Mountain Lion (3 page)

A
couple of days later
, Wyatt was eating dinner alone in his office when a knock sounded on the doorframe.

He looked up with a smile and saw Val waiting there. She was dirty from the day’s work in the stables, with little bits of hay strewn about her shoulders and hair.

To his surprise, she’d been by every day to check in after work, thanking him for the job, telling him it was going well.

He’d made sure to have meals delivered to her room.

All in all, things seemed to be going well.

He gestured to a chair in front of his desk. “Want to join me? Clint served me way too much as usual.”

She hesitated as she did every time he invited her, but this time, she removed her hat, dusted off her clothing, and walked forward to join him.

He pushed the plates toward her and studied her face as she served herself some meat and potatoes.

She was looking much better. Healing even better than he would have guessed. A little niggling instinct was eating at him, but he pushed it away.

It wasn’t important right now. He was still just trying to gain her trust.

“I can’t thank you enough for hiring me,” she said, chewing earnestly as she relaxed back in her chair and looked out the wide window at the front of his office that allowed Wyatt to look out at his ranch. “I haven’t been this happy since… maybe ever.”

Her words warmed him from the inside, and he was just glad he could make a difference.

“You said you wanted to know what happened to me. I needed to know I could trust you first,” she said, looking at him warily. She took a few more bites and then slid the plate away, chewing thoughtfully.

Then she sighed and leaned back in the chair, once again looking out the window.

She was unlike any woman he’d ever known. No artifice, no flirtation. Just honest, straightforward. She had things to hide, but she didn’t put anything out that wasn’t there.

“I grew up in the mountains. Way up,” she said. “Above the two ranches down here. With wild people.”

“Wild people?” he asked.

She nodded. “Like you.”

Wyatt’s heart thudded. “What do you mean?” Had she figured out what he was somehow? He did like to go for midnight runs as his animal, when everyone else was asleep and it wouldn’t startle the horses because they were all safely locked away.

But she hadn’t ever been outside then, had she?

He kept his hands in his lap under the desk, but his fingernails dug into his palms.

If she’d found out his secret, and she was a human…

“Stop looking so nervous,” she said. “I’m one too. Sort of.”

His eyes flew open and he looked her up and down. “Then why can’t I scent you?”

“Well, I’m not like you. My dad was a cat and he assaulted a human. She dumped me with him and ran off, not wanting any part of it. I was raised with cats. Well, some cats. A mix. None as pureblooded as you.” She shrugged. “I’ve been told I could breed cats, but since I’ve never shifted, I’m not really one.”

Wyatt’s eyes narrowed. He’d never heard of anything like this, and he didn’t like it.

From what she was saying, the situation up there in the mountains might be something that would necessitate calling in the very top of the shifter enforcer food chain.

Dragons.

But they’d have to approach that later. Carefully. After he knew for sure what they were and weren’t doing up there.

“We raised horses up there. Mustangs. I was happy with that part of it,” she said, twisting her hands. “But then my dad found out there’s a certain… audience looking for female cats to breed. And he thought I should probably do that.”

Wyatt felt his stomach tighten into a knot. All the while he’d been living this privileged life with his ranch and his money, she’d been terrorized by the people that should have been keeping her safe.

“I fought it at first,” she said. “All my life, I’d only known my dad as a cruel person, and the other men in our camp weren’t much better. But I learned to fight back. Protect myself. Not that it was always enough, as they were shifters and I was mostly human.”

“I see,” Wyatt said, curling his hands into tight fists and forcing himself to keep a calm tone. “So then what?”

“Then they brought someone by. My dad said he’d bought me. He wanted to breed.” She let out a little sigh. “At first I didn’t think he was so bad. He was handsome. Dressed nice. Like you.”

“Okay,” Wyatt said uncertainly.

“But he wasn’t like you. He was cruel, mean. After the first few visits, he started getting insistent. I tried to tell them I wanted nothing to do with it, but he said he wasn’t going to wait anymore for something he paid for.”

Wyatt felt his teeth grind together. “I see. How far did he go?”

She shook her head. “Don’t worry about that. I fought him, and he beat the tar out of me. That’s how I got away. He beat me so bad they thought I needed time to heal before breeding. So it bought me time. My father said it served me right for fighting, and they left me in the barn, thinking I was unconscious.”

“But you weren’t,” Wyatt said, a weird mix of sheer rage at her captors mixing with admiration for her tenacity brewing inside him uncomfortably.

Men who could hit women. Men who could hurt them. Men who would attack them.

No wonder she hated men. No wonder she hated being touched. No wonder she looked at men like they all deserved to be eliminated from the planet.

“These men,” he said. “Are they going to try to find you?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I was an easy catch. When I first escaped, I wasn’t too far from them, and I didn’t see anyone leaving to chase after me. My guess is Lyle will go buy someone easier to deal with, and my dad will be glad to be rid of me, since I couldn’t even shift, which always disappointed him. He could have gotten more for that.”

“I’ll need both of their names,” Wyatt said.

“Why?” she asked, her eyes widening as she shrank back in her chair.

Wyatt sighed. “There are shifters who take care of things like this. Stop them. They need to be reported.”

“I don’t… What if they…?” She shook her head. “I don’t know if I can deal with that right now. If they know I told, they might—”

He came around the desk and knelt in front of her, reaching up to push back her hair so he could look straight into her eyes.

“Val, I promise I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. Or anything happen to you. But we have to bring them to justice before they hurt someone else.”

“There were no other women in camp,” she said. “I was the only one they tried to mess with.”

He sighed in relief. “All right. I’ll try and wait until you’re ready, then.” He bit his lip, reluctant to take his hand from her hair.

Her eyes were wary, and he pulled back and got to his feet. “You don’t have to worry about that, Val. I’m not going to make a move on you,” he said.

She blinked at him, pretty blue eyes confused and intent. “Why not?”

“Because you don’t want me to,” he said. “And because you aren’t really my type.” Well, that was kind of a lie. He’d been attracted to her since he’d met her, but now that he knew her history, the best he could do was help her feel like she was finally in a safe, non-threatening environment.

She’d had enough unwelcome advances to last a lifetime, it sounded like.

“I… appreciate that,” she said, sounding hesitant. “I just… I’m not into men that way.” But even as she said it, her eyes swept over him appreciatively.

Wyatt told himself to ignore it, hoping his body would listen.

He was a cat, and the cat in her called out to him. But he was also a good man, and he would be this woman’s protector because she needed one.

And he couldn’t very well do that if he was one of the men causing her problems and attempting things that were unwanted.

“I’m really sorry that happened to you,” he said. “I want you to tell me if you’re ever feeling afraid or worried. If anyone makes you uncomfortable…” He looked out in the direction of her cabin. “If you’re ever concerned out there, you’re welcome to move closer. You can come see me anytime.” He wrote down the number for his upstairs suite on a Post-it note and handed it over to her.

“Thanks,” she said, looking at it blankly like she didn’t know what to make of it.

An awkward moment followed.

“Thank you for trusting me,” he said. “For letting me know what’s going on.”

She nodded. “You’ve done a lot for me. It’s not like you didn’t deserve to know.” She stood and gave him one last look before heading to the door.

If Wyatt didn’t know better, he’d think she liked what she was looking at.

But she hated men, so that wasn’t possible, right?

V
alerie watched
the man beside her as they walked to the cabin.

He was so handsome in the moonlight, his broad shoulders outlined in a crisp jacket, his long legs taking easy strides over the lawn.

It had felt good to finally tell someone what happened to her, and in the few days she’d been at the Fifty Star, she’d come to trust him as a good friend.

It didn’t hurt that Wayne, her mentor and friend that she worked with, had known Wyatt since he was a child and liked to go on and on about him.

All he’d said was nice things about him, how generous he was as an employer. How fair he was. How he always stood up for someone in trouble.

She’d definitely seen that in the way he’d been with her.

If she hadn’t been so angry and defensive at the time, she’d have seen his inherent goodness in following her to the bar, rescuing her, and convincing her to come back here.

Thanks to him, she had a safe place for the first time in her life. Maybe that was why she was starting to feel odd around him whenever he was close.

When they reached her cabin, she felt awkward and she didn’t know why.

She was glad she’d told him what had happened. It had felt good to let someone in.

And she trusted him, mostly. So why was she still nervous, caught off guard?

He seemed to sense her mood and he looked over. He put out a hand, as if to set it on her shoulder to comfort her, but then reconsidered and dropped it.

His short blond hair rustled in the wind and his beautiful gold eyes glimmered in the reflected light over her small porch.

“I meant what I said,” he stated, leaning on the wall of the cabin and shoving his hands into his pockets. “You have nothing to fear from me.” He looked out at the wide, sprawling land around them. “Or from anyone else.”

She simply stared at him. The words and the sentiments he was uttering were so foreign to her. Protection? Not for her. Not in this life.

“No, I promise,” he said. “I see that doubt in your eyes, and I want to make this perfectly clear.” He pulled his hands from his pockets and rested one against the wall of the cabin, and she could see it was balled in a fist. “No one will ever hurt you again. Not as long as I’m breathing.”

Warmth shot through her, uncomfortable and strange. Somehow, the things he was saying unnerved her. Not because there was something wrong with them, but because there was something wrong with her hearing them for the first time.

Someone was actually caring for her. And that was odd. It did weird things to her insides. Things she didn’t want to think about.

“Why would you do that?” she asked, feeling confused. “Why would you care?” She felt like a cornered rabbit, even though all he was offering was freedom.

He reached for her cheek, and for some reason, she didn’t lean away. Like she could sense he wanted to touch her to comfort her, not to hurt her. When his fingers brushed against her face, it felt unlike anything else. So soothing she leaned into it as warmth moved through her to the tips of her toes.

So this was being touched without malice. A part of her wanted more of it. Wanted it to wash away every other touch.

She looked up into his gold eyes, scared of the emotions roiling inside her. The want.

And he pulled back, dropping his hand.

She was flooded with both relief and disappointment. Relief because she wasn’t ready to trust a man again, no matter how good he seemed, and disappointment because his hand had felt so good.

She rushed up the front stairs and fumbled with the lock. Then she heard him speak from behind her.

“I promise, Val. I’m not going to hurt you.” He put up his hands. “I’ll keep my promise and not make a move. I know you aren’t into that. I’m kind of a touchy-feely person. Cats tend to be,” he said, giving her a wink. “But you just let me know if I step out of line.” He put his hands in his pockets and took a few steps back. “I’m here to help you. The last thing I want is for you to be afraid of me.”

She nodded, fumbling with the door and finally getting it open. Why did her body feel so weird, so warm?

She waved good night and then hurried inside and shut the door behind her, locking it. Then she ran to the other side of the cabin and looked out of it.

She could see him striding back over the lawn to the lodge, his strong back wide and tall.

He hadn’t meant anything by the touch. Simple comfort, that was all.

And he wasn’t ever going to make a move on her. Not like he would on a normal woman.

One who didn’t hate men.

She knew that was a good thing. He was respectful. Strong. Kind. Would give her distance.

So why did she feel vaguely disappointed by the prospect of them always being no more than friends?

She shut the curtains and sat in the dark, letting the calm and quiet surround her, cooling the ardor inside her.

He didn’t want her to be afraid of him. He’d seen the fear in her eyes when they touched.

But he didn’t know she wasn’t afraid of him making a move on her.

She was afraid she might like it.

A
few days later
, Valerie had settled into the rhythm of things. She’d heard nothing from her dad or Lyle, and she assumed she was right and they thought she was more trouble than she was worth.

She was moving hay when she looked up and saw Wyatt watching her, and her skin prickled in awareness.

He’d been gentle and standoffish, as he’d promised, so she didn’t know why her wayward heart was trying to develop feelings for him.

Maybe it was just because he was the first person to ever be kind to her.

Maybe it was because she got to ride his horses and sleep under his roof.

Maybe because he gave her space.

Maybe because everyone working at the ranch seemed to adore him. Even lazy John, the other trainer she worked with, seemed to worship the ground he walked on.

Or maybe it was just that he was gorgeous. She had to keep back a sigh as she turned back to the hay, looking away from his muscled, golden beauty.

He’d made it clear he was going to keep his distance. She probably wasn’t his type anyway. He was gorgeous, could pick anyone. He wouldn’t be interested in some chubby country hick.

“Having a good day?” he asked.

“Yup, just finishing up,” she replied.

“You want to go for a ride?” he asked. “I’ve been feeling like getting out in the fresh air.”

She pressed her lips together. A ride, alone with Wyatt? Just the two of them?

She shook her head. Wyatt might see her only as some kind of little sister character, but that wasn’t how she saw him.

Sometimes he even appeared in her dreams, wanting to do things she’d never thought she’d want him to do.

But she kind of did.

Wyatt was still waiting for her, patient as ever, so she slowly stood, looking up at him.

“I guess I could go for a ride,” she said.

His handsome face lit up. “Great.”

“You want me to saddle up a horse for you?” she asked. “Let me guess. You ride Musty?”

Wyatt laughed and walked down to the stall that held the tall, black gelding. “How’d you know?”

She frowned and tilted her head, trying not to melt at the sight of Wyatt cooing at the horse and rubbing a hand over its neck.

“He likes a firm hand, and he likes to think he’s the boss of the pack. I imagine you’re one of the only ones he listens to,” she said.

Wyatt grinned. “Because I’m naturally dominant?”

“No, because you let him do what he wants.”

Wyatt laughed at that and continued rubbing Musty. To her surprise, he grabbed a grooming bucket and started brushing down Musty in preparation for a saddle.

“I can do that,” she said. “It’s my job.” It didn’t seem right for the rich owner of the ranch to be grooming his own horse.

“Nah, I haven’t been out here for a while. I want him to get to know me again before I hop on.”

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll take Rose, then.” Rose had already been ridden earlier that morning and she’d be easy to groom and saddle. Rose was a beautiful brown and white pinto, and she nuzzled her nose in against Val’s outstretched hand, trying to get a scratch.

“Do all the horses get along with you this well?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “I’ve never seen Rose do that.”

“She gets itchy,” Val said, smiling at him brightly as she finished prepping her horse.

He was leading his horse past her and then stopped, looking over with an odd expression. She could almost see redness spreading over his tanned cheeks, but she thought it must just be the heat of the barn or exertion from grooming his horse.

A moment later, she was leading Rose out of the barn, looking forward to a ride that wasn’t work.

“You’ll have to show me a new trail through the mountains,” Val said. “I still haven’t gotten to explore much.” She wouldn’t admit it, but she hadn’t really felt safe going off alone. She was a long way from her family, but she couldn’t take any risk in being caught off guard should she get off the main trails.

“Sure,” he said. “We’ll go due south.”

She nodded in appreciation. So he remembered her family was north. That was good.

“You get on first,” he said. “I’ll hold the—”

But before he could reach for the reins, she was mounted in the saddle, with a perfect seat and the reins in her hands.

“Um. Okay,” he said with a grin, swinging up into his own saddle.

“I’m a horsewoman,” she said flatly, halting her horse so he could take the lead with Musty. “I don’t need any help when it comes to this.”

He just laughed and moved ahead, controlling Musty perfectly. She’d never thought the huge gelding would be so smooth for someone, but he seemed bonded to Wyatt.

Wyatt gave her a wry look, gold eyes glittering in the late evening sun. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not great with all horses, but Musty and I, we grew up together.”

“What was your dad like?” She couldn’t help asking as they started on their way through a narrow path that wound into trees.

Wyatt was quiet for a moment. “He was a hard man. A difficult man, especially after his wife left him.”

“She left him?” Val asked, accidentally halting her horse for a second. She urged Rose on with a silent apology. “Why?” She hoped it wasn’t for the reasons she’d left Lyle.

Wyatt shrugged. “She didn’t like it out here. She was raised in the city. There wasn’t enough to do.”

“Did it hurt when she left?”

Wyatt was quiet for a moment, and she thought at first he wasn’t going to answer. “I suppose so. But she’d been threatening it for so long that I expected it. I’d already told myself not to bond with her. She’d never been very maternal. I think what I hated most about it was what it did to my dad.”

“I’d never leave someone like that,” she said. “It doesn’t sound like he did anything wrong.”

Wyatt frowned. “Nothing except choosing the ranch over her, I guess. Anyway, enough about me. How are you liking the ranch?”

She grinned. “I like it a lot. I’ve never been so happy. If I’d known it would be like this, I would have fought you a lot harder for that job.”

“Good,” he said. “Wayne tells me you’re quite an asset. That you can calm the horses like no one else can.”

“Horses like me,” she said, reaching down to stroke Rose’s mane. “And I like them. They don’t hurt anyone. Not on purpose. Not like people.”

He nodded tightly. She sensed he didn’t like when she talked about what had happened to her. But he never told her not to, and she appreciated it.

She felt, out here in the fresh air, with more freedom than she’d ever had in her life, she was coming out of the shell she’d been trapped in and was finally feeling like a person.

And, when Wyatt was around, like a woman.

“I like this a lot,” he said, trotting ahead of her. “Let’s do this more often.”

She nodded, urging her horse to catch up and laughing as they rode alongside each other into a wide meadow pasture where there was plenty of room to run.