Fifteen miles or so down the rutted road, he
turned onto a road covered in loose pea gravel and the back of the
truck fishtailed sending her sliding across the seat to his side,
before he smoothed it out. She put a hand on his thigh to steady
herself and felt him harden against her wrist. There was more than
one way to get the information she wanted, Cassie thought smiling.
Watching his face for a reaction, she stroked his thigh then slid
her hand to his fly and pulled the zipper tab down a few
inches.
The truck swerved to the left, and he
yelled, "Shit, Cassie! Stop!" then flung her hand off of him. "You
trying to make me wreck the truck?"
"Nah, I'm trying to get you to tell me where
we're going."
"Stop messing around. We'll be there in a
minute," he told her and grabbed her hand with his to keep it from
wandering again. "There, now be good."
She laughed and told him playfully, "Honey,
I'm
always
good. If you'd have let me finish, you'd know
that."
"Oh, I'll let you finish..." he shot her a
heated glance, his topaz eyes filled with desire. "Right after I
show you my surprise."
"I
really
wanna see your
surprise
," she purred sexily then leaned up to lick his
earlobe.
He growled, "Stop it!"
She laughed and leaned back on the seat and
pouted. "Okay, I'll be good."
"Not likely," he glanced over at her and
chuckled.
A few minutes later he turned off the gravel
road onto a smooth paved driveway lined on both sides by black
board horse fencing. She saw beautiful muscular quarter horses of
every color happily grazing on either side, their tails swishing to
swat pesky flies.
Cassie sucked in a breath and excitement
filled her. "Oh, Luke," she said breathlessly and leaned closer to
the windshield to get a better look. This place looked pretty close
to what she imagined heaven would look like. She smiled over at
him. "You sure know how to show a girl a good time, sugar."
He smiled back, happiness shining in his
eyes. "You ain't seen nothing yet, darlin'."
"Be still my heart. I swear those are the
most beautiful horses I've ever seen."
"They're not as beautiful as the ones you're
gonna raise."
Cassie swallowed hard. Her dreams were not
nearly on this scale, she'd be happy with three or four mares and a
good stallion. But she sure loved seeing her dream multiplied by a
hundred spread out before her. It gave her hope that maybe she was
going to be able to pull this off after all.
"You know these people?" There hadn't been
ranch markings at the entrance, so she had no idea who they
were.
"I've been talking to the owner for a couple
of weeks," he admitted then she realized he wasn't going to tell
her anything more, when he took his hand off of hers and put it on
the steering wheel.
They pulled up in front of the huge
Southfork-type house and he turned off the engine. The front door
immediately opened and a long-legged cowboy with a white straw hat
stepped out onto the porch waved at them then hitched his thumbs in
his belt loops and waited for them to get out and walk up to the
porch. Luke didn't let her walk, he flew around the truck before
she could get out and eased her to the ground then put his arm
around her waist and half-carried her up to the porch, going really
slow to make sure she didn't stumble.
"Luke?" the man asked and stepped down two
steps to stand in front of them. He shoved his hand out to Luke
after smiling at Cassie.
"Yep. You must be Tommy...thanks for
inviting us out," he said and grasped the man's hand in a firm
shake.
The tall, leanly muscled cowboy with the
kind face glanced down at her, "And you must be Cassie. Nice to
meet a fellow horse nut, ma'am," he said with a wink. "Don't look
like you're gonna be riding today though," he chuckled his eyes
traveling down her legs to her bright green cast.
She gritted her teeth against the
disappointment. "Damned ankle," she grumbled.
Luke chuckled and squeezed her side. "You'll
get to do plenty of ridin' real soon, darlin'," he reassured
her.
She stuck her lip out and leaned against
him. "I know, but there're so many beautiful babies out here, and
we're not gonna be back when I get this dagblamed cast off."
Tommy piped up, "Honey, you're welcome to
come back and ride any time you please," he told her, then looked
at Luke, "You bring her back out here when she gets the cast
off."
Luke nodded and squeezed her tighter to his
side. "So, where's what we talked about on the phone?" he asked
cryptically shooting the other man a meaningful look.
"In the far barn. Let me go get a golf cart,
I'll be right back," he told Luke with a pat on the shoulder. A few
minutes later he drove around the end of the house in a bedazzled
golf cart with big knobby tires and a fringed hot pink canopy.
Cassie giggled seeing the good looking, very
masculine cowboy driving what looked like a Barbie Buggy. She heard
Luke chuckle beside her too. When Tommy pulled up closer, Cassie
saw the tortured look on his face accompanied by a wry grin, which
kicked up the corner of his mouth. "My baby girl's golf cart was
the only one parked behind the house. She loves this thing...rides
all over the ranch with it."
Cassie's heart clenched picturing Luke
instead of Tommy in the feminine transportation, saying the same
words about his 'baby girl'. One she imagined would have her
daddy's dark hair and her blue eyes. The little girl would be the
apple of his eye and have him wrapped around her little finger. She
shook her head to clear away those very appealing, but probably
farfetched thoughts. She and Luke were still renewing their old
feelings for each other, getting to know each other again. It would
be a long time before they were in at that place, if they ever
were.
"Climb in if you're brave enough, man,"
Tommy offered in challenge to Luke and chuckled.
Luke grinned from ear to ear and helped her
into the seat beside Tommy, then sat on the backseat. "Have to be
pretty secure in your manhood to ride in this for sure," he
laughed.
Cassie grabbed the pink-ribbon wound bar
beside her when the cart lurched into motion and smiled. This was
going to be great, she thought. She looked over at Tommy and said
smugly, "I'd ride in it. Your daughter has excellent taste."
Luke chimed in from the back seat, "You
would think that. I remember that time you streaked your first
pony's mane and tail with pink hair paint saying you were making
him a 'My Little Pony'. Cole and I bout died laughing, and felt
damned sorry for that gelding."
She shot Luke a nasty look over her shoulder
for making fun of her. That pony had looked spectacular when she
finished.
Tommy's laughter was loud and boisterous.
"You and Dixie would be two peas in a pod!" he hooted and slapped
his hand on the wheel of the cart. "I'll have to introduce you
before you leave."
They passed several smaller barns and a
couple of sheds and he rounded a curve then she saw a huge barn
that took her breath away. Off to the side was a large round pen
and there was a massive outdoor arena surrounded by light poles
reaching toward the sky. "Wow, this is amazing," she said
breathily.
If his operation was this grand on the
outside of the barn, she could only imagine how fantastic it'd be
inside. She saw several other regular golf carts parked beside the
far fence, and a couple of workers milling about doing odd
jobs.
Tommy slid out of the cart and waited for
Luke to help her out, then he waved at a couple of the men before
leading them inside the brightly lit barn. When they stepped
through behind him, Cassie gasped at the huge indoor arena. Her
eyes traveled up to the built-in sprinkler system to wet down the
dirt and keep the dust down, and the extra tubing that must be a
fly control system.
There were twelve open top stalls lining
every wall around the arena. Her breathing sped up and she put her
hand to her chest to calm her racing heart. Tommy looked back over
his shoulder and smiled at her. "You like it?"
"Like is a very weak word. I think I might
be in heaven."
"Yep, you've got the fever," he chuckled
then said, "Wait til you get a look at Titan. You better prepare
yourself, darlin'."
"Can you saddle him up? I want to ride him
for her." Luke asked him.
"Sure thing. Just a sec." He walked down the
stall aisle and found a man hosing off the concrete at the end of
the row of stalls. Leaning in toward him, he gave the man
instructions then pointed at them. With a pat on his back, he
walked back over to them.
"Jud will bring him around. Won't be long. I
need to go check on a mare in the other barn, I'll be back in a few
minutes. Ya'll have fun," he said with a wink at Luke then walked
back out the barn.
Cassie grabbed Luke's hand and stared her
fill at the gorgeous horses sticking their heads out of the stalls
staring at them curiously. She'd love to take a trip around the
whole barn and scratch their noses and give them treats, but with
her leg in a cast that wouldn't be happening.
After a few minutes, she saw a dark-skinned
man lead the most amazing buckskin stallion she'd ever seen into
the riding arena. His color and markings were striking and his
bearing regal. When her eyes met the stallion's, she fell in love.
He took her breath away.
Without giving her gimpy leg consideration
at all, she walked to the gate and let herself into the dirt-packed
arena and walked over to the stallion like she was in a trance.
When she reached him, she held his eyes and ran her hand along his
jaw. "Well hello handsome, aren't you a gorgeous hunk," she said
reverently, and scratched behind his ear, then ran her hand along
his neck and down his back feeling his tightly bunched muscles
dance under her fingertips.
Luke walked up beside her and laughed,
"You're making me jealous, darlin'."
Mesmerized, she put her hand on the horse's
rump to let him know where she was then walked around behind him
and ran her hands over his other side back up to his head. Her eyes
traveled down to his perfect legs and she bent to run her hand down
his front leg, then lifted his hoof to inspect it. Gently she let
it back down and patted the side of his neck.
"Wow," she said and walked back over to
Luke. "This is one fine horse." Longing surged through her, "I sure
wish I could ride him...I bet he moves like a dream."
"Let me show you," Luke said and led her
back over to the fence where he lifted her up to sit on the top
rail. He stood in front of her with his hands on her hips. "You sit
right here and enjoy, darlin'."
Her position put her at the perfect height
to lean over and kiss Luke's lips tenderly. "Thank you for bringing
me here."
His response was a soft smile and a pat on
her thigh, before he walked back over to the stallion and took the
reins from the man holding them. With athletic ease, she watched
him swing up on the stallion's back. Titan stood perfectly still
while Luke mounted him then his ears perked and then tilted back a
little so he could pay attention to Luke's commands. Exactly what
he should have done. His manners were impeccable.
Luke squeezed his sides and the horse moved
to the rail walking smoothly. Luke's muscular body moved with him
and they looked dynamic together, perfectly in tune. After walking
half the arena Luke gave him a leg and he picked up his pace
transitioning seamlessly to a slow lope. They were in perfect
harmony, and Luke rolled with his movements hardly bouncing in the
saddle at all. Both the horse and rider looked happy and
relaxed.
Luke loosened the reins and brought him back
down to a walk, and Titan didn't miss a beat. The horse was focused
on Luke and reacted immediately to his every command. She was just
as focused on the incredible picture they made, so she didn't
notice when Tommy walked back over and leaned his elbows on the
rail beside her.
"What'cha think?" He asked, his voice was
smug and proud.
"I think I'm in love," she said wistfully
then chuckled. "He's amazing, Tommy."
He grinned like a proud papa and told her
matter-of-factly, "I knew you were gonna love him."
"I'm going to start an operation at my
daddy's ranch. I'll have to get with you when I get it up and
running. I'd love to have him cover some of my mares," she said
earnestly, looking down at him.
A strange expression came over Tommy's face
and then he told her, "That might not be possible, darlin'."
Disappointment flooded her and her shoulders
slumped. "He'd make some beautiful babies. He booked up?"
"Something like that," he told her vaguely
then pushed off the railing and told her he had to take care of
something else then walked away quickly, seeming as if his tail was
on fire.
She glanced back at Luke and saw him lead
Titan to the middle of the arena where he circled him four times to
the left then reversed direction and circled four more. Titan
didn't hesitate at all. Luke put him into a canter right out of the
last circle and then performed a sliding stop. It was a beautiful
thing to behold, when the horse's back legs slid under him and then
he stood back up perfectly still.