The Taming (The Black Thunder Series) (3 page)

“Ranching is a man’s job, and mighty respectable at that,” he stated proudly.

“I guess if you like to sit on top of a dumb animal and show tourists around all day.” It was Kate’s turn to lean back and cross her arms. “But who am I to judge.”

“You’re not from around here are you, baby?” His eyes narrowed ready for a challenge
. “Where are you from? Northern California, or maybe southern?”

“Santa Cruz
.” She boasted proudly.

“I should have guessed
.” He laughed and shook his head. “You’re a sun-worshipper by the look of your tan Barbie doll!”

“I am not a Barbie, and don’t call me doll!” He was really pissing her off now.

“Oh, you are a California plastic Barbie all the way down to your skimpy bikini and your fake tits.” He grinned from ear to ear. “Tell me, how much did they cost you?”

“These are real I’ll have you know,” she brimmed angrily
from his insult.

“You want
me to tell you if they’re real?” He leaned forward in his seat.

“Don’t you dare!” she gasped seeing a devilish twinkle in those deep green eyes of his
.

“Jack!” Clara scowled and slapped him on the shoulder
. “He’s needling you, Kate. Don’t pay him much mind.”

He laughed and sat back in his chair
. He was toying with her and it made her mad. God, he was going to enjoy having her work for him, sparking that little temper of hers whenever he wanted. Just thinking about it made his pants tight and he adjusted himself in his seat.

“I have no intention of letting the likes of him get to me
.” Kate sat up straight and lifted her chin high in the air.

“Well I’ll be, Californi
acator Barbie is snooty to boot,” he laughed. “You’re probably one of those Valley divas.”  

“
I think you’ve been kicked one too many times in the head Cowboy?” She re-coiled.

“I ain’t been kicked yet but fondling is another matter
,” he winked at her. “And a little kiss now and again on both ain’t too bad neither.”

“Well that’s not going to happen,” she laughed despite the
red flush to her freckled cheeks.

“Who said I was asking?” Jack leaned back and folded his arms over his chest.

Kate wanted to smack the smirk from his face. He was infuriating. “Don’t you have somewhere to be other than here with us?” She fumed.

“Not at the moment,” he said with such arrogance Kate just wanted to scream
. “But I’ll let you know if I change my mind. Not too often I get a chance to mingle with princesses.”

Clara watched the two go back and forth swapping insults like ping pong balls in a match of wits
. After several more rounds Clara had enough.

“I need another drink,” she stated and stood
. “When I come back you two better have squared off and resolved your differences because quite frankly, you are killing my buzz!”  With that Clara left them alone at the table as she made her way to the bathroom and then the bar.

“So, do you even know how to clean?” His jaw tightened.

“I am not going to justify that with an answer.” Kate crossed her arms over her chest.

“Just asking,” he
said. “You don’t seem like the type that is used to hard labor.”

“As opposed to you?” She frowned.

“Well isn’t it apparent?” He opened his arms and displayed the rippling muscles of his chest and arms.

“
Humph,” she snorted. “I’m not impressed.” But her eyes showed otherwise.

“You aren’t?” He moved his chair closer to her
. He straddled the chair and leaned in mixing his earthly scent with her own delicate fragrance of lavender and vanilla. “You haven’t done your shot, Barbie doll.” He moved the glass closer to her as he filled his lungs with her heavenly balm. She looked at the shot, then at him and frowned.

“I don’t want it
,” she said feeling his pheromones oozing all over her.

“You’re a lightweight, Kate,” he goaded her.

She ground her teeth together and shot him an evil stare. She snatched the glass and drank it, then slammed it back on the table.

“You sure you don’t want to choke or anything, seeing as your face is turning a pretty shade of
pink?”

“I’m fine!”
She choked back the coughing spasm forming in her throat. He was the most infuriating man she’d ever met.

“You want another one?” he practically whispered in her ear
. “It might help you relax that uptight ass of yours.” He leaned over and tapped her on the edge of her freckled nose.

Kate bat him away
as if he were an annoying fly which only made him grin wider. He was toying with her, and he laughed seeing her face shift an angry red highlighting the darkened speckles of brown spots across the rim of her nose and cheeks.

Fortunately, Clara returned and Jack moved his chair back seeing
his friend’s scowl. Kate breathed a sigh of relief.

“So, have you two worked out your differences?” she asked as she pushed another shot toward Kate.

“I wouldn’t say that exactly,” she frowned.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that Barbie doll here doesn’t know a thing about hard work.” He gave her a needling smile.

Her eyes narrowed into sharp dark blue glass. “And I’ve concluded that Mr. McBride doesn’t have a brain in his head.”

“Then you
have
reached an understanding,” Clara laughed.

“We agree to disagree
.” Kate took the shot and downed it. This time she didn’t feel the need to choke.

“Want another one?” Jack leaned over to her
. “Maybe I should order us a bottle so we can work on loosening you up, baby.”

“No,” stated Kate emphatically to Clara’
s simultaneous,
yes
.

“What are you ladies drinking?”

“JD,” said her friend.

“Well ain’t that fitting,” he laughed
. “Two women sipping on liquid Jack. Sounds like a threesome to me.” Jack didn’t wait for a response. He flung his leg over the chair and sauntered to the bar. Kate stared after him in disbelief.

“You shouldn’t have done that.”
She frowned. “Now he’s never going to leave.”

“Oh, Jack’s all right,” said Clara
. “He’s just a little rough around the edges that’s all.”

“Well I’m getting chaffed by all that roughness.”

“You can handle it,” she laughed. “Actually, I’m having a good time watching you give it to him. It doesn’t happen often to a man like Jack McBride.”

“I’m sure it doesn’t
.” She spoke her thoughts aloud as she took a quick glance at the bar and watched in disgust at the not too subtle exchange between the infamous Mr. McBride and a female patron. “He’s awfully arrogant, don’t you think, and crude?” she huffed and returned her attention back to her friend. “If he thinks I’m cleaning his house, he has another thing coming. I was hired to clean five rooms, no more, no less.”

“
Good for you, Kate stand your ground,” she nodded.

“I will,” she said then caught sight of his rugged ma
le frame turn from the bar, leaving a disappointed female in his wake. “I mean I am.”

A smirk crossed her friend’s face catching sight of the same exchange
. “I think you intrigue him.”

Before Kate had a chance to respond, Jack strode up to the table
. He moved his chair closer to Kate and straddled it. He leaned his arms on the back of the chair, holding the bottle of whisky in his hand. Without so much as an offer, he opened the bottle and filled each shot glass.

“Drink up ladies,” he commanded.

“Mighty presumptuous of you,” Kate grumbled.

“Thought you said you could handle it Barbie doll.”

“I can,” she said drinking the shot with Clara. “And quit calling me Barbie doll!”

“Why?” he asked with a smug look on his face
. “It suits you.”

“Just as Cocky Arrogant Bastard suits you!”

“I’ve been called worse.” He shrugged then lifted his glass and downed the shot. He filled their glasses again. “I’ve been thinking,” he continued their conversation. “You told me earlier you don’t know how to ride.”

“Nope,”
she said emphasizing the ‘p’.

“Well it’s time to learn, baby
. Can’t have you working on a ranch without knowing how to ride.”

There was that innuendo again
hanging in the air and she frowned.

“
I don’t want to learn to ride,” she said vehemently squashing any of his hope. “Besides horses make me nervous.”

“Horses make you nervous?” He looked at her and raised a questioning brow.

  “Kate hasn’t been around horses much,” said Clara giving Jack fair warning.

“Everyone has been around a horse at one time or another
.” He brushed off her comment.

“Not me,” said Kate
. “Contrary to popular belief, there are some of us who have never seen a horse up close.”

“And you
being one of them?” He stared at her like she had three heads.

“Yes
-” she said then paused. “Except maybe for today when I took a walk.”

“You were by the corral?
” He rubbed his chin. “Been there most of the day, and trust me I would have noticed a Barbie doll like you wandering around.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She rolled her eyes. “I went for a walk up in the canyon and I saw a group of horses that I presume are wild.”

The smile left Jack’s face and was replaced with a serious frown
. “That’s not the smartest thing to do considering you aren’t familiar with these parts,” he scolded.

“I didn’t see the harm in it.”

“They could have trampled you!” He was practically yelling at her. “They aren’t called
wild
for nothing. For the time being you shouldn’t wander alone unless someone like me is with you.”

“I think I’ll take my chances alone with the horses, thank you very much
.” Kate reached for the shot glass.

“Not on my ranch you won’t!”  He grabbed her wrist and prevented her from drinking.

“Do you mind?” she growled at him.

“I do,” he growled back
. “Not until I knock some sense into that thick city-slicker head of yours. Girl, you’re lucky that you didn’t run into that black stallion and his herd. He would have chewed you up.”

“But I did
.” She jerked her hand free.

“You saw Black Thunder?” Clara leaned forward in her chair
as if alarmed.

“Is that his name
? He’s magnificent.”

“He’s a menace,” interjected Jack
. “He is a mean, crazy, son of a bitch.”

“I thought he looked regal
.” Kate defiantly flared her nostrils, much like the stallion.

“He could have killed you!” Jack got angry again seeing
she was not taking this seriously.

“But he didn’t
.” She looked to Clara for support. “He just stared at me for a minute then took off back into the hills with the other horses.”

“Kate, I have to side with Jack on this one,” said Clara
. “You shouldn’t be walking alone. It’s not safe.”

“How many other horses?” Jack
inquired.

“I don’t know,” she said
. “A dozen maybe?”

“Damn menace,” he grumbled as he threw his hat on the table and ran his fingers through his thick
brown hair. “Three of those mares are mine.”

“I don’t understand
.” Kate looked at Clara then at Jack.

“That
magnificent stallion
as you call him has been busting into our local corrals and stealing our stock. If I ever get my hands on him, so help me God, I’ll shoot him dead!”

“You wouldn’t dare,” she gasped.

“I would in a heartbeat, Barbie doll,” he said like cold steel. “Maybe it’s time for me to start tracking him and put an end to this mess. Where did you see him?”

Kate shifted her chair back and put distance between her and this cowboy
. “I wouldn’t tell you even if I did know,” she said angrily. “You want to kill him.”

“You’re damn right I want to kill him
.” He matched her anger. “It’s the way of the west, and you best remember that girl.”

“You’re uncivilized and inhumane
.” Kate thundered.

He
stood and slammed his hands down on the table. “Don’t be giving me that Greenpeace bullshit. You city folk and your damn causes. May I remind you it was men like me who helped tame this wild land so you could sit back and drink your lattes and cappuccinos?”