The Cowboy Claims His Lady

He pulled her around the dance floor one more time before he spoke.

“You wanna have fun?” He seemed like he’d pondered something for a while and finally had made up his mind.

“Sure,” she said lightly.

“Have you seen the old gristmill?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen an old gristmill—let alone the one here in Mystery.”

“Then, let’s go.” He stopped dancing and took her hand.

The whiskey must have really hit her hard because she heard herself saying, “What do you do at the mill?” instead of, “My God, I’m not going anywhere with you alone!”

“Skinny-dip,” he answered.

She took this bit of news more calmly than she would have expected. “But you don’t understand. I can’t—” she began.

He stopped her. “Sure you can. Just take off your clothes and jump in. It’s easy.”

“Take off my clothes?” she repeated numbly. “I really don’t think I can take off my—”

“Hey, you’re the underwear queen. I thought showing off the merchandise would be second nature.” he countered.

“Just ’cause I sell lingerie doesn’t mean I can go around—”

“Sure it does,” he said soothingly, putting a vise-like grip on her arm as he led her away.

“No really,” she countered, but still let him lead her.

“I’ll make you a deal then. I’ll let you keep on everything you sell in your shop.”

“It’ll just bore you. I only wear what’s beige and functional. I save the froufrou for the customers.”

He seemed to hold back a grin. “I’m a cowboy, ma’am. Plain and simple’s just fine with me. In fact, you’d like to get plain right down to your birthday suit—”

“I couldn’t. I just couldn’t,” she added.

He grinned in full. “Then, bore me with the beige and functional. And hey, think of it as advertising. Do it for the business. It’s good customer relations to show off the merchandise.”

She didn’t really have an answer for that one.

His arm went around her waist and soon they were out the door.

“Shouldn’t I have told Hazel where I’ll be?” she asked before getting into an old faded-red pickup.

“You never lived in a small town, did you?” he asked, sliding behind the steering wheel.

“Nope,” she answered with more vigor than was necessary.

“Believe me, everybody, including Hazel, knows we’re going to the mill.”

“Now, how can that be?” she murmured stumped. “Does everybody here have cell phones I can’t see?”

“Don’t need ’em. We’ve got Hazel McCallum—and everyone reports to Hazel the goings on ’round here. That’s twice true if it concerns one of her own.”

He smiled that carnivore’s smile and said, “So are you ready?”

She looked at him in the dark. Suddenly she wanted to get out and run.

“I guess,” she whispered, all the while wondering what madness had gotten hold of her.

“I’m only doing this because Hazel trusts you. Otherwise, let me tell you, I never go off with strangers.” Lyndie rambled on while the pickup negotiated the unpaved mountain road.

“I’m no stranger,” Bruce said. “Ask Hazel.”

“She says you used to be a tomcat. And even this city girl can figure out what that means.”

“Haven’t been tomcatting in a while,” he almost whispered.

“She told me that, too.”

A silence permeated the truck’s cab. It was so deep and oppressive, Lyndie was glad when the silhouette of the mill appeared over the hill.

“Here we are.”

He pulled next to the fieldstone building. A small river emptied alongside the building and drove the wheel. Beneath it all was a large inviting pool of river water that shimmered in the opalescent moonlight.

She opened her door and got out.

The creaking wheel and the splash of water suddenly set her nerves on edge. As did the tall dark man next to her.

“So, what do you do here?” she asked in a tough voice.

“Swim. I’ll show you.”

He tugged his shirt out of his jeans and peeled it over his head.

In the moonlight, she could see the ripple of muscle on his chest. There was also a light sprinkling of dark hair that narrowed where his abdominal muscles tightened into a grid. It formed a trail that disappeared into the waist of his jeans.

When he reached for the button on his jeans, she held up her hand.

“If I’m giving a lingerie show, then, so are you. Keep ’em on,” she instructed, gesturing to his white boxers that showed through his fly.

“You sure you’ve never done this before?” He grinned.

She nodded. “I’m sure.”

Tossing off his hat and scuffing out of his boots, he finally stood in his boxers, arms crossed as if impatiently waiting for her to follow suit.