The Cowboy Lassos a Bride(8)

       
           



       

But maybe a fling with Jake could. She allowed herself to picture what  that might be like-two consecutive weeks tangled up in the covers with a  sexy cowboy. Fourteen nights of unbridled lust and pleasure.

She could use some unbridled lust and pleasure. In fact, she could use it a lot.

A smile twitched her lips as she descended the stairs with Fila and  Mila, her stomach growling as the aroma of another of Autumn's amazing  dinners caught her nose. She was a big girl-she could have a fling with a  sexy cowboy whenever she wanted.

Holt's preposterous deal simply gave her a good excuse to do the very  thing she'd dreamed about: tumble into bed with Jake long enough to get  him out of her system before she settled down to classes.

When Jake arrived at the Cruz Big House, a fire danced in the hearth,  tables were set up for cards, and an enormous Christmas tree stood near  the large floor-to-ceiling windows. Just like at his parents' house, the  entire space was decorated with figurines, fir boughs and glittering  lights. Autumn, setting appetizers out on the counter that separated the  kitchen area from the rest of the great room, looked in her element.  Ethan was one lucky man to have found her.

Jake frowned and his shoulders tightened at the thought of his earlier  conversation with his father. Marry within the month-as if it was that  simple. It was ludicrous.

It was just like Holt.

Sometimes he wished he could escape the ranch-to get a taste of the  wider world and the knowledge it had to offer. He knew he would have  done well at college and if he had gone he would have liked to study  modern ranching techniques in a wider context along with land management  and environmental studies. The world was changing fast. People were far  more aware of how their food reached the table and the impact ranching  and farming could have on the state of their environment. His father  dismissed all of that as liberal nonsense, but Jake felt otherwise. He  felt like a steward of the ranch. Everything from the soil to the cattle  to the people who lived on his family's land was affected by the  decisions he made. Shouldn't he know everything there was to know about  it?

It galled him his father and brothers didn't support his interests. What  kind of family went out of its way to clip the intellectual wings of  its own members?

The Matheson kind, apparently.

When he spotted Hannah across the room deep in conversation with Ethan  and Jamie, looking up at the two tall cowboys and laughing at something  Jamie said, Jake's heart rate increased. Her white-blond hair lay in  angelic waves about her shoulders. Dressed casually in jeans and a soft  sweater, she looked feminine and sweet, and his fingers suddenly itched  to touch her. Maybe do a whole lot more than that.

He wouldn't lie-Hannah was gorgeous, which is why he'd taken her to that  break room at Bella and Evan's wedding. But she was smart as a whip in  addition to being beautiful. She was curious, too-the sexiest trait  there ever was in a woman, to his way of thinking. She'd caught his  attention at Ethan and Autumn's poker nights, first because of her  angelic looks, but afterward because of her ability to converse with  him. Unlike most people, she enjoyed talking about the future of  ranching, and about a hundred other topics, as well. So far they'd only  chatted for a few minutes here and there, mostly when she came to see  Gladys. Still, they could leap from bison to the history of Montana to  the strangest thing they'd each ever eaten, to whether or not there was  other intelligent life in the Universe in the course of only a short  conversation. He looked forward to each meeting, knowing her insatiable  thirst for knowledge would have led her to find some new and interesting  fact she could share with him. He'd never had anyone in his life quite  like Hannah. He was blessed with good friends and a solid family-he  couldn't complain. But he'd lacked this meeting of the minds.

He'd been ready to ask her out this morning until his father appeared to  ruin the moment. He'd been pretty sure she would say yes, too, judging  by the fact she didn't move her hand away when he touched it. That touch  had fired him up more than he wanted to admit. For the first time, he'd  wanted to take things slowly with a woman, because Hannah was so  special. If he blew things with her, he wouldn't just lose a pretty  companion-he'd lose a true friend. He didn't think he could stand that.

Now his father was forcing his hand, and he hoped that wouldn't ruin  everything. With only thirty days to marry her, he barely had time for  wooing. How could he speed things up when they hadn't even gone on a  date?

While he wanted to go straight to Hannah, he made his way to the kitchen  first, grabbed a couple of Autumn's appetizers and found a beer in the  fridge. There he met Rob, whose shoulder was still bandaged from the  gunshot wound he'd taken a few weeks back. That had been one hell of a  night-a real shootout with would-be terrorists in the woods down the  road from here. Luckily Rob's wound was the worst of them. Jamie's hip  had already healed, as had Fila's arm. The bad guys had been rounded up  and taken away by the Feds. Peace had been restored to Chance Creek, for  which he was grateful.                       
       
           



       

He worked through the room from guest to guest, exchanging greetings and  news. He finally got to Hannah just as Ethan and Jamie headed back to  the kitchen for another beer.

He smiled at her. "Hey, Hannah. Sorry I had to take off in such a rush this morning."

"It wasn't your fault. Work never ends on a ranch, right? I talked to your dad after you left, though."

Uh oh. "What did he say?"

Hannah shrugged, but her cheeks grew pink. Jake's heart sunk. His father  was capable of all kinds of breaches of etiquette. At least she was  still speaking to him.

"I get the feeling he'd rather not keep Gladys around much longer."

"Don't mind him." Jake was worried, though. If Holt kicked him out, he'd  probably demand they remove Gladys from the ranch. It figured the old  man would urge him to get married, then screw up his chances with the  one woman he wanted to spend his life with.

"Holt's more bark than bite," he said, then clenched his jaw at the lie.  Holt barked like a pit bull and attacked like one, too, if he felt  provoked.

"I don't know. I'm taking what he said pretty seriously."

"I'll work on him," he promised her. "Meanwhile, there's something I've wanted to ask you. Would you … "

"Hey, everybody. Pick a table and sit down. We're about ready to get started," Ethan called.

Morgan, passing by, smiled at them and gestured toward the card tables. "Come on, guys. You heard the man."

"We'll be right there." Hannah turned back to him. "What were you saying, Jake?"

But with Morgan watching he couldn't ask her out. "Nothing. We'll talk later."





‡

Chapter Three





Jake had been seconds from asking her on a date. She was sure of it. So why wouldn't everyone back off and give him the chance?

Not that she'd say yes.

Or maybe she would but she wouldn't get serious with him.

Unless you called a fourteen night stand serious.

Which she had no doubt it would be.

Hannah moved quickly to a table to cover her confusion and sat next to  Morgan. The rest of the players took their places at the tables with  much jostling and joking. When Jake slipped into the chair on the other  side of her, she figured she hadn't been hallucinating about his  attentions. Interesting.

Interesting in a fling way, she reminded herself. That's all she could  afford right now-no heartfelt romances, not even with Jake. Especially  with Jake, who could wrap her around his little finger without even  trying. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye as he joked with  Ethan. He was muscular, confident, his legs taking up way too much space  under the table. His thigh brushed against hers from time to time,  igniting the longing she'd felt ever since their time in the break room.  She would not fall in love with Jake. But couldn't she have a little  fun with him before school started at the end of January?

Ethan dealt the first hand of Hold'em and she forced her concentration  onto her cards. She was a lousy player and lost money every week at  these tables, but the stakes weren't that high and by tradition the  winner donated half the proceeds to the kitty for the next weeks' drinks  and munchies. Since she'd spend more by far at the local bar if she  went out for a night of drinking and dancing, she figured it was a small  price to pay for the good food and company.

Jake surveyed his opponents around the table. He must have already  looked at his cards, figured his odds and moved on to size up the  competition. She'd seen him take the pot many times. Hannah sighed.  She'd even gone online to learn more about winning this game, but the  truth was the odds and calculations didn't interest her. She came for  the chatter and friendship.