Bride Included

This time, she didn’t cower. Fire flashed in her eyes and she dropped her schoolbooks on the ground. She told him she was tired of being bullied, then came at him full force in an attempt to defend herself. Her attack knocked them both to the moss-covered ground, him on his back, with her sprawled on top of him.

Eyes closed, he didn’t move a muscle, not wanting to threaten her in any way, though the press of her lithe body along his conjured up some interesting fantasies. He began mentally reciting his times tables to detach himself from the situation until his randier thoughts settled.

She squirmed on top of him, her breasts brushing across his chest as she propped herself up on her elbows to look down at him. “Oh, my gosh!” she exclaimed, worry in her voice.

Six times seven is forty-two.

She sat up, straddling his lower body so her thighs bracketed his hips, and gently cupped his face in her cool hands. “Seth?” He decided he liked the way his name sounded on her lips. “Seth, are you okay?”

He wanted to groan at the exquisite feel of her bottom tucked so intimately against him but found he couldn’t utter a sound. Six times eight is forty-eight.

Her fingers quickly unbuttoned his shirt and her palm slid inside, right over his heart. “You’re not breathing!”

He wasn’t? Then why was he so aware of that intense heat pooling low in his belly and his body’s embarrassing reaction to Josie’s position? He concentrated on his arithmetic. Six times nine is fifty-four.

“I didn’t really mean to kill you.” She moved off him, her tone frantic. “I swear I didn’t!” Tilting his head back, she pinched his nose closed and pressed her mouth to his.

He felt her soft lips on his and believed he’d died and gone to heaven. Air whooshed into his lungs, her very breath, and he began to cough and gulp more air. Finally, wheezing in a breath, his eyes opened.

“Oh, Seth,” she cried in obvious relief, “you’re okay!”

It took him a moment to realize what had happened and reorient himself. “I think you just knocked the breath out of me.”

And there, in the woods, it happened...a spark of awareness Seth decided to nurture, with her cooperation, of course. He’d gently cupped the back of her head and brought her mouth back to his and kissed her like he’d been wanting to ever since he’d bumped into her in the hall. Her lips parted beneath the subtle pressure of his, and she moaned deep in her throat, but the sound wasn’t one of alarm. No, she didn’t fear him. She sank against his chest, closed her eyes and let his tongue explore her mouth and tempt her to join in the slow, drugging kiss.

At nearly eighteen, he was two years older than her, had been on plenty of dates and kissed a lot of girls. But none of them tasted as sweet as Josie. He couldn’t get enough of her, and it seemed she was just as needy.

From that day on, he met her after school, anxious to be with her. Because neither of them wanted their families to know they were seeing one another for fear of repercussions, he met her at the edge of the woods and spent as much time with her as possible until they had to head home. Eventually, kisses weren’t enough, and he’d coaxed her to make love. They’d been good together, her uninhibited response to his touch driving him wild with desire for her. He’d been careful about protecting her, but three months later she tearfully informed him she was pregnant.

He’d been scared, certain his father would flay him alive—that’s how much David O’Connor loathed the McAllisters. So, instead, he’d confided in his brother.

“How do you know it’s your baby?” Jay had asked him.

His brother’s question made him wary. “What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded to know.

Jay smirked. “Considering she’s slept with half the senior class, there’s no telling whose brat it is.”

He’d been so furious with his brother’s claim he’d given Jay a black eye. A few days later, the rumors started circulating around school, and he heard bragging in the locker room about Josie and other boys. Considering he’d used protection every time they’d slept together, he found the claims difficult to ignore.

Josie, it seemed, had manipulated him for her own purposes. If she meant to dupe an O’Connor, she’d nearly succeeded. She’d put on a flawless act, making him believe he was the first and only one to know her intimately. The thought had filled him with a white-hot fury and made him plan a fitting retribution.

He saw her one last time. She’d expected him to marry her, to give her bastard child the O’Connor name. Instead of the proposal she anticipated, he’d coldly informed her that he’d deliberately seduced her to gain revenge on the McAllisters, and she’d fallen for the ruse. And since at least a dozen other guys could be the baby’s father, she was on her own.

She’d appeared so convincingly devastated, he’d had to steel himself against the hurt glittering in her tear-filled - eyes. Her pain and despair had seemed so terribly real. But not once did she deny the awful rumors. Not once did she try to explain. She’d walked away from him, head held high.

He hadn’t talked to her since, hadn’t been close enough to touch her...until today. And damned if he still didn’t want her with the same fierceness of his youth, and that irked him more than he cared to admit.

Seth scrubbed a hand over his jaw and let out a low growl of frustration. He hadn’t anticipated her seductive allure, the way her body had filled out with lush, womanly curves that tempted and teased a man’s interest. She was an exciting blend of fire and spirit, and that fiery disposition of hers made him burn hotter than any of the demure, accommodating women he’d dated over the years.

Gruff laughter escaped him. After eleven years of trying to pretend Josie McAllister didn’t exist for him, he found it ironic that he was going to marry her. He didn’t doubt that once her temper cooled she’d agree to become his wife. Despite her fury over her father’s gambling loss, he was certain marrying him was the lesser of two evils when it came to giving up the Golden M. And marrying Josie was a small sacrifice on his part for gaining a prosperous piece of land to call his own.

Seth stood and headed toward his mare. He needed to tell Jay about this recent turn of events and let him know he’d be short a hand and would need to hire someone to replace him. He dreaded the discussion to come, suspecting that Jay was going to explode when he learned that a McAllister was about to become a part of their family. Jay blamed the McAllisters for every misfortune they’d ever encountered. In Seth’s opinion, which he’d always been smart enough to keep to himself, their family’s misfortune was a direct result of mismanagement and too much resentment. He supposed it was easier to blame the family’s old adversary than face the truth that their father hadn’t cared enough to nurture the fertile land they’d lived on, choosing instead to spend his time at the local bar, which had left him drunk and in a surly disposition more often than not.

Refusing to dwell on the bitterness of the past, and the fact that his own father had disinherited him for reasons that proved how spiteful and unforgiving David O’Connor could be, Seth mounted his horse, determined to keep a clear focus on his future-which included Josie as his wife and the Golden M as his new home.

Turning Lexi north, he headed toward Paradise Wild and the unpleasant task ahead.

CHAPTER THREE

SETH found his brother in the spacious office located in the back of the main stable. The door was open, but since Jay seemed engrossed in the open journal on his desk and hadn’t heard him enter the building, he knocked on the wooden. frame so he didn’t startle him.

Jay glanced up, wire-rimmed reading glasses framing his hazel eyes. “Where have you been?” he asked, his tone tinged with a hint of annoyance. “You missed Sunday dinner.”

“Sorry ’bout that.” Usually he was courteous enough to let Jay’s wife, Erin, know when he wasn’t going to be around for breakfast, dinner or supper so she didn’t prepare extra and they didn’t wait on him. Though Seth lived in one of the two cabins located on the ranch, eating with Jay’s family was part of his wages as a hand. It worked for him, considering what a lousy cook he was. “I didn’t think I’d be as long as I was.”

Jay’s gaze flickered over his tousled hair, noted the absence of his Stetson, then narrowed speculatively. “I noticed Lexi was gone. You out checking fences or something? If so, you know you don’t get paid for working Sundays.”

“I wasn’t working,” Seth assured his brother, tamping down the spurt of bitterness surging to the surface. He hated being treated like an employee on the very land that should have been half his. He wanted to believe he’d gotten over his father’s slight, but there were times, like now, when he felt the lash of David O’Connor’s punishment straight to the core. “I was over at the McAllister place.”

That snagged his brother’s attention. He closed the journal in front of him and pushed it aside. “Doing what?” he asked tentatively.

Drawing out the moment of victory, Seth folded his frame into the dark brown Naugahyde chair in front of Jay’s desk, making himself comfortable. “I was claiming the Golden M, which I won in a poker game against Jake McAllister.”

It took a few extra seconds for the importance of his statement to sink in. Seth knew the exact moment it registered—when selfish retribution glittered in Jay’s eyes. “No kidding? You won the Golden M?”

“Lock, stock and barrel,” Seth confirmed. Prime cattle, fertile land, and a feisty woman who hated him enough to threaten his life with a rifle. All his in the span of one night, he thought wryly.

“Whooee!” Jay slapped a hand on the surface of his desk, a wide, gleeful grin splitting his face. “If that isn’t poetic justice, I don’t know what is.”

“Yeah, it’s ironic all right,” he agreed mildly, “considering how we lost the land so long ago.”

Leaning back in his squeaky chair, Jay began spouting plans for Seth’s windfall. “We can join the property again, combine the livestock—”

“No.” Every muscle in Seth’s body had coiled tight. Jay looked taken aback by Seth’s refusal. His brows snapped together, emphasizing his displeasure. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”

“The Golden M is mine, Jay.” His tone was low, undeniably firm, and a trifle dangerous. “And it’ll remain separate property.”

“Why?” Jay challenged. Standing abruptly, he braced his hands flat on his desk and leaned toward Seth, glaring. “That’s O’Connor property! It always has been. It should remain in the family as a whole.”

Under normal circumstances, Seth would have agreed. But considering he’d been stripped of his rightful inheritance, he wasn’t about to share what now belonged to him. “It hasn’t been in our family for over seventy-five years. There’s no reason why it needs to be part of Paradise Wild again.”

Jay’s mouth thinned in anger. “So, you’ll be competing directly against me, then?”

“I’ll be competing with no one but myself. You’ve got a fine breed of cattle, and there are plenty of buyers to accommodate both you and me.”

“I can’t believe this!” Jay’s temper exploded and his face turned a bright shade of red. “Dad is probably rolling over in his grave right about now!”

“Probably, considering he left me with nothing, and I’ve acquired what he always wanted.”

A sneer curled the corner of his brother’s mouth. “If you wanted half of Paradise Wild, then you never should have messed around with Josie McAllister.”

“You’re right, of course,” Seth graciously conceded to what had been the single most stupid mistake of his life. His brief affair with Josie had cost him so much...a chunk of his youthful pride, his half of Paradise Wild and the inability to give any other woman what he’d given her. His heart.

Refusing to dwell on past mistakes, he casually added, “Just so you know, I’ll be marrying Josie by the end of the week.”

Jay’s eyes nearly bugged right out of their sockets. “What?” he wheezed.

A satisfied smile quirked Seth’s mouth, and he decided that he enjoyed having the upper hand for a change. Very concisely, he explained the stipulation Jake McAllister had added to the deed to the Golden M, which included offering his daughter the benefit of marriage in order for her and his granddaughter to remain on the ranch.

Jay’s blistering curses filled the office, and he paced the length of space behind his desk. “And you actually agreed to those outrageous terms?”

Refusing to be baited, Seth shrugged nonchalantly. “I’d be a fool not to. I want the Golden M.”

Jay stopped his agitated pacing and whirled to face Seth His stare turned hard and bitter. “Yeah, you’re a fool all right. An idiotic fool for marrying that little tra—”

“Don’t say it,” Seth interrupted, the chilling tone of his voice menacing enough to make Jay reconsider his derogatory remark. He stood and faced his brother squarely. He was taller than Jay by at least three inches and more muscular from the physical labor of working the ranch and herding cattle.

Now he used that superior strength to send a silent but unmistakable warning. “In fact, I’d appreciate it from hen on that you keep any insulting comments about Josie to yourself.” As much as Seth had his own personal grudges with Josie, he wouldn’t tolerate his brother, or anyone else for that matter, slandering the woman who would be his wife.

“Good God, Seth,” Jay breathed incredulously, “you’re not still hot for her, are you?”

Oh, Josie made him plenty hot all right—in ways than her becoming his wife would certainly appease. “She’s a means to an end,” he said, stating a fact. “However, since she’ll be my wife, I’ll expect you to give her the same respect you would any other woman I would have married.”

Jay shook his head, his eyes wide and wild, as if he was searching for a way to make Seth see reason. “Are you totally and completely out of your mind? You can’t marry a McAllister!” He spit the word out like an expletive.

If Seth wasn’t on the verge of letting his own anger get the best of him, he would have found his brother’s in amusing. But he didn’t care for the ominous slant of their conversation or the hostility burning in Jay’s gaze. For crying out loud, it wasn’t as though Jay had to marry Josie.

He let out a deep breath that did nothing to ease the tense muscles in his body. “I can marry a McAllister, and I will.” His brusque tone left no room for debate. “I suggest you get used to the idea.”

Jay raked him with a scathing look. “You’re going to marry her even after what she did to you?”

Seth didn’t want to think about Josie’s deceit, knowing if he dwelled on that aspect of their time together it would eat him alive. “What happened in the past has nothing to do with the present.” Josie was a business deal, part of the package for the Golden M, which he wanted so badly he could taste the sweetness of freedom owning his own place would provide.

“She used you, Seth!” Jay pointed an angry finger his way for emphasis but didn’t dare actually jab Seth with the offending digit. “And she tried to pawn off that brat of hers as yours after sleeping with God-only-knows how many guys!”

Seth’s jaw clenched. Unbidden, visions of Josie’s daughter filled his mind, momentarily taking the edge off his rising temper. The timid young girl looked just like Josie, with curly auburn hair and big green eyes. Nothing about her physical appearance gave any indication as to who her father could have been. Seth wondered if Josie even knew who’d fathered Kellie.

Shoving the disturbing thought out of his mind, he decided then and there that he wouldn’t punish the girl for her mother’s past indiscretions. It just wasn’t fair.

He headed toward the door, ready to end their discussion, but paused in the threshold to glance back at Jay. He leveled his steady gaze on his brother, who looked absolutely livid at the turn of events. “That ‘brat’ is going to be my stepdaughter and your niece. I’ll expect you to treat her with the same kindness I give your own two children, or you’ll answer to me.” With that, Seth left the office and headed down the long corridor to the entrance of the stable

“Don’t expect me to be at the wedding!” Jay yelled furiously after him.

Seth shook his head. He hadn’t realized until that moment how his brother’s spiteful attitude was so much like their father’s. David O’Connor hadn’t cut anyone any slack especially not a McAllister, and he’d allowed old resentments to fester until it had totally consumed his life. Jay was on that same collision course, straight to emotional destruction.

And there wasn’t a damn thing Seth could do about it.

As he walked out of the stables and felt the warmth of the sun on his face, Seth had the invigorating thought tha he was no longer under his brother’s thumb, no longer an employee of the Paradise Wild.

He grinned. He was a free man with a spread of his own

And it felt pretty damn good.

The heartache was already beginning, starting with the letter Josie’s father had left for her.

Sitting on the wooden bench just outside the barn, she read the brief correspondence Jake had scrawled on a scratch piece of paper. She read his words over and over trying to understand why he’d risk the Golden M in a poker game, add an outrageous stipulation that would ruin her lift and bind her to Seth O’Connor, when he knew there was every chance of losing to the last man in Montana she would have chosen for a husband.

But there were no answers in his letter. Just verification that the deed and stipulation were indeed real and blinding and an apology for what he’d done, for failing her and letting his gambling addiction force him to resort to desperate measures, though he’d done his best to secure her future. He knew she’d be disappointed in him, angry even and he couldn’t bear to face her condemnation, so he’d decided it was best if he left. The note ended by saying that he hoped she’d finally find happiness and not hate him too much for what he’d done, and that he loved her and Kellie.

There was nothing about his returning, and that tore her up more than anything because she couldn’t stand the thought of never seeing her father again.

The hot tears welling in her eyes finally spilled over her lashes. Tears because she would miss her father. Tears because she was so afraid of what her future would hold.

“Oh, Dad,” she whispered around the ache in her heart. She was upset, yes. But she could never, ever spurn him despite the fact that he’d sold her soul to the devil himself. Together, they could have figured a way out of this mess. Alone, she had no way of defending herself from someone as formidable as Seth. He wanted the Golden M, and he wanted it badly enough to marry her for it.

Oh, what a doozy fate had delivered! If she wasn’t so devastated, she would have been laughing hysterically at the twist.

She heard the screen door to the house slam shut and glanced up to see Kellie heading across the yard. She stopped and picked up Seth’s hat, paused briefly to consider the hole in the crown, then continued toward the barn, carrying Josie’s trophy with her.

Quickly, Josie wiped away the wetness on her cheeks and reached deep inside for some much needed fortitude to explain what changes lay ahead. She had to be strong for Kellie’s sake because she was all her daughter had.

The little girl stopped in front of Josie, a frown creasing her delicately shaped brows. “He made you cry,” she accused.

Her daughter looked so fiercely protective, Josie couldn’t help but smile. “No, Mr. O’Connor didn’t make me cry.” She’d come close a few times, out of frustration and fury, but these tears had been for the man who’d raised her so lovingly. A man she feared they would never see again.

Kellie didn’t look convinced. “What did that O’Connor man want?”

Our land. Our house. Everything I’ve worked so hard to nurture over the years.

She patted the space beside her on the bench. “Sit down, sweetie. We need to talk.”

“I don’t want to sit.” The stubborn thrust of her chin didn’t do much to mask the more uncertain emotions Josie saw hovering in her daughter’s eyes.

Not wanting to upset Kellie any more than she had to, she stood and forced a bright smile that felt as phony as it probably looked. “Okay,” she said easily. “Then how about we go for a walk?”

Taking Seth’s ruined hat from her, Josie set it on the empty bench. Without waiting for another refusal, she draped a comforting arm around Kellie’s shoulders and started walking along the white fence bordering the west pasture.

There was no easy way to broach the subject, so she just jumped right into the middle of it. “How do you feel about having a dad?”

“What do you mean?” Kellie asked skeptically.

Josie threaded her fingers through her daughter’s sun-warmed hair. She loved this child so much, wanted so much more for her than she was about to give her—like a dad who would love her unconditionally. She didn’t know if Seth was capable of accepting her daughter without past resentments and rumors getting in the way.

“Well, you’ve asked me before why I don’t get married so you can have a dad,” Josie said, trying to sound optimistic and cheerful. “And I was just wondering if you still felt the same way.”

Kellie’s slim shoulders lifted in a reserved shrug. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

She closed her eyes for a few extra seconds, ignored the dread churning within her and just let it out. “Well, Mr. O’Connor and I are going to get married.”

Kellie jerked away from her, her expression horrified. “But I don’t want him as a dad! He’s mean!”

Josie realized she had the choice of agreeing wholeheartedly with Kellie and tainting her daughter’s perception of Seth right from the get-go, or she could make this transition for Kellie as smooth as possible. She might not like Seth, but there was no reason for Kellie to fear or hate him so vehemently.

The dirt drive had given way to a grassy knoll with patches of wildflowers. Josie stopped before they strolled too far away from the house and reached for her daughter’s small hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“Mr. O’Connor really isn’t so bad.” In fact, at one time he’d been charming and sweet, but that had all been a ploy. “When he came over today, he was upset, and so was I. The Golden M is his now, and in order for us to stay here, I have to marry him.”

“Oh.” Josie’s explanation seemed to pacify her daughter and chase away the worry in her gaze. Kellie tilted her head, regarding Josie speculatively. “Do you love him?” she asked quietly.

The unexpected question knocked Josie for a loop, considering she’d once given Seth her heart and a piece of her soul. Thank goodness the fence was right behind her because she found she needed it for support. Once she’d regained her composure and calmed the erratic beating of her heart, she said very firmly, “No, I don’t love him.”

“But maybe someday you will?” Kellie asked expectantly.

Not likely, but she found she couldn’t crush her daughter’s simple hope for a bright future. “Maybe.” It was a stretch, but “maybe” was as close to a promise as she was willing to offer.

“Okay.” Kellie seemed satisfied with that. And relieved. “If you have to many him, and he’s going to be my new dad, I’ll try my best to like him.” She chewed on her bottom lip, and Josie could see the wheels in her mind clicking. And then the tentative query came. “Do you think he’ll like me? Maybe just a little?”

Josie’s chest tightened, and she found it hurt to breathe. How quick her daughter was to accept Seth! “What’s not to like? You’re beautiful, smart and sweeter than sugar.” She lovingly ran her finger down the pert slope of Kellie’s nose and made a silent vow that if Seth ever hurt her daughter by rejecting her, she’d make every day of his life a living hell.

Kellie laughed and spun around happily, arms spread wide. Her cascade of auburn spiral curls shimmered in the sunshine, and then she turned her lovely smile Josie’s way. “So, when are you guys getting married?”