STORY EXCERPT

“I was thinking about going for a ride. I don’t get to ride as much as I used to. Just ride for the hell of it instead of to get from point A to point B.”

Her lips twitched. “My father says you’re a busy man.”

“That I am.”

It used to amuse him when she was in high school and flirted with him, but once she started getting her college degree online and gradually taking over running The Red Stone, he hadn’t been able to deny his attraction to her.

He reminded himself often that she was too young for him.

Too inexperienced.

Too innocent.

Knowing that his hard edges would slice her to pieces, he did his best to avoid her.

For the first time, he realized that she hadn’t hunted him down in months.

She inclined her head. “I’m sure those women in Dallas kept you busy while you were there.” Without giving him a chance to answer, and before he knew how he would, she continued as if not expecting an answer or not wanting to hear it. “Duff going crazy getting ready for your Fourth of July party?”

Randy Duff, a man with a heart of gold and a temper like lightning, was the cook on the Branson Ranch.

Beck allowed a small smile. “He’s mostly bossing the caterers around. It wouldn’t be so hard on him if he didn’t insist that he was the better cook. If he didn’t have such an issue with having to be in control all the time, things would be a hell of a lot easier for him.”

Caroline raised a brow at that. “That’s rich coming from you.”

Her smile turned him inside out in a way he didn’t want to look at too closely.

Firming his voice, he wished he could see her brilliant green gaze, fighting to ignore the fact that she excited him like no other woman.

She teased him, criticized him, and argued with him, while other women bent over backward to get close to him.

At times, she irritated him.

At times, she inflamed him.

But she always challenged him and never, ever bored him.

Wishing he could stroke her, he did the closest thing and stroked a hand down the silky coat of her favorite horse, Storm.

He smiled and looked up at her. “I remember when I asked you why you named him Storm. You were right about him. He’s powerful, fast, strong, and just a little mean and unpredictable.”

“Sometimes he can be very mean and unpredictable.”

Her tone worried him, and he wished once again he could see her eyes. “What’s wrong, baby?”

She stared out at the horizon for so long he figured she wasn’t going to answer, but finally she shrugged. “Nothing. Don’t call me that.”

Reacting before he could stop himself, he laid a hand on her thigh. “You’ve never lied to me before, Caroline.”

Caroline drew a steadying breath, the rock in her stomach and lump in her throat bringing tears to her eyes. “You haven’t paid enough attention to me to know that. I need to ride. I’ll see you at your party.”

He watched her ride away, angry as hell that she’d lied to him.

Confused and surprisingly hurt that she wanted to get away from him, he strode to the stable and hurriedly saddled his horse.

Something was wrong, and he wouldn’t be able to rest until he found out what it was and fixed it.

Suspecting it had something to do with her stepmother and Mona’s two spoiled brats, both in their thirties and with no visible means of support other than living off of others, he clenched his jaw, inwardly cursing.

“Problem, boss?”

Beck continued to saddle his horse, glancing at Wes Roberts, his foreman. “Not sure. I’ll be at the watering hole. Make sure no one goes in that direction.”

Wes frowned. “Somethin’ wrong with Miss Caroline?”

Surprised, Beck turned. “You know that Caroline goes there?”

Wes smiled humorlessly. “The night her mother was diagnosed, she and Mr. Cobb came home from the hospital and she disappeared. It was already dark, and everyone was worried. No one knew where the hell to find her. No one knew if she was hurt. We knew she couldn’t get lost. Hell, that girl knew the ranch like the back of her hand, but what if she’d wandered off or if she’d run into some unsavory character?”

“Christ.”

“Mr. Cobb was beside himself, and we were ready to send out a search party when Bull got back from Fort Worth where he’d gone to a sale and called off the search, said he knew where she was. I was already there and ready to go out and went with him. Found the poor thing just sitting on one of those rocks and staring out in the dark.”

Shaking his head, Wes blew out a breath. “I never felt such relief in my life. Bull just stopped there where she’d tethered her horse and waited. Hell, we must have waited an hour before she came to us. I’ll never forget how she looked. Barely a young woman, with tears in her eyes and her little shoulders slumped as if she carried the weight of the world on them.”

Wes wiped a hand over his eyes. “Turned out she did.”

Beck wished he’d been there at that time, but although he’d bought the property before her mother’s death, he hadn’t moved in until months afterward.

If he’d known her and what she’d endured, nothing would have kept him away.

And nothing could keep him away now.

ADULT EXCERPT

His drugging kisses and the slide of his hand over her body soon had her writhing helplessly beneath him.

With one hand in her hair, he lifted her hips, and only then did she still, crying out when he thrust into her.

He stilled immediately, breaking off his kiss to look down with a combination of astonishment and something that looked very much like possessiveness. “You’re a virgin?”

Not wanting to talk, she pressed her face against his shoulder, relieved when the sting of pain passed and the desire grew again. “Please, Beck.”

“Dear God.” He pressed his face against her hair and slowly began to move, murmuring something against her ear that sounded very much like mine.

He lifted his head to look down at her, his gaze narrowed and glittering with something that mesmerized her. “Okay, baby?”

Seeing the concern and caring in his eyes, she smiled in an attempt to appear more sophisticated. “I’m fine. Better than fine.”

She didn’t know if he’d found his own pleasure and tried to keep her face hidden, both to hide her vulnerability and the hunger that had begun to build again.

 When he remained still, she assumed he’d finished and she pushed against him, feeling vulnerable under his stare. Needing to escape it before she gave too much of her feelings away, she kept her gaze averted. “We’d better get dressed. I’ve got to get back.”

He slid a hand up her side and over to cup her breast, using his thumb to caress her nipple. “We’re not done here.”

Caroline blinked, not sure if he meant their lovemaking or conversation. “We’re not?”

Taking both of her wrists in one strong hand, Beck raised them over her head.

“Beck?”

“Scared?”

“Of course not.”

“Then let me take you.”

He began to move again, slow strokes that went deeper and deeper, the incredible fullness and slow slide of his cock over her inner walls drawing almost continuous moans of pleasure from her.

The pleasure sharpened, and she found herself reaching for her next orgasm, writhing against Beck in frustration. “Faster!”

He smiled, a smile unlike any smile she’d ever seen from him before, a sensual smile with an edge. “You’ll take what I give you. Fast will come later. I’m taking you. After all the years I’ve spent wanting you, I finally have you. You were a virgin, so you’re not only mine, you’re only mine. I want this to last.”

Staring down into her eyes, he continued to move, his slow, steady strokes gradually going deeper.

Filling her.

Her cries became increasingly desperate as she fought for release, a release she craved more than her next breath.

Beck touched his lips to hers, his hands clenching on her wrists. “Come for me.”

Swallowing her cries of release, he released her wrists to slide a hand into her hair, holding her to him as he surged deep with a low groan. Sucking in air, he rolled to his back, settling her over him. “Holy shit.”

Listening to the sound of his thudding heart, Caroline tried to regret giving herself to him but found she couldn’t.

Women threw themselves at his feet, and he scooped up the ones he wanted and kept them a short time before scooping up another of the seemingly never-ending supply.

She felt a twinge at the fact that she’d become one of them but consoled herself with the knowledge that she had enough on her plate already and certainly didn’t need a man to complicate her life even further.

She’d promised herself that she would only lie there a minute or two, but the slide of his hands up and down her back and the comfort of his touch proved impossible to resist.

Loving the feel of her draped over him, Beck enjoyed the lingering pleasure, content to spend the next hour or two right where he was.

He’d never enjoyed lovemaking so much.

Taking her had been the best experience of his life.

When he could finally think again, he tried to regret what could be a life-changing oversight but couldn’t. Not willing to move, but knowing that he had to address what he’d done, he cupped her jaw to lift her face to his. “I didn’t take very good care of you.”

She looked momentarily confused before a tender smile curved her lips, swollen from his kisses. “To be honest, I was so caught up in it, I didn’t think about it. It’s my fault as much as it is yours. It was once, so I’m hoping the odds are low that anything comes of it.”

Her smile as the possible consequences of their lovemaking made him hard as a rock in an instant. “Keep looking at me with that expression on your face and the odds are gonna go up dramatically.”

Shaking her head, she climbed off of him, looked around, and began separating her clothes from his. “I’ll be fine. I’d better get back.”

Irritated that she could shake off what they’d just shared so quickly, Beck sat up and gripped her arm when she would have moved away. “That’s the first time in my life I’ve ever had sex without a condom, and I get checked regularly. I’m safe.”

“Okay.” She grinned, showing dimples. “Me, too.”

He watched her shake out her clothes and get dressed as he did the same, unnerved by her silence. “Are you okay, baby?”

She finished buttoning her shirt and nodded, not looking at him. “I’m fine.”

She left the grassy area to go to sit on one of the rocks by the water hole to slip on her boots, still not speaking.

He joined her, capturing her chin. “Why aren’t you talking to me, Caro?”

She shrugged and looked away, frustrating him further. “I’m afraid I’m not sophisticated enough to know what to say after having sex, Beck. I’ve got a lot on my mind and need to get back to the ranch.”