Hearts Are Wild (9 page)

* * * * *

While Ace followed the path through the woods that led to the Lonestar, Josh was thankful for the shade the trees provided so he didn’t have to put a hat on Sabrina’s head to protect her from the heat. Selfishly, he wanted her as close as he could get her and her hat’s brim would just get in the way.

Pulling Sabrina close against him, he breathed in the floral scent of her shampoo and her natural sweet smell and was surprised at the way the scent made him feel. He felt content, happy and horny—in that order. Sabrina seemed more at ease riding this time and he was sure the fact she had changed into a comfortable pair of jeans for their ride helped.

As Ace walked down the wooded path, the underbrush crunching under his hooves, Sabrina laid back against his chest, sighing in contentment. With the flashes of sunlight streaking through the trees, adding to the beautiful silence in the forest, Josh couldn’t resist kissing her temple as a feeling of rightness settled over him. Sabrina was everything he wanted in a woman—sexy, uninhibited, responsive, strong of heart and challenging.

When she told him about her dad, he felt a familiar stab in his chest. The memory of Nick came rushing back as if it were yesterday, making his heart ache and his gut knot in regret. They’d had so much fun that late fall day, pretending to be a policeman and a firefighter. He and Nick had played into the early evening until their parents had called them home. Promising to meet at their fort the next day, they’d gone home.

Nick never made it to the fort the next day. A faulty floor lamp caught his house on fire in the middle of the night and Nick and his entire family were killed in the blaze.

Josh shrugged off the melancholy memory. Instead he focused on the sweet woman in front of him and just how much she’d come to mean to him in such a short time. When he was with Sabrina, the guilt driving him to be at the fire station at all hours, the warped sense of duty that had driven him since Nick’s death, moved to the back of his mind.

What he felt for Sabrina went far beyond anyone he’d ever been with. He couldn’t believe how quickly he fell into feeling protective and possessive of her and…damn, he knew he was jumping the gun. For all he knew she didn’t feel the same about him. Yeah, he knew they were sexually compatible, but he wanted to give them a try. One thing he knew for certain…he had a helluva hurdle to jump with her own loss of her father.

How could he overcome her reservations to dating firemen? The loss of her firefighter father to a fire was a damned hard memory to forget. And at the same time, he knew he couldn’t give up what he “needed” to do. Firefighting meant a lot to him.

He wrapped his arm tight around her waist, hugging her close as they entered the Lonestar property.

Just then a black truck drove past them, kicking up dust behind its wheels as it sped down the driveway. Josh tensed at the sight of Jackson Riley’s truck. His presence on the Lonestar only spelled trouble. He said in a low voice, “Hold on,” to Sabrina as he kicked his heels in his horse’s side and Ace picked up his pace.

* * * * *

“Isn’t that the officer from last night speaking to Nan? What was her name? Officer O’Hara?” Sabrina asked as they approached the ranch.

“There they are,” Nan called out from the porch as Josh stopped Ace and slid off his back. He kept an eye on Jackson as he wrapped the reins around the porch post, then helped Sabrina off his horse’s back.

The older man with salt and pepper hair climbed out of his truck and put on his black Stetson. “Hey, Josh.” He nodded to Josh as he walked past them and stood at the bottom of the stairs staring up at Nan.

“What are you doing here, Jackson?” Nan asked as a frown replaced the smile that had been on her face.

“Why, Nan, is that any way to treat a neighbor?” Jackson asked, a mock hurt expression on his face.

“When the neighbors are like you, yes,” she snorted.

“I came by to see what all the commotion was about last night,” Jackson said, ignoring her rude comment. He slid his gaze over to the burned-out stables and met hers with a raised eyebrow. “I heard the fire trucks. What happened?”

“Someone attacked Miss Gentry last night and set the stables on fire,” Renee answered in a matter-of-fact tone before she turned to Sabrina. “How are you feeling today? Have you remembered anything?”

Sabrina touched her head and shook it, saying, “I’m still a bit sore back there but I’m sorry to say, I don’t remember what happened.”

“You were attacked last night?” Jackson turned to them, his expression surprised.

Sabrina nodded. “Yes, I was.”

“Who attacked you?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I don’t know. It all happened so fast.”

Putting out her hand, she smiled. “I’m sorry. I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Sabrina Gentry, here visiting my friend Elise.”

Jackson stared at her for a second, his brown eyes assessing her before he grasped her hand and shook it. “Jackson Riley. My property neighbors the Lonestar land.” Looking around, his brow furrowed as he shrugged his stocky shoulders and dug his hands deep in his back pockets. “Speaking of the Lonestar land… Where’s Colt?”

“He and Elise are due back tomorrow,” Josh lied. He knew Jackson didn’t have a sincere bone in his body. He didn’t trust the man, nor—with all the stunts Colt believed Jackson had pulled to sabotage the Lonestar ranch in the past—did he want him to think the owner of the Lonestar was going to be absent for long.

Acknowledging Josh’s answer with a curt nod, Jackson looked at Sabrina once more, squinting against the bright afternoon sun. “You look a lot like Colt’s new wife. You two could be sisters.”

Sabrina laughed at his comment. “Yes, people mistook us for each other all the time when we were in college.”

“As Josh said, Colt isn’t here, Jackson. If you wish to speak with him, call ahead next time. It’ll save you a trip, I’ll bet,” Nan interrupted in a dry tone, letting him know she wanted him to leave.

While Jackson’s lips tightened at the abrupt dismissal, Josh had a hard time holding back the grin that threatened at Nan’s blatant dislike of the man. The older woman never was one to mince words.

Jackson stared at her for a second, then turned on his booted heel and headed for his truck. As he got in his vehicle and drove off, Nan mumbled, “Pain-in-the-ass, good-for-nothing old coot.”

Renee nodded with an understanding laugh. “There’s always one in the bunch.”

Josh turned to Renee and noted the thoughtful look on her face as she glanced over at Sabrina.

“Did the escapee confess yet?” he asked the detective.

Shaking herself out of the daze she seemed to be in, she pulled a notepad out of her back pocket and said cryptically, “No. But I have a few more ideas to follow up on. By the way, what time is Colt due back tomorrow? I’d like to ask him a couple of questions.”

“They aren’t due back until day after tomorrow.”

When she gave him a questioning look, he shrugged and said, “I figured it was none of Jackson’s business.”

She glanced at Sabrina as she pulled the pen from the spiral part of the notepad and jotted down a number. “If you remember anything, anything at all, call me, okay?” When she finished, Renee tore off the piece of paper and handed it to her.

Sabrina took the paper and said, “I will, Officer O’Hara.” As she started to shove it in her pocket, the note fell out of her hand and the wind blew it across the porch’s floorboards. The paper skidded and came to a halt as it hit a railing, spun and fell off the edge right behind the bushes that butted up against the porch.

When Josh started to go after the note for her, Sabrina said, “No, I’ll get it,” as she quickly took the stairs down to the ground and went around to the front of the bushes. “It’ll be easier to reach from under here, I think.”

Stretching her arm under the thick hedge, she felt for the crumpled paper and stood up smiling as she shoved it in her jeans pocket. As she stared up at Renee on the porch, she rubbed her temples and said with a sigh, “I just wish I could help more.”

Renee smiled, one of her rare smiles. It made her look much younger than her thirty-one years. The kindhearted smile she gave Sabrina certainly didn’t mesh with the tough investigative officer exterior she’d built her reputation on, Josh thought. But it made him realize just what an attractive woman she was. No wonder Dirk was pissed at him.

Renee walked down the stairs and put a hand on Sabrina’s shoulder. “It’ll come to you. Don’t push it.”

After Renee left, Josh and Sabrina had lunch with Nan. While they ate, she entertained them with stories of Colt and his brothers’ antics as children. Her tales made Josh grin from ear to ear. That was blackmail material for sure.

When lunch was over and he and Sabrina walked back outside on the porch, she put her small hand in his and looked up at him with a smile on her face. Damn, she tugged at his heart already.

“Ready to go back home? Uh, I mean to my home?” he asked, feeling like an idiot for what was apparently a Freudian slip of the tongue.

Without skipping a beat, she said, “Yes.”

Yep, he was a goner.

Chapter Eight

“So what’s the deal with Nan’s dislike of Jackson Riley?” Sabrina asked as Josh pulled himself up behind her on Ace’s saddle.

He put his arm around her waist and nudged the horse into a walk back down the driveway toward Double K land. The warm Texas sun beat down on them, making her squint and appreciate the fact she’d braided her hair to keep it off her neck. He pulled her closer and said in a low, husky tone, “I’m glad I didn’t put a hat on you. Gives me an excuse to pull you close so my hat can offer some protection from the sun.”

Sabrina grinned at his excuse to hold her close, but appreciated the bit of shade his cowboy hat provided.

“In answer to your question, Jackson has spent a good portion of his life trying to figure out how to get back the land his father lost in a poker game.”

“What land?” she asked, her curiosity piqued.

“Colt’s land. Colt’s uncle and dad bought the land from the winner of the poker game that Jackson’s dad lost. That land is where the Lonestar ranch is now located. For years Jackson has tried in various ways to drive Colt’s daddy and uncle apart. See, the two brothers each owned half of the land. Then there’s the unexplained batches of bad water for the horses, maimed bulls and cattle, and several downed fences that have occurred over the years.”

“Um, I’m no rancher, but doesn’t all that stuff happen sometimes on a ranch?”

She felt him shake his head behind her as he urged Ace into the woods back toward his property. “True, but not with the frequency that Colt has experienced it over the years.

“When Colt’s uncle died, I understand Elise inherited his half of the Lonestar land.”

Sabrina nodded. “Yeah, Elise told me how Colt wasn’t too happy when his uncle didn’t give the land to him as he’d promised he would.”

Josh chuckled. “I heard Jackson had tried to buy the land from Elise, so I’ll bet it ate at him that Colt and Elise fell in love and married. Yep, that union took away his chance to at least get half the land back.”

Sabrina grinned then her brow furrowed as she considered Jackson Riley. Leaning back against Josh as Ace started to climb uphill, she asked, “Why hasn’t Jackson been arrested for his unscrupulous deeds?”

Josh snorted out, “His name should’ve been Wiley instead.”

At Sabrina’s laugh, he continued, “No, I’m serious. For all the mischief he’s caused, he’s never been caught doing any of the things I mentioned. So it’s just Colt’s word against his.”

“Man, that’s got to suck for Colt,” she sighed.

“Yeah, and even though he might have come across to you as a curious neighbor, I can guarantee you Jackson was more than thrilled to see Colt’s stables in their burned-out condition.”

“That’s such a shame to have a neighbor like that. To never feel like he won’t ever give up.”

“He hasn’t done much in a while,” he responded. “Maybe he did finally give up once Elise married Colt. Because by doing so, she finally brought the two halves of ownership of the land back together after all these years.”

Josh’s hand slid up her waist, then grazed the side of her breast before his thumb traced her nipple lightly through her clothes as he said, “Enough talk about Colt. There’s only one man I want you thinkin’ about,” he said, his voice husky, insistent.

Applying pressure to her nipple, he continued, “You see, there’s only one woman I’ve been thinking about. I want to see her lying naked in my bed, her gorgeous black hair spread out over my pillows. That’s my fantasy,” he rasped, his aroused tone washing over her in a wave of tempting seduction. “Care to make it a reality?”

* * * * *

Sabrina awoke the next morning to see Josh staring at her. He was lying on his side with his head propped up in his hand. She let her gaze skim every part of his gorgeous body she could see. His blond hair looked windblown and his morning beard made him look sexier and even more like the bad boy she knew he could be.

“Hey,” he said, his chest muscles flexing as he trailed a finger down her collarbone to the curve of her breast peeking out from underneath the white sheets and quilted comforter.

“Hey,” she said back, rolling over in the bed to face him. Noticing the time on the clock, she said, “Ohmigod, is it really 10:30 a.m.?”

Josh nodded with a grin. “Yeah, I’ve been up since dawn. Fed and exercised Ace and came back to bed to wait for you to wake up.”

She wasn’t sure what to say after the afternoon and evening they’d just spent together. Never had she been so physically in tune with another in her life and the realization pretty much blew her away. Josh seemed to have this ability to make the wild woman come out in her whenever he touched her. That’s the only way she could explain how uninhibited she’d been with him.

“Sleep good?” He cupped the back of her head and pulled her up against his hard, naked chest as he leaned down and nuzzled her neck.

“Hmmm, hmmm,” she responded, enjoying the smell of outdoors and leather mixed with his own masculine scent. The rough feel of his whiskers on her neck and jaw made her heart race. “Though I am a bit sore from all the
extra
exercise I got yesterday.”

“Daily exercise is good for your heart,” he said with a wink as he lifted his head. “I recommend at least three times a day to keep you in shape.”

She reached up and rubbed her hand across his scruff. “You mean three would be enough for you?” she teased.

He shook his head, an adamant expression on his face. “Uh-uh, darlin’, that’s just to get us start—”

The phone rang, interrupting him. Josh sighed and answered, his tone brisk, “Josh Kelly.”

Sabrina half listened as she looked around his bedroom.

“I took the day off, Sam.”

The surprisingly large room held very little furniture—a queen-sized bed with a mission-style wood headboard and a chest of drawers.

What she did like about the room was the extra-wide French doors that led to a brick patio facing the woods. She’d seen deer outside last night and a few rabbits. She loved being so close to nature.

“Okay, I’m on my way.”

She turned to Josh with a questioning look as he hung up the phone.

“I’m sorry, Sabrina. There’s a huge fire on the outskirts of town and they need all available firefighters on site.”

As she watched Josh climb out of bed and make his way over to the walk-in closet, panic set in. Her heart raced, feeling as if it were going to burst from her chest. He couldn’t have delivered more upsetting news to her. She rubbed her suddenly damp palms on the sheets and then gripped the cloth against her naked chest as she sat up.

“Do—do you really have to go?” She tried her best to keep the pleading out of her voice, but it seemed to creep in despite her efforts to suppress it.

Josh poked his head out of the closet, pulling on a white T-shirt. “Yeah. When the chief himself calls, you know it’s got to be important.”

“But you did take the day off.” She knew she must be coming off sounding like she were the most selfish woman in the world while people’s lives were in peril, but damn it, Josh’s life was more important to her. Fear for his safety was uppermost in her mind. That combined with the realization of just how attached she’d grown to this man in such a short time hit her hard.

Josh came out of the closet pulling on a pair of firefighter pants, his brow furrowed as he looked at her.

“I’m sorry that I have to leave you. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He walked out of the room and came back in. Handing her a cell phone, he said, “Here’s my cell. Keep it with you and call me if you need anything.” He grinned as he touched her upturned chin. “And it even has a built-in GPS. That way I can keep track of your whereabouts so I can immediately know which room I’ll be ravishing you in when I get home,” he finished with a devilish smile.

She flipped open the cell phone and stared at the lit-up display. “Is it really that precise?”

He chuckled. “Nah, but I like to think about the possibilities of certain rooms we’ve yet to christen.”

“What are you doing with a cell phone that has GPS tracking in it anyway?”

He sat down on the bed and put on his shoes as he answered her. “It was a gift from the guys at the firehouse. I’m…um…notorious for losing my cell phone.” Glancing at her, his expression turned sheepish. “Keys I can seem to keep up with but my cells…” He trailed off, then shrugged before he continued, “The guys got me this cell phone for my birthday last year as a kind of joke. The truth is I actually have used the ‘locator’ feature via the web several times. So far this year I haven’t had to buy a new cell phone. Last year, I had to buy three new phones.”

Despite how upset she was, Sabrina managed a smile at this endearing look into Josh’s foibles.

He leaned over and kissed her on her lips, lingering as if he really didn’t want to go. When she lifted a hand to hold onto his shoulder, Josh pulled himself away, a regretful expression on his face.

He walked back over to his closet, grabbed his jacket and said as he turned her way, “There’s sandwich meat and cheese in the fridge, fruit, whatever you’d like for lunch. I’ll be back before you know it.”

It won’t be soon enough, she thought as he walked out of the bedroom and left the house.

At the sound of the door shutting behind him, she climbed out of bed and headed for the shower. As she stood under the hard spray, rubbing Josh’s spice-scented soap over her body, all she could think about was losing her father and how difficult it had been for her to adjust to that loss.

She finished her shower and dried off, standing in front of the mirror. Wiping away the fog on the glass, she stared at her reflection. She saw fear and worry in her own deep green gaze.

How can you let yourself get so upset over this?
she asked herself as she combed through the long, dark hair.
It’s not like you and Josh are in a committed relationship
. For that matter, Josh certainly didn’t say anything beyond this weekend together.

While she ran the hair dryer, she realized that the fact of the matter was she did care about Josh, cared what happened to him. She couldn’t just stand by and watch the same thing happen to him that happened to her father even if they were just sleeping together.

Once she was dressed in a casual floral sundress, Sabrina smoothed the short skirt’s cotton material across her thighs as she walked into the living room. Standing in the center of the large open house, she heard every single sound the house made, from the creaking of a floorboard as she walked across it, to the ticking of the standup pendulum clock on the fireplace mantel. She opened the window, hoping the forest sounds would drain out the sounds of sheer emptiness she heard in the house everywhere she turned.

Hugging herself as she stared into the woods, Sabrina wished she could talk to someone about her fears. Elise always knew how to make her feel better but she had enough on her mind without Sabrina adding to the burden. Then she remembered she was supposed to check in with her cousins, to let them know how she was doing on her part of their bet.

Once she walked back into the bedroom, she picked up Josh’s cell phone. She knew he had long distance on his phone since he’d called Colt. Best to use his cell instead of his landline just in case. She’d purposely left her own cell phone behind in Arizona. Otherwise she’d have never really
gone
on vacation from work. People always had a way of finding you if you carried your cell phone around.

Thinking about something happening to Josh had her stomach in painful knots. She really needed to talk to someone. “Please be home,” she whispered as she dialed Nicole’s number. What if her cousin wasn’t home? When Nic answered, she breathed a silent prayer of thanks before she spoke.

“Hey, Nic. How’s it going?”

“Heya, Bri! Checking in halfway through your month of sanctioned wild-’n-crazy monkey sex?” her cousin teased.

Sabrina gave a dull laugh. “Ha. I wish my feelings weren’t so hard to separate from the oh-so fun actions.”

“Say it ain’t so, Bri! Men aren’t worth that much emotion. They certainly don’t expend it on us.”

“Oh, Nic,” Sabrina sighed.

“What’s wrong, Sabrina?” Nicole asked, her voice taking on a note of concern.

“I-I guess I need some moral support,” she replied in a shaky tone.

“You know I’m the last person you should be asking any serious relationship questions to. Hey, I’ve got an idea,” Nicole replied in an upbeat tone. “I’ll call Lily and we can all talk. Sound good?”

“Yeah, sounds perfect,” Sabrina replied with half a smile.

“Hold a second and let me try and see if I can get a hold of Lily.”

Sabrina waited, her stomach tensing as the seconds ticked by.

“Hey, Bri. Lily said she could get online with us. Are you able to get online? It’ll be just like the old days when we were in college and we’d do a group chat.”

“No…” Sabrina started to say, when she turned and saw Josh’s laptop in his office. “Oh, wait, I think I might be able to get online. You guys have the same IM sign-on names?”

“Yep. See you in cyberspace in a couple of minutes. We’re here for you,” Nicole said before she hung up.

Sabrina walked behind Josh’s desk and turned on his laptop. She clicked on the Internet icon and signed into the instant messaging system she and her cousins had used throughout college to keep in touch with one another.

BREEZY: Hey guys! Thanks for being here. Gives new meaning to a three-way, doesn’t it? Hahahahha.

NIC_LOVES_EM_ALL: But only if there’s at least ONE man involved, cuz. LOL! See, hanging with us brings out your sense of humor, no matter the problems you’ve got going on.

LILY_WHITE: Yey, glad you’re here, Bri. And Nic…your handle never ceases to crack me up. Must be pure hell right now sticking with just one man. You *are* living up to your end of the bargain, right?

NIC_LOVES_EM_ALL: *I* never kiss and tell.

BREEZY: Sheyah, right. Have you at least met someone, ladies?

LILY_WHITE: I have. ::dreamy sigh::

NIC_LOVES_EM_ALL: Yes and I’m having the world’s most amazing sex…grrrrrowl.

LILY_WHITE: So much for not kissing and telling. Hehehehe.

BREEZY: Knowing Nic, she’s not telling how she *really* feels about this guy.

NIC_LOVES_EM_ALL: No comment.

LILY_WHITE: Hahahhaha. I think you got her, Bri! Hey, Nic, just don’t kick him out while his pants are still down, okay?

NIC_LOVES_EM_ALL: Verra funny. I think you should change your handle, Lily. Somehow, I don’t think you’re so *pure* any longer. ;o)

BREEZY: Hopefully that means she’s living it up as we’d all promised we would.

NIC_LOVES_EM_ALL: Speaking of living it up…tell us what’s going on, Bri.

BREEZY: You guys know about my dad and how I swore I’d never date a fireman. Weeeell…

NIC_LOVES_EM_ALL: No way! Your *stud* is a fireman? Is the problem that you like sliding up and down his pole a little too much?

BREEZY: ::cracking up:: Nic, yes the sex is beyond fabulous, but my feelings for Josh run a lot deeper. In other words, it’s going to be hard to imagine walking away from him when my vacation is over, but at the same time I don’t think I can handle dating a fireman. He’s fighting a fire as we speak and I feel like I’m going to throw up.

LILY_WHITE: Oh, no, Bri! Of all the irony…but if this guy makes you feel better than you’ve ever felt with anyone else, don’t push him away. Give him a chance, give the relationship a chance first.

NIC_LOVES_EM_ALL: Yeah, for all you know, it might not work out after a month of dating anyway.

LILY_WHITE: ::rolling eyes at Nic:: No, what I meant was…sometimes you just have to believe things were meant to be. I know I’m starting to.

BREEZY: I know, I know. It’s just really hard to separate my feelings on this issue. I know I need to come to terms with it and in my heart I hope I eventually will, but I can’t imagine feeling this way every time Josh goes to work.

LILY_WHITE: No one says this will happen overnight, but if you really care about Josh, your feelings for him will eventually overrule your fears of being with a firefighter over time. The fear of losing him in the line of duty may never go away, but if it means being with him or not being with him, then only you can decide what you can handle.

NIC_LOVES_EM_ALL: All sappy stuff aside, I do agree with one thing Lily has said. In my humble opinion, whether this guy is worth it or not, I believe you should live your life as if tomorrow will never come. That way you have no regrets and can look back on your past with a smile on your face.

LILY_WHITE: Hence the reason Nic constantly has a wide grin on hers. :o) Bri, give Josh a chance. He may be the one you’ve been looking for all your life.

BREEZY: The problem is, even after only a couple of days with this man, that’s what I’m afraid of. He’s the ONE. Thanks for talking to me, girls. You’ve given me some food for thought and I appreciate it!