Never the Cowboy’s Bride Read online

  Austin thrusts his fist into the air, and a second later the noise hits. Applause. Clapping, cheering—

  “What?”

  “We won,” he says. “We won the first round.” And then he sweeps me up into his arms and pulls me close. I breathe him in, soap and sunshine, and—we’re hugging in front of everybody, my arms thrown around him, face buried in his neck.

  I kick out, desperate to get away, and fumble for cover. “We’ve got to get out there. To accept—to accept whatever it is,” I say. “Come on, hurry up. Hurry up.”

  * * *

  I rattle my foot against the dashboard of Austin’s truck all the way back to Bliss Ranch. He wouldn’t hear of driving myself, since they have a trailer big enough for both horses. Of course they do.

  “Knock that off,” he says with a half-smile curving the corner of his lips.

  “Can’t. I’m too excited.” It’s stupid to admit it, but I am. When Peter handed us those flimsy medals back at the event barn something bright and warm ignited at the center of my burned-out heart. Hope. The curdling anxiety I had about working with Austin isn’t gone, but it’s...less. Because we won. We won the first round. “Doesn’t this strike you as odd, this contest?” My old ways of keeping my lips firmly zipped have fallen away, ‘cause I’m that excited, which is a strange feeling for me given the events of the past few weeks. “Voting on horses like this? Shouldn’t they have been more specific?”

  Austin shrugs. “He said it wasn’t like 4-H. Must be someone from out of town.”

  The way he says out of town makes me wonder if Austin has ever met anyone from outside Paulson that he liked. “What do you have against out-of-towners?”

  “Nothing. I only have something against the ones that try to run my life here in Paulson.”

  What? “Who’s trying to run your life from out of town?”

  He shoots me a look. “The Bliss Brothers.”

  “My sister’s Bliss Brothers?” I scoff. “They’re across the country. What could they possibly want to do with you? What could anybody want to do with you?” My heart isn’t in the dig.

  “You’re telling me you’re curious about something involving my family?” The sun sinks beneath the horizon, the day dying in a last gasp of red and gold. “I didn’t take you for the type.”

  “It’s my family now, too,” I point out. “Technically. They’re my in-laws.”

  “So you don’t know.”

  “Don’t know what? Don’t be a tease.”

  “You can’t accuse me of being a tease, now can you?” He turns onto the long driveway on his property, the truck moving smoothly over the pavement. Our gravel drive is a disgrace by comparison. “They’ve been sending money.”

  A piece of something my sister told me clicks into place. “Because it was your uncle out there in New York, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes. My dad’s brother. He never breathed a word about him, but after he died, I...became aware of an account.”

  “For you?”

  “For our family. Your sister didn’t tell you about this?” He looks at me long enough for me to shake my head, then goes back to staring straight ahead. “I went out to New York to try and stop it.”

  “Stop it? They were sending you money all along?”

  “Still are.”

  How much? A seed of jealousy plants itself and blooms in the pit of my gut. Austin Bliss had the money to give to me. That’s what he meant by assets. He was trying to give it to me. And I need it, that’s the worst part. He has everything and then some. “Wow.”

  “I’ll get rid of it somehow.” He brings the truck and the horse trailer to a stop in front of his big stable building. “Let’s unload the horses.”

  We get them inside, get them into the stalls. “Good job, girl.” The hope I felt earlier is seeping back in, drowning out the jealousy. Austin’s money is none of my business. Never has been. But this contest—this is my business. And we won. “You took us there.”

  “You did,” Austin points out from behind me. “You spent all day in here getting those horses ready.”

  He has his hands in his pockets and a sincerity on his face I’ve never seen before. It warms me up from the inside out. “Didn’t have anything else to do.”

  “No, but you did.” He takes another step closer, the light falling onto his face. “You could’ve met with the insurance company about your house, or harvested the last of your fall crops, or taken Miller over to your place and cleaned it out for when you go back. But you spent all day in here, working on both our horses.” He slaps a hand to the back of his neck and rubs. “You did it for both of us.”

  “That’s what it means, being on a team.”

  He’s even closer now, close enough to pat Daisy on the nose. “Did you see them out there, leaning their heads together like they like each other?”

  “Maybe they do.”

  “Maybe their love will carry us to victory, and we’ll get that billboard.”

  “Ooh. That’s practically dirty talk. Are you sure you wanna go there?” It’s a joke, thrown out between us like a shield, but when Austin looks at me it steals my breath.

  “Here’s some dirty talk for you. You won the competition. We’re the leaders in the first round.”

  It shouldn’t be sensual, but it is. It shouldn’t light me up, but it does. “You can say that again.”

  “You won the competition,” Austin says, and then something cracks inside me, letting in a crazy flash of light, brighter than a thousand cameras.

  And I find myself looping my arms around his neck and yanking down, and Austin Bliss—well, he doesn’t resists. Our mouths crash together, needy, hot, wanting, and shit, shit, he’s a good kisser. Commanding and exploring and there’s his big hand on my waist, pulling me in like the moon pulls the tide, inexorable, inescapable—

  He’s hard, ready, and I feel him pulse against my hip. Desire kindles low between my legs, dangerously low. He has hay here. We could do it. Fuck me in the hay, Austin, I don’t care, I don’t—

  A splintering crack sounds behind us, tearing us apart.

  “What the hell—” Austin lets out a string of curses.

  His horse, Connecticut, has his front hooves on the barrier between the stalls. He’s come down so hard the top board busted. And he is in heat, his monstrous horse penis dangling down low. He whinnies, snuffles, and rears up again. He’s going for my Daisy. The desire drops out of me and disappears.

  “Looks like the two of you are in the same situation.” I choke out the words and Austin glares at me.

  “I’m not starting a breeding program with you, Brooke, sorry to say,” he says through gritted teeth. “Get out of here while I separate these too.”

  “Hell, no. I’ll save my horse, thank you very much.”

  But the wall has gone back up between us, solid as it ever was.

  Chapter Eleven

  Austin

  I can’t get that kiss off my mind. Not that night, not the next day either. I can’t forget how good she tasted, how sweet, how her tongue moved against mine in a dance that felt familiar as it did new. It doesn’t make any sense. It doesn’t make any sense.

  Brooke sits up against the pasture fence, rustling Goatie’s face. We have a few hours left before the cattle display, and she’s made herself scarce.

  She’s already brushed up the prizewinning cow, making her coat shine like it never has before. She spent part of the morning on her own ranch, hauling in crops from the organic gardens they had set up there. The crates are taking up space in the back porch of my house. And she’s taking up space in my mind.

  Brooke makes a kissy face at Goatie, and I drag my boots through the grass so she knows I’m here. Instantly, that warmth disappears, safely back in her pocket. Her cheeks are slightly pink. “Hey.”

  “You ready to head into town?”

  She frowns at me. “It’s too early for that.” Brooke gets to her feat, dusting off her hands on her jeans. I stop myself from looking
away. I can look at her without going into heat, for god’s sake. Or maybe I can’t. She’s not wearing anything special—denim and a close-fitting t-shirt—but the lines of her body might as well be arrows hooking themselves into the part of me that wants her. “There’s still plenty to do around here.”

  “Like what? You’ve got the place polished to a high shine. Maryanne is ready to go. Just loaded her up with some feed and some water.”

  Brooke narrows her eyes. “You sound like you’ve got something on your mind.”

  My stomach rumbles, but the hunger pales in comparison to a deeper hunger that’s currently sending a rush of blood to my dick. “I thought you might want to get some lunch.”

  Her face lights up, and I can’t tell if it’s cruelty or joy or something in between. All I know is that a split-second of pure shock comes in the middle of it all. “You want to have lunch. With me.” Brooke stabs a finger into her chest.

  “Now I’m reconsidering.”

  “Phew. Because if you were asking me on a date, I don’t know what I’d do.”

  “I wasn’t asking you on a date.” Self-consciousness splashes over my skin like hot oil. “I was asking if you wanted to get some lunch in town before the display.”

  “Good.” Brooke glances down at her feet. “I’m glad it wasn’t a date.” A silence hangs between us, broken up by the wind coming down off the hills and the rustle of the leaves. They’re starting to turn. Any day now, they’ll be dropping to the ground, covering the grass with reds and yellows, crunching under my boots. It’ll be time to gather people close and hibernate for the winter. “I could eat,” she says, her nonchalant tone sharpened by something else, something more vulnerable. “Where were you thinking?”

  “Just the Riverbend.”

  She whips her head around to face me. “The Riverbend.”

  “Yeah. The burgers are good.”

  “You go there alone.” She has my number.

  “I’ve gone there with people before.”

  Brooke scowls. “Don’t use me like that.”

  “Use you? How is buying you a burger using you?”

  “You go to the Riverbend alone. I’ve heard it from my sister. I’ve seen you there myself. You can’t parade me around in front of all of Paulson just to prove you’re a good guy. I’m not going to be your—your trophy partner.”

  “Oh, trust me, if I wanted a trophy partner I wouldn’t have picked you.” My chest throbs like she’s actually slipped a knife between my ribs. “What the hell’s your problem, Brooke?”

  She’s got Goatie on a lead rope, and she tugs him toward the fence. It’s slow going, because that damn goat is as stubborn as she is. “I don’t have a problem. I’m just not in love with you, like the rest of town.”

  “No, tell me what it is. Is the guest room mattress not good enough? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Why are you being such a—” I can’t say it.

  “Such a bitch.” Every word is another hit to my gut. “Go ahead. I’ve heard it before.”

  “Such a stinker. That’s what I was going to say.”

  “You’re a shit liar.” She coaxes Goatie another few feet toward the pasture gate. “Come on, boy. You know you want this. You know I want this. Now give it to me.”

  “You’re very forward.”

  The tip of her tongue pokes out between her lips, and damn if I haven’t made it happen—Brooke Carson sticking her tongue out at me. “It’s Goatie’s special day. No such luck for you.”

  “Day’s not over yet.” She shakes her head, pink popping onto her cheeks. “Where are you taking him?”

  “To the event barn,” Brooke says, like this is obvious.

  “Sorry, sweet thing, but you must be confused. Goatie isn’t a cow.”

  Her eyes go wide, and she drops her mouth open into a big round O, then a bigger one. “What?”

  “Don’t be an ass.”

  “Don’t be stupid. I know how hard that is for you Bliss boys,” she says.

  “Your snark is crossing the line, little lady.”

  “Oh my god, you didn’t.”

  “I’ll put you over my knee.” I don’t know where that came from, but when Brooke goes scarlet down to the collar of her shirt, I put it in the worth it column. “Watch me.”

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “I’d dare to do a lot.” I reach one hand out toward her, and she backs away. “Could stand to be a little nicer.”

  “Yes. You could stand to be a little nicer. Go over there and call Goatie.”

  “He can’t come with us.”

  “He’s coming.” She takes another few steps. It’s going to be slow going. At this rate, we don’t have time for lunch. My chest feels tight, hot, like I’m pressing against invisible ties. Ready, my blood sings. Ready, ready, ready. Ready for what? Ready for anything.

  “He’s not.” I step out in front of both of them. “You want to make a fool of me in front of the entire town? It would be front-page news. AUSTIN BLISS DOESN’T KNOW WHAT A COW IS. That’s not the kind of man they want on a billboard.”

  “Half a billboard.” Brooke edges up until she’s toe to toe with me, looking up into my eyes. “Get out of the way. I’m putting Goatie in the trailer.”

  “You’re not.”

  “I am.”

  “You know what?” I cross my arms over my chest, showing off my biceps. “I think you like to argue for arguing’s sake.”

  “I think you like to be stubborn for being stubborn’s sake.” She has the most perfect lips I’ve ever seen on a person, and I don’t think I’ve ever noticed it before. Until last night, when she kissed me like kissing me would kill me and killing me’d be just fine. And that pout. Sweet Jesus. My jeans almost aren’t enough to keep me contained.

  “Maybe I am. What are you going to do about it?”

  She lifts her chin another inch, her mouth dangerously close to mine. “Whatever would get under your skin the most. What would that be?”

  “You think I’d tell you?” A summery scent kicks up around her and I inhale it deep. It’s the last of August hanging on into September, it’s jumping into a swimming hole with both feet, it’s chasing a beautiful blonde woman through the shade of the woods, laughter ringing out around her. “No. I’d just do it.”

  “Get on with it then.” She’s egging me on, I know it, she knows it. “I don’t have all day to stand here and—”

  I swallow the rest of her words, devour them in one bite, kiss her like she deserves it. Her next breath is a little gasp and for a second I think she’s fighting to get away, but no. Brooke bucks into me, unleashed, pulling back only to gulp in another breath. I hoist the delicious curves of her ass into my hands and her legs wrap around me like she’d planned to do just this, all along. The whisper of her hair on my cheek nearly knocks me out. But I can’t fall. I’m holding her. Brooke bites, nipping at my bottom lip, and I swear into her mouth.

  “You liked it,” she challenges.

  “I did,” I drawl, and then I kiss her again.

  We’re in the open field by the pasture, by the open gate, no cover at all. Brooke seems to realize it in the same moment I do, because she unhooks her legs and hops off. She’s breathing hard, her chest rising and falling under her t-shirt. I don’t have to lift that cloth to know she has perfect tits. Brooke looks away and shoves a loose curl of hair behind her ear. “It’s a bad habit to be in, Austin Bliss.”

  “Fighting with me? I agree. It keeps leading to you getting kissed.”

  She wriggles her fingers at me. “Using those lips to get you out of trouble.”

  “Oh, I was the one who was in trouble? I believe you were the one with your legs wrapped around my waist and that sweet little—”

  She yanks on my shirt, pulling me down hard, closing the gap between us with surprising strength. Brooke hovers her lips a bare inch from mine, if that. The heat of her breath moves over the place where she just bit me. I feel it in every inch of my body. “I’m not going t
o sleep with you. Get that through your head.”

  “You’re not? Because I can see what you really want. It’s right there in those pretty gray eyes. And it isn’t kissing. Oh, it’s much more than that.” I don’t know who I am anymore. I have spent so many years being quiet, being alone, being the one who leaves a cold space wherever he goes. She’s under my skin, all right, and she’s forcing me out of it and into something new and raw. “I bet you want to be laid out and taken like the—”

  Her mouth meets mine in a thunderclap. “Shut up, you asshole,” she whispers against my teeth. “Shut the hell up.”

  Goatie pulls against his lead rope. I drop a hand to her hip, tug her in another inch, feel the resistance singing through her body. I can feel how much she wants to give in to me. I don’t care what she says—I can feel it. Same as I can feel a fierce, angry want for her tearing through my muscles and taking me for its very own. It would hurt if it didn’t feel so good. I growl the words that have been fighting on the tip of my tongue. “Make me.”

  “Hey!” Approaching hoofbeats have Brooke jumping back from me like we’re the same side of two different magnets. Luke. Damn Luke. Shouldn’t he be in the library with Julie May? Anything would be better than this, right now, right here. What did he see? A hot embarrassment fries the back of my neck, a flash underneath the raw disappointment that follows. “The trailer’s all loaded up. What are the two of you doing out here? Hey, Austin, you hungry? I thought we could get some lunch.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Brooke

  “Cheers to Paulson’s cutest couple,” Luke shouts, hoisting his beer high above the fire. “Second round winners of the strangest competition known to man.”

  “That’s a no on the couple,” I shoot back, clutching my own beer to my chest. “But we are winners, yes. One round to go.”