Jamie's Revenge (4 page)

 
Caelen had always been her safety blanket. Even if he had ripped that security away the last time she’d ever seen him when he’d sided with Brodie and turned his back on her. That didn’t change this moment and how it felt just like all the old ones—safe.

Comforted by his scent, caressed by the soft cotton of his warn shirt, intoxicated by the feel of his strength beneath, she could have existed in the security of his embrace for a lifetime. With a sigh, he rubbed his cheek into the top of her hair. Her bonnet had been loosened with her scuffle with Danny and lost completely during her one with Brodie.

“You really do know how to make a mess, don’t you, darlin’?”

Jamie sniffed and let go of the past. She’d been nothing more than a little girl pinning all her hopes on her heroes. Jamie knew different now. She took responsibility for herself and her future. A future she didn’t intend to spend locked under the control of Brodie and Caelen.

“And I know how to clean them up. Say what you want, Caelen. I was handling this one just fine without your interference.”

“Explain it to your father, girl.” That traditional response came along with his well-known, broken-down smile.

Despite her intentions to remain as in control as she did when she ran her business, Jamie felt herself crumbling beneath that look. It almost horrified her to hear the mutter come from her own lips. “All Brodie’s going to do is upset my daddy because there ain’t nothing he can do.”

Caelen pursed his lips as if he gave that any consideration before shrugging. “You really got to consider the ramifications of taking that stance. If you’re saying that you are the person in charge of you, well then you are only as strong as you are alone, Jamie.”

“Don’t doubt that I don’t know that, Caelen.”

* * * *

For a moment, the vision before him wavered into memories of the past. Brodie had always been good at upsetting Jamie. She’d get that pout on her lips before she gave him the big-eyed, lost look that wore down his resistance. That had been then, though.

Now, she didn’t try to manipulate him but looked off toward the horizon that Brodie had disappeared into with an air of determination. It unnerved him because he knew well just how hard Jamie used to push, and he felt pretty sure she pushed harder now.

Five years back, Caelen had sided with Brodie and turned his back on Jamie to save her from the erotic games they liked to play with their women. It had been hard enough to control the impulse, but with her like this, it would be impossible. The very idea of having Jamie in his bed only fed the darker reaches of his wickedness. If she pushed now…

 
“And just what is it you’re going to try and talk my father into this time, Caelen?”

Certainly not into what he truly intended to do to his daughter. Not that
Sheridan
would get in his way. All Jamie’s dad could do was make things more difficult for him and Brodie. The more difficult they got, the more delights Jamie would suffer when it came time to bow down.

Those truths wouldn’t convince Jamie to just accept their fate but probably make her even more determined to drive him deeper into the erotic recesses of his imagination with her redoubled resistance. Better for the little darling to just avoid the argument, especially with the last battle still lingering over her in a fine layer of dust.

 
Her perfect curls now clumped in disheveled balls and the crisp cut of her outfit hung tattered and wrinkled from her body. A disheveled mess, just like she’d always been. Swiping a patch of dirt from her chin with his thumb, he pointedly changed the conversation.

“Maybe you ought to clean yourself up a little before we get you home.”

Jamie’s look only hardened at that comment. “I have a right to have a say in my own future, Caelen. I’m not a little kid anymore. If Brodie has something to say about me to my father, then I should have the chance to defend myself.”

The stubborn tilt of her chin only added to the sweetly earnest look she pinned on him. It had been too long since he’d shared these kinds of moments with her. Too long and now…now they could end just the way he’d dreamt of.

Cupping her frowning face between his palms, he stepped right into the question that parted her lips and sealed it inside with his own. Just as sweet as he’d dreamed she’d be. Caelen took his time, savoring this first kiss that had been years in the making. Exploring the soft recesses of her mouth, she held perfectly still beneath his hold until he started teasing her tongue into playing with his own.

Then like a humid day giving over to the rain, she collapsed against him. All soft curves melting into the slow, sensual dance of a woman in need, she tempted the savage man buried in his soul. Like a primitive call, her teasing motions made him burn with the need to feel her skin to skin with nothing barring the delicious friction of her motions from scorching him alive.

Caelen almost gave into the urge to drag her to the ground and claim her as his, but a cold wash of reality chased the liquid heat of need down his spine as her lips clamped around his tongue and sucked. Tendrils of flames licked over his balls, even as the sure knowledge that another man had taught her all these tricks had them shriveling back up under the cold reality that he’d let that happen.

The sudden, painful lash of jealousy had him releasing her lips. He shouldn’t blame her for what was his fault, but that didn’t stop the anger from tightening through his gut. The glazed look of desire in her big, honey eyes didn’t help at all. It only served to make him wonder if she responded to him or if her husband had trained her well enough to respond to any man.

The insecurity made him gruffer than he should have been as he released her. “I guess we should get moving if you wanna catch up with Brodie.”

Jamie blinked and bit her lower lip as indecision danced in her eyes. His decision not to mention the kiss apparently made her mind come to the same conclusion. “What about him?”

She nodded toward where Caelen had tied up the bloody and bruised man to a tree. He didn’t bother to look in the same direction. “If he don’t find help, he’ll be dead by morning.”

 
“I guess we’ll leave it to God then.”

Chapter 4

Jamie’s heart raced faster than Caelen’s horse as the massive beast galloped full-speed to catch up to Brodie’s. Catching him would only rile the demon inside Brodie, only make things harder once they all crashed into her daddy’s door.

That guarantee shined in the dark look he shot her from under the brim of his hat as Caelen’s horse pulled alongside his. They made it, just in the very nick of time, clearing the first fences of her daddy’s ranch side by side.

Over the past weeks of travel, Jamie had envisioned this moment in so many ways, and Brodie’s grim disposition didn’t ruin it for her. Savoring the thrill at being enveloped in the comforting landscape of home, Jamie smiled as she scanned the pastures.

 
Taking in all the changes, it pleased her to see all the old, familiar cluster of buildings containing everything from chicken coops to barns and even a few houses for people to live in. Gardens and corrals tucked in between the wooden structures, as stray trees peppered the yards with cherished spots of shade.

The dogs that normally spent their day riled with excitement, herding anything that would run from them, had piled into a large pack under one such tree. With the ranch calm and quiet, they roused slowly from their nap to take note of the intruders galloping through the fields. It took a moment, but once one hefted itself to its paws and gave a questioning bark, the rest followed suit.

From sleep to a full-on frenzy, the dogs came nipping at the horses’ heels before they’d cleared the half of the distance to the large house sitting in the center of the pasture. Well accustomed to dogs, the horses still snorted and stomped in annoyance as the pack surrounded them. Seconds later, the entire mess pulled to a stop at the foot of her daddy’s porch. Yapping and hopping with glee at having caught their prey, the hounds pooled underfoot, trying to figure out what to do with it now.

That was their problem. Jamie had bigger ones-- ones that soared over six feet and surely weighted in at over two hundred pounds each. The easier of the two at least let her slide free to hit the ground before him, but not before Brodie. His boots had already started to pound through the dirt, but the dog pile got in his way with their exuberant greeting.

Jamie took the advantage to rush up the porch steps, fully intending to get through the front door and lock Brodie out.
 
She didn’t make it but to the top step before the door flew open and Sheridan Traynor stood there staring at her with a startled scowl on his face. “Jamie?”

“Daddy,” she cried, throwing herself against him to give him as big a hug as she could. “It’s good to see you,” she gasped as she tightened her arms as hard as they could go.

He didn’t return the gesture. Still stuck on shocked, he braced his hands on her shoulders, forcing her back far enough so he could double check just who had called him Daddy. “Jamie?”

Though he had the right to be surprised, his reaction still came in less than she’d imagined. “Aren’t you happy to see me, Daddy?”

“Uh...yes, yes. Of course.”
Sheridan
recovered from the stiff confusion that had held him long enough to give her a hug of his own. “It’s just an unexpected surprise is all, but there isn’t any way I wouldn’t be happy to see my baby girl. Now let me…what happened to you?”

“What? This?” Jamie looked down at herself as if in surprise that her father would even notice her rumpled and torn appearance. “It was nothing, just a little—”

“No, it was not nothing,” Brodie interjected. He lashed onto Jamie’s arm as he spoke, stepping up even as he dragged her away from her father. “You will not believe what your daughter—”

Jamie cut Brodie’s argument off by sticking a foot out and tripping him. She added a shove against his back to make sure he went down face first onto the porch deck. Jumping back before he got crushed by Brodie’s massive falling weight,
Sheridan
turned shocked eyes on his daughter.

“Jamie!”

She ignored her father to deliver a swift kick to Brodie’s ass before he could roll over. “I’ve had just about enough of you, Brodie MacAuley. This is my life, and I’ll thank you not to go putting your nose in it.”

Brodie responded with more than just an aggressive snap back to his feet.
 
“That’s two.”

 
“You’ve done your good deed for the day, Mr. MacAuley,” Jamie retorted with a total lack of sincerity. “Now I’ll thank you very much to leave so that I may have some privacy for my reunion with my father.”

 
“I’m not going anywhere, darlin’.” Brodie almost seemed to grow before her eyes as he flexed every muscle. He was no doubt trying to restrain whatever barbaric impulse had just entered his head. If her daddy hadn’t been standing there, Jamie might have been in serious trouble. “Not until you answer some questions and I have my own private conversation with your father.”

Like a damn dog with a bone, she wished she could just smack him on the nose to get him to drop it. “Questions? I don’t owe you any answers. You’re not my husband.”

“And just where is he?”

“That’s none of your concern.”

Brodie’s nostrils flared as he snarled with barely leached ferocity. “It
is
my concern when I have to risk my own neck to rescue his
stupid, little
wife.”

Jamie gasped at that and reeled back. “Excuse me, but you didn’t rescue me. I rescued
myself
. I don’t need to be rescued by some overgrown, egotistical, whiny little pansy to ride in and take all the credit.”

“
That’s three
.”
 

“Enough!”
Sheridan
cut Jamie’s comeback off before she even got the first word out. It pained her, but her jaw clicked closed even if her mutinous gaze never wavered from Brodie’s glowering one. “You two are giving me a headache.”

“See?” Jamie pounced on
Sheridan
’s comment. “You’re bothering my father, now leave.”

“I said enough, Jamie, and I don’t think it’s all that odd that Brodie would have some questions about your sudden appearance. I have some questions.”
Sheridan
’s eyes narrowed on Jamie’s appearance. “Though I think first, perhaps you should freshen up.”

“And leave you alone with these two so they can poison you against me?” Jamie snorted. “I don’t think so.”

“We’re just going to tell him the truth,” Brodie snapped back.

Jamie gave him a dirty look for speaking. “It’s in
how
you tell it.”

“Then tell it in a way that doesn’t make you look stupid!” Jamie’s spine stiffened at that, but Brodie obviously didn’t care. “Go on, tell him.”

“I plan to, but you know it has been a long day, and it would be nice if you gave a lady a moment to relax before you bullied her, you…you bully.” Damnit! She knew how to give a man a better putdown than that. He just had her so flustered. She felt like screaming.