Breaking the Bad Boy (15 page)

“Not if it conflicts with what I think is best,” she said and he laughed.

“You were always hard headed, Joss. Belle says you have been claimed or recognized by your spirit animal. She’s wondering why she hadn’t realized all along it was a bear. It’s powerful juju, Joss.”

“Huh, I think Buck said something like that on the ride back, but I was pretty out of it at the time. I think I’m just lucky not to be lunch,” Brent laughed again.

“I’m so glad you weren’t lunch. Go back to sleep, honey. They’ll let you go in the morning,” he kissed her forehead and shuffled from the room. Joss slept immediately.

When she woke again she still felt fuzzy. “Buck,” she whispered.

“I’m here, Duchess,” he said just as quietly. She was too relieved; she shouldn’t have been so relieved. He brought a cup of water for her and she sipped it thankfully.

“Thanks, your kids are adorable,” she said. “They look very happy, you must be a good dad.”

“My kids?” He asked.

“Mmm,” she said.

“I don’t have any kids, Duchess. At least, none that I know of,” he grinned at her.

“Oh. Why are you still here? You must have something better to do.”

“No way, I’m sitting around with my feet up watching a pretty little thing sleep while the rest of them do all my work. I’m good.”

“You are good. You are better than you would have me believe. Will you tell them to turn off the pain killers?”

“Are you sure?” He touched her wrist lightly and she felt it deep inside her and she made a humming sound of pleasure that might have embarrassed her had it not been for the morphine.

“Yes, I can’t focus,” she said. He squatted down next to her head so she could see him. “I’ll say something stupid if I’m on it much longer.”

“Something stupid like what?” He urged.

“Like how much I want… um, Snickers,” she mumbled.

“Snickers? Not me?” She looked him in the eye. When she thought he should be smirking, he looked terribly serious.

“Yes, that too,” she whispered, unable to keep it to herself. She closed her eyes. “Your kids.”
I want to have your kids
.

“Hush,” he touched her hair and was surprised at just how soft it was. “You need to sleep; you heal better while you sleep, Duchess.” His voice was so kind and reassuring.

“You should sleep, too, you’re looking kind of rough,” she said and he smiled.

“Look who’s talking.” He pushed her hair back from her face.

“Are you hurt?” She looked at the blood on his shirt.

“No, that’s all your blood. This is my hair shirt,” he said looking at his shirt with a frown.

“But you saved me, you can’t blame yourself for this,” she said.

“I can’t help but think if you didn’t move he wouldn’t have slit you open like that,” he looked down. “I don’t know what he would have done, though, he definitely had a hard on for you. But, who doesn’t?” He smiled.

“It would have been worse if you weren’t there, Buck. So much worse,” she said. He shook his head and grimaced. “Um, just how bad is it?”

“It’s going to pain you for a pretty long while, and you’ll have a hell of a scar, but you’ll live. I’ll ask them to step down the morphine, but I won’t ask them to stop it.” He stood up laid a hand on the back of her head. “Sleep now, my brave Duchess.”

“You should go home,” she mumbled.

“I’m not going anywhere without you,” he bent and kissed her head, then walked silently from the room.

“You’re a strange man, Buck,” she said but he was already gone.

***

After a painful relocating, Joss was finally at home drinking her vodka on the front porch with the cat in her lap and the dogs at her feet. It was very good to be home. If she sat on one butt cheek and put her shoulder to the back of the chair she could be moderately comfortable. The sun had set and the sky was growing vibrantly orange around her. Fernando sat at her feet on the steps, and she rather thought Buck was avoiding her. Maybe he had just had enough of her, or maybe he just was catching up on his work. He was quickly becoming her fixation; he was constantly on her mind. He had become her hero.

She was wondering what possessed her to ask them to stop the pain killers, her back hurt like hell now. There was no truly comfortable position.

Brent was due to be released the next day, and she wondered if he’d eat her vegetarian lasagna. Joss would relinquish the house back to Belle; it was her house, not Joss’s. It might be time for Joss to go back to
Denver
, she wondered if she’d be able to drag herself away from Buck. She wondered if she was misleading herself. Buck was complicated, but she didn’t know why he would be.

Who was lying in wait for her, and what did they want? Would they still be after her when she went back to
Denver
? She sighed heavily. Right now she couldn’t use too many brain cells on anything but scratching the cat’s head.

“Did you know Cassidy was alive?” She asked Fernando. He looked at Joss with clear pain in his eyes.

“When you love someone, Joss, you would do nearly anything to keep them from pain. Keep that in mind when you judge Brent and me. Yes, I have known. Joss, you have had tragedy and disappointment in your short life, but you have been fiercely loved. Don’t discount that because of one person who couldn’t be affectionate. Do you remember much of the day she left, Joss?”

“Brent asked me that the other day, it must have been bad. I was still in shock about Brand; I don’t remember anything after we rode up, Brent holding him in his arms and his head, his head was so wrong. I don’t even remember the funeral, but I know we had one.”

“Cassidy made her choices, Joss, for whatever reason. She was never happy here; lord knows why she stayed as long as she did. In the end, if she didn’t want to be here then it was best that she was not here, for all of us. Do you understand?”

“Yes, of course, it just hurts. I was abandoned by choice rather than by accident. I never wished her dead, it would just be better for my ego if she was dead, but my ego is resilient.” Fernando chuckled.

“It always was. How do you like the new scar, speaking of egos?”

“Hmm, I’m trying not to think of it. I can’t tell how bad it is, and hopefully everyone will lie to me and tell me how you can hardly tell anything happened. It has been my experience that most men are too busy looking at the front side of me to be caught up with any horrible scar on the backside of me.”

“You’re not giving your backside enough credit, Duchess,” Buck said. The man was eerily silent.

Joss laughed and turned her head to watch him walk around her so she wouldn’t have to move. “Because it’s out of my field of vision, but feel free to wax poetic should you be so moved,” she said wondering how many vodkas she’d had. She was on her first. It must be the pills they gave her to help with the pain.

“Goodnight, Joss, Buck,” Fernando said and stood up.

“Nando,” she said and he came to her and took her hand.

“Yes, little one,” he said and they both smiled at the sobriquet since she was at least six inches taller than he was.

“I love you, too,” she said and he smiled and kissed her on the forehead and walked away toward his apartment in the barn.

“Can I give you a refill?” Buck asked her, taking the glass out of her hand.

“Why not? It seems to be taking the edge off,” she said. He came back out a few minutes later with an icy vodka and four Advil for her and a beer for himself.

“Thank you. You’re not man enough for the vodka?” He laughed, and she liked the sound of it.

“Absolutely not. My people have had a history of problems with alcohol, I don’t drink much,” he said, “and I need to keep my wits about me around you.” It was her turn to laugh.

“Whose people haven’t? The stuff’s toxic any way you slice it. Cheers,” she said lifting her glass and taking a sip. “Who are your people?”

“I’m a mutt, actually. Cherokee, Navajo and English, I don’t fit in anywhere.”

“But it explains your beautiful color,” she said.

“How many of those have you had, Duchess? That was almost a compliment,” he smiled at her.

“You almost complimented my backside, we’re even,” she said and looked up to the night sky. Their silences had gotten easy when she wasn’t paying attention. He wasn’t distant, so much as still. “Anyway, you know you’re gorgeous.” He huffed out a laugh.

“Ah, but now I know that you think I am.”

“Surprise!” She said and he laughed again.

“You should be on painkillers more often, Duchess; you’re a lot of fun.” He smiled at her and she decided he really was gorgeous.

“Why were you at the pool?” She asked quietly. He took so long to answer she thought he hadn’t heard her.

For a split second he thought he might just tell her the truth, he had hoped to get a few lovely hours together with her in the dappled shade of the cottonwood. That she was becoming an unhealthy obsession, and he’d seen her riding hell bent for the pool and he knew he’d find her naked on the rocks. He knew it like he knew his own name, and there she was exactly as he’d imagined when he came to the edge of the water. God, she was magnificent. Her long body was stretched out and her hair was spread around her head like a mane of spun gold. And when she rolled onto her belly he saw the small black mark on her ass that must be one of her tattoos. Now he knew where, he just didn’t yet know what.

He had known she would ask that elemental question and he had a pat answer, he just didn’t like to lie to the Duchess, she was worth more than that. It didn’t mean he hadn’t lied to her, he just didn’t like it.

The problem was that she was dangerous, and he couldn’t jeopardize all he had put into his assignment, he simply couldn’t help himself. She was too clever; she’d make him in a nanosecond if he let his guard down. But he was pulled to her; he simply couldn’t resist the pull.

“Same reason you were there, I expect. It was hot, a swim sounded like the perfect thing,” he said looking at the beer in his hand. “Finding you there was just a bonus, but three was definitely a crowd.” She chuckled and finished her drink. He sighed. “But that’s not all, Duchess.” She looked at him. He was serious now. He locked eyes with her as he pulled something out of his jacket pocket. He reached over and placed it in her hand.

It was a caltrop and it was nasty looking. They were two pieces of iron twisted together looking almost like the barb on barbed wire. Four vicious looking prongs stuck out evenly spaced. She looked at Buck’s face.

“The caltrop from my tire?” She asked.

“Not quite, I found this one about a quarter mile west of where you stopped with your flats,” he said.

She held it up between her fingers. It was not even an inch and a half long. “How on earth did you find it?” She asked.

“Um, Navajo,” he said pointing at his chest. She laughed despite the situation. He grinned at her, and it made her feel warm all over. “There were boot prints of two men on the side of the road, I guess they were picking up the ones that didn’t go into your tire and they missed one.”

“And you think they are looking for me? Do you think the same men tried to ambush me with Butterscotch?”

“Yes to both questions. I went to that spot; too, I found the hula hoop, and saw their prints on the side of the road. They waited for you for some time. I followed you to the pool to keep you safe, Duchess. I know you’ll think I’m a stalker, and maybe I am,” he said. “You’re hard to resist.”