Wyoming Fierce Read online

  “Never miss an opportunity is my motto,” Cane whispered, catching the back of Bodie’s head with a firm hand. “Come here.”

  He pulled her mouth under his and kissed her with furious, instant passion, his mouth insistent as it opened hers and his tongue shot inside with slow, deep thrusts.

  She moaned and pushed close to him. He groaned and jerked away, lifting his mouth and wincing.

  “Oh, your poor ribs! I’m sorry,” she said huskily.

  He swallowed, his hand going to his rib cage. “Not your fault. I started it.” He looked into her eyes hungrily. “You do realize that I can’t have sex until my ribs heal?”

  She gaped at him, going scarlet.

  He laughed. “Sorry. That’s blunt. What I mean is, you don’t have to have people to chaperone you. Not for a couple of weeks, at least. I can’t do anything. Well,” he purred, tugging her closer, but not completely against him, “I can do some things,” he added, smoothing his hand blatantly over the thrust of her breast under her pretty red blouse. “This, for instance…”

  She caught his hand as the sound of voices neared. “You can’t…”

  He bent and kissed her quickly, drawing away at the same time. “I want to,” he whispered, and his black eyes looked straight into hers. “I’m going to, Bodie. That’s fair warning.”

  “Please,” she whispered, her eyes eloquent. “You know, you must know, that I can’t resist you. Please don’t take advantage of something I can’t help. It’s like eating and drinking to you, but I’ve never…I couldn’t live with it,” she faltered.

  He touched her mouth with his fingertips. “I know that, sweetheart,” he said softly. “I won’t hurt you. Well, maybe a little. Just at first,” he added, leaning toward her, lingering at her soft, full lips. “When I first go inside you…”

  She made a hungry, helpless little sound at the graphic remark, and his lips closed on hers, tenderly, hungrily.

  “Thinking about it makes me hard,” he breathed into her mouth. “I want you, Bodie. I want you so damned much!”

  She shivered as his hand came up to smooth around her breast. Even through the soft fabric, her body answered him, giving away secrets as the hard tip lifted to his fingertips.

  “I’ll bet you’re swelling, too,” he whispered as he kissed her. “In the same place I am…”

  “Cane,” she groaned.

  “I haven’t done it since I lost my arm,” he confessed against her open lips. “I’ve been afraid to try, afraid of being ridiculed. I’d try, with you,” he added in a soft groan. “I wouldn’t be embarrassed if I fumbled.”

  She opened her eyes and looked into his, anguish visible in her face. “I…can’t,” she choked out. “I’m so sorry…!”

  “You can.” He drew back and lifted his hand to her face. He touched her swollen lips tenderly, just with his fingertips. “Bodie, I think you should marry me.”

  “Wh-what?”

  Her lack of confidence made him even hungrier. Her helpless pleasure was visible in her bright, wide eyes. It made him feel more like a man than he’d felt since the loss of his arm. “Marry me,” he repeated.

  She almost said yes. She wanted to. But he wanted to prove he could still be a man, and she was attracted to him. It didn’t mean he loved her.

  “You don’t…love me,” she said bluntly.

  He sighed. “I’m fond of you,” he insisted.

  She bit her lip. “It’s not…enough.”

  “Yes, it is, you little liar,” he murmured against her mouth. He hadn’t liked the idea of proposing at all. But her resistance added spice to this. He wanted her. He wasn’t likely to attract any other woman who wanted more than his wallet. Bodie wanted him. Wanted him badly. Loved him. If he didn’t make a move, Tank would. Tank was already infatuated with her. He couldn’t lose her to his brother. He couldn’t lose her at all....

  He crushed her mouth under his, forcing her head back against the sofa. “Marry me,” he ground out. “Come on. Say yes. Say it. Say it!” He punctuated each demand with another hard kiss.

  “All right,” she exclaimed brokenly. “All right. Yes. Yes! I will!”

  “No, you won’t,” Mallory said firmly as he walked into the room and glared at his brother. “Cane,” he added warningly.

  But Cane was grinning from ear to ear. “She wasn’t saying yes to some illicit relationship,” he informed his brother. He watched Tank as he walked into the room. “I asked her to marry me. She said yes.”

  Tank’s face fell. Cane’s eyes glittered with dark triumph. He didn’t often win competitions with his brother, but he’d won this one, the important one.

  “Well, congratulations,” Mallory said, taken aback.

  “Welcome to the family, baby sis,” Tank added, and forced a smile.

  “Thanks,” Bodie said huskily. She laughed self-consciously and moved a little apart from Cane. Things had been heated. Now she was trying to calm down and look collected, when she was shattered by the unexpected proposal.

  “Better take good care of her,” Tank told his brother firmly. There was an unheard threat, as well—Tank would be waiting if Cane botched it. He wanted Bodie, too. Nobody else seemed to notice his disappointment, but Cane felt it. He also felt a little ashamed. He shouldn’t feel a sense of victory at hurting his brother’s chances with a woman. But Bodie was Cane’s. There was no getting around that fact. It showed.

  “When?” Mallory asked.

  Cane blinked. “When what?”

  “When are you getting married?”

  Cane hesitated. He was feeling suddenly trapped by his own impulsive proposal. But he glanced at Tank and saw cynicism there. Tank thought he’d put it off, postpone it. He was in for a shock.

  “This week,” Cane said abruptly. “As soon as we can get a license and a minister.” He looked at Bodie. “We’ll have a church wedding, even if it has to be rushed. We’ll invite everyone. Well, almost everyone,” he added coldly. “No former family members,” he said, indicating her stepfather.

  “So soon?” Bodie stammered. “But…but I have one more semester to go at college,” she faltered.

  Cane smiled. “And you’ll go. I want you to finish. You can come home on weekends. We’ll give you a car to drive back and forth. We can use your truck for scrap metal,” he added maliciously. “I hate seeing you drive around in that aging tin can. It’s dangerous.”

  She was going to defend her truck until he said that. She beamed. He cared about her that much, at least. He didn’t want her hurt. It wasn’t much. But it was a start.

  “No honeymoon just yet, though,” Cane said with a hard sigh. “I’m a walking basket case for the foreseeable future. You’ll have to help me down the aisle,” he told his brothers with a chuckle, “because I’m not going in a wheelchair.”

  “You know we will,” Tank said, and the affection in his eyes made Cane feel less guilty.

  Bodie was feeling less threatened. Cane couldn’t function just yet with his ribs and his leg in that condition and she felt safe, for a while. She’d cope with her hang-ups when she had to, but for the meantime, she and Cane could really get to know each other. They could talk without the intrusion of physical pleasure, just for a few weeks. It might help him to understand her, to care for her more, if he saw her as more than just a way to physical satisfaction.

  Cane wasn’t used to talking to women. She knew instinctively that he was more interested in bedroom antics than social chat. He probably hadn’t ever really been in love. She knew he’d been briefly involved with some woman who’d chosen a law career over him and went away, but they’d never been engaged and it hadn’t been really serious according to Tank.

  She glanced at Tank with fleeting guilt. She hadn’t realized until lately that he was really interested in her, and she was sorry about it. But she loved Cane. Nothing could stop that.

  Tank knew. He smiled at her in a way that told her he wouldn’t have hard feelings against her or his brother. She was now his l
ittle sister and he’d protect her and care for her, but not flirt with her. Never again.

  She looked back at Cane, who was watching her with a keen, unusual look. He smiled softly. “You’re red as a beet, Bodie.” He chuckled.

  “I’ve never been proposed to before,” she stammered.

  “First time for everything.”

  “I guess so.” She searched his black eyes. “Are you sure?”

  He nodded. “I’m very sure.” And suddenly, he was. Sure that it was the right thing to do, sure that he cared enough for her to really try to make the marriage work. And if it didn’t work out, there was always divorce, he mused. Odd, how painful that thought was. He didn’t love Bodie. He was very fond of her. Would it be enough? It would. He was certain it would. Almost certain, anyway.

  * * *

  THEY WERE MARRIED at the local church where the Kirks attended services. The minister, a tall, silver-haired man with kind dark eyes, performed the ceremony while the Kirk brothers, Morie, all the ranch hands and more than a handful of local citizens sat in the pews.

  Bodie wore a white wedding gown with simple lines and lace accents, and a fingertip veil covering her radiant face. She carried a bouquet of poinsettias, which accented the stark white of her gown in a very artistic way. Cane wore a dark suit with a white shirt and patterned tie. He also wore the prosthesis. He’d whispered to Bodie that they were having a professional photographer record the event and he wanted it to look like he had two arms even if he didn’t. He smiled when he said it, though, for the first time talking about his disability without bitterness.

  The photographer took his shots carefully and discreetly, without diverting attention from the couple at the altar.

  After Cane slid a simple wide gold band on Bodie’s finger, and she slid one on to his, the minister pronounced them man and wife. Cane lifted the veil back, and looked upon his bride for the first time as his wife.

  He hadn’t expected it to feel profound. But it did. He frowned at the sudden sense of possessiveness, protectiveness, that he felt with her all of a sudden.

  She worried because he looked angry.

  He bent and kissed her very tenderly. “Mrs. Kirk,” he whispered against her lips.

  She flushed and laughed nervously.

  He grinned. Just that quickly, the tension was gone.

  * * *

  MAVIE HAD A CATERER come in to provide a feast for the guests in the large fellowship hall. Bodie stood next to Cane, all flustered and laughing, her face so radiant that she looked beautiful. Cane smiled at her. He still had reservations. He felt confined. It was a feeling he’d never experienced. He also felt possessive of his new wife, but he was confused and he couldn’t quite sort out what he really felt.

  Bodie slid her fingers around his a little nervously. She was unsure of him, and he looked odd, as if he wasn’t happy about the decision he’d made to marry her.

  “I won’t be possessive,” she said under her breath. “I won’t hound you or…or demand things. I just wanted you to know how proud I am to be your wife.”

  His heart swelled. He looked down at her with quite black eyes. “I wasn’t sure about this,” he confessed, looking at their linked hands, at the wedding band on her finger. “Just…give me some time to adjust.”

  “You’ll have lots of it when I go back to school, and get out of your hair,” she teased lightly.

  He scowled. “What about your master’s work?”

  She shrugged. “I can start that anytime. I just want to finish my undergraduate work and get my degree. There are all sorts of jobs I could do even with just a Bachelor of Science degree, you know.”

  “Jobs.”

  “I want to pull my weight around here,” she said firmly. “I’m not the sort to socialize. I don’t really get along well with most people.”

  He laughed hollowly. “Me, neither,” he said inelegantly.

  “I noticed.”

  He pursed his lips.

  “And I really would appreciate it if you could restrain yourself from attacking people in bars, just for the foreseeable future,” she said demurely.

  He sighed. “I guess I can try.”

  “I know I’m not old enough to understand a lot of things,” she said, staring up at him. “But I can listen. I know you don’t trust people you don’t know. You can trust me. I’d never say a word about anything you tell me to another living soul. Not even your family.”

  He twirled her hand in his. “You’re my family now, too.”

  Her heart lifted. “Yes. I guess I am.” She smiled slowly.

  He chuckled.

  * * *

  AFTER THE RECEPTION, Cane and Bodie changed clothes and the Kirk brothers loaded two suitcases into the hired limousine that was going to take them to Jackson Hole for a brief honeymoon in a luxurious hotel suite. Cane had wanted to take her somewhere exotic, but his injuries were still painful and they made it difficult for him to even move, much less get on a plane for an extended trip.

  Bodie was very excited. She didn’t care where they went. She only wanted to be alone with her new husband, even though she knew that Cane wasn’t going to be able to do much as a lover. It didn’t really matter. She was happier than she’d ever been in her life.

  * * *

  ALONE IN THE HOTEL ROOM, overlooking the sharp white crests of the Teton Mountains, Bodie put on a pretty red dress and waited for Cane to come back up from the little store in the lobby. She’d been looking at brochures and found a couple of places she wanted to go and see…if he felt up to it. It was almost lunchtime, so they could get something to eat along the way. The Kirks had paid the limousine driver’s expenses to stay in the same hotel and be available to take them sightseeing. It would save Bodie the trouble of having to drive, since Cane wasn’t able just yet.

  Thirty minutes later, she wondered where he’d gone. She had a fear that the overwhelming newness of marriage might be wearing on him. She went downstairs, putting the room card key in her pocket and locking up behind her, to look for him.

  He wasn’t in the small souvenir shop. Worried, she headed for the only other place he might be. The bar.

  Sure enough, he was leaning against the bar, very relaxed, talking to an exceptionally pretty woman with long blond hair wearing a stark white wool dress that ended five inches above her knees. She had an exquisite figure and beautiful long legs.

  Bodie felt dowdy in her inexpensive, off-the-rack red dress. She hesitated in the doorway, feeling betrayed. Just married, and her husband was in the bar marking time with another woman.

  Even as she watched, Cane laughed and bent his head, and kissed the blonde woman.

  Bodie felt sick. She turned and went back up to the hotel room. She should have waited for an explanation. She should have barged in and yelled at him. She should have done…something!

  What she did was grab her suitcase, call the driver, and go home.

  * * *

  HER CELL PHONE RANG WHEN the limousine was halfway there. She looked at the number, recognized Cane’s cell phone and turned the phone off.

  The driver’s phone rang. She could see him talking, see him looking in the rearview mirror and grimacing. He opened the electric window between them.

  “Mrs. Kirk, your husband said would you please turn on your phone?”

  “You tell my husband to go to hell with his new blonde friend!” she raged. “And close that window!”

  The driver flushed. He powered the window up, grimaced again, spoke into the phone, grimaced once more, nodded and hung up. He drove somberly all the way back to the ranch and stopped at the front door.

  Bodie was fighting tears. She’d never felt so humiliated in her whole life. It was worse because when she got out of the car both Kirk brothers and Morie were waiting for her.

  “Cane’s sorry,” Morie said at once, coming forward with a worried expression. “Really sorry. He was talking to someone he knew from the cattlemen’s association....”

  “Yes, s
omeone blonde and sexy and knockout gorgeous, in the bar,” Bodie said through her teeth. “He kissed her…!”

  She took off her wedding ring and put it in Morie’s hand. “You wait right there,” she told the driver, still fuming. “You’re driving me to Billings right now.”

  “Bodie,” Morie tried to reason with her.

  “No,” Bodie said icily. “I was a fool! I knew what he was and I fooled myself into thinking it doesn’t matter. But it matters! I’m the only one who got married today. He just put on a wedding ring. He left me sitting in the room waiting for him while he was passing the time with another woman. How do you think I feel right now?”

  Morie sighed. “Betrayed.”

  “Exactly. I’m going to stay with Beth until classes start next week. I’m sorry,” she told the brothers. “I’m so sorry. I just can’t deal with this. I made a mistake.”

  “It just needs time,” Mallory said gently. “It’s a big step for both of you.”

  “Especially for Cane,” Tank tried to reason with her.

  “Yes. One woman instead of several, I can see how big a step that was for him,” she agreed. She bit her lip. Tears were threatening. “I can’t stay here. I’m sorry to ruin the rest of the holidays for you.”

  Morie hugged her close. “I’m sorry it’s ruined for you. Come on. I’ll help you pack. We can Skype on New Year’s Eve. Okay?”

  Bodie choked back tears. “Okay.”

  “It will be all right,” Morie promised. “You’ll see.”

  * * *

  CANE CAME HOME FUMING and cursing at the top of his lungs. “She walked out on me on our wedding day!” he raged when he was back in the house. He was furious that he’d had to wait all day while the limo driver took Bodie all the way to Billings and then came back to Jackson Hole for him. It was after midnight when he got to the ranch.

  Morie darted upstairs to avoid the confrontation she knew was coming. She didn’t need any more upsets in her fragile condition.

  Mallory put his hands on his hips and glared at his brother. “And you did nothing at all to deserve it.”

  Cane frowned. “I went down to get a bottle of aspirin and when I got back to the room, she was gone. I tried to call her on my cell phone and she wouldn’t even answer. I called the driver and he said she said she was leaving and she didn’t want to talk to me.” He threw up his hands. “I don’t know what the hell happened!”