It Takes A Cowboy (Heart Of The West #5) Read online

  Though her lips were tingling like crazy, she tried to speak more firmly. “Then it’s a good thing I’m a pro at resisting temptation, isn’t it?”

  His hands were suddenly on her shoulders, drawing her toward him. “Do you always have to be so cautious and practical?”

  “Somebody has to be. In my family, I was the one.”

  “Steady, sensible Blair. So...dependable.”

  The word didn’t sound like a compliment the way he said it. She frowned, her lower lip protruding slightly in a way that felt uncomfortably like one of her nephew’s famous pouts.

  Scott groaned. “That does it.”

  Confused, she gazed at him. “What do you—?”

  His mouth was on hers before she could finish the question.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  MAYBE THE FUDGE ice cream had weakened her, undermined her defenses. Maybe sleep deprivation was clouding her mind, making her act in a way that wasn’t at all like her. Or maybe she just couldn’t wait any longer to find out what it was like to kiss sexy Scott McKay.

  She rested her hands on his shoulders, clenching his T-shirt in her fists. Her lips softened beneath his, then parted, implicitly welcoming him inside. He promptly took advantage of the invitation, deepening the kiss until she was aware of nothing but that contact between them.

  He slid his hands slowly down her back, fingertips tracing her curves through the practical cotton pajamas. He left behind little trails of tingles, filling her mind with images of what it might be like if there were not layers of fabric between them. Her pulse raced, and her knees went weak. Scott’s hands tightened on her hips, pulling her closer. Their thighs brushed, and Blair became aware that she wasn’t the only one who was reacting physically to the kiss.

  He murmured his pleasure at her response, then changed the angle of the kiss to introduce her to a whole new level of sensation. And Blair melted into his arms like fudge ice cream left out in the sun.

  She couldn’t have said what it was that shocked her back to reality sometime later. A sound, maybe. A mental kick from her common sense. Whatever the cause, she became suddenly aware of what she was doing-and who she was doing it with. She pulled herself out of his arms, stumbling a little but quickly righting herself. And then she simply stared at him, wondering what on earth had gotten into her.

  “Oh, yeah,” Scott said after a moment, his voice gruff. “That was definitely one of the fantasies I’ve had in mind since I met you.”

  She drew a deep breath into lungs that had been emptied by his embrace, trying to force coherent thought into her mind, which felt much the same way. “Now that we’ve gotten that behind us...”

  “I can’t wait to do it again,” he finished, reaching for her.

  She skillfully evaded his hands. “No.”

  “No?”

  “No. It was an impulse. The natural outcome of a cozy, late-night conversation over fudge ice cream. It won’t happen again.”

  Hands on his hips, he lowered his chin and looked at her through his lashes in a pose she was beginning to recognize. “Never?”

  “Never.”

  “Why?”

  “Why?” She realized she was blankly parroting him. Swallowing, she tried to regain command of a situation that had rapidly gotten out of control. “I think it’s obvious that this isn’t a good idea. We’re here because of Jeffrey, and that’s the only reason. I’m not interested in anything else.”

  “You seemed very interested a few moments ago,” he murmured.

  “Yes, well, that was a mistake.”

  “Kissing me was a mistake?”

  “Would you please stop repeating me? Yes, it was a mistake. It won’t happen again. You aren’t interested in a long-term relationship that would interfere with your adventuring, and I don’t indulge in short-term flings. Even if I didn’t have an impressionable child to be responsible for, that isn’t my style. There’s really no point in letting something like this happen again.”

  “So why did you kiss me, Blair?”

  After a momentary hesitation, she gave a slight shrug. “Let’s just say I have an occasional fantasy of my own.” And had Jeffrey not been sleeping so close by, she might very well have indulged herself, she realized with half-guilty regret.

  Scott lifted his head, and a glimmer of what might have been amusement appeared in his eyes. “You be sure and let me know if there are any other fantasies I can fulfill for you.”

  “I’ll do that,” she answered coolly.

  For some reason she couldn’t begin to fathom, he was suddenly in a cheerful mood again. He made an expansive gesture toward the doorway. “Allow me to escort you back to your staircase.”

  Eyeing him suspiciously, she moved ahead of him and resisted the impulse to run. She didn’t look at him as she started up the stairs. “Good night, Scott.”

  “Good night, Blair. Pleasant dreams.”

  She’d made it almost to the top when he spoke again, his voice a deep rumble in the shadows. “Blair?”

  She paused. “Yes?”

  “You’re deceiving yourself if you think that’s not going to happen again. And next time, you won’t push me away.”

  He’d disappeared into his bedroom before she could think of the words to adequately express her disagreement with his outrageous prediction.

  She never should have given in to her curiosity, she told herself with a muffled groan. It had been a mistake to give an inch to a man who never hesitated to take a mile.

  *

  IT WAS NO SURPRISE that Blair hardly slept a wink during the remainder of the night. She tossed and turned, dozed, then woke to replay Scott’s kiss at least a dozen times in her mind. She worried that something similar would happen again—then feared she would regret it if it didn’t. It was almost dawn when she fell into a restless sleep, which meant that it was a bit later than usual when she woke. Dragging a hand through her tangled hair, dreading that first moment when she would see Scott again, she stumbled into the bathroom to make herself presentable. She quickly showered and dressed, thinking it better if she didn’t go down in pajamas this morning.

  Scott’s bedroom door opened just as Blair reached the bottom of the stairs. He stepped out, yawning, looking as though he’d managed little more sleep than she had. He paused when he spotted her. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning,” she replied, not quite meeting his eyes.

  “Sleep well?”

  “Very. You?”

  “Oh, yeah. Great. Looks like Jeff’s sleeping in.” He nodded toward the closed door of the other bedroom.

  “Yes. I’ll wake him when breakfast is ready.”

  “Need any help in the kitchen?”

  “No, that isn’t necessary, thank you.”

  He nodded. “Then I’ll take advantage of the empty bathroom to shower and get dressed.”

  Deciding the encounter hadn’t been too awkward under the circumstances, Blair went into the kitchen and rummaged for breakfast supplies. She found oatmeal and brown sugar, a combination Jeffrey often requested. She assumed Scott liked oatmeal, since he kept it stocked. While the oatmeal cooked, she made orange juice from frozen concentrate, stirring it vigorously with a long, wooden spoon.

  By the time Scott ambled in, his hair still damp from his shower, three steaming bowls of oatmeal were on the table, along with toast and juice. “Looks good.”

  Wiping her hands on a paper towel, Blair stepped toward the door. “I’ll go wake Jeffrey.”

  She would prefer not to remain alone in the kitchen with Scott, considering what had happened last time.

  She tapped on the door of her nephew’s bedroom. “Jeffrey, it’s time to wake up.” Receiving no response, she turned the knob and opened the door. “Jeffrey? Breakfast is...”

  There was no one in Jeffrey’s room. The bed had been hastily made up, and Jeffrey’s pajamas were thrown over the back of a chair. She glanced toward the bathroom shared by the two downstairs bedrooms. The door was closed on this side;
she tapped on it. “Jeffrey?”

  When there was no answer, she rattled the knob. The door opened beneath her hand. The room was empty.

  Frowning, she left the bedroom. He wasn’t in the living room, and she didn’t see him in the loft. Could he have slipped into the kitchen somehow while she was in his room? She stepped into the kitchen, where Scott was sitting at the table, looking hungrily at his oatmeal. “Have you seen him?”

  He looked surprised by the question. “Jeff? He wasn’t in his room?”

  “No. Not in the bathroom, either.”

  “The loft?”

  “I didn’t go up, but the lights are off up there and he didn’t answer when I called out. Did you hear him moving around this morning?”

  “Not a sound. I just assumed he was sleeping.” Scott stood. “Check the other rooms again. I’ll look around outside.”

  Ten minutes later, there was still no sign of Jeffrey, and Scott looked grim when he rejoined Blair. “One of the fishing rods is gone,” he announced.

  “You think he slipped out to go fishing?”

  “Looks that way. He must have left at least an hour ago—I’d have heard him if he’d left after that.”

  Blair’s eyes narrowed. “Will you take me to him? He knows better than to behave this way. I intend to tell him...”

  Something in Scott’s expression made Blair hesitate. “What is it?” she asked sharply.

  “I’ll go look for him. Maybe you should wait here until I bring him back.”

  “Scott?” What was it he wasn’t telling her? Why did he look so concerned?

  After hesitating a moment, Scott admitted slowly, “I’m a little worried that Jeffrey could have gotten lost on the way to the stream. The path I led him on yesterday isn’t a straight, clearly marked trail. There are quite a few winding paths he could have taken by mistake. It took me months after I bought this place to learn the surroundings, and that was with a compass and a map of the area.”

  “He could be lost out there?” she repeated, her voice strained, irritation changing into fear.

  Scott moved toward the door. “I’ll go find him.”

  “I’m coming with you,” she said, hurrying after him.

  “All right, but stay close. If he headed toward where we fished yesterday, the trail gets steep and narrow. There are some slippery places where a fall could lead to an injury.”

  Blair winced. Now she had to worry about Jeffrey being lost and hurt. She swallowed hard and stepped outside with Scott.

  Twenty minutes into their hike toward the fishing spot, she was growing even more worried. There was very little path to follow, and what there was showed a disturbing tendency to branch into several directions. Scott moved confidently along the faint trail, but he’d been this way many times-unlike Jeffrey, who’d made this walk for the first time only yesterday.

  Why would he have gone off so foolishly on his own this way?

  As if sensing her mounting anxiety, Scott glanced over his shoulder. “You okay?”

  “Yes, I’m just—” She stumbled on a loose rock but quickly steadied herself. “I’m just worried about Jeffrey.”

  “We’ll find him.”

  He’d spoken with conviction. Blair hoped he wasn’t just putting up a front to reassure her. She glanced to her right where another trail of sorts branched off to lead into densely wooded mountainside. She could see no differences between that path and the one they were taking; had Scott not been with her, she would have had no clue which way to turn.

  It seemed like forever before they finally scrambled over a large, mossy boulder to find water, a wide, rushing stretch of the stream they had seen the first day here, though she was certain it wasn’t the same spot. She didn’t even think they’d come in the same direction, though again, she couldn’t have sworn to it.

  Scott stopped and studied the area, making a slow turn to look in all directions. “Damn.”

  “This is where you fished yesterday?”

  He nodded, motioning to a patch of grass near the water. “That’s where we ate lunch.”

  “He isn’t here,” she said unnecessarily.

  “No.”

  She moistened her lips. “Could we have passed him on different paths? Maybe he’s already been here and gone back to the cabin.”

  “Blair, it’s more likely that he got lost trying to find this place. You saw how many turns I took. Could you find your way to the cabin alone if you went back now?”

  She turned, looking at the path and the thick woods surrounding them. Could she guarantee that she wouldn’t get turned around if she headed back on her own? “No,” she whispered. “I’m not sure I could.”

  Where was Jeffrey?

  “We have to find him,” she said, reaching out to clutch Scott’s arm. “Scott, we have to find him! He could be frightened. Hurt. He could be—”

  “Blair.” He covered her hand with his. “We’ll find him.”

  She was already moving toward the path. “Jeffrey!” she called. “Jeffrey, where are you?”

  Scott snagged her hand when she would have rushed away. “Stay close,” he reminded her. “It won’t do us any good if you get lost, too.”

  She forced herself to hold back and let him take the lead.

  An hour later, Blair was winded, her voice raspy from calling her nephew, her legs trembling from climbing up and down inclines, over rocks and fallen limbs. Fear was building inside her until her chest ached with it. They had passed so many places where a child could be easily hurt; was Jeffrey lying even now at the bottom of a steep bluff?

  She didn’t realize she was crying until Scott pulled her to a stop and wiped her damp cheeks with his fingertips. “We’ll find him, Blair,” he said again, his voice low and gentle.

  She caught her breath. “Where could he be? We’ve looked everywhere. What could have happened to him?”

  “We haven’t looked everywhere. There are still several directions he could have taken that we haven’t checked yet. But I’m worried that we’re circling each other. We need more searchers to spread out and cover more territory.”

  She moistened her painfully dry lips again, trying to stay calm. “What should we do?”

  “We’ll go back to the cabin and call for a search and rescue team. Then I’ll head back out while you wait for word.”

  “You expect me to just sit alone in the cabin without knowing what’s going on?”

  “Blair, someone has to coordinate this search from a central location, be near my cell phone, ready to take action. I know this countryside, so it’s only logical that I should be the one out looking.”

  What he said made sense, of course, though she didn’t want to admit it. She hated the thought of being cooped up in that cabin with no idea of what was going on outside. But if that was the most helpful role she could play in the search for Jeffrey, that was what she would do.

  “All right. Lead me to the cabin,” she murmured, her heart sinking as she realized that she had no idea how to get there on her own.

  Still calling Jeffrey’s name, they made their way back. Her eyes blinded by tears, Blair stumbled more than once, but Scott steadied her. She was so worried about Jeffrey, so disgusted with herself for letting this happen. She should have been more vigilant. She should have known he would try something like this. She should have been concentrating more on her nephew and less on the man in the other bedroom. If anything had happened to Jeffrey, she would never forgive herself.

  Scott’s hand tightened suddenly on her arm. “Wait,” he said, his tone urgent.

  “What?”

  His head was cocked attentively, and he was looking away from her. “Did you hear that?”

  “What?”

  “Call him again.”

  “Jeffrey!” Her voice was hoarse, but still loud enough to carry.

  This time, she heard it, too—a faint, distant cry. She started impulsively in that direction, but Scott held her back, keeping her behind him as he moved quickly but
carefully down a new offshoot of the path.

  Jeffrey was sitting beneath a tree, his face streaked with tears and dust, a couple of ugly scrapes on his chin, his jeans ripped at the knees. His lower lip quivered when Blair and Scott came into view. “Am I in trouble?” was the first thing he said.

  Blair dropped to her knees beside him, her hands trembling with relief. “Are you all right?”

  “I fell down,” he said with a sniffle. “I’m okay, I think, just sore and—”

  She pulled him into her arms, squeezing him so tightly his words were cut off with a squeak. “Oh, my God, Jeffrey, I was so worried about you! I was so afraid....”

  Jeffrey burrowed into her chest with a choked sob. “I got lost,” he said in a very small voice.

  “I know, sweetie. It’s hard to find your way through these woods. I’d have been lost, too, if Scott hadn’t been with me.”

  “Am I in trouble?”

  Resting her cheek against his hair, Blair laughed shakily. “Oh, yes. But that can wait. Right now I’m just too happy to see you to be angry with you.”

  Scott crouched beside them, easing Jeffrey out of Blair’s arms. “Let’s take a look at you, partner, and see if you’ve hurt yourself.”

  Jeffrey mopped at his face with the back of one dirty hand. “I fell off a big rock. I thought it was the one by the stream, but there was a big hill on the other side, and I fell down it.”

  While Blair hovered nearby, Scott ran his hands skillfully over Jeffrey’s thin limbs. “Are you in any pain? Is there any place in particular that hurts?”

  “I scraped my knees. And my hands. And...and I broke your fishing rod,” he added in a subdued whisper.

  “We’ll talk about that later, okay? Did you hit your head?”

  “No.”

  “Can you stand?”

  “Yes. I walked until I got too tired. I was resting when I heard you and Aunt Blair calling me.”

  Scott helped him to his feet. It was obvious from the way Jeffrey winced that his scraped knees were stiff and painful, but Blair was relieved that he didn’t seem to have any broken bones. She reached out to smooth his tumbled hair, unable to stop touching him now that she had him safely with her again. “Can you walk back to the cabin?”