Bride Included

She was older now and certainly wiser about how the O’Connors operated. She’d learned the hard way their motives were always self-serving. With that thought, she hardened her resolve. “You won’t get away with this, Seth,” she vowed, and thrust the offending document back at him.

“I already have.” Expression uncompromising, he took the deed from her. When his fingers brushed hers, she felt as though she’d been zapped by a bolt of lightning. The sizzle coursed up her arm, spread through her breasts and settled in the pit of her stomach like a warm pool of molasses.

She shook off the unwanted sensation and jutted her chin up a notch, refusing to be intimidated by his superior height or the intense heat blazing in the depths of his blue eyes. “If you expect me to pack up and leave without a fight, then you better think again.”

“On the contrary, darlin’,” he said, his smooth drawl at odds with the resentment she detected in his voice, “I fully expect you to stay.”

Wariness pulsed through her with every heartbeat, making her feel like a cornered deer staring down the barrel of a rifle—with no means of escape. Was he tricking her somehow? Letting her believe that he wasn’t going to take away the only home she and Kellie had ever had? “I...I don’t understand.”

“There’s a stipulation to the deed,” he said very carefully, as if he wanted her to understand what he was about to say. “A provision your father set and I agreed to before I won that last poker hand.”

So, he’d made his own sacrifice to gain what he wanted—the property that once belonged to his family. She was certain whatever price he paid wasn’t as great as her father’s loss or her own dismal future. “What kind of stipulation?”

His smile was grim. “That we get married.”

CHAPTER TWO

JOSIE stared at Seth incredulously. Losing the ranch to him was one thing, but to marry him? She knew her father could be irresponsible, but she couldn’t imagine him making such a ridiculous demand, and an O’Connor, no less so.

“You’re joking!” He had to be.

“I wish I was.” He crossed his arms over his wide chest, his mouth twisting into a sardonic smile. “The stipulation states that I’ll marry you within one week in order to gain the Golden M.”

The way she saw it, if she refused her father’s terms, there was no way Seth could claim the property. Her father had outsmarted an O’Connor!

It was her turn to be smug. “What makes you believe I’d want to marry you to fulfill the terms of that stipulation?”

“Because it would be in both our interests to do so.”

He didn’t look the least bit concerned by her unwillingness to help him carry out the terms of her father’s stipulation, and that realization caused a niggling of unease to curl within her. “How do you figure it would be in my best interest to marry someone I despise just so he could claim my property?”

A hint of challenge flickered in his gaze. “Because if you don’t become my wife, you forfeit the Golden M.”

She frowned at him. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

From his shirt pocket where he’d tucked away the quitclaim deed, he now withdrew another folded piece of paper. Opening it, he held it toward her.

“Read the terms of the stipulation for yourself,” he prompted when she merely stared at the signed and notarized document. “It states that I’ll marry you within a week in order to procure the Golden M, at which time it will become joint property since we’ll be man and wife.” He gave her a moment to absorb that before continuing. “However, if you refuse to marry me within the specified week, then you lose the Golden M and I’ll have every right as the owner to toss you off the ranch. And if we do get married and one of us insists upon a divorce, that person forfeits their half of the land to the other.”

Unable to believe her father would enforce such binding conditions, she grabbed the document from him and read the contents. By the time she verified her father’s signature on the bottom line, panic and dread had balled in her stomach.

She stared up at Seth, tasting the bitterness of defeat. “You agreed to this...to this farce?”

“I’ve got nothing to lose.” He casually moved closer, and her heart rate accelerated. “And a whole lot to gain.”

She was the one who’d have to relinquish everything if she balked at the terms outlined in the agreement. It just didn’t make sense. Why would her father force her to marry someone who hated her as equally as she detested him, then set forth terms that made a future divorce nearly impossible unless she walked away from the only home she’d ever known?

“So, what’ll it be, Josie darlin’?” he asked, his voice dropping to a low, husky pitch. Reaching out, he stroked his knuckles over her cheek, the tender gesture at odds with the fierce light in his eyes. “Shall I make an appointment with Reverend Wilcox for this week?”

She opened her mouth to make a scathing response but found her throat suddenly dry. His thumb brazenly skimmed over her bottom lip as softly as a butterfly’s caress. Her stomach dipped and tumbled. Bolder still, he held her gaze and strummed his warm fingers down her throat and along the open collar of her blouse.

Her breathing deepened and she shivered, unable to stop the memories of how gentle those big hands of his could be as they slid over her body. How delightfully sweet and seductive.

It had been so long since she’d experienced such consuming passion, such awesome need...but it all came crashing back to her in that moment. She couldn’t help the tiny moan that escaped her.

Seth watched her with great interest, a faint, satisfied smile touching his mouth. “Seems to me there could be other advantages to our getting married,” he murmured as one long finger slowly followed the V of her blouse to where the last button ended between her breasts.

Her nipples automatically tightened, and she knew he could see the dusky rose tips through the thin cotton material. Horrified that he could manipulate her emotions so easily and still have so much control over her body’s response to him, she reached for her temper, embraced the flood of anger and let it explode.

She slapped his hand away from the button she knew he could so easily flick open with his fingers—he’d proved that particular skill eleven years ago. “I’ll see you in hell before I agree to marry you!”

She tried to move around him, but he was fast and agile, bracing both his hands on the porch railing on either side of her, trapping her against him. Before she could raise her knee and use it as a means of self-defense, he pushed a hard thigh between hers, immobilizing her lower body.

The heat that flared within her matched the flames in his eyes. She shoved at his shoulders, but he was a solid mass of muscle and strength, and the only thing her struggling accomplished was to make Seth press closer. Their position became as intimate as two lovers entwined in a sensual embrace.

Except they were enemies and hated one another. She doubted Seth found anything arousing about their situation. She certainly didn’t!

She attempted to lean back, but the railing bit into her spine. That discomfort was nothing compared to the scratch of denim between her thighs and the metallic bite of Seth’s heavy belt buckle pressing against the strip of bare skin exposed between her breasts and the waistband of her shorts. She did her best to ignore the liquid warmth rushing through her veins.

He blew out a harsh breath that tickled the loose strands of hair around her face. His body shifted subtly to accommodate her wriggling, and she felt the muscles flex beneath the hands she’d flattened on his chest. She was appalled to discover that he wasn’t as immune to their position as she’d originally thought. The evidence of his desire nudged the front zipper of her shorts, an unmistakable masculine hardness that caused a deep, clenching thrill to spiral straight to where his knee pressed so insistently.

She didn’t understand how two people who despised each other so much could respond to one another on such a primitive, sensual level. Couldn’t comprehend how eleven years of anger and hurt could melt away with just a look, a touch from Seth. He seemed to be her greatest weakness despite his past betrayal.

His warm gaze focused on her mouth, and the vital hunger she saw there swept through her like the heat of wildfire. And then he gradually lowered his head, his parted lips homing in on hers.

She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. She was fully aware of the quiver of anticipation thrumming beneath the surface of her skin, the need to give herself to this man she’d never been able to forget...or forgive.

Summoning every ounce of willpower she possessed, she turned her head away just as his lips descended. His mouth landed on her cheek, warm and damp and soft as down. Her lack of cooperation didn’t succeed in hindering the rogue’s exploration. His lips slid along her jaw to her ear, and she thought he murmured, “You still want me as much as I want you,” but couldn’t be sure. His rich, dark voice rumbled along her nerve endings, making it impossible for her to think coherently...making her dizzy with a wanting that was not only stupid, but dangerous.

She gritted her teeth against the onslaught of his blatant sexuality and her body’s shocking response to his seduction tactics. “I hate you,” she whispered hoarsely, reminding him, and herself, of that fact. “And I refuse to marry you.”

Finally, he lifted his head and gave her the breathing room she so desperately needed, but he didn’t let her loose. Triumph shone in his dark, sexy eyes. “You’d give me the ranch so easily? Just because you can’t stand the thought of me being your husband and having the right to touch you and kiss you? Or is it because you can’t stand the fact that you want me to touch you and kiss you that has you so fired up?”

His words were mocking, too accurate, and they enraged her. His hold slackened, along with his body, giving her enough room to pull her arm back and wallop him in the belly. He grunted at the impact, but she knew the punch had startled him more than hurt him. Reflexively, he moved his arms from the railing to defend himself, enabling her to take advantage of his surprise and escape. Sidestepping him, she headed down the porch stairs and headed across the lawn toward the stables in her bare feet. She came upon the Stetson she’d shot off his head earlier. Smirking at the gaping hole in the crown, she gave it a good swift kick that sent it tumbling in the opposite direction.

She heard him swear colorfully from behind her and ignored him when he demanded she come back so they could finish their discussion. His boots echoed off the wooden steps as he followed her. She picked up her pace, putting as much distance as she could between them, even though she knew it was inevitable they talk and settle issues.

His taunting words, You’d give me the ranch so easily?, played through her mind, making her realize the seriousness of her quandary. No, she wouldn’t just hand over the only home she’d ever known. But the thought of becoming Seth O’Connor’s wife and living with him on a daily basis with all the resentment and bitterness between them was enough to make her want to rail at the injustice.

There was Kellie to consider in this mess of things, too. How would her daughter react to her mother’s marrying a virtual stranger? And most importantly, how would Seth treat Kellie, considering the awful rumors of the past?

Dad, how could you do this to me? Tears of frustration and uncertainty burned the back of her eyes. She needed to find her father—not that his presence would change the future if those documents Seth had in his possession were legal. But surely they could work out some other compromise or monetary compensation.

He caught her before she could slip into the stables and lose him in the maze of stalls. His hand closed around her arm, bringing her to an abrupt halt, and he turned her around to face him. She glared at his intrusion, despite the hot tears of anger threatening to spill over her lashes.

One look into her eyes and the dark, irritable scowl etching his features slowly faded, replaced by something more charitable. Compassion? she briefly wondered. Surely not. An O’Connor wouldn’t know that emotion if it slapped him in the face.

“Look,” he said, his tone gruff with impatience, “I know this is a shock and you’re upset—”

“I’m not upset. I’m furious!” She shook off his hand, her lips pursing into a tight line. “This is my home, and I’ll be damned if I’ll just hand it over to you without a fight!”

“If you fight, you’ll lose everything, Josie,” he stated relentlessly. “Thanks to your father, there’s one way you can win and keep the ranch and land, and that’s to marry me.”

She laughed, but the sound was dry and humorless. “Yes, it was quite thoughtful of my father to add that stipulation, but it’s hard to be grateful when I can’t stand the thought of being married to you.”

His jaw tightened at her barb. “You’re not my first choice of a bride, either.”

Resurrected anger and hurt shimmered between them. She saw the animosity of the past in his eyes, felt the misery in her heart. Once, she’d wanted to marry him, but that had been before she realized that his interest had nothing to do with love and everything to do with simple revenge on a McAllister.

“Then why did you agree to my father’s terms?” she asked, keeping their conversation, and her thoughts, firmly entrenched in the present. “Why didn’t you just let him lose the money and let the IOUs stand? I would have found a way to pay you and Gary back.”

The corner of his mouth tipped in an easy smile, reminding her how charming he could be. “You always were the responsible one of the family, weren’t you?”

She stiffened, recalling how she’d confided in him when she was sixteen, how she’d foolishly opened her heart and revealed things she’d never told anyone before. She’d told Seth about how her mother died when she was just a little girl of five, and how something in her father died, too, casting him adrift. As a young girl, she’d struggled to keep the household together and, with Mac’s help, learned everything she needed to know about running the ranch until she was finally old enough to take over for her wandering father.

But Seth already knew most of that, and she was beyond needing a shoulder to cry on. “Answer my question,” she said. “If you didn’t like my father’s terms, which include marrying me, why didn’t you just let my father lose the money and let the IOUs stand?”

“It’s not the money I’m after, Josie.” Sighing, he trans ferred his gaze to the green pasture next to the stables Something in his expression softened as he looked out ove the land that went on for miles. “I want this spread, partly because it was originally O’Connor land.”

“Partly?” she questioned, guessing there was more and wanting to hear it all. “What’s the other reason?”

Meeting her gaze again, he pushed his fingers through his thick hair, disheveling the strands more than they al ready were. “I want a place of my own—”

“You have a place of your own,” she interrupted heat edly. “You have the Paradise Wild!”

“Jay inherited Paradise Wild when my father died fou years ago.”

She couldn’t contain her shock. “Your father didn’t leave the place to the both of you?”

“Nope,” he said, his tone filled with a bitterness she didn’t understand. “I just work the ranch and live in a cabin on Jay’s property. He shares the house with his wife and two kids.”

She couldn’t help but wonder what had happened for David O’Connor to disinherit his younger son.

Seth must have sensed the questions forming in her mind since he quickly diverted them. “I agreed to Jake’s term because as much as I want this ranch and property, I have no desire to leave you and your daughter homeless Marrying you is a small price for me to pay to gain this land.”

She refused to give up so easily. “Let me give you the money my father and Gary owed you, and a little more for your trouble, and leave us alone. I’ll give you enough to put a down payment on another spread.”

He shook his head. “I can’t do that.”

“Can’t, or won’t?” Desperation made her voice rise a few decibels.

“Both,” he said in a tone that brooked no compromise. “This was O’Connor land before it ever belonged to a McAllister, and now it’s back in the family. And even then, we don’t know the legitimacy of a McAllister winning it in a poker game all those years ago.”

“My great-grandfather won this land fair and square,” she said, unable to believe any McAllister would cheat so ruthlessly. “And now you’re getting everything we McAllisters worked so hard to build from nothing more than dirt and barren land.”

Her arguments didn’t sway him in the least. “I’m not giving up the deed, Josie, so resign yourself to the fact that there is only one way for you to keep this ranch.”

Her hopes began to dwindle. “And that’s to marry you?”

“Yes.” His expression held no apology or remorse. “I’m willing to put our differences aside and make the marriage work. I’m even willing to take full responsibility for your daughter, even though she’s someone else’s child.”

“How gracious,” she said, nearly choking on the words. “But that’s not necessary. Kellie is nobody’s responsibility but my own. She’s lived ten years without a father and managed just fine.” Josie could see curious questions in Seth’s eyes regarding her daughter and knew she wasn’t prepared to answer any of them. “You’ve conducted your business, and now I’d appreciate it if you’d leave.”

“In a minute,” he said, and from the back pocket of his jeans brought out a folded envelope and handed it to her. “When I picked up the deed from your father’s attorney, he asked me to give you this letter that Jake left for you.”

Not about to refuse the only link she might have to her father, she took the envelope from him.

“Think about your options carefully, Josie, and I’ll be back in a few days for your answer.” He turned and headed for the stables where he’d left his horse. She watched him mount the chestnut in a fluid motion, then direct the mare around to face her.

His horse pranced anxiously, champing at the bit to go. Seth effortlessly held the powerful horse in check with a slight pressure of his thighs. From atop his steed, Seth perused the length of her one last time, from her spring) auburn curls, past the blouse tied beneath her breasts, over her faded cutoffs to the tips of her bare toes. By the time he finished his blatant male survey, her pulse was racing out of control and she felt more restlessly inflamed than she cared to admit

I hate him, she mentally chanted, and shook off the disturbing sensations unfurling within her.

He smiled as if reading her thoughts and accepting her challenge. “Keep in mind, Josie darlin’,” he said, reverting back to that sexy, lazy drawl of his, “we’ll need to be married by next Friday, or everything is mine.”

On that last parting shot, he took off, spurring his horse across McAllister land that eventually gave way to O’Connor property, leaving Josie behind to make a decision that would either bind her to a man who’d cruelly deceived her or force her to give up the only home she and Kellie had ever known.

Either way, she saw heartache in her future.

Seth rode his horse hard and fast toward Paradise Wild, but no matter how ruthlessly he pushed Lexi for speed, he found he couldn’t outrun his conflicting feelings for the woman he’d just left behind.

He slowed Lexi as they neared a wide creek that trickled down from the mountain butting against the side of McAllister and O’Connor property. He waited until his mare had settled, then slid out of the saddle and dropped the reins so she could graze.

Bending down by the creek, he scooped the cool, clear liquid into his palm, brought it to his mouth and quenched his thirst. Then he dipped both hands into the water and ran them through his hair, slicking the thick strands away from his face.

Damn Josie and her trigger-happy finger anyway, he thought irritably. That had been his favorite Stetson, shaped perfectly to his head after years of use, and now he was going to have to break in a new one.

Sighing heavily, he stared at his scowling expression reflecting off the crystalline water. He wanted to hate her just as she claimed to despise him. And for eleven years he’d been able to believe that Josie McAllister meant nothing to him, that their brief time together in high school had been a grave mistake and taught him a valuable lesson he’d never forgotten. Like not to trust a McAllister’s motives.

But try as he might, he never could forget Josie. No matter how many women he’d dated over the years, he couldn’t wipe out the memories of how silky and warm her skin had felt beneath his hands, the sweet taste of her lips, her light, lilting laughter, and especially the soft sounds of pleasure she made when he’d slid deep inside her body. Those images had haunted him every night since the last time they’d made love.

The connection between them had seemed magical, considering they’d been taught all their lives to hate the other. During grade school he’d ridiculed her mercilessly, taking his cue from his older brother, Jay. As a young boy, he remembered that he hadn’t liked hurting Josie with those nasty taunts, but Jay had wanted to keep the rift fueled any way he could, and whenever he suggested they leave her alone, Jay would make his life miserable until he proved that he could dole out his share of jeers and mean insults.

Seth shook his head at the immaturity of his youth, more than a little disgusted that his own father had encouraged the dissension between the McAllister girl and his own boys.

That familial pressure ebbed when Jay finally graduated high school, leaving Seth as a senior and Josie as a sophomore. By that time, she was taking great pains to avoid him, not that he could blame her after the way he and his brother had treated her. When by chance they passed in the halls or on the campus, she never looked him in the eye. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t like the thought of her believing he was as rotten as his brother.

One day as she walked out of a classroom, he’d literally slammed into her, so hard that the impact knocked her back on her bottom and the books in her arms flew in five different directions. She’d sat there frozen, with her skirt up around her thighs, staring at him with a panic-stricken look on her face. Just like an animal cornered by a hunter, waiting for him to either shoot or let her go free.

He remembered thinking how pretty she was, with wild curly hair the hue of fire and cinnamon, wide green eyes emphasized by dark brows, and the smattering of freckles over the bridge of her nose. And he couldn’t help but notice those shapely legs of hers and the small, firm breasts beneath her clingy T-shirt—her blossoming curves were what boys his age fantasized about.

And in that moment, he felt as though he’d been struck by lightning. His heart thudded erratically in his chest and his palms grew damp. It was a crazy feeling, one he’d never experienced before.

Clearing his dry throat, he squatted to her level and handed her the biology book that had landed by his sneakered foot. “Are you all right?” he’d asked.

Not sparing him the slightest glance, she scrambled to collect her other books. “I’m f-f-fine,” she’d said in a soft, quivering voice.

She stood, and just as she attempted to dart around him, he caught her arm. Immediately, she stopped and stiffened, as if she feared he’d rip off her limb if she didn’t. Her body began to tremble as she waited.

“I’m sorry,” he said gently, not for bumping into her, but for all the years of torment he and his brother had put her through.

“I, uh, should have, um—” she swallowed back the tears he heard in her voice, the same ones he saw pooling in her eyes “—watched where I was g-g-going.”

Before he could explain what he’d meant, she wrenched her arm away and fled down the corridor and out the doors leading to the front of the school. He should have let things end there but found he couldn’t He followed her home from school, and when he was positive they were alone, he approached her as she entered the woods that lined both of their properties.