The Love Ranch (BWWM Romance) (6 page)

She gasped, looking up in time to see his eyes boldly roving over her curves revealed by her tight t-shirt and skin tight jeans.

“I have a child,” she reminded him again, as she watched the gleam of desire grow in his eyes.

He smiled into her eyes and said in a low, dangerous voice that annoyingly sent thrills up her arms, “As I said before. I know. I like him.”

Shooting one last glare over her shoulder, she led Jamal towards the door. As she reached for the knob to open the door, Christian’s amused voice stopped her.

“By the way, Tiana, I’m the boss! And just in case you were wondering, you’re welcome to impress me anytime.”

“Let’s get something straight, cowboy,” she said in a low voice that didn’t carry to Jamal who was waiting impatiently in the corridor just outside the library door. “I’m not looking for a tumble in the hay!”

“Who said anything about hay?” he asked, smiling wickedly at her.

Tiana looked over at the tall handsome man standing across the room and gulped. Boy, was she in trouble!

CHAPTER SIX

Tiana stretched as she rolled out of bed. It had been a long week, what with having to say goodbye to Tiny Tim’s, move out of her own house and settle in at Faraday Ranch. Luckily, Jamal had taken the second move in stride. Heck he had been completely excited what with the prospects of seeing cows and horses first hand. She had seen the basketball court Tracy, the maid, had offered to show Jamal the other day; she saw a little lake at a far corner of the property; there were acres of rolling fields of green spread out in every direction and she had learned that some of that was pasture for the farm animals and some were crops.

In her mind, the best part of the move was that Jamal was so unbelievably excited these days; ever since they had moved onto the ranch, he had shaken off any lingering sadness about their departure from New York.

Tiana had enjoyed being shown around the beautiful vast estate but part of her enjoyment had been dulled by Christian’s absence. She wasn’t sure why but she had subconsciously been hoping that he would show them around. In the five days since she had gotten settled in, she had neither seen him or heard from him and she was starting to miss him, although she was reluctant to admit that to herself.

Automatically, she peeked into the next room, “Jamal, honey? Rise and shine,” she called.

Her heart bumped in her chest as she noticed the empty bed. Wildly, she ran into the room, searching frantically around; no Jamal.

Hastily, she removed her nightgown and tugged on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, without any thought for underwear. Her heart was in her throat as she ran downstairs, screaming for Jamal.

“Jeez, what’s all the yelling for?” Rose Shirley asked, frowning as she glared round a door at Tiana.

Tiana wondered absently how it was that the woman was fully dressed already at six o’clock in the morning.

“I’m looking for my son!”

“That little terror? Christian took him out riding, and a good job too! I was getting ready to strangle the little one myself; he’s always up to something,” Rose concluded sharply.

Tiana’s eyes filled with anger as she glared at the older woman. “Well did you manage to learn what direction they went riding in or were you too busy contemplating murdering a four-year-old to notice?” Tiana asked acidly.

Reluctant respect gleamed in Rose’s eyes as she gazed at the young woman and then she turned away without any response, waddling as though she did not have a care in the world.

“Have you seen Christian?” Tiana barked, grabbing the first ranch hand she saw as soon as she cleared the doorway.

The man blinked stupidly, blatantly taking her in.

“Answer me, dammit!” Tiana screamed, shaking him, oblivious of the reason for his confusion.

He seemed to gather himself with effort before he pointed vaguely northeast. Tiana released him with a roar and grabbed the nearest horse she could find which was tethered to a pole. She struggled into the saddle, almost falling off until someone assisted her into the saddle.

She looked down and was surprised to see that it was the same cowboy who had reluctantly pointed her in the direction Christian had taken.

An unholy gleam lit his eyes as he asked, “You know how to ride, Miss?”

It was Tiana’s turn to be confused. “Uh, not very well.”

“Don’t worry your head none about that, sweetheart,” he crooned in a voice that made her want to retch.

He was holding her reins or she would have ridden off before he said anything else because she had a feeling she was not going to like what he said next.

He didn’t disappoint her.

“You have just the hips for it. You can come on over tonight and I’ll show you a few tricks,” he offered, smiling once more to reveal tobacco-stained teeth. “I’m Rick by the way,” he offered airily.

Tiana’s face froze in anger as she glared down at the pervert. He was not talking about riding a horse at all, she thought as her skin crawled.

“And I’m someone who’s gonna maul you right down if you don’t take your hands off my damn horse!” she spat between gritted teeth.

His grin evaporated and then with deliberate slow motions, he removed his hands from her horse.

Tiana grabbed the reins, tightened her knees and spurred the horse into a gallop as she had seen people do in the movies and winced as the seemingly docile animal turned into a powerful beast beneath her. The horse’s hooves pounded the ground beneath her and she shut her eyes in fright as the trees sped past in a dizzying rush.

“I swear I’m going to kill that cowboy once I set my eyes on him,” she muttered.

As if on cue, she spotted a horse on a ridge a short distance away and even from the distance, she could make out the arrogant set of the rider’s shoulders which told her that was Christian.

“Hey,” she yelled, trying to get his attention as she waved frantically. The horse chose that moment to pick up on her fear and neighed wildly, before rising on its hind legs.

Sheer survival instinct made her tighten her grip on the reins and clamp her knees tighter around it as she fought to stay on the animal. She saw Christian shout something to her but she was too preoccupied to hear what he said. The horse began to gallop wildly in his direction, bucking every second to throw her off. Tiana held on for a few more precious moments before the wild momentum of her steed’s movements tossed her right over the head of the horse to land in a heap atop of a blessedly soft pile of hay lying close to the path.

Tiana gasped, trying to catch her breath as thundering hooves announced Christian’s arrival. He was positively breathing fire from his nose as he bore down on her.

“Are you alright?” he screamed, leaping off his horse and kneeling down beside her almost in the same fluid motion.

Tiana grinned, inordinately pleased with the concerned expression on her face.

He cradled her head gently as he said, “Where does it hurt, sweetheart?”

“My pride?” she said cheekily.

“Huh?”

“I’m perfectly fine. It’s just my pride that’s bruised. Where’s Jamal?” she asked, voicing her most urgent concern.

“Over there, picking flowers for you,” Christian told her, waving vaguely in the direction of a sweeping slope of vibrant wildflowers.

Tears of relief sprang into her eyes as she made out the tiny, wiry figure moving from one spot to the other.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked earnestly, eyeing the tears in her big brown eyes.

Tiana looked over at him; at least the panic was beginning to fade at last. “I’m perfectly fine. If you’ll just let me up, I’ll prove it.”

He finally released her and leaned back and she gratefully sat up.

“Now we’ve established that you’re fine, would you care to tell me what the hell you were thinking when you took off alone on horseback for the first time in your life?”

Tiana blinked, amazed at his abrupt change of mood as he glared down at her where seconds before he had been all concern.

“What makes you think I can’t ride?” she bluffed.

“The way you sit a horse is a dead giveaway. Now what possessed you to come tearing up here?”

“What possessed me?” she sputtered furiously, rising to her feet with less grace than she would have liked. “You took Jamal riding without asking me! How dare you? What, in all of creation, could you have been thinking of?” she yelled.

“I didn’t set out to take him riding, Tiana, he asked to come,” he told her evenly rising to his feet to tower above her.

Tiana was not impressed by that explanation. Why would he take Jamal riding without letting her know? Her mind had gone a million places when she had walked in and found her son missing. She had feared that he had taken Jamal; she wouldn’t put it past him which was why she had left New York in the first place!!!

She didn’t realize she had spoken aloud until Christian asked with a confused frown, “Who’s this he that has got you so terrified?”

“I uh... I don’t know what you mean. I’ll just take Jamal home now,” she said, slowly stepping backwards.

“You will do no such thing. We’ll all walk home together. Are you in trouble? Who’s this he you were referring to?”

Tiana backed up a few more steps. His eyes had taken on a hard, almost frightening quality that told her Christian was someone she would not want to meet in a dark alley. He had always exuded a tough quality but right now, she sensed that he could be a very dangerous man if the situation called for it.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“So you don’t deny it? There’s someone you’re running from? You’re not in trouble with the law are you?”

“Look it’s nothing like that. Jamal! Come on honey, we’re leaving,” she called desperately.

Christian shook his head, walking closer to her until he was so close that the soft fabric of his shirt brushed against her chest.

“Let me help you, Tiana. You know you can trust me. I would never let anyone hurt you or Jamal.”

“Why?” she asked.

He tried to kiss her but she placed a firm hand on his chest, stopping him as she said icily, “And that’s another thing, you can’t run around kissing me. It’s not right!”

“What?!”

“Yeah! Think of Lydia!”

“Who the hell is Lydia?”

“Uh, the beautiful brunette you couldn’t keep your hands off of at Tiny Tim’s the other day?”

He stared, “That Lydia?” He burst into laughter, bending over double as he laughed up at her. Since she was feeling an annoying spurt of jealousy, Tiana was not amused at his laughter. She glared balefully at him, which just seemed to set him off the more, the dratted man! “Lydia Barrett is my kid sister’s newly-widowed best friend!”

“So?”

“So she is still very much in love with her dead husband who also happened to be one of my best friends. Trust me, she’s off limit forever. I was only consoling her that day so you don’t have to be jealous.”

“I wasn’t,” she lied.

“Yeah right,” he agreed, walking closer to her once more.

“I was not jealous!” Tiana insisted.

“Whatever you say,” he agreed huskily, placing his hands on her shoulders.

He leaned down slowly and gently pressed his lips to hers in the barest hint of a kiss. Tiana sighed and relaxed against him, all her senses unfurling in his arms as she gave herself up to the kiss.

As the now-familiar knot of tension began to build in the pit of her stomach almost immediately, she admitted the truth to herself for the first time; she was clearly teetering on the edge of falling in love with Christian.

Well what woman wouldn’t? After being treated repeatedly to his hot, drugging kisses, she was fast becoming addicted.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Christian wound his arms around her, reveling in the feel of her incredibly soft, pliant body pressed up against his. He groaned as his tongue tangled with hers; his body was stiff, hard, and ready. He knew he was dangerously close to trying to take her right there and with a sigh of regret, he slowly began releasing her lips.

Christian released her reluctantly, his hand sliding slowly from her face. She was beautiful, he thought, gazing into her heart-shaped face. She made him think of things he had no business thinking about, like how well she was fitting into his life, how he would love to have her around for as long as he could, and so on. He liked little Jamal too. The boy was a gem. His endless questions drove Rose wild but he loved them.

If she was in trouble, he thought, clenching his jaw determinedly, he would want to know about it and he would want to help her.

“Jamal, we gotta go,” he called.

The young boy materialized beside them immediately, proudly presenting his mother with a bouquet of mangled flowers which he had obviously crushed in his childish exuberance.

Tiana’s eyes filled with tears as she looked down at the flowers clutched in the tiny hand as though they were the world’s most exquisite diamonds and cried, “Oh, Jamal, I love them! They're wonderful!”