Owned for Christmas (6 page)

He held her close, ushering her through the barn. He meticulously walked down the line, introducing her to each horse in its stall, explaining how the horse had come to the ranch. Each one was different, from their coloring and spots to their personality. Kate understood how people fell in love with these great beasts. Some were so sweet, so caring in a way people hardly ever were, it was impossible not to be entranced.

“And this one is Tulip. She’s mine.” He rubbed the mare’s white nose. She neighed beneath his touch. He brushed his hand down her downy cheek and through her soft silver mane. The horse nuzzled deeper into his touch.

Kate extended her hand to pet the horse’s nose, “You have your own horse?”

He nodded. “Of course. Every good cowpoke needs to learn how to ride.” He pulled a sugar cube from his pocket, feeding it to the horse that grumbled in satisfaction. “My dad taught me how to ride when I was five.”

She could almost imagine it. A young Daniel up on his horse, his eyes full of life. His little hands clenching the reins, his feet tucked into the white mare’s sides. His father holding him up, keeping him safe. It was a sweet image, filled with happiness and family. The kind she’d always wanted. The kind she hoped to make herself someday.

“This ranch is a part of my blood. Just like it was a part of my father’s and his father’s before him. I’d do anything to protect this place.”

Kate tightened her grip on the stall door, fighting for breath. She couldn’t lose another man to this ranch. She couldn’t lose Daniel. Grant had been bad enough. She’d never thought she’d survive that. But without Daniel, she wasn’t sure how she could carry on for another day. He’d become so much a part of her, the glue holding her together. If he vanished, she feared she’d never be able to paste herself back together again.

“You really love this place, don’t you?” It was obvious in the way he spoke about the place, the way he mentioned the horses and the fields, how he wanted to show her everything. But she had to hear him say it. Even though the thought made her stomach lurch and sweat bead across the back of her neck.

“Yes, of course. It’s my home.”

Her heart sank a foot at his words. Her chest was suddenly too tight for her to breathe.

“But so is Dallas,” he continued. “So are you. I don’t have any plans to change that.”

“But what about everything Grant said last night?” She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. Her voice was tentative, wavering, but Daniel didn’t seem to notice.

“About him needing me back on the ranch?”

She nodded. She’d seen the hurt on Daniel’s face after Grant had accused him of not caring about his family, of not caring about this ranch. It clearly wasn’t true, but his brother’s words had still cut him.

“He never said anything like that when my dad was sick. I swear I didn’t realize he wanted me home,” Daniel explained, though he didn’t have any reason to justify his actions to her. She knew him too well to think he could ever ignore anyone he cared about, especially his family.

“I just figured he could handle it and if he couldn’t he’d tell me. I guess I was wrong. I guess I should have come home more. I just didn’t want to come home and be in the way. I didn’t want to live out the rest of my days in my brother’s shadow.”

The pain in his eyes almost melted her heart. She knew that feeling, the sense that you were never enough, that you could never be what someone else wanted. That feeling had become her best companion after Grant had left her. She cupped his cheek in her hand, hoping to sooth some of his pain with the light touch.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to help. It’s just that Grant is so much better at all this stuff than I am. He always was. Ever since we were kids. Do you know he used to win rodeo championships, cattle herding awards?”

Kate shook her head. But she didn’t find it hard to imagine. Grant had always been very competitive.

“He was great. And he loved it. Even in Dallas, he couldn’t stay away from horses, but as much as I love Tulip”—he petted the horse’s nose and she gave a happy little snort—“I like working in an office. I like working with other people. I like attending meetings. And the free cake on someone’s birthday is almost worth the commute. Does that make me a bad person?”

She shook her head. “I think you’re a very good person.”
Much better than I deserve
. She held his head, leaning up on her tiptoes to plant a soft kiss on his lips. He twisted an arm around her waist, pulling her closer, and she melted into him. His sweet kisses created a warm glow deep inside her. It always felt so good in his arms. Right. Perfect. She hoped he felt the same.

The sound of a throat clearing jarred them from their quiet world. They pulled away from each other, looking toward the sound. Grant stood behind them. His dark, penetrating eyes focused on Kate. Her heart thumped crazily, and her insides twisted a little tighter. Just his presence had her whole body reacting.

Why did this all have to be so complicated? Her heart and body both desired two different things. She couldn’t let this bizarre attraction to Grant rob her of the happiness she had found after he’d left her. She wouldn’t.

“Mom’s looking for you.” He glared at Daniel.

Kate almost sighed in relief to have his focus directed somewhere else.

“Something about what to make for dinner and she mentioned ham.”

“She said she’d make a honey-glazed ham for dinner.” Daniel’s eyes burned with excitement. If there was a man whose heart lived in his stomach, it was Daniel. Kate would have to take notes from Gale on how to make all his favorites once they got back to Texas. She liked this delighted little boy side of him.

“I promised I’d help her get it out of the freezer.” Hesitant and suddenly concerned, he gazed at Kate, as if he was afraid to leave her alone.

“Go ahead. I’ll be fine.” Kate pushed him toward the door. She’d survive without him for a few minutes. There was no reason to get between him and his food.

“Don’t worry.” Grant concentrated on her.

A shiver raced across her skin.
Okay, maybe there was a reason.

“I’ll keep Kate company.”

She bit her tongue. He’d keep her company all right. He’d stay right by her side, long enough for her to believe he’d be there, then he’d vanish like the wind.

“Great.” He kissed her cheek. “I’ll be right back, sweetheart.” He released her hand then headed off toward the house.

Suddenly, she stood all alone in the barn, with Grant.

The air sizzled between them, uncomfortable. She fumbled her fingers at her sides, not sure what to do. He kept his gaze on her, the same unwavering stare that had always gotten her into trouble before.

Grant stood before her, legs spread wide. His well-worn jeans hugged his thick thighs. The thin cotton of his T-shirt accentuated his big, broad chest and defined biceps. He’d pulled his hair back into a tight ponytail and looked every inch a Master.

Kate’s heart sped up. Her temperature rose too many degrees to make her jacket necessary. Her breathing became rough.

Damn stupid body.
She didn’t want to be attracted to him. It didn’t matter how he could make her blood sing and her mind go blank. She was here with his brother.

But the appetite still crawled under her skin, one he could fulfill and Daniel never would.

“It seems my brother is showing you a good time.” Grant walked toward her, his long legs eating up the barn floor between them. His strong, dominating presence pressed against her, caging her in, even if he wasn’t physically close to her.

She returned her attention to the animal in front of her, refusing to respond to him. She didn’t have anything to say to Grant. That time had passed. Instead, she stroked Tulip’s nose. The horse snorted.

“Tulip’s a good horse.” He moved closer to Kate, standing at the stall door with her. He rubbed the horse with the authority and confidence of a man who had spent his life around the beasts. He glided his hand up and down the mare’s side and a shiver ripped down the animal’s spine. The mare snorted again, happy to have his attention too, moving into his touch.

Kate understood how the horse felt.

“But she’s too mellow a horse for me. Too easy-going. I like a little more spirit in my horses. It makes it all the sweeter when you break them to your will.”

“I’m not a horse, Grant. You didn’t break me.” The sudden desire to justify herself swelled up inside her, though she had no clue why she bothered. It’s not like Grant would listen.

He smirked at her, the expression sending a short blast of pleasure straight down to her cunt.

“I never said you were.”

Kate silently wished the rest wasn’t true either. But if any word described how she’d felt after reading that note from him, it was
broken
. Just a pile of broken bits that used to be a person. The note that had said he was leaving and not coming back. That they’d had a fun few months and he wished her well.

“I never wanted to break you.”

Against her better judgment, Kate turned to look at him. He stared at her, his expression filled with hurt and regret. Two emotions she’d never thought Grant was capable of.

“I didn’t plan to leave you when I did. But I had commitments I had to honor.”

He reached for her, almost caressing her arm, but she jumped back. She couldn’t let him make contact with her. She wouldn’t be able to endure it. The pain was already too much, but if he touched her, it would incapacitate her.

“I can’t,” she whispered over and over as she stepped away from him, placing as much space between them as she could.

Her back bumped up against the next stall door. A large, angry snort issued behind her shoulder, and she jumped a foot at the sound. A glance revealed a large mare that didn’t seem at all happy to have Kate leaning against her door.

“Kate.” Grant spoke calmly, though panic washed through his eyes. “Move away from the door.”

The horse let out a whinny, spinning in a circle within the tiny stall. White foam trickled from the horse’s mouth as it reared toward the stall door and slammed its hooves against the wood.

Kate wished she could give the creature the space it so clearly wanted. Nothing would make her happier than to obey Grant’s command. She didn’t even care that he had given it, or that she was supposed to hate him. But her stupid legs wouldn’t work.

Kate’s heartbeat rocketed. The mare reared. The horse dwarfed Kate, her hoofs slamming through the air like two giant hammers, willing and able to damage any part of her they connected with. Kate tried to breathe, but her damn lungs wouldn’t work. Her feet seemed frozen to the barn floor. All she could do was watch, staring on as the horse banged on the stall door wanting out, wanting a pound of Kate’s flesh.

Realizing Kate couldn’t move, Grant raced to her side. He snagged her around the waist and pulled her back. She held onto Grant, her arms shaking around him. Her heartbeat filled her ears. She leaned her forehead against his chest, breathing in his comforting smell, enjoying the protection he offered. Just beyond them, the mare continued slamming her hoofs against the stall door, screaming out her fury.

“So that’s old Bertha,” Kate finally released between deep pants.

He smiled down at her, his breathing labored. “Yup.”

They stood there, bodies pressed close, their breaths gusting. She looked up into his smoky and filled-with-promise eyes. She shivered. He squeezed his thick arms a fraction tighter around her, holding her hard enough that there was no doubt she couldn’t escape, and the demon of need inside her roared to life. Wetness dewed between her legs. Everything else around her became blurry. All she could focus on was Grant.

His nostrils flared and something changed in his eyes. It was almost like watching his control snap, as if she were seeing the Master take him over.

He slid his hands down her back. Seizing her wrists in one of his big, hot hands, he pinned them to her lower back. He tightened his other hand around her nape. His hard grip kept her head up, her eyes directed at him. He pushed her back against the stable wall, crowding her to the paneling. The hundred-year-old wood was nowhere near as hard as the Dom standing in front of her. Her breath quickened. Her chest rose and fell against his. The soft brush of her body against him set her nipples tingling beneath her cable-knit sweater.

She looked up and her gaze met his pewter glare. The same expression that had once aroused her as he’d held a whip over her body, his ropes bindings her wrists, holding her down. She’d trusted him so much before and she would have let him do anything to her, never thinking twice about it.

But he’d broken all that trust, so easily, so completely. He’d tossed it aside as if it meant nothing—as if
she
meant nothing. It didn’t matter that she knew the reason now. The damage had been done.

She loved Daniel.
He’s the one who matters.

“Let go, Grant.”

He only smirked at her attempt to command him. As a Dominant, she always had been a hopeless failure.

“Why? You seem to be enjoying yourself.” He scanned her body, lingering on where her nipples poked out from her sweater. He leaned closer, pushing their bodies together until her tight tips pressed against his chest. He tilted his hips against hers.

Kate fought back a moan. She refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing how aroused she was. It didn’t matter. Regardless of how her body reacted, her heart belonged to Daniel, whose trust was more important.

“It’s been a long time since you’ve felt this, isn’t it, pet? I bet my brother doesn’t do this to you.” He leaned in close, his lips only a breath away from hers. The bulge between his legs knocked against her stomach, setting her blood to boiling. “I know my brother. He’s too sweet, too gentle to take you the way you want. To slap your ass, pull your hair, or tie you up, like you crave.”

“Your brother does just fine,” she spat, realizing she’d played right into his hands.

“Really.” Every hard inch of him crowded into every soft curve of her body. “It wasn’t just fine between us. It was amazing, fantastic, earth-shattering.” He stared directly into her eyes. No matter how hard she tried, her body reacted to his words. Her pussy tingled and heated, wanting more.