LoversFeud (13 page)

“I asked my old man about it when we were out riding fences yesterday morning. He remembered your grandfather as a very old man who used to barge in at the big house when he was a little kid, brandishing a shotgun and making all sorts of threats.”

Karen already knew most of that. What she wanted to know was what had made her grandfather hate the Cadens that much. “Do you have any idea what started the feud in the first place?”

“From what Four said, it was apparently some sort of love triangle.” Karen listened as Bye recounted the very sketchy story his father had told him, about the oldest son of the first Caden landowner getting the first Oakley daughter pregnant but marrying another rancher’s daughter and leaving the Oakley girl to have his baby and die in childbirth. After that, the girl’s father had killed Luke and the feud had begun. “This all happened in 1883. Four took me and showed me Luke’s grave in the old Caden family cemetery. It’s not too far from here, close to the original homestead.”

Karen shook her head. A betrayal and a killing were pretty good reasons for two families to become enemies. For a hundred thirty years, though? “Surely there must have been other incidents over the years to keep the feud going so strong.”

“That’s all I know. Four wasn’t even sure that story hasn’t been exaggerated by time and retelling. He said he didn’t know anything about incidents that may have happened in the eighty years between then and the time he was around to see things firsthand. Luke’s story has gone through five generations at the Bar C, and I imagine it’s been embellished a lot in the telling.

“The old man doesn’t think much of your father, but I wouldn’t say he’s frothing at the mouth to get rid of any of you. As for me, I think holding on to a century-old feud is damn stupid.” When he smiled, Karen imagined how easily her ancestor must have been taken in by his, if Luke had looked anything like Bye. “What I’d like to do right now is show you just how much I want the Cadens and the Oakleys who’re here now to become good friends—and lovers. Come here and kiss me.”

“My pleasure.” The little bit of information Bye had just given her made her even more determined to piece together the whole story, but right now she wanted more to feel his hard, lean body on hers, his cock deep inside her. “Aren’t we both wearing too many clothes?”

“Yeah. We are.” He bent and kissed her long and deep, his tongue mimicking the sex act they both wanted. When he moved away he peeled off his shirt, his gaze never leaving her as she stripped off the blouse and skirt she hadn’t changed after work. “I like that slip. There’s something incredibly sexy about you in silk and lace. I can hardly wait to take it off you.”

He kicked off his boots but left his jeans on when he came back to her. Almost reverently, he cupped her breasts in both hands. “I love these. Let me play with them while you take off my pants.”

His belt buckle gave her a moment’s difficulty, but she managed to unfasten it and tackle the button on his jeans. He was already hard behind the zipper that she lowered slowly and carefully. “Hurry, baby.” He’d loosened her slip straps and slid the silky garment down her body, and now he was nuzzling the bare skin at the upper curve of her breasts. She worked frantically to get him naked while he primed her with gentle nips of his teeth, his hot breath on her skin—and searching hands that were sure but incredibly gentle where he explored.

God but she wanted him, more than she’d ever wanted a man before. She wanted not just a hot body but Bye Caden himself. She wanted him in her life, not just in her pussy, and that scared her shitless. In the heir of her family’s worst enemy she’d discovered the only lover who’d ever given her all she needed when they were alone. A lover who didn’t need to stimulate her with games of dominance or submission, one with whom she didn’t need to know curious eyes were watching her so she could come, or to prime her libido by watching others playing their sex games.

Sinking to her knees she dragged his jeans around his ankles as he helped by shoving his navy boxer briefs below his knees so she could drag them the rest of the way past his muscular calves to rest against the puddle of denim that she helped him kick off, leaving him delightfully naked except for socks that left him looking strangely vulnerable. She’d have taken his long, thick cock in her mouth but he dragged her to her feet.

“I’ve got to feel you, baby. All of you.” His calloused hands took a tantalizing path down her back to clasp her butt and hold her close to his heat and hardness. She felt moisture trickle down her inner thighs. She could hardly believe how he made her incredibly hot with his simplest touch. Even a smile and a hot look from those gorgeous ice-blue eyes could turn her on.

What she was feeling had to be love, or at least lust like nobody else had ever inspired in her, even with far greater effort. Karen tilted her head back so she could see Bye’s face and when she did he bent and claimed her mouth. His kiss was gentle, almost tentative, but it opened a floodgate of sensations that had her trembling in his embrace.

“Bedtime, baby,” he said, lifting her as though she weighed no more than a child and setting her on the narrow bed, which had been featuring prominently in her dreams since they’d first made love here. “Be right back.”

She watched him bend and grab his wallet from the pocket of his jeans. “I need to stash some condoms in this line shack where they’ll be handy when we need them.” Grinning, he stood and donned the protection, then lay beside her and took her in his arms. “Come to me, baby. Let’s make love.”

Not “let’s fuck”. I appreciate that.
Karen hugged him close and wrapped one leg around his narrow waist, opening her pussy for his invasion. He was no longer just her playmate. She admitted it when he sank inside her. As stupid as it probably—definitely—was, she had taken Bye Caden as her lover.

“You’re mine.” His words, even though they came out in a husky whisper against her cheek, hinted that his feelings went deeper than lust. She wondered if that scared him half as much as it terrified her, or if he felt he could walk away without leaving the part of himself she sensed he was sharing with her.

“Yes.” She hadn’t intended to make that affirmation, which came out so softly she hoped he might have missed it as he began to move inside her, a slow loving as they lay side by side. It was as though they were equals, no longer playmates asserting dominance or feigning submission.

He broke the kiss and nuzzled her cheek. “I heard that, you know. I’m yours, too, if that makes you feel any better.” He held her closer, so close she felt his heart beat against her breasts and the moisture of his breath on her lips. His cock throbbed inside her pussy, as though impatient with the easy pace of their lovemaking.

“That part of me doesn’t seem to understand tenderness.” He laughed a little when his cock bucked hard inside her as he slowed his thrusts. “It hasn’t had a lot of practice, because there haven’t been a lot of times when I wanted more than just a hard fuck. I want it with you.”

She couldn’t hold back any longer. She had to tell him what was in her heart. “Bye, I’m falling in love with you.”

He buried himself inside her all the way and stilled his movement. With one hand he caressed her cheek while he looked into her eyes. “I know I love you. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything or anyone, and it nearly kills me to know I don’t dare go to your father and ask him to let me take you home.”

“Oh God. I’d die if anything happened to you because of me. Hush now, just love me tonight. I don’t want to think about tomorrow.”

The way she trembled in his arms told Bye how his admission had frightened her. The only way he knew to drive away a fear, like the one he’d momentarily experienced this morning when he’d considered damning the consequences and telling Four he wanted to marry Karen Oakley, was to make her quit thinking. He knew how to do that.

“On your back, baby. I’m gonna drive away everything out of your overactive brain except how good it feels for you to come with me inside you.”

“Yes. Make me come.” She rolled over on her back and spread her legs. “Fuck me as though you know this is the last chance we’ll ever get.”

When he sank into her wet heat once more, she wrapped her long legs around his hips, as though she wanted him as far inside her as he could go. She was breathing hard, straining against his body. “You’re trying too hard, baby. Relax. It’s not a race. We’ve got all night.”

“I’ve… I have to come. Please help me.”

She tightened her vaginal muscles around him, milking him. He wasn’t going to last long if she kept it up, and he wanted her to come with him. He balanced his weight on one elbow and used the other to reach between them and stroke her clit. “Tell me what you need. Whatever it is, I’ll give it to you.”

“You. Just you.”

“You’ve got me.” Moving faster, harder, he slammed into her. She moved with him. Fuck, they were made for each other. When she sank her teeth into his shoulder he lost it. Pressure built in his balls.

He couldn’t wait. But he didn’t want it over. He wanted to stay inside her, draw out the pleasure. She let out a scream and tightened her hold on him.

Oh God.
“I’m comin’ with you, sweetheart. Damn it, I love you.”

Her cunt tightened. That was it. He couldn’t hold back any longer. He let go the last remnants of self control and started coming in short, hot bursts that robbed him of the ability to speak…to think…to reason.

When he woke with Karen in his arms, his feet hanging off the too-short bed, Bye realized they’d slept too long. Seeing a picture-perfect sunrise framed in the small window across the room jolted him to full consciousness. And to the realization that no matter how awesome it felt to look down into her gorgeous, sleepy face, now wasn’t the time for them to go public with their feelings.

He sat up and shook Karen. “Get up, baby. Much as I’d like to stay here and hold you all day long, we’ve got to get you home.”

Chapter Nine

“Don’t you try tellin’ me you didn’t spend last night with that stinkin’ Caden boy. I’m gonna kill the bastard. Oughta shoot you too, slut.” Karen picked up a towel and wrapped it around herself when her pop staggered through the bathroom door, brandishing an old revolver in his shaky hand. “Where is the skunk? Tell me now or I’ll shoot you.”

Pop had to be pretty far gone if he thought she’d be stupid enough to bring Bye home. “At home, I imagine. Why don’t you go on now, go to bed. It’s not good for you to stay up all night, drinking. I’ll fix you some breakfast before I go to work.”

“Don’t you try to change the subject, girl. I’m gonna kill myself a Caden, even though it’s not the one I’ve wanted to shoot ever since your mama died. Tell me where the rotten bastard is.” He swayed on his feet but held on to the gun as he caught the doorframe with his other hand.

“Come on, Pop, let me get you into bed.” Maybe if he passed out, Pop would forget all about his crazy notion. Karen tightened the knot in her towel and grabbed Slade’s free hand just as he shot off a round that shattered the antique stained-glass window above the claw-footed tub. “Drop the gun before you hurt somebody.”

“Leave me ’lone. Gotta kill Bye Caden. He fucked my li’l girl.” The gun fell out of his hand and hit the floor before he did, discharging again and blowing a hole in the side of the old-fashioned toilet. Water came through, flooding the floor around the bowl.

“Pop, please.” Terrified that he’d finally lost the last shreds of his sanity, she grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him out of the growing puddle.

“Lemme go, girl. Gotta kill me a Caden. Where’s my gun?”

“You lost it. Come on, help me get you to your room.” He was dead weight, but she managed to drag him to his room and heave him onto his unmade bed. Trying to ignore the stench of piss and vomit that seemed stronger than usual, she pulled a quilt over him and tucked a pillow under his head. Shaking, she dragged a straight chair out of the room and closed the door. In case Pop should come around before she could get help, she jammed the chair back under the doorknob.

Quickly she called 9-1-1, shoving aside feelings of guilt after she finally admitted to herself that Pop needed more help than she could give him. Then she went in her room and dressed. While she waited for the ambulance to come, she called Buck. “I’m committing Pop. He shot up the house this morning then passed out cold. Whether he wants it or not, he’s got to get help. I’m putting him in that residential treatment center over in Lubbock.”

“I don’t blame you a bit. Slade barged in here last night. He saw your car outside and nearly tore this place apart looking for you. On his way out he shot a big hole in the wall next to the door. That stupid cunt, Betty Wells, told him you’d left here with Caden. It would have served her right if some of that buckshot had peppered her.” Buck paused and let out a sigh. “Sweetie, I told you no good would come out of you fuckin’ around with him.”

“Maybe Pop would be sleeping off his drunk in jail if you’d thought to call Roy last night.” Yeah, Buck should have called Roy last night, but Karen understood he didn’t have the heart to turn his uncle in. “Damn it, I wish you’d at least have called me. I’ve got Pop barricaded in his room right now, even though he was out cold when I got him to bed. He’s gone off the deep end.” She waited for Buck to tell her she’d pushed him over the edge.

He didn’t. Instead he asked her if she wanted him to warn Bye. He sounded almost sympathetic. “You know, Karen, it’s about time we bury this feud. As far as I’m concerned, Byron Caden’s a rich asshole who throws his weight around, but he’s never done anything to hurt us, even though he’s been sorely provoked on occasion. Bye seems to be a decent guy. I know your pa hates his pa, and for pretty good reason I guess, but the hating has gone on too long. Somebody innocent is gonna get killed. You might have taken one of those bullets Uncle Slade shot off, you know.”

Karen knew, and knowing it scared her to death. Some innocents, as well as the snitch who’d sent Pop into a frenzy, could also have gotten shot full of buckshot last night at the Neon Lasso. “That’s why I’ve got to get him in at some place where he can’t drink or play with guns.”