Heart of a Cowboy (5 page)

“I thought there was more to this.”

Ishwar laughed, the deep rumble sending shivers through Derek’s spine. “That’s where a greenhorn will get himself in trouble. You can overdo it at first. The horses are really sensitive to their riders. All you need to do is give a gentle nudge here and there, or squeeze a little with your thighs.”

Derek’s began to daydream at the mere mention of squeezing thighs. Ishwar was built like a professional athlete, with thighs of steel. Would he be soft and gentle when his legs were wrapped around him, or demanding and powerfully dominating in bed? Derek would be happy with either scenario. He liked it hot and heavy just as much as sweet and sensual, but if Ishwar continued to hold out on him, he was going to be acting like a starving man at his last meal. Abruptly, he realized Ishwar had been giving him instructions on how to guide the horse with his knees, and he had missed nearly all of it. Not wanting to sound like a complete goof, he said, “I hope there isn’t a pop quiz later.”

“Well, you need to try to pay attention, greenhorn. All the other cowboys will be laughing at you if you have to ride on the back of someone else’s horse all the time.”

“I don’t mind if it’s on the back of yours,” Derek joked, running his fingers along Ishwar’s waist under his thick leather jacket. Testing the water, he cupped the edge of Ishwar’s firm, round butt cheek in each hand.

“Are you going to give me some incentive to keep you there? Or just tease me?” Ishwar’s voice was an octave lower than normal.

“Tease you—please you. I’d give you all the incentive you want—or need,” Derek promised.

“I don’t take my pleasure lightly. Before you go any further, you need to understand this isn’t just some fling or a sexual escapade. When you give yourself to me, you’ll belong to me.”

That comment seemed so final. Derek and Ishwar saw sex as something completely different. Sex was just that—sex. It was meant for pleasure, and if Derek could have sex instead of exercising, he would. Why deny himself when it was simply physical? He moved his hands to cover Ishwar’s bulging erection and whispered in his ear. “What if it’s all about you?”

“Derek.” His voice held an edge of warning.

“I can give you pleasure without taking anything for myself.” Through the thick denim, Derek cupped Ishwar’s hot dick, begging for release.

“Derek.” This time Ishwar’s voice was more subdued; it was more like a whisper than a command to stop.

“I won’t even charge you. This one’s on the house.” His expert fingers worked at unzipping the Indian’s pants.

For a moment, Derek panicked. Ishwar didn’t know about his scarlet past, and it wasn’t something he felt like bringing up at a time like this. Somewhere deep inside of him a voice screamed out that Ishwar wouldn’t want him anymore when he did find out he sold his body for money. He was a whore and if Ishwar ever found out about that dirty fact, he’d treat him like every other john in his life. Use him, abuse him, and then just walk away. “Just relax and enjoy this, Ishwar. It’s my gift to you.”

Derek pulled the top of Ishwar’s underwear down, unleashing a monster of a cock. His dexterity and experience worked to his advantage. The man was clay in his hands. Ishwar’s cock grew warmer, hotter, and harder as Derek’s fingers wrapped around it and fondled it. Ishwar moaned under his breath, but Derek could tell he was enjoying himself because he leaned back into his arms, trusting him and his talented fingers.

Derek could get used to this. Ishwar’s head hit Derek’s shoulders, his rough day-old beard chafing his neck, but it wasn’t painful. His skin was soft and yielding, but the thick growth of hair felt good. The other man’s breathing seemed to increase, growing more ragged with every breath. Every ounce of his body wanted to respond to the man intimately, but this was about Ishwar’s pleasure, not his. Derek’s erection grew harder as he felt the other man grow thicker and longer. What he wouldn’t give to be on bottom, sucking up every drop of Ishwar’s wad, but that could wait until another day.

“You like that, don’t you?” Derek used his hands to cup Ishwar’s hairy balls and squeezed ever so gently, thumbing them over and over.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t.”

“Your body wouldn’t lie to me. It’s telling me what you want even if you would deny it—deny us and what we could be.”

Ishwar moaned. “I never said I didn’t want this.”

“No, you want more.” Derek grew more rhythmic in his touch, more needy, gripping the other man’s cock with a fierce need, building friction and heat. “You want to take what’s not yours.”

“I’ll take it when you offer yourself. I gave you a fair warning that I don’t play games.”

A thrill of electricity down Derek’s spine made him shiver with pleasure. He liked the possessiveness in Ishwar’s voice, but he didn’t respond to it well. “Why stop here? We could have so much more fun. I would rock your world.”

Ishwar came in his hands, and Derek pressed his body against his back, imagining himself being ridden by the man, having him come inside of him—filling up with his seed. It was all he could do to not come in his pants right then and there. “Damn, you don’t know what you’re missing.”

“Yes, I do.” Immediately Ishwar’s neck and back muscles tightened. He pulled forward out of Derek’s embrace so their skin would not be in such close contact. He pushed Derek’s hands away and closed his pants. “That’s what makes it so hard.”

Derek clenched his jaw before licking his fingers clean. The taste of Ishwar lingered in his mouth, drugging him like a fine wine. “It doesn’t have to be that hard. Fucking shouldn’t be like marriage.”

“Fucking, as you put it, isn’t marriage, but to me it does mean a commitment of two people. You talk as if you don’t respect yourself, my friend. I want you to know that I not only respect you, I value you, and the sex wouldn’t be meaningless. I already knew it would be good.”

Derek shifted his body on the back of the horse to be a little further away from Ishwar. How could something and someone so beautiful go to irritation in just seconds? The last thing he needed right now was a possessive boyfriend, but his body wanted to betray him. He shouldn’t want to spend his nights in another man’s bed, because if he ever went there, he would get all sentimental about the man and he knew better than to do that from past experience. Sex and love were best kept separate. Derek had always thought it was better to protect his heart, and keep everyone on the outside. However, if Ishwar wanted more, he’d have to think again. Derek would just have to work on Ishwar a little and the man would give in to his advances eventually.

It was rather amazing that they had not had to stop during the whole interaction, but Derek had done it in more interesting places than the back of a horse.

Derek tried to focus on something else besides the man in front of him. Talking about sex and commitment worked better than a cold shower. His erection shriveled instantly.

The cows kept their distance, preferring to stay away from the riders, keeping close to the low brush cropping out of the grasslands.

Except for one, which seemed to be lying on its side and did not seem to be moving.

Its stillness was oddly disconcerting as well as the shredded bits of fur and flesh clinging to the underbrush littering the surrounding area. “Do you see that sleeping cow over there?”

“Yeah.” Ishwar’s body tensed immediately and his hand went to the gun on his hip as if he were preparing for a fight. “I think it is dead.”

“Did something kill it?” Stony silence answered Derek.

Ishwar neared the animal and slid off the horse with a grim line marking his face. He knelt down to the cow and closed his eyes, placing his hand over the beast’s body.

* * * *

“Shouldn’t we do something?” Derek asked. He slipped awkwardly from his seat behind Ishwar. The kid was just a little on the clumsy side, but sexier than any cowboy should be. Too bad he realized it and had an ego the size of Texas.

“Like what?” The animal was still warm, but its life energy had passed. He shook his head. “The animal that did this is long gone.”

“Well, what do you do with dead cows? Don’t you bury them?”

Ishwar held back the laughter that threatened to erupt from his gut. They would be standing here all day digging and still not get a hole deep enough to fit a half-ton carcass. “No. We don’t bury the cows when they die.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re gonna make hamburger out of him?”

“No, we don’t eat it either.”

“Then what do we do with— Oh my freaking God! That cow just moved!”

What? The kid probably saw one too many Freddy Krueger movies.
“It can’t move.” Ishwar scrutinized Derek for a sign of jest. There was none. He was dead serious. There was shock in his eyes. “It’s dead.” Ishwar was more than a little irritated at that uncharacteristic jumpiness of Derek. He knew the young man had no experience with animals, but the cow was dead.

“Look!” Derek pointed to the cow. “There it goes again.”

Ishwar frowned. Disbelieving, he turned his attention back to the cow. Bite marks to the neck were probably how the creature brought the cow down.

Well, whatever had done this wasn’t human.

The obvious sign of death was the jugular ripped open and dripping blood down the poor cow’s hide. It had bled to death and been left to rot. The thing had killed it for fun.

Suddenly the cow’s stomach dipped and kicked.

“There. Did you see that?”

Ishwar got up to a standing position. “The cow is pregnant.”

“Well, isn’t there something we can do?” A note of desperation laced Derek’s voice and his jaw clenched. The boy was willing to fight for the calf’s life. The problem was that Ishwar wasn’t sure he was willing to try. Derek didn’t know what he was asking.

“Without its mother, the calf will die.”

“Not if we help it. I can feed it in the mornings since I am in the barn every day anyway. Please! We have to try.”

“If this is what you want.” Ishwar removed the knife from its sheath at his belt.

“What are you going to do with that?” Derek looked at him with concern.

“You’ll see,” Ishwar growled. “She can’t deliver naturally.” Derek’s face turned pale. “The baby needs oxygen and for this to be over quickly to live. This is the only way.”

“Just make it quick.” Derek covered his face, suddenly understanding what Ishwar meant to do.

“Don’t worry.” With two hands he stabbed the cow just below the rib cage and sliced the thick hide in a line down her belly. He dropped his jacket to the ground and rolled up his sleeves. “She won’t feel a thing.”

“I think I am going to be sick.” Derek made gagging noises behind him.

“Turn around and don’t look if you can’t handle it.” Ishwar didn’t have too much time before the animal would begin to die naturally. With no blood flow, no nutrients, and no oxygen, the creature had five minutes or less. Who knew how long it had been since the mom had died, but there was only a little time left.

“Oh fuck. Now the horse is wandering off. How do I catch him?”

Ishwar looked up to see the horse grazing about twenty feet away. The horse’s head dropped to the ground, content to eat the little grass he could find.

“He’ll be fine as long as he doesn’t go too far.” Most of the horses needed to be tied up or chased, but this horse belonged to him and was smarter than the average cattle pony. The horse just needed to stay within earshot. Ishwar had trained the horse to respond to a whistle, and the gelding was quick to come when he called him. “Do you think you can help me with this?”

Derek knelt down beside him. “I hope so.”

Ishwar had done this before to help the veterinarian, but that was with anesthesia, and the environment was not sterile, but it was cleaner than this. He pulled the stomach open and reached inside. The calf kicked and shimmied beneath the thin membrane protecting it. He used his blade to cut it, doing his best to not hurt the calf even by accident. He reached in, grabbed one hoof, and then the other he motioned to Derek to grab hold of. “Help me pull him straight out.” Together they pulled the creature from the interior of the mother’s stomach.

A thin, mucky layer of fluid and blood coated its skin. It was thin, but it looked big enough that it would have delivered naturally any day now. Ishwar ran his hand over the animal’s nose and eyes to clear the airway. The calf was limp at first, lying in a squished pile of legs and hooves.

“Is it even alive?” Derek asked.

Ishwar grimaced. He’d hate to break the man’s heart, but chances were against the calf from the start. Even if it were still alive. He wiped more muck from its mouth, feeling he damned well did not want to have to give the calf mouth-to-mouth. “I’m not sure.”

Suddenly the calf bleated. Derek lit up like a neon sign, his smile spread wide across his face, but it wasn’t just that. Something deep inside of him seemed altered from the experience. His energy changed. “Oh Ishwar. Thank God, you saved him. Do you do that all the time?”

“We have to deliver a cow from time to time, if he is turned the wrong way, but this…” He motioned out to the desert in the general direction of the dead mother. “This is not natural. Jesse will want to know what happened.”

“Do you know what could have done this?”

Fear wasn’t something Ishwar felt often, but he knew too much to believe this was an accident. There were legends his people told of some dark creatures who usually kept to the nightlight but that were now venturing into the light of day. The tracks were so much larger than a coyote or a wolf. He would have to talk to the council about this if his fears were correct. “I have an idea, but I hope I’m wrong. If the Wendigo has returned…” He shook his head because he didn’t want to think about what it meant. “Let’s just hope I’m mistaken, for all of our sakes.”

Derek gave him a questioning look, but Ishwar didn’t feel like explaining to the man about his people’s secrets just yet.

Chapter Five

Derek held the bottle of milk aloft and the calf eagerly drank, bumping his hand off balance more than once. He sat on the milk crate and scratched under the calf’s chin. Despite his red eyes, he didn’t feel tired. Coffee and sugar ran through his blood, and he wasn’t about to let the little guy down.