Love of a Cowboy 1 Read online

  Cord did the same. “Abigail, stop!” he shouted as he raced after her. “Abigail!”

  But she ignored him, continuing to ride toward the trees. He put his spurs hard into his horse and gained on her quickly. Racing ahead of her, he brought his horse around in front of her, forcing her to bring her own mount to a sharp halt.

  “Dammit, Abigail, I told you to stop!” he said. “Couldn’t you hear me?”

  Her brow furrowing, she shook her head. “No. What’s wrong?”

  He gestured with his arm in the direction she had been headed. “You can’t go this way. It’s too dangerous,” he told her. “I want you to promise that you’ll never even try to go that way.”

  He saw that she was looking toward the tree line in confusion. “Isn’t that the way down to the house?” she asked.

  “Yes, it is, but you’d be lucky to live through it if you went that way,” he said. “The slope turns into nothing but loose rock halfway down. Once your horse goes into that, you’ll slip and slide all the way to the bottom, probably bringing half the slope with you. If that isn’t enough, the walls start to rise up tight on either side so that you couldn’t turn around even if you wanted to.”

  “I didn’t know,” she apologized. “I thought this was the fastest way back to the house.”

  He shook his head. “It’s my fault, really,” he said. “I should have pointed it out to you when we rode out here.”

  They rode back to the house the long way around, and at a much more leisurely pace. In the barn, Cord unsaddled both horses, and then brushed down his big bay while Kayla did the same to her mare.

  “You ride very well for a beginner,” Cord said, glancing at her as he brushed down his horse.

  She didn’t answer for a moment. Abigail might not be a horsewoman, but Kayla had ridden all of her life, and was quite comfortable in the saddle. She couldn’t admit that to Cord, though. “I love riding,” she said simply, running the brush over her horse’s glossy coat.

  “You can ride any time you’d like, you know,” he told her. “Just let any one of the hands know, and they’ll saddle your horse for you.”

  She gave him a smile. “I don’t need anyone to saddle my horse. I can do it myself,” she said, a challenge clear in her voice.

  He lifted a brow. “Really? Well, that might be the case, but ask for help anyway.”

  After giving the horses both feed and water, they made their way to the far end of the barn. In one corner, several of the hands were seated around an old crate, and as she and Cord drew nearer, Kayla could see that the men were playing poker.

  One of the hands, a stocky, blond man named Joss, looked up from his cards as they approached. “Want to join us, Boss?” he asked Cord.

  Beside her, Cord shook his head, declining the offer, but he must have seen her look of interest because he leaned close to whisper in her ear.

  “Don’t even think about it,” he warned softly.

  Cord’s words sent a delightful little shiver through her, and for the next few days his warning not to play poker with the hands was all she could seem to think about. What if she deliberately defied him and played cards with them? Kayla wondered as she lay in bed one evening. Would Cord really give her another spanking? And would she get aroused from it again? Though she was almost certain that he would indeed spank her, she finally decided that the only way to know for sure if it would excite her would be to try out her theory. The thought that she was going to intentionally provoke Cord into spanking again her made her pulse race excitedly and she had a hard time getting to sleep that night.

  Since it wasn’t unusual for the hands to play cards after finishing work for the day, Kayla found a game going on when she walked into the barn the following afternoon. The men looked up at her entrance and greeted her warmly. Having met all of the hands by now, she knew most of them by name, and smiled at the group seated around the makeshift card table.

  “Are you looking for Cord, Ma’am?” one of the men asked. His name was Harold, and he was tall and thin with a mop of curly red hair.

  She looked at each of the men in turn before answering. “Actually, I was hoping to play cards,” she said with a smile.

  Harold blinked in surprise. “With us?”

  She laughed lightly. “That was the idea, yes.”

  The other men laughed, but looked at each other uncomfortably. Putting his cards face-down on the table, Harold hastily got to his feet. “Uh…Ma’am, I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea. I’m not sure the boss would like us playing cards with you.”

  “Of course he wouldn’t mind,” she assured them. “He just didn’t want me playing cards in town because it was not safe. But I’ll be perfectly safe playing cards with you gentlemen, right?”

  The men nodded at the logic of her words. And besides, she knew the men would enjoy her company. All of them were unmarried and didn’t often get a chance to spend much time with a beautiful woman. She thought they would be willing to take a chance for the privilege of her company.

  Harold must have thought so, too, because he said, “I’ll get you something to sit on.”

  Kayla didn’t know if Cord would come in before the men finished playing, but she was pretty sure that at least one of them would mention to their boss that she had played poker with them that afternoon. As it turned out, however, Cord walked into the barn after they’d played only a few hands.

  She wasn’t aware of his presence behind her until the men she’d been playing cards with abruptly got to their feet in the middle of a hand and excused themselves with a polite, “Good day, Ma’am.” As one, they hurriedly left the barn.

  Suddenly realizing the reason for the men’s hasty getaway, Kayla felt her pulse quicken. Just how furious was Cord?

  “Care to explain yourself, Abigail?”

  Cord’s voice was soft, but there was a hard edge to it, and Kayla wet her lips nervously as she got to her feet and turned to face him. His arms were folded across his broad chest and he was glowering at her. “I…I don’t know what you mean,” she said, smoothing her hair back from her face and looking up at him innocently.

  He clenched his jaw. “I told you that I didn’t want you playing cards.”

  She smoothed her skirts with suddenly trembling hands. Could she really go through with this? she wondered. “Actually, what you said was that you didn’t want me going to the saloon to play cards,” she pointed out. “If you look around, you’ll notice that this is not the saloon. You really should be more specific next time, you know.” She realized that she was pushing it a little bit, but she wanted to make sure that this whole thing would result in a spanking.

  He scowled. “Are you trying to provoke me?”

  She blushed and looked away, but not before he saw the slight curve of her lips.

  “Is that what you’re doing, Abigail?” he demanded angrily. “Trying to see how far you can push me?”

  Before she could answer, Cord took hold of her arm and dragged her over to where several bales of hay had been neatly stacked in the center of the barn. Her heart beating wildly with excitement now, Kayla tried to dig in her heels, but it did no good.

  “What…what are you doing?” she asked, her voice suddenly trembling. She knew what he was going to do, but she didn’t think he’d do it here! She thought they would go back to the house. Anyone could come in the barn and see her getting spanked!

  He spun around to glare at her, his golden eyes glinting in the afternoon light coming in from the barn’s high windows. “Maybe you don’t think I’m serious, Abigail, but I intend to show you that I mean what I say.”

  Kayla expected Cord to sit down and put her over his knee, like he’d done before. But instead, he surprised her by bending her over one of the hay bales. It was exactly the perfect height for her to lean over comfortably, she noticed. Her heart hammering in her chest, she looked over her shoulder at Cord to see him grab a leather strap from a nearby hook. Though it looked soft and supple, it was also a
bout two and a half inches wide. He doubled it, making a loop and slapping it against his palm. It made a sharp slapping sound, and her eyes widened at the sight of it. Surely, he wasn’t going to spank her with that!

  She started to push herself upright, but a firm hand on her back bent her over the hay bale again.

  “I told you that I didn’t want you playing cards, didn’t I Abigail?” he asked, slapping the strap against his open palm a second time.

  Looking over her shoulder at him, she stared at the leather strap as if transfixed by it. “Cord…” she began.

  “Didn’t I?” he demanded, his voice harsh.

  She hesitated for a moment before answering, and when she did, her voice was soft. “Yes.”

  He slapped the leather against his palm again. “Lift your skirt, Abigail,” he ordered, and when she hesitated, he added, “Now.”

  Reaching back, she slowly pulled up her skirt until it was bunched around her waist.

  “The petticoat, too,” he told her.

  Again, Kayla hesitated, and was rewarded with the feel of leather slapping against her right cheek. The thin material of the petticoat offered little protection and she gasped at the sting left by the strap.

  “The petticoat, Abigail,” Cord said again.

  Kayla’s heart was pounding so loudly now that she was sure Cord could hear it. She couldn’t have imagined this scene better if she’d made it up herself, she thought. She’d deliberately not worn pantaloons beneath her petticoat for just this moment, but now that the moment had come, she didn’t know if she could actually be bold enough to go through with it. Then there was that nasty-looking leather strap…she couldn’t imagine that being used on her bare skin.

  And yet, isn’t this what she wanted?

  Grasping the material in her hands, she slowly lifted her petticoat to reveal delicate ankles, gently curved calves, slender thighs, and then finally her bare and very vulnerable bottom. Her face flaming, she held her breath and waited for the first lash.

  Behind her, Cord stared in amazement. He hadn’t expected Abigail to be naked beneath her skirts, and bent over the hay bale like she was, he was not only treated to the full length of her shapely legs and perfectly heart-shaped ass, but all of her womanly charms as well, and it was all he could do not to unbutton his pants and plunge himself deep inside her. He didn’t think he’d ever seen a woman more beautiful.

  Or known one that was more infuriating, he thought. His wayward fiancé seemed to think that she could get away with anything with just her pretty smile. She needed to be taught a lesson. She needed to know that he meant what he said. If he didn’t teach her that lesson, now, then there would certainly be more problems later on. His hand tightening on the folded piece of leather, he lifted it and slapped it sharply against one creamy white cheek. He certainly didn’t spank as hard as he could, but she let out a gasp anyway. The strap left a soft pink stain of color, which was quickly followed by another on the opposite cheek when he brought the strap down on that one as well.

  Gripping the edge of the hay bale, Kayla let out a soft cry of surprise, and danced lightly from foot to foot. Cord wasn’t hitting her all that hard, but the leather strap still stung intensely. And she loved the feel of it against her flesh as he brought it down again and again on her bare bottom!

  With each stinging lash, she felt herself getting wetter, and in between her soft cries of protest, she couldn’t seem to stop from letting out the occasional moan of pleasure. Cord didn’t concentrate on one particular area of her bottom, either, which only seemed to drive her more wild. Instead, he would move from cheek to cheek, so that she never quite knew where the strap would fall. Sometimes, he would slap the backs of her thighs or administer a few spanks to the tender spot just below her cheeks, both of which would make cry out with a startled “oh!” of surprise.

  Behind her, Cord couldn’t help but admire his handiwork. Abigail’s skin reddened quickly, and even though he had kept the strapping light, her cheeks were criss-crossed with color where the leather had struck her delicate skin. Even more surprising than finding Abigail bare-bottomed, however, was discovering how aroused she was getting from her spanking. From where he stood, he could see the wetness as it glistened on her pussy and ran down the inside of her thighs. Her mound was literally swollen and throbbing with excitement. Still holding onto the strap, he stepped closer to where she was bent over the hay bale.

  Kayla tensed visibly, anticipating the next lash, but instead, she felt Cord’s hand on her upturned bottom. Did he intend to spank her with his hand now? she wondered. She held her breath, waiting, and then sighed with pleasure as he began to gently caress her sore bottom. The cool touch of his hand felt amazing on her scorched skin, and she parted her legs with a moan, silently begging Cord to touch her most intimate place. She didn’t care that she was bent over a hay bale in the middle of the barn, didn’t care if someone walked in and saw them. She needed Cord to touch her or she would surely go mad!

  As if he could read her mind, Cord’s fingertips brushed the damp curls between her legs ever so lightly. Kayla gasped, waiting breathlessly for him to continue, and then let out a startled cry as he gave her bottom a hard smack instead.

  “Get back to the house,” Cord growled in her ear, pulling both her petticoat and skirt down to cover her bottom. He had to cover her up before he lost what little bit of control was left to him. He hoped that Abigail wouldn’t see the outline of his hardness when she turned around, or notice the fact that he could barely stand up straight. Gently taking her arm, he helped her to stand upright. “And no more poker, here or in town,” he added as smoothed her skirt over her hips, his hands lingering a little bit longer than was necessary. He swore that he could almost feel the heat coming through her clothing. “Is that specific enough for you, Abigail?”

  Not trusting herself to speak, Kayla could only nod. She was so aroused that she had to fight to keep from throwing herself at him. If he pulled her into one of the stalls right now, she wouldn’t even think of resisting.

  “Good,” was all he said, and she almost smiled as she realized that he was just as excited as she was.

  She watched as he replaced the leather strap on its hook. “Will you be in soon?” she asked.

  He glanced at her. “After I see to my horse.”

  Kayla nodded, and turned to go, only to shyly glance over her shoulder at him before leaving the barn. She stood outside the door for a few minutes, watching the horses as they grazed in the nearby paddock. Well, she had certainly proved her theory true, she thought with a little smile. Getting spanked definitely aroused her. And Cord, too, she was happy to say.

  Her face still flushed from her encounter with Cord, Kayla hurried up to the house. So preoccupied was she with her thoughts that she didn’t see Dalton Jeffries standing on the porch until she was halfway up the front steps.

  “Mr. Jeffries,” she said, her voice still a little breathless with excitement.

  “Miss Murray,” he said, tipping his hat to her. “I came to see Cord. Is he around?”

  She smoothed her hair back from her face. “He’s down at the barn. He’ll be in shortly.”

  He took in her rosy cheeks and bright green eyes with a grin. “That’s where I was headed when I saw you coming back to the house.”

  Kayla’s color deepened as she abruptly realized what Dalton Jeffries would have walked in on had he gone to the barn looking for Cord.

  “May I come in and wait for him then?” Dalton asked when she said nothing.

  She knew that Cord had warned her to stay away from Dalton Jeffries, but she couldn’t refuse without looking rude. “Of course,” she said, pushing open the door.

  Inside, Dalton Jeffries let his gaze wander over the living room, taking in the curtains she’d made and the throw rugs she’d bought at the general store. “I’ve always said that this place needed a woman’s touch,” he remarked.

  She supposed that was his way of complimenting her. “Can I offer y
ou something?”

  He looked her up and down slowly, his dark gaze lingering for a moment on her breasts before he gave her an oily smile. “No, thank you.”

  Kayla took an unconscious step back, suddenly very uneasy about being in the house alone with him. Where was Cord? she wondered.

  “You look well,” Dalton Jeffries said abruptly. “Life on a ranch must agree with you. It certainly can’t be living with Cord Holderness that has you looking so fetching.”

  Before she could comment, Cord’s deep voice came from behind her. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  Chapter Four

  Kayla breathed an audible sigh of relief at the sound of Cord’s voice. She half-turned to see him striding through the foyer and into the living room to where she stood. As he’d done outside the saloon that day when she’d first met Dalton Jeffries, Cord stepped in front of her, putting himself between her and the other man.

  “I’ll ask you again, Jeffries,” Cord said. “What the hell are you doing in my house?”

  “I came to discuss some business with you, and your beautiful fiancé was kind enough to entertain me while I waited,” Dalton said smoothly. “Nothing wrong with that, is there?”

  Kayla saw Cord’s jaw clench, felt him stiffen beside her, and she unknowingly held her breath, her gaze going from one man to the other.

  “You and I have no business to discuss,” Cord told the other man bluntly.

  Dalton’s mouth tightened. “Why don’t you hear me out before you decide?”

  Cord was silent a moment before answering. “Say what you have to say, and then get the hell out.”

  “I’m here to make you an offer on the ranch,” Dalton said without pre-emption.

  Kayla looked at the blond man in surprise. Cord would never sell this place, she thought, not when he clearly loved it so much.

  Cord’s brows drew together, and his voice was hard when he spoke. “I already told you that I’m not interested in selling.”

  Dalton thought a moment, and then nodded. “Not even if I give you double what this place is worth? Because that’s my offer, providing you agree to convince the rest of the ranchers in the area to sell to me as well.”