Rancher Untamed

“So do you dance?” he asked. Diego’s voice was low and smooth. She’d spent way too much time thinking about the way he said her name. He lingered on the last vowel as if he liked the way her name sounded on his lips.

“I do, but mostly with Penny, and that little imp pretty much just jumps around and strikes crazy poses. I’m sure you’re not going to want to see me do that,” she said.

“I wouldn’t rule it out, but maybe not in this venue,” he said with a wink. “My nephew is a big fan of lying on the floor and spinning around when the music is on.”

“Penny does that, too. I’m pretty sure that’s a classic toddler move,” she said.

“Can’t recall it from my own past, but I hope I had a little more style,” he said as the music changed and Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” came on. “Want to give it a try? See if you can control the urge to jump around and pose?”

She smiled and nodded. “This song is from the Trolls movie.”

She groaned internally. She didn’t even have a kid and yet kid stuff was all she could talk about. She’d turned into an old lady without even realizing it was happening.

“Please pretend you didn’t hear that,” she said. “Starting right now I’m going to be young and wild Pippa.”

“No arguments here,” he said, taking her hand and leading her onto the dance floor.

She’d expected him to let go of her hand, but he didn’t. Just held her as they swayed to the music. She didn’t have a hard time getting into it and remembered the last time she’d danced like this had been years ago when she’d gone to the winter formal at her boarding school before her mom had died and everything had changed.

After a period of grief, the board of the House of Hamilton had informed her father that he was no longer an official partner and would only be voting Pippa’s shares until she came of age at twenty-five. Her relationship with her father changed after that. And when she turned eighteen, he had become obsessed with who she would marry and determined that she should choose a distant cousin of his who was his protégé.

Unexpectedly she felt the sting of tears and she shook her head until she could shove the emotion back down. She twirled away from Diego, who looked as if he were going to ask a question, and continued dancing with her back to him until her emotions were under control.

So much of her journey had been fed by her mom’s death, but she was cool now. She was in control and she knew exactly what she was going to do.

The song ended.

“We’ve had a lot of requests for this song and I think it’s about time I played it. ‘Save a Horse’ by Big & Rich, so, ladies, grab your cowboy and enjoy,” he said.

She knew the song well as it was one of her favorites, but until tonight she hadn’t had a cowboy of her own. She did now. She took his hand. All around them on the dance floor, there was laughter that soon turned into close embraces and kisses. But Diego just smiled and kept his eyes on hers as she sang and danced with him.

The crazy surge of emotion she’d had earlier changed into something else as she realized just how long it had been since she’d let her hair down and just danced.

At the end of the song, Diego pulled her close and their eyes met moments before he lowered his head and kissed her. Unlike the embrace on stage earlier, this one didn’t feel like it was for show.

* * *

Diego and Pippa stayed on the dance floor for the next three hours. Some couples disappeared, then came back looking...well, like they’d enjoyed themselves. But Diego remained where he was. He drank champagne, which hadn’t escaped Mo’s notice. His brother gave him a look and Diego knew he was going to hear about it later. Alejandro was dancing with someone Diego didn’t know, but he was pretty damned sure she wasn’t his longtime girlfriend. According to the gossips at the coffeehouse, they’d had a fight about Alejandro’s inability to commit and she’d dumped him about six weeks ago.

Pippa stuck close to his side and hadn’t mentioned the kiss he’d been unable to stop himself from giving her. He knew that it was a bachelor auction, and all in good fun, yet as he’d held her hand and danced her around the floor, he’d wanted to be hers. He’d wanted her to have really claimed him.

“I don’t want this night to end,” she said as the DJ announced that there was time for only one more song.

“It doesn’t have to,” he said. “Wait here.”

He went to the bar for a bottle of champagne and two plastic flutes before leading Pippa away from the party to one of the patios that overlooked part of the golf course. It was quiet as they moved away from the party.

“One of the things I really love about Texas is how big the sky is,” she said, putting her hands on the railing and looking up. There wasn’t that much light pollution out here, so the stars were visible.

“Me, too,” he admitted. “Where are you from? I mean, you’re obviously British.”

“Caught that, did ya?” she asked as she turned and leaned back on the railing.

“Yeah, I’m smart that way,” he retorted, pouring her a glass of champagne and handing it to her.

He poured another one for himself as she took a sip.

“I was born in Hampshire, but we mainly lived in London except when I was at boarding school,” she said.

“I have to admit I have no idea where Hampshire is,” he said.

“That’s okay. I had no idea where Cole’s Hill was until Kinley moved here,” Pippa admitted.

“Why did you come with her? Las Vegas is way more exciting than this,” he said.

“I had nothing holding me there. My job as Penny’s nanny is important to me,” she said, taking a sip of her drink. “I made Kinley a promise when Penny was born that I would stay as long as she needed me.”

“You were there when Penny was born?” he asked. This was the most she’d told him about herself since they met, and he was curious.

“Yeah. We were on a city bus when Kinley went into labor. I just stayed with her when she was taken to the hospital because she was scared and alone and we’d been chatting before her water broke... I think we both needed a friend in that moment,” Pippa said. There was a note in her voice that hinted there might be more to the story, but she shook her head and looked over at him. “We’ve been friends ever since. What about you? Who’s your oldest friend?”

He took a sip of his champagne. It was never going to replace Jack Daniels as his favorite drink, but the taste was growing on him. “If I’m honest, my brothers. Maybe Mauricio, since he’s younger than his twin, Alejandro, by several minutes. Inigo is five years younger than me and closer to my sister, Bianca. He’s a Formula One driver like Bianca’s first husband was.”

Why was he telling her all of this? But he knew. He didn’t want to make any moves that would send her running away from him again. Even though she’d bid on him tonight, every other time he’d tried to connect with her she’d shut him down. And he didn’t want to let this end.

Not now.

Not until... Well, not until he figured out the secrets behind those gray eyes. She always seemed so calm and controlled, but tonight there was a fire and passion in her gaze that he wasn’t going to walk away from until he uncovered its source.

“You have such a big family...like the Carutherses. Is that a Texas thing?” she asked.

He had to laugh. “Well, they do say everything is bigger here. The families in Cole’s Hill certainly are.”

“I guess that’s true,” she said. “I do like this area of Texas. So lush and pretty with the green rolling hills. I mean, it’s a bit of a stretch, but it does remind me of our country houses in England.”

“Country houses?” he asked.

She shrugged. “You know, big old Georgian mansions that have been in one family forever.”

“Then why are you here in Texas and not with your family?” he asked. “Sounds like legacy is important to you.”

“It is and it isn’t,” she said. “This champagne is really good.”

He knew she was changing the subject and he was tempted to let her do it. But the moon was full, and she’d claimed him for her own, at least for this night, and that meant he had nothing to lose.

“It is good, but what did you mean about your family legacy?” he asked. “You don’t have to tell me, but I want to know everything there is about you, Pippa... I don’t even know your last name.”

“Do you need to?” she asked.

“If I’m going to kiss you again, I think I might want to know it,” he said. “It’s only fair. You know mine.”

* * *

She was nervous to let him know her last name. It was silly. She’d reached out to her cousins and the board of directors to let them know she was very much alive and ready to claim her seat on the board. Yet here in the moonlight standing so close to Diego, she knew that she didn’t want to tell him, because if he knew she was the House of Hamilton jewelry heiress it would change the dynamic.

He thought she was a nanny—

“Is it really that hard to trust me?” he asked.

“Yes. I’ve been keeping my identity secret for so long that I... Sorry, it’s not you. It really is me,” she said.

“Why are you hiding it?” he asked.

His voice was silky smooth, wrapping around her senses and making it hard to concentrate. “My father has a plan for my future and I want to choose my own path.”

“Fair enough,” he said. “So you are on the run?”

“Yes.”

He came to stand next to her, leaning against the railing so they were facing the river rock exterior of the Five Families Country Club. “Then just be Pippa for tonight. I promise you have nothing to fear from me.”

She reached out without really thinking about it, put her hand on his thigh and squeezed. “I know.”

But the electric tingle that ran up her arm made her wonder if she was close to getting in over her head. She wanted Diego. That wasn’t a surprise. She’d been dodging him in town and trying to limit their contact for that very reason. It was one thing to hook up for a night but something else entirely to start anything with him knowing she was leaving.

And she was going to have to work really hard to prove herself once she was back in England. She wouldn’t have time for anything else.

She groaned.

He turned his head to face her and in those deep brown eyes she saw desire. He quirked one eyebrow at her and she felt the brush of his exhalation against her cheek. He smelled faintly of expensive cologne and the outdoors. She closed her eyes and took a deeper breath. He smelled like everything she wanted. And tonight he was hers.

She had made a few missteps. Talking about herself and her past. She needed to keep those things quiet.

She opened her eyes and he was still staring at her.

Without saying a word she lifted her hand and ran it over the light stubble on his jaw. It abraded the skin of her fingers, but in a pleasant way. She ran her finger back and forth, and he caught his breath as his pupils dilated.

He reached out and touched her face in return, sending chills spreading down her neck and arms. Her breasts felt fuller and she felt the hot pulse of desire between her legs.

She wanted him.

Her lips parted, and he slowly cupped the side of her face with his fingers, rubbing his thumb over her bottom lip. The sensations intensified, spreading through her body in sync with her heartbeat.

She mirrored his gesture. He had a strong-looking mouth, but it was soft to the touch. And his breath when he exhaled was soft and warm. He’d kissed her twice, but both times had been restrained because there’d been so many people around. This time they were wrapped in a cocoon of intimacy with only the moon and stars to witness their closeness.

And that made this feel more real.

It wasn’t just that he’d asked her for honesty and she’d changed the subject. It was that he wasn’t deterred by her half-truths and evasions. He wanted her, she thought again. Just her.

Pippa.

She didn’t need the Hamilton fortune or her family connections for him to see the woman she was and be attracted to her, and that felt...well, like something she’d never expected to find.

He leaned forward and she removed her fingers from his lips, putting her hands on either side of his face. She needed to do this. He’d kissed her before, but she wanted to be the one kissing him.

She needed this for herself and the self-doubt that had driven her from the only world she’d ever known. In a way, kissing Diego was her way of reclaiming the parts of herself she hadn’t meant to discard along the way.

Reclaiming her womanhood.

She wasn’t the nanny or a runaway or even the key to the Hamilton-Hoff future. She was just Pippa.

“Diego.” She whispered just his name as their lips brushed.

He caressed her, his fingers lightly wrapping around the back of her neck, one of them brushing the sensitive spot behind her ear. Her eyes were half-closed as her lips met his, and she felt his power. But it was tempered. He was letting her take what she wanted from him.

She parted her own lips and felt the heat of his mouth against hers as her tongue darted out and she tasted him. Just one little taste of this cowboy on this big Texas night would be enough to satisfy her.

Not.

Oh, my God, definitely not.

She thrust her tongue deeper into his mouth for a better taste of him. He tipped his head to give her greater access and she leaned in closer, felt her breasts brush against his chest. His hand on her neck was still light, but the pattern with his finger was driving her forward. Increasing that need to have more of him. To taste more of him.

His tongue tangled with hers and she heard him groan. The vibration filled her mouth and she shivered again as another pulse of liquid desire went through her.

She shifted closer, losing her balance against the railing, breaking the kiss. The air felt cold against her lips and she straightened. Her fingers went to her own mouth as she shifted away from him.

Their eyes met.

“I want to take you home with me.”

Three

Diego took her hand in his. His voice was rough and husky, but he couldn’t control that. He’d been turned on by her kiss. Just her kiss had gotten him hotter and harder than he’d anticipated. But she’d said she was on the run...something that he’d suspected, along with most of Cole’s Hill. And he didn’t want her to feel pressured to go home with him.

“I’d like that, too,” she said. There was a look in her eyes that made him even harder and he stood, putting the champagne glasses on one of the tables that lined the patio.

He turned back to her and held out his hand.

She licked her lips and closed her eyes for a second. “You taste really good, you know?”

“I think it was you.”

She walked toward him, her hips swaying with each step she took, and he groaned deep in his throat. Damn. She was hot, and she knew it. She kept eye contact with him, but he broke it, letting his gaze skim down her body. He didn’t care if she saw how much she affected him.

He wasn’t going to pretend she didn’t have him hotter than a tin roof in July.

“We’ll have to do it again and again until we figure it out,” she said. Her voice was husky with a note of teasing in it.

“Sounds like my kind of plan,” he said. “I have a town house I keep here in the Five Families neighborhood. Will that be okay?”

“Sounds good. I live out at the Caruthers Ranch and I’m pretty sure we don’t want to drive all the way out there. I don’t really want to wait that long to touch you again, Diego,” she said. Her words adding kindling to the fire that was already burning out of control in his body.

“Good,” he said, lacing their fingers together and leading her down the patio walkway toward the path around the golf course. “I hope you don’t mind walking, but I’ve had too much to drink to feel safe driving even just through this neighborhood. It’s only a ten-minute walk.”

“I don’t mind walking at all,” she said.

He held her hand in his and tried to concentrate on getting back to his place. But her perfume smelled slightly of spring and she kept humming “Save a Horse,” distracting him. Filling his mind with images of her naked, on top of him, riding him. He groaned again.

“Are you okay?”

“Sí,” he said, falling back on Spanish. His family had been in the United States for generations—their original homestead had been a land grant from the Spanish King back in the 1700s—but their family had always been multilingual.

“I know a little bit of Spanish, but it’s not the Mexican dialect that a lot of people speak here,” she said. “I had a very funny conversation with Isabella about that the other day. She’s one of the new hires that Kinley brought in to work in her wedding and event planning office in town.”

Diego didn’t really care about all that. But he liked the sound of her voice, so he just made a hmming sound and she kept on talking. Finally, he saw the cluster of townhomes and his own front door.

“This way,” he said, leading her off the path and across the street to his place. These townhomes were only about five years old and had been built from the same river rock that had been used in the country club. The path leading up to the front door was made of smaller stones but smoothed out so that it was comfortable to walk on.

He reached into his pocket for his keys, which drew his trousers tighter against his groin, and he realized that even walking and talking about nothing for ten minutes had done nothing to cool him down. But that wasn’t surprising. Pippa had had him tied in knots for the last few weeks.

“This is it,” he said. “Still want to come in? If not, I can arrange for someone to take you home.”

“Diego, I want you. I want this. I’m not going to change my mind,” she said.

“You’ve kept me at arm’s length for a while now and I know that there has to be a reason. I don’t want you to regret this,” he said. He never wanted that. This night felt like...well, a dream, and he didn’t want anything to ruin it.

She threw her arms around him and hugged him close. “Oh, Diego, I don’t deserve you, but I certainly want you.”

“Of course you deserve me,” he said, lifting her off her feet and lowering his mouth to hers. Her lips tempted him; the entire time she’d been talking, all he’d thought about was kissing her again.

He set her on her feet and led the way to his front door. He unlocked it, pushed it open and beckoned for her to enter first. They stepped into the foyer. He was a pretty traditional guy, so it was decorated with solid dark wood furniture, and the floor tile was a terra-cotta color that reminded him of the mane of his favorite stallion. He tossed his keys in the bowl on the large chest to the left of the entrance and then undid his tie, tossing it on the table, as well. In the round tile-framed mirror he caught Pippa’s gaze.

She watched him with the stark, raw need that he recognized in himself. She moved closer, putting her hand on his shoulder and walking her fingers up toward his neck to slowly pull his tuxedo jacket down his arms and off.

* * *

Pippa was glad she’d left her heels on because Diego was taller than she’d realized—at least six-one. She reached around him from behind and slowly removed the studs that held his dress shirt together. It had been a long time since she’d been with a man and she wanted to make every moment of this evening last.

“Hold out your hand,” she said, her voice huskier than she meant for it to be.

He did as she asked, and she dropped each of the studs into his upturned palm. She watched him in the mirror as her fingers moved down his chest. It was sexier than she thought to see her manicured nails so close to Diego’s tanned chest as each tiny strip of his skin was revealed. Finally, she had the shirt undone to his waistband. She deliberately rubbed her fingers over his erection. His hips jerked back for a moment and then canted forward into her touch. She undid the button that fastened his pants before tugging the tails of his shirt out. It hung open, giving her a few tantalizing glimpses of his rock-hard stomach and the muscles of his chest in the mirror.

“How are you so muscly?” she asked.

He gave a half laugh, half groan sound. “I spend all my day working with horses that I charge a lot of money for other breeders to use as studs.”

“So?” she asked.

“I want the entire operation to project strength and prosperity and success. That means I can’t look like a schlub when they show up,” he said.

“I like it.”

She bit her lip to keep from just shoving her hands underneath his clothes and touching him.

Patience.

She could do this. She’d spent years waiting to claim her inheritance. By now she should be very good at waiting.

She reached for his free hand and undid the cuff link, dropping it in his palm with the shirt studs. Then he poured them into his other hand, the small studs and cuff link making an almost musical sound as he did so. She smiled.

Then she undid the other cuff link and dropped it with the other shirt studs. He closed his hand around them and shoved them into his pants pocket. She focused all her attention on Diego’s body.

She pulled the sides of his shirt open and he rotated his shoulders, making it easier for her to take it off. His shoulder blade rubbed against her right breast, sending a hot pulse of desire through her.

He tossed his shirt on top of his jacket and she put her hands on his chest. Diego worked outdoors but didn’t have a farmer’s tan. It was clear to her that he had spent a good amount of time in the Texas sun without his shirt on. She ran her hands down his chest. There was a tattoo in roman-type lettering that curved around a scar right below his ribs. She suspected that the scar was old as she ran her fingers over the ridge of it. She put one hand on his waist and the other on the small of his back as she leaned around to read the tattoo he had on his chest.

Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.

“What does this mean to you?” she asked.

“Just a reminder that getting knocked down doesn’t mean I need to stay down forever,” he said, putting his hand over hers and rubbing it up and down his torso.

There was a thin line of hair that disappeared into the open waistband of his pants. She traced the line with her finger as she straightened back up, but he stopped her. He took her wrist in his hand and drew her fingers back to his chest.

“I like the way you touch me, Pippa,” he said, his voice that low growly sound that sent shivers through her body. Shivers that seemed to pool between her legs.

She wanted him.

It had been a long dry spell for her and she’d done her share of masturbating and fantasizing about men. Diego had figured prominently in those fantasies since she’d moved to Cole’s Hill. She figured there was no way he could live up to them. She’d never had a sexual encounter that had. But there was a heat in Diego’s eyes that turned her on. Way more than in her daydreams.

“I like touching you,” she admitted, pushing her hand into the open fly of his pants and stroking the hard ridge of his erection through the cotton fabric of his boxer briefs.

He groaned and reached for the zipper in the left side of her dress.

He’d done this before. She knew from the talk she’d overheard in the coffee shop after he’d left that he was a player. There were a lot of women who had either dated him or wanted him in their bed.

“I’m lucky I got you tonight,” he said.

“I got you,” she pointed out.

“Yes, you did,” he said, raising both eyebrows at her as he ran his finger down her side, touching her skin as the zipper opened and the fabric parted.

He slipped his hand in and around to her back and drew her toward him, swaying along as he sang a popular Blake Shelton song under his breath. She closed her eyes, wrapping her free arm around his shoulders while keeping her hand on his erection.