Sweet Talking Cowboy (23 page)

Tris seemed to sense some of the tension in the room, but
there hadn’t been any angry voices so she walked on in.

She crossed the room to the chair and crawled up onto the
arm of it, the way she had been earlier.  Slade smiled at the child, then
looked back at Briann and without saying anything; his hand left the page and
gently stroked the other arm of the chair, inviting her to join them.  Her
heart lurched crazily, and she shook her head just slightly before moving across
to take a seat in front of the computer, her back to them.  She could hear them
talking softly.

She pulled up a website she’d been checking earlier and
appeared to lose herself in it.  In reality, she was trying desperately to pull
herself together.  She couldn’t believe what had happened.  She’d been ready to
crawl into his lap, wanting his touch, wanting his kisses, wanting him.  She
didn’t know how long she sat there staring at the same place on the screen of
her computer and then she realized the screensaver had popped up to replace the
web site.

“Mom,” she heard Tris speak from right beside her and
realized it was the second time the child had spoken.  “Are you alright?”

She nodded and forced a smile at her offspring.  “Yes, I was
just lost in thought I guess.”

“Do you know where my Cowboy Bear is?  I want to show it to
Slade.”

Briann shook her head negatively.  “Sorry.”

Tris shrugged and headed toward the door.  “I’m going to
look for him.  Maybe Aunt Poog knows where he is.”

Just that quickly, she was gone and Briann was alone in the
room again, with Slade and the feelings she was still struggling to control. 
She heard movement, and then felt his hand close on one of her arms.  Gently he
drew her to her feet and turned her to face him.  “I want you too, Bri.”  His
voice was a husky whisper.

She couldn’t speak; she was almost choking on her heart. 
The fire in his eyes was spreading over her, her bones felt like they were
dripping down beneath her skin to spread out on the floor.  She felt him pull her
gently against him and knew if he hadn’t, she’d have slumped to the floor at
his feet.  His hands slipped over her shoulders and his chin rubbed against the
side of her face.  His head tipped down and she could feel the flesh of his
cheek against hers.  He’d shaved before he’d come for supper and the smell of
him was invading her brain, making her weaker.  She felt his lips moving and as
he whispered softly his warm breath against her ear started a fire of its own,
then the words he was whispering penetrated her mind.

“I want to make love to you, Bri.  It’s been sooo long.” 
His husky whisper had shivers running all over her body.

She wanted to protest.  She wanted to say no and to push him
away, but his lips were now trailing kisses across her cheek, slowly,
sensuously making their way toward hers.  Then it was too late, his lips
covered hers and her arms wrapped around him, pulling him closer, no longer
caring if he knew how his touch affected her, just wanting to feel the fire of
his lips and hands.  The sound of childish laughter and Poog’s soft voice as
they climbed the stairs jerked them out of their embrace.  Slade abruptly stepped
away from her and returned to the chair, lifting the scrapbook back into his
lap.  Without his body and arms for support, she slumped back into the computer
chair again and the sounds grew louder as Aunt Poog and Tristin approached the
study door.

She turned around and moved the computer mouse, replacing
the screensaver and bringing up the internet website again.  Her hands were
trembling and she could still feel Slade’s hands on her back, could still taste
the promise and the hunger of his kiss.

Tris bounded ahead of Aunt Poog and skipped across the room
to Slade, handing him her favorite stuffed animal.  He took the cowboy themed
teddy bear and smiled.

“This is Cowboy Bear.  I’ve had him since I was a little baby. 
My da….my other dad got him for me when I was born.”  She leaned over the arm
of the chair and spotted the picture in the photo album that he’d touched so
tenderly only minutes before.

He was careful not to touch it now and instead, gave his
attention to the teddy bear.

Briann left it to the other three in the room to make
conversation and in only a few minutes realized how comfortable they were
together.  Without really listening, she heard Tris laughing and Aunt Poog’s
soft chuckle.  Slade was talking, his deep drawl a sound that continued to stir
her, even from across the room, with her back to him.  She wasn’t hearing
words, didn’t need to hear his words.  Just the drawl of his voice was enough
to keep her thoughts on him.

Then Tris was beside her again.  “Did you hear that, Mom?”

She was shaking her head as she turned to look at her
daughter.  “Afraid not.  What did I miss?”

“Slade was telling about a man he knew out in Texas that
thought he was roping a calf hiding in some bushesand it turned out to be a
mountain lion.  You should have heard it.  It was sooooo funny!”  Tris was
laughing just thinking about it.

Briann smiled.  “Sorry I missed it.  I guess I should put
this on hold for now.”  She turned around and closed the browser on the
computer and although she stayed in the chair, she became a part of the group
and before she knew what was happening, found herself comfortably enjoying the
companionship of the others in the room.  The only discomfort she felt was when
her eyes would get caught by a look from Slade.  Then she could feel the
tightening of desire from the caress in his eyes.

After a while she glanced at the clock on the wall and
jumped up in surprise.  “Oh my gosh!  I forgot the Fishers are out of town
today.  It’s past feeding time.  In fact,” her eyes sharpened as she looked at
her daughter.  “You need to get in the tub.”

“You go feed up, I’ll see to Tris’ bath,” Poog said.

“I’ll give you a hand.”  Slade said, standing then turning
to gently touch Tristin’s cheek.  “I’ll be back in to say goodnight, after your
bath.”

Briann raised a hand, “No, you stay here.  I don’t need
help.”  She both feared and anticipated being alone with him in the barn.  It
was a situation she preferred to avoid, at least until she’d had some time to
sort through her feelings, again, to resurrect her anger.

He walked toward her and shook his head.  “Come on.  I
insist on helpin’.”

Knowing she’d lost a battle and maybe the war, she sighed in
defeat and followed him out the door and down the stairs.  His long confident
steps never slowed or wavered as he strode through the house, out the back
door, across the lawn, past the pool and on to the barn.  He went directly to
the tack room and when she arrived, he was already busy getting the halters for
the two horses they’d released in the paddock when they’d unloaded them from
the trailer earlier in the day.

While he brought them in and put them in their stalls,
Briann had put feed in their stalls and was busily feeding the other horses. 
Without any conversation he came behind her with a bale of hay on a wheelbarrow
and put a couple of flakes into the hay rack in each stall.  Briann made sure
the automatic waterers were clean and when that was done, she looked around for
something she might have overlooked.  Finding nothing she shrugged.  “I guess
that’s it.  Thanks for helping.”

“You’re welcime,” his voice came from close behind her and
her heart leaped as she felt one of his hands grasp one of hers.  “Look at me,
Bri.”

She let him turn her around and looked up at him; her own
will to resist the raw passion they shared had died, probably earlier, upstairs
in the study.  She had known this would happen and to be honest with herself,
she knew she wanted it.

“What are we gonna do about this?  It’s not goin’ away, you
know.”  His voice was as rough with passion as it was tantalizing to her ears. 
“It’s been…what, seven years?  There hasn’t been one day in all that time that
I haven’t thought about you.  Not one day that I haven’t wanted you.  Even when
I knew you were married to another man.  Even when I was with another woman.” 
His hand lifted hers and placed it against his heart.  Then his hands dropped
and settled on her hips.  “It’s not gonna change, darlin’.”

She knew he was waiting for her to say something, but her
throat felt constricted and all she could manage was an unintelligible, “um
muh.”

He smiled.  “Are you leavin’ it up to me to decide?  ‘Cause
I have absolutely no problem with that, I just keep rememberin’ how angry you
were when I made a decision about gettin’ married without consultin’ you. 
Remember?”  As he spoke, his hands slipped up over her shoulders and back down
over her hips.

She closed her eyes trying to keep her mind from
concentrating on all the places their bodies were touching, but then she leaned
against him, giving it up as a lost cause.  It had been so long since they’d
shared the one night in the motel in Perry, Ga., but she could remember the
passion they’d shared.  In fact, she had never been able to forget it. She
lifted a hand, tracing his lips with one finger.  “I can’t think when you….hold
me.  I don’t want to think.”

He groaned and reluctantly withdrew his arms from around
her.  “Then, for now, I guess we’d better think.”  He walked a few steps away
before he could trust himself to turn and look at her without reaching for
her.  “Bri, I know you aren’t interested in gettin’ married, but short of that,
I don’t know what we can do.  I don’t want the mother of my child to be
anyone’s mistress, not even mine, and I just can’t see you bein’ one, but
darlin’, I’m sure as hell not gonna be able to keep my hands off of you.”

She shrugged.  She was finished fooling herself.  She wanted
to marry him.  She knew she loved him and always had, but she did not want to
marry him because it was convenient.  She’d been through that with Evan and
even though it had been agreed that it would be a marriage in name only and just
between friends, she knew she could never be happy living like that again. 
Especially with Slade.  This thing between them seemed to have a life of its
own.

She was looking at him as he spoke, wondering what she could
say or do to allow them to all be happy.  Finally she shrugged.  “I’m not going
to live with my life in constant turmoil.  I can’t do that and it will only
make us all miserable, including Tris.  I will marry you Slade.  Not because
it’s the only way to work this out.  I’ll marry you, because when you come
right down to it, like it or not, I love you.  I was hoping that you could love
me too, but as long as you treat me with respect, I guess I’ll accept that.”

His face reflected his surprise and he closed the distance
between them.  “You’ll accept my respect?  Are you blind?  Bri, I
do
love
you!  I think I’ve loved you since you were just a kid!”  He cupped her face
between his hands and tilted it up so she was looking into his eyes, his thumbs
tenderly stroking her cheeks.  “The first time I saw you, Hank brought me over
here with him to talk to your dad about breedin’ a mare to Flash.  You were
only a little younger than Tris is now.  You were ridin’ an old mare in the
arena, with your mom watchin’.  She called you over and opened the gate and you
came ridin’ that mare up to where we were standin’ and I watched you slide down
off that saddle and wrap the reins around the fence.  I’d never paid a lot of
attention to kids before, but with that
shiney brown
hair,
those whiskey colored eyes and that gold tan, I thought you were the cutest kid
I’d ever seen.  Brian introduced us to you and it was easy to see the pride he
took in you.  You ran off to join your mom and your dad told us that we should
keep our eyes on you, because one day, you’d make a name for yourself as a
horse trainer.

Well, I did keep an eye on you and as I watched you growin’
up, I could see the woman you would be and I think when you were barely a
teenager, I knew I wanted to marry you someday.  I’ve loved you so long, I
don’t remember the first time I admitted it to myself, but you weren’t old
enough for me to love, then.  When your parents died, I sat there durin’ the
funeral and watched how you struggled to be strong and brave and I just wanted
to put my arms around you and make the hurt go away.  I think I already loved you
when Mike let you ride that crazy paint geldin’ at the arena that time.  I
almost died when he fell on you as you turned the second barrel.”

Briann’s eyes softened.  “You were the first one there.  I
remember that.  You held his head so he couldn’t get up until after they pulled
my leg out of the stirrup beneath him.”

He nodded.  “I was scared to death that he’d get up and drag
you and I couldn’t believe it when you snatched the reins out of my hand and
hopped back on him when he got up.  If I hadn’t been so surprised, you wouldn’t
have gotten those reins away from me.  I wouldn’t have let you back on him.”

She smiled.  “I finished the pattern on him and won the next
two rounds to place fourth in the overall scores that weekend.  He was a little
nutty, but that paint could fly!”

He slipped his arms around her and pulled her against his
chest.  “I can’t believe you didn’t know how much or how long I’ve loved you.”

“You never said it.  I’m not a mind reader.”  She sighed
contentedly, but couldn’t help wondering how much pain and misunderstanding
could have been avoided if they had either one admitted they loved the other, a
long time ago.

“I think I’ve loved you just as long.  That day you and your
dad were over her, I told my mom that you were going to be my boyfriend when I
grew up.  She just laughed and said I should make sure there was a good heart
to go along with that much too handsome face of yours and when you went to
Texas,” she paused briefly and drew a finger across his generous lips.  “I
cried for days and felt like I didn’t have any life left in me.  I missed you
so much.  I didn’t know you ever thought anything about me, except that I could
ride a horse pretty good.”  She rubbed her cheek against the cloth of his
shirt.  “I used to go to bed at night wondering what it would be like if you
kissed me.”