To Bed A Montana Man (Montana Men) (13 page)

“You’ll be sick,” he said. She narrowed her eyes and drank, wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

“If I want to drink, I’ll drink.” She pointed a finger at his face. “If I want to walk with Joseph, I will.” She brushed her hair out of her face. Either from the alcohol or the situation, she was already starting to feel dizzy. “And if he wants to kiss me again, I just might let him.” A slow, devious thought wormed into her mind. “I might let him do a lot more. Remember, I’m a whore.” She tried to brush past him, but stumbled.

He grabbed onto her arms to keep her from toppling over. She pulled away from his grasp. “I don’t want you to touch me.” She finished the rest of the contents in her glass and then reached for the decanter again. This time TJ took it away and placed it out of her reach.

“You’ve had enough,” he said through clenched teeth. “You’ll be drunk.”

“Why do you care?” she said, trying to pull the broach from her dress.

“Because I like when you smell like rosewater.” The fabric tore. “Stop!” He pushed her hands away and carefully unhooked the broach.

Allison looked at his hand against the creamy skin of her décolletage. Suddenly, she could hold very still.

TJ couldn’t seem to move his eyes off of her either. “Train kissed you.” His fingers traced the shadow of her collarbone.

Allison looked into his face and nodded. “He kissed me on our walk. He expressed his interest in me.”

TJ pulled his hand away as if her skin had become to hot to touch. “If you want to continue to work here, you’ll discourage him.”

Annoyed for letting him once again get to her, she clenched her fists at her side. “You infuriate me,” she screamed. “One minute you look as though you find me…” She searched for the right words, unable to find them. “I don’t know. You look at me the way a man looks at something he must have or die. And then you turn into a jackass.”

“Train is a little brother to me.”

“Then I think you would want to see him happy.” She sat on the couch before she fell over. The room spun.

“I do. Not with you.”

As he walked past her, she stuck out her leg stopping him.

“Alcohol makes you brave,” he said, looking down on her.

“I’m not a whore.” She pulled herself up using his shirt as leverage. She swayed, and he put his hand under her arm, helping her to her feet. “I want more from life than being your servant. Just because I find you attractive, doesn’t mean I’m going to sit around and wait for you to notice me.” She poked him in the chest. “I don’t care what you want. I don’t care who you want. Go to Sandy. If you don’t want me, stay out of the way for someone who might.” She pushed him away and wobbled to the stairs. Take that TJ, whatever your name stands for, Bester.

Chapter Seven

A wave of panic washed over Allison when she looked to the clock. TJ would be down for breakfast soon. She remembered the things she’d said last night with startling clarity. What in the world possessed her to declare her feelings for TJ? Alcohol. Sandy warned her that she couldn’t handle much. Did she listen? No, she set out to prove to TJ she lived by her own rules and managed to make a complete idiot out of herself. 

“Morning,” TJ said coming into the kitchen giving Sissy a kiss on the top of her head.

Allison dropped the bowl of oatmeal she was going to feed Michael. The dish broke into three large pieces. “I’m sorry, Mr. Bester. I don’t know why I’m so clumsy this morning.” She bent down and picked up the pieces.

“Just because we had a difference of opinion last night, doesn’t mean you need to formally address me. I think we’ve moved beyond that, don’t you?” He sat at the table. “We’ve broken a few dishes, haven’t we, Sissy?”

She vigorously nodded her head. “I’m clumsy, too.”

“Mama.” Michael reached for Allison when she placed another bowl in front of him. Her hand stilled before handing him the spoon.

“I’m sorry,” she said to TJ. “He doesn’t understand.”

“She told him she wasn’t his mama,” Sissy said. “But he wants her to be.” Sissy put another bite of oatmeal into her mouth. “I want her to be my mama, too.”

“You have a mother.” TJ’s chair tipped over when he pushed away from the table. He stomped from the room and Allison hurried after him.

“Don’t do this to them.” She grabbed his arm.

He turned on her. “I already did! I never wanted anyone to replace their mother.” He ran his fingers through his hair.

“I won’t.” She gently laid her hand on his arm. “I won’t.”

“You already have.” He leaned back against the wall. “It’s not your fault. Hell, it isn’t anyone’s fault.”

“I won’t answer him when he calls me mama. I’ll discourage him.”

TJ looked at the ceiling. “He’s too young to understand. When he’s older, I’ll tell him about his mother.” A defeat sign spilled from his lips. “If you don’t mind, I won’t object.”

Allison stayed quiet for a moment letting TJ put his thoughts together. “Sissy has also slipped. I always correct her.”

“Not Sissy,” he snapped. “She’s old enough to know better. If she continues, you tell her she’ll be punished.”

“No. If you want to chastise her for wanting a mother, you can do it yourself. I’ll explain again and again that I’m not her mother, but I won’t be her punishment.” Allison turned and went back into the kitchen.

TJ stayed in the hall for a few minutes before joining her. “I think I’ll take a cup of coffee and some of that oatmeal,” he said, sitting next to Sissy. “We have a big barbecue over the Forth of July. Some of the men have wives and kids. They all come up to the house and turn the shack into a dance hall.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“Oh, it is,” Sissy said. “After it gets dark, Charlie does the fireworks.”

“If it doesn’t rain soon, we won’t be doing any fireworks this year,” TJ stated.

“That reminds me,” Allison interrupted. “I need water for the vegetable garden or I’m going to lose everything. Can I ask Joseph to help me? I don’t think I’m strong enough.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Don’t even think about a retort.” She squinted her eyes as she waited for him to say something. “Good.”

He took a drink of coffee. “I’m not busy today.”

Allison hadn’t expected him to volunteer. “Thank you. I’ll finish the dishes and meet you outside.”

An hour later, Allison worked next to TJ in the garden. “How many people come to the barbecue?” She moved down the furrowed line of vegetables watering another row of young plants.

“Couple hundred, I guess.” TJ carried a large bucket filled with water and placed it near her. He took his bandana out of his pocket and wiped his brow.

“I haven’t met any of the wives yet. I—” She stopped, searching for the words. “If anyone has heard of my past, they’ll jump to conclusions.”

“They won’t. Only a few people know how you came to live here.”

She watered a couple more plants. “They’ll think there’s something going on between us.”

“I can live with that.”

“TJ!”

“At least no one else would get any ideas about courting and evening walks.”

“You aren’t being fair.”

He shrugged. “Won’t be the first time we disagree.”

She wanted to kiss the arrogant smile from his face as much as she wanted to slap it. “Somehow I think you’re right.”

“I still need to talk with Train.”

“No, you don’t. Stay out of my personal business. My relationship with Joseph doesn’t concern you.” She chewed her bottom lip. “Unless you think it’ll affect the way your other employees respond to me.”

“Doesn’t matter what they think. They won’t say anything.”

“I hope you’re right.”

TJ moved the bucket closer to her. “Will you do something with me?”

Water sloshed out of the bucket as she picked it up. “Like what?” Her words were a whisper as a shiver of awareness skittered up her spine.

TJ grinned. “Why, Allison, you’re blushing. Just what exactly are you thinking?”

Her ears burned.

He laughed. “I want to take you somewhere.” His voice touched her like a caress. “Don’t worry. I’ll get someone to finish watering your vegetables.”

She pushed her bangs out of her eyes. “I can’t go anywhere with you. What about the children?” She waved in the direction where Sissy and Michael played.

“I’ll get Train to watch them.”

Nausea rolled in her stomach. “I don’t think that is a good idea.” She turned away and watered another plant. “Joseph might get the wrong idea.”

He set the bucket to the side and moved to stand beside her. He pushed a tendril of hair coming loose from her bun, behind her ear. “Or he might get the right idea,” he softly spoke. His expression turned serious.

“I won’t hurt Joseph. He’s my friend.”

A slow grin split his lips. “Then we don’t have a problem. He can be your friend.” He traced her eyebrow with his thumb. “Don’t think about him. Say you’ll come with me because you want to.”

Allison closed her eyes as his finger moved along her jaw. Her heart raced as she anticipated the kiss. When it didn’t happen, she opened her eyes. Because the sun was bright overhead, she had to narrow her eyes to see him. “I’ll go with you. First you have to promise not to mislead Joseph into believing there is something going on between us when there isn’t.”

“Isn’t there?”

Her skin sizzled with his touch. Warmth bloomed in her belly and her nipples tightened. Did TJ know the way he affected her? Of course, he did. His eyes darkened with desire. Because of the time she spent in the brothel, she recognized the look in a man’s eye when he lusted for a woman.

“Maybe Cake could watch the children?”

“You worry too much.”

Before she could argue, he headed down the hill. Allison brought the children into the house. A few minutes later, TJ had two horses saddled outside the front door. Joseph stood on the porch with his fists tucked into his front pockets. He squinted against the glare of the sun.

She wanted to take him aside and assure him nothing would come of the ride. A part of her—the part tingling with anticipation of going with TJ—wouldn’t let her lie to him.

When TJ indicated the horse she would ride, Allison laughed. “Do you think you could harness those beasts to a buggy?”

TJ took her hand and pulled her towards the horses. “We ride.”

Fear surged from her head to the tips of her toes. “I don’t ride.” He lifted her into the saddle. “TJ, I don’t want to. I’m scared of horses.”

He laughed at her. “You’ve got to be kidding.” TJ ran back up the front porch steps and pulled a spare cowboy hat off the railing. “Thanks,” he said, slapping the hat against Train’s shoulder.

With the ease of a seasoned rider, he mounted his dark brown horse with hooves the size of an elephant’s. He maneuvered next to the gentle sorrel Allison rode. He handed her the hat. “It’ll keep the sun out of your eyes. Ready?”

“No, I don’t think so. I’d prefer a wagon ride.”

“Can’t live on a ranch and not know how to ride a horse.”

She nodded. “Then I suppose I’ll need to move back to town.”