Sweet and Wild (8 page)

“Please no,” Quinn protested, but she
lost the battle before it began. Five minutes later she sat in a comfortable,
reclining chair, a glass of white wine in her hand, and a young woman named
Renee removing the braid from her hair. Quinn closed her eyes as Renee worked
on her skin. Her nostrils filled with the scent of pineapples from the
mysterious facial, but at that point, Quinn didn’t care what was being done. It
felt so good, especially when Renee started to massage from her scalp right
down to the tips of her fingers. Renee knew how to perform magic.

The hour ended much too soon, but Quinn
was glad to head back to the cookout, refreshed and with a promise to return
for whatever the spa was dishing out. Dina looked ten years younger and more
relaxed. Pity she had to go back to Ted.

The band had already set up and now
played lively country music from a small stage near the house. The women who
had been at the spa earlier were back and the dancing had begun.

Quinn automatically searched for Craig
and found him with Jacob, and another local, Nicole LeBlanc. A twinge of
unwarranted jealousy poked at her. As nice as Nicole was, she was also tall and
willowy and drop dead beautiful in a feminine way that reminded Quinn of Elise.
She bet Nicole didn’t smell like horse on a regular basis.

“Come on,” she told Dina, dragging her
eyes away from Craig. “Let’s go show you off. Maybe you can get your husband to
dance.”

Dina’s transformation faded at the
mention of her husband. Quinn would’ve kept her away from his company longer
but when she caught sight of him it was clear Ted wasn’t pleased.

“’Bout time,” he said when they met up.
“Time to get back to the ranch. I’m sure Scotty is hungry.” He took his wife’s
arm and threw an angry look in Craig’s direction.

Dina smiled weakly. “Thank you very much
Quinn. Make sure to thank Jacob for me as well. It was a nice surprise.”

“I’ll make sure I tell him.”

The couple went off in the direction of
the parking lot. The back of Ted’s thick neck glowed a beet red.

For a long moment, after losing Dina’s
company, Quinn considered her next move. There was no way she could join her
brother and Craig, she didn’t have the strength to hide her feelings from him.
Marisol remained with her new friends and Robby flirted with some girl from
town.

Even though she loved to dance and
listen to music, she really wanted to take Piper out onto the prairie and ride
until the sun sank below the hills. Solitude would give her a chance to think.
The whole day had filled her brain right up, the noise, the people. Craig. It
was almost too much.

Before anyone could grab her attention,
Quinn walked away from the gathering and headed for the barn.

It took only a few minutes to have Piper
out of her stall, slip a bridle on, and mount up. Quinn turned the mare away
from the party and trotted her out of the ranch yard, down an old road that
hadn’t been used much in the past ten years or so.

At the end of the road, not ten minutes
from the main house, Quinn stopped Piper and stared at the original Long Knife
Creek Ranch house. Her grandparent’s home. Where her father had been born.
Where Quinn and Jacob had grown up. Once it had been white, but the paint on
the house had chipped away under years of harsh prairie weather and now it was
a gray with faded green shutters. There was a barn too, as gray and abandoned
as the house, the roof swaybacked. Yet, no matter how abandoned the place
looked, Quinn always saw this as the heart of Long Knife Creek.

Once, before heading to college, Quinn
used to come out here and dream the house was pretty and white and the barn
strong. There had been horses living in that barn, horses she raised and
trained. Best Quarter Horses in all the state. She’d name it “Wind Horse
Ranch”, a name she came up with when she was young.

Looking at the place now, she realized
rehabilitating the old house and barn was most likely a pipe dream. Jacob had
already told her the place was a lost cause, should probably be torn down. But still,
Quinn held tight to that dream because it was the only thing she had to hang on
to. A place that could possibly be her own.

She sure had the will to make it happen,
to keep ahold of the Long Knife Creek Ranch of yesterday. But will didn’t mean
squat if she didn’t have the cash to make it happen.

With a sigh, Quinn headed back to the
main ranch before she was missed. She owed it to Jacob to help out and besides,
she wanted to get a chance to see Craig at least once more before he and
Marisol left.

As soon as she returned to the party,
Quinn wished she hadn’t.

The band continued to play and the
descending sun cast the sky in varying shades of gold and oranges. Someone had
lit the dozen or so tiki torches around the perimeter and couples danced. Craig
was there too, his arms wrapped around Nicole Ball. Both were laughing.

Quinn wasn’t proud of the surge of
jealousy that both chilled her with its strength and burned her with its
unexpected ferocity. She looked away from it.

Against her better judgment, Quinn
stopped and glanced back, willing herself not to feel this way. Craig and
Nicole looked good together, more his type than Quinn ever could be, more like
Elise. Worldly, sophisticated, daughter of a state senator, she and Craig
probably had more interests beyond horses and the ranch.

Quinn quickly turned away, shocked she
could feel so hurt again over this man.

***

Craig watched Quinn approach the group
of dancers then pause. The sun behind her cast her chestnut hair in a glow of
sunset fire.

Her face fell into a look of
disappointment. Though not positive, he could’ve sworn she’d looked straight at
him, but why in the world would she be upset by anything he did?

“Earth to Craig.”

Nicole’s voice cut through his thoughts
and he gave his attention back to his dance partner.

“Sorry.”

Nicole gave him a half smile with a cock
of her brow. “It’s okay but I don’t think you heard a word I just said.”

He could’ve lied and said yes, but
instead he gave her a guilty smile and shook his head. “I saw Jacob’s sister
and she didn’t look happy.”

Nicole glanced over Craig’s shoulder and
nodded. “Probably saw Robby flirting with that blonde over there.”

Quinn had told him she had no interest
in rekindling any kind of romance with his brother. But what else would’ve sent
her storming away?

“Could be,” he murmured.

When the song ended, he pulled away.
“Thank you very much, ma’am.”

“Oh please don’t call me that. I’m not
much younger than you.”

Craig chuckled. “Must be the cowboy in
me.”

“Then I guess I can’t complain. Thank
you for the dance. I’m glad we had a chance to catch up. Don’t be such a
stranger now you’re back in town.”

Craig and Nicole parted company and
before he could think things through, he headed in the direction Quinn had
taken. What would he say to her? He knew he had to come up with something
because there she was, leaning against the paddock fence, her back to him. One
hand idly scratched the ears of a dog sitting next to her.

“You’re not going to get any invitations
to dance if you’re hiding out here.”

Her back stiffened when he spoke. He
leaned against the fence next to her and looked at her, admiring her profile.
Tension played on her face as well, her jaw muscles tight and her eyes narrowed
a bit.

“That’s the idea.”

“Aw, come on. It’s not fair to deprive
the young men back there of a dance or two.”

“They’ll live. No young men I’m
particularly interested in dancing with anyway.”

The terse note in her voice made him
more interested in what bugged her. All day she’d been happy and energized.
This melancholy mood didn’t become her.

“Then how ‘bout dancing with an old
man?”

This got her attention. She looked at
him, but the frown remained and her blue eyes narrowed. “Who, you? You’re not
old.”

Craig laughed. “Thank you very much. Yes
me.”

Quinn bit her lip and stared at him for
a good long time. Enough time for him to admire how soft rosy light from the
sunset made her skin glow in a way that was almost magical.

“All right, I’ll dance with you.”

He didn’t take her hand as they walked
back to the dance area, but he anticipated her touch, wondering how she’d feel
in his arms, small but feminine. Supple and curvaceous. When they found a spot,
she looked up expectantly.

He slipped an arm around her waist and
took her free hand in his. Her palm was warm to the touch and soft despite the
nature of her work.

“What did you and Ted Penney talk about?
He looked mighty unhappy when we got back. Did he try to sell you some stock?”

What a way to spoil the mood.
“We were
discussing the condition of Emerald Ranch. And his horses.”

“Oh. He’s really run the place down. And
if I won the lottery I’d buy every last horse from him. He gives breeders a bad
name.” Despite the content of their conversation, Craig fixated on Quinn’s low,
husky voice. At some point the slow sway of the dance brought them closer until
he felt a whisper light touch of her breasts against his chest. He swallowed
hard to get past the desire that slight contact fired up. His arm tightened on
her a bit more. She didn’t pull back; instead she looked at him. Her blue eyes
were so clear, so wide as if she saw directly into his thoughts.

“Yes, he has. I used to love that
place.”

“Just like I used to love Long Knife
Creek.”

She was nearly fully against him. Her
touch, the brush of her body against his, the way her fingers rested against
his neck, the tips tickling the nape ever so gently. All of it brought him to
the verge of feelings he hadn’t had in so long.

The fact that Quinn had this effect on
him didn’t make it any easier, yet there was no way to stop this.

“You don’t like this place?”

“Jacob did a tremendous job with it. The
house is gorgeous, and the new spa is heaven, but it’s not home anymore.”
Quinn’s voice had dropped so low he had to dip his head to catch her words.

Doing so brought him mere inches away
from the mouth he’d admired all day long. All she had to do was tilt her head
slightly to the side and he’d be able to capture them.

Maybe the same thoughts and desires went
through her mind too, because she turned her head, lifted her face enough for
him to reach her lips with a light caress. That she put herself in this
position was surely no accident. No, he felt her mouth open to his.

Who’d have thought this tough,
strong-willed cowgirl could have such a gentle touch. The soft movement of her
lips against his fueled a wildfire in his body and head. In the middle of the
entire town of Falstad and the guests of Long Knife Creek wasn’t the place to
explore these heady desires. He pulled away from her but, kept her tight in his
arms.

Neither spoke. What could be said?
Should he apologize for being so bold? It wasn’t as if she’d found the kiss
repulsive. On the contrary, she’d contributed as much to it as he had. Besides,
he didn’t want to apologize. He wasn’t one bit sorry. In fact, he wanted more,
maybe not here, not now, but he couldn’t deny that Quinn intrigued him.
Exploring what had just happened might be impossible to avoid.

Whether good timing or not, Craig didn’t
know, but the song came to an end and Quinn slowly pulled away. He looked at
her but instead of meeting his gaze she seemed to peer at his shoulder or maybe
beyond. Her eyes were wide, kind of spooked, her lips pressed together tightly.

“I, uh, have to go feed the horses,” she
murmured as she moved entirely away.

Craig didn’t say anything but let her
go. She disappeared through the crowd.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Craig turned to the voice behind him.

Thea stood there, arms across her chest
looking at him with a mixture of cool regard and interest.

“I don’t want to see her get hurt,” Thea
continued.

Craig met her gaze. “No, that would
never be my intention.”

She’d lied. Quinn didn’t need to feed
the horses. In fact, Piper had almost finished all of the hay from the corner
rack. Quinn went in anyway, sat in the corner of the stall and watched the
mare. The only light came from the dim overhead lights out in the aisle, but
that was fine with her. Less chance of discovery. She needed time to think, to
hash and rehash what had just happened.

Ever since she could remember, she had
wanted to kiss, to be kissed by Craig Lynch. Those had been little kid
fantasies. She had given up any hope it would actually happen, especially when
he up and married and left town for fifteen years.

Even when he came back, as handsome as
she remembered him, she didn’t think there would be a chance of any of those
schoolgirl dreams coming true.