The Gentrys: Abby Read online

  "What do you want to do about this, Abby?" he asked her.

  "I…" She hesitated, looking back to Jake and then studying Gray from under the brim of her hat. "I'm not sure what we can do. I guess Cinco and I will just have to stand up, tell the truth and take our medicine."

  Gray folded his arms over his chest and shook his head. He was about to get himself into something that was bound to work out badly. Stepping into the middle of white man's problems had never seemed like a very intelligent thing for an Indian brave to do. But this was a matter of honor.

  "Couldn't we just continue to claim that we are engaged?" he offered. "Except for Jake, who would know any different? I'm sure that after a month or two things will settle down and people will stop paying any attention. Then we could simply say that we made a mistake, it's over and get back to our own lives."

  Abby's eyes widened as she took an absentminded step away from him. She looked so uncertain, so unlike the Abby who took charge out on the open range, that he wanted to reach out his hand to steady her. But suddenly it occurred to him that she might be afraid—of him. So he jammed his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels.

  "You would dictate the terms of our arrangement," he told her. "Everything we do together as a couple … or don't do … will be up to you."

  Jake cleared his throat. "Well, if you want my opinion, missy, you should take him up on his offer. It would keep the pressure off your back for a while so you can continue working on the range as we planned." He smiled at her then, like a father might at a precious child. "And it would allow your brother to save face with the neighbors."

  Abby straightened her back. "Okay, fine. I know when I'm cornered and out of options. It sounds like a good plan, I guess. And I was the one who started all this nonsense, after all."

  Jake smiled. "No, honey. This isn't your fault. If anyone started things, it was Cinco. But his heart is in the right place, and I'm real proud of you for trying to protect him." He adjusted the Resistol on his head and half turned to go back the way he had come. "I'll leave you two now to come to your 'terms.' And I'll be seeing you back in the saddle bright-and-early tomorrow morning, Abby Jo." Jake ambled off into the night, whistling an old country tone.

  Abby scrunched up her nose and glared up at Gray. "You offered to do this out of some sense of duty, didn't you?"

  "I owe you my life, Abby Gentry. I would do much more than play a part in a minor subterfuge to honor that debt."

  To Gray's great horror, the tough little tomboy swiped once at her nose and then sniffed. "Dang it! Why can't the world just leave me be and let me live my life the way I want?" The words came out like a whine, but he knew they were simply the product of raging frustration and a little bit of fear.

  He reached for her then and dragged her into his arms, speaking soothing words as he wrapped her up in his embrace. "There is no need for tears, Abby. We'll make the next couple of months go by quickly and easily. Have no fear."

  She leaned back her head and pushed at his chest with her forearms. "You big dope. I'm not crying. I never cry."

  With that she dissolved into huge, hiccuping sobs and laid her forehead against his chest. Gray quietly kept still, mildly irritated at her display of weakness and not at all sure what else he should say, as he didn't wish to make things worse.

  When she raised her head again, the dark passion of anger flashed once more in those blazing green eyes. But she made no move to be free of his arms.

  "I guess I should thank you for stepping in to help," she said hoarsely.

  All of a sudden Gray could feel her pulse as it picked up in tempo and hummed through her body. His own blood began to boil in response. Every inch of her pressed intimately into every inch of him, and his muscles tightened with the realization.

  He let his thumb rub lightly under her eye, scooping away the last of the tears. But his fingers itched to rub other places. To soothe … and to stir.

  * * *

  Five

  « ^ »

  Abby's momentary hysteria had turned to a low, dull ache in her stomach. Gray gently cupped her face, tipping it upward so she could see him clearly. Though his dark eyes burned with an intense heat, his gaze was solid, steady.

  A little overwhelmed by how close he was, she hadn't noticed before that they seemed almost melded together. But her body sure had noticed. Her thoughts suddenly detached from reality, and all she could do was feel.

  The sensations were overwhelming. His rock-hard muscles under her hands. Her breasts becoming sensitive and tight. Amazingly, she even began to notice a wetness in her underwear. She couldn't remember that ever happening before. But then, she couldn't remember much of anything with Gray watching her so intently.

  She let her hands roam over his powerful chest and felt his skin ripple lightly in response. How wonderfully delightful it was to feel what she could do to a man's body.

  Her eyes closed tightly, as though they had been ordered to do so. But she found that, without sight, all her other senses became acute, sharpened. The heat, emanating from his body made her sweat, and she shivered as a drop rolled down her back and pooled at the base of her spine.

  She made a move to lick her lips, as her skin seemed to have mysteriously combusted into fire. But the flames weren't the kind that would destroy, instead they licked and tickled her from the inside. She took a deep breath—because she wasn't sure she could remember how.

  She concentrated on the sensations. The smell of leather, hay and horse surrounded her, mingling with a musky, earthy fragrance that grew stronger while Gray held her in his arms. The homey sounds of the stable as the animals settled down for the night and as the crickets called to their lovers in the star-kissed darkness gently assailed her with waves of sensuality.

  Though her eyes were closed, she knew when he bent his head to kiss her. Just the lightest brush of his lips skimming across hers and she heard herself moan. She feared that making a noise would break the spell they seemed to be caught in, and she wished she could've stayed quiet. But her body, reacting on its own, left her helpless to stop.

  She thought he would pull back, end the kiss. Instead Gray grabbed her up into his arms and brought his mouth down on hers in a hot, bruising onslaught. The shock almost knocked her sideways, but the explosion of pure passion blazed through her like a roaring brush-fire. She sank deep into the seduction of his kiss.

  Making love to her mouth, he nipped lightly at her bottom lip until she opened and allowed his entrance. Their tongues mingled, danced, and then his began darting in and out, teasing, arousing, telling her what he wanted.

  She moaned softly again, loving the intimate and sensual way the kiss made her feel. It was intense. Dizzying. Alive.

  Gray's body shuddered as he heard Abby moan. Her nipples strained against his chest. He dragged her shirt from her waistband and slid his hands underneath the tails to lay his palms flat on the skin of her lower back. The softness and the moist heat was more than erotic.

  She arched into him, and he used one hand to cup her bottom, lifting her against his straining erection. He wanted her to know what she was doing to him. What he wanted to do to her in return.

  Her breathing was ragged. His seemed nonexistent. This flash of intense desire seared his brain, leaving him vulnerable, on the edge of madness.

  From the distant reality of the world around them came the high-pitched scream of a hawk. Odd, that the hawk would hunt at night. But the shriek was enough to bring Gray out of the mist of intoxicating passion that had overtaken him.

  He jerked his hands away from her skin and placed them on neutral territory, her shoulders. Watching her closely, he gently set her away from him. Her eyes were still closed, her lips moist and swollen from his kisses. The expression on her face stopped him like a splash of cold water.

  Trust. She'd given herself totally over to him to do whatever he wanted. Well, hell yes, he did want—but more important, there was need and duty. What he needed to do was hono
r his debt to her—not seduce her in public.

  The cool night air swirled around them, now that their bodies were apart. Abby's eyes popped open and she shook her head, trying to focus on him and what had changed.

  With her eyes wide, Gray could see the vivid green had changed to sage, and the black of her pupils nearly blocked out the color altogether. A knifelike slash of molten lust dug into his gut, pushing him to take her farther into the blackness. But when he also saw the naiveté in her expression, he staggered backward—away from the temptation.

  "Uh, I think…" He had to clear his throat to speak. "I think it's getting late. We should be talking about when and how we will appear together as a couple. Then I'd better be getting back." He forced himself to be practical, to make her think of the realities of their situation, as well.

  Then he thought about having to face his stepbrothers and their taunting, and quickly decided practicality should also mean skipping the main house at the Skaggs Ranch tonight. He would grab a bedroll from the bunk-house where he'd been staying and head out to his lodge on the open range. A night under the stars might be just what he needed about now.

  Abby swallowed hard a couple of times. Never … never before had she been kissed that way. Oh, a couple of boys had sneaked up on her in the past when her guard had been down. But their kisses were rather tame compared to Gray's. His lips had been savage, carnal and addictive. She hadn't wanted to stop. Still didn't.

  But apparently, Gray had wanted to put an end to it. He stood there casually, forcing her to think of their situation and what they'd gotten themselves into. Stepping back, to what might as well have been a million miles away, he folded his arms over his chest and put a stoic expression on his face. How could he go from passionate lover to near stranger so fast?

  She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he affected her. "Who should know the truth about us?" she finally managed to ask. "Will you tell your family? Do you think I should tell Cinco?"

  Gray's expression softened, but he still looked like a total stranger. "I won't offer my stepfamily any explanations. It's none of their business. Let them believe what they will." He raised his eyebrows and shrugged a shoulder. "But I have no idea whether you should tell your brother or not. Perhaps knowing the truth would only hurt his pride if he realized he was the one who pushed us into this charade. Then again … maybe you'd like to bring him a little pain for causing us all this trouble?"

  "No. I don't want to see Cinco hurt. He's still my brother, after all. And this little story of ours won't turn out to be so awfully troublesome, will it?"

  He did smile at her then, and Abby could feel the sunshine all the way down to her toes, even though the night had grown late and darkness surrounded them.

  "Being engaged will be no trouble if we can find a way to work around it … without disrupting our normal routines any more than necessary," he told her. "What do you do with most of your days and nights, princess? As a matter of fact, why are you at home at all and not off jet-setting around the world?"

  The wisecrack should have angered her, she guessed. In fact, she'd bet a bundle on the fact that he'd deliberately said it to bait her, to push her away and quash her lustful feelings. Well, she was more grown-up than that. She could deal with her own feelings quite well, thank you.

  And his opinions really meant nothing to her in the long run, anyhow. Just as their spectacular kisses obviously meant nothing to him. She needed him for their charade. Period.

  "I'm on the Gentry Ranch because it's my home." Her voice softened when she thought of the ranch. "I did go away to school, but I've decided that the ranch centers me. It's a big part of who I am. I've never really wanted to do anything else with my life but work the land … tend the herds.

  "My other brother, Cal, he's the jet-setter in the family," she said, feeling the smile swell in her heart as well as on her face at the mention of Cal. "He doesn't much care for the ranch and being this far removed from the bright lights. But then, he's a star. He only comes home when Cinco bugs him enough."

  "What do you do with your days here?"

  "I work as a hired hand on the ranch," she muttered. "And you'd better be grateful that I do, too. Otherwise, you might still be out in that dry wash becoming buzzard bait."

  Gray scowled, but said nothing. Abby sighed. Dang man.

  "Look," she tried again. "I like waking up under a mesquite and knowing that no matter how far I ride that day, it'll only be home that I see. I like the solitude and the beauty of the range … of the animals." She wondered if he could possibly understand her motivations, when she wasn't so sure she understood them herself. "I don't really feel alive unless I'm living out with my beautiful horses and testing my body and my determination against the elements."

  "Typical white-man's philosophy," he scoffed. "It's useless for man to fight against nature for very long, Abby. I've learned that the elements possess a unique sense that most humans do not. Nature can rage when it's provoked, but there is a quiet significance to its ways. If you work with nature, it will provide. If you fight against it, it can destroy."

  He finally smiled. "We'll have our so-called courtship out on the range where we both spend most of our time. I'll teach you to work with nature, not against it. I'll teach you the ways of my people. Our time together will be worthwhile."

  His little speech finally set off the sparks that had been building inside her. Of all the egotistical—

  "Fine," Abby spat out. "You can tag along with me as a trail partner if you want. We'll tell people that the only way we can spend time together is to do it while we work. Anybody who knows me will believe that. But you're going to have to pull your own weight."

  She swirled around and headed off toward the saddle barn. "And we'll just see who teaches who, Gray Parker."

  The next morning a red-hot sun beamed down on the disaster fermenting on the front lawn of the Gentry main house. Last night's party had obviously turned into more of a brawl than a celebration.

  Abby had been working since before sunup with a crew of hands who all looked the worse for wear. Vern Butler sported a deep gash under his left eye as he folded chairs and stacked them in a trailer, readying them for storage. Bucky Waters's right wrist was bandaged and, with his fingers turning black and blue, he had to use his other hand to rake up dirty paper plates and broken glass bottles.

  Although Abby wasn't physically handicapped, she had a different type of internal injury that kept her from giving the cleanup project her all. Her pride was suffering mightily, although none of the crew had mentioned a word about her sudden engagement or the gossip that went with it.

  But then, no one had said much at all this morning. There was plenty of pain and guilt to spread around, meshing together with the melted puddles of last night's ice and the ashes of this morning's smoldering pit fires. No one seemed to want to bring up their own foolishness.

  Abby found herself daydreaming about the kiss she'd shared with Gray as she folded table legs and shoveled dirt into the barbecue pits. It had been so intense. So unlike anything she'd ever experienced. One part of her wanted to find out if they would spontaneously combust like that every time they kissed, while another part of her vowed she would never again let him get that close.

  Something odd had bubbled up inside her as she'd kissed Gray—something she hadn't recognized. It was like a strange sort of softness, and Abby had always thought of herself as too tough for such mush. At some point, though, the feeling turned into something more like a terrifying power, arising from deep inside her. The whole thing had been a wonder, and she wasn't sure she wanted to chance putting herself through that again.

  Abby heard her name being called from across the yard and glanced up to see Cinco waving at her as he strolled over to where she stood.

  "Morning, Abby Jo," Cinco said cheerfully. "I see that being newly engaged agrees with you." He looked around at the bruised knuckles and hung-over expressions on the faces of the other hands.
"But maybe it's something we'd better discuss in private. Can you spare a few minutes to talk to your big brother about this sudden change of events?"

  "Uh, I guess I can take a few minutes." She gulped.

  It finally occurred to her that she might have to actually tell the brother she loved an out-and-out lie. Her stomach was in a queasy knot, and she tried to remind herself how he'd pushed her into this by his own actions.

  "Aw, now don't look so forlorn, baby sister," he told her. "I'm not here for any lectures. I know love is a funny thing. It's possible that a person might not ever find love in their entire lifetime. But on the other hand, on one surprising night, that same person could just look up and … bam … love smacks them right between the eyes."

  Cinco took the shovel from her hands and propped it up next to the wheelbarrow full of dirt. "Lets go on over into the shade and I'll fetch you some water or lemonade. I've been busy since last night and I want to tell you what I've been up to."

  Abby let him drag her toward one of the tall pecan trees where cold drinks had been set out for the hands. She was a little reluctant to hear what he had to say, but she sucked up her courage and pasted on a smile.

  When they'd settled into a couple of folding chairs and Abby had taken a sip of lemonade, Cinco began his little speech. She sure hoped he wasn't going to embarrass himself—or her.

  "Honey girl," he took her free hand in both of his. "I think I know you well enough to know that you take people at face value. That you believe the whole world must feel exactly the same way you do about things."

  She started to shake her head, but Cinco rushed to say what was on his mind.

  "Don't try to tell me you aren't like that. I've known you all your life, missy, and being that way is who you are. But it's also a fine way to get yourself hurt bad. Not everyone is as goodhearted or as open as you are," he sighed. "Fortunately, you have at least one big brother that watches out for your welfare."