Page 49 of The Cowboy Takes A Bride

She looked at him and smiled widely. “No, unless you count the ones from your sister's chatter. Incredible right?”

Jace snorted. “She does talk a lot. We all have headaches, but Willow excluded, I take the lack of headaches as a good sign. An excellent one actually.” He stroked her cheek before tucking an errant wisp of hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry I was an ass today about you coming out here. I say that a lot to you, but I promise I’m trying to outgrow it.”

She laughed. “Recognizing you have a problem is the first step.” She clapped her hands together in finality. “So…what do we do now?”

Okay, she needed to move away from the subject. He could understand that. Jace stood, readjusted his hat, and offered her a hand to stand. “Since we’re here, we might as well take a look at the herd and see if any of the cows dropped. Grab your shotgun. Rule number one out here is to always have something for defense at hand.”

She took his hand, and he pulled her up. For all the toughness she'd developed since coming to the ranch, she still neededgentle touching and tonight, after dinner, he’d try to do his part and show her how much he appreciated her.

She glanced at the weapon holstered at his flank. “Got it. Carry a weapon. Even if I don't know how to use it.”

Jace swore under his breath. Yep, her carrying a gun was as useless as tits on a bull. “This is grizzly country. I’m not for the unnecessary injuring of an animal, but I’m all for my friends and family coming home alive, and that includes you. We'll get you caught up on firearms real soon. For now, grab the bear spray.”

He brushed his lips to hers once, and then again, using his tongue to caress and asking her to let him in. Kissing her, touching her, required a restraint he was learning to develop. He wanted to consume her, swallow her whole like she did him, take her into the blinding world of pleasure he’d become addicted to. With his hands on her hips, he pulled her against him, her fingers grabbing onto his shoulders. Her head went back as he worked kisses down her neck. He stopped at the base of her throat to kiss her scar. He loved the pucker of skin, even more so today because it gave him a place to start kissing her wounds. He was desperate to take her aches away.

“This?” he asked and kissed the round, raised skin. He glanced at her. Her eyes fluttered open and met his gaze.

“It’s from a ventilator. I was the only survivor of the plane crash.” Her voice was so low he almost didn’t hear it over the pounding of his heart. A tiny tear fell from her eye, others waiting for their turn.

Her words sucked the air from him. It all made sense. A girl who nearly lost her life was forced to live a caged existence. Anyone with a spirit would have run at the first chance. Meredith was no exception.

Screw the cows. There would be enough sunshine after he was done showing his wife how much she meant to him and how desperately he wanted her.

“Babe,” he said and wrapped her in a hug. “I’m so sorry.” He laid her down in the soft grass. Using his hands to do all the talking, he showed her a gentle love. As the sun dipped lower in the sky, he did his damnedest to make Meredith know and feel that she was cherished.

21

Jace stood beside her, his hand pressed to the small of her back, his mouth close to her ear. “Get centered.”

They were close enough to home that he could see the big house, their camping technically over now that they were in sight of the ranch. Yet he was trying to extend it as long as he could by finally getting around to teaching her to shoot. He really should get back to the house and check in with Tuck. A couple more rounds, and he'd drag them home. Man, it had been a fantastic four days.

“Deep breath, narrow your concentration down the sight line of the barrel, and bring the can into focus.” He knew he should keep his mind on the task. Meredith holding a gun for the first time required his undivided attention. Yet, the sight of her, the butt of the gun resting on her shoulder, her legs apart and head bent, sent heat directly to his crotch. He wanted to toss the gun aside and relive what they’d done in the tent last night out in the tall grass of the prairie.

“Okay, I’m going to do it,” she whispered, leaning forward.

Jace was instantly hard. He wanted to do it, too, and with herbeing so willing was all it took. Heck, her getting excited over the sunrise gave him wood. Shoot, watching her clean with those long-ass kitchen gloves made him want to strip her of everything but those stupid gloves and bend her over a table.

Christ, he was a Neanderthal.

“Jace?” Her voice was hushed, like she was going to startle the old coffee can away.

“Yeah?” He was staring at her ass, daydreaming.

“Can I pull the trigger?”

He snapped his attention back to the task. “Yeah, deep breath and then pull.”

A crack split the air, and Meredith staggered backward into him, her derriere pressing to his crotch.

“Holy crap, that hurt.” The rifle dangled from one hand while she rolled the opposite shoulder back a few times.

He pushed her away from him before he did something in broad daylight his mother wouldn't be proud of. “You’ll learn to roll with it, and after a few times—”

“I won’t have any shoulder left so it won’t matter.” She handed him the gun then began to rub her shoulder.

“It’s not that bad.” He laughed at her exaggeration. “And make note—you hit the can.”

She spun away to look at the fence. “I did?” she asked in wonder, then did a little dance around him before coming to stop beside him.

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