Her Unbridled Cowboy (Harland County Series) (38 page)

Her horse was loaded with
everything Cal had reassured her she’d need to cook for them. And she’d even
added a few of her own things. Including a bag of her special seasonings guarantee
to make even a rock taste good.

 Half of the men, plus Connor,
Kerri knew from the ranch, the other half sent her begrudging looks. Seemed the
older men weren’t crazy about a woman tagging along, no doubt afraid she’d slow
them down or get in the way. Kerri was determined to prove them otherwise. She’d
nearly laughed out loud at their expressions when she showed up early and was
dressed just like them and she’d easily kept up with the pace they set.

Knowing that despite the heat, you
had to dress in layers, Kerri had on a T-shirt with a long sleeved, button-down
red plaid shirt over it. She tucked them into well-worn blue jeans and pulled
on her favorite old pair of cowboy boots. Her hair was secured at the nape of
her neck in a ponytail before she donned a straw cowboy hat that was used
during the warm months.

Judging by their faces, they’d
expected her to show up in a halter-top, shorts and flip-flops. The urge to
gloat had been there, but she’d suppressed it as Connor introduced her to each
one individually.

She’d ridden this trail many times
in her youth, and it was all starting to come back to her the more they pressed
on. Settling back with a contented sigh, she enjoyed the brisk ride, and before
she knew it, they stopped for lunch.

Thanks to Cal, she knew that lunch
on the first day consisted of a cold sandwich. So, after work at
Texas Pub
last night, Kerri had made ten subs, which she doled out now.

The men offered murmurs of thanks,
and a few raised their eyebrows at the sight of their meal. She just smiled and
proceeded to hand out the water Cal had also told her was their usual choice of
drink.

Once everyone else was taken care
of, Kerri sat down on a rock and began to dig into her own sub. Suddenly
famished, she was half way through when Connor sat down beside her.

As always happened when he was
near, her heartbeats quickened and body warmed, and for the first time in
weeks, she relaxed and enjoyed the sensation.

“How are you doing?” Warm, brown
eyes looked at her with concern.

“I’m fine, Connor, honest. I’ll let
you know when I’m not.” She grinned and watched in fascination as his dimple
appeared, then disappeared.

Holy Texans
. He was looking
at her lips. So, now, breathing was a problem. And a whooshing sound invaded
her ears. The man was potent, and gorgeous and dang, she wanted very much to
lean forward and take his lips with her own.

But she didn’t. Kerri was well aware
there were eight men watching them and didn’t want to do anything to embarrass
Connor in front of them. So, a mount-and-ride-fest was out of the question.
Too
bad
. Because heaven help her, that was exactly what she wanted to do.

A low rumbled sounded in his chest.
Yeah, he was getting the vibe.

With supreme effort, she brought
her water bottle to her mouth and took a good long drink before getting up.  “I’d
better get the garbage together.” She glanced down at him and had to force
herself to move away.

Kerri was half way to her horse
when she heard the unmistakable rattle of a snake. Stopping dead in her tracks,
her gaze quickly scanned and found the culprit just off to her right.

Poised to strike.  

“Kerri, don’t move!”

She heard the terror in Connor’s
voice and saw a few men scrambling for a weapon.

Her heart was in her throat as her
hand closed around the knife she had attached to her belt.  In one fluid
movement, Kerri slipped it out and threw the knife, decapitating the
unsuspecting reptile.

Connor got to her just before the
rest of the men. All eight just stared at the dead snake in front of them. But
not Connor, he stared at her.

“Holy shit! Did you see that?” one
of the men said.

“Sure did. She took its head clean
off,” another replied.

“Remind me never to get on your bad
side,” Cal joked, and several men agreed and laughed.

Connor, on the other hand, was not
amused. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. “What the hell
were you thinking?” he demanded, his face dark with anger.

She raised her eyes innocently at
him. “Killing supper?”

“I’m serious, Kerri. My God…what if
you’d missed? You could’ve been bitten and
died
.” He let her go and
walked in a frustrated circle. “I’m sending you back. We’ll make do without a
cook.”

She rushed to stand in front of
him. “No way. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself out here. I’ve
spent more of my life here than in California. I don’t know why you keep
forgetting that.” She stared up at him and shook her finger. “And I know for a
fact you always bring a few vials of anti-venom with you on drives, so if I had
missed and got bitten—” She ignored his sudden pallor. “—you could’ve easily
administered it. So don’t try to use this as a means to get rid of me because,
cowboy…” She reached up and pulled his hat down on his face. “I’m not that easy
to get rid of.”

The rest of the afternoon went by
even faster as the men asked her questions and Connor sent her begrudging looks.

“I have to know,” Pete said, riding
on her left. “Where in the world did you learn to throw a knife like that?”

She laughed. “New York.”

Yeah, that got their attention. All
nine men were now looking at her.

“At cooking school,” she explained.
“A few of us adopted it as a good stress relief activity.”

“Throwing knives?” Cal asked.

Kerri nodded. “Yep. Throwing cooking
knives at a picture of a certain instructor known for his sour moods and unfair
marks. After one particular exam, believe me, I became very accurate at the game.”

Laughter echoed across the range as
they pushed forth.

All too soon, the afternoon was
over, and they came upon the herd it would take two nights to move. Instructed to
stay out of the way and follow behind once they had the cattle moving, Kerri
did just that, in awe at the sight of the men at work.

Ropes and steeds ready should there
be a breakaway calf, the cowboys controlled the heard, and one in particular,
controlled her heart beats.

Connor was the epitome of tall in
the saddle. His sure, swift, confident movement had her mind bringing up
memories of him using those same attributes to handle her. Except the ‘swift’
usually started out slow and lazy…

Shards of heat shot low in her
belly. Now, she was wet and turned on in the saddle. Which wasn’t so bad. Every
bump and rock of the horse enhanced her crazed state.

Okay, she took that back. It was
bad. Very bad.

Kerri quickly and deliberately
brought the image of that unpopular instructor to mind, which swiftly doused
her flames.

She remained on her horse on their
southeast trek, following the men at a leisure pace. Her gaze almost never left
Connor’s form as he’d closed in his side and kept the eight hundred and twenty
five pound beasts moving.

He was simply magnificent.

Kerri admired the way in which he
moved with ease and rose to the challenges that turned up. She watched in
amazement as he brought his horse into a gallop to go after a stray a younger hand
was having trouble with. But, instead of roping and bringing the calf in,
Connor just kept the animal from getting further away and allowed the younger
man the opportunity to gain control and usher the stray back to the rest of the
herd on his own.

His unconscious actions had her heart
swelling with pride and love. Lots of love. God, he just had to ask her to
stay. She did not want to leave him.

For the next three hours, Kerri silently
marveled at Connor and his men, until, finally, as the sunset lower in the sky,
they came upon the first camp and stopped for the night.

While the men ushered the animals
into the temporary pen, she got busy fixing supper.

Camp had a large pit surrounded by
blocks with a big grate over the top. Using wood already there, she quickly
started the fire, then pulled out the snake she’d secretly and quickly filleted
that afternoon. She seasoned the snake meat and had it sautéing in a pan next
to the pot of stew Teddy had made before leaving on his emergency. Thanks to
the modern convenience of soft coolers, she soon learned cowboys no longer had
to suffer with just beef jerky for food.

Although, she’d packed some of
that, too.

By the time supper was ready, the
men had washed up and had their bedrolls out. Having already added the snake
meat to the stew, she spooned out liberal amount to each as they came up to her
with their own plates.

She smiled when they moaned in
satisfaction and complimented her between bites saying it was the best stew
they ever tasted. Some even came back for seconds, and Kerri made sure to put a
helping aside for herself before it all disappeared.

Connor sat down next to her again,
and they ate in companionable silence. She had to admit, the men were right,
the stew was very good, but she didn’t know if it was the other cook’s recipe
or because she’d added the snake. She’d never had snake before, but heard it
tasted like chicken. Now she could honestly say she had to agree. It was
similar, just a little tougher. Still, with her seasonings on it, it was tasty.

“Miss Masters…”

“Kerri, please,” she interrupted
the older man.

“Kerri, what did you add to this
stew? I’ve eaten Teddy’s food for over a decade now, and although I can tell it
was basically his concoction, I know you added something to liven it up.” He
grinned. “What was it? Chicken?”

“Well, not exactly.” She grinned
back, unsure whether she should reveal the secret ingredient to them for fear it
might turn their stomachs.

“Yeah, Miss Mast…I mean Kerri, what
did you do to old Teddy’s stew?” another man asked, and soon she was surrounded
by all of them wanting to know the mystery.

Even Connor raised an eyebrow as he
waited for her explanation. Something in her grin must have given her away,
because both his eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened.

“
Son-of-a-bitch
…you cooked
up that snake, didn’t you?” He stared at her in amazement.

“What?”

“I don’t believe it.”

“Did you?”

The men all stammered and looked at
her as they waited for her answer.

“Yeah well, I thought it was about
time we bit back.” She smiled and was relieved when, instead of getting mad,
they all started to hoot and laugh.

Connor shook his head, then sent
her pulse into double-time as he gave her a heart stopping grin. “I can’t
believe you served us that snake.”

“Seemed a shame to let it go to
waste. I wouldn’t have killed it if I didn’t have to. But since I did, I
figured we might as well eat it,” she concluded, raising her shoulders.

“Only a Masters would do this.”

Connor laughed and her pulse picked
up again.

She winked. “You got that right.”

His gaze suddenly sobered…and
heated. And despite the falling temperatures, her body simmered.

After everything was washed and put
away, Kerri opened up her bedroll near Connor’s, then sat down. Someone was
playing a guitar, and a few of the men were singing off key. She was invited to
join
in the fun.

Half an hour later, she got up
despite their protests and left them to massacre the next song by themselves.
She was getting some supplies ready for the morning when Cal ambled over,
careful not to step on her scattered things.

“I just wanted to thank you for
putting some fun in the day. Boss could use it,” Cal said.

Kerri felt her face warm, but
curiosity won over embarrassment. “Why?”

He shrugged. “He’s been madder than
a hornet lately. Even the bulls give him a wide berth.”

She laughed and went to step back,
only to trip over her bag. Cal caught her and pulled her close to keep her
upright.

“Thanks,” she said, really
embarrassed, more than likely beet red as she released her stabilizing grip on
him.

“Everything okay?” Connor asked,
appearing out of nowhere.

Her heart jump to her throat. Crap.
Once again, this looked bad. And she didn’t want to cause trouble between him
and his men.

“Yes,” Cal said, dropping his hold
to turn to his boss. “She just tripped, and I caught her.”

Kerri nodded, stomach churning. “Yeah,
I’m such a klutz.” She eyed Connor’s face, bracing, waiting for him to fly off
the handle, accuse her of God knows what...

He never did.

“Good job,” Connor said, patting Cal on the back, his face friendly but concerned. Then he turned to her. “Be careful there,
darlin’. You’ve got us all hooked. We wouldn’t want to miss out on another
meal.”

To say she was shocked was the
biggest understatement of the century. Stiffness eased from her shoulders when
she let out the breath stuck in her dry throat.

“No worries,” she managed to say,
her staggered heart knocking her ribs when he smile and tipped his hat before walking
away with Cal.

Yeah, okay, that was…good. That was
real good. Smiling, she bent down and put away her things, happy to see Connor
had made some serious progress. Now, she needed to do something about her dry
throat.

Kerri headed to the cooler, grabbed
a bottle of water and took a long drink.

“You never cease to amaze me,
Kerri.”

She didn’t know what startled her
more, Connor sneaking up behind her or his comment. Again, his voice wasn’t angry;
it was warm and did funny things to her insides.

“Ditto, cowboy.” She winked at him,
still euphoric over the fact he’d made some serious progress in the trust
thing.

Her heartbeats were erratic and her
thoughts erotic as she turned around to face him. He was so close she could
feel his breath on her skin, and her hunger for him increased. A long-sleeved
shirt now covered his red sleeveless top, and even though his yummy muscles
were concealed, it did nothing to lessen his sex appeal. Noting some of the men
taking an interest in them, Kerri gripped her water bottle tightly with both
hands to keep from pulling him close. She wanted very much to show him just how
amazing he made her feel, but refrained because of their audience.