Page 43 of Rainwater
“Saddled and waiting, Ms. Horn.”
“Jennifer, do you want me to come with you?” Corey was filled with concern for her, his anger banked.
“No. That’s all right. You eat and work on the branding. I need you here. That’s why I hired you. You’re doing a great job. Thanks.” She avoided his eyes and he didn’t blame her.
She didn’t look back as she rushed out of the barn, and instinctively Corey knew that Jay Butler was involved.
He didas she’s asked. He ate and then returned to the branding. When the day was complete, he once again took careful care of his mount. When his chores were completed, the stallion bedded down and watered, he shucked his T-shirt and loosened his jeans. Leaning back against the stall, he was surprised to find that the scent of her lingered in the air. He closed his eyes and remembered how the soft, delicate perfume of Jennifer’s body had smelled their one enchanted night together. Remembered how her skin had tasted.
She wanted him to stay, maybe even wanted something more, but his mind closed down on that idea. He couldn’t let himself even contemplate becoming part of their lives, but he couldn’t help wishing for things that could never be. He groaned softly and raked his hand through his sweat-soaked hair. He wanted to wake up beside Jennifer every day, to face Ellie every morning over the breakfast table and watch her animated face as she talked about things that interested her in the fast way children did, jumping from one subject to the next. He wanted Jennifer to support him, love him. He wanted to make a child with her, to watch her stomach grow with his seed, to hold his child in his hands and look into those young, innocent eyes and know that this little life he created was his responsibility.
But how could he be sure the secret fear he carried with him wouldn’t turn into a horrible reality?
He couldn’t. In that second, the dream he’d just created and built died and with it went more of himself.
He exited the dim barn and walked to the outside hose. Turning on the tap, he raised it over his head, sighing as the cool water brought him some physical relief.
Jennifer was lostin thought as she came around the corner of the barn, heading for the tack room to deposit her saddle and bridle. She would have to talk to Jimmy about mending her bridle. It was getting frayed.
Surprisingly, she wasn’t thinking of how she’d arrived at the pasture to find her bulls, Happy-Go-Lucky and Sidewinder, down in the field, lowing in pain. They’d had to put down Happy-Go-Lucky. The bullet had shattered his leg and the vet had said there was no other choice. She had done it herself. Destroyed thousands of dollars of prime stock that her father had carefully and dutifully bred and nurtured. It had made her fighting mad. Her insurance would cover the loss, but the genetics and sheer promise of Happy-Go-Lucky were lost forever. He had been in his prime with a lot of young yet to be conceived. Thank God, Sidewinder’s wound had been superficial. She had told Jimmy to post a guard on the pastures where her breeding stock grazed. She had also told her suspicions to the sheriff. Fat lot that would do.
Instead, she was thinking of how dark Corey’s eyes had turned when she’d asked him about his father. She thought about how much she wanted to soothe him and take away the pain and fear in his eyes. What was he afraid of? She now discounted the goring. At one time, she was ready to believe that he was drifting because he couldn’t face his failure.
She’d had all afternoon to think about why he would hate his father, and she could only come away with one conclusion. Abuse. She’d recognized his pain when he first kissed her. And she knew there was something embedded deep down inside him that made him do what he did. Some reason that he wouldn’t allow himself to have children.
The sound of running water brought her thoughts back to the present. She looked up and stopped dead in her tracks. Corey was using the outside hose to cool off. He was rinsing off the worst of the day’s grit, she thought distractedly.
He faced her, his eyes closed, the water sluicing through his hair and over his smooth chest. Her eyes dropped down his powerful body, heat curling in the pit of her stomach. The water was soaking into the waistband of his unsnapped and low-slung jeans. He was breathtaking—even dirty, sweaty and wet.
As if he felt her presence, he stiffened and his eyes opened. His jawline tightened and his wonderful eyes flashed with the innate stubbornness that she had come to know so well.
“I thought you were down at the north pasture.”
“I…was…I came…finished…with...the…sheriff…” Her words trailed off and she was unable to pull her eyes away from him. She knew she sounded like an imbecile and she felt like an idiot.
“What happened?” he asked tightly, the concern evident in his voice.
She couldn’t draw her eyes from his chest if her life depended on it. “I had to put down Happy-Go-Lucky.”
“I’m sorry, Jennifer.” There was true sadness in his words. “Do you think it was Butler? Just give me a reason, darlin’, and I’ll take care of him.”
“Yes, I think it was Jay, but I have no proof, and violence only begets more violence, Corey.”
“I know that. But, Jennifer, it’s the only thingheunderstands.”
Her dazed eyes traveled from his face down his body and she licked her lips slowly.
Corey took a deep breath. “Jennifer, turn around and get the hell out of here. For God’s sake, for my own sanity, stop looking at me like that.”
With an embarrassed groan, she wrenched her eyes away from his magnificence and turned away, but she didn’t move. She couldn’t seem to get her legs to move.
She heard Corey swear again and she heard him approach, her throat going dry. She could hear his raspy breathing and the sexy jingle of his spurs. She closed her eyes tightly. The sun had set and the darkness was complete except for the wan light from the barn and the quarter moon. She could feel his presence behind her, engulfing her, protecting her. His hands were like red-hot brands when they dropped to her waist, and without any urging, she dropped her tack and turned in his arms.
“Jennifer, didn’t we agree that we weren’t going to complicate matters?” His voice was a tortured rasp that sent heat and sensation skittering across her skin.
“No, you gave me an ultimatum. I don’t take threats well, and I can’t forget the way you made me feel. I don’t want to forget the most wonderful night of my life.” Her eyes focused on his lips, and to save her soul, she couldn’t look away.
The stark look of pain flashed across his tanned face and for a moment she felt as if the ground had been wrenched from beneath her feet. “Jen,” he breathed, “you’re driving me crazy. I couldn’t sleep last night. I need you. I’m hurting so bad.”
