Ty & Cassie
“Ty!” Cassie exclaimed. She practically bounced in the saddle before she squeezed him tighter around his waist. “It’s snowing!”
He hadn’t really noticed until then. October always brought snow to Montana, and since it was expected, he hadn’t given it much thought. “So it is. Light, though. Won’t measure up to more than a few inches. Just wait a week or two. Then you’ll see some real snow.”
“I’ve never seen this much snow before. Why, it’s already blanketing all the grass and flowers!” She let go of his waist and grabbed for the flakes as they fell from the sky.
“You’ve never seen snow?”
“It doesn’t snow often in San Francisco and never enough to cover the ground. Isn’t it beautiful?”
“’Spose. I guess I’ve seen too much of it. Ain’t quite as pretty when you’re trying to walk through waist-deep drifts to get to the barn and feed the animals.” He reined Duke to a stop when they reached Cassie’s cabin.
After he dismounted, Ty lifted her by the waist and set her from his horse’s back onto the grass, which was quickly becoming blanketed with a thin layer of snow.
She paced around, her head bowed as she watched the pattern of footprints she left in the dusting of snow. Her laughter reached something inside him, bringing a smile to his lips.
By the time he led Duke to the barn, removed the saddle, and left the horse with Cassie’s new goat—the one Gideon had given her—she was lying in a thin patch of snow, flapping her arms and legs.
A childhood memory popped into his head, one of the few good recollections he had.
He and his sister, Sara, had been enjoying one of winter’s first snowfalls by laughing, tossing snowballs at each other, and making snow angels.
After all the bad things that happened to him when his father had dumped him in that orphanage, he’d almost forgotten that his entire childhood wasn’t bad.
He’d been close to his siblings, Sara in particular since she was only a year younger.
Something about being around Cassie was opening up a side of him he’d lost track of somewhere.
He’d learned to anticipate the worst in people, always expecting to be bitten by any hand that fed him.
He never felt that way around Cassie—probably because she gave of herself freely without expecting anything in return.
Amazing she would be so unspoiled, considering the way her own kin had treated her.
Ty wanted to shelter her from anything that could taint her heart the way the world had tainted his.
He wanted to keep the evil of her family from ever touching her again.
The only way he knew how to do that was by marrying her, but she’d turned down his proposal because he hadn’t offered up some romantic nonsense about love.
Love was for women—he needed a more practical solution.
He could lie to her and tell her that he loved her, but that would turn him into one of the cheats he wanted to protect her from.
He could just come out and order her to marry him—that way he’d be letting her know who wore the pants in their relationship. But he could never force her, not after what the Shays had been trying to do by demanding she marry Robert Putnam.
A third choice brought a smile to his lips and made his body tighten in anticipation.
Ty would give her his child. Once he got Cassie pregnant, she’d have no valid reason to turn down his proposal. It wasn’t as if he was trapping her. She’d responded to his touches, his kisses. And he wanted her as his wife and would treat her well.
They could live on the ranch in a house he’d already planned in his mind.
While it might not be as fancy as what she’d known in San Francisco, it would be comfortable.
He’d convince her that he would honor every vow he took, and if God was truly merciful, perhaps Ty would even grow to love her one day—probably when he was old and gray and bouncing a grandbaby on each knee.
He’d make a good father, and he’d make sure he put his children before everything else.
For once, he’d be part of a real family.
When she stood up and brushed the wet snow from her arms and skirt, he went to her side to help. His self-control was strained close to snapping as his hands deliberately brushed her backside to remove some clinging snow.
She tossed him a coy smile over her shoulder.
He winked in return.
“I promised you some lunch,” Cassie said.
“That you did, Cassie girl.”
“It’s getting so cold out here.”
“That it is.”
Funny, but when she turned to face him and set her hands against his waist, she wasn’t acting as if the cold bothered her. In his estimation, the world had grown decidedly warmer.
Her smile was bewitching as she fluttered her lashes and pursed her lips.
The woman wanted to be kissed?
Well, then…he’d oblige her.
His mouth swooped down to capture hers, and he didn’t wait for her to open her lips. He forced his tongue into her mouth. A whimper rose from her throat as her tongue returned his caress. They broke apart long enough to catch a few gulping breaths before surrendering to another soulful kiss.
Ty reached his limit of self-control—passed it when she hesitantly moved her hips forward to press against his groin. Without breaking the kiss, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the cabin.
Fumbling with the lock, he finally let them in. He stepped inside, kicking the door shut behind him. As he cradled Cassie, he leaned back against the door and continued to ravage her mouth.
Perhaps seducing her wouldn’t be as difficult as he’d expected.
Her virginal attitude should have required some forceful coaxing—perhaps even a bit of begging—but she eagerly returned his kiss as she tugged his hat off and tossed it aside.
Then she laced her fingers through his hair, effectively holding him right where he wanted to be—with his mouth against hers.
When Ty found the strength to ease back, they were both panting for breath, making small white puffs rise around them. Cassie shifted as if she wanted to be put back on her feet, but he wasn’t ready to turn her loose.
“Quit wiggling,” he scolded.
“Am I not too heavy to hold?”
He snorted. “Hardly weigh anything at all. Need to get some meat on those bones, Cassie girl.”
Her responding huff raised another white cloud. “I wanted down to start a fire. It’s so cold. We shall both freeze if I don’t.”
“I can do that.” Not that he wanted to take the time. Besides, once they were beneath the quilt together—naked—they would generate plenty of heat. He considered telling her just that simply to see her reaction.
Holding her against him, he debated on whether to let her have her way and build a fire or simply carry her to her room.
His body screamed for her, throbbing in anticipation of feeling her tight, wet heat surrounding him after he plunged into her.
His mind told him to resist—that his plan to make love to her and get her pregnant could backfire—making her hate him for tricking her.
Funny, but the scolding voice sounded a lot like Adam’s as it echoed in his head.
“Ty?” She placed her cold hands against his cheeks.
“Your hands are like ice, woman. Why ain’t you wearing gloves?”
“I didn’t know it was going to snow. Besides, I have no gloves.”
“Victoria will knit you some.”
“I would love to learn to knit,” she said. “Would she perhaps instruct me?”
When he shrugged, he almost dropped her.
Tightening his grip, he held her as a war waged between his cock and his conscience. Cassie didn’t help when she slipped her hands inside his coat and rubbed her palms against his chest.
“Stop that,” he scolded.
“I must borrow some of your heat.”
What she was doing was trying to drive him out of his mind. “Cassie…”
“Stop growling at me. You sound as mean as an old bear.”
“You’re from San Francisco. You ain’t never heard an old bear.”
“I know they growl, just like you’re growling at me. Why are you so prickly all of a sudden?” Her hands flitted over his chest, making him suck in a breath.
Should he simply tell her? God help him, he wanted to. He wanted to tell her—in vivid detail—exactly what was making him growl. He wanted to tell her how much he wanted to kiss her breasts, to run his hands over every inch of her soft skin, to bury himself so deep inside her they became one flesh.
Tempering his words, he said, “It’s the way you’re touchin’ me.”
“I told you, I am merely borrowing your heat.”
“You’re making me plenty hot.”
“How could I make you hot when you claim my hands are like— Oh…” Cassie tucked her face against the side of neck, hiding from him.
Ty chuckled at her innocent response until she started to pull her hands back. “Don’t. Leave ’em there. I like it when you touch me.”
“I like touching you.” Her fingers spread to fan out over his chest and up his shoulders. “You’re so different than I am. Hard. Hot.”
He had to keep from laughing right in her face. “Oh, I’m hot and hard all right. Cassie, if you keep touching me like that, I’m going to—” Biting back the words, he shook his head.
“Going to what, Ty? Kiss me again? I–I want you to. I do like the way you kiss.”
A groan slipped from his lips.
“You don’t like kissing me?” She jerked her hands back and struggled in his arms.
“Quit wiggling. Yes, I like kissing you. You don’t understand what you do to me at all, do you?”
“Yes, I do. I make you mad. Every time I am in your company, I raise your anger, judging from the way you constantly snap at me.”
“No, you raise something else entirely.”
Her indignant gasp brushed over his face. “You must put me down now.”
“I must, must I?” He was done trying to figure out her thought process. The time had come to let the woman know what kind of temptress she was.
Striding over to her bedroom door, he nudged it open with his shoulder and carried her inside. He shut it with his foot. The afternoon light spilled through the small window, giving the room an orange glow.
“Ty? What in heaven’s name—”