Claimed! Read online

  “That’s impossible.” She kept her eyes closed and savored the postcoital glow he’d helped create.

  “Maybe not a huge problem, but we’ll need to get up.”

  “I don’t wanna.”

  “Well, you’ll have to. Destiny’s gone.”

  9

  JACK WOULD HAVE LOVED to spend more time on the blanket cuddling with Josie, but Destiny was nowhere in sight. They weren’t very far from the barn, and the horse might have worked himself loose and headed back there. Jack wasn’t crazy about having Destiny show up without a rider. That could be tough to explain.

  Giving Josie a quick kiss, he climbed off the blanket, dealt with the condom, and started putting on his clothes.

  “How can he be gone?” Josie followed his lead and grabbed her clothes wherever they’d fallen. “I tied him to a tree branch, just like you did with Bandit.”

  “I know, but sometimes he takes a notion to get loose and go back home, especially if he knows he’s close.” Jack hopped on one foot as he pulled on his boot. “He’ll break off the branch if he has to. I should have remembered that.” Damn straight, he should have. Years ago he’d encouraged that fool stunt because he’d thought it was funny.

  “So you think he went back to the barn?”

  “Probably headed in that direction.” He muttered a few choice words. “Maybe I can catch him before he gets there.” Or before Emmett or one of the other hands spotted him.

  Josie fastened the snaps on her shirt and tucked it into her jeans. “What should I do?”

  “Wait here. If I can, I’ll bring him back and we’ll ride in later as if nothing happened.”

  “What if he’s already made it to the barn?”

  Jack glanced at her. She looked beautiful all mussed up, but any fool would figure out why she was in such a state. “How good are you at making up stories?”

  “Not very.”

  “That’s too bad.” He untied Bandit and swung into the saddle. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. You might want to fold up the blanket and…” He gave her a helpless glance. He wasn’t sure what sort of repairs she could make. The flush of satisfaction on her cheeks was a dead giveaway.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll make myself presentable. Good luck, Jack.”

  “Thanks.” He wheeled Bandit and started off the way they’d come, cursing Destiny under his breath. They’d spoiled that horse rotten, he and his brothers, but he was the worst culprit.

  He used to love it when Gabe or Nick would take Destiny to go fishing down at the creek and Destiny would quietly work himself loose and walk home if nobody was paying attention. Jack used to give him an apple as a reward for that stunt.

  But that was years ago, and Jack had been too focused on Josie, too blasted intent on doing her. Destiny’s parlor tricks had been the furthest thing from his mind. But the damned horse could blow their cover.

  He urged Bandit into a canter after he broke from the trees. When he had a good sight line, he pulled the horse to a halt and stood in his stirrups to scan the meadow for any sign of a brown and white Paint. Maybe the horse had stopped to graze. Jack knew he was grasping at straws. Once Destiny got the bright idea to go back home, he always made straight for the barn.

  When Jack could see no sign of the missing horse, he tried to think of a plausible story to explain what had happened. He could come up with a million reasons why Josie might dismount—problems with the saddle, the stirrups, the bridle, a pebble in her boot, a speck in her eye. But he couldn’t think of a single reason why she’d tie Destiny to a tree and then fail to notice that he’d disappeared from the scene. Except for the real one.

  Urging Bandit into a fast trot, Jack rode on until the barn was in sight. Sure enough, that cotton-picking horse was standing by the hitching post. Josie’s hat was still hooked on the saddle horn, thankfully, and a piece of the branch she’d used to tie Destiny dangled from the reins. More incriminating evidence. Jack let loose with a few choice swear words.

  At that moment, Emmett came out of the barn, spotted Destiny, and took a look around. Apparently he noticed Jack and Bandit coming toward him, because he lifted a hand in greeting. Then he turned back to the horse and began untying the branch from Destiny’s reins.

  Jack’s brain was a wasteland as he rode in and dismounted next to them. He hoped something brilliant would come to him. Nothing did.

  Emmett glanced up. “Is Josie okay?”

  “She’s fine.” Mighty fine.

  Emmett nodded. “Figured that was the case because you weren’t running Bandit.” He removed the stick and straightened to glance at Jack. “So where is she?”

  “You mean Josie?”

  “Uh-huh.” Emmett’s expression remained blank, as if they were discussing a topic of no real interest to either of them. “Any chance she’s walking in?”

  “No, no. I’ll…I’ll take Destiny back and fetch her.” Jack avoided Emmett’s gaze. “We had a bit of…that is, she…I mean, I…” Crap. He was making a mess of this.

  “Big fight?”

  “No!” Jack didn’t want anyone drawing that conclusion, either. He hadn’t considered someone might assume he and Josie had fought.

  Emmett put a hand on his shoulder. “The way I figure it, these are the problems you were sent out there to fix, so go apologize for whatever fool thing you did.”

  “But I didn’t—” Jack caught himself and started over. Maybe this could work to his advantage. “You’re right, Emmett. I need to go apologize.”

  “Glad to hear you say it, son. You have a tendency to be a tad stubborn when people cross you.”

  Jack started to protest.

  “Like your daddy.” Emmett squeezed Jack’s shoulder. “But being stubborn isn’t all bad. At least you stick with whatever you set out to do. Anyway, you’d best get a move on before anybody notices Josie is MIA. Sarah would have a hissy fit.”

  “Right.” Jack grabbed Josie’s hat and mounted Bandit. Accepting Destiny’s reins from Emmett, he tied them to his saddle horn. “Thanks for keeping this to yourself, Emmett.”

  “It’s what I’d want someone to do for me. Now, git.”

  Jack took off at a fast trot with Destiny prancing along beside him as if pleased with his little caper. Jack glared at him. “Next time, you mangy piece of crow bait, I’ll be the one to tie you to a tree, and trust me, there will be no getting loose. We’re not playing this game anymore.”

  As Jack neared the line of trees, he wondered what time it was, and whether Josie would be interested in spreading out that blanket again. But when he arrived at the spot where he’d left her, he realized that wouldn’t be happening. She was sitting on a fallen log with none other than his brother Gabe.

  Finicky stood nearby munching on a few tufts of grass. Jack noted that the horse was ground-tied and was staying put, as he’d been trained to do, as all the Last Chance horses had been trained to do, with the glaring exception of Destiny.

  “Hey, bro.” Gabe glanced up when Jack rode into the small clearing. “I was scouting out the wedding location when I spotted Destiny heading for the barn. I decided to follow the trail backward and make sure Josie was okay.”

  “Thanks.” Jack was irritated by Gabe’s lack of confidence in his ability to take care of Josie, but there was no point mentioning it now.

  He dismounted and dropped the reins. If Bandit stayed put, Destiny would have to do the same. Too bad Jack hadn’t thought to hook them together in the first place. If he had, he and Josie might still be naked on that blanket.

  Speaking of the blanket, where was it? Josie had been busy, apparently, because she’d smoothed her clothes, rebraided her hair, and done something mysterious with the blanket, thank God. One look at it and Gabe would have known everything. Blankets out in the woods were code for a sexual encounter.

  “I was afraid you two had some big fight when I saw Destiny going back riderless,” Gabe said. “But Josie tells me you were both searching for one of her contacts and didn’t noti
ce when Destiny left.” Gabe didn’t look entirely convinced.

  Contacts? Josie didn’t wear contacts. If that wasn’t the biggest whopper Jack had ever heard, but he played along. “Yeah, that’s what happened, all right.”

  “Did you find it?” Gabe asked.

  Josie said yes at the same time Jack said no.

  “I found it right after you left, Jack.” She gave him a glare that distinctly told him to shut the hell up before he ruined her perfectly good cover.

  Jack was impressed. For someone who claimed to be bad at making up stories, Josie was doing okay.

  “I guess all’s well that ends well, then.” Gabe stood and walked over to Finicky. “How are the lessons going?”

  Jack had sense enough to let Josie answer, which might have been the smartest thing he’d done recently.

  “Pretty soon I’ll ride well enough to make it through the wedding,” she said. “But I’ve discovered I want to learn how to ride better than that. I’m lucky Jack’s willing to teach me, and for free, too. That’s real neighborly of him.”

  Jack thought the neighborly part might be laying it on a bit thick and he shot a warning glance at Josie.

  She just smiled.

  Gabe, however, still looked suspicious. “I’d better not hear that he’s causing you any trouble, Josie. Maybe you lost a contact and maybe you didn’t, but Jack can be a stubborn guy, as I’m sure I don’t have to tell you.”

  “No, you don’t.” She continued to smile.

  Jack was getting a little sick of everyone calling him stubborn. He’d agreed to the riding lessons, hadn’t he? He’d given up on his original plan to keep those lessons strictly separated from his sexual needs, too. If that wasn’t flexible, what was?

  Gabe mounted up and gathered his reins in preparation for leaving. It was about time, as far as Jack was concerned.

  “I’ll mosey on and let you get back to the lesson, then.” Gabe touched the brim of his hat in salute to Josie and rode away through the trees.

  “Thanks for coming to my rescue!” Josie called after him.

  “No problem!”

  “Interfering son of a gun,” Jack muttered.

  “He was just trying to help.”

  “He was just trying to check up on me and make sure I’m not making your life miserable.”

  Josie came over and wound her arms around his neck, bringing with her the scent of peach schnapps. “You’re not.”

  “Good to hear.” He filled his arms with warm, soft, willing woman. “By the way, what the heck did you do with the blanket?”

  “Buried it under a few pine branches, just in case someone came along.”

  “Quick thinking, because as it turns out, someone did. My nosy brother.”

  “He’s worried about the wedding, Jack.” She massaged the back of his neck. “You can’t blame him for that. Morgan wants it to go off without a hitch, and yet she also wants me to be a co-maid of honor and you to be a co-best man. Gabe knows that could be problematic.”

  Jack closed his eyes and savored her touch. “It won’t be.” He wanted to kiss her, but he also knew they were running out of time, thanks to Destiny’s little caper. He sighed. “We didn’t have nearly enough time today.”

  Josie continued to massage the back of his neck. “There’s always tomorrow.”

  He felt the kinks from ten months of grinding responsibility ease a little. He hadn’t considered that someone, a certain someone, might make his burdens easier to bear. “I like knowing I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Ditto.”

  He opened his eyes. “Let’s go get the blanket.”

  “We don’t have time to—”

  “I know that.” He gave her a swift, hard kiss and released her. “But I need to put the blanket back in my saddle bag. We can’t go forgetting that it’s here and let somebody else stumble on it. That would be a red flag, for sure.”

  “It’s over there, behind that big pine.” Josie pointed to a spot at the edge of the small clearing.

  Jack walked behind the tree and unearthed the blanket from under the pine branches scattered randomly over it. “Good job.” He brushed the pine needles off. “And that story about the contacts was great. How did you happen to think of that?”

  “One of my girlfriends back in Chicago wore contacts and she was forever losing them. I figured Gabe wouldn’t know whether I wore them.”

  Crossing to Bandit, who stood quietly like the well-trained horse he was, Jack tucked the blanket back in the saddle bag. “I never realized you had such a devious mind.”

  “I don’t, really. But I don’t want people to know our business any more than you do.”

  Jack buckled the saddle bag before glancing over at her. “People like your brother, for instance?”

  “For instance, yes.”

  “I keep meaning to tell you that Sarah said if he’s still here the weekend of the wedding, he’s definitely invited.”

  “You still call her Sarah, then.”

  Jack frowned. “I’ve always called her Sarah.”

  “I know, and I wasn’t around your family all that much, being a sore point with your dad, but I distinctly remember Sarah wanting you to call her Mom. I thought maybe, after your dad died, that you—”

  “She’s not my mother. In fact, she’s a hell of a lot more honorable than my mother, so I think calling her by her name is actually a step up.”

  Josie looked at him without saying anything.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Never mind. But speaking of Alex, there’s something you should probably know. This morning he’s interviewing for a job with a radio station in Jackson. He’s decided to leave Chicago and move here.”

  “Oh.” Jack wasn’t exactly happy about that, but Josie probably was.

  “I haven’t mentioned this before, but he came out for some R & R after his divorce. He fell in love with the Jackson Hole area.”

  “That’s easy to do.” Jack tried to dredge up some enthusiasm for Josie’s sake. “Having family here will be nice for you.”

  “You don’t have to be polite about it, Jack. I’m well aware that you can’t be overjoyed at the idea. Having Alex living here is a potential problem for you and me, unless…unless you two can become friends.”

  “Considering the way we started out, that’ll be an uphill battle.”

  “Probably.”

  Jack gazed around the little clearing where he’d enjoyed amazing sex with Josie. “I’m guessing this project of ours isn’t the best way to endear me to your brother.”

  “No. He wouldn’t approve. He’s convinced you’re a heartbreak waiting to happen.”

  Jack turned to face her. “I don’t plan on hurting you again, Josie.”

  “I don’t plan on letting you.” She stood before him straight and strong, her clear gray eyes filled with a self-confidence he hadn’t recognized ten months ago. Maybe it hadn’t been there ten months ago.

  “I believe you,” he said. As he gazed at her, he had an unsettling thought. The person in danger of getting hurt might no longer be Josie.

  10

  “SET ’EM UP, JO!” Alex came into the bar at noon wearing a grin bigger than Josie remembered seeing on her brother in ages. “I got the job.”

  “Congratulations!” Signaling Tracy to get Alex a beer, Josie came around the bar to give him a bear hug. Maybe the pain of the divorce was fading. “That’s awesome!”

  “They want me to start right away. I’ll see if Mom and Dad would be willing to supervise if I hire somebody to pack up my apartment and ship the stuff out here.”

  Josie felt a pang of sympathy for their folks. “They’ll probably box themselves up and come along.”

  “I hope they do.” Alex was flying high, his beautiful smile flashing. “I want to sell them on this place as a retirement option in a few years. There’s that great B and B, the Bunk and Grub. They could stay there while they’re here. They’d love it.” He glanced over at the bar where Tracy had
placed a glass of beer on a cocktail napkin. “Thanks.” He lifted the glass. “Here’s to being employed.”

  “I’d drink to that, but I promised Tracy I’d help with the noon crowd.” Josie leaned over and kissed her brother on the cheek. “I’m thrilled for you, though.”

  “I’m really happy about this.” Alex took a swallow of his beer. “In fact, I’m going to suggest the ’rents take some vacation time and come out ASAP so they can see why I’m so excited about the place.”

  Josie tried to focus on the positives of having her family gather round and not the negative. Her parents had hated the way Jack had ended things last fall, so they wouldn’t be happy that she’d started seeing him again.

  Not wanting to rain on Alex’s parade, she put out a mild suggestion. “If you invite them, you might want to suggest they come after Morgan’s wedding. I’ll want to spend time with them, and as co-maid of honor, I’ll be pretty busy between now and the wedding.”

  “Good point.”

  “Plus you’re invited to the wedding. I found that out this morning.”

  “Right. Your riding lesson. How did it go?”

  “Excellent.” She blocked all thoughts of being naked on a blanket with Jack and concentrated on her experience of cantering through the trees. “I’ve decided I want to get good at this. I like riding.”

  “No kidding?”

  “No kidding.”

  “So this Jack guy is actually teaching you to ride and not using the lessons as an excuse to make a move on you?”

  Josie hoped her eyes weren’t crossed as she struggled to think of a diplomatic answer to that loaded question. “He—” The cell phone clipped to her belt chimed, and she’d never been so happy for an interruption in her life. Then she recognized the ring. It was Jack’s.

  “Excuse me a minute, Alex.” She moved away from the bar.

  “Sure.” He returned to his beer, and Tracy came over to offer her congratulations.

  Josie watched Alex and Tracy as she answered Jack’s call. Tracy had a megacrush on Alex, but he hadn’t seemed to notice. Josie hadn’t thought much about it before because she’d expected Alex to leave. But now he’d be staying, and he was on the rebound from Crystal. Josie wasn’t sure how she felt about Tracy, who was a good ten years younger than Alex, lusting after him.