Molding Clay (3 page)

gone through some changes. He still loved to party, and riding bulls was right up there

near the top of his list of favorite things. Right under sex. But now for the first time in

his life he could be content spending an evening sitting under the stars and letting his

mind roam.

He and his twin brother Cole had parted company for the first time in their lives

upon graduation. Cole took a position with the forestry department of the state of

Arizona, and spent most of his time in the national forests. It suited Cole to live a

solitary life, but not Clay. He was a social animal. An occasional night of solitude was

fine but he had no taste for it on a regular basis.

And thanks to Ana and the way she’d nagged him about being in better shape, the

last five years had transformed his long lanky body into rock-hard muscle. He said a

silent thanks to Ana every time a filly looked his way and gave him an admiring glance.

Now he understood a little more about his older brother Chase. Chase had been a

lady magnet as long as Clay could remember. His Native American coloring, dark eyes

and long hair had swooned half the state of Arizona before Chase met Ana Stillwater.

And until that point Chase had been content to be a man with a steady stream of

women, none of whom meant more than a few weeks of good times and hot sex.

That’s where Clay found himself now. Not that he’d been a priest in his college

days. He’d roped his fair share of fillies then, but the years since had been particularly

favorable.

Just thinking about the last luscious lady he’d shared his bed with brought a grin to

his face. Yep, he’d follow in brother Chase’s footsteps. Play the field, enjoy life and all

the bounty it had to offer and wait until the right woman came along. Which he was not

in any hurry for.

What he was in a hurry for was to take a ride back to that bar and see if the darkhaired beauty showed up again. He’d developed a real itch for her that not even the

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night with a luscious redhead could cure. Sure as shit, he was going to find that woman

and bed her.

A sudden sharp curve in the drive had him slowing. When he rounded the curve,

he spotted the barn. He didn’t see anyone around so he parked and got out of his truck

to go in search of Blackhawk.

He had no more turned down the side of the barn when an unexpected treat met his

eyes. Standing with a garden hose held above her head, the very shapely, very naked

dark-haired woman from the bar stood near the water trough, singing along with a

radio as she combed her fingers through her hair.

Clay stopped and admired the view. Whoever she was, she had just upped the idea

of being on the Blackhawk spread several notches. Her hair was dark and thick, nearly

to her waist. Her breasts were high and full, her stomach flat and her ass a work of art.

Then Clay saw the animal. Alert and definitely not happy due to the snarl on its

face and the laid-back ears. Until now, his brother Chase had the biggest dog Clay had

ever seen, but this big fella made Chase’s dog Cody look like a lightweight. The animal

had to weigh in at over a hundred pounds. His broad head was even with the woman’s

rib cage.

Clearly this dog or wolf, or whatever breed it was, wasn’t about to let him get any

closer to the woman, so Clay did the smart thing. He stopped and stood still. He sure

didn’t find it a hardship to stand there and watch her. Well, not a hardship in the visual

sense. There was definitely some hard action taking place south of his belt.

Rusty was holding the hose above her head, raking through her long hair with her

free hand, when Koda bumped up against her and growled loud enough to be heard

over the blare of the music.

Fighting the hair out of her face and blinking against the water in her eyes, Rusty

turned to see what had Koda upset.

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For the space of a breath, she forgot she was standing there buck-naked. A man

stood beside the barn, watching her. And not just any man, but the man who’d haunted

her sleep last night and had her trying several times to satisfy her own itch. Hair the

same shining color as her black chestnut horse Beau, well over six feet with almondshaped hazel eyes and a body that was built for pleasure, long and lean with muscles in

all the right places and not an ounce of fat to be seen. Not to mention an impressive

bulge along his right thigh, clearly demonstrating that not only was he a boxer man but

he had a nice package in those faded Levi’s.

Rusty felt her blood rise just looking at him. Her nipples, hard from the cold water,

puckered more and her clit gave a little throb. That’s when she remembered. She was

naked as the day she was born.

No sooner had the thought registered than the man grinned. Despite the situation,

Rusty wasn’t about to show weakness. That just went against the grain. Her hands

fisted and went to her hips.

“Who are you and what are you doing on my land?” she yelled.

“Name’s Clay Russell, ma’am,” Clay shouted to be heard over the music. “I’m here

to see Rusty Blackhawk.”

At that moment Rusty wished the earth would open up and swallow her. Of all the

rotten luck. She’d wanted to impress the Russell man when he arrived, with her

professionalism and savvy. To start out on equal footing with the man.

That clearly wasn’t going to happen. Sucking in a deep breath, she forced herself to

walk calmly over to the towel that was draped on the water trough.

She wrapped the towel around her body before she dared to look at the man again.

When she did, she saw him quickly hide the smile on his face. She couldn’t help but see

the hilarity of the situation. If it had happened to anyone else she’d have had a belly

laugh out of it.

And hell’s bells, the way Clay Russell looked, he’d have been bound to see his share

of naked women. A man like him sure as heck hadn’t been celibate his whole life.

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With her sense of humor restored, Rusty crossed the distance between them with

Koda at her side. “Well, I guess you’re in the right place, Mr. Russell.”

Up close the woman looked even better. Her eyes were long-lashed and the most

uncommon shade of blue. No, violet, he realized. Surely that color couldn’t be real. She

had to be wearing colored contacts. But fake or real, those eyes looking up at him were

sure to be featured in another erotic dream in the near future. Right along with the rest

of her tantalizing body.

“Mr. Russell?”

Clay blinked to attention. “Blackhawk around?”

“Absolutely,” Rusty replied.

“You think I could see him, ma’am?”

“I think you’ve already seen about as much as there is to see, Mr. Russell,” she said

before extending her hand to Clay. “Rusty Blackhawk.”

Clay’s eyes bugged and his mouth dropped open, eliciting a grin from Rusty.

“You? You’re…” he stammered then burst out in a laugh. “Well I’ll be damned.

Sorry, ma’am. It’s just that I was expecting you to be a man.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Russell.”

“Didn’t say I was disappointed,” Clay replied. “Just surprised.” The look he gave

her made her blood run hot, along with some other parts of her anatomy.

“That makes two of us, Mr. Russell,” she said with a hint of humor.

Clay gave her a sexy smile. “What say we start this party over, Miz Blackhawk?”

He stuck out his hand. “Clay Russell, ma’am, of the Circle R. I understand you and I are

gonna be bunking together.”

Koda gave a menacing growl at the comment but Rusty laughed at the sly grin and

mischievous twinkle in Clay’s eyes. Clearly life was going to be drastically different

with Clay Russell around.

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Chapter Three

Clay peeled off his shirt and mopped his face with it. Rusty Blackhawk had nearly

worked him to death and it was still a good hour until dusk. They’d been out repairing

fences all day, hauling new posts from the barn and stringing wire.

She might have been a small woman, just a tad over five feet by his estimate, but

she was a damn workhorse. He cut a look over at her, stringing wire. In faded, sweat-stained jeans, a wife-beater t-shirt that had enough sweat on it to encourage a man’s

eyes to her nipples, work gloves and an old hat, she was about the sexiest thing he’d

ever laid eyes on.

Which led him back to thinking about how his family had set him up with Rusty

Blackhawk. Did they all think it would just be a good laugh to put one over on him, or

was there more to it? He planned on finding out when he called Ana.

He’d purposely not called her after he discovered Rusty Blackhawk was a woman.

And he’d not answered his cell phone either, even though she’d called a dozen times

every day for the last five days. He’d call when he was good and ready, even though he

still wasn’t sure whether to raise hell or thank her.

Rusty walked over and picked up the gallon jug of water sitting near Clay and

turned it up for a long drink. Water spilled out over her face, running clear down to that

white t-shirt. Even Clay’s eyes felt hot watching her. How the hell could a woman look

so damn sexy guzzling water? And make no mistake, she was guzzling. Nothing

ladylike about it at all.

She lowered the jug and grinned at him. “Want some?”

Clay’s dick actually jumped in his pants. This woman was clear as glass and not a

damn bit ashamed of it. She’d phrased the question in that low sultry voice on purpose,

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knowing his eyes were fixed on those hard nipples beneath that wet t-shirt, and that

he’d been watching her tight ass all afternoon in those snug jeans.

“You bet,” he replied.

Koda, who was lying in the shade cast by the truck, gave a warning growl. Clay cut

his eyes over to the dog then back at Rusty. “You think that fella’s gonna warm up to

me any time soon?”

Rusty shrugged. “Depends.”

“On?”

“On whether he decides he can trust you,” she said as she walked over with the jug

in her hand. “It’s hot,” she said as she handed it to him.

“Can’t get too hot for me,” he replied and took the jug to turn it up to his lips.

Rusty watched him drink, his head tilted back and the water pouring into his open

mouth, little rivulets running over his full bottom lip to the short goatee on his chin and

then spilling onto his neck and on down the center of his muscular chest.

She was so caught up in watching the trail of water as it made its way down his

rippled abdomen to the waistband of his jeans that she jerked her eyes up to his in

embarrassment when he spoke.

“Got any more?”

“Huh?”

He smiled at her, that slow, sexy smile that made a flutter start in her belly.

“Water,” he said, holding out the empty jug. “Got any more in the truck?”

“Oh! Yeah, I think there’s another gallon.”

Clay’s smile widened into a grin as he walked past her to the truck and Rusty blew

out her breath. Working with Clay Russell was enough to tempt a nun. She hadn’t had

sex since Danny died, and the sex she’d had with him couldn’t be described as mindblowing. How the heck she was going to work with Clay day in and day out was

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beyond her. Either she was going to have to invest in a dildo or she was going to end up

raping the man.

Which sounded pretty good at the moment and made delicious thoughts dance in

her mind. Wasn’t there some kind of spell in her mama’s old book of shadows on

bewitching someone and them not remembering what happened during the time the

charm was in effect?

Clay’s voice cut into her thoughts. “You look like a cat eyeballing a bowl of cream.”

Rusty blushed and hurried over to the next rotten post to be replaced. “Just

dreaming of a shower and a beer, cowboy,” she said as she shoved at the post.

“A woman after my own heart,” he commented and hefted the last post from the

bed of the truck. “Tell you what. We get this finished in the next half hour and the

beer’s on me. Anywhere around these parts for beer, good food and a little music?”

Rusty grinned and rocked the rotten post harder to loosen it. “I think I might know

just the place.”

* * * * *

Twilight was falling when Rusty and Clay finished feeding the stock. “Nice work,

Mr. Russell,” Rusty said as she walked to the bunkhouse. “Wasn’t expecting you to do

any hands-on work.”

“You figured on me being of the dime-store cowboy variety?” Clay asked as he

followed her inside. “Just because I’ve been busy with paperwork the last few days

doesn’t mean I don’t intend to pull my weight.”

Koda, who trailed one step behind Rusty, gave a couple of short yips that made

Rusty laugh.

“Okay, this has been going on long enough,” Clay complained. “What’s the deal

with you and Koda? You speak wolf?”

Rusty cut her eyes at him suspiciously. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

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Clay didn’t quite know how to explain it. Before Ana entered their lives, he’d have

sworn that communication between people and animals was impossible. But Ana

changed his thinking on that. Not only did she communicate with virtually every