A Breath of Heaven: El Camino Real (6 page)

Cade started out into the hall, planning
on beating on her door until she opened it, when he saw a faint glow from
outside. Going to the French doors, he saw she was sitting in a wrought iron
chair, legs drawn up under her chin, hugging herself and shivering. Damn, it
was freezing! What was she thinking? Grabbing a quilt off the bed, he headed
out his door.

“How will I ever face him again?” she
muttered, remembering how she’d moaned and carried on when she came. What he
must think of her? He’d probably done that just to make fun of her and she’d
fell for it like a ton of bricks.

One moment she was sitting there feeling
sorry for herself, contemplating a career as an icicle, and the next, a warm
blanket enclosed her and a pair of strong arms picked her up.

“It’s cold out here. Do you want to catch
your death?” Cade’s voice was serious, not a hint of sarcasm.

Abby stiffened from surprise. “Hey! Put me
down. Dying would be preferable to this!”

“Tough!”

“Let me walk.” She struggled in his
embrace but it was fruitless. He held her easily and securely.

“Stop wiggling. We’re going in.” Cade was
adamant.

Abby was struck with the ironic sadness of
being where right she longed to be – in his arms - but for all the wrong
reasons. Damn. “Take me to my room, right now.” She fumed as she realized they
were heading to the guest room, his room for the moment.

“Nope.” Cade was determined. Plop! Abby
bounced on his bed. She immediately scrambled off, but he grabbed her foot, sat
down and pulled her into his lap. “Easy, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I don’t want to be here.” Shame made
Abby’s whole body warm.

“Too bad.”

He moved her hair to one side and Abby
felt something touch her neck. Startled, her hand flew up and she realized it
was a necklace. “What is this? I don’t understand.”

“I bought it for you. It’s a thank-you
gift for your hospitality.” Cade wasn’t letting this opportunity go to waste. 

“You did?” Awe was in Abby’s voice. She
picked the piece of jewelry up. It was a flower pendant, as blue as the deepest
sea. “It’s beautiful, Cade. Thank you.” Unbidden, tears began to flow again.

“Hey, what is this?” He pulled Abby close.
She was trembling. Cade had to steel his nerves not to shake right along with
her. How many years had he longed to have her right here in his arms?

“I’m embarrassed.” She mumbled low.

He had to strain to hear her voice. “Why?
What we did was the most natural thing in the world.” Cade softly caressed her
neck, feeling her pulse beneath his fingers.

Not natural for her. Abby stiffened in his
arms, refusing to relax.

“Are you afraid of me?” Cade asked, not
liking that idea. Not at all.

“Why would I be afraid of you?” She put as
much sarcasm in her voice as she could muster.

“Maybe you’re afraid of what I make you
feel.”

Oh, no. He was right. “You have the most
massive ego…”

Suddenly he just wanted to make her smile.
“I have something else that’s massive,” he growled in her ear, his breath
fanning her soft hair. “Wanna see?”

She laughed. “You’re hopeless.” He nudged
her backside with something which felt like a rolling pin. Dang, he was big.
But she couldn’t stay. It would never work. “Let me go, Cade. I appreciate the
gift and all, but—” Abby tried to get up.

“Shhhh,” he whispered against her temple.
“I think you need gentling.” Placing his hand on her knee, he began to pet her.
Jesus, her skin was smooth. Cade caressed her kneecap, then slid his hand up
her thigh. She flinched, but he didn’t stop. “It’s okay, Pretty Girl.”

Abby thought she would combust. How many
nights had she dreamed of this moment? Cade Tallbull was touching her. His hot
breath was fanning on her cheek. All she’d have to do is turn her head a
fraction and they could be kissing. Oh, Lord. He was pushing her hair to one
side. “Stop,” she protested weakly.

“I can’t, Abby. I want you too much.” He
let his lips skim the soft skin under her ear. “You’re so sweet.”

Abby moaned. What was Cade doing to her? 

“Give me that mouth.” He ran soothing
kisses up her neck, over her jaw to the corner of her lips. “Perfect.” So far
she was still in his lap. Good. Cade slipped a hand under her shirt, rubbing
the silky expanse of her back, anchoring her to him.

Abby’s whole body was throbbing. She was
more excited than she ever thought possible. Feather-light fingertips were
tracing magic patterns across her electrified skin. And then his mouth dipped
to hers and he kissed her.

A kiss. What a simple word for such a
life-altering event.

Oh, how she wished for expertise, some
instinctual knowledge of the proper response. Could he tell she hadn’t kissed
anyone since the day he’d given her a very hurried peck on the lips all those
years ago? Abby shook like a leaf on an Aspen tree. A strong, firm palm held
the nape of her neck gently, and her whole world condensed to the reality of
his lips covering hers, tasting. She wanted to respond, to kiss him back, but
she didn’t know how. Self-conscious at her lack of experience, Abby tried to
pull away, but Cade stopped her.

“Don’t you dare move.”

He deepened the kiss, slanting his mouth,
pushing his tongue in to coax hers to get acquainted. Abby never knew such
intimacy existed. Tentatively, she returned the caress, holding his bottom lip
between hers.

Soft smooches, velvet indulgences. Abby
could have kissed him forever.

…Until the hand at her back moved to the
front and he stroked the skin at the top of her shorts.

No! Not there.

She jerked back. “I can’t do this, Cade.
Let me up.” This time he didn’t try to stop her. Blind to everything but
escape, Abby fled.

What the hell happened? Cade was confused
and disgusted with himself. He’d made her cry. Their history was full of
teasing and sparring. Years ago, when he’d wanted more, Abby had rejected him.
Okay, he’d been hurt. He was human. But Cade had respected her wishes.

Like Junior High kids, they now fought
instead of flirting. While this wasn’t what he needed or wanted from her, he’d
always settled for what he could get.

Until now.

But never in a billion years had he ever
intended to make her cry.

Following her, he went to her door. “Abby?
Honey, I’m sorry. Let me in.” Nothing. He couldn’t hear a sound. He tried three
more times, standing there, waiting. There was no noise at all coming from
inside her room. It was like a tomb. Hell!

Abby sat in the bottom of the shower with
her knees drawn up under her chin. She could hear Cade speaking to her, but
there was no way she could handle any more tonight.

Tomorrow, she’d be stronger tomorrow…

“Abby, please.” After long moments, he
returned to his room. He wasn’t giving up, Cade was just biding his time. 

* * *

Thank God, she had an inner clock. Abby
hadn’t wanted to alert Cade she was leaving the house, so she’d turned off her
alarm when she went to bed. There was no way she could face him anytime soon.
Abby needed distance for a little while.

Before daybreak, she was up, dressed in
her personal uniform of jeans and a western shirt and was out the door. Like a
coward, she’d exited from her bedroom patio, carefully avoiding getting
anywhere near Cade. Years ago, he’d been a light sleeper and she suspected he
still might be.

Her breath clouded in front of her. Damn,
it was cold. The temperature gauge read eighteen degrees. In her lifetime, she
couldn’t remember a longer bout of freezing weather in East Texas. The grass
crunched beneath her feet, each blade covered in ice. From across the yard, she
heard a huffing bellow and a deep rumble. “Hello, Santiago. How’s it hangin’?”
The huge Longhorn bull’s answer was an arrogant toss of his big head. Now, if
any animal in the world had it made, it was him. He had plenty of food, a harem
and no threat to his peaceful existence but time.

As Abby walked to her truck, she looked
out over her beautiful home. Even in the harsh weather, the rich green winter
grass was hardy and abundant. Oh, it was frost covered this morning, but when
the sun melted the fine covering of ice, the Bermuda and the oats would be
thick and ready for the herd. As far as the eye could see was El Camino. From
the air, it looked like a lush green quilt, crisscrossed by fences. Pecan orchards,
peach orchards, even a vineyard dressed up the rolling pasture land. They
raised Santa Cruz cattle, quarter horses, Longhorns and an assortment of wild
deer for hunting excursions. Her veterinarian office was near the highway
frontage. Justice had built it to her exact specifications.

Justice was her favorite brother. Only
Justice knew the whole truth of what happened that day, and he’d helped her
keep the secret. He didn’t approve but he loved her, so he went along with her
story.

Climbing in the truck, Abby rubbed her
hands together, encouraging circulation. Inserting the key, she turned it.
Nothing. After two more tries, she finally got the engine to turn over. The
drive was short, so she didn’t even bother to turn on any heat but she did turn
on the radio full blast, anything to drown out her thoughts. The day would be
full, but first thing was the breeding of Chris’ mare to Shane’s stallion. This
was not one of Abby’s favorite things to do. The animals were unpredictable and
she had to ensure neither one was injured during the process. Parking to the
side of the paddock, she saw Chris’ rig and knew he was already waiting on her.
Climbing out, she fished a pair of gloves from her pocket. “Is our girl ready?”

The middle-aged horseman walked to the
back of the pickup and took a rope from his tool box. He was a transplant from
Kentucky, bringing some of the Bluegrass state’s finest horseflesh to Texas.
“She’s in full heat, Dr. King. Of course, I bow to your expertise.”

Abby nodded and together they unloaded the
mare. She would ascertain her readiness and introduce the stallion to her
slowly. Supervised breeding was the best way. If left to their own devices,
hooves could fly and they could hurt one another before you knew it. “Easy,
girl.” She led the animal to the barn. “There are things I need to do before
Shane arrives with Caesar.”

Chris helped secure the mare and then Abby
set out to prepare for the procedure. She looked for the obvious signs. When a
mare comes into heat, she will flash her vulva repeatedly, squirt copiously and
assume the mating stance. They’d know for sure when they put the two of them
together. If he nuzzled around on her and she didn’t outright reject him,
they’d be in business.

“First, I’m going to wash her. Next, I’ll
tie her tail.” While the owner watched, she made sure the horse was clean and
used an adhesive bandage to hold the tail out of the way. Sometimes a mare was
just too inexperienced to know to swish it to one side. Abby smiled. No more
inexperienced than she was. Would Cade enjoy teaching her about sex?

“Are we ready?” Shane walked up. Abby had
been so busy, she hadn’t heard her neighbor arrive. “I know he is.” He pointed
to the prancing stallion who’d already picked up on the scent of the female.

“Almost.” Abby answered, finally taking
the time to answer. She took some lube from a cabinet and applied it to the
mare. “Hold on, Lady. We’re getting you all ready. In a few months, you’ll have
a baby to love.”

* * *

“What in the name of God?” Cade hadn’t
expected this. Abby was guiding a huge stallion into a holding pen where a mare
danced in waiting. Another man stood idly by, watching. Anger swept over him.
He knew her job could be dangerous, but this was fuckin’ ridiculous. She was
tiny! He knew exactly what could go right and what could go wrong in situations
like this. Holding his breath, he watched, his heart pounding in his chest. She
brought the horse in diagonally, keeping a tight rein on him. The animal had to
be convinced she was the stronger of the two. If the stallion ever suspected
for one moment he had the upper hand, there would be no holding him back. Abby
took him closer, allowing the big horse to nuzzle the mare’s vulva, nickering
to her. She moved forward, unsure of her new suitor.

“Whoa.” Abby set back on the reins,
maintaining the necessary tight hold. “We’ll get there, Caesar. Just hold on.”
She let him sniff her for a few moments, until she saw the mare spread her legs
and push backward. “It’s a go.”

Cade had to hold on to the fence with both
hands. He wanted to insert himself in the middle of the action but he held
back, ready to intervene if necessary. The man holding the female kept her
straight, as he should. When a stallion first mounts a mare, if he is
inexperienced, he can put more weight on the mare than she can support, causing
her to sway or fall. It’d be up to the one handling the stallion to make sure
this didn’t happen. Abby. His Abby. The stallion outweighed her more than ten
times. Dammit to hell!

Abby hadn’t worked with Caesar before. She
didn’t know his disposition. If she let him have his head and he started
thrusting without rhyme or reason, the mare could become agitated and reject
him. When that happened, the stallion could lash out at her or the handlers in
his frustration. Using all her strength, she guided the horse into place. When
he reared up, ready to copulate, he covered the mare. His front hooves were
very near Chris’s head. “Back up, Chris,” she warned. He did, but only after
narrowly missing a blow to the head. “I should have insisted you wear a
helmet.”

“What about you, you little fool?” Cade
muttered under his breath. “Your head is hard, but not that hard.” His heart
was in his throat. It was a good thing she couldn’t hear him or she’d be
royally pissed. That was okay. He was going to give her a piece of his mind if
she survived this fool stunt. If she belonged to him, he wouldn’t put up with
this shit for a minute. He could see some changes were going to have to be made
– because he fully intended that she would belong to him soon. 

“That’s it!” She sounded triumphant. The
stallion hit his mark.

Cade couldn’t believe it. She crooned to
him, praising him while the big horse bent the mare to his will. If he hadn’t
been so out of his mind with worry, the sheer eroticism of the sight would have
moved him. Both horses quivered with pleasure and the stallion tried to nip the
mare in his excitement, but the handler slapped his nose. With a tremendous
jerk, the act was over and Cade let out a sigh of relief.

It was damn difficult, but he bided his
time while Abby led the two men into her building to sign whatever papers were
necessary. To get out of the cold, Cade went into one of the side buildings
where she kept smaller animals. The heaters were on in there and he checked out
a couple of dogs housed in comfortable cages awaiting her attention. After a
few more minutes, he heard the trucks start up. The horse owners loaded up and
left. Okay, now it was his turn.

Abby studied her appointment book. It was
just her luck. Missy, her assistant, hadn’t come in on this extra cold morning.
There was a message on the answering machine saying she had no electricity and
would be staying home for the day. It was just as well. She didn’t have much to
do anyway, except wait for the owners to come pick up two dogs she’d spayed the
day before. Other than that, she was free. Dang it.

Abby was dreading the wedding. At least
she wasn’t in the wedding party, which was no surprise, since she and Pam
didn’t see eye to eye on anything. If her parents and brothers weren’t coming
home, the whole thing would be unbearable. And then, there was Cade…

She was headed back to check on the dogs
when Abby ran into a solid wall made of hard, sexy man. Oomph. “Where did you
come from?” she asked breathlessly, her hands grasping at his forearms.

Cade didn’t say a word. Instead, he hauled
Abby against his chest and captured her lips in a kiss. She didn’t have the
time or the inclination to protest. Overwhelming pleasure swamped her as Cade
devoured her mouth. Her hands betrayed her and crept up to his shoulders. He
cupped her bottom and literally picked her up off her feet. Abby had no choice
but to link her ankles behind his waist and hold on. Cade kicked the door shut
and moved forward until she felt her bottom bump the counter. Once he’d settled
her safely on the surface, she thought he’d let her go – but he didn’t. Cade
framed her face, held her steady and ate at her mouth like he was starving to
death.

He wasn’t thinking. Cade was reacting. His
body was so on board that his brain had a hard time catching up. Abby wasn’t
fighting him. In fact, she was kissing him back. God, he was in trouble. He
slid his mouth to one side, kissing her cheek and allowing them to catch their
breath. Her little pants made his rod hard as rebar.

Then he remembered the important business
he had to conduct. Pulling back, Cade took her by the shoulders and gave her a
piece of what little mind he had left. “What in the hell did you think you were
doing out there? Don’t you know you have absolutely no business trying to
manhandle an animal that could kill you in a heartbeat?”

Abby was stunned. One moment he was
practically making love to her and the next he was reading her the riot act.
“Stop! This is my job, Cade. I know what I’m doing!” She bit the words out at
him.

“There was a damn grown man standing there
who owned the fuckin’ horse. Let him put his life on the line. Not yours! I
know you want to keep them from marking one another. Everyone knows ugly scars
lessen an animal’s value, but there’s no use for you to be stupid, taking
foolhardy chances!”

Abby grunted and jumped off the counter,
putting distance between her and Cade. The few feet didn’t seem to be far
enough. A wave of sorrow swamped her. He had no idea, but he’d just confirmed
everything she feared.

Ugly scars lessen value.

She had ugly scars, therefore she had no
value.

Abby let out a long, harsh breath. She was
almost thankful he’d reminded her of a truth she’d almost let herself forget.
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing you aren’t around very often. It wouldn’t do
for you to see me dehorning a cow or castrating a bull.” As if the words gave
her an idea, she glanced down at the big bulge beneath his belt buckle.

“See something you like?” he drawled, his
breathing as labored as hers.

Pinning him with a stare, she challenged
Cade. “Actually, no. I see something that needs snipping.”

“Snipping?” He laughed. God, she was
something else. “You’d be cutting off your nose to spite your face. One day
you’re gonna crave what I can give you.” Cade stepped into her comfort zone and
wrapped a hand around the nape of the neck. “And I’m gonna give it to you
hard.”

Even though what he was saying made her
tremble with need, Abby couldn’t stand to hear another word. “I don’t think so.”
She ducked out of his arms and took off for the door as fast as she could.