Bridled and Branded (2 page)

Chapter Two

Lynlee was the only woman Blaine knew who could make clumsy look sexy.

Rhett tucked a lock of hair behind his ear. “Well, look at this, why don’t ‘cha?” He grinned down at the beauty in his arms and exchanged a knowing glance with Blaine.

“You luck up every time, huh?” Blaine snipped with enough indication to warn Rhett he didn’t like him holding Lynlee one little bit.

“I’d say she’s pretty pleased with my timing. After the fall I saw her take earlier, I imagine another one wouldn’t be easy for a pretty little peach like this one.” He gripped her thigh and almost grabbed her bottom.

Blaine grated back the urge to give Rhett a good old Southern cussing.

Lynlee pursed her lips, wiggling away from him. “Let’s get one thing straight,” she snapped, placing those small, delicate hands on her hips. “I’m not a woman with a peachy bottom.”

“You’re not?” Rhett asked, chuckling. “Okay, I’m a sensible man, and when it pays to agree with a lady, I do my dead-level best to make a woman happy.”

“I am an accomplished equestrian and a force to be reckoned with in the ring. I’m—”

“Truly beautiful, if you want to know the truth—pardon the interruption—carry on. As you were saying? You’re a force on a horse, and you stay there well, too, under most circumstances, I guess.” Rhett grabbed his cowboy hat from his head and swatted at her riding breeches.

Blaine snickered. Oh, boy, those two had met their match in one another.

“What are you doing?” She smacked his hand away and swiped at the seat of her pants, too. Her face turned red and continued to flush with embarrassment.

“That’s cute, huh, Blaine?”

“Yeah, and I ought to beat your ass for touching hers. I left the dust and shavings there for a reason.”

“Oh, so you saw them,” Rhett teased. “What were you doing staring at this girl’s sitter-downer?”

 
“She hasn’t been sitting, I promise ya.”

“Probably not.” Rhett rubbed his chin and maintained a thoughtful expression. “So what have you two been doing?”

“Talking,” she said.

“Kissing,” Blaine told him.

“Uh-huh, I see.” Rhett grabbed her by the hand and pulled her all the way inside the trailer, pushing by Blaine in the process.

“What on earth are you—?”

“This.” Rhett cupped her cheeks and kissed her silly.

Blaine about swallowed his tongue. God help him, he wanted Lynlee to stop him. Rhett had no right kissing
his girl
without permission. And Blaine wasn’t sure he’d give it.

Lynlee’s droplet snow-white curls drifted over Rhett’s large, calloused hands. Rhett should’ve prepared for a slap, maybe even a shove. She didn’t offer him either.

She kissed him. As a willing participant, Lynlee parted her lips, and Rhett performed what looked like a sensual tour of her mouth, tongue and all, rather than a first kiss.

 
For several years, all Blaine had talked about was Lynlee, and so help him, Blaine wanted to dust his own boots off on the seat of Rhett’s jeans. Who did he think he was, taking what belonged to him?

Rhett
had to know
the taste of her lips. Now he did, and Blaine felt a small sting of jealousy.

Rhett backed away, and not a moment too soon, shooting Blaine a pure wicked smile in the process. He looked real satisfied, and Blaine fought the temptation to tell him how much he grated on his nerves.

Thank heaven and earth the lip smacking didn’t progress or last much longer. The last thing Blaine wanted was Lynlee and Rhett enjoying a kiss with more substance than necessary.

Rhett took a deep breath, and when he let it out, he laughed, adding, “If you decide to throw a punch, I’ll let you have the first one. I consider her worth every knuckle you’ll crack with an envious-driven hit.”

Blaine hadn’t thought about fighting over Lynlee until Rhett egged things on. He might consider beating his butt a little later.

Rhett patted Blaine’s cheek. “You sure you don’t want to take your best shot? Hell, after a kiss like that one, I can probably stand two or three.”

Blaine glanced at Lynlee. Her milky-white skin blushed with a light shade of pink. He reluctantly tore his gaze away from Lynlee and focused on Rhett. “You better brace for one in case I change my mind.” Blaine backed against the wet bar and gripped the sink behind him. Keeping his hands away from Rhett’s neck seemed like the smart way to roll until he reined in his temper.

Blaine didn’t have to raise a hand. Lynlee threw her arm back and just about smacked the shit out of Rhett. Truth told, Blaine shouldn’t have stopped her, but he did. “Hang on there, Little Miss Equestrian of the Year.”

She scowled. “Did you see what he did?”

“I paid attention,” Blaine admitted. “And you didn’t seem to mind one darn bit.”

She twisted her mouth around like she wanted to find words to say, but the appropriate ones never formed. Rhett sniffed, a bad habit he had when he tried not to grin. His nose twitched, and she glared, not at all amused.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” Rhett said. “Yet.”

As the green-eyed monster slumped away, Blaine’s good humor returned, and he saw plenty in the current situation.

“Get enough?” he asked Rhett, taunting Lynlee.

 
“She sure tastes good. That’s a fact.”

“Remember, buddy, I kissed her first.”

“Kind of tastes fresh and fruity, like—”

“Don’t. You’re not funny, Mr. Mitchell.” Lynlee turned and walked out. This time, she mastered the concept of leaving without tripping over two left feet. Her arms slung gently at her sides, and she made it out of the camper in one piece, strolling away in a most unusual way. She looked like a woman who had a corncob up her ass or perhaps fell on a bunch of them, which was probably closer to the case.

 
“Damn if she’s not one hot little woman,” Rhett remarked all at once.

“I ought to beat your scrawny butt,” Blaine said tightly.

“I agree. Something that pretty, you should’ve kept your mouth shut. I took vacation just to meet her.”

 
“Thought you were off this weekend.”

“Nope,” Rhett informed. “I took a few days without pay.”

“Because you wanted to meet Lynlee?”

“Uh-huh.” He grabbed his wallet right inside the door. “Where do I go to pay the little woman’s entry fee?”

“Oh, no you don’t,” Blaine said. “You aren’t going to buy your way right into her good graces.”

“Nope, I can’t, but we both can.” Rhett studied Blaine. “You get my meaning, don’t you?”

“Don’t even think about it. We aren’t sharing her. She wouldn’t go for riding double.” He shook his head a few more times to drive home his emphatic no-way.

“Why not?” Rhett asked. “She kissed us both within a few minutes of each other. Why wouldn’t she go for both of us? Most gals do.”

“Most women aren’t Lynlee Lewis,” Blaine said with a touch of uncertainty.

“You don’t know for sure. You never asked her, did ya?”

“No, man. It’s not happening with her,” Blaine deadpanned.

“You didn’t convince me. Besides, if you haven’t asked her, then you can’t assume.”

“She’s different. That’s all there is to it. She’s not like other girls.”

“For starters, that one there is anything but a girl. The way she reacted to my kiss was all woman.”

“She’s barely twenty-two,” Blaine said.

“So she’s young. I like ’em that way.”

“I bet.”

“Sure do. They’re impressionable. I have something to show her guaranteed to leave an impact and gain a reaction.” Rhett started toward the exhibitor’s tent. “And you can stand back and watch or follow my lead. Either way, your little Lynlee Lewis is in my bed tonight.”

Chapter Three

Hours later, Blaine and Rhett attended the exhibitor’s party. With over five hundred and fifty people present, a woman had to be something special to stand out in a crowd, especially since most of them wore their fashionable riding apparel. The riders couldn’t help but dress the same, and the only differences were usually found in three colors—navy pinstripe, black, or brown.

Even in the more masculine get-up of navy riding pants, a white button-down shirt, and long coat complete with tails, Lynlee glowed like a light in the middle of the darkness. And she drew one too many lust-filled stares.

“You got any other harebrained ideas to share, Rhett?” Blaine glared across the dance floor to where Lynlee and some no-name cowboy continued to put on an act of cozy conversation. After about an hour, Blaine worried their little intimate display wasn’t the staging of Lynlee’s theatrics. She looked quite smitten by the dude.

“I have plenty of tricks up these short sleeves,” Rhett informed.

“That’s most likely why you chose to wear a polo. Your notions are few and far between.”

“Ah, my friend, ye of little faith.”

Rhett chewed on the yellow-tinted straw, working the end in between his teeth. Blaine typically ignored Rhett’s irritating tendencies, but tonight the hillbilly drew his fingers. He snatched the hay from his friend’s mouth and tossed it aside.

“Shit, who are you? My mother?” He grabbed his beer and tugged a quick sip through his lips.

“No, I’m the man who allows you free rent, and she’s the woman you swore would be in my bed later tonight.”

“Don’t whine. Besides, I never promised.”

“Oh, that’s right, how crazy am I? You threatened.”

“You’re damn straight. Trust me, Blaine. Once she gets under the cotton sheets with me, she’ll like being there well enough to get downright comfortable. One night with me and she’ll be ruined for any other cowboy. I’m not bluffing.”

“Well, then, you better put your money where your mouth is,
plowboy
.” Blaine nodded toward Lynlee and the man he’d never seen before. “She’s leaving.”

“She doesn’t waste any time, does she?” Rhett remarked, reaching for his wallet and pulling out a few crisp one dollar bills to leave on the table. “Come on.”

Several minutes later, Blaine followed Rhett through the barn that the horse show committee turned into a makeshift club for the exhibitors and their guests. Many of the women had changed out of their riding habits by then, while some of them—like Lynlee, for instance—still wore their tight-fitting white blouses and riding breeches. Those were the gals to watch, the ladies showing off plenty of curves, or in some cases, dimples.

“Wait up,” Blaine said. “Hang on. Listen. Stop!”

Rhett turned around and took an exaggerated breath. “Are you interested in her or not?”

“You know I am.”

“Then we’re going to bust up her little pony ride party. You said yourself that she’s always had a thing for you. After today, I’m a believer.” He waggled his brows. “She has a thing for both of us, if you ask me.”

“I didn’t.”

“I know. Just wanted to state the obvious,” Rhett teased, turning around and then stopping abruptly.

They stared at an empty lot. Rows of campers were piled into the campground and even more were scattered around the barn areas. Other than a few lampposts here or there, the place was dark.

“Which way did they go?” Rhett asked, looking to his right and then to the left.

“Beats me,” Blaine said. “I’m still trying to figure out why we have a need to find her in the first place. You all but ruined any chance I had—”

“We had,” Rhett corrected. “And, no, I didn’t. I can set things right. Wait and see. Besides, if she’s been hot after your butt for years, then I couldn’t mess things up for you if I tried.”

“Sure you could,” Blaine said, trailing behind him again. They walked in between the first row of trailers. “Tell me something, Mr. Smooth. What will you say this time? Huh? Your first attempt earlier this evening didn’t work too well.”

“Consider all of my come-on lines trial runs.”

“Asking a woman if she’s been fertilized lately is hardly appropriate for someone like Lynlee.”

“I haven’t used that ice breaker in a long time.”

“Fell from your lips the second we walked in the party tonight.” Blaine grunted. “And let me just say that the cowgirl on the other end of that particular line looked like she wanted to break your jaw.”

“Shh…” Rhett stopped his normal strutting and propelled his arm behind him, catching Blaine in the gut. “Did you hear something?”

“Yeah, the sound of stupidity rings loud and long. I can still hear you back there trying to smooth over your inability to carry on a conversation without a little perversion.”

“Well, Mr. Gentleman of the Century, what would you have said?” Rhett called over his back. “Ah, hell, forget about it. You like to hear yourself bitch. I could’ve approached Lynlee and her friend with something like, ‘Blaine, you horny? Let’s get Lynlee to show us a good time,’ and then you’d have something to gripe about, huh?”

A piercing scream stopped Blaine’s heart. “It’s Lynlee!” He ran past Rhett but Rhett stayed on his heels.