In the Arms of the Rancher: In the Arms of the Rancher / His Vienna Christmas Bride

“His name is Jeff,” she said, tossing off the name as if it didn’t matter, and it truly didn’t.

“He grabbed your arm.” His voice had changed. It was now close to a growl, almost scary. “And if he tries something like that again, touches you again when you’re with me, his name will be sh—er—mud.”

She had to chuckle at his quick word switch. “I do know the word, Hawk.”

“I know. Everybody does.” He shrugged. “My father is a stickler for speaking politely in front of or to a lady. I feel the same way he does.”

“That’s nice.” Kate said as he drove into the restaurant parking lot. He came to a stop next to her car in the otherwise empty lot.

Unfastening the seat belt, she turned to face him, offering her hand for him to shake. “Thank you, Hawk, for a lovely evening.”

Although he took her hand, he shook his head. “I’m following you home, Kate.”

“But…”

That was as far as he allowed her to get. “It’s late, so I’ll follow you and make sure you’re safely inside.” His voice was firm; he would brook no argument.

Shaking her head, she sighed and didn’t argue. She got out of his car and into her own. True to his word, Hawk stayed on her tail, nearly tapping her bumper, until she pulled into the parking area of her apartment complex.

Once again he parked next to her. He got out of his car as Kate stepped from hers.

“I’ll see you to the door,” he told her.

“Really, Hawk, it’s not necessary,” she protested. She might as well have saved her breath. Without replying, he strolled beside her to the entranceway.

“Thanks again, Hawk,” she said once more offering her hand to him.

“You’re welcome.” He took her hand and used it to gently draw her close to him. “Will I see you again?”

“Yes,” was all Kate was capable of saying due to her suddenly dry throat.

“Tomorrow evening?”

She swallowed, hesitated before repeating, “Yes.”

“Good.” A mixture of relief and satisfaction colored his voice. “I’ll pick you up here at seven-thirty, okay? We’ll do something fun.”

She nodded, her heart skipping when he raised his hand to cradle her face, his thumb slowly stroking her cheek. “That creep was right about one thing, Kate,” he murmured, gently lifting her chin with the heel of his hand. “You are one very beautiful woman.”

Now Kate’s heart wasn’t skipping; it was thundering.

“Hawk…I…”

“Shh,” he murmured, lowering his head to hers. “It’s all right. I won’t hurt you.” His breath whispered over her lips an instant before his mouth brushed over her mouth in what was not a kiss, but more a promise. “Good night, Kate.” He stepped back. “Now, go inside and lock up.”

Barely breathing and not thinking at all, Kate went inside, unlocked the lobby door and ran up the stairs to her second-floor apartment, completely forgetting the elevator.

As Hawk slid behind the wheel of the rental, he glanced up at the building just as lights went on in the second-floor front apartment.

Staring at the glow through the sheer curtains on the windows, Hawk propped his elbows on the steering wheel.

Kate.

Surprisingly, as his lips had barely touched her own, there was still a shimmering trace of her taste on his mouth, an unfamiliar twinge in his chest. He rather liked it. Smiling as a shiver raced up his spine, Hawk switched on the engine and drove back to the hotel he’d booked on the Vegas Strip.

Not twenty minutes after leaving his car key with the valet, Hawk was in bed, lost in fantasies of Kate, her lithe, equally naked form close to his.

Hawk woke suddenly, his skin chilled beneath a fine film of perspiration. He was cold, hot and frustrated. He hadn’t even realized he’d fallen asleep, only to suddenly awaken right at the most intense part of his fantasy dream. He was aching with need.

Knowing he had to take drastic measures to cool the passion pouring through him, he dragged his body from the bed and headed for the bathroom.

Damn, he hated cold showers.

Kate stood at a side window, one hand flicking the curtain aside an inch or so. Gliding her tongue over her lips, she watched until she could no longer see the car.

She could taste him.

Ridiculous, Kate told herself and let the curtain fall back into place. That mere brush of his mouth over hers had been the furthest thing from a kiss she had ever experienced. She walked to the bedroom. Why in the world would she think she could taste him? Testing, she again slid her tongue along her bottom lip and snivelled.

No, it wasn’t ridiculous; she really could taste him, and she liked the taste very much. Kate feared that a real deep kiss from Hawk could very likely be addictive…like rich dark chocolate.

A real deep kiss from Hawk. She replayed the thought inside her head. Swallowing to moisten her suddenly parched throat, she began to undress, her hands fumbling with the simple routine. She mumbled a mild curse to herself.

She had just managed to remove her blouse when the phone rang.

Hawk? Kate froze, her heart beating wildly. It rang again. Not bothering to look at the caller ID, she snatched it up, nearly dropping it. Drawing a quick breath in an attempt to keep a tremor from her voice, she said, “Hello.”

“Who was he?” Jeff snarled.

Kate went cold and stiff. “That is none of your business.” She wouldn’t so much as say his name.

“Yes, it is,” he snapped back at her. “You’re mine and you know it.”

“I never was yours,” she said icily. “And I broke up with you months ago, as you well know.”

“You were in a snit.” He was back to the snarl. “And—”

“No,” she said, cutting him off. “You were being verbally and emotionally abusive…again.”

“I’m not giving up, Kate. I know you love me.” His voice was suddenly soft, cajoling, “I’ll get you back.”

“I’ve been patient up until now, Jeff,” she stated flatly, finally saying his name, anger stirring in her voice. “If you bother me again, I’ll report you to the police. And this time I mean it.”

“Sure,” he said in honeyed tones. “You mean it every time, which only tells me you don’t mean it.”

Kate drew a deep breath in an attempt to control her anger. How in the world had she ever thought that syrupy tone was attractive? Now it repulsed her. He repulsed her.

“I have only three words for you, Jeff,” she began.

“Yeah, I know,” he replied smoothly, interrupting her. “Like I told you, you love me.”

“Go to hell.” She hung up on him.

Kate stood trembling, staring warily at the phone as if it might attack her.

Damn him. Damn him. Damn him.

She had had enough. Tomorrow morning she would see a lawyer about reporting him to the authorities and would take out a restraining order against him.

Although Kate had never done so before, in case there happened to be an emergency in her family, she was so uneasy that she disconnected the landline and turned off her cell.

After she was ready for bed, she still felt shaken by the call and so she checked the locks on the front door, even though no one could go beyond the lobby without a card key. Then she double-checked the locks on the patio door and on every window.

Kate lay in bed for some time, unable to sleep. When she finally drifted off, she drifted right into a dream. Not of Jeff and fear, but of Hawk and unbelievable pleasure.

He came to her softly, murmuring of the exciting delights to be found in the joining of their bodies. She sighed in her sleep, her body moving in sensual restlessness.

She wanted, needed, ached for his touch, the feel of his mouth taking passionate control of hers, for his hard body possessing, owning, her own.

Kate woke, trembling, quivering deep inside her body, her breathing harsh and uneven. She kicked the covers away from her perspiration-slicked body. Never had she had a dream so real, so vivid that it actually brought her close to release in her sleep.

Her breathing slowly returning to normal, she sat up, staring into the dimness of her bedroom, her mind and senses still reeling.

While it was true that it had been some time since she had been intimate with a man—she would not think his name—it seemed unreal to Kate that a dream of a man she had so recently met and knew practically nothing about, not simply a dream of a fantasy man, could affect her to her very core. Her thoughts ebbed as sleep claimed her once more.

To her surprise, Kate woke later refreshed, if still a bit anxious.

What was with her, anyway? Kate asked herself, musing on her unusual reaction to Hawk. Yes, he was extremely attractive and fun to be with, not to mention sexy as hell. But he was just another man…wasn’t he?

Shying away from the thought, Kate centered her attention on the business at hand. Going to the phone, she reconnected the landline and dialed Vic’s home number.

Lisa was happy to oblige with the name of a good attorney, as she had been after Kate to swear out a restraining order against Jeff ever since Kate had thrown him out of her apartment.

Minutes later, Kate had an appointment for the next morning with the attorney Lisa had recommended, an older-sounding man named Edward Bender. It was a start.

Chapter Four

Even though she knew the time of Hawk’s arrival, Kate jumped when the buzzer rang from the intercom in the lobby. Fortunately she had just finished swiping her lashes with the mascara wand, or she would have had a very strange black streak across her temple.

Grabbing her purse and a Black Watch plaid wrap that complemented her off-white dress, she flipped the button and spoke into the wall-mounted receiver.

“Hawk?”

“Yes.” His sexy, low voice gave her an all over tingly sensation.

“I’m coming right down.”

Without waiting for a response, Kate switched on a night light, locked the door and headed for the elevator.

She had felt an attraction to him from the moment he had walked into Vic’s, standing there all tall and lean and ruggedly masculine.

On the other hand, even from the beginning Jeff had appeared almost too handsome, cultured and charming. Almost too good to be true. Of course, before long, his real character had come through.

Kate snorted derisively as she pressed the elevator button. Handsome, cultured and charming was an act hiding Jeff’s true nature.

As Kate stepped inside the elevator, an old adage of her mother’s came to mind. Handsome is as handsome does. Well, for Kate, handsome had proved to be a nasty jerk when things didn’t go exactly the way he wanted them to go.

“Hi,” Hawk said as the elevator doors parted. “You look lovely.” His eyes held a teasing gleam. “How did you know the Black Watch was my favorite of the clan plaids?”

Kate laughed. “I didn’t. It just happens to be my favorite, too. And hello yourself.” She grinned.

“Where are we going this evening?”

Shaking his head, Hawk cupped her elbow and led her to the car. “I thought we’d pick up where we were, before we were so rudely interrupted. Do you avoid all casinos or just the one we almost went in last night?”

“Just that one,” she said and buckled her seat belt. “But I don’t go to casinos very often.” She smiled. “As the old song goes, I work hard for my money. But I do play occasionally.”

“Table games?” He arched his brows.

“No, I play the machines only.” Kate arched her brows back at him. “What about you?”

“Poker, Texas hold ’em,” he answered, shrugging. “And some blackjack now and again. Ready to go?”

“Whenever you are,” Kate said, and he pulled out of the lot.

He was quiet for a moment as they drove. “I don’t know what scent you’re wearing but I like it…a lot.”

Kate grew warmer and more tingly. “Thank you, Hawk. It’s the only scent I wear.”

“Whenever or wherever I smell it, I’ll think of you.” He flashed a smile at her.

Kate was certain everything inside her was melting. She told herself she had better be careful, because this man wasn’t merely dangerous, but he was dynamite. Compared to Hawk, she thought, Jeff wasn’t even a firecracker.

Playing with firecrackers was one thing, but playing with dynamite…Kate shivered.

“Are you cold?” Hawk asked, noticing her shiver even though he never took his eyes from the road. “I can turn on the car heater.” He reached to do so.

“No…no.” Kate shook her head while offering a weak smile. “I’m fine, really, and we’re almost to the strip.” Jeez, she thought, if he turned on the heater, she’d melt right there in front of him.

“It does seem strange,” he said. “In October here in Vegas in the afternoon, the temp can go into the seventies and even the eighties, yet in the evening it can drop down into the fifties and forties.”

“It’s different where you live?” she said, wanting to know every little thing about him, about his life.

He grinned. “It depends what part of the state you’re in. In Denver it can get very warm during the day and cooler in the evenings. But in the mountains where I live, while we might get some warmth in the daytime, it can get damned cold at night.”

“I like the mountains,” she said, unaware of the wistful note in her voice.

“You’re not from here originally?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m from Virginia, near the Blue Ridge Mountains. My father runs a small horse farm.”

He slanted a quick smile at her. “There you go. We have something in common.”

“Horses?” She laughed.

“Hey, don’t knock it. It’s a start.”

Kate couldn’t help wondering exactly what he meant by a start. A start of what? He was only going to be in Vegas for a while, wasn’t he?

Hawk surprised her by avoiding the Strip, driving to one of the older hotel casinos in town, one she had never been inside before. That is, old in comparison to the unbelievably expensive palaces forever under construction.

Kate liked it even better than the much more elaborate pleasure palaces with which Vegas abounded. For one thing, it wasn’t nearly as crowded as the others.

“So,” Hawk said, “what do you want to do?”

Kate was quiet a moment, glancing around her. “I think I’ll wander around a bit—” she flashed a smile at him “—until one of the machines calls to me.”

“Fine,” he said. He paused before adding, “I think I’ll wander to a blackjack table. Suppose we synchronize our watches and meet right here in, say, an hour?”

Grinning, Kate looked at her wristwatch. “Right. If I don’t see you before, I’ll see you then.”

They had no sooner separated than Kate began to feel lonely. Silly, she chided herself, checking out the lines of machines as she strolled around.

In a bid to distract herself from thoughts of Hawk, she sat down at a machine at the end of a row. She spent several minutes studying the instructions on the three-coin machine before feeding a twenty into the money slot. She racked up eighty credits in the credit window.

Kate had played the machine for almost the full hour when she became aware that someone new had taken the machine beside her. She did not spare a glance at the person.

“Hello, Kate.” Jeff’s smooth voice gave her a start. “I saw you sitting here all alone and came to keep you company.”

Jeff, here? Kate could hardly believe it. This casino was not the kind he frequented; he preferred the glitzy new ones that drew all the celebrities. The thought that followed sent a chill down her spine.

Was he following her, stalking her?

Scared but determined not to reveal her fear to him, Kate turned a cold look on him. “I’m not alone. I have company, and even if I didn’t, I would never want yours.”

“Now, Kate, we both know you don’t—”

That was as far as she allowed him to go. “You know nothing, Jeff, but I’ll enlighten you.” She drew courage from the cool tones she had achieved. “If you aren’t gone from my sight within the next few seconds, I will begin screaming for security.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” he said. “You forget I know you hate making a scene.”

“Perhaps,” she admitted, “but I’ll gladly make an exception in your case.” She made a show of glancing at her watch. “You have exactly two seconds to disappear.” She didn’t look away from her watch. “One…two…”

He was off the stool and moving away from her, swearing a blue streak. Shaken by the encounter, she drew a calming breath, and the minute he was out of her sight, she hit the pay-out button and walked away with five dollars more than she’d started with.

She was hurrying back to the place where she’d agreed to meet Hawk when she spotted him at a blackjack table. She hesitated a moment but then decided to approach him, certain Jeff wouldn’t try anything again so long as Hawk was near.

Coming up behind him, Kate laid a hand on his shoulder to let him know she was there. “Hi. I see you’re winning.” There were several stacks of chips in front of him.

“Yeah.” He turned to smile at her. “You ready to leave?”

“No hurry,” she said. “I’d like to watch awhile, if you don’t mind me standing in back of you as you play.”

“Not at all,” he said, managing to keep an eye on the play of cards at the same time. “I’m not superstitious. Fact is, I like you there.”

Feeling inordinately pleased and warmed by his comment, especially after that unpleasant encounter with Jeff, Kate lightly flexed her fingers on his shoulder. The warmth flowed stronger when he raised a hand to cover hers briefly, his fingers lacing with hers.

The feeling of his touch remained on her even as the evening continued. Would his touch bring such torrid dreams again? She hoped it would banish those nightmares that only Jeff could inspire.

Chapter Five

The idea was to tire himself out enough to sleep. Hawk knew that was the only reason he found himself back at the poker tables until after two in the morning. As he had earlier in the evening, he won. But that wasn’t the purpose.

He didn’t even doze off, not until after four. Hell, he thought, prowling around the spacious room, popping the top off a can of light beer, he might as well have stayed at the poker tables. He stopped at the floor-to-ceiling window to stare at the glaringly bright lights along the Strip. On the street below, the traffic, both human and vehicular, was almost as heavy as in the afternoon or evening. He took a swig of the cold beer. Obviously there was more than one town in the country that never slept.

His thoughts swirled continuously, every one about Kate. Hawk sighed, “Kate.” He didn’t realize he had whispered her name aloud or finished off the beer. Shaking his head at his wandering mind, he tossed the can into the wastebasket.

He wanted to be with her so badly, he ached with the wanting, the raw need. His back teeth hurt from clenching them together. There were other women in Vegas; there had been plenty of them in the casino and the restaurant yesterday morning. Several of them had cast unmistakable looks of availability at him. He had ignored them.

Just any woman wouldn’t do. Hawk was always selective when it came to the females he spent time with, despite the fact that he so seldom left the ranch.

This time around was different. Hawk was coming to the reluctant conclusion that the only woman he wanted to spend his time with was Kate.

And Kate had man problems, dammit.

She appeared to resent the oily guy more than fear him…but one could never really know what another person was thinking, feeling. Vic had said Kate had thrown the creep out of her apartment for verbally abusing her. And last night he had been far from pleasant.

Hawk frowned. Was the jerk harassing her? Had he been harassing her since she dumped him? Hell, that was months ago now.

When Kate had joined him at the blackjack table earlier that night, she had seemed different than when they had separated, he to play the tables and she to play the slots. It had been nothing overt or obvious. She had been quieter and slightly more reserved, not at all the woman who had laughed so easily earlier.

The wheels in Hawk’s mind were rolling full speed. Had that creep approached her again between the time they parted and when she joined him at the blackjack table? Had she come to him for protection? Hmm, it was possible, and now that he thought about it, probable.

Confused by her sudden change in mood, he had slightly withdrawn. He had had such high hopes for a kiss, a real kiss, with her before she went into her apartment building.

Hope in one hand and spit in the other.

The old saying of his father’s slipped through his mind. Hawk rejected the very idea that he gave up hope. Sliding beneath the covers again, he thought he had better get some sleep if he wanted to be sharp enough to catch any slight change in her attitude, because he could see her tomorrow.

This time he was unconscious within minutes.

Kate entered Mr. Bender’s office with a heavy step that morning. The lawyer was older—close to sixty she judged—and he appeared to be the classic prototype of an old-fashioned gentleman.

She told him her problem. In turn, Mr. Bender had questions.

“Did he ever hit you, even the lightest slap?”

“No.” Kate shook her head. “But…I must admit there were times when he was the most angry, swearing…I began fearing he might.”

“I see. Did he ever threaten you?”

“Not outright,” she said, “but in a vague, oblique way.” She sighed. “I don’t know how else to describe it, but he frightens me.”

“Now, don’t you worry, Miss Muldoon. The law will take care of this…” He hesitated, his lips pursed as if from a sour taste. “This lowlife.”

Sighing with resignation at her predicament, Kate pushed herself through the revolving door.

Directly into reality. Her cell phone rang. Kate hesitated, eyeing the instrument as if it might leap into the air and bite her. It wasn’t a number she recognized.

Thoughts whipped through her head, one tripping over another. Jeff…the bastard. She knew; she knew he’d track her to the lawyer’s. He must have followed her.

What to do?

The phone rang for the third time. Kate opened the phone, determining to rip a verbal strip off him.

“Hello?” Her mouth was bone-dry; her voice, sharp with impatience. She fully expected to hear Jeff’s angry voice in response.

“Kate?”

A silent sigh of relief slipped through her lips. “Hawk! I, uh, I’m glad to hear it’s you. I had a lovely time last night,” she said, trying to forget the unwanted and unwelcome appearance of Jeff, and the doubts assailing her now.

“I’m glad.” Now she could hear the relief in his voice. “I wondered whether something had upset you.”

“Well, you wondered wrong,” she said, her tone firm. “It’s been a very long time since I laughed the way I have with you these past two evenings, Hawk. It felt good.” Too good.

In all honesty, and as much as she would have liked to deny it, she felt shaky at the awareness it was him on the line. She felt as if everything was smoldering inside her—and breathless, shivery. She had felt somewhat the same at first with Jeff almost two years ago. This time the feeling was stronger, more intense. No, she didn’t like it at all.

She had believed herself immune to any other charmer. For Jeff had been charming and gallant for many months, right up until she had agreed to him moving in with her, his ring on her finger. For a while she had been content. Her contentment had lasted all of three months. A bitter taste filled her mouth. First Jeff had become possessive, questioning her every move when they weren’t together. Then he had become verbally abusive, cursing, accusing her of being with other men, even Vic.

The warm sensations that had been inside Kate faded to cold determination. She could not, would not, go through a situation like that again.

He jumped on her last remark. “In that case, lunch?”