said on a sigh. “And a full bottle of aspirin. Or a hit man for the guy using a jackhammer in my head.”

“I bet you would,” Sam said with amusement in his tone. “I think I’ve got some Tylenol.” He walked off to his bathroom.

“He’s really not so bad,” Shelby said, in an attempt to defend her brother.

Valentine nodded, which made her headache worse.

He returned, tapped out a couple of pills, and handed them to her. Her palm tingled where his fingers touched it. He sucked in a surprised breath and grumbled, “You might consider staying away from mai tais in the future.”

“I might.” Valentine’s gaze darted to where his sheet had inched down to belly button level. She swallowed hard.

“Still think you’re…” He didn’t finish the question, merely raised an eyebrow, and tugged the sheet higher. They both knew what he implied.

Unable to answer, face on fire once again, she raced with her new condo key in hand for the door.

* * *

Sam sat in one of the chairs around a small white wrought iron table on his balcony a short while later and looked unhappily at his sister. His stomach churned from stress. Stress he’d been dealing with for months now, more stress from their current conversation.

“We don’t want to move back to Kansas. We don’t want to take over the ranch,” Shelby stated firmly. She picked up half of a bagel and spread cream cheese over it. “I wish you’d stop hounding me about it every time we see each other.”

He tried to calm down by looking at the putting green below his building. Other guests up early like him attempted to putt small balls into various holes on the green. “Such a stupid game, golf. Complete waste of time.”

She laughed, earning a frown from him. “You think all sports are stupid. You think anything that doesn’t have to do with working practically 24/7 is a waste of time.”

When he opened his mouth to protest, she shook her head. “I understand where you’re coming from, Sam. I know you’ve had to work hard most of your life, and I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I couldn’t have asked for a better big brother.”

He shifted uncomfortably in the patio chair. He wasn’t used to praise from anyone. He simply did what had to be done. He’d always functioned that way. Feeling awkward, he sipped on the coffee she’d made them while he’d called the ranch to check in. As usual the men were working hard. Jake had assured him everything was okay and told him to forget about his responsibilities for once in his life, as if he could. His friend had all but ordered him to just relax and have a good time.

Staring at the people laughing and talking down on the putting green, he muttered under his breath, “I don’t know how to relax.” How pitiful was that?

Shelby leaned toward him, startling him into realizing she’d overheard his quiet admission. She gently touched his arm. “I’ll help you.”

He watched her glance toward the condo next to them, the one he’d been concentrating on ignoring because he could hear the woman who’d haunted his dreams puttering around in there. Valentine must have her sliding door open like he did. He didn’t even have to close his eyes to see her all but naked on his sofabed. He could still see those plump breasts that he’d ached to reach out and touch. He continued to ache to touch them. He really was damn pitiful.

“I bet Val would help you. She’s really good with people, very understanding.”

He hadn’t actually seen the “understanding” side of Dr. Valentine Hart. What he’d seen—and felt—was one soft, sexy package of temptation.
Woman lover
. Yeah right! She drew a man’s attention without any work at all. He’d seen proof of that down at poolside the night before. And she drew him to her like she’d cast a line and sunk a hook into him. ‘Course her reaction last night when she’d learned who he was, and this morning when she’d found herself draped over his naked body, had been more like she’d jerked him off her hook and tossed him back out to sea. Still, there’d been a couple of moments of awareness between them during their panic when Shelby had pounded on his door. The situation really had been innocent enough. Truthfully, he wouldn’t have minded if it hadn’t been. The only “help” he wanted from her was something his sister didn’t need to know about.

“Sam?” Shelby touched his arm again in concern. “Are you all right? You seem so distracted today.”

He glanced in her direction. She did
not
need to know what he’d been thinking. “Yeah, I’m good.”

She didn’t look like she believed him, but she sat back and they silently watched the people below. Relieved, he stretched his long legs out and crossed them at the ankles. No, she did not need to know that his body had been incredibly aroused by her friend. A fact that still surprised him, not because he didn’t find Valentine Hart attractive, but because of who she was. The romance therapist who’d spent time with his sister learning private things about Shelby and probably about him, too. The therapist who’d managed to make Shelby seem to see him in a different way these days.

He wasn’t at all sure how he felt about her newly found independent attitude. She no longer relied on him to make the decisions in their lives. He wasn’t in control anymore and that bothered him. He’d always preferred to be in control. Dale probably had a lot to do with Shelby’s change as well, but he preferred to blame Dr. Valentine Hart. He didn’t have much use for people who played at messing with other people’s minds and emotions.

The women in his past, including his recent ex-girlfriend Kathryn, didn’t play emotional games. They knew and understood his unspoken relationship rules. He took a woman out to dinner or a movie when he felt like it. He was intimate with her when he wanted to be. Kathryn had accepted his ways and had never gone against him. Never once said she was “annoyed” with him, like Dr. Hart had told him last night in her drunken state.

There was a niggling reminder in his head that Kathryn had told him the month before that she’d found someone else. If he was so in charge of the relationship—like he’d thought he’d been, why hadn’t he cared more about her calling things off? And why did he find Dr. Hart’s being upset with him far more intriguing? She was one woman who he sensed wouldn’t go easily along with his being in charge of anything. That would no doubt cause some friction in their getting along. Enough friction that some serious heat would build up, enough that when he took her to his bed, they just might burn the sheets right off the bed.

When he took her to his bed! Damn!
He frowned and concentrated on not looking at Shelby. How could he be thinking such crazy thoughts? Because he hadn’t been able to miss seeing all that passion flaring in Valentine’s eyes when she’d first seen him naked in bed? Because he couldn’t get the scent of her out of his memory? Because…
Oh hell!

His jeans had tightened in a place he preferred Shelby didn’t notice. He shot to his feet and stood with hands on the wrought iron railing to look off at the rolling waves. “Plans for the day, Sis?” he asked as a change of subject.

He heard her chair scraping back on the concrete. She picked up the coffee cups from the table. “Dale and I’ve made reservations for a couple dozen of the family and friends here to go on a whale watching cruise later this morning. We’re meeting down at the docks in Lahaina at 10:30.”

He shifted to face her, his gut clenching. “I hope you’re not thinking of including me in the excursion.” He didn’t have anything against boats, but he was basically a land lover.

She edged back toward the sliding doors. “Sorry, but yes. You’re definitely included in the plan.” She stepped into the great room and flashed him an impish grin. “Val is coming, too.”

From around the corner of the two balconies, Valentine shouted, “No! Absolutely not! No, no, no. Boats make me really uneasy.”

In that instant, Sam changed his mind about going along. “Darlin’, I’ll be there to make sure you’re nice and safe. Trust me.”

“Right. Trust you.
Not
!”

“Is it boats that make you uncomfortable?” He hesitated for an instant. “Or spending time near me?”

Shelby gaped at him in shock. He hadn’t teased anyone in a long time. Then she called out toward Valentine, “If you really don’t want—”

Valentine ignored her and called back, “Think you’re pretty hot stuff, huh cowboy? Irresistible?” She snorted. “Hardly! I’m scared of falling overboard. Shelby, I can’t swim. I’m a regular block of concrete in the water.”

Before Shelby could respond, he said, “More’n one lady has thought me hot.”

He caught his sister’s rapt attention and decided definitely not to pursue that subject matter any further at the moment. “Anyway, I swim like a fish. Honey, I guarantee if you should happen to topple over the side, I’ll dive in and save you.” He had no idea why he was reacting this way. He’d didn’t normally tease a woman he barely knew.

“Stop calling me ‘darling’ and ‘honey’!” It sounded like she’d stomped her foot in annoyance.

He grinned in pure amusement. He didn’t appreciate tantrums of any sort, but she was so damn cute when she got upset with him. “Sure thing,
sweetheart
,” he said to antagonize her more. “I’ll bring her with me, Sis.”

“No, he won’t! I wouldn’t go anywhere with him. Not even down to the pool. Absolutely not!” Valentine countered, sounding ready to climb around the separating wall and onto his balcony to throttle him.

“Shelby wants you there, so you’re going.” It really wasn’t like him to insist on someone doing something they didn’t want to do. But hell if he could stop himself. He couldn’t wait to spend more time with the spitfire. It had been too damn long since he’d really enjoyed anything. And he sure enjoyed pushing little Miss Sassypants’ buttons. “Be ready to go into Lahaina in an hour.”

He edged past his grinning sister into his condo, chuckling as he heard Valentine’s colorful name calling. She really had quite a repertoire. Normally being called names would irritate him, this time he couldn’t wait to pester her again. Oh yeah, when they finally came together, there would be sparks.

* * *

“Stop! Stop it right now!” Valentine wriggled for all she was worth, desperate to get away from the large, hard hand swatting her shorts-covered bottom. Never in her life had she been dragged over someone’s knee. Never had anyone dared to spank her. She was outraged, furious, thinking murderously…and beginning to be in considerable pain. But she absolutely refused to cry out, other than to demand he stop this nonsense. Or to threaten the disgusting cowboy’s life, which she had done repeatedly at the start. That reaction had only irritated him more. Her poor bottom had suffered for that.

“You are the most aggravating woman I’ve ever met,” Sam said in something like a growl. He went right on spanking her as he sat on one of the chairs from the dining room table. “A spoiled brat who clearly needs her fanny heated.”

As a particularly hard swat hit the lower part of her buttocks again, she kicked her legs straight out and arched backward. “You should know all about being ‘aggravating!’” she hissed. Once more she tried to squirm free of the determined hold he had on her.

“I’m not a brat. That is a child. I’m a grown woman.” She started to twist around so she could bite his leg through his jeans, but thought better of it and simply blew out a deep, frustrated breath. He’d seen and known what she’d planned to do, mainly because she’d already tried that. It had only gotten her a sound round of even harder spanks.