Brody (6 page)

“You kill two men without blinking an eye, but the sight of an ounce of blood makes you puke.” Armstrong stood beside her, holding out a canteen.

She took it without answering and rinsed her mouth. If there was one time to be strong for her family, this was it. She wouldn’t let the knowledge that Benjy was in Mexico make her fall apart. Olivia had suspected he was there, but now that she knew the truth, she would follow. Little boys didn’t deserve to be sold like cattle. She would find him.

Armstrong handed her a folded handkerchief. She was surprised by his solicitousness but took the cloth, wet it with water from the canteen and wiped her face.

“Thank you.” She waved the wet handkerchief. “I’ll wash this and return it to you.”

“Much obliged.” He shifted his feet. “Sanchez says he isn’t the one who took your brother, but he was there.”

“Did you let him go?” She wasn’t ready to talk about Benjy with him yet.

“Hell, no. He’s tied up inside that hovel. First town we get to, I’ll send a message to Austin to have him picked up.” Armstrong held out his hand. “Are you ready to ride?”

This was the moment she decided whether she would go farther than she’d expected to. Whether she had the courage to take his hand and ride into the very country her father and brothers had fought. Whether she would risk her life to find the smallest Graham and make the circle complete again.

Olivia took his hand and got to her feet. “I’m ready.”

C
HAPTER
F
OUR

B
rody kept glancing at Olivia. He couldn’t seem to stop himself. She had done nothing but surprise the hell out of him all day. The sun was sinking into the horizon when he spotted an ideal spot to stop for the night. He wondered if his traveling companion was regretting her decision to accompany him.

He wouldn’t blame her if she did. She’d already killed two men for him, not to mention turned herself into a whore, albeit temporarily, and seen things a rancher’s daughter ought not to. Yet she’d held on to her control until he had been interrogating Sanchez. She’d been tough as nails all day, and he sure didn’t expect to find her puking in the bushes.

Olivia Graham confused him, but he wasn’t going to admit that to her. She was one of the toughest women he’d ever met, but still soft. It was a conundrum he didn’t know how to handle. Not that he’d admit that either.

“There’s a spot up ahead where we can make camp.” He turned his horse toward the clearing, expecting her to follow.

She didn’t.

“We’re going to stop now? You can’t mean that. There’s at least an hour or more of light left.” Ah, that glimpse at the softer side of her was gone.

“It’s a good spot with a few rocks to keep the wind off us, trees to protect against any rain, and the sun is almost down.” He kept riding. “Your choice, Liv, but I’m stopping.”

Her gaze nearly burned a hole in his back. She was annoyed with him, but he didn’t care. It wasn’t as though she had the experience to be out in the open prairie alone. Armstrong knew more than she did and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to change that.

“Did you just call me Liv?”

That made him pause. He glanced back at her, not knowing her well enough to understand the tone of her voice.

“Isn’t that what your family calls you?”

Her gaze narrowed. “You are not my family, Ranger.”

This was the woman Armstrong was familiar with. He kneed his horse into motion and didn’t bother responding to her. Common sense would kick in, even if she didn’t want it to.

By the time he had his horse unsaddled and taken care of, Olivia rode up to the clearing. He still didn’t speak to her—there was no need to. She had done what he’d expected and chosen safety over her pride. That didn’t mean she would keep her mouth shut. This was Olivia Graham, the biggest mouth in Texas.

She didn’t disappoint him.

“I don’t appreciate your treating me like that. We are partners after all.”

He unsaddled his horse and rubbed him down briskly before he looked at her. She was still mounted on her mare, glaring at him in the late afternoon light.

“You fixing to stay up there all night?” He tethered his horse to a sturdy tree branch, making sure the animal had ample access to the sweet grass nearby.

She scowled so hard, a line appeared between her brows. If her shirt had been buttoned up, he would’ve been amused by her annoyance. However, her damn breasts were distracting as hell. Brody turned back to setting up the campsite.

“Get off the horse, Liv. Get a small fire going while I find water.” He snatched the canteen off her saddle and stomped off toward the sound of water in the distance. No matter if she listened or not, he had to have a few minutes to stuff his dick back in his britches before she realized it was howling to bust out.

Olivia considered her options before getting off Mariposa. She knew she couldn’t go into Mexico alone, but Armstrong was bossy and condescending—two of her least favorite flaws in a man. He damn sure wasn’t treating her like a partner either.

She couldn’t push him around like she did her brothers. Apparently, he didn’t budge an inch, ever. That meant she needed to find another way to get him to do what she needed.

After gathering some kindling, she made quick work of starting a fire with the matches she had in her saddlebags. Olivia was nothing if not prepared. There was a time folks would’ve made fun of her for her habits, but today wasn’t that day.

She had a nice blaze burning in minutes. The temperature had cooled and the warmth of the fire drifted past her cheeks to disappear into the fading sunlight. She took out the coffeepot from her bag and set it aside to use when Brody returned with water.

Olivia pulled out the supplies she’d packed, feeling comfortable for the first time since she’d left home. Making a meal was something she could do well. Olivia could do most everything in a kitchen, but it had been at least five years since she’d attempted to cook over an open fire. Her mother had supervised her then.

A shaft of pain squeezed her heart before she pushed it away. Her mother wouldn’t want her to wallow in self-pity. Olivia had to do what she had to do.

After a moment to compose herself, she took out the pan she’d brought, and put it on the fire to warm up.

“What the hell are you doing?” The ranger’s growl startled her badly. She nearly fell face-first into the fire but, lucky for her, he grabbed her hair and yanked her back in time.

Her pride and her scalp smarting, she gulped down the lump of fear lodged in her throat. Before she even caught her breath, he was kicking dirt onto the fire.

“What the hell are
you
doing?” She threw his own words right back at him. “You told me to start a fire, Ranger.”

“I didn’t tell you to build a bonfire you could see from twenty miles away.” He kicked enough dirt onto the flames to shrink the merry fire into a weak pile of embers.

“How was I to know that?” She scrambled to her feet, righteous fury coursing through her veins. “You bark orders at me and walk away.”

He scowled down at her, his expression as dark as thunderclouds. “You’d do well to listen to those orders. I said get a small fire started. The important word there was ‘small.’ ”

“You are a bully and a jackass.” Olivia poked him in his chest, which was so hard her finger smarted. Was the man made from an oak tree?

“You are a know-it-all and a loudmouth.” His hot breath gusted over her face as he yanked her close.

Their lips met in an apocalyptic clash. Her breath stopped in her throat, trapped by the rush of utter astonishment.

His arms tightened around her waist, bringing her even closer to his incredibly firm body. Each nerve ending sang a different song, some in pleasure, some in horror, others in hunger. Her arms crept around his wide shoulders as the kiss deepened. She knocked his hat off, not caring where it landed.

His tongue slid into her mouth like a conquerer’s, guiding her tongue along with the rest of her. She was swept along by a wave of uncontrollable passion. Her nipples budded against her chemise, rubbing deliciously against the cotton fabric and his chest.

Thank God she wasn’t a virgin or the reality of being in Brody’s arms would turn her into a mess. As it was, she was hanging onto her control by a slim thread. She hadn’t experienced such intensity in a kiss before. Ever.

He growled low in his throat as she broke the kiss to suck in a breath of air. He took the opportunity to feather kisses along her jaw until he reached her ear. The hot wet assault on her continued, stealing her thoughts and her objections.

There was nothing but the two of them and the heat between their bodies. She let loose a feminine growl when his hand landed on her aching breast.

“Oh, yes.” Her voice was breathy and husky, needful too.

“If you don’t stop me now, I’m going to take you.” His deep voice sent a shiver from her nipples to her core. “Do you understand, Liv?” He cupped her face with his big hands, staring down at her as they both shook with the power of what was happening.

As they locked gazes, their hot breaths mingled, just as their bodies had. Olivia needed that mingling and more. She
needed
for him to take her.

“Yes.”

His thumbs brushed her cheeks, trembling, oh, so slightly. “Have you been with a man before?”

“Yes.”

“Thank God.” He picked her up and set her on a flat rock, which was conveniently at the right height for her to spread her legs.

He stepped between them, his cock harder than the rock beneath her behind. She pulled him closer until he pressed up hard against her clit; she closed her eyes at the pulse of pleasure that shook her.

His mouth found hers again, clashing teeth, tongue and lips. In a ballet of desperation, her skirt was ruched up, the slit in her drawers breached and his staff nudged her entrance. Olivia pulled at his shoulders, then his back until he slid forward, entering her in one powerful thrust.

She shook from the ecstasy coursing through her, at the sensation of having him fully sheathed inside her. It was more than pleasure, more than anything she’d ever experienced. The sex she’d had before was child’s play, literally.

Brody was all man.

Olivia hung onto the rock beneath her as he slid in again, filling her. She could barely put two thoughts together, her mind scrambled by the force of her own reaction.

She’d had so many dreams about him, but the reality was far better than she’d expected. His scent surrounded her, all man, all heat. Olivia was whirling in a powerful force named Brody and she could only hang on as her body took control.

“Open your shirt.” His gruff command didn’t annoy her this time. No, Olivia knew what he wanted and she wanted it even more.

With trembling hands, she unbuttoned her shirt, then pulled her chemise down her arms until her breasts were exposed. The corset beneath them served up a banquet for his questing mouth. Both of them groaned when his mouth closed around one dark pink nipple.

Her body contracted around him with each tug of his teeth on her breast. The dirt and pebbles scraped her hands as she clenched the rock, her orgasm building. He lapped at her breast, the cool evening air making it pucker more as he switched to the other nipple.

“Oh, God, Brody, I’m so close,” she gasped against his dark hair. “Please.”

Hearing herself beg was embarrassing, but she had no time to think about it. She needed a release, needed to feel the ultimate bliss with his cock inside her.

He reached between them and found her clit, flicking it once. Twice. The orgasm ripped through her like a tornado, and she was certain she shouted his name as waves of ecstasy washed over her.

She pushed her breast into his mouth, his teeth grazing her, yanking another groan from deep inside her. Before the shivers of raw pleasure subsided, he withdrew from her core. Olivia watched as he gripped his cock, pumping it three times before he exploded, wetting the rock below her.

He put his hand on her thigh and met her gaze.

“What did you just get me into, woman?”

It was a good thing the coffeepot was metal or it would have been busted to bits the way Olivia slammed it around. Brody hadn’t expected to have sex with the prickly Olivia Graham, and he sure as hell hadn’t expected her to be angry at him because of it. She was purely furious at him and her reaction confused the hell out of him.

What right did she have to be angry?

He watched her make coffee with a vengeance, never once glancing in his direction. She mumbled under her breath a lot though and he swore she used “son of a bitch” and “bastard” more than once. He’d often wondered what had made Olivia so damn ornery, much more so than anyone else in her family, and now he might have figured out why.

She’d been hurt by a man, likely the same one who had taken her virginity.

Whoever he was, he was obviously a complete idiot. Brody had bedded plenty of women, many of them working gals, but not a one of them had the passion Olivia had shown. She was a hellcat, scratching and writhing more wildly than he’d expected. It surprised him, pleased him and scared him. He could get addicted to a woman with that kind of fire burning inside her. Of course, he could get scorched if he wasn’t careful.

It would be better to keep his hands off her, no matter how ferocious she was in bed. Or on a rock.

“You fixing on throwing that pot away after you’re done denting it?” The words popped out of his mouth before he could snatch them back. It was the wrong thing to say.

Her anger, which had been bubbling to a boil, cooled to a dangerous low. He liked her better yelling at him. Now she was glaring a hole through him. He wondered if he should be careful when he went to sleep that night.

“I’d like to dent your head with it.” She poured herself a cup of coffee, then pretty as you please, poured the rest of it on the ground.

“That was a waste.” He’d been looking forward to that coffee, dammit.

“You can make your own, Ranger. I wouldn’t serve you if you were a king and I was a serf. I’d rather be whipped.” She pulled out what appeared to be biscuit, canned peaches and dried meat, then proceeded to eat the impromptu meal in front of him.