Breaking the Bad Boy (6 page)

“I’m just going to shower and change while you fill Joss in. I won’t be long,” she said smiling sweetly at him. As he watched her take the overnight bag into the bathroom, Joss felt something close to envy tugging at her heart.

“We need to talk about the ranch, Joss,” Brent said as soon as Belle was in the other room.

“We can talk about the ranch later, Buck’s got that under control, so don’t worry your pretty little head about it. I can only be here another few minutes, and then they kick me out,” she said. “They said something about calisthenics.”

“Then let me talk. There’s trouble, honey. Someone is trying to do something on our land, drugs or something, and you got to stop them,” he was gripping her hand hard enough to make it hurt.

“Anyone we know? Do you suspect someone in particular, Brent?” He looked funny, but shook his head. He was lying to her. “Have you mentioned it to the sheriff?” He shook his head again.

“Fernando is a good man, you can trust him. And Buck came after the problems started, but that might not mean anything. But for some reason I trust him. Probably because Belle trusts him, and she doesn’t trust anybody.”

“What problems?” Brent exhaled and shook his head. He looked even worse than when she came in. “I’ll ask Belle, she knows, right?” He nodded. “Get some rest, Dad, we’ll talk later today.” She kissed him on the forehead. “I love you.” She said.

“Joss, I’m so glad you’re here. Please be careful,” he said and she smiled at him.

“I’m glad I’m here, too, Dad,” and she walked to the door.

“Thanks, honey.” Joss nodded, smiled and walked out.

Joss went straight home and crawled back into bed and slept hard for two hours. When she woke up she had no idea where she was for a long moment and when she remembered her gut was filled with butterflies at the thought of seeing Buck. This bothered her more than she wanted it to. Rolling out of bed she made her way to the kitchen and looked around for food. She ate a banana and a Diet Coke and began her list for shopping.

As she stood in the kitchen she saw a few men ride up from the south. Buck was among them on a black gelding with a white blaze. She didn’t recognize the horse, it must be his. He sat very tall in the saddle, and his hips rolled beautifully as the horse cantered in. He saw the Land Rover and smiled, and then looked at the kitchen window, catching her watching him. He gave her the teasing smile and she rolled her eyes at him and continued making her list, but she felt the heat of his gaze and found herself losing focus. She leaned across the sink to look out the window again, but he was already gone, Fernando was pulling the saddle off his horse. She leaned back into a hard chest and squeaked.

“Looking for me, Duchess?” He asked and she jumped.
Busted
.

Joss turned around and looked him in the eye. He was very close, too close, and he was delighted that he’d sneaked up on her. She stepped back and her butt came up to the counter. He put an arm to each side of her on the counter and brought his mouth inches from her mouth.

“Your horse has a stone in his front left foot, he’s favoring it.” Buck’s eyes got big and he straightened up.

“His gait
was
odd, I should have noticed. So you’re not just a pretty face, are you, Duchess?” He had taken his hat off when he came in the house and he put it back on then and walked swiftly back out to see to his horse with those long legs eating up the distance. She was glad he didn’t put it off; it meant he cared about the horse. She smiled briefly and went back to compiling her list, willing her heart rate to slow.

By the time she finished her banana a delivery truck pulled up to the yard and Buck strode out of the barn. The driver and he exchanged a few words and he signed something. He then went to the back of the truck and pulled out a dozen lemon yellow roses in a vase handed them to Buck and left. Buck brought them inside and put them on the table next to her. She looked up at him.

“Roses seem a little inappropriate for get well flowers,” she said thoughtfully. “But they’re lovely.”

“They’re not for Brent, Duchess, they’re for you,” Buck said. She met his gaze with a questioning look of her own. “I wish they were from me, but I would have sent red ones, for passion, not yellow, for cowardice.” Joss laughed.

Buck handed her the small envelope affixed by a plastic trident. She read the enclosed card.

Joss~ If nothing else, I hope these lift your spirits in difficult times. I am thinking of you. ~Peter.

She looked at the note and thought for a moment. Buck cocked his head to the side looking at her.

“The texter,” he said. She looked at him and stood.

“I should really go,” she said and walked back to her room.

Buck watched her go, enjoying her ass disappearing down the hall. He unclenched his fists and wondered why he was so angry at her. He wasn’t angry at her, he was angry at the texter, but why? It was with an uncomfortable awareness that he realized he was jealous. He hadn’t felt that emotion since he was very little, and certainly not over a woman. What was she doing to him? He walked back into the yard.

***

“Did you save the ranch, yet?” Brent asked her when she entered his room. Already he looked better, but he was still looking pretty bad.

“I ate something and I took a nap, does that count?” She asked.

“No.”

“Well, it’s on my to-do list. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on, and I’ll have a better chance of fixing things. The only thing you told me was who to maybe trust and something about drugs. It’s not much to go on,” she touched his forehead brushing his blond hair away from his eyes. “You need a haircut.” She pushed her own hair back over her shoulders; she had worn it down for some reason, and was now regretting it.

“It’s on my to-do list,” he said smiling at her. Belle started to get out of bed. “Where are you going?” He said holding on to her.

“I’m going to give you and Joss some time. I won’t be far,” she said and smiling sweetly she walked out of the room.

“Why have you never married her, Dad?” She knew it was a horribly personal question, but maybe one he would answer, they clearly loved each other.

“Because your mother won’t give me a divorce,” he said simply. Joss’s stomach bottomed out.

“What? You’ve had contact with Cassidy?” She said. Brent sighed.

“Yes, she lives in
Jackson
,” he said. Joss sat in the chair hard, her legs suddenly useless.

“She’s living in
Wyoming
? I thought she must be dead, but all this time she’s been living in
Jackson
,” she said. “Fuck.”
Jackson
was a five hour drive, she thought. Her own mother couldn’t be bothered to travel five hours to see her. To be fair it was longer to
Denver
, more like eight hours. What did she care? Cassidy hadn’t so much as called in fourteen years.

“I’m sorry, honey.” He looked pained and Joss snapped out of her shock.

“No worries, Brent, it was just a shock. For me she died when Brand did. I haven’t thought about her much, and she hasn’t been a part of my life for a long time, why should she be now?”

“She’s your mother, and she abandoned you when you needed her the most, and never looked back. Do you ever get over that kind of betrayal? I know I’ll never forgive her. Do you remember the day she left?”

“No, why, what happened that day?”

“Nothing, honey. I just wish I could have been there for you more.”

“You were around, that was all the parenting I needed,” she took his hand and squeezed. He chuckled weakly.

“Maybe more than you wanted, but not all that you needed, Joss. You were a handful, but I could have been a better father to you, honey,” he said.

“No, you were the best. You suffered, probably even more than I did. Brand was your son; you don’t ever get over something like that,” she said. Brent’s eyes went over her shoulder and she turned around. Buck was standing there looking mildly sheepish. Joss sat up straighter in her chair and she blushed.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said.

“That’s okay, Buck. You’ve met my daughter?”

“We’ve met,” both Joss and Buck said at the same time. Brent looked at his daughter his eyebrows went up. He exhaled loudly. He was used to the hands falling for his daughter, and just as used to her making them lust crazed and stupid, but she rarely showed any interest in them. She was clearly intrigued by his overseer, and he by her, and now he had even more to worry about. Brent gave Joss a stern look and she shrugged her shoulders in a move that screamed: “What?” Reminding him of her teen years.

“What’s up, Buck?” Brent said resigned.

“Six hundred head are missing; I’m taking a crew to go round ‘em up out of the mountains to the west,” Buck said.

“Six hundred?” Brent said shakily, losing the little color he did have. Joss stood up quickly and pushed Buck out of the room into the hall and up against the far wall, her hands flat on his chest.

“Jesus Christ, the man just had a heart attack, and you stroll in and tell him
that
? What the fuck?” She whispered viciously at him. His arms pulled her close to him and with her hands to his chest she started struggling a little and then stopped when she saw it was fruitless. A long thumb went under her shirt in back and ran an arc across her skin just above the waist band of her low jeans making her catch her breath. He grinned down at her and she thought he looked very pleased with himself. There were the familiar green and gold flecks in his eyes she saw, just before the pupils obscured much of the irises of his eyes.

“Mmm, you are gorgeous all riled up like this, Duchess,” he took a handful of her soft hair and brought it to his face inhaling deeply. It did something to her insides watching him. “Mmm, damn Duchess, you smell good. I told you that you could barely keep your hands off of me and look where we are.”

“Look more closely at who’s holding whom,” she continued whispering at him. He didn’t stop grinning.

“I’ll tell you what; why don’t you come with me into the mountains? You know how to ride, don’t you? It shouldn’t take but a few days up there. What? Don’t look at me like that, Duchess, we can keep each other warm at night.” She had a frisson that ran through her body, and he couldn’t help but notice it, since she was entirely pressed against him and his eyes got wide and went completely black as she watched all the flecks of color become obscured by his pupils. She had expected his lazy grin, but it didn’t appear for some reason. Instead he looked surprised. She pushed out of his embrace only because he allowed her.

“You can keep yourself warm,” she said cringing at the absolute lameness of her retort. He leaned over to her, way too close for her comfort, but she didn’t move.

“I will, and that little tremor you just had in my arms will sure go a long way to help me stay warm, in fact, we might not even need a fire,” he said softly into her hair. “We ride at dawn if you want to come.” She looked at him wondering if he caught his own double entendre. Yes, he said it intentionally; his smug delight was quite evident.

Gathering herself she started to walk back into Brent’s room.

“Hey Duchess,” she stopped, not looking at him. He waited and she turned.

“It’s only a matter of time, and you know it,” he said and she flushed because he was right, dammit. She left him to watch her retreat.
Damn man thinks he’s God’s gift to women
. Neither of them saw Belle sitting on the chair next to them.

“It’s like that, is it?” Brent said taking in her pink cheeks and neck. She sighed.

“It’s not like anything, the man is infuriating. He takes perverse pleasure in pissing me off,” she said.

“You’ve only known him for what, twenty hours? He’s under your skin already. He’s the best overseer I’ve ever had, Joss, don’t mess it up for me.”