The Princess of Coldwater Flats (29 page)

“Neither do I,” Sammy Jo assured him quickly, “but I thought—”

“Don’t think.” He suddenly shifted to his feet and reached for her, his hands clasping her forearms, dragging her close to his warm chest. Sammy Jo resisted out of habit, but then she collapsed against him, wanting him so much, it was an all-consuming ache. Squeezing her eyes shut, she fought the burn of something hotter than tears. Love. She loved him, and she would be a fool to tell him so.

He kissed her. Hard. She reveled in it, her head falling back, her body limp. He laughed, a low rumble of seduction, and she shook her head.

“Oh, Cooper, don’t.”

“I can’t help myself.” His hands slid down her back, over her hips and buttocks. He dragged her close until there was no doubt about what he was feeling. “Kiss me,” he demanded, and she placed both hands on his face and held him captive, her mouth ravishing his, her tongue darting in his mouth in hot exploration.

He swept in a startled breath. “Sammy Jo!”

In no time at all, they were lying on the grass, a tangle of jeans and unbuttoned shirts, and anxious fingers and mouths. Trigger whined and moved away.

“She’s learned,” Cooper breathed raggedly against Sammy Jo’s lips.

“Trigger?”

“Uh-huh.” He groaned as her tongue stabbed into his mouth again, slick and melting. “Sammy Jo, too,” he murmured, dragging a silent laugh from the depths of her.

“Hurry,” she whispered to him.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Just please…”

With quick, expert hands, he removed her boots and jeans. Her underwear followed. Then she lay on the ground, hair wild around her, bra and blouse half-on, half-off. Untamed, and ravaged-looking in a streak of silvery moonlight.

The sight of her broke Cooper’s control. He ripped off his own clothes and fell on her hard. Sammy Jo’s fingers clenched into his hair. There was something primal, needful about this lovemaking that she reveled in. She loved him.
Loved
him. It felt as if this might be her only time to show him.

His mouth found her breasts as his finger slipped inside the moistness between her legs. Sammy Jo moaned at this delicious invasion, winding herself around him.

I love you
, she thought, the words circling through a haze of pleasure.
I love you…‌

Cooper groaned as her own fingers delighted in a discovery of their own. “What are you doing to me?” he muttered.

“Nothing you aren’t doing to me,” she whispered.

“Sammy Jo…‌?”

“What?” Her heart nearly stopped at the tension in his voice.

He didn’t answer. Instead, his mouth moved lower, and still lower, until Sammy Jo’s hips arched upward as eager for him as he was to taste her. She cried out.

I love you…‌I love you…‌I love you.

The world spiraled, and then Cooper twisted to his back, dragging her atop him, thrusting inside her at the same time so that Sammy Jo rode him hard and fast, and a sweet rhythm that brought them to the brink so quickly they both cried out in ecstasy in one glorious shout.

Afterward, Sammy Jo lay panting on Cooper’s chest while she wound silken strands of her hair around his fingers, his own heart still pounding as if he’d been in a race.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” Sammy Jo blurted out shakily.

That sent them both into fits of laughter. Time seemed suspended. She could have stayed this way forever, but slowly, steadily, embarrassment reached Sammy Jo and after long, loving movements cradled in his arms, she became conscious of her complete nakedness. Her ever-vigilant conscience came to screaming life once again, reviewing this wild escapade and warning her harshly again that she would pay for her indulgences.

“Did you mean it?” he asked huskily, his voice a satisfied purr.

“What?”

“How quickly they forget.” He pulled her mouth to his. She could feel the grin that stretched lips. “You said you love me.”

Sammy Jo went completely still. Shocked. Suffocated. “What?” she asked, mortified.

“You said, ‘I love you.’”

She leapt to her feet, grabbing her clothes, staring at him in dawning horror. Cooper leaned on one elbow, watching her, a frown darkening his expression. She couldn’t look at him. At his male beauty. She couldn’t stand his knowing.

Had she really said those terrible three little words aloud?

“Now what?” he asked, baffled.

“I’ll be your mistress,” she said quickly, biting off the words. “I want the ranch. I want it that badly. But I’m not in love with you.”

He swore a word that singed her years, sharply and violently. Trigger growled low in her throat. “Liar.”

Sammy Jo ground her teeth. “I’m ready to strike that deal.”

“Forget it. I bought the ranch,” he told her flatly, reaching for his pants. From the back pocket he withdrew a rolled-up a sheaf of papers. He tossed it at her feet.

“You bought it?” The blood drained from Sammy Jo’s face as she stared down at the role of papers. The edges ruffled in the breeze. With shaking fingers, Sammy Jo buttoned her blouse and zipped up her jeans. Her boots lay haphazard on the ground, forgotten in her haste and distress.

“I saw Matt Durning at Valley Federal today, and he told me some things I didn’t think—”

“You went to Matt today and bought my ranch?” Sammy Jo interrupted furiously.

“Would you let me finish?”

Snatching up the paper, she shook it in front of Cooper’s nose. “What is this? What does this say?”

He swore again, yanking on his clothes with restrained fury. “It says, you owe me two hundred thousand dollars. I bought out your loan. You can pay me back whenever you want.”

“What?”

“Your contract’s with me now. Not Valley Federal.”

Sammy Jo froze, uncertain whether she should be furious or relieved. But remembering his lazy amusement over hearing her speak her soul…‌
I love you…‌.
She opted for fury. “I don’t need any more of your help.”

His hand clasped her arm so quickly she gasped. “Now this is the end,” he snarled, equally as furious. “I bought your ranch to keep some eager investor named Peter Whalen from snatching it up for a song. As I understand it, he’s not your favorite uncle. Not by a long shot. Now, if you’d rather he owned the Triple R than me, I can rip this up now. Right here. And we’ll burn it right along with the oak tree!”

He was shaking her. Cooper was actually shaking her arm. Sammy Jo jerked it away from him.

“And I don’t want you for a mistress,” he declared furiously.

“Good. Because I just decided I don’t want you for my lord and master, either.”

She stomped off in the direction of the house, certain she was making another huge mistake, but burning with humiliation, nonetheless. She started running, oblivious to the fact that her feet were bare and the hard ground was giving away to gravel as she approached the house. She’d told him she loved him. What power she’d given him. Now she had to make him believe it wasn’t true, or…‌or…‌or…‌

Or what? she asked herself. She might get hurt? She might lose everything she possessed?

Hadn’t she already?

Gasping for air, Sammy Jo collapsed against the fence alongside the house. She staggered to the back paddock, leaning over the rail, hating herself. Cooper was beside her in an instant, his breath hot against the back of her neck.

She whipped around, ready for battle. He stared at her, chest heaving. “It’s because you admitted you love me,” he said quietly. “That’s what you’re running from: yourself.”

“What do you want from me?” Sammy Jo demanded, her voice catching. “You know, I just can’t have this kind of casual affair. It’s tearing me apart.”

“I know.”

“Then why do you keep showing up here? I’d be better off if you just left me alone.”

“You need me, Sammy Jo. And I need you.”

She backed away from him. She needed distance. Her fingers encountered the lock to the gate and she let herself inside the paddock. There were no horses anymore. No cattle. She left the gate open and Cooper followed her inside.

“Look, Cooper. I don’t want my uncle to have the Triple R. You bought it, it’s yours. I don’t want to owe you money.”

“You can pay me in installments.”

“I don’t own any livestock anymore.”

“We’ll make that thieving friend of yours, Tommy Weatherwood, sell them back to you.”

“Cooper…” Sammy Jo sighed.

“Sammy Jo,” he returned.

This time when he tried to drag her into his arms, she jumped back. No more of that. No more falling for his peculiar kind of magnetic seduction. She saw him grin again, that dazzling flash of white.

“I’m not going to fall into your trap,” she told him flatly. “I’m not.”

“I want to marry you, Sammy Jo,” he said. She stopped short, silent as death. “Did you hear me?” he demanded.

Her mind buzzed in wild circles. “For the ranch.”

“Oh, the love of God. For you. I want to marry you for
you
, Sammy Jo!”

He stepped forward and she shrank back, and that was Sammy Jo’s fatal mistake. Her heel slipped in mud, mud that had collected from a teeny pinprick hole in the water troughs at the corner of the fence. One moment Sammy Jo was flailing her arms, struggling for balance, the next she fell backward with a huge, cold splash, her rear end dropped to the bottom of the trough. Shrieking with surprise, Sammy Jo grabbed on to the sides of the trough. Her legs dangled over the edge.

For a moment, Cooper stared at her in shock, then he buckled over and started laughing so hard Sammy Jo was sure he might split a gut.

With an effort, she dragged herself from the trough. She was wet from her neck to her knees. Cooper was beside himself with hysteria. He howled with laughter, making absolutely no effort to hide his mirth.

Sammy Jo fought a smile. It really was funny. And for reasons she didn’t want to look at too closely, her heart was singing. She grinned at Cooper like an idiot, and he swooped her into his arms, his shoulders shaking with laughter.

“Okay, okay. It’s funny. I’m soaking wet.”

“You deserved it. You know how many times you’ve hit me and pushed me and nearly drowned me.”

“You’re exaggerating,” she said.

“Am I?” He held her away from him and studied her face. In the moonlight she saw his expression change. “I see those dimples,” he said softly. “You know, I don’t see them nearly enough.”

“I don’t smile a lot,” Sammy Jo admitted.

“Why are you smiling now?”

“Because I just made a raging fool of myself. What do you think?”

“You didn’t tell me what you thought of what I said. About marrying you,” he clarified when she automatically opened her mouth to question him.

“Oh. That.”

Cooper sighed. “It’s not every day I ask a woman to marry me. I never thought I’d do it again. But you’re not exactly jumping for joy,” he observed dryly.

Sammy Jo shivered and Cooper’s arms tightened around her. But she wasn’t cold. Not physically. “I’d like to know why you want to marry me. I mean, you said it’s for
me
, but…”

“I love you, Sammy Jo,” Cooper said clearly, amazed at how easily the words came to his lips. “I’ve loved you since you first slammed into Valley Federal and gave Matt Durning a piece of your mind.”

“He deserved it,” Sammy Jo muttered, feeling suddenly shy and awkward. Could she believe him? No. Was she crazy?
Yes!

“I loved you when you schemed to marry Brent Rollins to save your ranch.”

“You hated me for that,” she protested.

“I hated the lengths you had to go, but I loved you. I was just afraid.”

“Afraid?” Sammy Jo asked, drawing back to search his face. “Are you being straight with me, Cooper?”

“You are so damned suspicious, woman,” he muttered, kissing her hard. “Come on. I’ll take you inside and warm you up.”

Sammy Jo liked the way he said that. “You know, I’d do practically anything to keep Uncle Peter from getting the ranch.”

“Even be my mistress,” he mocked gently.

At the door, she stopped short. “Do you really want a wife? Really?”

“I want you, Sammy Jo. Only you.”

Now, in the half-light glowing from the living room, Cooper’s blue eyes staring into hers, Sammy Jo read the truth. He did care about her. He’d said he loved her. Her lips parted in wonder, her heart slamming inside her chest.

Swallowing, she said, “I meant what I said.”

“What was that?”

“Back…‌by the oak tree. I didn’t know I said it, but I meant it.”

His eyebrows drew together. “I can’t remember what you said. Refresh my memory.”

“I said…‌I said…”

“You said,” he encouraged, his mouth drawing into a sexy smile.

Sammy Jo planted her hands on her hips. “I said I’d never let you be my lord and master!”

Cooper whooped with delight. “Say it. Say it,” he demanded, tickling her with hands that found every sensitive spot.

“Stop it,” Sammy Jo panted, laughing hysterically. “Stop it!”

“Say it!”

“I love you, you sadistic monster!” She tried to kick his shin. Cooper practically threw her over his shoulder as he hauled her screaming and shrieking form inside. Tossing her onto the couch, he held her arms down and kissed her neck, face and shoulders until tears of mirth stormed down her cheeks.

“I love you, too,” he told her. “We’ll be married this weekend.”

“Too soon.” She pulled his mouth down to hers for a searing kiss.

“Not soon enough. “We’ll have the wedding right here. At the Triple R.”

“And we’ll invite Uncle Peter!” Sammy Jo gasped.

“I’m serious, you know. I really do want to make you my wife.”

Sammy Jo smiled at him. Her heart was so full of new, fresh hope she could scarcely believe this wasn’t a dream. “I will make you a good wife,” she promised solemnly.

“You’ll be a pain in the rear end,” he predicted. “Thank God.”

And Sammy Jo, with all the love she’d never been able to lavish on her family, pulled her husband-to-be toward her by his lapels, kissed him lightly on the lips and said, “We’re going to be very happy.”

“And you’ll beat the tar out of anyone who says otherwise.” Cooper chuckled.