Texas Wild (6 page)

Five

“I
can’t eat a single thing more,” Megan
said, as she looked at all the food Alyssa had placed on the table for
breakfast. It wouldn’t be so bad if she hadn’t arrived yesterday at dinnertime
to a whopping spread by Chester, Clint’s cook, housekeeper and all-around ranch
hand.

Megan had met Chester the last time she’d been here, and every
meal she’d eaten was to die for. But like she’d said, she couldn’t eat a single
thing more and would need to do some physical activities to burn off the
calories.

Clint chuckled as helped his wife up from the table. Alyssa
said the doctor claimed she wasn’t having twins but Megan wasn’t too sure.

“Is there anything you need me to do?” she asked Alyssa when
Clint had gotten her settled in her favorite recliner in the living room.

Alyssa waved off Megan’s offer. “I’m fine. Clint is doing great
with Cain,” she said of her three-year-old son, who was the spitting image of
his father. “And Aunt Claudine will arrive this weekend.”

“How long do you think your aunt will visit this time?” Megan
asked as she took the love seat across from Alyssa.

“If I have anything to do with it, she won’t be leaving,”
Chester hollered out as he cleared off the kitchen table.

Megan glanced over at Clint, and Alyssa only laughed. Then
Clint said, “Chester is sweet on Aunt Claudine, but hasn’t convinced her to stay
here and not return to Waco.”

“But I think he might have worn her down,” Alyssa said,
whispering so Chester wouldn’t hear. “She mentioned she’s decided to put her
house up for sale. She told me not to tell Chester because she wants to surprise
him.”

Megan couldn’t help but smile. She thought Chester and Alyssa’s
aunt Claudine, both in their sixties, would make a nice couple. She bet it was
simply wonderful finding love at that age. It would be grand to do so at any
age…if you were looking for it or interested in getting it. She wasn’t.

“If it’s okay, I’d like to go riding around the Golden Glade,
especially the south ridge. I love it there.”

Clint smiled. “Most people do.” He looked lovingly at Alyssa.
“We’ve discovered it’s one of our most favorite places on the ranch.”

Megan watched as Alyssa exchanged another loving look with
Clint. She knew the two were sharing a private moment that involved the south
ridge in some way. They made a beautiful couple, she thought. Like all the other
Westmoreland males, Clint was too handsome for his own good, and Alyssa, who was
even more beautiful while pregnant, was his perfect mate.

Seeing the love radiating between the couple—the same she’d
witnessed between her cousins and their wives, as well as between her brothers
and their wives—made a warm feeling flow through Megan. It was one she’d never
felt before. She drew in a deep breath, thinking that feeling such a thing was
outright foolish, but she couldn’t deny what she’d felt just now.

As if remembering Megan was in the room, Clint turned to her,
smiled and said, “Just let Marty know that you want to go riding, and he’ll have
one of the men prepare a horse for you.”

“Thanks.” Megan decided it was best to give Clint and Alyssa
some alone time. Cain was taking a nap, and Megan could make herself scarce real
fast. “I’ll change into something comfortable for riding.”

After saying she would see them later, she quickly headed
toward the guest room.

* * *

One part of Rico’s mind was putting up one hell of an
argument as to why he shouldn’t be driving to Austin for Megan. Too bad the
other part refused to listen. Right now, the only thing that particular part of
his brain understood was his erection throbbing something fierce behind the
zipper of his pants. Okay, he knew it shouldn’t be just a sexual thing. He
shouldn’t be allowing all this lust to be eating away at him, practically
nipping at his balls, but hell, he couldn’t help it. He wanted her. Plain and
simple.

Although there was really nothing plain and simple about it,
anticipation made him drive faster than he should.
Slow
down, Claiborne.
Are you willing to get a speeding ticket just because you
want to see her again?

Yes
.

He drew in a sharp breath, not understanding it. So he
continued driving and when he finally saw Austin’s city-limits marker, he felt a
strong dose of adrenaline rush through his veins. It didn’t matter that he still
had a good twenty minutes to go before reaching the Golden Glade Ranch. Nor did
it matter that Megan would be surprised to see him, and even more surprised that
he would be taking her back with him to Forbes to be there when he talked to
Fanny Banks.

But he would explain that taking her to meet Fanny would be all
he’d let her do. He would return Megan to the Golden Glade while he finished up
with the investigation. Nothing had changed on that front. Like he’d told her,
he preferred working alone.

He checked the clock on the car’s dashboard. Breakfast would be
over by the time he reached the ranch. Alyssa might be resting, and if Clint
wasn’t around then he was probably out riding the range.

Rico glanced up at the sky. Clear, blue, and the sun was
shining. It was a beautiful day in late September, and he planned to enjoy it.
He pressed down on the accelerator. Although he probably didn’t need to be in a
hurry, he was in one anyway.

A short while later he released a sigh of anticipation when he
saw the marker to the Golden Glade Ranch. Smiling, he made a turn down the long,
winding driveway toward the huge ranch house.

* * *

Megan was convinced that the south-ridge pasture of the
Golden Glade was the most beautiful land she’d ever seen. The Westmorelands
owned beautiful property back in Denver, but this here was just too magnificent
for words.

She dismounted her horse and, after tying him to a hitching
post, she gazed down in the valley where it seemed as though thousands upon
thousands of wild horses were running free.

The triplets, Clint, Cole and Casey, had lived on this land
with their Uncle Sid while growing up. Sid Roberts had been a legend in his day.
First as a rodeo star and then later as a renowned horse trainer. Megan even
remembered studying about him in school. In their uncle’s memory, the triplets
had dedicated over three thousand acres of this land along the south ridge as a
reserve. Hundreds of wild horses were saved from slaughter by being shipped here
from Nevada. Some were left to roam free for the rest of their days, and others
were shipped either to Montana, where Casey had followed in her uncle’s
footsteps as a horse trainer, or to Denver, where some of her cousins and
brothers were partners in the operation.

Megan could recall when Zane, Derringer and Jason had decided
to join the partnership that included Clint, their cousin Durango, Casey and her
husband, McKinnon. All of the Westmorelands involved in the partnership loved
horses and were experts in handling them.

Megan glanced across the way and saw a cabin nestled among the
trees. She knew it hadn’t been here the last time she’d visited. She smiled,
thinking it was probably a lovers’ hideaway for Clint and Alyssa and was
probably the reason for the secretive smile they’d shared this morning.

Going back to the horse, she unhooked a blanket she’d brought
and the backpack that contained a book to read and a Ziploc bag filled with the
fruit Chester had packed. It didn’t take long to find the perfect spot to spread
the blanket on the ground and stretch out. She looked up at the sky, thinking it
was a gorgeous day and it was nice to be out in it. She enjoyed her job at the
hospital, but there was nothing like being out under the wide-open sky.

She had finished one chapter of the suspense thriller that her
cousin Stone Westmoreland, aka Rock Mason, had written. She was so engrossed in
the book that it was a while before she heard the sound of another horse
approaching. Thinking it was probably Clint or one of the ranch hands coming to
check on her, to make sure she was okay, she’d gotten to her feet by the time a
horse and rider came around the bend.

Suddenly she felt it—heat sizzling down her spine, fire
stirring in her stomach. Her heart began thumping hard in her chest. She’d known
that she would eventually run in to Rico, but she’d thought it would be when she
made an appearance in Forbes. He had been so adamant about her not coming to
Texas with him that she’d figured she would have to be the one to seek him out
and not the other way around.

Her breasts began tingling, and she could feel her nipples
harden against her cotton shirt when he brought his horse to a stop beside hers.
Nothing, she thought, was more of a turn-on than seeing a man, especially this
particular man, dismount from his horse…with such masculine ease and virile
precision, and she wondered if he slid between a woman’s legs the same way.

She could feel her cheeks redden with such brazen thoughts, and
her throat tightened when he began walking toward her. Since it seemed he didn’t
have anything to say, she figured she would acknowledge his presence.
“Rico.”

He tilted his hat to her. She thought he looked good in his
jeans, chambray shirt and the Stetson. “Megan.”

She drew in a deep breath as he moved toward her. His advance
was just as lethal, just as stealthy, as a hunter who’d cornered his prey. “Do
you know why I’m here?” he asked her in a deep, husky voice.

Megan she shook her head. “No. You said you wanted to work
alone.”

He smiled, and she could tell it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“But you’re here, which means you didn’t intend on letting me do that.”

She lifted her chin. “Just pretend I’m not here, and when you
see me in Forbes, you can pretend I’m not there.”

“Not possible,” he said throatily, coming to a stop in front of
her. Up close, she could see smoldering desire in the depths of his eyes. That
should have jarred some sense into her, but it didn’t. Instead it had just the
opposite effect.

Megan tilted her head back to look up at him and what she saw
almost took her breath away again—hazel eyes that were roaming all over her, as
if they were savoring her. There was no way she could miss the hunger that
flared in their depths, making her breath come out in quick gulps.

“I think I need to get back to the ranch,” she said.

A sexy smile touched his lips. “What’s the rush?”

There was so much heat staring at her that she knew any minute
she was bound to go up in flames. “I asked why you’re here, Rico.”

Instead of answering, he reached out and gently cradled her
face between his hands and brought his mouth so close to hers that she couldn’t
keep her lips from quivering. “My answer is simple, Megan. I came for you.”

He paused a moment and then added, “I haven’t been able to
forget that kiss and how our tongues tangled while I became enmeshed in your
taste. Nothing has changed other than I think you’ve become an addiction, and I
want you more than before.”

And then he lowered his mouth to hers.

He knew the instant she began to lose control because she
started kissing him back with a degree of hunger and intimacy that astounded
him.

He wrapped his arms around her waist while they stood there,
letting their tongues tangle in a way that was sending all kinds of sensual
pulses through his veins. This is what had kept him up nights, had made him
drive almost like a madman through several cities to get here. He had known this
would be what awaited him. Never had a single kiss ignited so much sexual
pressure within him, made him feel as if he was ready to explode at any
moment.

She shifted her body closer, settling as intimately as a woman
still wearing clothes could get, at the juncture of his legs. The moment she
felt his hard erection pressing against her, she shifted her stance to cradle
his engorged shaft between her thighs.

If he didn’t slow her down, he would be hauling her off to that
blanket she’d spread on the ground. Thoughts of making love to her here, in such
a beautiful spot and under such a stunning blue sky, were going through his
mind. But he knew she wasn’t ready for that. She especially wasn’t ready to take
it to the level he wanted to take it.

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt her hand touch the
sides of his belt, trying to ease his shirt out of his pants. She wanted to
touch some skin, and he had no problems letting her do so. He shifted again, a
deliberate move on his part to give her better access to what she wanted,
although what she wanted to do was way too dangerous to his peace of mind. It
wouldn’t take much to push him over the edge.

When he felt her tugging at his shirt, pulling it out of his
jeans, he deepened the kiss, plunging his tongue farther into her mouth and then
flicking it around with masterful strokes. He wasn’t a man who took advantage of
women, but then he was never one who took them too seriously, either, even while
maintaining a level of respect for any female he was involved with.

But with Megan that respect went up more than a notch. She was
a Westmoreland. So were his sisters. That was definitely a game changer.
Although he wanted Megan and intended to have her, he needed to be careful how
he handled her. He had to do things decently and in the right order. As much as
he could.

But doing anything decently and in the right order was not on
his mind as he continued to kiss her, as his tongue explored inside her mouth
with a hunger that had his erection throbbing.

And when she inched her hand beneath his shirt to touch his
skin, he snatched his mouth from hers to draw in a deep breath. He held her
gaze, staring down at her as the silence between them extended. Her touch had
nearly scorched him it had been so hot. He hadn’t been prepared for it. Nor had
he expected such a reaction to it.

He might have reeled in his senses and moved away from her if
she hadn’t swiped her tongue across her lips. That movement was his downfall,
and he felt fire roaring through his veins. He leaned in closer and began
licking her mouth from corner to corner. And when she let out a breathless moan,
he slid his tongue back inside to savor her some more.