The Bridal Path: Sara Read online

  The unexpectedly teasing reminder stirred Jake’s senses right back to the fever pitch that had kept him awake all night. “But old Harold’s not here this morning, so what would be the fun in it now?” he retorted.

  “So your only intention was to irritate him?” Sara asked, her expression skeptical.

  Jake shrugged. “What else?”

  “I thought perhaps you were trying to stake a claim for yourself.”

  “Why would I want to do that?”

  “Why do men do anything?” she asked with a shrug. “Possessiveness. Machismo. Whatever you want to call it.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you,” he said blandly. “But goading Harold was the only sport I had in mind.”

  Sara didn’t seem to believe him. In fact, she was heading his way with a very determined gleam in her eyes.

  Before he could guess what she had in mind, she’d scooted his chair away from the desk and plunked herself squarely into his lap. Her mouth covered his before he could ask her what the devil she was up to. After that, any questions he might have had flew straight out of his head.

  She tunneled her fingers through his hair and brushed tantalizing, lingering kisses across his forehead, his cheeks and his chin before finally zeroing in on his mouth again.

  She was wearing some sort of provocative, musky scent that reminded him of sex. Jake wasn’t nearly strong enough to resist that kind of temptation.

  He figured he’d better savor these last few kisses, because once he told her Zeke’s edict, it was very likely she was going to break something over his head. It would probably mark the last of the kisses, too.

  * * *

  In the past week or so Sara had discovered something about herself, something she never would have suspected. She was a very brazen woman. She was quite adept at this flirting stuff. She’d always assumed that Ashley was the only one who’d gotten a full measure of that particular gene. She and Dani had always been the sedate ones by comparison to their youngest sister.

  Now, as she savored yet another of Jake’s devastating kisses which she had initiated, she was feeling very much a woman of the world. She was also only about one spine-tingling brush of his lips away from hauling him onto the floor for another passionate session of lovemaking.

  Given his moodiness when she’d first walked into the room, maybe she ought to wait on that until she had some idea what had happened between last night and this morning. Satisfied that he was in an improved and definitely more attentive frame of mind, she pulled away with a contented sigh.

  “Much better,” she murmured, skimming a finger across his lips. His eyes darkened at her touch.

  “Better than what?” he asked suspiciously.

  “That scowl you were wearing when I walked in. What was that all about, by the way?”

  He hemmed and hawed for several seconds, before finally admitting, “I had some bad news earlier.”

  Sara stilled at his suddenly somber expression. “Is it something you want to talk about?” she asked sympathetically.

  “Not particularly, but I suppose now’s as good a time as any to tell you.”

  “Me? It has something to do with me?”

  He nodded, but that was about as forthcoming and revealing as a generic newspaper horoscope as far as she was concerned.

  “Specifically?” she encouraged.

  Jake looked as if he’d rather eat dirt than tell her. “Zeke called,” he said eventually, then stopped again.

  “And?” she prodded.

  “He wants to call off your lessons.”

  It took several seconds for the blurted response to sink in. When it did, fury streaked through her.

  “He wants to do what?” She stood up at once and backed away. Indignation joined anger and rippled through her at this low-down, sneaky turn of events. She studied Jake’s expression, then accused, “You’re making that up. Zeke didn’t say a thing to me about canceling my lessons.”

  “That’s because he’s a coward,” Jake said, looking very put-upon. “He insisted I be the one to tell you.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  Jake shrugged. “Go ask him yourself, but you’d better hurry. He was planning a trip to Denver so he’d be gone in case I didn’t pass along the bad news.”

  “You put him up to it, didn’t you?” she charged. “You set me up with him, then told him to cancel out so we’d have to call off the bet.”

  “I did no such thing.”

  His voice rang with sincerity, but Sara was in no mood to believe anything that came out of his lying mouth. “Well, let me tell you something, mister,” she said.

  She jabbed a finger into his chest, which she noticed seemed to be coated with odd little patches of dried pancake batter. If she hadn’t been so mad, she might have pursued how they’d gotten there. Something told her it would be a fascinating story. In the meantime, though, she had a point to make.

  “I do not intend to call off this bet,” she told him vehemently. “If Zeke won’t teach me to ride, then you’ll just have to do it yourself.”

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” he said, holding up his hands in a no-way gesture. “I’m not about to give lessons to my own competition. Besides, if Zeke says you have no business riding a bronco, then I’m the last man in the world who’d argue with him.”

  “How convenient for you,” Sara snapped. “Well, don’t go counting your chickens just yet, Jake Dawson. When I get finished with Zeke Laramie, he’ll be begging me to stay on as his student.”

  Jake’s lips twitched at that, but Sara was beyond caring. She was going to hold Zeke to their deal if she had to use every ounce of influence she possessed. She hadn’t been raised by Trent Wilde for nothing. She knew exactly how to throw her weight around when she had to. It wasn’t a tactic she enjoyed, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

  She was halfway out the door, when Jake called after her. Only the oddly gentle note in his voice kept her from ignoring him. She faced him slowly.

  “What now?”

  “I really am sorry about this.”

  “I’ll bet,” she said. “No need to worry, though. It’s just a temporary inconvenience. We’ll be back on track before the end of the day.” She forced a smile. “Or you can kiss this ranch goodbye right now. If I tell Daddy the bet you agreed to, he’ll cancel your deal so fast that the eight seconds you used to stay on a bull will seem like an eternity.”

  Jake’s shaken expression told her that he knew as well as she did that Trent Wilde would not be happy to discover that Jake had been willing to let Sara risk her neck to claim Three-Stars.

  Only she knew, though, that it was an idle threat. She didn’t want her father drawn into this. He’d made his choice. If she got the ranch now, it had to be because she’d earned it on her own, even if her methods were a little unorthodox.

  A half hour later, her anger mounting, she was squealing to a halt in Zeke’s driveway. Just to prevent a quick getaway, she parked her car so that it blocked his pickup.

  She marched around to the back door and pounded on it so hard, it shook on its hinges.

  “Okay, okay,” Zeke grumbled as he limped slowly into the kitchen. “No need to knock the house down. I heard you.” When he recognized her through the screen door, he turned pale. “Oh, it’s you.”

  “Darn right, it’s me,” Sara said, pushing past him. Hands on hips, she leveled a look straight into his eyes. “Mind telling me why you’re calling off our lessons?”

  He looked everywhere but at her. “Jake told you, then.”

  “I didn’t get it by divine messenger, that’s for sure. So, what’s the deal?”

  “You haven’t got what it takes,” he said bluntly.

  “You mean you haven’t got what it takes to teach me,” Sara countered.

  “If it makes you feel better to think that, it don’t bother me none. Bottom line, you ain’t got no business trying to ride a bronco.”

  The plainspoken assessment shook her as nothi
ng else could have. She didn’t want to believe it, so she tried blaming it on Jake’s influence. “Is that your honest evaluation?” she asked skeptically. “Or did Jake plant the idea in your head?”

  Zeke didn’t appear to take offense. “I’ve got eyes and sense,” he said. “I don’t need Jake to tell me what’s plain as day.”

  “Well, I am going to ride a bronco,” Sara retorted adamantly. “Now I can do it with or without your help. If you don’t help, then more than likely, I will be seriously injured, maybe even killed.”

  She allowed that to sink in, then added, “Without Three-Stars, nothing much matters to me anyway.”

  Zeke regarded her with obvious horror. “Don’t you ever say a thing like that. That’s pure craziness.”

  “It’s the way I feel,” she insisted stubbornly.

  Zeke scowled at her, then gestured toward a chair. “Sit down. Maybe we should talk this through.”

  Sara stood right where she was. “There’s nothing to talk about. Either you’re willing to help me or you’re not. Which is it?”

  “Mary Lou ain’t going to like it,” he muttered under his breath.

  “This is between you and me,” Sara argued. “Your wife doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

  “That’s easy enough for you to say. You don’t have to listen to her twenty-four hours a day.”

  Sara decided the hardball tactics had taken her as far as they were likely to. She moved in for the kill.

  “Zeke, please,” she pleaded. “I don’t have anywhere else to turn. If you don’t help, that ranch is as much as Jake’s. Is that fair? Shouldn’t I at least have a fighting chance to keep what should have been mine in the first place?”

  Before Zeke could answer, Mary Lou walked into the kitchen carrying a suitcase. She took one look at Sara and sighed deeply.

  “I suppose the trip to Denver’s off,” she said to Zeke. She didn’t sound particularly surprised about it.

  Zeke shot a disgruntled look at Sara, but nodded. “We’ll go for a whole week in June,” he promised. “Right after this danged fool bronc-riding contest.”

  Sara breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” She gazed at Mary Lou. “I’m sorry about the trip.”

  Mary Lou shrugged, eyes suddenly twinkling. “Never even packed,” she said, indicating the suitcase. “Zeke never could resist a lady in distress. But as worried sick as I was about you, I had to try. When push came to shove, I knew he wouldn’t be able to let you down.”

  She put a hand on her husband’s shoulder and squeezed. “I do think there might be an alternative, though. Zeke’s used to teaching men. Maybe you ought to be getting your lessons from a woman.”

  Zeke and Sara both stared at her in astonishment.

  “A woman?” Sara said, just as Zeke muttered something that sounded like, “Well, I’ll be damned.”

  “Who?” Sara asked.

  “Me, of course,” Mary Lou said briskly. “Time was when I could outride half the men on the circuit, Zeke included. That’s how we met.”

  Sara’s eyes widened. “And you’d be willing to teach me?”

  Mary Lou patted her cheek. “Honey, I know tricks this man couldn’t begin to guess. If you’re determined to go through with this, you might’s well be taught by the best.”

  To Sara’s surprise, Zeke didn’t look the least bit insulted by his wife’s claim of superiority. In fact, his eyes were shining with pride.

  “Are we agreed, then?” Mary Lou asked.

  Zeke nodded. “It makes sense to me. What about you, Sara?”

  “I’m flabbergasted, but yes, of course.” She glanced suspiciously at Zeke. “Unless that means you’re going to be sneaking off now to coach Jake.”

  Zeke hooted at that. “Jake doesn’t need coaching. Nope, you’re going to be getting two for the price of one now, that is if Mary Lou will let me put my two cents in every now and again.”

  His wife grinned. “Could I stop you?”

  “Not likely, any more than I could stop you from taking over once you saw how determined she was.”

  Sara glanced from Zeke to Mary Lou and back again. “You planned this to happen, didn’t you?” she asked him.

  “Me?” he said innocently. “I was ready to call the whole thing off.”

  “So you say,” Sara retorted.

  “However it happened,” Mary Lou said, “the point is that time’s flying by and we’ve got work to do. You ready for another lesson, Sara?”

  Sara nodded. “Let’s do it.” She grinned. “I can hardly wait until Jake hears about this turn of events. When I left the ranch this morning, I’m sure he was convinced he had this little contest all locked up.”

  “Of all people, Jake should know it ain’t over ’til it’s over,” Zeke said, grinning. A glint of pure devilment lit his eyes. “I sure would like to be there when he finds out I lured Mary Lou out of retirement for this gig.”

  “Then why don’t the two of you join us for supper tonight,” Sara suggested impulsively. “Jake promised me a dinner for helping him with the books the other day. I think tonight’s the perfect time for him to pay up.”

  Zeke and Mary Lou exchanged an amused and suspiciously knowing look.

  “You’re on,” Zeke said.

  “This promises to be more fun than my last rodeo championship,” Mary Lou agreed.

  Sara had to admit she was looking forward to it, too, but probably not for precisely the same reasons. She’d just grown increasingly addicted to spending time with one ornery rodeo cowboy.

  Chapter Eight

  Sara was in a very strange mood, Jake concluded, watching her meander around his office, a secretive little smile on her face. For the life of him, he couldn’t get a fix on how things had gone at Zeke’s.

  She didn’t look distraught, so maybe she had succeeded in persuading Zeke not to abandon her. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know how she’d accomplished that. He already knew that Sara’s unexpected wiles added up to a dangerous weapon.

  “What’s on your mind?” he asked eventually.

  “I was just wondering if you were busy tonight?” she asked, carefully avoiding his eyes.

  “Why?”

  “You promised me dinner if I solved that little bookkeeping problem the other day. You haven’t paid up.”

  “Sorry. A few things came up.”

  “I’ll say,” Sara said under her breath.

  Jake doubted she intended the remark for his ears, so he swallowed the irreverent laugh that bubbled up in his chest. She had a way of taking him by surprise that was thoroughly disconcerting. Even though he was suspicious of her motives, he couldn’t resist this latest opportunity to find out what she was up to now.

  “Tonight’s fine. Where do you want to go?” he asked.

  “How about the Old West Grill? They have country-western dancing tonight. I feel like kicking up my heels.”

  Jake got the distinct impression there was more on her mind than whirling around a dance floor, but he’d made her a promise. It was too late to back out on it now just because he’d envisioned something slightly more private and romantic.

  “Seven o’clock,” he suggested.

  “I’ll be ready.”

  Ready for what, he wondered. Something in her tone suggested to him that there was a warning there he shouldn’t ignore. For the life of him, though, he couldn’t figure out what was going on in that pretty little head of hers.

  Maybe that was why he couldn’t seem to shake the almost constant thoughts of her. She was like a missing word in a crossword puzzle, nagging at him to find a solution.

  Unfortunately, no answers came to him. He still didn’t have a clue about what she was up to when he pulled up in front of the main house at seven.

  Sara slipped out the door before he could set foot on the front porch, which suggested to him that she didn’t want her father to know about their plans for the evening. For some reason that grated on him. It reminded him all too plainly that for the time be
ing he was nothing more than a worn-out rodeo champ and Sara was the daughter of the prominent and powerful Trent Wilde.

  He resisted the almost overwhelming desire to march inside and announce that he and Sara were going out for the evening. There really was no point in stirring up that particular hornet’s nest just for the momentary satisfaction of seeing Trent’s shocked expression.

  Instead, he focused on the woman who’d slipped into the car beside him. He surveyed the slim-fitting jeans that cupped her incredible derriere, then moved on to the western-cut shirt that molded itself to her breasts, and the boots that emphasized her shapely calves. With her red hair spilling over her shoulders in sexy disarray, she was enough to turn a saint into a sinner. No one had ever considered Jake to be a saint. Pure lust hammered through him.

  “If you aren’t the prettiest sight I’ve seen in a long time,” he told her. “I’m going to be the envy of every male in the Old West.”

  “I suppose that will make your day,” she retorted.

  He grinned at her. “Compared to the rest of the day, it won’t hurt.”

  As they drove into town, a comfortable silence fell in the car. Jake was surprised that Sara didn’t see any need to fill it with idle chatter the way a lot of women would. It was yet more proof that Sara wasn’t like other women. He should have found that satisfying, but for some reason it only scared the daylights out of him. It reminded him he was up against an unpredictable force. Bull riding had been unpredictable, too, but he’d mastered that. He told himself he could master Sara, if he tried hard enough.

  What startled him even more than his determination to figure out this hold she had on him was how much he enjoyed not just her astonishing sensuality, but simply her company. He’d always assumed the only way for a man to guarantee any peace and serenity in his life was to keep a woman out of it. Sara was proving to be an exception to that.

  “You going to get around to telling me what happened at Zeke’s today?” he inquired eventually.

  “Maybe later,” she said.

  “Still too upset to talk about it?”

  “Not exactly.”

  The answer was a little too enigmatic to suit him. “You’d probably feel better if you’d just get it out of your system. Go on and yell, if you feel like it,” he said generously. “I won’t hold it against you.”