Bridled and Branded

NATALIE ACRES

Copyright © 2010

Chapter One

Lynlee’s gaze darted around the crowded equestrian center as the riding groom led her to the show ring. Prancer danced underneath her, but Lynlee used her leg muscles to grip tighter, determined to drive the feisty mare forward.

Even with a large purse and a grand championship at stake, only one thought crossed her mind.

Where is he?

The announcer welcomed the new competitors. The Five-Gaited Open Division was full of trainers, not amateurs, but Lynlee had the horse for show and the skills to guide Prancer straight into the winner’s circle and claim the coveted victory.

Entering the class with a good first pass, Prancer moved to the outside and struck a gait with an aim to please. The sensational feeling of gaining one of the judge’s attentive gazes washed over Lynlee upon entry. She resisted the urge to look over her shoulder and see if the judge made a mark on his score card.

Around and around, she met up to the challenge of being in a class some might consider out of her league. She didn’t share those sentiments, and besides, Lynlee only had one reason for being there, and she hadn’t spotted him yet.

Blaine McCain never missed the Annual Carolina Showplace Horse Show in Asheville, North Carolina. And when he arrived, Blaine put forth a lot of effort in order to command center stage. His entourage, a pack of pretty boys, gained every woman’s undivided attention. If he walked into the facility, Lynlee would see him.

“Rack ’em on!” The announcer called out. Prancer’s hooves plodded against the ground, and by the time Lynlee returned her focus to the horse under hand, the crowd hummed with plenty of praise.

Glancing out of her peripheral vision, she made a beautiful pass in front of the judges, and in Lynlee-style, she flipped her wrist and gave Prancer the signal her mounts recognized. The gesture was a simple movement to warn of a nearby crop she never used, but the horses she trained responded to the caution and let their legs work for the money.

A few minutes later, the crowd took to their feet and palms came together as they cheered for Lynlee and Prancer, the champions of the hour. With her number called and then her name, she relied on her loyal companion to march toward the gate. She waited for the roses, smiled for the cameras, accepted her blue ribbon, and then enjoyed a coveted victorious finish, which was all the sweeter when she spotted Blaine.

With a standing ovation and many admirers, Lynlee savored everything about her ten seconds of glory. The relished championship made the moment priceless, but Blaine gave her something more. He nodded his head in her direction and nudged one of his buddies in the process.

Life was never sweeter until she went one way, and Prancer went the other.

* * * *

“Hey there, Lynlee Lewis.” Lynlee heard the humor in Blaine’s voice before she witnessed the amusement stamped across his face.

When she turned around, he said, “How’s that sweet ass of yours?”

One of Blaine’s buddies trailed right behind him. A cute cowboy, probably in his mid-twenties, the man was just hard to ignore. He had shaggy dark hair full of natural curls, which dropped below a perfectly cut cleft chin. Long bangs almost concealed the fellow’s smoky blue eyes, and he offered plenty of temptation with a most enticing gaze. Then again, Lynlee had all the cowboy candy she could stand in Blaine.

“I’ll bet she’s sore, not to mention bruised,” Blaine’s friend taunted. He might have been more appealing if he hadn’t opened his condescending, bow-shaped mouth.

Blaine folded his sun-kissed, thick arms over his broad chest. “Ah now, she’ll survive. All she has is wounded pride. At least she’s able to walk. After a spill like she had, I’m surprised she isn’t in the camper with an icepack on her bottom.”

Lynlee narrowed her gaze. “Let me ask you something.”

Blaine bit his bottom lip, began a quick visual sweep, and when he finished giving her anatomy a complete check-up, he said, “Shoot, darlin’.”

  
“Do you make a habit of flirting with women by talking about their assets first? I mean, is this some kind of foreplay to the come-on lines I know you must practice when no one is around? Or is there another reason why every time you and I see one another, you talk about my backside?”

  
 
The cute one must have decided he’d take a turn in body surfing, too. He started at her Jodhpur boots and worked his way up her legs, taking his own sweet time studying every inch, every curve. “Say Blaine here doesn’t have good manners when he approaches you?” Blaine’s sidekick rubbernecked it again making his goal obvious. He apparently wanted a good look at her behind. “I see why, Blaine. She’s exactly what you said, and her little tail is as pretty as a peach.”

Blaine chuckled. “Apple came to mind, but now that you mention it, I think you’re right. Lynlee has put on a few pounds.”

“Maybe the little woman needs a good cowboy or two to help her work off some of the excess.”

Before Lynlee could stop herself, she turned around and stormed off in the other direction. Why she drove all the way from Crossville, Tennessee, for this kind of abuse beat the hell right out of her.

“Ah, now, Lynlee. You know I’m just kidding with ya! What would our lives be without a little bantering back and forth?” He called after her, but she kept her steps high and made her way ringside to watch the next class already in progress.

A few minutes later, Blaine stood beside her. She imagined him staring, no doubt, at her sizeable rump. Why she did this to herself year in and year out, she’d never know. From one horse event to the next, she counted down the days, sometimes the hours, until she saw the youngest of the seven McCain brothers once again.

“Who’s your friend?” she asked after Blaine leaned over the white railing.

He blinked a few times like he didn’t hear her correctly. “Why?”

“Do you really need to ask?” She shifted her weight and then threw her hand to her waist, striking an unbearable pose. Sometimes taking a toss from an animal had its disadvantages. “You expect me to believe you don’t see what half the women around here see?”

She hoped Blaine’s buddy didn’t hear her. The dig was deliberate and made to order for Blaine, but she also wanted to know the guy’s name in case she ever had cause to use it. After the way Blaine acted, which remained pretty much par for the course over the past few years, she hoped she might.

“Rhett.”

“Last name?”

“No, his name is Rhett Mitchell. He’s been around. I’m surprised you’ve never met him.”

“Friend of yours?”

“He was.” Blaine grinned. “If you’re interested in him, he’s a newfound enemy.”

“Oh, you’re good.” She watched the entries line up in the center of the ring while waiting for the next round of winners to be revealed over the PA. Moments later, after the ribbons found their new homes, she headed back to the barn area.

“Where are you off to?” Blaine caught her by the arm before she made a clean escape.

“I have another class coming up later. I have to pay my entry fee.”

“I’ll walk you.” He fell into stride alongside her and tossed his arm over her shoulder. “You could use the company.”

“Oh, yeah?” It was always the same between them and forever way too familiar. Ever since Blaine stole a first kiss from her several years ago, they played games with one another every summer when the show season started. “I like to rub shoulders with cowboys, Blaine. They’re the only fellows who know how to offer a woman a good time.”

“Is that right?” he asked, apparently unaffected by her attempted wit.

“True enough,” she muttered.

Grinning, he pulled her in between a row of campers. Blindsided, Lynlee didn’t stand a chance if she even wanted to stop him.

Blaine dragged her into one of the larger RVs, and she immediately recognized the place. The elaborate mobile unit was his.

“Say you want to have some fun, do ya?”

“I never said—”

“Sounded like an invitation to me. Don’t tempt the devil out of a cowboy, baby doll. We both know he looks damn good in boots.”

 
She took a deep breath and hoped her expression didn’t reveal too much. Sure enough, the devil looked mighty fine, and the older Blaine became, the better he made off with age. Not quite twenty-five, his sex appeal gained momentum with each passing year.

“You look good, Lynlee.” As usual, once they were alone, Blaine opted for something other than comedy. He stepped into her and looped his arm around her middle. “Have you missed me?”

“Like a toothache.”

“Uh-huh, then I know what you’ve been going through,” he said with a to-die-for smile. “That dull ache never goes away, does it, baby?”

Actually, the irritation right above the root of the unnecessary evil eventually does, she thought. “You really are full of yourself, you know that, right?”

“I’d like for you to be full of me,
you know that
, right?”

“Move, Blaine.” She whipped her hand in a little wave as if the gesture alone would encourage him.

He held up his index finger. “One kiss first.”

She shivered. “You scare me now.”

“I do?” His brow wrinkled in a frown. “How?”

“A few years ago, you didn’t drag me off to your camper. Now, you don’t waste any time.”

“I’m asking for one kiss. We’ve done a little kissing in the past, remember?”

How could she forget? She considered the memory one of life’s most precious occasions, and the mere mention of his mouth on hers made her nerve endings dance with an electrifying beat.

“Yeah, we have, but we were in a barn where anyone could’ve heard me if I screamed.” She reached for the doorknob.

“I can make you holler, Lynlee. Want me to show you?” He framed her face. “Do you?”

Oh, yes! She wanted him to give her his best shot, but not right then. No, now wasn’t good. Maybe later, once her knees quit knocking together and her lungs were fully functional again. When the time was right, she’d suck it up and give him his way, because one of these days, she’d die if she hadn’t tried Blaine on for a snug fit and size.

Blaine lowered his lips to hers and let her know he planned on a little smooching. He nipped at her closed mouth, and she parted her lips—something she’d like to blame on him and not her own greedy reflexes.

For a drowning second, his mouth took hers, and the moans came by right of satisfaction. His left hand closed around her neck, and he gripped her forearm firmly against his side.

When she gasped, which she considered a true accident, the kiss ended. He backed away from her like he never kissed her at all.

“So you need to register for another event?”

“What?” Her head swam, and her body reacted in such an unexplainable way. She might have compared the various sensations with true shock. Had she imagined the tender way in which he’d kissed her?

“Lynlee?” He snapped his fingers in front of her face.

Blaine should’ve known better than to ask questions right then. She was bound to give a ridiculous answer or provide one that made him instantly aware of the effect he had on her, as if he didn’t already know.

He rolled his tongue over his moistened lip. “Did I kiss away your short-term memory?”

“No.”

“How about your good senses?” He looked too hopeful. He wanted a
yes
response.

She thought about it for a cowboy’s minute. “Don’t get excited. I won’t lose control again.” She grabbed the knob with a little more commitment, gave it a sharp tug, and right as she did, the door swung open. She fell forward, and Rhett Mitchell’s solid arms were there to soften the fall.