Nothing But Trouble (15 page)

“I did it,” she said, feeling weak in her knees from the cold and from the knowledge of what she’d accomplished.  To anyone else, it may have been a small feat.  But to Melanie, it was if she’d been set free from a vise that had taken hold of her long ago.

Stoney didn’t let her go.  His wet body pressed against hers and she felt the rise and fall of his chest against her wet breast.  She felt his heat beneath the cold, drenched clothes.  And she saw pride shining in his eyes.

“I never had a doubt you would, Sunshine.”  His gaze dropped to her lips and she couldn’t help but lick them in anticipation of what he’d do.  She suddenly felt invincible.  Dangerous.  And she was ready for whatever surprises Stoney had for her.

* * *

“Don’t look.”

“I’m not looking.”

Melanie rustled the branches of the small pine tree she was hiding behind.  Despite the light from the moon, in the darkness Stoney couldn’t see her. 

“Yes, you are,” she said, sounding thoroughly annoyed.  “Now close ‘em.”

Stoney rolled his eyes, then obediently shut them tight, fighting the overwhelming urge to sneak a peek.  “Oh, for God’s sake, you have your underwear on.  A bikini shows more than your drawers.”

“Excuse me?  I don’t wear drawers,” she said just as he heard the splash and felt the hot water slosh around him.  “Oh, this is heavenly.  Let’s never leave.”

“Fine by me,” Stoney said, popping his eyes open.  It took a second for his eyes to adjust to the darkness again, but his sight zeroed in on Melanie’s body just a few feet away from his.  The hot spring they’d found and decided to camp by was the perfect ending to the day.  It wasn’t until he’d sunk deep into the hot pool of water that some of the tension plaguing him eased. 

The fact that Melanie was just a body’s length away, donning nothing but her sweet underthings, was wreaking havoc with his body. 

He leaned back on the boulder and let the hot water seep into his bones, looking at the millions of stars dotting every inch of the sky.

“Makes you feel small, doesn’t it?” Melanie said.

“Yeah.”

“Out here, all those things that seemed so important back home don’t matter as much.”

He glanced over at Melanie, who was swimming too far away from him, he decided.  As she came closer, he could see her face in the light of the moon.  Her wet hair was slicked back and she wore no makeup.  She’d abandoned that ritual on the second day of trailing.  Even without the glitter and paint, she was beautiful, making him wonder why she bothered to wear makeup at all.  There was something soft and pure, unpretentious, when she was just being herself.

She smiled sweetly.  “It’s okay, you know.”

“What is?”

“The ranch.  You’re worrying about the ranch, aren’t you?”

In truth, he hadn’t thought much about the ranch today.  All he could keep his mind on was Melanie.  Guilt suddenly stabbed at him.  “Mitch is a workhorse.  Mom will probably have to drag him in for a meal.  But I have no doubt the ranch is in good hands.”  For the time being anyway, he thought.

“He’s worked with you for a long time?”

“Going on ten years now until he went to Baltimore a few months back.  He started on the weekends when he was still in high school, filling in for me when I was out on rodeo, which was just about every weekend.  Then full time when I decided to go pro.  Been with us a long time.  I hate to see him leave.”

“If he’s happy at Black Rock, why would he?”

“There comes a time when a man wants to dig his own roots, have something to give his kin.  It’s been a dream of his to own his own ranch.  He’s just come in to some money himself, so who knows?”  He dunked himself beneath the surface of the water.  When he emerged, Melanie was right beside him.

“I’m surprised you haven’t asked him for help.”

Stoney dragged his fingers through his wet hair to get it off his face.  “I did.”

“I don’t mean as a ranch hand.”

“What?  You mean money?  I could never do that.”

“Why not?  You said he just came into money.  He wants to buy his own ranch.”

“I can’t sell the ranch.  I won’t do it.  It’s been part of my family for generations.”  He heard his harsh voice, saw the startled look in her eyes and cursed himself.

She swam a few feet away from him.  “Selling Mitch a share of Black Rock is better than losing the whole thing.  You said you wanted to expand the ranch.  Why not take on a partner?”

He thought about it for a moment.  The idea had merit.  Financially, it could put them in a better position to get back in the black.  Finally, he pushed the notion aside.  It was true he hadn’t thought much about marriage and children in recent years but he did want something to pass on one day should he ever have a son or daughter of his own.  “It wouldn’t be Buxton land.”

Melanie dipped her gaze before looking up at him again.  “Ah, roots.  I forgot.  Forgive me for saying this, but you may have no choice.”

“You think you’re so smart,” he said, teasingly, hoping to change the subject.

“As a matter of fact...”

“Okay, smarty, what made a debutante from Long Island want to be a Zoologist?” he asked.

She didn’t respond right away and finally gave him a half grin.  “I have a thing about being in the company of wild beasts.”

He chuckled.  “No really.”

“I’m serious.  I used to go to the zoo when I was a kid.  I always loved going.  But it always made me cry.”

“Then why’d you go?”

“Because I couldn’t not go.  I’d see the animals all caged up and I thought ‘I know how that feels’.  I thought those animals where the only ones who knew how caged I felt.”  She glanced over at him, and cocked her head.  In the light of the moon, he could only see the silhouette of her face, but he was sure she was blushing.  “You think I’m crazy, don’t you?”

“No.”

She splashed him with a spray of water.  “Yes, you do.”

He stood up, towering over her and cupped his hands on the surface of the water, then began deluging Melanie with splashes.  “Do you really want to start something?”

“Okay, okay, uncle,” she said, laughing, holding her hands over her face to shield herself.

He sank back into the warm pool, laughing, and muttered, “Chicken.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.  One time when I was about nine, my mother had this charity event and one of the attractions they’d set up for the guests was a petting zoo.  I was all dressed up in this frilly pink dress with white laced socks and patent leather shoes.  I spent the whole time by the animal pen.  I felt so bad because the animals were all huddled in these small corrals while everyone passed them by and gawked.  I couldn’t stand it.  I kept crying and asking my mother to free them.  She was too busy socializing.  So when no one was looking, I pulled the pen free and let all the animals out.”  She covered her mouth with both her hands to muffle her giggles.  He could see her shoulders shaking, making the water ripple around her from her motion.  “You should have seen it.  My mother was furious.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle, too, and the sound of their laughter echoed off the rocks surrounding the pool.  It almost sounded surreal, and magical, and made him dizzy.

“There were these animals--goats and sheep, and there was even a small giraffe--running all over the place, jumping on people.”  She dipped her head to just above the surface of the water, unable to contain herself.  Lord, how he loved the sound of her laughter.  Tears filled her eyes and after a second or two she wiped them away.

“You do cause quite stir when you put your mind to it, Sunshine.”

“I try.  I knew then I wanted to work with animals.  I wanted to go to Africa and see them in their natural habitat, free from the restriction of cages and fences.”

“So why come here?  Why not just go to Africa?” he finally asked.

Her voice sobered.  “My father is rich.” 

“I knew that already.”

“He knows how to use his money to get what he wants.”  She stretched her arms out along a boulder and tilted her head back against it for support.  “A few of us in my graduate class were working with a professor who was looking for people to go to Kenya with him on an expedition.  He’d just been awarded a grant, and he was taking a two-year sabbatical to study some of the wildlife.  I was thrilled when he asked me to join his team.  I couldn’t believe it.  Two years in Africa!”

“So what’s stopping you?”

“I found out my father was the one funding the expedition.  He never took my interest in Zoology seriously.  He basically placated me, thinking I could use my experience for charity work later on when I married some stuffed shirt.  He never dreamed I actually wanted to use my degrees.”

“You have more than one?”

She nodded modestly.  “My masters focused on perissodactyla and artiodactyla animals.”

Stoney tossed her a wry grin.  “Huh?”

She smiled.  “Horses, rhinoceroses, camels, cattle.  You get the picture.  That’s how I met Professor Lawrence. When I told my father I was going to Kenya, he threatened to pull the money.”  He heard her heave a quick sigh that held disgust.  “I couldn’t believe it.  After all I’d worked for, what everyone else on that team had worked for, he was pulling the money.  Because of me.  I couldn’t ruin it for everyone else by insisting I go, but I couldn’t allow my father to keep controlling my life.  When does your life become you own?”

“At birth, I suppose.”

“That’s the way it should be, but that’s not the way it is sometimes.”

“I still don’t understand why you ended up here?”

“I was so angry when the professor confronted me with what my father had said.  See, instead of coming to me, Dad went behind my back and demanded I be taken off the team.”

“Without talking to you about it first?”

She nodded.  “Professor Lawrence was stuck between a rock and a hard place.  He didn’t want to flat out tell me I couldn’t go.  But he couldn’t stand how unfair the whole thing was, so he decided to tell me the truth in the hopes I could convince my father to change his mind.”

“But he didn’t,” Stoney said.

Melanie shook her head.  “Not Edmund T. Summers III.  He doesn’t want his little girl getting malaria, or being attacked by a lion or some such crud.”  She took a deep breath to compose herself, seemingly conscious of her tirade.

“He loves you.  You can’t blame him for wanting to keep you safe,” Stoney said softly.  For a moment she went perfectly still.  He wondered if she thought he was a traitor, understanding her father’s motives for protecting his daughter.  But he did understand.  It was exactly how his parents felt about him going back to bull riding.

“Sometimes living safe is like not living at all,” she finally said.

Her vulnerability struck Stoney deep in his chest and made it hard for him to breathe.  He wanted to reach out and touch her, feel her hair spill into his hand, smell the scent of her skin as he kissed her...everywhere.