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  “That’s what I’m doing.”

  Most of the time, Josie loved her brother a lot. But right now, she wanted to strangle him. “That’s none of your business, Alex. It’s old-fashioned, and archaic, and patriarchal, and—”

  Jack stepped forward. “I’m not so sure. In fact, if I had a sister, especially if she’d already had a problem with the guy in the past, I’d be asking the same questions.”

  Josie stared at him. “Whose side are you on?”

  “Yours, which is why I’m going to answer your brother’s question as honestly as I can. The truth is, I don’t know how I feel about our relationship.”

  Josie’s heart twisted. She hadn’t wanted Alex to force a declaration of love, but she would have liked something a little bit more encouraging than I don’t know how I feel.

  “That’s what I was afraid of,” Alex said. “And it’s why I’ve been worried about my sister taking up with you again. You dropped her before, so if you’re not particularly invested, why wouldn’t you repeat your past performance?”

  Jack tensed. “I’ve already told her I wouldn’t hurt her again.”

  “Which means what, exactly? That you’ll let her down easy this time, give her more advance notice that you’re checking out of the relationship?”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “I’ve asked around, Chance. It’s no secret that whenever you have a girlfriend, you’re the one who does the leaving. From all reports, you’re what the shrinks call commitment-phobic. So what are your plans for Josie?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Josie decided enough was enough. “Alex, I appreciate your concern, but I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself.” She turned to Jack. “I’ll see you tomorrow at nine for our riding lesson.”

  “Maybe it’s not such a good—”

  “I’ll be there at nine. That was our agreement.”

  Jack sighed. “Fine. I’ll be there.”

  “I hope you know what you’re doing, Josie.” Alex focused his full attention on Jack. “I’m going to respect her wishes and butt out, but I swear, if she ends up in tears, you’ll hear from me, and I don’t give a damn how old-fashioned, archaic and paternalistic that might be.”

  “Understood.” Jack tipped his hat in Josie’s direction. “See you in the morning.” Then he walked out of the bar without looking back.

  “Josie, I sure as hell wish that you’d—”

  “Don’t say it, Alex. I have a very good idea what the risks are after tonight. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to bed. Feel free to have a nightcap.”

  “I just might do that.”

  “Then lock up when you’re done.” Josie walked out the front door, the same one Jack had used. It was the closest route to the stairway at the side of the building that led to her apartment. She’d always meant to have a stairway built inside that would run from her office up to the second-floor apartment.

  If there’d been one, she never would have made love with Jack in the office tonight, knowing Alex could come down at any time. But the office was a self-contained unit, which was why she and Jack had made love there so many times, including tonight.

  Obviously Alex had become suspicious when she hadn’t come upstairs right after the bar closed. He’d appointed himself her protector, and after the way she’d sobbed on the phone to him ten months ago, she couldn’t really blame him. She couldn’t pour out her troubles and then criticize him for interfering in her life. That wasn’t fair, and she’d tell him so…tomorrow.

  Tonight she needed a hot bath and some time alone to think this through. Alex was right that Jack had shied away from commitment his entire adult life. That went for his romantic relationships and his dedication to the ranch. When his father was killed, he’d been forced to take control of the ranch, but she sensed he wasn’t happy about that.

  She wasn’t about to force him into making a commitment to her. Maybe she’d kidded herself that he was moving in that direction, but Alex’s questions, unwelcome though they’d been, had told her a great deal.

  As she closed the door to her bathroom and ran water into the tub, she thought about Jack’s reaction when Alex had pressed him for answers. He didn’t know. She believed he was telling the truth, and that meant she had some decisions to make. They wouldn’t be easy.

  JACK WASN’T SURE what to expect when Josie showed up the next morning, so he packed for every contingency. Her breezy manner when she climbed out of her Bronco and came over to the hitching post gave him no clues, either. Ten months ago he’d been able to read her moods, but she’d changed.

  She wasn’t nearly as open as she used to be, and he had himself to blame for that. But she was here, and she wanted to go for a ride. Her brother hadn’t convinced her to dump him. That was something, anyway.

  She untied Destiny from the hitching post before mounting up. With only two days of lessons, and interrupted lessons at that, she’d picked up a fair amount of information about how to deal with horses. He wasn’t surprised. She was quick, which was one of the things that had attracted him.

  He patted his saddle bag. “Sarah packed us some homemade brownies, so I brought along bottled water.”

  “That was nice of her.”

  “Yeah, it was.” He’d dodged Sarah’s questions about how the riding was going. She was well aware that he’d gone into town last night. Not much got past his stepmother, but he’d avoided any conversation about his trip.

  He’d never been a blabbermouth, so not talking about himself wasn’t anything new. Sarah was watching him, though, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was going through some sort of testing period.

  A soft breeze blew across the meadow as they rode through it. Once again, they had a glorious day of blue sky and puffy clouds, sweet-smelling sage and a hawk circling overhead. Yet something was off, and Jack suspected last night’s confrontation had something to do with the uneasy feeling between him and Josie.

  He thought about suggesting a trot and decided against it. For reasons he’d rather not examine, he wanted to take it easy today. He wanted Josie to be happy with her riding experience and happy with him. He wasn’t convinced that she was, even though she acted cheerful enough.

  She turned to look at him. “Tell me again why you insist on calling your stepmother by her first name.”

  He met her steady gaze. “Is that a trick question?”

  “Maybe.”

  “I’m no good at trick questions.” He hated them, actually. “Tell me why you want to know.”

  “Partly clarification. I vaguely remember you said that you couldn’t call her Mom because that’s what you called the woman who was such a disappointment to you.”

  “That’s what I said and it’s still true. But I sense something behind this whole discussion, something that has to do with last night.”

  “I suppose it does.” She looked quite comfortable in the saddle as she gazed at him. “You know what? I think we should talk about this later.”

  “We can talk about it never, as far as I’m concerned.”

  She smiled. “Spoken like the Jack I know. Hey, can we canter? I loved the cantering part and I want to do that again.”

  Relieved that they’d left a touchy subject behind, he pointed to a tall pine on the far right of the meadow. “That’s where we’re aiming. There’s a trail through the trees there and it leads to a really pretty spot I wanted to show you.”

  “That’s what’s so great about being on horseback. You can see out-of-the-way places that you might not otherwise.”

  “Exactly.” He was more pleased than he wanted to admit that she’d taken to riding with such enthusiasm. He loved being out here, and sharing the experience with her was…nice. He wanted to be angry with Alex for upsetting the status quo, but the man had his reasons, and Jack understood that. He had a protective streak, too.

  He looked over at Josie. “Ready to go?”

  Her gray eyes sparkled with anticipation. “Yep.�
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  “Then dig in your heels and Destiny will get the message.” Jack only had to nudge Bandit and make a clucking sound for the big horse to stretch into a canter. Destiny was on the lazy side, but he also liked to keep up with whatever horse was alongside.

  Jack took off and glanced over to find Josie right beside him, her cheeks pink and her eyes alight with joy as Destiny broke into a canter. At that moment Jack realized Josie’s happiness had become very important to him. He remembered feeling that way ten months ago, but then his father’s death had deadened so many emotions, including his feelings for Josie.

  Now they were coming back, and it was exactly like the tingling in his hand or his foot when circulation returned after that part of him had fallen asleep. He couldn’t decide whether he liked the sensation or not. In his experience, too much of that tingling sensation could be dangerous.

  But here was Josie riding along beside him, full of life and sexier than any woman he’d ever known. Being with her made him forget about his responsibilities for a little while and just be. For that he was grateful.

  As they reached the tree line, he called over to her so she’d slow down. If she couldn’t do it alone, he was prepared to grab Destiny’s bridle and help her, but she’d kept her feet in the stirrups and one hand on the reins. She guided Destiny into a walk with no help from him.

  “You’re catching on,” he said.

  “I hope so. There’s not much time left.”

  “We still have almost a week before the wedding.”

  “Right. Is that the path?” She pointed to a narrow trail through the trees.

  “That’s it. Head on down that path. I’ll be right behind you.”

  “Then you can coach me. I want to try trotting again.”

  “Don’t torture yourself, Josie. You can work on that another day.”

  She glanced over her shoulder. “I want to learn it now. I’m inspired after that canter. Just watch me, okay?”

  “If you say so.” Jack would have preferred a leisurely pace as they approached the clearing he’d chosen for today’s rendezvous. Jouncing along on Destiny’s back didn’t seem like an appropriate prelude to good sex. But what did he know? Maybe Josie would find it stimulating.

  She kicked Destiny into a trot, and at first her sexy bottom slapped the saddle the way it had the past two days.

  Jack cringed every time she came down and hoped she wasn’t damaging any sensitive parts. “Push your feet into the stirrups and keep your heels down,” he said. “Then sink your center of gravity into your seat and grip through your entire leg.”

  Her heels came down as she tucked her tailbone under her and sat up straight. And then, miracle of miracles, she stopped bouncing. Instead she moved that delicious behind in rhythm with the horse.

  Watching her was so damned erotic that Jack wondered if he’d make it to the clearing without closing the distance between them and pulling her off her horse. She moved easily back and forth, back and forth, and it was way too much like sex for his comfort.

  “Jack, I’m doing it!”

  “Yes, you sure are.” She was doing it for him, too. His balls ached something fierce. “Congratulations. You’re becoming quite a rider.”

  “I had no idea this could be so much fun. I’m thinking I need to buy a horse.”

  “Now that’s just plain silly. We have horses galore at the ranch. Destiny’s yours to ride whenever you want, and now that you’re more comfortable in the saddle, you can try out some of the others.”

  “Thank you, Jack, but I…I might need my own.”

  “I can understand that, but at least you could stable your horse at the ranch.” Jack liked that idea a lot.

  The Last Chance didn’t normally stable horses that didn’t belong to the ranch, but he was willing to make an exception in Josie’s case. Having a horse in the barn would give her a reason to come out often. Going for rides together could become a regular thing.

  “We’ll see.” She guided Destiny into the clearing. “Oh, Jack, this is lovely.”

  He had to admit she was right. A canopy of pine and oak sheltered an area filled with wildflowers and ferns. A tiny stream ran along the far edge of the clearing before disappearing beneath the undergrowth. Water gurgling over smooth stones made a slurping sound a little bit like two people having sex.

  Outdoor sex took him back to his younger days, before he’d had access to indoor recreational opportunities. With Josie’s brother in residence, he didn’t have a lot of choice now, but the natural setting had turned out great. It suited Josie.

  It suited him, too, come to think of it. He’d forgotten how liberating it could be to make love out in the open with a breeze caressing his bare skin. He was eager to get that program started.

  Josie dismounted and tied Destiny by separating the reins and looping them around the trunk of a tree. The horse would have to uproot the whole damn tree to get loose today. Jack smiled. Josie obviously didn’t want to be interrupted.

  Maybe last night had been only a blip on the radar, nothing to worry about. Josie was acting as if nothing was wrong, as if they’d continue the plan of getting together every morning for a riding lesson and great sex. Jack tied Bandit to a tree and took the blanket, the brownies and the bottled water out of his saddle bag.

  “You should put the blanket over here, by the stream,” Josie said. “The water sounds like—”

  “I know. Like sex.” Today they had plenty of time and wouldn’t have to rush. His body had started to hum in anticipation, and he enjoyed the buildup of tension. This was good. Very good.

  Setting the plastic bag of brownies and the water bottles to one side, he shook out the blanket and laid it close to the stream. “How’s that?”

  “Perfect.” Bracing herself against a tree, she pulled off her boots and socks.

  He did the same and had to laugh at what they were doing. “We’re like two married people getting ready for bed.” He said it without thinking, but once the words were out, he wanted them back, especially after he saw her expression. “That was stupid. Forget it.”

  “But it’s true.” She walked over to him barefoot. “In some ways it’s as if we’ve known each other forever.” She cupped his face in both hands. “But in other ways, we don’t know each other at all.”

  “Ah, Josie.” He pulled her close and gazed into her eyes. Something about the way she was looking at him was unsettling, but he was afraid to put a name to it.

  Instead he sought to re-create the magic they’d once known. “Let’s take your hair down.”

  Without saying a word, without breaking eye contact, she reached for her braid and pulled off the tie, letting it fall to the ground.

  “Better.” As he’d always done, he combed his fingers from her scalp down through her braided hair, loosening the silky blond strands until they hung around her shoulders in soft waves.

  He let all that glorious hair sift through his fingers. Taking her hair down was almost more erotic to him than taking off her clothes. But he decided to do that, too, even though they usually undressed themselves.

  As he revealed more and more of her fair skin, he paused to touch, to stroke, to kiss. In the beginning, they’d taken this kind of time undressing each other, but then it had seemed silly when they could get out of their things so much faster by themselves.

  Maybe it wasn’t so silly. Her soft sighs of pleasure as he released her from the restrictions of her clothes stirred him in a way that flinging garments everywhere didn’t. When he finished, and she stood naked before him, her hair flowing over and around the pert tilt of her breasts, he took a moment to look…just look.

  “My turn.” She reached for the top snap of his shirt.

  As she moved slowly through the same process, placing kisses on his chest, he closed his eyes and concentrated on her gentle movements. When had the world become such a busy place that he’d abandoned this simple ritual for efficiency?

  He loved every second of this, and yet…he c
ouldn’t shake the feeling that she was memorizing him as she went. A woman wouldn’t do that unless…no, he wouldn’t invite trouble. If something was wrong, making love would fix it. It always had in the past.

  But for the first time since he’d known Josie, he wasn’t sure making love was the answer. Still, it was the only one he had.

  13

  JOSIE HAD ALWAYS told herself that Jack made love with his whole being, and that proved he was committed to her. But after his answer to Alex’s question last night, she wasn’t sure that devoting himself completely to lovemaking was as significant as she’d thought. Maybe he’d done that with all his girlfriends. Perhaps she was no more special than any of the others had been.

  There was one way to find out, but she wouldn’t think about that now as she lay naked and panting on the blanket while Jack kissed every square inch of her body. She wouldn’t think at all, because Jack was by far the best lover she’d ever had the pleasure of sharing a blanket with. Not that her list of partners was very long, but she had a hunch that Jack would head the list for the rest of her life.

  He also had the most impressive package of any man she’d known. And she hadn’t paid proper attention to it in the past two days. As he rose to his hands and knees and reached for a condom at the edge of the blanket, she flattened her palm against his chest. “Not yet.”

  His muscles flexed under the pressure of her hand, and his voice was low and seductive. “But I want you.”

  “Soon.” She pushed against his chest, urging him to rise to his knees as she scooted into a sitting position in front of him. “First, I want this.” She wrapped her fingers around his rigid cock.

  His sharp intake of breath told her he might not mind the delay all that much. His groan when she cupped his balls told her that he might actually be happy about the delay. When she used her tongue to lick the single drop of moisture from the head of his penis and he tunneled his fingers through her hair to clutch the back of her head, she knew that he was in total agreement with the delay.